The Abbotsford Canucks look to bounce back from last week’s miserable return to action with double-header weekend versus the San Diego Gulls.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the Bakersfield Condors annihilated the depleted roster of the Farm team last weekend.
- Out-attempted at 5v5 by sixty-five across three games
- Outscored fourteen to five
- Bakersfield’s powerplay went 2/13, while Abbotsford’s powerplay went 0/10
Game 23:
- The healthiest the Canucks were last week, and it required playing Alex Kannok Leipert as a fourth-line forward
- A devastating open-ice hit by Bakersfield’s Luke Esposito took Carson Focht out of action
- The AHL did not suspend Esposito for the hit in question.
Game 24:
- The first COVID wave left the Canucks with only ten forwards and five defenceman
- Two of the forwards dressing for Abbotsford were ECHL PTO’s in Brandon Cutler and Yushiroh Hirano
- One of the forwards was a PTO from USports in Nicolas Guay
- The Canucks held an improbable two-goal lead only to lose it during the final minute of the third period and eventually, overtime.
Game 25:
- The Canucks taxi squad makes some moves, recalling Sheldon Rempal and Ashton Sautner from Abbotsford’s already depleted lineup.
- The exhausted Farm team gets destroyed in shot attempts.
- The negative-40 shot-attempt differential at 5v5 was the worst in any game I’ve tracked over the past three seasons.
- The AHL team’s second-worst shot-attempt differential occurred on November 23rd, 2019, against the Laval Rocket. In that game, the Utica Comets were out-attempted by thirty-two and won by a score of 4-2!
- The negative-40 shot-attempt differential at 5v5 was the worst in any game I’ve tracked over the past three seasons.
The cherry on top of last week’s turd-cake of a weekend; the Canucks saw another game postponed due to COVID-related reasons.
On the one hand, it’s great that the Canucks got an extra day to have guys recover and come off COVID protocol. But bad that it came at the expense of more Abbotsford players testing positive.

The batch of ECHL PTOs performed admirably, all things considered. However, they too got worked by the Condors. Hard to fault them, as all five players came to Abbotsford on short notice and played infinitely more than any ECHL PTO usually plays in an AHL cup of coffee.
Heck, defenceman Garrett Johnston arrived from Newfoundland only to find out his gear didn’t!
TLDR; last week was a wash for Abbotsford. Fortunately, they can pretend it never happened and start fresh this week in sunny San Diego!
TRANSACTIONS
Transaction: #Canucks forward Phillip Di Giuseppe has been activated from COVID-19 protocol and reassigned to Abbotsford.
— Canucks PR (@CanucksPR) January 13, 2022
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Looks like Rathbone, Petan, Lockwood, Woo, Dries, and Di Giuseppe return to Abbotsford's lineup!
It's a [late] Christmas miracle#AbbyCanucks #Canucks
— Cody Severtson (@CodySevertson) January 15, 2022
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THE OPPOSITION
Here's how we're lining up tonight!#LetsGoGulls | #ABBvsSD pic.twitter.com/FvlUaqgZnD
— San Diego Gulls (@SDGullsAHL) January 15, 2022
Great news for the Canucks as the Anaheim recently recalled their AHL goaltending tandem to buffer for the injured John Gibson.
San Diego’s tandem tonight consists of Jeff Glass and Francis Marotte.
- Jeff Glass famously made his NHL debut against the Edmonton Oilers, where he saved 42/45 en route to a 4-3 victory in overtime *deep sigh* For Chicago…
- Marotte is two years removed from four years of NCAA hockey, his AHL numbers have been rough in limited looks, and his ECHL numbers this season are pretty unspectacular.
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STARTING ROSTER
Some familiar faces are back in the lineup! 🙂
➡️ Petan and Rathbone both return from injury
➡️ Dries, Lockwood, Brubacher and Woo return from AHL COVID protocol
➡️ Di Giuseppe returns to the lineup after being recalled to Vancouver#AbbyCanucks pic.twitter.com/WjPcsNUzix— Abbotsford Canucks (@abbycanucks) January 15, 2022
- Rathbone rejoins the lineup after missing the last eight games due to injury.
- Di Giuseppe rejoins after missing the last six games with the Canucks/COVID-Protocol.

Tonight’s lineup doesn’t have much experience playing with each other on their respective lines, but my goodness, it’s nice to have a real lineup again!
Don’t feel like reading? Click here for spoilers!!
GAME 26:
1st period:
- Gulls are wearing their thirds tonight; they’re pretty dope!
