HEAT REPORT - 29.01.18

Perhaps it was only fitting that Brett Pollock played the Star-ring role.
Drafted 45th overall in the 2014 NHL draft, Pollock was selected by the Dallas Stars but would never play for the team's farm team down the road in Cedar Park, Texas, as he was dealt - along with a conditional pick that turned into Dillon Dube - to the Flames.
An up-and-down start to his pro career, Pollock finally played in the building that could have been home and had the Stars seeing red in a 6-2 Heat victory Friday night.

"A little motivation for sure, and it's funny how it worked out with me getting my first of the year here," Pollock said. "Now, I just want to continue to build off it."
Driving to the net, Heat defenceman Cody Goloubef blasted a shot on goal that was stopped, but the rebound fell to Pollock driving to the net and was deflected over the right pad of the Stars netminder.
However, it wasn't his only one.
His second of the night tied the game up as another shot by a Heat defenceman, this time Colby Robak, was stopped but Pollock pushed the loose puck into the cage while being dragged down from behind.
"Coach and I looked at some video of recent games a few weeks ago and there were times that I'd be driving to the net on the outside of guys," Pollock explains. "He was really harping on me going to the inside, and that was what I focused on."
The hard areas of the ice - or as coach Ryan Huska calls them, the uncomfortable areas - where you know you're going to absorb a stick to the side of the ribs or a well-placed slash, that's where Pollock needed to take his game.
"The lesson that he's learned this year is you can't play this game with soft skill, or with high-risk plays at dangerous areas of the ice," Huska said. "When you look at the first two goals he scored, he was driving to the net without the puck.
"That's how goals get scored now-a-days."
While his second of the night stood as the game-winner, the rookie forward - who entered the game with one career AHL goal - wasn't done.
Just as a powerplay chance expired, Pollock showcased his skill when Rasmus Andersson found him on the right circle, a catch-and-shoot situation, and Pollock buried his first career hat-trick.
Pollock joins Spencer Foo as the only Heat forwards to record a hat-trick this season, but also joins Mark Jankowski and Hunter Shinkaruk as the only four players to ever record three goals in a game.
"The guys made it pretty easy on me," Pollock said after the tilt, grinning from ear-to-ear. "I just had to go to the net and tap a few in. The last few games I have finally been feeling myself again, just trying to play simple and go to the net and play hard.
"It feels good."

After recording his third of the night, his return to the bench saw an exuberant Huska give him more than just a pat on the back, and for a player who's found himself in and out of the lineup this season, the adulation received from his hardest critic, but biggest supporter in Huska, must've meant the world to him.
"It's a feel-good moment for him," Huska said after the game, with a similar grin to that of his rookie forward. "He keeps working hard, and he has a good skill set, and it was nice for him to see some results because he has been working hard over the last little while, and he's given us a little more offensive punch.
"We're really happy for him."
The next night with Stockton needing a tying goal once more, they relied on Pollock again to punch one in.
Perhaps his nicest of the weekend, Hunter Shinkaruk sauced one over a defender's stick in the neutral zone that Pollock knocked down, proceeded to turn NHL defenceman Julius Honka inside out, and rip a well-placed wrister into the cage.
The Regina product had entered the weekend with one career AHL goal, which he scored back on April 10, 2016 when he joined the Heat for a brief stint after his WHL career ended.
"It has been a bit of a difficult year for myself, but I am learning a lot, and I am just trying to simplify things and gain coach's trust so I can be in the lineup consistently," Pollock said. "Coming to the rink and trying to get better every day is starting to pay off."

QUICK HITS

• It wasn't just Pollock who headlined the weekend. Spencer Foo was fantastic on both nights, scoring two goals and an assist in Friday's 6-2 win over the Stars, and adding a goal and an assist on Saturday's 4-3 defeat to Texas. Foo now has four goals in his last three games for the Heat and has seven points in his last four tilts.
• Friday could've been the first time in Heat history we could've seen two players record hat-tricks in the same game with the puck on Foo's stick in the offensive zone and the net empty. But in a display of unselfishness, he opted to pass to Robak to ensure the empty-netter sealed Stockton's victory.
• Andersson and Tyler Wotherspoon continued to go back-and-forth in points with both recording assists in both games. Wotherspoon surpassed his previous career high and now has 26 points and is sixth among AHL defencemen in scoring. Andersson, 25 points, is tied for seventh among AHL defenders in scoring.
• Oliver Kylington is also back in the mix, tied for 15th among AHL defencemen with 22 points on the season. He has four assists in three-straight games.
• Andersson is in Utica, N.Y. for the AHL All-Star Game. He competed for the Western Conference in Sunday night's skills competition and will compete for the Pacific Division in Monday's game.
• Goloubef know heads overseas to start his experience with Team Canada for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

QUOTABLES

• "I think it is a different guy every night. We have great leaders in the room. Those guys, they make sure we are ready and focused. It is on the young guys to provide that energy and stuff, too. Everybody has been doing a great job." - Pollock on the next-man-up mentality on the Heat.
• "It was an awesome game. You look at Pollock, he has had a bit of a rough year so far, in and out. I live with him and he has had an awesome attitude all year, and really hasn't wavered with anything. A guy like that deserves it so much, I am happy for him." - Foo on Pollock's big game Friday.
• "He is a team guy, he is a competitive guy. As we are seeing and getting to know him better, I don't think he is a guy that cares who gets the credit as long as we have success as a group and that is a really great trait to have." - Huska on Foo passing up the hat-trick chance to ensure the Heat win on Friday.
• "We have a good team here. We started off the season really well and then we had a lot of call-ups of course, which hurt us a little bit, but that is the business. We have to bear down in the second half whether we have five call-ups or zero call-ups." - Andersson on the mindset heading into the second half of the season.
• "Spencer has been good for quite a while now. He is a guy that is coming into his own a little bit and he is starting to feel good about himself and his game, which is a really positive sign for our team, and him." - Huska on Foo's development this season.
• "You look to your group to take steps in your overall team game. That is the biggest thing for us if we have commitment to play hard in the right ways as a team we will give ourselves chances to win games. We set the goal at the beginning of the year to make the playoffs so we have to find a way to go on a bit of a run here as we move forward." - Huska on his approach heading into the second half of the season.