Canucks Win Big Against Barracuda

The Abbotsford Canucks (7-7-2-1) got back to their winning ways on Sunday night, beating the San Jose Barracuda (6-9-1-0) 5-2 at Abbotsford Centre.

Nic Petan opened the scoring while on the powerplay at the 10:05 mark of the first period. The goal came on the second shot of the contest for the Canucks. Sheldon Rempal and Jack Rathbone assisted on the play.

The Canucks did not have the lead for long however, as the Barracuda stormed back to tie the game 30 seconds later at the 10:35 mark in the first period. Sasha Chmelevski got the tying goal for the away side, as Scott Reedy and Jake McGrew had the helpers.

Jarid Lukosevicius gave the Abby Canucks a 2-1 lead with less than three minutes to play in the first period. Tristen Nielsen and Danila Klimovich set the goal up with a pair of pretty passes.

Following a scoreless second period, Ryan Merkley tied the game for the San Jose Barracuda at the 1:23 mark of the final frame. Reedy and Nick Cicek assisted on the play.

The Canucks answered back in a hurry, netting the go-ahead goal 36 seconds later to make it a 3-2 game. Sheldon Dries got the go-ahead goal for Abby. Assists went to Madison Bowey and Jarid Lukosevicius.

Abbotsford’s fabourite son, Noah Juulsen, sealed the victory for the Canucks tonight when he found the back of the net at the 14:52 mark of the third period. John Stevens and Vincent Arseneau collected assists on the play.

Sheldon Dries hit the empty net to make it a 5-2 game and that’s how this one ended. The Abby Canucks got back in the win column thanks to a strong overall effort in all three phases.

QUOTEABLES

“He’s an intense, gritty defenceman. I love seeing those guys getting rewarded, it’s like a lineman getting a touchdown.” – Head Coach, Trent Cull on Noah Juulsen scoring his first goal of the season.

“As coach would say, we were playing sticky out there. We were playing fast in the neurtral zone, we were going through bodies, and going hard to the net. It was awesome. I love playing like that, we all love playing like that.” – Jarid Lukosevicius.

“Our game last night wasn’t how we wanted to play. Coming into today, we know we had to play a lot better. And tonight we accomplished that.” – Noah Juulsen on how the Canucks bounced back following last night’s 6-4 defeat.

“We’re just moving the puck. Jeff Ulmer is doing a great job finding new plays that create openings for us. All 10 guys on both units are executing. It’s going good right now, we just have to keep it going.” – Sheldon Dries on the lethal Canucks’ powerplay as of late.

NOTABLES

• Nic Petan’s goal in the first period was his 50th career American Hockey League goal. Petan now has five goals in nine games for the Abby Canucks this season.
• Sheldon Dries has scored five goals in his last three games and leads the club with 12 goals this season.
• Noah Juulsen scored his first goal of the season in tonight’s win.
• With tonight’s assist, Sheldon Rempal is now the team leader in assists with 11 this season.
• Spencer Martin earned his second win of the season, turning aside 23 of the 25 shots he faced.
• Rempal led the Canucks with five shots tonight.
• The Canucks went one for four with the man advantage and held the Barracuda scoreless on four powerplay opportunities. Abby has now scored on four of their last eight powerplays during the last two games.

THREE STARS

1. Jarid Lukosevicius (1-1-2)
2. Spencer Martin (23 SV, .920 SV%)
3. Noah Juulsen (1-0-1)

PHOTO OF THE GAME

UP NEXT

Next up on the docket for the Abbotsford Canucks (7-7-2-1) will be another date with these same San Jose Barracuda (6-9-1-0) on Saturday, December 12th. The two teams may be the same but the location flips, as the Canucks will travel south to San Jose. Puck drop is scheduled for 1:15 pm from the SAP Center at San Jose. The Canucks will enter play in eighth place in the Pacific Divison with 17 points and San Jose sits ninth in the division with 13 points.