- Canucks are pressuring heavily early! Gulls spent most of the opening two minutes pinned in their d-zone.
- Nic Brouillard loses the puck in the neutral zone, and Phil Di Giuseppe (#34) capitalizes on the turnover with a clever stick lift. PDG races into the offensive zone for a shot on Marotte.
- GOAL – ABBOTSFORD – 1-0 Canucks: Phil Di Giuseppe makes up for lost time with an easy tap-in goal from the doorstep to give the Canucks an early lead! After three minutes spent inside the offensive zone, the Canucks pressure pays off as Justin Bailey (#95) leads the entry for Abbotsford before dropping back to John Stevens (#16). Stevens dangles through two Gulls’ defenders before dishing to Noah Juulsen (#47), who throws a little stutter before taking a shot on Marotte. Juulsen’s shot goes uncontrolled by Marotte, and Di Giuseppe (#34) taps in the rebound.
- Danila Klimovich (#46) shows off some moves in the neutral zone as he dangles through three players before entering the zone for a shot attempt.
- Jacob Perreault hip-checks himself on Adam Brubacher (#2)
- Trevor Carrick launches a shot from the point on DiPietro. Bryce Kindopp draws a roughing penalty against Sheldon Dries (#15) and takes a penalty for roughing.
- Will Lockwood (#10) steals the puck inside the offensive zone and generates a two-on-none for him and Jack Rathbone (#3). Lockwood dishes to Rathbone for the one-timer, and Marotte makes a huge save with the glove!
- Bailey (#95) claps iron with a very ASMR-quality PING.
- Alternate nerd caption: “I wish my PING were as good as this shot by Bailey!”
- GOAL – ABBOTSFORD – 2-0 Canucks: John Stevens scores his fifth goal of the season with a rocket of a one-timer! Justin Bailey sets up the goal doing typical ‘Justin Bailey things.’ First, Bailey races end-to-end, draws in every Gulls’ defender, cuts around Kodie Curran to the center, then dishes off to John Stevens (#16), all alone at the right circle, for the one-timer past a stretched out Marotte.
- Jarid Lukosevicius (#14) and Yushiroh Hirano (#71) generate two quick shots on Marotte off an offensive-zone faceoff win.
- A long shift for the Canucks inside the d-zone as Rathbone (#3) fights hard for the puck only to fumble his clearing attempt. Rathbone’s giveaway led to a five-alarm scoring chance for San Diego!
- First sustained pressure in the offensive zone for San Diego in the period
- Hirano (#71) fans on his shot attempt but recovers to nearly hit Tristen Nielsen (#84) with a fantastic one-timer pass through traffic.
- Canucks with another tough shift inside the d-zone as they struggle to control the puck for a clean breakout.
- Rathbone, on both shifts, patrolled around the net adequately but struggled to string together a clean exit pass.
- Nic Petan (#7) with a very Garland-Esque spin-o-rama in the offensive zone before his shot attempt.
- Morgan Adams-Moisan draws a tripping penalty against Hirano (#71).
- Gulls earn the first powerplay of the game
PK1: Bailey, Stevens, Stephens, Juulsen
- Canucks immediately clear off the d-zone faceoff and again moments later.
- Bailey (#95) sets up Stevens (#16) for a shorthanded shot on goal.
- About 99% sure that’s Will Lockwood “wooing” after the shot.
PK2: Wouters, Rathbone, Woo, Lockwood
- How’s that for a PK unit!?
PK3: Nielsen, Di Giuseppe,
- San Diego fumbles possession and loses the offensive zone, allowing the Canucks to tie up the puck and kill off the remainder of Hirano’s penalty.
- Petan (#7) capitalizes on a bad pass inside the Gulls’ zone and cuts to the middle for a shot on Marotte.
- Will Lockwood draws a cross-checking penalty against Mike McKee to give the Canucks a 46-second powerplay to close the period.
PP1: Bailey, Petan, Dries, Di Giuseppe, Rathbone
- Canucks lose the faceoff and reset from behind DiPietro’s net
- Petan’s (#7) breakout pass to Di Giuseppe (#34) doesn’t have enough steam, and San Diego pounces for a dangerous shorthanded try.
- Canucks re-enter the offensive zone with less than ten seconds in the period but fail to generate any shots.
- A terrific start for the Abbotsford Canucks to erase the memories of Bakersfield!
- Canucks finish the period having outshot the Gulls twelve to four and outscoring them two-zip!
2nd period:
- Canucks start the second period with a minute-thirteen on the powerplay!
