CAVENDISH FARMS REPORT - 11.01.22

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but the Stockton Heat wouldn't have it any other way.
With the turn of the calendar and the back half of the season on tap, the target on the team's back is noticeable every time they the ice. At the top of the standings, the club knows they'll get everyone's best.
That's a challenge they're ready for.

"The second half of the hockey season, teams' games start to elevate, their team play is tighter, personnel is more consistent," said Heat head coach Mitch Love. "When you're in first place in the division, you're going to get everyone's best efforts. It just shows the importance of making sure we have the right mindset in terms of the way we need to play the game and making sure we're playing competitive, playoff-type hockey."
For as much success as Stockton has had this year - the Heat racing out to a Pacific Division-leading record of 21-5-3 on the season as we near the halfway point - there's been one list the Heat are short on, by no fault of their own - responding to adversity.
Every time they've had a chance to flex their bounce-back, they have. But it's good to know that tool's in the back pocket.
So with the clock winding down Sunday in a meeting with the Ontario Reign, a road game for Stockton against the second-ranked team in the division, and a two-goal deficit showing on the board, the sink-or-swim opportunity was a chance to elevate their game, overcome adversity and build on the gap between themselves and the top contender.
"It was a good game," said Matthew Phillips. "We felt if we kept playing the same way, goals were going to come, even if it meant taking all 60 minutes to do so. We shot a lot of pucks and generated some high-quality chances. We knew if we continued to do that, eventually they'd break our way."
Walker Duehr got the comeback started with 9:08 remaining in regulation, finishing a cross-crease feed from Jakob Pelletier to trim the deficit in half. Martin Pospisil netted his fifth goal of the campaign with 4:24 left on the clock, erasing the late deficit and forcing overtime.
From there, it didn't take long for Stockton to earn the extra point, with the Heat controlling the opening faceoff of the 3-on-3 added time and Connor Mackey potting his own rebound 24 seconds later for the win.
"It was huge," said Mackey, who earned first star honors with a two-point effort. "That was a big win for us, the way we did it. Coming back in the third from two goals down, I don't think we've had one all season like that that I can remember. It's never good to be down in that position, but it was great to get the boys together and battle back from that position, knowing when we hit some adversity and we're down like that, we can come back together and win the game.
"It was a good feeling."
The 2-2-0-0 start to the season-long, seven-game road sprint hardly qualifies as flashing red lights, but for a team that has sailed along as smoothly as the Heat had, Sunday's heavyweight tilt raised some eyebrows. The Heat got on top early, Eetu Tuulola's third goal in three games, but conceded four of the next five scores in the game as the road team fell behind.
When the moment comes to put up or shut up, that's the true test in seeing what the team is made of. On Sunday, like nearly the entire 2021-22 season, the Heat passedthe challenge.
With two games to go on the road trip, Stockton will look to finish strong before returning to home ice for a Saturday night tilt, game No. 33 on the season. With the halfway point of the campaign nearly here.
There's no big changes that need to happen for the Heat, who have ascended to the top of standings, just continuing to play their game and do what they do best, even if that means eating some haymakers along the way.
"We embrace the challenge of being at the top of the standings and knowing we'll get teams' best every night," said Mackey. "It's where we want to be. We wouldn't have it any other way.
"Knowing we'll get everyone's best game, it elevates our game too. Knowing it'll be a good game every night, they're fun to play in."

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS:

Tuesday at Tucson - L, 2-1
Wednesday at Tucson - W, 5-2
Friday at San Diego - L, 4-1
Sunday at Ontario - W, 5-4 (OT)

QUICK HITS:

THEY SAID IT:

"We haven't really dealt with a ton of adversity as a group in terms of wins and losses to this point. It's been good for our guys to see. Again, we understand now, each and every night no matter who we play, we'll get the best effort possible from our opponent. If you're not in tune with what we need to do as a team, in terms of the way we need to play the game to be successful, you're not going to have success as a hockey club. Our guys are starting to figure that out. There's a few games we haven't been at our best in this last stretch, but hopefully (Sunday's) come-from-behind win gives us some confidence and getting back and being more consistent in our team play."
- Love on Stockton's response to an up-and-down road trip
"He's just a Swiss Army Knife for us in terms of he can play any type of game we need him to. He can be physical. He gets pucks to the net. He can shoot the puck. He's very responsible defensively. He's a smart hockey player. He goes to the areas you need to get to to score goals. That's what you're seeing now with him, is he's finding a way to the back of the net for us. It's nice to see. He's become a very trustworthy player for us."
- Love on Eetu Tuulola
"You kind of find that when you're on the other side of it, you know it's a big game when you're facing the top team. We know the other team is going in with that mindset, especially when we're coming in to their building. We see teams' best. We see teams' top goalies every night. We see teams pushing, rolling their top players with a lot of minutes and playing heavy matchups. It translates similar to playoff-style hockey every night."
- Phillips on life on the road as the top team in the division
"Scoring goals is one thing you like to do is help the team on a nightly basis, contributing to the scoresheet. It gives me confidence to build on, to be a better player every day. It's helping my confidence a lot."
- Tuulola on his run on the offensive end
"We're responding well. We know it's not going to go our way every night, but I think we've competed hard and we're doing a lot of the right things. Even if we're down in the game, I feel like we haven't had many games where it's because of a lack of work ethic. We stick to our system, do a lot of the right things. Sometimes you won't get the bounces, but just sticking with the process. (Sunday) we stuck with it, believed in ourselves and found a way to get the win."
- Mackey on Stockton's response to adversity