HEAT REPORT - 15.01.18

The sport of hockey tends to be a rollercoaster ride, full of peaks and valleys, but this week for the Stockton Heat may have been slightly more extreme with incredible highs, but a few tough lows.
On Wednesday night, the Heat's homestand continued with the top team in the Pacific Division, the Tucson Roadrunners coming to town. With Stockton on the shorthanded side, at the time seeing that both Andrew Mangiapane and Marek Hrivik remain with the Flames, it was time for someone to step up and carry the team.
That person would be Ryan Lomberg.
"It is important with a couple of our big point getters getting called up, for people to need to step up and take those roles, and I think everyone is doing a good job of stepping up," Lomberg said. "We need to take another step and make sure we are getting all these points and not leaving any on the table."

Despite Lomberg's two-point night, including scoring Stockton's fifth short-handed goal of the season, Tucson's two goals in 1:11 to start the third period burned the Heat.
Clearly though, Lomberg was seizing his opportunity with a little more ice time, and the points began to fall for the forward, recording his second-straight multi-point game and totaling a goal and three assists from the previous Saturday's win over San Antonio and Wednesday's defeat to Tucson.
His coach was taking notice.
"I thought he was the best player on the ice on both teams," Heat head coach Ryan Huska said. "He is skating now and he is feeling really good about himself and he is having an impact on the ice. When you have some guys that get called up you need certain people to step up and raise their level and I think Ryan has been the one guy that consistently has done that. He has seen a real increase in his minutes and I think he has done an excellent job with it."
"So for me he was the best player on the ice tonight, period."

The following day though saw the rollercoaster ride skyrocket to the top of the peak, with an exciting announcement that veteran defenceman Cody Goloubef would be playing for Team Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
"It's such an honor and privilege to represent your country," Goloubef said. "To have that chance on the Olympic level is just a dream come true."
Goloubef, who's signed to an AHL contract with the Heat, has had a terrific year, winning the Spengler Cup with Team Canada on December 31 and having recorded 6 goals and 14 points in 29 games this season.
And with the Heat's homestand continuing on Friday, welcoming in the Texas Stars and knowing Tyler Parsons was going to make his AHL debut, the club were looking to stay on that peak and bounce back from the Wednesday night loss.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
In what was one of the toughest losses the Heat have ever suffered on home ice, the Texas Stars trounced the Heat 7-2. Tyler Parsons stopped 33 shots, and was spectacular early on, but as the score began to increase, it seemed that emotions on the bench got the better of the squad.
After the game, the veterans took the blame, with alternate captain Luke Gazdic, who scored his first goal for the Heat on Friday's loss, summing it up best.
"Whether we like it [the young guys] are looking at us all the time to see how they should react and how they should be emotionally, physically and mentally," Gazdic said. "It starts with guys like me and Rod [Pelley]. We have to set the tone here. It is a really good [Texas] team that is coming back in for more blood tomorrow and we can't let what happened tonight, happen again.
"Feel really bad for Parsons, he is a young kid we all like and respect and we hung him out to dry tonight."

While it wasn't Stockton's largest loss, it was the first time since the first season of hockey in Stockton back in 2015-16 that a team was able to hang seven on the Heat in a single game.
So all eyes were on the Heat on Saturday for how they would respond after an effort players, coaches and fans alike didn't appreciate.
Respond they did.

Stockton was the better team in the first period, and captured an early goal thanks to a brilliant breakout led by Rasmus Andersson that found Hunter Shinkaruk at center ice. Shinkaruk reacted quickly moving it up to Darren Nowick, with that pass creating a two-on-one, which was finished by Austin Carroll for his second goal of the season.
Not to be outdone, the Texas Stars would start to gain their legs and through the midway point of the game, really looked to seize the momentum and pummel Jon Gillies in the Stockton net.
He'd rise to the challenge.
"When your team isn't playing the way you would like them to play when you have a little adversity with some people out of your lineup, your goaltender has to be your best player and that has to happen fairly consistently for you to have success and hold the fort until things shift or turn a little," Huska explained. "Jon was the best guy on the ice period, and when they made a push in the third period I thought he made a lot of good saves."
Those saves in the third may have been some of Gillies' best work of his AHL career, a few point-blank one-timers from the slot turned away, and most impressive was an early shorthanded breakaway from Texas that resulted in an incredible kick save by the maestro in the cage.

