Latest news with #PacificDivisionFinal
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Canadiens Farm Team Drops Game Four After Jacob Fowler Falters
Artūrs Šilovs Continues To Be A Brick Wall For The Abbotsford Canucks During The 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs Another night, another shutout for Artūrs Šilovs. The Abbotsford Canucks goaltender added to his already impressive 2025 Calder Cup Playoff run on Friday, with a 22-save shutout over the Colorado Eagles in Game 1 of the Pacific Division Final. With the victory, Šilovs now has back-to-back shutouts and leads all AHL goaltenders with three perfect outings this post-season.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Takeaways From The Abbotsford Canucks' Second-Round Series Against The Coachella Valley Firebirds
Game 2s Continue To Be An Achilles Heel For The Abbotsford Canucks During The 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs The Abbotsford Canucks have been impressive so far in the 2025 Calder Cup Playoffs. They have made it to the Pacific Division Final for the first time in franchise history, and lead the entire AHL with 27 goals scored. While Abbotsford has looked unbeatable on most nights, an interesting trend has emerged, as the Canucks only seem to struggle during Game 2s.
National Post
16-05-2025
- Sport
- National Post
Former Vancouver Giants teammates square off in Abbotsford Canucks playoff series
Tristen Nielsen's scouting report on Trent Miner could probably include Miner's favourite breakfast cereal. Article content Nielsen's Abbotsford Canucks host Miner's Colorado Eagles tonight (7 p.m.) at the Abbotsford Centre in the opening game of the best-of-five AHL Pacific Division final. Game 2 is also at the Abbotsford Centre Sunday (6 p.m.) before the series shifts to Colorado, starting with Game 3 next Wednesday. Article content Article content Nielsen is a forward wrapping up a two-year free-agent contract with the Vancouver Canucks. Miner's a goaltender who was a seventh-round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche in 2019. They were teammates for three seasons in junior with the Vancouver Giants, and they billeted at the same home for two of those campaigns. Article content 'Great guy,' Nielsen, 25, said Thursday after practice of Miner, 'but I want to put 'em by him.' Article content The Eagles (43-21-5-3) won the Pacific Division regular season crown, finishing two points in front of Abbotsford (44-24-2-2), and Miner was a key component for the Colorado Avalanche's top farm team. Article content Miner finished fifth in the AHL in goals against average (2.12) and seventh in save percentage (. 918) during the regular season while fashioning a 22-10-6 record. Article content This season the 24-year-old from Brandon also made his NHL debut (coming on in relief in a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Nov. 15) and his first NHL start (a 3-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan. 8). Article content Article content Article content 'It depends if you can manipulate the goalie or the goalie is manipulating you,' Nielsen said. Article content 'When you're going in, you have to read him. Is he an aggressive goalie? Is he a play-in-his-net goalie? It just depends.' Article content Colorado and Abbotsford are among the eight teams left standing in pursuit of the AHL's Calder Cup. This is the fourth season that Vancouver has had its farm team in Abbotsford, and this is the furthest that they've got into a post-season. Article content 'I feel like we can play in any weather, whether it's a really physical game or a speed game. That helps us,' Nielsen, who's in his fourth season with Abbotsford, said. 'We've got the depth. We've got the personnel.' Article content Through the first two rounds, Abbotsford was led in scoring by winger Sammy Blais, 28, who had three goals and eight points in the seven games. Fellow winger Phil Di Giuseppe, 31, was next with three goals and six points. Seven players had scored at least twice for Abbotsford, and that included Nielsen, who had that pair of tallies to go with one assist.
The Province
07-05-2025
- Sport
- The Province
Canucks: Who is Mitch Love and why he could fill NHL coach vacancies?
