CAVENDISH FARMS REPORT - 30.03.22

Head to the sky and hands raised, after 71 days Glenn Gawdin had his long-awaited resolution.
"A little relief," said the centreman, 2019-20 AHL all star and one of the top scorers on the best team in the AHL. "It had been a long time since I scored a goal. It just felt good. I think that was the coldest I'd ever been in my entire life. You start to overthink things when it's been that long.
"It just felt good to see one go in."

Worth noting, down-on-his-luck Gawdin ranks third on Stockton's roster with 45 points, so it's not like he hasn't produced. For most of his two-month-long dry spell without a tally, Gawdin centered Jakob Pelletier and Matthew Phillips as one of the most potent top lines in the league.
Despite going from Jan. 15 through March 27 without igniting the lamp, Gawdin remained productive - he had 16 assists in the 22-game span. He's two points off his career-best output of 47 in the shortened, 2019-20 season, and will match his games played total from that year on Wednesday when the Heat take on Colorado.
"We were still winning games and the team was doing well," Gawdin elaborated. "You're not going to get down when your team is winning, that's ultimately what you want. I just wanted to stick to the little things that I do well, that we all need to do to continue to win games. If that's faceoffs, details, trying to set up other guys so they can put the puck in the net, that's my job."
Gawdin's goal Sunday came shorthanded, Stockton's AHL-best 13th of the year while down a skater. It improved the Heat's record to 10-0-1 on the season when scoring shorthanded, the club's fourth consecutive win overall coming against an upstart San Diego club that brought an eight-game point streak into the matchup.
But if you ask head coach Mitch Love, he didn't see a cold stretch. Hesaw production coming in other areas, growth that may not appear as tangibly on the game sheet.
"I'm sure as an athlete (scoring) is an important thing, especially in his case where he's used to scoring, generating offense," said Love. "Even though he hadn't scored a goal for us in two months then did the other night, he's been producing offensively for us. But one of the most intriguing things for me as a coach watching Glenn play over the last couple months, and especially over the last two, three weeks, has been how much more committed consistently he's been to his own end of the ice, being harder to play against physically. That's been an important component to his game, taking focus off putting the puck into the back of the net and more into our team game, what our group needs from him in order to be successful.
"Guys were really happy for him the other night, and hopefully that's just the start for him the rest of the way."
A deep forward group yields some margin for error when players such as Gawdin struggle to score, an anomaly in his four years of professional puck. Just recently, Luke Philp has surpassed the 20-goal mark, setting a career-best scoring output, and he's knocking on 40 points. Emilio Pettersen and Connor Zary have ticked up past the 20-point mark, nine goals and 12 assists each.
As head coach Love explains it, the construction of the team is what provides a safety net for Stockton and makes the Heat so dangerous to play against.
"It seems like we've talked all year about an individual here or a line there has gone cold, but there's an individual, or individuals, or a whole line that has stepped up in the absence of someone's offensive game," said Love. "We feel as a group that's one of the strengths of our team is the depth, guys picking up for each other when needed. Right now we're a group that's trying to play a playoff brand game of hockey with 13 games left here (in the regular season).
"When you get a chance in the second season, you're not able to just turn it on like a light switch. You have to be playing and having the mindset as an athlete of playing your best hockey heading into the playoffs. That's what we're striving for as a group."
Stockton puts an end to a 13-game month of March on Wednesday, a home tilt against the Colorado Eagles. Then comes the final push, 12 games in the month of April with the Heat hoping to claim that elusive first divisional crown.
It's a challenge Gawdin, and the rest of the club, is embracing.
"Every game in the final stretch is a big game," said Gawdin. "Teams are looking for points, and so are we. We're trying to ramp up before the playoffs, find our best game so when the playoffs come we're at our best. Every game, it gets harder to get points, and every team we play, we're going to get their best, so we have to be at ours."

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS:

Tuesday at San Jose - W, 3-1
Friday vs. Abbotsford - W, 3-1
Sunday at San Diego - W, 7-5

QUICK HITS:

THEY SAID IT:

"We knew as a group those were going to be big hockey games. Abbotsford plays us tough no matter where it's at, when it's at. I thought our guys did a really good job (Friday) of staying with it and finding a way to win a hockey game. San Diego (Sunday), we knew they've played us tough this year as well. We knew it was a hockey game we needed in the standings, with Ontario having played the night before and lost. It was a chance for us to gain some ground there. We did our part and won. We found a different way than we're used to, but it was a good week of hockey, a busy weekend of hockey, but something we felt we really needed to have."
- Mitch Love on Stockton's play over the weekend
"It's his mindset. The way (Luke Philp) approaches his day as a player, wanting to get better, he's played all over the place. He's played wing, he's played centre, he's played on our first line, he's played on our fourth line, if you want to call it we have four lines. It's '1a,' '1b,' '1c,' '1d' for us is how we interpret it. But he's a guy that's hungary right now for added minutes, no matter which position he's playing or where he fits in our special teams. I think he's realized this is a big final stretch for him. He and a lot of guys are finding a way to elevate their game this time of year, which you need when you're trying to win a division."
- Love on Luke Philp's recent play
"It gives you experience. It was a different league, so how much experience that gives me now I'm not too sure. I just know it's hard to win, no matter what level you're in. So I have that experience, but for the AHL I'm not too sure how it translates that much. We're going to need the whole team, going to need everybody."
- Glenn Gawdin on his last playoff experience, winning the Ed Chynoweth Cup with WHL Swift Current
"I've come quite a ways, adjusting to the pro-style game, everyone has to be a 200-foot player. You can't just play at one end of the rink. I like the progress I've made throughout this year. As a team we're starting to really push to be at our best every night moving into the playoffs."
- Luke Philp on his improvement this season
"We've put ourselves in a very good spot, the majority of the year being top in our division and in the league. I think we're doing a pretty good job of not paying too much attention to that. Any team, no matter what place they're in, is going to come in and give a good effort, every night. When you're in a good spot you put a target on your back."
- Andy Welinski on Stockton's approach down the stretch