Early exit fails to take away from successful Heat season
There is plenty on the table for Troy Ward to talk about today as the head coach conducts his final exit interviews with the Abbotsford Heat.
Despite a second-round exit at the hands of the Toronto Marlies, the 201112 American Hockey League season of the Calgary Flame farm club was one of the franchise’s best to date.
“We always knew we had the team that could make an impact,” said interim captain Clay Wilson, who took over when Quintin Laing went down with an injury. “Scoring was an issue at times. But I thought we put it together at the right time. I think we really thought we had a chance to get things done.”
When the big club was hit with a rash of injuries during the 201112 season, the Heat gladly sent their players to the rescue. But also meant the juggling and management of different personnel at different times.
Still, head coach Troy Ward and his troops put together a franchisebest 42 wins and soared into the AHL playoffs, playing some of their best hockey of the year. Before losing to the Toronto Marlies in Game 2 of the second-round series that eventually did them in, they rode an impressive 11-game winning streak.
They also earned their first playoff sweep, eliminating the milwaukee admirals in three clashes.
“It’s pretty rare in the American Hockey League that you’ll go two or three games in a row where you’ll have the same lineup,” Wilson said. “Whether it’s your injuries or call-ups or guys just getting in and out of the lineup because you want to see different guys playing and developing in the minors.
“It’s something you get used to. It’s never easy, especially if you lose Krys Kolanos — your leading goal scorer. But it’s nice to see young guys step in those roles and do well in those positions when guys do get called up.”
There surgence of kolanos provided life to the Heat bench, leading the team in scoring during the regular season (30 goals and 31 assists in 47 games) and playoffs (five goals, five assists in seven appearances).
The 30-year-old Calgarian also played 13 games with the Flames after spending 21 months recovering from a hip injury.
On the other side of the development scale, Max Reinhart, in his professional debut after graduating from the Kootenay Ice, made an impression and collected a goal, an assist, and was plus-one in four games of the playoffs.
Also, forwards Akim Aliu, Roman Horak, gregnemisz, paul byron, piereLuc Letourneau-leblond, Guillaume Desbiens, and Raitis Ivanans, and defencemen Joe Piskula and Wilson all tugged on a Flames jersey at one point and are going to be names to watch out for in 2012-13.
“My goal is to play in the National Hockey League next year,” said Byron, who played in 22 dates with Calgary this season, scoring three goals and adding two assists. “This summer, I’m going to do everything I can to be in the NHL. In my time up there, I proved I could be not just a top-two line player but I could play any role. I could play wing, centre. Hopefully that versatility could put me in the NHL next year.”
Like Byron and Ailu, goaltender Leland Irving is also pending restricted free agent.
Although Ward went with Danny Taylor as his net minder of choice in the post-season, the Flames’ 26th overall pick from 2006 had a year to remember. He prove d he could play at the top level, stepping in for injured backup Henrik karlsson and picked up his first National Hockey League win.
Taylor, himself, was a feel-good story after starting this year in the East Coast Hockey League.
Unrestricted free agents include Ivanans ,letourneau-leblond,and desbiens while Wilson and defenceman Brett carson are on one-way contracts. Lance Bouma and T.J. Brodie played games with the Heat this year, but finished the season with the Flames.
Ward, meanwhile, as a first-year bench boss with the Heat transformed the culture in Abbotsford’s dressing room — and has been openly praised by the Flames brass for his work. So much so, that he’s considered a strong candidate for the head coaching job in Calgary.
“You can’t really say enough about our team this year,” Byron said. “And how hard everyone worked. i think the way we finished the year was how we could have played all year. I thought we accomplished a lot.”