It's been an interesting year for the Stockton Heat, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Calgary Flames, following a summer that saw the Flames organization jettison many of their AHL veterans in favour of giving their homegrown prospects a bigger role.
After the first 25 games of the 2016-17 season, that approach has seemed to work just fine. The Heat finished their pre-Christmas schedule with a 16-7-2 record, good enough for first place in the Pacific Division. We had a chance to chat with Stockton head coach Ryan Huska before the Christmas break about his club's start to the season.