From a team record eight-game win streak to the team’s best 10-game opening stretch, the Calgary Flames’ AHL affiliate is cooking early with second-year forward and Canmore-native Philp assisting wherever he can.
“We got pretty hot there,” said the 25-year-old centre. “We lost our first two games pretty badly and then turned things around pretty quickly.”
Going 8-2 is the Heat’s best 10-game start since relocating to Stockton, California at the start of the 2015-16 season.
Even through 2009-15, when the team was located in Abbotsford and Adirondack, it never accumulated this kind of win/loss record to begin a season.
The early success has given the Heat a boost in the standings, sitting fourth in the league, and atop of the Canadian Division.
This season is shortened due to COVID-19, and the Heat will only face the four other Canadian Division teams – Toronto Marlies, Manitoba Moose, Laval Rocket, and Belleville Senators.
It’s making for more intense, hard-nosed regular season series, said Philp.
“You get pretty familiar with teams pretty quickly,” said Philp. “I think it ramps up the intensity, for sure, in some games, especially in a shortened season.”
After getting blown out in the first pair of games against the Marlies, the Heat caught fire and torched through teams on an eight-game winning streak. It came to an end last Saturday (March 13) during the final game of a seven-game road trip when the Moose bulled to victory.
In 11 games, Philp has three goals and eight points. He’s registered at least one point in his last five.
Getting in a groove and keeping it going is one of the positives of being in a compact season. Though, Philp added he has more to offer on the ice, whether being a 200-foot player, or making a difference on the special teams, he’s eager to fill that bigger role.
“I’ve been OK contributing to putting up the points and stuff like that, but I think there’s more I can bring to the table. I’m always looking for more,” said Philp.
“I think on the Heat, we have lots of guys who can contribute offensively and I definitely feel like I’m one of those guys who can put up offensive numbers, but that’s not just what my role is limited to. I think this year, I’ve gotten more minutes because I’ve been on the penalty kill as well and … it’s something I’ve taken pride in since the start of the season, wanting to be on both specialty teams.”
Cail MacLean, head coach of the Heat, said special teams have looked strong this season.
At 34.2 per cent efficiency, the Heat’s power play is second in the league behind the Cleveland Monsters (34.6).
On the penalty kill, the Heat are ninth in the league at 83.8 per cent.
“For a long period there, they were really clicking on both sides of it,” the bench boss said. “That’s how you get streaks put together like that – you get everyone firing on all cylinders.”
Philp added the special teams are “something our team takes a lot of pride in.”
The 2020-21 AHL season is only 30 games with the Heat’s final game April 29 against the Moose in Manitoba.
It’s currently uncertain if a playoff format will be green lit for the league’s most prized possession, the Calder Cup.
Due to last year’s playoff cancellation, the Heat haven’t been in the post-season since the 2016-17 campaign, losing in the first round.
The Heat would normally be playing at the Stockton Arena in California, but all of the team’s home games are at the ScotiaBank Saddledome in Calgary due to cross-border travel restrictions brought on by the pandemic.
As the AHL affiliate of the Flames, Philp said the goal of everyone in the AHL is getting the phone call to come up to the big league, but it’s not something the 25-year-old is fixated with.
“I just have to worry about playing, and playing as well as I can, and let that sort of thing take care of itself,” said Philp. “You never know when you might get an opportunity, so you just have to, for me, focus on just playing games in our league and doing the best I can out there and that will improve my chances of getting called up.”
