StocktonHeat.com | MARK MY WORDS

Mark Binetti, the “Voice of the Stockton Heat” will periodically check in with a series of thoughts surrounding the Heat, the world of hockey, and maybe even the world in general. In this week’s column, he dives into the midway point of the season, bounce back responses, and a look ahead to the weekend, in addition to the second half of the year:

It’s hard to believe we’ve reached the midway point of the 2021-22 AHL Season! Feels like just a month ago I first arrived on the scene here in Northern California. We’re now at that part of the year that is going to move like warp speed, so make sure you take in this second half of the season as best as you can and enjoy every moment on the ride as the Heat pursue a regular season Pacific Division Championship and beyond to a Calder Cup Championship.
One observation on this upcoming second half that might seem obvious but should be discussed: the hockey is going to become much harder. The Heat have braved through some adversity at different points of the season, whether it’s been COVID-19 related (both on the active roster and schedule in flux at times) or for other reasons, and seen great success, but the level of play (both internally here and externally from the Heat’s opposition) is going to SKYROCKET for a number of reasons:
First and foremost, playoffs are 34 games away. As teams look to qualifying, desperation for points to increase percentage will be higher than before. Add in the fact that teams still have games to make up due to previous COVID-19 postponements, therefore giving them insane amounts of games in hand, and the stakes raise even more. It’s a lot of hockey from now until April 30^th when the regular season ends.
Secondly, call-ups at certain times (both for our organization and others in the division) will fluctuate the roster. With NHL teams gearing up for their own playoffs, certain players will be relied upon for depth or a “Black Ace” role across the AHL with their NHL parent clubs. Consider as well the ever-so-changing variable of COVID-19 continuing to knock players out of the lineup across all levels of hockey, and rosters can get very interesting in these next three months.
Probably the most glaring reason: familiarity. By now, the Heat have played everyone twice or more (in the case of Tucson, they’ve played 7 of their 8 games head-to-head). Every one of these teams, the Heat have also beaten twice or more in their series. Not only do rival teams have tremendous memory, but their difficulty will escalate the more familiar they are with the Heat, and the more the potential playoff races heat up. For perspective, here’s the head-to-head series breakdown thus far:
1. Abbotsford Canucks: 2-0-0-0 (6 games remaining: 2 home, 4 away)
  1. Last seen: November 5^th and 6^th
  2. Next seen: February 3^rd and 4^th
2. Bakersfield Condors: 3-0-0-0 (7 games remaining: 4 home, 3 away)
  1. Last seen: December 15^th
  2. Next seen: February 19^th and 20^th
3. Colorado Eagles: 4-1-0-0 (3 games remaining: 1 home, 2 away)
  1. Side bar: Colorado is SCORCHING hot, currently on a 9-game point streak and winners of 7 straight as of publishing
  2. Last seen: December 17^th and 18^th
  3. Next seen: March 18^th and 19^th
4. Henderson Silver Knights: 2-1-2-0 (3 away games remaining)
  1. Last seen: January 21^st and 22^nd
  2. Next seen: April 13^th, 15^th, and 16^th
5. Ontario Reign: 2-1-0-0 (5 games remaining: 4 home starting this Saturday, 1 away)
  1. Last seen: January 9^th
  2. Next seen: January 29^th
6. San Diego Gulls: 3-2-0-0 (3 games remaining: 1 home, 2 away)
  1. Last seen: January 19^th
  2. Next seen: March 9^th
7. San Jose Barracuda: 3-1-0-0 (6 games remaining: 3 home, 3 away)
  1. Last seen: January 2^nd
  2. Next seen: March 5^th
8. Tucson Roadrunners: 4-1-1-1 (1 game remaining at home)
  1. Last seen: January 4^th and 5^th
  2. Next seen: April 20^th
One of the best feel-good stories happened on Friday in the series-opener against Henderson. After months of hard work, perseverance, and rehabilitation from a lower body injury suffered in Calgary’s preseason camp, defenseman Johannes Kinnvall made his long-awaited North American pro debut. Not only did he look composed and strong on the ice, despite an abundance of excitement in the opportunity to lace up with the Heat, but he provided the primary assist on Jakob Pelletier’s team-leading fifth game-winning goal late in the third period to help propel the team to an eventual 3-1 win. Kinnvall’s addition to an already deep defense unit could prove to be a long-term game-changer as the Heat play out the second half of the schedule.
