Winning Culture, Winning Weekend 

ABBOTSFORD, BC – It’s a Friday night, and six young men are looking for ... a restaurant. Nothing beyond a good meal and conversation. Saturday is a workday. Phones are out, discussions are underway, and 21-year-old Kraken prospect Ty Nelson, in his second season with the American Hockey League affiliate Coachella Valley Firebirds, seems loosely in charge.

No less an authority than head coach Derek Laxdal declares: “Nelly has earned having a voice in the locker room,” referring to the 2022 third-round draft choice playing so effectively in his AHL rookie campaign that he was promoted to top-four ice time and penalty-kill and power play turns by mid-season.

The dinner group included Nelson’s top-pair partner, Charlie Wright, 22, who split his 2024-25 season between ECHL affiliate Kansas City and Coachella Valley, plus four members of the 2023 draft class: Eduard Sale, Caden Price and Oscar Fisker Molgaard, all age 20, and Andrei Loshko, who just turned 21 in October. The dinner choice was this BC town’s location of The Keg chain.

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Saturday morning starts with what one hopes is not a bad omen. Electricity in the team hotel goes out at 5:30 a.m., and power isn’t restored until nearly 9 a.m. That means assistant coach Brennan Sonne is walking through a second-floor hallway by cellphone flashlight before 7 a.m. He is meeting up with the coaching staff, who planned an 8 a.m. Uber to the Rogers Forum, home rink of Abbotsford Canucks (which has backup generators). Most of the coaches know Laxdal's time is get-there-early punctuality.

The XL car departs at 7:45 crammed with five leaders: Head coach Derek Laxdal, assistants Brennan Sonne, Stu Bickel, and Vince Stalletti, plus skills consultant Matt Larke. They anticipate reviewing video clips on their laptops to show to players in morning and pre-game meetings ahead of the weekend’s two-game series. The players Laxdal puts on a lineup whiteboard represent the AHL’s youngest team, average age of 22.3.

“It’s certainly the youngest group of defensemen I’ve seen on an AHL team,” said Kraken GM Jason Botterill, who has been in NHL front offices in Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Seattle. “The fact that the young defensemen are developing and showing so well and still finding ways to win hockey games is a testament to the young players and the coaching staff.”

Botterill shared his views before Sunday’s game, which, spoiler alert, was the second of two dramatic Firebirds wins. He was quick to compliment “strong leaders” like NHL-tested veterans John Hayden, Mitchell Stephens, and Ben Meyers.

“It hurts right now not having [defenseman Gustav or “Goose”] Olofsson out there helping from that standpoint, but I have to say we are relying on second- and third-year AHL defensemen Ty Nelson and Ville Ottavainen for leadership, and they are delivering it.”

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With the full lights back on and player bus trips complete, the first official morning skate event is a 10:20 power play meeting led by the aforementioned Sonne. Everyone is gathered in a cozy (OK, small) visiting coaches' room, except one younger forward. Logan (“Mo”) Morrison, the undrafted center leading CVF in goals with 10 going into the weekend, volunteers to rouse his stray teammate. Soon enough, Sonne is exhorting his players at high-energy octaves.

“Welcome to the lower mainland,” said Sonne, who grew up in Maple Ridge, about 30 minutes from Abbotsford, which explains why after Saturday’s game, he was hauling a heavy bag (maybe 30 pounds was his guess) filled with moose, cow, deer, and fish jerky supplied by relatives attending the contest. Coachella Valley won in a shootout after Sonne’s 6-on-5 empty net tutelage resulted in a late tying goal from Meyers.

The 38-year-old Sonne was head coach for WHL Saskatoon before stepping up to the AHL, winning 130 regular-season games over three years, plus going deep in the playoffs two of three postseasons. He starts his meeting with a “great work” shout-out to 2022 second-rounder Jagger Firkus for keeping a puck in the zone during a power play in the Firebirds’ last home matchup before this four-game, two-town road trip. That simple detail plays out on a video showing a resulting power play scoring chance. Players snap their fingers in appreciation.

In rapid-fire fashion, Sonne then instructs forwards David Goyette and Carson Rehkopf on how to get open for passes from Nelson. while also telling newcomer-by-offseason-trade J.R. Avon how to optimize power play scoring chances by “bringing the puck as deep as you can” if opponents set up in a certain penalty-kill situation. The meeting is over fast – the coaches know young minds wander – and it is a thing of hockey beauty. Where’s the video camera when you need one?

