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Abbotsford Canucks fall 8-2 to Ontario Reign in season opener

Abbotsford allows seven unanswered goals after building an early 2-1 lead
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Ontario’s Tobias Bjornfot dekes around Abbotsford’s Jett Woo en route to scoring a goal for Ontario. (Ontario Reign photo)

The Abbotsford Canucks exploded in a flurry of offence to go up 2-1 in the first five minutes of Friday’s regular season opener against the Ontario Reign - it was all downhill from there.

Ontario went on to score seven unanswered goals and dominated all aspects of the game to earn the 8-2 win.

Justin Dowling opened the scoring with a power play goal at 1:50 to put Abbotsford up 1-0 but that lead was short lived as the Reign responded 125 seconds later with a goal from Taylor Ward. Rookie Arshdeep Bains grabbed the lead back for Abbotsford just 27 seconds later with his first career professional goal and that’s where the offence was turned off for Abbotsford.

The Canucks trailed 3-2 after one, but the floodgates opened in the second period with the Reign scoring three more. Lias Andersson, T.J. Tynan and Tobias Bjornfot - in a highlight reel goal that saw him deke through the Abbotsford defence - put the game away and the Reign were up 6-2 after two.

Akil Thomas and Aidan Dudas added goals in the third. The game then devolved into a lot of rough stuff with forward Danila Klimovich ejected after a hit from behind on Tynan and other skirmishes occurring. Ontario outshot Abbotsford 46-31 in the game and were clicking on the power play, finishing three for six on the night. The Canucks went one for three with the man advantage.

Canucks starting goalie Collin Delia was yanked late in the third period after allowing his seventh goal, but replacement Arturs Silovs allowed one goal on three shots in his limited playing time. Forward Linus Karlsson was the only Canucks to have a multi-point game (two assists) and he also was tied for the team lead in shots with four. Five Ontario players recorded two or more points.

The Canucks won’t have much time to dwell on the loss as they return to action tomorrow (Saturday) against the Bakersfield Condors. The team’s home opener is set for Oct. 28 at the Abbotsford Centre.

Read abbynews.com for continuing coverage of the Abbotsford Canucks.

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Ben Lypka

About the Author: Ben Lypka

I joined the Abbotsford News in 2015.
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