The Abbotsford Canucks are Western Conference champions – seven words that, if you'd spoken them five years ago, would have garnered a side-eye and might make others slowly walk away.
But in less than five years, the franchise packed its bags from Utica in the middle of a pandemic, set up shop in the Abbotsford Centre and have slowly built up into what is now a championship calibre team.
The team's historic 2025 playoff ride rolls on and it was capped off by a spectacular come back 4-2 win over the Texas Stars in front of close to 7,000 inside the Abbotsford Centre on Sunday (June 8) night. That win earned the team the prestigious Robert W. Clarke Trophy as Western Conference champions by eliminating the Stars in the series 4-2.
Abbotsford is the first Canadian-based team to reach the Calder Cup Finals since the Toronto Marlies in 2018 and are the first Canadian team to win the Clarke Trophy since Toronto did in 2012.
Basically since February, the Canucks have refused to give up when trailing and keep punching back until the opposition has no choice but to fold. Sunday night was the perfect example of that resiliency.
Abbotsford trailed 2-0 late in the second and some fans may have been making plans for game seven, which was scheduled for Monday (June 9).
But Arshdeep Bains had other plans and after exiting the penalty box he joined an aggressive fore check, skated to the slot and jumped on a Christian Wolanin rebound to finally beat what seemed like the unbeatable Magnus Hellberg with 68 seconds left in the second.
That goal gave the building and the Canucks some life and the third period saw Abbotsford completely dominate for nearly all 20 minutes. Jujhar Khaira fired a shot past Hellberg just 1:52 into the third and suddenly the game was tied. Abbotsford kept up the pressure and Max Sasson was finally rewarded at 11:50 of the third. That goal was Sasson's first in seven games and first this series and it proved to be the Western Conference winning goal. Bains added an empty net goal at 19:25 to seal the deal.
Abbotsford's thunderous third period saw them out shoot Texas 17-4 and allow them little to no offensive zone time. That third period eventually won the team the series and has punched their ticket to the Calder Cup Finals and a date with the Charlotte Checker starting on Friday (June 13).
Surrey represented well on Sunday, with Bains and Khaira combining for three goals. Forwards Danila Klimovich and Phil Di Giuseppe had five shots apiece, while defenceman Akito Hirose was a team-best +3 in the win. Arturs Silovs had another solid night in goal, making 23 saves for 12th win in the playoffs.
The Abbotsford Centre transformed into a love-in with the team after the final whistle and handshakes with the Stars. Chants of "Arty" for Silovs and "Sammy" for Blais were audible throughout the building and the carpet was laid down for the Clarke Trophy. AHL senior director of hockey operations Stephen Thomson presented the leadership group of captain Chase Wouters and assistants Sasson, Jett Woo, Di Giuseppe and the injured John Stevens the Clarke Trophy. The entire team than joined them for a traditional photo, but Canucks players refused to touch it due to superstition.
Sasson explained that Wouters told them beforehand to not touch the trophy. Teams often believe that touching a secondary trophy is bad luck, but Sasson admitted he was tempted.
"Chase let us know we're not touching it," he said, with a grin. "So I just pretended to almost touch it just to mock him a little bit. But yeah, we're looking for the next one."
How bad did Sasson want to touch the trophy and celebrate?
"Pretty bad," he said, chuckling. "I haven't won much and anytime you win a trophy it's pretty cool. But whatever, hopefully we'll get the next one."
Sasson said his series-clinching goal was the biggest goal of his career and added that it was nice to finally score a goal against Texas.
"I've been pretty snake-bit," he said, acknowledging his lack of production in the series. "I've had lots of shots and for one to finally go in, in that moment – it felt really good. It felt like the monkey was off my back and the crowd was just insane. I kept on looking around and thinking wow that was so cool."
Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra said this is a big achievement for the team.
"It's obviously a huge step for us as a group and an organization and I'm happy to see the guys getting rewarded for the way they're playing and the commitment to what we're trying to do," he said.
Malhotra said the third period was extremely encouraging and showed how serious this team is.
"The biggest takeaway for me was the fact that being down in the third period wasn't a back breaker for our sake," he said, of the 2-1 deficit after two periods. "It more galvanized the group in terms of wanting to push through and finding a way."
He praised the play of Bains, who he said has played well but sometimes his efforts are not recorded on the score sheet. Malhotra stated that he also liked the way his team didn't give up after the Stars' first goal, which saw Abbotsford hit a crossbar (along with the red light going on and arena lights dimmed in celebration) and believing they scored, only for Texas to march back and open the scoring.
"It was an unfortunate bounce but obviously the guys stopped playing at a critical time, but we were still in a good place," he said. "We felt that we were controlling the majority of play in the first period and it was just one of those bounces. It was disappointing, but not something that shook the group."
Wouters said this is a night to remember for the team.
"It's been a goal of ours all year to get to this point," he said, of reaching the finals. "I'm really proud of everyone in that room. It takes a lot of hard work and effort throughout the year to get to this point. So everyone will enjoy themselves tonight, but there's still lots of work left to do."
The Abbotsford-Texas series featured three overtime games and one other one-goal game. Stars head coach Neil Graham said it was a very close series.
"We ran out of gas today," he said. "We tried to weather the storm and recollect ourselves but full credit to Abbotsford. It was an excellent series, they're well-coached, they play the game the right way and I wish them luck moving forward. It was an extremely tight series every game."
The Canucks next travel to North Carolina for the final round against the Charlotte Checkers. Game one is set for Friday (June 13) and begins at 4 p.m. Abbotsford time. Game two goes Sunday (June 15) at 1 p.m. Abbotsford time. The series then shifts to Abbotsford for game three on June 17 and four on June 19. Both games in Abbotsford have a start time of 7 p.m.
Game five, if necessary, is set for June 21 at 6 p.m. inside the Abbotsford Centre. Continue visiting abbynews.com for ongoing coverage of the Canucks' journey in the Calder Cup playoffs.