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After the morning skate, the first bus back to the hotel is already gone, and Ben Meyers is the only Firebird in a makeshift stretching area. It’s basically a corridor with some stretching devices within arm’s length (rollers are prominent, goalie Niklas Kokko keeps a camouflage-covered one at his locker). Meyers says hello from the floor, and the discussion turns to hot yoga since he is doing a typical end-of-class cross-body stretch with his bent left knee lifted over his right side, then the opposite to the left. He says his glute muscles feel tight. He holds the postures for a couple of minutes at a time, and expresses interest when told legendary Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson put Michael Jordan and company through yoga moves during practices, though not necessarily calling it such back in those days.

Fellow NHL-tested forward John Hayden appears ready to do his own extra stretching alongside his linemate. Later Saturday, Hayden will frequently be net front screening the goalie. On Sunday, Hayden, a pro’s pro just like Meyers, is sitting in the crammed coaches room with first-year goaltending coach Vince Stalletti for a scouting report on how to beat the Abbotsford goalie in the second game of the weekend series.

For his part, Meyers is mentoring his younger teammates even in the heat of puck battles. While on the bench during Saturday’s second period, Meyers tells 2022 second-rounder Rehkopf: “I don’t know why I am thinking too much about aiming my shots -- I need to just shoot.” That’s precisely what the Kraken free agent signee did to tie the game an hour later near the end of regulation.

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With a 7 p.m. puck drop Saturday, Firebirds radio play-by-play man Evan Pivnick is on the 3:45 first bus to the arena. He will first check in with coaches and support staff in his role as communications director and overall problem-solver before heading upstairs to set up his own audio equipment. He is a one-man show on the road, controlling his own audio and the crowd mic while producers back in CV at 106.9 The Eagle handle commercials and cut clips of his highlight radio calls (“I am grateful for that; I had to do my own highlights in the ECHL”).

Pivnick has voluminous notes and factoids to share during his game call. Before every game, he fills in an oversized template of his own making (think dimensions of a large desk blotter) with lineups, stats, and player info (especially delightful is hearing him discuss long-time AHLers and their many stops). He keeps track on his laptop of promotional reads he does each game and knows the AHL.TV is using its audio along with the game video. His vantage point up here in BC is, well, substandard. He is in a corner booth and far from the Firebirds' offensive zone in the first and third periods. It doesn’t faze him.

The conversation with listeners (and AHL.TV viewers on FloHockey) is engaging and full-throttle at all the right times. It’s under-appreciated, but Pivnick knows when to crank up or tone down the crowd mic as he stands during his game call. Think what you may, but calling a three-period, high-event hockey game without a partner is hard to do well. Pivnick does it masterfully and, by future Hall of Fame broadcaster John Forslund’s estimation, is deserving of an NHL opportunity.

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Some 30 minutes before the 5:20 p.m. locker room meeting (100 minutes before puck drop), head coach Derek Laxdal (everyone calls him “Lax”) writes out a lineup more “pinwheel” than list. He laments that his forward line listed last via three jersey numbers left to right will automatically be considered “fourth” when he doesn’t deem such status for center Fisker Molgaard and forwards Sale and Goyette.

Fisker Molgaard, superb across all zones at even-strength and on special teams in both weekend games while also displaying elite moves, is fresh from debuting in the NHL. He earned an assist in his first game at United Center in Chicago with his parents and younger brother, 30 hours into the travel journey, showing up 10 minutes before Oscar’s rookie lap. One teammate suggested he carries himself like a 10-year prowhile a coach opted for a six-year pro, but you get the idea.

While Laxdal was expressing dismay at relegating players to lower-six designations – remember this is a consummate coach for two-plus decades and a formidable player himself, empathizing with kids just out of their teens in the year 2025 – Brennan Sonne offers up a completely different, part-tongue-in-cheek take from a different corner of the coaches’ room. “When I saw myself posted on the fourth line, I thought, ‘great!, I’m playing tonight,” he quips. Everyone in the room smiles and laughs.

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As the Saturday game unfolds, morning power outage forgotten, another potential bad omen literally gets tossed into the Firebirds’ path to victory. It is Abbotsford’s turn at an AHL tradition started by the 88-year-old franchise, Hershey (PA) Bears. It’s Teddy Bear Toss night. Fans bring teddy bears of all shapes and sizes (or buy one on the concourse) to toss on the ice in hat-trick fashion when the home team scores its first goal of the game.

