Abbotsford, BC – The Abbotsford Canucks (18-15-3-1) won for the third consecutive game on Friday night at Abbotsford Centre, beating the Manitoba Moose (25-13-2-1) 8-2. Spencer Martin was victorious in net and Arvid Holm was saddled with the loss for the visiting Moose.
1-2-3, it’s easy as A-B-C. Jack Rathbone stayed hot on Friday night as the blueliner opened the scoring for the Canucks at the 1:23 mark of the first period. Rathbone went to the backhand and beat Holm up high. Will Lockwood and Matt Murphy had the helpers, but Rathbone did the dirty work himself as he stickhandled his way to the net all the way from the blue line to give Abby a 1-0 lead.
Despite being slightly wonky, Leon Gwanke tied the game for the Moose on powerplay at the 6:14 mark of the first period. Declan Chisholm and Cole Maier had the helpers on the tying goal for the Moose.
Nic Petan was not interested in participating in a tie game and made his opinions known in the first period. The Delta, BC product scored at the 10:34 mark to give the Canucks a 2-1 advantage. Petan Man was not satisfied with just a one-goal lead and doubled the Canucks’ margin with another goal 21 seconds later. All told, Justin Dowling and Will Lockwood both had a pair of assists on the Petan goals.
Next up in the spotlight was Phil Di Giuseppe. The Toronto, ON product was not content with the two-goal advantage and decided to put the game out of reach early. Di Giuseppe scored at the 18:04 and the 19:23 mark to make it 5-1 for the home side after the first 20 minutes.
Sheldon Dries added to the considerable lead in the second period, scoring the sixth goal of the contest at the 7:07 mark of second period. Di Gisueppe and Matt Murphy had the helpers for the Canucks.
Dries wanted more and got more in the early stages of the third period, scoring to make it a 7-1 game for the Canucks 41 seconds into the third period. John Stevens had the assist on the powerplay marker for Abbotsford.
Manitoba made it a 7-2 game but Dries once again lit the lamp at the 9:53 mark of the third period to make it 8-2 for the home side. The goal gave Sheldon a hat trick. Nic Petan and Justin Dowling had the helpers on the powerplay goal.
8-2 is how this one ended as the Canucks cruised to an easy win on Friday night.
THREE STARS
- Sheldon Dries, ABB (3-0-3)
- Justin Dowling, ABB (0-4-4)
- Nic Petan, ABB (2-1-3)
PHOTO OF THE GAME
Will Lockwood and teammates celebrate tonight’s 8-2 win against the Manitoba Moose.
Story by BRIAN HELBERG
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