PP1: Bailey, Petan, Dries, Di Giuseppe, Rathbone
- Rathbone attempts a breakaway pass, but San Diego sends it the other way.
- Canucks lose the zone and puck-possession; a rough powerplay by Abbotsford.
- The Canucks’ passing looks very ugly through the opening four minutes of the second period. Fortunately, the Gulls are looking just as bad at capitalizing on the repeated turnovers.
- DiPietro goes post-to-post with a groin-tearer of a save attempt! However, Brandon Cutler (#48) gets a hand on Alex Limoges open-net shot attempt for the block.
- Juulsen (#47) leaves his man while defending the Gulls’ rush, leaving Rathbone (#3) to defend a two-on-one! DiPietro comes up big with a save!
- DiPietro with another huge stop! This time Juulsen misses taking the puck from Limoges behind DiPietro’s net, leading to a dangerous scoring chance for Jacob Perreault in the slot!
- The second period is a complete inverse of the first; San Diego spends the first seven minutes inside the Canucks zone! Ugly start for Abbotsford!
- Will Lockwood takes a hooking penalty that puts the Canucks on their second penalty kill!
PK1: Stevens, Bailey, Woo, Stephens
PK2: Rathbone, Juulsen
PK2: Stephens, Woo, Wouters, Dries
- DiPietro spots the puck through traffic to make the save!
- DiPietro with a post-integration that would make David Quadrelli proud!
- Lockwood leaves the box; Gulls rapidly closes the gap in shots on goal.
- Justin Bailey (#95) records the first shot on goal of the period for the Canucks. Thirteen minutes deep!
- Sheldon Dries (#15) gives Hunter Drew a hard shot from behind that disrupts his shot attempt.
- Another period of sustained dominance from San Diego inside the Canucks zone.
- GOAL – ABBOTSFORD – 3-0 Canucks: I believe it was Sun Tzu, the great military strategist, who said, “it do be like that sometimes.” After a long shift inside the d-zone, Devante Stephens (#24) springs Tristen Nielsen (#84) down the ice for his third goal of the year! And my goodness, what a goal it was!
- Lockwood (#10) and Lucas Elvenes exchange giveaway passes inside the Gulls’ zone.
- Hirano (#71) picks off Rafferty’s slap pass, fights for the zone exit, and draws a holding penalty while entering the Gulls’ zone!
PP2: Lukosevicius, Cutler, Woo, Klimovich, Hirano
- Hirano (#71) hustles to the blue line to prevent the early clearance by San Diego.
- Hirano (#71) flubs a pass from the blue line leading to a shorthanded two-on-one for San Diego. DiPietro makes an incredible sliding save on Greg Printz. Printz throws his hands on his helmet and checks around DiPietro to see how his shot did not go in!
PP1: Petan, Bailey, Dries, Rathbone, Di Giuseppe
- San Diego generates three shot attempts off the ensuing faceoff to kill the rest of the period.
- San Diego dominated Abbotsford this period, a complete inverse of the first!
- San Diego outshot the Canucks twelve to five, but the Canucks outscore the Gulls three-zip after forty minutes.
3rd period:
- Canucks start the period with fifty-three seconds of powerplay time!
PP1: Petan, Bailey, Dries, Rathbone, Di Giuseppe
- PP1 enters the zone and generates a few attempts, but a clearance attempt ends up over the glass, and PP2 replaces them.
- PP2 generates one shot before the powerplay expires
- Klimovich (#46) draws in two defenders, allowing him to hand off to Cutler (#48), who sets up Nielsen (#84) for a dangerous point-blank chance at the front of Marotte’s net!
- DiPietro makes a clutch save after a giveaway by Sheldon Dries (#15).
- Lockwood (#10) wins a 1v1 inside the Gulls’ zone that starts up a great passing sequence by the Canucks. Unfortunately, they can’t connect for a shot attempt, but I liked the quick movement after Lockwood forced the turnover.
- Trent Cull won’t like this stick-check by Klimovich (#46) in the neutral zone.
- GOAL – SAN DIEGO – 3-1 Canucks: Lucas Elvenes scores his first as Gull with a laser beam from the high slot. Bailey (#95) attempts to break the puck out of the zone, but a turnover in the neutral zone leads to a quick zone entry for Elvenes, and he beats DiPietro’s glove side.
- Dries (#15) disrupts a breakout pass then rips a one-timer on Marotte.
- Klimovich starts an offensive zone faceoff, so maybe Cull didn’t hate that stick-check?!
- Lockwood (#10) drops Rafferty with a hit along the boards then finishes his shift with a hit on Greg Printz.
