Eagles Get Martinized Against Abbotsford

LOVELAND, Colo. – Joining the AHL back in 2018, the Colorado Eagles have not had the pleasure of facing off against a team from Abbotsford, British Columbia. With the Abbotsford Heat relocating to Stockton after the 2013-14 season, the Eagles missed out on playing an opponent from Western Canada by a good four years.

However, with the relocation of the Vancouver Canucks’ AHL affiliate to B.C. during the 2021 offseason, the Eagles could now circle some dates against the newly minted Abbotsford Canucks. The two teams faced off for the first time ever at the Budweiser Events Center on Saturday night, the first of four meetings between the pair this season.

FIRST PERIOD

As is often the case with new opposing teams, there was a bit of a feeling-out period between the Canucks and Eagles in the beginning stanza. Neither side was shy about playing hard, though, as the physicality increased as the period went on. A couple infractions for both Abbotsford and Colorado were all that showed up on the scoresheet, as the primary period of play yielded a 0-0 score heading into the first intermission.

SECOND PERIOD

Colorado began period two on the penalty kill after a Andreas Wingerli tripping call carried over from the first. A common theme throughout the night, the Eagles were adept at clearing the puck out of the zone after forcing the Canucks to take easier scoring chances on Colorado netminder Justus Annunen. 

A few minutes later, Abbotsford centerman Carson Focht backhanded a cross-ice pass to winger Will Lockwood. Lockwood rang a shot off the crossbar, with the puck deflecting off the boards to defenseman Ashton Sautner. Sautner fired off a desperation slap shot with Annunen out of position, scoring just his second goal on the year and the Canucks’ first on the night at 5:12 of the period number two.

Post-whistle shenanigans in the form of words & shoves increased throughout the middle frame of regulation. Both Abbotsford and Colorado were getting comfortable levying bigger and better body checks through the period, as well. Needless to say, tempers were on display after almost every whistle when either goaltender iced the puck.

At the 17-minute mark, Eagles captain Roland McKeown and defenseman Keaton Middleton were skating deep into Colorado’s end in pursuit of the puck. McKeown passed to Middleton behind the goal line before Middleton returned the puck back towards McKeown. Middleton bounced the puck off the end boards and past McKeown, leaving pursuing Canucks forward Sheldon Dries to intercept the puck. Dries backhanded a pass behind Wingerli to a wide-open Phil Di Guissepe for a snap shot past Annunen’s glove side at 17:47 of the second.

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THIRD PERIOD

The final regulation frame began with fisticuffs in the first three minutes. After Abbotsford forward Vincent Arseneau took a jab at Colorado blue liner Dennis Gilbert, Eagles left winger Dalton Smith grabbed Arseneau and both men dropped the gloves. Smith began with some heavy right hands before Arseneau began to return jabs. The two men went back & forth for about 15 seconds before tiring out and letting the refs step in to separate the two.

Colorado used the adrenaline boost to put 16 more shots on goal in the third, adding to their previous three for a total of 19 for the period (compared to Abbotsford’s one!). The peppering of Canucks goaltender Spencer Martin didn’t yield any goals until the Eagles fifth power play of the night. As Colorado right winger Martin Kaut passed the puck around the corner & up the side boards, d-man Jordan Gross gained possession and fired a shot on goal. Martin kick saved the puck to the right wing along the goal line, where Eagles forward Kiefer Sherwood quickly corralled the puck. Sherwood dropped to his right knee to leverage a shot, hitting the back of the net at 15:07 and cutting the Canucks lead to one.

Kaut spoke post-game on what the special teams strategy was after four unsuccessful power play chances. “The power plays before, we were pretty bad. So, we just tried to shoot the puck on the net and make a little bit easier plays. We just took our shots from the top, tried to tip it, and Kiefer scored on the rebound.”

Unfortunately for Colorado, that would be its only goal of the night. Martin saved 43 of 44 on the night to earn his tenth win of the season while giving Abbotsford their sixth consecutive in the 2-1 victory. The Canucks are now just .003 percentage points behind Colorado in the Pacific Division standings, with the Eagles hanging on to fifth place heading into Sunday afternoon’s rematch (3:05pm MT).

COACH CRONIN’S CORNER

Colorado head coach Greg Cronin spoke to Full Press Hockey following the game.

On the return of goaltender Justus Annunen after missing the previous four games…

“He did (look good). He didn’t have a ton of shots. There were a couple of shots that were dangerous, and he was good.”

On the Eagles’ five power play chances…

“The last one was good. The reason that we were losing some energy is the other four power plays, we didn’t win faceoffs and they sent it back down into our zone. On any team, the power play usually energizes the bench because it’s an opportunity to score a goal. When the penalty kill wins faceoffs, sends it down, and we don’t enter the zone cleanly to set it up, it’s depressing on the bench to watch it.

“Every single power play ’til the last one – except maybe one – we lost the faceoff, they sent it down, and it was an exercise in futility to set the puck up. The first power play, we had some zone time, maybe 40 seconds. We had a decent scoring chance and Sikura whiffs on it (on the backdoor play in the first period). The other ones, we might as well just play 4-on-4. We probably would have done better. It was just not good enough.”