Another leader on the team is former AHL Defenceman of the Year, Christian Wolanin. The 30-year-old leads on the backend and has 35 points in 47 games this season. Wolanin spoke about the team finding their groove at the right time of the year as they come into the weekend on a seven-game winning streak.
“Winning any game, not even just a seven-game win streak, it comes down to team defence,” said Wolanin. “When six of us on the ice are working in unison, good things are going to happen. When your defence is good and your team defence is good, the offence should come eventually. It’s been a lot of help from all parties, and I think we’ve all been doing our part on the defence.”
The hottest player over the seven-game winning streak has been forward Max Sasson. He’s got 10 points through the winning streak and gives credit to his head coach, Manny Malhotra, for helping him find confidence in his game.
“Ever since Manny and this coaching staff have gotten here, they’ve put a lot of confidence in me right from the rookie tournament when I started playing for them. They were super positive with me, and I wasn’t scoring a lot at the beginning of the year, but they stuck with me, and then I started having some good games,” said Sasson.
“Our forward group is probably one of the best forward groups in the league. It’s really hard for teams to shut us down for 60 minutes. They maybe can do it for a period. But, over the course of a game, having four lines that are all very talented, I think over the course of a game, we wear teams out, and the results are starting to show.”
Vancouver Canucks' General Manager Patrik Allvin announced on Friday that Max Sasson had been recalled from Abbotsford to the NHL under emergency conditions.
Abbotsford currently posts a 35-23-3 record and sits in third place in the Pacific Division. The second through seventh-seeded teams play in a three-game play-in that gets them into the second round of the playoffs. All three games are at the higher seed’s building and this Canucks team knows the feeling of getting a chance to host those games.
“When everybody in British Columbia rallied around us, came to support us, and turned their attention to us, it was a great feeling. The arena certainly felt like there was good energy in it,” said Wolanin.
“That’s one of the things that the guys who were lucky enough to play in that series have been saying to the younger guys. We are telling them, ‘Let’s get this on home ice so you guys can see how cool it is, see the experience.’ It’s one of those things where you have a true home-ice advantage playing in Abby for a playoff game.”
Nikita Tolopilo and Ty Young have been the two goaltenders patrolling the crease, and Jiří Patera is nearing his return to the lineup after suffering an injury in November.
Tolopilo leads the team with 31 games played this season and is tied for fourth in the AHL with four shutouts. Young has had a strong start in the AHL during his first pro season; he posts a 7-3-0 record and has a .902% save percentage with a 2.89 goals-against average.
With talent at every position and a coaching staff that has evolved in their first season as a unit, the Canucks are poised to make some noise in these upcoming playoffs.
And the players can’t wait to return to those electric moments at the Abbotsford Centre.
“Those playoff games are one of the memories that I look back on fondly of my time here in Abbotsford,” Wolanin said.
“It was electric, the towels were going, it was packed, and there was a little bit of a buzz in the town before; it was a lot of fun. To be able to recreate that and bring the energy back. It would be a blast. We’re doing a good job of just staying in the moment, one game at a time, and just trying to find a way to set ourselves up to have a chance to do that again.”
The Abbotsford Canucks are in San Jose for a weekend series with the Barracuda. They have catapulted themselves into a position to control their destiny on hosting the opening round series and look to stay hot with some crucial games in the final stretch.