- DiPietro is taking “playing deep in his crease” a bit too seriously!
- San Diego pulls Marotte for the extra attacker with more than four minutes left in the period.
- GOAL – ABBOTSFORD – 4-1 Canucks: Justin Bailey hits the empty netter to restore the Canucks three-goal lead! Have to love the screen provided by Di Giuseppe (#34) on a backchecking Kodie Curran.
- Bailey’s goal took the wind out of San Diego’s sails; zero effort to possess the puck from the home team.
- GOAL – ABBOTSFORD – 5-1 Canucks: Sweet merciful crap, Danila Klimovich (#46) races down the ice with Tristen Nielsen (#84) on a two-on-one and rips one helluva wrist shot over Marotte’s glove side. Zero celly too. ICE COLD! That should be Nielsen’s second point of the game! Good lord.
- Time winds down on this one. Mikey DiPietro picks up his much-needed fourth win of the season.
RESULT:
Abbotsford Canucks def. San Diego Gulls 5-1
SCORESHEET:

TAKEAWAYS:
- The Abbotsford Canucks earn a much-needed win after a string of brutal losses to start the year. Though the second period was quite messy, I thought their first period was quite strong, and they shut things down quite well in the third. The Canucks held San Diego to only seven shots on goal in the final frame, preventing them from generating any momentum after the Elvenes goal.
- Mikey DiPietro needed that win badly! A shutout would have been nice. But I think he’ll take whatever he can get at this point! Tonight’s win is just his fourth this season and his first since November 30th! DiPietro finished the game with a stellar 0.958 save percentage and a 1.00 goals-against-average. DiPietro looked much more like his old “clutch” self.
- Rathbone wasn’t noticeable offensively, but I noticed him quite a bit in the d-zone around the net. Rathbone was physically assertive and doing a solid job of preventing rebound chances from the netfront.
- The Canucks need to polish up their breakouts. The Canucks attempted the “bump exit” play multiple times tonight only to fail. The bump-exit is simply a stationary skater shuffling a pass to a skater moving out of the d-zone with speed. For whatever reason, the Canucks kept throwing the puck to San Diego players repeatedly on these exit attempts. Perhaps, fatigue from the long layoffs due to COVID or injury? Whatever it was, it wasn’t pretty.
- Kudos to John Stevens for being an effective presence at 5v5 and shorthanded. The combination of him and Bailey has proven to be quite lethal for Abbotsford despite the clear speed difference between the two forwards. Stevens finished the game with one goal and two assists on four shots. Stevens was also on-ice for four of the Canucks five goals-for, an impressive stat-line for the veteran centerman.
- I liked Klimovich’s effort tonight! I was worried that his missed stick-check on Kodie Curran’s breakout would result in another benching. Fortunately, Cull recognized Klimovich’s effort tonight and the three shifts he took in the final ten minutes of the game resulted in one of the nastiest snipes of the season.
- Noah Juulsen had a rough game tonight. He ended the night as a +3, but he was one of the guys most frequently caved-in during the second period.
- Di Giuseppe and Petan looked to have not missed a beat. Petan was quiet as the game moved into the 3rd period, but he had a strong game despite the lack of points.
- I think Jett Woo caught the Gulls off-guard with his physicality. On more than one occasion, a Gulls’ skater would attempt to run through Woo with a check only to be planted on the ice by Woo simply standing his ground. He had a really good defensive game tonight, but I still find myself underwhelmed by his offensive game.
- Sheldon Dries was quite hit-or-miss all night. Some plays were really good, and some were very *queasy-face emoji*
- Lockwood had a solid return game highlighted by his usual tenacity and forechecking prowess but had several of those dumb giveaway moments that make you shake your head.
I'm LOVING the in-between-whistles game where I get to play "spot the $2 beers in the crowd!"#AbbyCanucks #Canucks pic.twitter.com/xuGHmjoxjj
— Cody Severtson (@CodySevertson) January 15, 2022
- @Abbotsford_Canucks_entertainment_department: please host a $2 beer night for the next home game please. The San Diego crowd-inserts were as entertaining as the actual game! There is something hysterical about seeing EVERY ADULT skulling a can of bud-light in the crowd. You wouldn’t even know their home team was getting crushed on the scoreline. They were having a ball!
Cody’s Three Stars
- John Stevens
- Tristen Nielsen
- Michael DiPietro
HM: Justin Bailey
Next Up on the Docket
The Abbotsford Canucks face the Gulls tomorrow at 7 PM PST in the rematch.
Plugs
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