The Abbotsford Canucks had a chance to win the Calder Cup at home in front of a sold out crowd on a Saturday night.

Unfortunately, one of the worst pinballed bounces you’ll see forced them back on a long journey back to the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

There, they were greeted with nearly 40-degree weather and a hostile home crowd looking to cheer their team to victory.

But this is the Abbotsford Canucks.

A team that hadn’t lost back-to-back games since mid-April. A team that came in 8-0-0-0 after suffering a loss in the playoffs. A team that has battled back time and time again as one of the most resilient teams you’ll find in the history of the American League.

This is Manny Malhotra’s team.

Despite a typical slow start, which we have seen in nearly every game during this run, the club battled back. Fittingly, a second-period goal from Linus Karlsson (assisted by Arshdeep Bains) catapulted them to a lead, and they never looked back.

The ice conditions were trecherous, but in Abbotsford Canuck fashion, they staved off a late push to take home the 2024-25 Calder Cup for the first time in franchise history.

This is our final Farmies of the season. So, please enjoy it, folks.

They may have lost Game 5, but it wasn’t necessarily for a lack of effort or lack of play from the roster. As such, Manny Malhotra stuck with the lineup that has gotten them here to the Calder Cup final.

The lone change in the lineup came among the defensive combinations. Akito Hirose jumped up to pair with Victor Mancini, while Guillaume Brisebois dropped to pair with rookie Kirill Kudryavtsev.

With his 24th consecutive start, Arturs Silovs got the nod as the starting goaltender for the Canucks.

Bains – Sasson ‐ Karlsson
Di Giuseppe – Mueller – Lekkerimäki
Blais – Khaira– Smith
Nielsen – Wouters – Klimovich

Hirose – Mancini
Wolanin – Woo
Brisebois – Kudryavtsev

Silovs

With a pair of early icing calls, the game took a few nervous shifts to kick up the pace.

But the Canucks opened the shots, picking up a few good looks courtesy of a Kirill Kudryavtsev point shot.

At the other end, Arturs Silovs was warming up his glove hand, stopping Michael Benning point blank.

But early in-zone giveaways haunted them, and after an unfortunate turnover from behind the net, Charlotte made them pay.

It was a dream start for the home team, who were in desperation mode and looking to claw their way back into this Calder Cup final series.

Despite the Canucks grabbing the first pair of shots, the Checkers pumped Silovs with five consecutive shots in three minutes to take an early favourable lead in that regard.

The Checkers continued to press, forcing the netminder to stay sharp throughout the first half of the frame.

With several giveaways and scrambled play, it was as nervous of a start as you’ll find. In nearly every facet, the Abby Canucks looked inferior to their home team opponents.

And a 2-0 Charlotte goal encapsulates those nerves.

While rushing up the ice, Ty Mueller made a drop attempt. Unfortunately, no Canuck was there and the Checkers transitioned up the ice.

At that exact moment, Akito Hirose took a tumble, leading a 3-on-1 odd-man rush against Victor Mancini.

Despite Mueller’s best efforts to get back in the play, Charlotte played a perfect give-and-go to beat Silovs and double their lead.

But just as things started to get out of hands, the Canucks were cut with a break.

With less than three minutes remaining, Trevor Carrick was hit with a delay-of-game penalty after he lifted the puck over the glass.

With the top unit out, the Canucks went to work to cut the lead in half.

Following some good work down low, the puck worked its way to the top of the umbrella.

Grabbing it off the half-wall was Sammy Blais, who used Max Sasson’s netfront screen to perfection before finding the far side top corner.

And just like that, the Canucks found a way to get themselves back into this game.

Despite being doubled up on shots and relatively outplayed in a scrambled period, they took a 2-1 deficit into the dressing room.

After a slow opening period, the Canucks jumped on the Checkers early in the second.

Jockeying for position, Tristen Nielsen beat out his man and dropped the puck to chase Wouters, who cut toward the net while showing some tremendous drive and patience.

Although Kaapo Kähkönen got the initial save, Danila Klimovich followed up to jam home the rebound to tie this game.

It’s the first goal Danila Klimovich has scored in these playoffs that wasn’t a game-winning goal. Instead, he settled for the game-tying goal.

Aside from giving up a powerplay, the first half was all Canucks, as it took the Checkers over eight minutes of play to find their first shot of the period.

In fact, the Canucks had to kill off two consecutive penalties, which they did quite seamlessly.

Silovs was comfortable, aggressive and poised, stopping all seven shots faced in the frame.

And that set the table for one of the best shifts you’ll see.

With the top line of Linus Karlsson, Max Sasson and Arshdeep Bains on the ice, they circled for nearly a full minute.

So good, we are going to show most of it.

Nearly cashing in on a rebound was Bains, who was hauled down to the ice.

Sticking with it, he grabbed the puck, spun and found a wide-open Karlsson with an incredible pass to hold their first lead of the game.

What was a relatively quiet period that included three giant kills from the Abbotsford Canucks, ended with an incredible finish.

Suddenly, the Canucks found themselves 20 minutes away from glory.

But it wasn’t without one last tremendous save from Silovs to keep the score as is.

The third period kicked off with a bang.

With the Checkers gaining entry, they attempted a cross-ice pass. Reading the play well, Christian Wolanin stepped up to pressure and forced the turnover.

Lurking was Max Sasson, who turned on the jets and broke out for an odd-man rush.

With no pass, he fired two shots on Kähkönen, testing the netminder early.

Jonathan Lekkerimäki showed off his release, forming something from nothing, nearly beating the netminder with a surprise shot.

But once again, the Canucks got themselves into penalty troubles with Danila Klimovich earning two minutes for hooking.

But their penalty kill has been one of the stories of the entire playoff run, and it came up huge again to go 4/4 on the night (so far).

The Canucks wasted a powerplay of their own, but with sub 10 minutes remaining, that was the least of their concerns.

By now, there was one thing on the agenda, and that was to shut things down.

The only issue was that the weather was nearly 40 degrees before the humidity in the area. After almost 60 minutes of being cut up, the puck was bouncing more than a pinball machine on the ice.

Is that an advantage or not? Whatever it was, it sure led to some interesting moments.

The period wasn’t without its chances, none better than a clean 2-on-1 led by Ty Mueller.

With time winding down, the Canucks defensive corps gave up their bodies, doing everything everything and anything they could to put this game away.

It turns out that the ice conditions were an incredible disadvantage.

With the Checkers’ net empty and pressing hard, the puck continuously bounced over the sticks of frantic Abbotsford players.

It was the longest three-minute stretch you could imagine. But the Abbotsford Canucks held on, staving off a late and crushing goal.

And with that, the Abbotsford Canucks are your 2024-25 Calder Cup Champions!!!!!

With the gauntlet of five consecutive series, the Canucks managed to take down all opponents and earn a 4-2 series victory in Charlotte.

What a run. From a team sitting mid-table when the calendar flipped to 2025, to a Calder Cup Champion.

From top to bottom, this team was everything you want in a team: Gutsy veterans, speedy forwards, rookies playing beyond their years, and, of course, stellar goaltending.

On top of that, they were coached by one of the more impressive rookie bench bosses in the history of the game. Game 6 was the definition of a Manny Mahlotra game. They remained calm when the going got tough. They won the majority of their 50/50 battles, which led to all three Abbotsford goals. They laid their body on the line in the dying minutes and did everything they could to seal the victory.

This was a Manny Malhotra victory.

When all was said and done, the team took home nearly everything:

What a season.