Over the weekend, I planned to ask Brad Pascall (Calgary Flames Assistant GM and Stockton Heat GM), and Heat forward Matthew Phillips in my pregame interviews who their midseason MVP of the team would be, but then realized there’s a good “problem” there: there are too many worthy candidates to name just one MVP. Instead, I pivoted the question to who they identified as an “unsung hero” on the roster. While a total team effort, development, and depth were lauded by Pascall, Phillips gave praise to the entirety of the defense corps that has stepped up in key situations and really made some serious noise through 34 games. Connor Mackey and Nick DeSimone have combined for 35 points on the back-end, around 10% of the team’s point output on the year, and the penalty-kill that they’ve been stalwart on all season has been #1 in the AHL since December 8^th. In the 50 days since taking the league’s top spot on the kill, the Heat PK operated at 90% or better for 22 days (18 straight), including a pair at over 91%.
While we’re mentioning points and scoring, Heat Captain Byron Froese and Justin Kirkland each joined the team’s double-digit goal scoring club. That now brings the Heat total to SIX skaters with 10-plus goals on the season: Matthew Phillips (13), Jakob Pelletier and Glenn Gawdin (12), and Froese, Kirkland, and Adam Ruzicka (10). Most people forget that Ruzicka was the first skater in the AHL this season to reach double-digits, scoring his 10^th goal in his 12^th game of 13 played all the way back in November before his call-up to Calgary. To put this in perspective, only four other teams (Hershey, Ontario, Springfield, and Toronto) have four 10-plus goal scorers, while the remaining 26 AHL clubs have three or less, including four that have none.
Heading into the weekend, Connor Mackey and Nick DeSimone are the only Heat skaters that have played in every single game thus far this season. I’ll be blunt: to be an “Iron Man” at any part of the season, given recalls and the ever-looming threat of Covid 19, is borderline Herculean. It’s a true testament to Nick and Connor, who play more than 20 to 25 minutes a game on average, that they’ve taken care of their bodies as best as they can both in and outside of the rink. If they make it to the end unscathed and play in all 68 regular season games, they, and any other AHLer that accomplishes the feat, should get a medal and a key to the city. Over-exaggerated awards aside, it should be recognized in some way, shape, or form at the end of the season league-wide that they “survived”, for lack of better words.
The Heat have this entire week to prepare for the Ontario Reign, who are one of the most offensively potent teams they’ve skated against this season. It’s not lost on Ontario that 20 days prior to their rematch this Saturday, they blew a two-goal third-period lead and lost 26 seconds into OT. Following a loss of their own which the Heat surrendered a two-goal third-period lead and lost in OT, the response will be key. In the previous 10 instances the team has suffered a defeat, the response has been there (and been overwhelming) with early scoring (nine of 10 times scoring first, with seven of the game’s first goals coming in the opening frame) and scoring the right way. What I mean by that is, if you look at the tape, each bounce back game showcases the team’s commitment to sacrificing in front of the net and attempting to score from inside the faceoff dots in the offensive zone. More than ever against a talented team like Ontario, the Heat will need to channel that in their lone contest of the week against the Reign on Saturday.
1. An interesting observation of the Heat/Reign series: every single game, the teams have left the first 20 minutes deadlocked, with scoring exchanges more often than not coming in quick intervals ranging from 50 seconds to five minutes between goals. Additionally, every time the Heat and Reign have met has been a battle between 1^st and 2^nd place in the Pacific Division, making it one of the season’s more “titanic” rivalries.

Saturday’s game is “Turn Back the Clock” Night, presented by Bank of Stockton, where we get a chance to pay homage to the Stockton Thunder, who put the Port City on the map in professional hockey. The team will wear specialty Thunder themed jerseys commemorating this proud history that will be auctioned after the game. Puck drop is at 6pm, and we can’t wait to see you there. If you can’t make it, you can catch our broadcast as always on stocktonheat.com/live, or watch on AHL TV, with pregame slated to begin 30 minutes prior to puck drop. We appreciate your listenership/viewership and support!