The Canucks could replace Rick Tocchet with a younger coach with fresh ideas, but, with a narrow window to win, may pivot to a proven veteran. Get the latest from Ben Kuzma straight to your inbox Calgary Wranglers head coach Mitch Love during a game against the Coachella Valley Firebirds in Game 1 of the Pacific Division Final of the AHL playoffs at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on May 11, 2023. Photo by Darren Makowichuk / DARREN MAKOWICHUK/Postmedia Undrafted and undaunted in pursuit of an NHL dream is always a good story. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Add being unbridled to fight your way to command attention from the scouting community and we bring you the tantalizing tale of Mitch Love. The kid from small-town Quesnel grew up amid a rich family hockey lineage and always had big-city aspirations. And now, the Washington Capitals' assistant coach is getting a lot of love to fill one of seven NHL head-coaching vacancies. A pugnacious past with 901 WHL penalty minutes with three teams, and another 741 minutes with seven clubs in the AHL, ECHL and the CHL, plus a passion to learn and stay in the game, speak to the grind. His last playing stop was with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs in 2010-11. His next stop could be running an NHL bench. Love is in his second season with the Capitals and an example of where the game is trending. He's 40 and head coach Spencer Carbery of Victoria is 43. He also went undrafted as a BCHL winger, but is being lauded as one of the NHL's brighter minds. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Those who watched Love run an AHL bench believed curbing intensity, and gaining a better coaching balance from Carbery, will advance his career. After all, when you enter an NHL room full of veterans, you can't be the big bully. Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford is casting a wide net in search of a replacement for Rick Tocchet. It includes the battled tested old guard — Peter Laviolette and Gerard Gallant — and those who have made impressions and deserve a serious look in Jay Woodcroft, Todd Nelson, Canucks assistant coach Adam Foote and AHL bench boss Manny Malhotra in Abbotsford. 'We've got to get it right,' said Rutherford. 'We're moving quickly to set up interviews. It's what route we go and maybe bring in a guy who has some fresh ideas. Manny is on our short list, but we want his focus on the playoffs. He's done a terrific job.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Malhotra, 44, could benefit from taking the Travis Green route to 'The Show' — four seasons in the AHL before getting the big gig here — but there's no magic timeline. It's preparation meeting opportunity. Long-serving University of Denver head coach David Carle, 35, was pursued by several NHL clubs, but the two-time NCAA champion has signed a multi-year extension to remain with the Pioneers, who have made four Frozen Four appearances. It was initially hard to imagine Love getting into coaching because his first job was as strength and conditioning mentor with the WHL Everett Silvertips. It came after driving the opposition crazy with his willingness to drop the gloves. He didn't have the game or the goals, be he had the grit. 'I wasn't a great player,' Love admitted on a Break the Ice podcast. ' I was a stay-at-home defenceman that tried to play honestly and protect my teammates. I had to find a certain skill set that I felt allowed me to survive in terms of the league at that time. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. ' I was trying to get noticed as a young player, but the game has changed and probably for the right way. I wasn't just going to fight to fight. It was a momentum changing moment, or it was a chance to stick up for my teammates. There's a certain skill and hockey IQ thing that comes along with that.' Love's zest to grow turned into WHL coaching stops in Everett and Saskatoon and then running an AHL bench for the Calgary Flames' affiliate in Stockton, Calif., and then Calgary. That's were he really popped up on the NHL radar with back-to-back honours as coach of the year in 2022 and 2023. However, when the Flames promoted Ryan Huska to be the Flames' bench boss after six seasons as an assistant, Love pivoted to the Capitals, where he continues to build his resume. 'The game has evolved and as a coach you've got to evolve,' he stressed. ' You learn different things from players and what makes them tick. Every player is different, what they need in terms of tutelage from a coach, and the relationship component between players and coach. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It's really, really changed. I take a lot of pride in being a good team guy, whether it's for the staff or for the players.' How much the thinking in Vancouver changes remains to be seen because there's a narrowing window here to win. Getting back to the playoffs may better befit someone with a finger on the pulse like Foote — as long as he doesn't join Tocchet elsewhere — or a veteran head coach who has seen it all. Rutherford could go the familiarity route in Foote or Laviolette, who was fired by the New York Rangers after this bizarre season. He's 60 and won a Stanley Cup in 2006 with the Carolina Hurricanes where Rutherford was the hockey ops czar. Laviolette also guided the Philadelphia Flyers to the league final in 2010. 'When you're familiar with someone, you know how they work,' said Rutherford. 'We had success together and I like him as a person and a coach. It's a good name.' And so are many others. bkuzma@ Read More Crime Lacrosse Vancouver Canucks Crime News
