June 13th, 2025
JC Clemas
That’s right: something in this organization is a success!
The absolutely miserable and dramatic season by the Vancouver Canucks certainly took away some of the shine of their AHL affiliate’s success, but with Vancouver missing the playoffs, Abbotsford has had their opportunity in the spotlight. Man, have they ever made the most of it.
They cruised past Tucson in the first round. They took down Coachella Valley in 4 games. They squeaked out a close contest against a powerhouse Colorado team. After all that, it was time for the Western Conference Finals against the Texas Stars.
Abbotsford didn’t come that far to stop there.
In game 1, the two teams pushed each other to overtime. Both goalies had been playing well to that point, so it seemed like it could be a marathon.
Under 6 minutes in, Christian Wolanin lined up a puck that bounced off the boards for a one-timer. Somehow, someway, with no traffic, Stars’ goaltender Remi Poirier let that one leak in. Tough break for someone who had saved 43 of 45 shots up to that point.
1-0 series lead.
Game 2 was pretty much a stalemate. There’s not too much to say about this one. Akito Hirose scored the only goal of the game, and it was hilarious. After some deflections, it trickled across the goal line in what seemed like slow motion. Poirier attempted to lunge backwards to swat it out of the crease, but he just didn’t quite have the positioning to get there. The fun thing is that they actually never ask how.
2-0 series lead.
With that win, Abbotsford guaranteed that they’d either win the series in Texas or they would go back to BC for games 6 and 7. Home ice was on their side in the long run, but in the short run, they had 3 games in a row in Texas to play.
Game 3 showed that Texas wasn’t ready to just roll over and die. They won the game 5-2 and pretty much had control throughout the entire game. Sweeping a team in the Conference Finals is hard (supposedly), so it’s not shocking that Texas would respond on home ice.
2-1 series lead.
Game 4 was probably the best of the whole series. It was a total seesaw game. 1-0 Texas. 2-1 Abbotsford. 3-2 Texas. 4-3 Abbotsford. Both teams had two leads in regulation, and neither ever went up by 2 goals.
With just 19 seconds left in the game, Texas managed to tie it up with their goalie on the bench. For the 2nd time in the series, we would need overtime. The first overtime period came and went without a goal. Then, in double overtime, Danila Klimovich absolutely humiliated a Texas defender with a toe drag before roofing one on the backhand. Klimovich has had a rollercoaster of a time in his professional hockey career already. It makes you feel good to see him score such a big goal. Unfortunately, he scored it roughly one minute after Leon Draisaitl’s overtime winner in game 1, so I was a little distracted.
3-1 series lead.
A 3-1 series lead has become sort of scary ever since the 2016 NBA Finals. It’s not out of the question that a team playing with desperation could take 3 straight games. And if they do, the team that loses gets made fun of harshly. So when Texas took game 5 in overtime to extend the series, there was certainly some cause for concern.
3-2 series lead.
Lucky for Abbotsford, they had two attempts on home ice to take the series. For a while in game 6, it looked like they were going to need both. The Stars took a 2-0 lead, which they held until late in the 2nd, when Arshdeep Bains got on the board for his 2nd goal of the playoffs. Abbotsford would still need a big 3rd period to ensure they wouldn’t need a game 7.
All they did was have their best period of the playoffs.
It was utter domination. Just two minutes in, Jujhar Khaira tied the game and was subsequently tackled to the ice by Sammy Blais in celebration. Abbotsford didn’t let off the gas there. They continued to push before Max Sasson scored a tip-in goal with 8 minutes left in the frame. Now, all that was standing between them and the Calder Cup Finals was a clock. Time dwindled down, and after Texas pulled their goalie, Bains wedged a high one from centre perfectly over the Stars defender and into the net.
Game. Set. Series.
For the first time in their (short) franchise history, the Abbotsford Canucks are headed to the Calder Cup Finals, which start on Friday at 4 pm Pacific. The Utica Comets made the finals as the Canucks’ affiliate back in 2015, but lost to the Manchester Monarchs in 5 games. That team had names like Jacob Markstrom, Alex Biega, and Brendan Gaunce, and was coached by some guy named Travis Green.
Abbotsford appears stronger. They’ll have to be.
The Canucks’ opponent for this championship series is the Charlotte Checkers, AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers. The Checkers are a superteam by AHL standards. Jesse Puljujärvi, Rasmus Asplund, MacKenzie Entwistle, Kaapo Kähkönen, and Tobias Bjornfot are just some of the players on the roster with considerable NHL experience. The Checkers have absolutely mowed through their competition in the playoffs so far. They’re 10-2 to this point, with both losses coming in the same series. They swept the defending back-to-back champion Hershey Bears in round 3. They then swept Laval in the Eastern Conference Finals, who were the top team in the AHL in the regular season.
They’re sitting on 10 days of rest to this point, which Abbotsford will hope is detrimental to Charlotte’s preparedness for these finals. But, realistically, this is by far the biggest challenge Abbotsford will have to face in their quest for the Calder Cup. They clearly go into this series as the underdogs, but hey, they’ve battled all through the playoffs so far. Why stop now?
Linus Karlsson has continued to lead the Canucks through the playoffs, with 17 points in 18 games now. Bains picked it up in that series against Texas, and they will undoubtedly need him to keep that going into the finals. The series could easily fall into the hands of Artūrs Šilovs, who will need to be on his A-game against a scary Charlotte team if the Canucks want to win the Calder Cup, but the offense is the big story. The Checkers have been shutting teams down so far, giving up just 21 goals in their 12 games so far. One player to watch out for is Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who has been quiet during these playoffs and was scratched for the back half of the Western Conference Finals. If he finds his way back into the lineup during this series, his offensive ability could play a huge factor for Abbotsford.
No matter what happens in these finals, it’s incredible to see the season Abbotsford has put together. With so many young players that have the ability to be long-term players for the big club, there’s a clear interest for Vancouver to see these guys developing and performing in these big moments. But, ignoring the NHL aspect, these young guys have been succeeding in professional hockey and are in the finals of the 2nd highest-skilled professional hockey league in North America. It’s great to see.
Go Canucks go!