Gillies would stop all 28-shots he faced for his third shutout of the season, and sixth of his AHL career, one behind David Rittich's seven shutouts for the Heat.
"Shutouts are nice, but I was focused on the win more than anything," Gillies said. "It was a grinding game and obviously last night we didn't put our best foot forward, so today was all about regrouping and flushing it out and coming back and responding tonight. [Texas is a] very good team and it showed tonight with their speed and skill. We definitely played tight tonight. We played great defense and got a timely goal."
"It was a great team win."
Stockton was able to capture the 2-0 win, and did so without Lomberg, who on Sunday would earn his very first call-up. After an up and down week, Stockton stamped out a signature win on Saturday night, saw a player earn his first call-up to the NHL, have a player named to the Winter Olympic Games along with four other Heat alums, and despite the adversity, still remain in second in the Pacific Division standings.

QUICK HITS

• Must be nice to have a bobblehead made in your likeness this year. All three of the bobbleheads planned at Stockton Arena this season are of players who now find themselves called up. Mark Jankowski's bobblehead was given out in December, Lomberg's bobblehead night was last Saturday and Andrew Mangiapane is set to be enshrined in bobblehead form later this season.
  - Up until Friday night, Stockton hadn't lost to Texas in regulation since December 12, 2015. The Heat are now 11-2-1-1 in 15 games against Texas and 19-4-1-3 against the two teams from Texas.
  - Both Rasmus Andersson and Tyler Wotherspoon are tied for 7th among AHL defenceman in points with 22, just 11 points behind the leader.
  - Austin Carroll continues to have a penchant for scoring big goals as 33% of his 15 goals have been game-winners for the Heat in his career.
  - Goloubef, 28, now becomes the fifth player in the history of the Flames top affiliate to be called to international duty while playing for the top affiliate of the Flames, joining John Harrington, Jim Johannson, Kevin Dahl and C.J. Young. Harrington played for Team USA in the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo of the former Yugoslavia while playing for the Colorado Flames (CHL). Jim Johannson would be next to earn his chance to go to the games with Team USA in the 1988 Winter Olympics held in Calgary after playing for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles (IHL). Finally, both Dahl and Young would play for Team Canada and Team USA respectively during the 1992 Winter Olympics held in Albertville, France with both players skating for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles. Of those previous four, only Dahl medaled, earning a Silver medal with Team Canada.
  - Goloubef is one of four players with Stockton Heat connections to be named to the roster for Team Canada including former Heat goalie Kevin Poulin and former Heat forwards Mason Raymond and Linden Vey.

QUOTABLES

"We are extremely proud of Cody being named to the roster for Team Canada and look forward to him competing for gold in Pyeongchang. It's a tremendous honour for any player to represent their country, and we are very excited to see the tournament begin in February and wish Cody and Team Canada nothing but the best of luck." - Heat general manager Brad Pascall on Goloubef being named to the Olympic Roster for Team Canada
"It is my first AHL start other than pre-season. It was good to be in the net and unfortunately it was a tough loss, but that is hockey and it is part of the game. So we have to gather ourselves and stick to how we are supposed to play and that is why we have them again tomorrow. Take it with a grain of salt and have it in the back of our minds tomorrow and that will give us an extra push and an edge to our game and tomorrow, we play how we are supposed to play." - Tyler Parsons on his AHL debut in net
"The game is a little faster. Bodies are bigger and guys are more skilled, this is the next step before the NHL so guys are more skilled so you have to be more patient with these guys." - Parsons on the difference between the AHL and the ECHL and OHL
"Some nights you get bounces and others you don't and that is what goes into it. The consistency part of it comes from controlling what you can control. As a goalie that is making the saves you should make and then making a few saves you maybe shouldn't make. Just need to do whatever it takes to win, it doesn't matter if it is 1-0 or 10-9 that is your ultimate job as a goalie." - Jon Gillies on staying consistent in between the pipes
"You could definitely feel the emotions in the locker room. We all knew this was a big game that we needed, and it was a must win. It was a good play by both my linemates and [Andersson] to get me the puck and it felt good to get it in the net and put us up 1-0." - Austin Carroll on the importance of the 2-0 win and his game-winning goal on Saturday
"For me it was a response game. Our guys were not good last night. It was an unusual night for our players in regards to effort. That was maybe the first time all year we didn't see enough of it. I thought we responded the right way. When you are in situations like that is always your older players that get you ready." - Ryan Huska on the bounce-back win on Saturday night