The Abbotsford Canucks have been making history all season. This Saturday, they have the chance to make even more. After winning Game 4 3–2 on Thursday, the AHL Canucks took a 3–1 series lead in the 2025 Calder Cup Finals. This means that Abbotsford has a chance to win the Calder Cup in front of their fans during their final home game of the 2024–25 season.
Abbotsford’s home crowd has been discussed at length throughout the postseason, with players and coaches alike expressing their admiration for the energy within the building. AHL Canucks forward Sammy Blais even referred to Abbotsford fans as “easily the best fans in the league.” The AHL Canucks have already seen how hyped the crowd gets regardless of a win or a loss — but wins are ultimately what the team wants to bring to the fans who have supported them all season long.
“Our group gets so much energy for life from this building, the fans have been outstanding that the entire playoff run, they’re a big part of our success,” Abbotsford head coach Manny Malhotra said after the team clinched the title of Western Conference Champions on home-ice at the start of June. “This atmosphere here to play in front of has been really special for the guys.”
On Thursday night, the atmosphere was no different. Abbotsford Centre was sold-out yet again in Game 4, and the building was rocking early on after Jonathan Lekkerimäki found the scoresheet just over a minute into the first period.
“From day one of the season, we continuously talked about wanting to take advantage of playing on home ice, and throughout the season, obviously, we earned the opportunity to do that throughout the playoffs, until this series, so we wanted to make the most of the three games that we were going to have here,” Malhotra added last night after his team’s 3–2 victory on Thursday. “Most importantly, it’s so much fun for the guys, just playing in front of this crowd. The building was electric again, and they definitely feed off of that. So it’s very special for our guys to play in front of the fans, and then we get a big boost out of it.”
“Playing in front of a crowd like this is pretty special. Just being home and being able to come out and just to see everyone putting everything out there. It’s a pretty special time of year, and we appreciate everything,” AHL Canucks captain Chase Wouters added of what being on home ice has meant during the postseason.
“It’d be special,” Arshdeep Bains said regarding the possibilities that Saturday night could bring. “I think we’ve been giving ourselves the best opportunity. It’s hard to get this opportunity when you’re the lower seed team, but we’re here right now, and we’re gonna try.”
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Even so, Abbotsford has insisted that they are keeping their focus rather than thinking about what could happen on Saturday. It’s the same mindset they insisted on maintaining after their Western Conference win despite how big of a milestone it was.
“Just enjoy this tonight, but tomorrow’s a new day. We’ve gotta flip the page. They’re a really good team over there. It’s going to be a tall task for the next game, so we gotta enjoy this right now, but there’s a lot of work left to do,” Wouters added.
“We’ll continue to prepare like we have the first four rounds, and throughout this round,” Malhotra said of moving forward. “We’re going to enjoy the victory tonight. We’ll analyze the video and clean up things that we want to improve on, but tomorrow we’ll flip the page, and just have that next game mentality that has gotten us to this point.
“The message never changes for us, whether we win or lose. It’s all about the next game, and that’s where our focus is going to lie, is bringing our best effort to the next game.”
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