Sports stats



AHL Stockton Heat

'Still Lots of Work to Do'

December 17, 2021 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Stockton Heat News Release


For the Calgary Flames, the future is built away from the bright lights, across a border, nestled between the Sierra Nevada range to the east and Pacific Coast Rangers to the west.

The San Joaquin valley, flanked by towering peaks, sits close enough to the destinations - Tahoe, San Francisco and the like all within a drive - but there's a journey to get there.

So, too, is life for the farm team - the goal is attainable, but you still have to work to get where you're going.

"It's all about preparation, progression, development," said Heat head coach Mitch Love, who is in his first season in Stockton. "We hold our players to a high standard here. We hold our players to a certain standard of accountability for performance, training, all of those things. That's no different than Darryl Sutter and what he would tell do with his teams in Calgary. He's a highly-successful coach. We want it to be a seamless transition for our players when they leave our locker room and get a chance to play in the National Hockey League with the Flames.

"That's what this is all about."

It's a two-part mandate that Love has as bench boss of the Heat - develop future Flames and win games. The former eventually will be tested, but if the latter is any indication, confidence must be high.

By any metric, the Heat are off to the best start in team history with a dominant 16-2-2-1 record. Stockton is undefeated in regulation on home ice, a team-record, 11-game home point streak heading into weekend tilts against Colorado. The prospects are thriving, with Jakob Pelletier leading the team in scoring, Dustin Wolf providing consistently stellar play, Connor Mackey earning a league honor just last week, and the list goes on.

The calendar is about to flip to 2022, but ask the coach himself, and unlike the high-paced style on the ice, he wants to hit the brakes on premature celebration plans.

"I just worry about whether we're good any given day," said Love. "Did we have a good practice? Did we have a good workout? Were we productive as individuals and as a team that day? I don't get caught up in how many wins we have versus how many losses or individual play. I just worry about the process. Our guys understand that now. Our guys know we have a good hockey team here. There's still lots of work to do."

Getting lost in the process helps in tumultuous times, a steadying force when the waters get wavy. The Heat have yet to encounter that turbulence as a team with wins streaming in and roster movement kept to a minimum through 21 contests of a 68-game slate.

Still, life in the AHL means that change is a constant and the bedrock is always a day away from shifting, but this unshakeable group is ready to be pushed.

The calm stems from its leaders, including Love, who in his first year with the club has stewarded the Heat to the fast start. He came from Saskatoon of the WHL, where he turned in a top-five win percentage in his three years as bench boss. Switching to professional hockey, he expected a learning curve.

So far, so good, and much of that is attributable to the mindset.

"I don't really sit and worry about what's been hard," he said when asked about the difficulties, if any, in his new gig. "Life's hard. The game, there'll be pockets with good days and bad days. But it's our job as coaches to drive the energy of our hockey team and make sure we have the right attitude and mindset coming to the rink. (The players) are sponges. They sense stress. They stress your mood. They're intelligent people. I just focus in on how to help them get better."

It can be difficult for the lay person to see the development happening, game over game, especially when the Heat as a team have adopted the Pam Halpert race strategy from The Office - start fast, stay fast in the middle and finish fast.

The test will come when those players' numbers are called and they skate with the Flaming C on their chest, but nearly a third of the way through his first season at the helm, Love knows the Heat players are in a good place and ready when needed.

"I grade myself on not wins and losses, but the progression and process of our team and individuals," he said. "This is hard. It's a hard business. It's a game, but it's a hard business. There are a lot of different factors that roll into it. I've seen a lot of progression and development from guys here, both individually and in our team game. If everyone isn't on top of what they do best as individuals, the team success isn't going to be there. I've seen that growth in a lot of our players, and I've seen confidence grow - that's important.

"Our guys have done a really good job to this point. They understand the order of business in our organization. When their time comes, they'll be ready."

Check out the Stockton Heat Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from December 17, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Stockton Heat Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central