Patrick Williams, TheAHL.com Features Writer
Of course it came down to Artūrs Šilovs.
Time and time again, Šilovs was the difference during the Abbotsford Canucks’ run to a Calder Cup title.
Last Monday, clinging to a 3-2 series lead and a 3-2 lead on the scoreboard in Game 6 of the Finals in Charlotte, the Canucks again needed their goaltender to come through. Šilovs was peppered with 11 third-period shots and was under heavy pressure in the final two minutes of regulation, but he fended off the Checkers to give Abbotsford its first championship.
Starting all 24 games of the Calder Cup Playoffs, the 24-year-old Šilovs went 16-8 with a 2.01 goals-against average, a .931 save percentage and five shutouts, earning the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the postseason’s most valuable player.
These past two months were a test, but Šilovs’ path has been so much longer than that. A 2019 sixth-round pick by Vancouver, Šilovs actually made his pro debut with the Manitoba Moose during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, when border restrictions precipitated the Canucks sending him to a Canadian club instead of their AHL affiliate in Utica, N.Y. He played just one game that year, and split the 2021-22 campaign between Abbotsford and Trois-Rivieres (ECHL) before locking down the AHL Canucks’ number-one job in 2022-23. Since then, Šilovs has been back and forth between Abbotsford and Vancouver, trying to work his way up a depth chart that currently includes Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen.
“It takes games,” Šilovs said of learning to handle his career ups and downs. “It takes experience.”
Now Šilovs has left Vancouver management plenty to consider this summer. One thing that they know for sure is that he is a goaltender who thrives under pressure. Before winning the Calder Cup, he stepped in as Vancouver’s third-string goaltender and led them to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, nearly upsetting Edmonton. And two years ago at the IIHF World Championship, he took Latvia to its first medal finish – winning bronze – while taking honors as the tournament’s top goaltender and most valuable player.
Standing on the Bojangles Coliseum ice minutes after lifting the Calder Cup for the first time, Šilovs hardly looked like somebody that had just been through the gauntlet of five series and two dozen playoff games.
“I feel great, actually,” Šilovs said. “I learned to manage my energy better, and I think that’s helped a lot, especially with these good opponents. They have so much skill, and you just learn to adapt and play, saving more energy.”
The Calder Cup Playoffs test players equally, if not more, in a mental sense. Going into Game 5, Šilovs and the Canucks had a chance to win the championship in front of their home fans. Instead they lost in overtime on a fluky goal that banked in off two defenders, and had to pack up and fly to Charlotte.
“You wanted to win it at home so badly,” Šilovs said. “It didn’t go our way. Bad bounces, and you get upset about it, but you wash it the next day, travel, come here. You have another chance, and we did it.”
That mental test is both individual and team-wide, too. With Šilovs now positioned potentially to become a full-time NHL goaltender, he will be taking lessons with him from this championship journey.
“Understanding how championship teams are built, understanding the chemistry, that everyone is battling for each other,” Šilovs outlined. “There’s no selfishness, and everyone is happy for each other. I think that makes such a big difference, energy-wise, keeping each other positive.
“It doesn’t matter what happens. Next day. Next game. Next win. Just build from it.”
