Patrick WilliamsTheAHL.com Features Writer
The last time the Abbotsford Canucks played at home was June 21 and the Charlotte Checkers were in town for Game 5 of the Calder Cup Finals. And with the Canucks up three games to one in the series, the championship trophy was in the building, ready for a celebration at a sold-out Abbotsford Centre.
But the Checkers had other plans. Jesse Puljujarvi‘s pinball goal at 3:22 of overtime extended the series and sent both teams back to North Carolina for Game 6, which Abbotsford won and gave the Vancouver organization its first Calder Cup championship.
So this weekend the Canucks return to Abbotsford for the first time this season. It’s also a final chance to celebrate last season’s championship run. Friday’s home opener against the Ontario Reign marked the raising of a championship flag and another chance to bask in the memories of last season.
Many faces from last season are elsewhere; only five players in the lineup for the Cup final four months ago skated in Friday’s home opener. It’s largely a new group that will have to learn some of the same lessons that last season’s team mastered. Head coach Manny Malhotra‘s team split their first four games on the road before falling 5-2 to Ontario last night.
As the championship banner went up to the rafters of the Abbotsford Center, memories came flooding back.
“You get chills when you think about it,” defender Jet Woo said in a video the team released this week.
Now it’s full steam ahead into this season. The Canucks have another matchup with the Reign on Sunday afternoon as this weekend’s set opens a six-game homestand. Two visits from the Calgary Wranglers, an arch-enemy of Abbotsford, await next week. After a light schedule to start this season, games like these upcoming home dates will fully engage the Canucks in this campaign and continue the process of building a new team.
But the lessons of last year can be carried over into this season by the players who lived through the excitement of the 2024-2025 season.
“Every man in there was pulling his weight,” captain Chase Wouters told“and if everyone does that, that equals success.”
At TheAHL.com, writer Patrick Williams has been covering the American Hockey League for two decades. Writer Patrick Williams also currently covers the league for NHL.com and FloSports and is a regular contributor on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. He received the AHL’s James H. Ellery Memorial Award for his outstanding coverage of the league in 2016.
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