The Sports Corner

AHL Game Day preview: Heat need big guns to step up as they look to draw even with Rochester Americans

It’s an overused cliché in the hockey world, but the best players need to be the best players.

This directly affects the Abbotsford Heat as they look to even their best-of-seven North Division semifinal against the Rochester Americans in Game 4 tonight at the Abbotsford Entertainment and Sports Centre.

So far in this series, the best of the best for Abbotsford have been a rookie defenceman by the name of Keith Seabrook, two ECHL call ups in John Lammers and Jon Rheault and, to a lesser extent, Brett Sutter.

Sutter was good in Game 3 with two goals, which is why he garnered an honourable mention after he and Mikael Backlund were deemed to be no shows in the first two games of the series by head coach Jim Playfair.

That same message can be delivered to the likes of Cam Cunning, Garth Murray and David Van der Gulik.

Since the series has began, all three have rarely been seen or heard from.

In fact, the veteran trio, who played on the top line for the remainder of the season when Jason Jaffray went down to injury, have combined for two points in three games.

Van der Gulik, the local hero named the team’s Most Exciting Player this season by the scribes that cover the club on a daily basis for his robust style of play despite his size, hasn’t been nearly the same dynamic player in the post season as he was during the regular campaign.

He’s been held pointless as well as is a minus-three so far these playoffs and was finally noticed in the third period of Game 3 when he threw a seismic body check when the score was 7-3 Rochester.

Cunning, who enjoyed a career year with 19 goals and 38 points in 69 games with the Heat this season, has nothing to show on the score sheet in the playoffs and has accumulated just four penalty minutes.

While he can’t be blamed for back to back second period collapses that have resulted in the Heat starring down a 2-1 deficit in the series heading into tonight’s pivotal Game 4, Cunning said he knows he has to be better.

“You’re never happy unless you’re winning,” he said.

“We’ve just got to keep doing what got us here and it will pay off.”

Murray has two assists, and although he’s admitted in the past that he’s not the most reliable offensive threat, he said it’s time for the leaders on the team such as himself to pick up their play.

“We’ve got to set an example for the guys,” he said.

“Every shift is huge and that’s where it kind of got away from us in Game 3. The momentum got going the wrong way and we just never really calmed down.

“We’ve got to realize that you have to worry about your next shift and doing your job out there and if you do that it’s going to take care of itself

Murray, who was given the captaincy half way thru the season when Brett Palin was deemed unfit to play because of a concussion, admitted it’s been the second period that had given the Heat fits in two of the three games so far but that’s it time to move on.

“We’re at home and we have a chance to square the series up tonight and if we can pull this off we’ll be happy with 2-2,” he said.

But if the Heat are to be successful, the coach believes a bigger contribution from his veteran forwards is needed, especially with the injury to Jaffray, the team’s leading scorer in the regular season.

“When you look at what they’ve done to get us here, they’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting,” said Playfair.

“They look around and they see a lot of the young kids in here trying to bring energy and they need to bring leadership and direction.”

INJURY UPDATE:

Shawn Weller and Colin Stuart are the latest Heat forwards to suffer an encounter with the injury bug that has plagued the Calgary Flames farm team all season long.

Weller is sidelined with a lower body injury; Stuart with an upper body injury. There is no timeline for either player on when they will return to the lineup.

And frankly, Playfair, didn’t bite on the issue one way or another.

“What do you do?” he asked.

“It is what it is. Our sick bay is bigger than the dressing room. This time of year, it doesn’t matter. . .I can’t prepare the team and prepare myself with that in mind.”

J.D. Watt, who has yet to play in this series, will draw back into the lineup as will Olivier Latendresse.

Latendresse suited up for Game 2 in Rochester, but saw limited playing time.