ABBOTSFORD, British Columbia – The Abbotsford Canucks season came to an abrupt stop on Monday amid rising concerns over the spread of COVID-19. With case counts continuing to rise and issues over cross-border travel and quarantines, the league decided to shut down early.
Photo Credit: Ben Lypka/Abbotsford News
The two games scheduled on Wednesday and Thursday against the Tucson Roadrunners have been postponed and will be played at a later date. These postponements fall in line with what has been happening across the NHL this past week. Abbotsford’s parent club in Vancouver had their games postponed until after the holiday break along with all the other Canadian-based teams.
Abbotsford heads into the early stoppage with a 10-9-2-1 record, which is good enough for fifth in the Pacific Division. On special teams, the powerplay ranks tenth overall at 20.7 percent, and the penalty kill has them sitting in 13th in the league.
Undoubtedly, the Abbotsford Canucks have been led offensively by Sheldon Dries. His 13 goals and 23 points have him in a tie for seventh overall in league scoring 21 games into the season.
Vancouver’s second-round draft pick from 2021, Danila Klimovich, has been in and out of the line-up but has managed three goals and five assists in his professional rookie campaign.
On the backend, Cameron Schilling leads the way with 13 points this season. However, highly-touted prospects Jett Woo and Jack Rathbone have both had solid seasons while dealing with injuries. Jett Woo was injured back on December 11th in a game against San Jose and has yet to return. Jack Rathbone has six points in only seven games this year but is close to returning to game action according to Canucks Army reporter Chris Faber.
The real story for Abbotsford is in-between the pipes. After last season, it was thought by many that Michael DiPietro would get the majority of the playing time this year in Abby. However, most nights recently he has been the third goaltender behind Spencer Martin and Arturs Silovs. Spencer Martin has run away with the starting job posting a 5-0-1 record in six starts with a .930 save percentage.
Above all, the Omicron variant is having its say now, and the league is at the mercy of the travel restrictions and quarantine rules. All we can do is hope this passes and all the leagues can get back to playing as soon as it is safe to do so.
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