On this night, Abbotsford opens the scoring in the first period, but not late enough to go to intermission while the stuffed animals are collected and bound for local distribution to kids in need. Pivnick, not his first Teddy Bear Toss, notes how efficiently the Abbotsford ice crew has corralled all of those bears while Firebirds players try to find open ice to keep their legs moving.

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As the third period starts, the CVF coaches and players know “playing fast” is a necessity as they trail 3-1. In the first minute, trade acquisition Avon showed his elite-level speed rushing through the Canucks zone to take a hard shot that is saved, but Abbotsford goalie Jiri Patera can’t control the rebound. Firkus is in the right lane, a perfect place to quickly release the puck into the net before Patera can slide over. The Czechia-born goalie made many spectacular stops among 42 saves on the night, but not this time.

Meyers, whose glute muscles apparently are not an issue, scored the equalizer with 1:34 left on the clock, cashing in on a Firkus (two goals, one assist) pass set up by AHL rookie defenseman Tyson Jugnauth. The 2022 fourth-round defenseman (No. 100 overall) was named WHL Defenseman of the Year last season. He turned heads during Kraken training camp and preseason games. Over the weekend, from Pivnick’s corner catbird seat, it is evident that the 21-year-old Jugnauth sees successful breakout passes in his mind before the play fully develops on the ice. He is equally unafraid to shoot and/or jump into the offensive play, teammates by now knowing he might pop up behind the opposing goal with regularity.

The game heads to overtime with both Patera and CVF goalie Nikke Kokko stopping high-danger chances galore. Both goalies deserve the extra standings point, but the shootout tilts to Coachella Valley with Avon scoring the key goal and Kokko making a final stop to prompt a Firebirds celebration with the personable Kokko at its epicenter. Just saying, most goalies are stone-faced, quiet, or both on game day. When the Finnish 21-year-old netminder spotted a visitor on the team bus three hours before game time, he happily said, “Hi!” with a huge grin.

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Avon is smiling himself when asked about his decision to skate hard and quickly at Patera during the shootout.

“I kind of have three moves in my arsenal,” said Avon, who scored a shorthanded goal in Sunday’s 2-1 win. “What I did [in the shootout] is my go-to. I know a lot of guys like to come in slow these days ... but I like to come in fast and put it in the back of the net.”

Avon caught Laxdal’s attention early, as did fans who watched Avon in training camp at Kraken Community Iceplex. His speed seemed a perfect match for linemates Morrison at center and Firkus on the opposite wing. So far, so impressive. Firkus leads the team with 11 goals, Morrison has 10, and Avon six (two short-handed).

Avon, in his third year of an NHL entry-level contract, said he immediately processed the trade from the Philadelphia organization as a “fresh start.”

“I hadn’t really gotten the chance to show myself or who I am,” said Avon. “I decided to come over here with just a clear mind and no weight on my shoulders. Playing with my linemates has been a huge part of that. Great guys, great players, and helping me a lot. Lax, too, going over video with him and the confidence he had in me early on ... since then, things have been great.”

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Firebirds players rave about Laxdal, respect his disciplined approach to systems of play, and this is important, are having fun in what is a grind of a hockey year, ramped up by young pros trying to make a memorable impression each game night and practice.

Laxdal would pass off kudos to his assistant coaches and support staff. But it is clear from this weekend and previous weekends during Coachella Valley’s highly successful first three seasons and a blossoming fourth one that the head coach hasn’t missed a beat continuing a winning culture in the CV locker room, buses, team meals and occasional planes.

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Speaking of planes, many in the CVF travel party were likely still sleeping early Monday morning before the team bus ride to Vancouver for a flight to Calgary to play their Pacific Division rival on Tuesday and Thursday. But Pivnick is in helper mode alongside a small cadre of staffers who handle all the road load-ins and load-outs when the Firebirds travel. Saturday’s early morning electricity outage was, well, let’s say interesting.

On Monday, still dark outside, Shawn Thorns, head equipment manager, and Justin Sommer, assistant equipment manager, are at the forefront of the packing, loading, and unpacking today and all travel days. They are ably joined by Brett Bernstein, head athletic trainer, Justin Broy, assistant athletic trainer, and Dan Franceschetti, strength and conditioning coach. The crew is up at 6 a.m. and on the way to the airport, while the player bus doesn’t depart until 8. NHL dreams are powered by this sort of dedication and effort, no matter whether the lights turn on or not.