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Phantoms menacing AHL's East Division

November 15, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … Losing their first two games of the 2004-05 season apparently did little to deter the Philadelphia Phantoms. The defending East Division champions have rattled off 10 consecutive victories and are once again a force in the American Hockey League.

Philadelphia set a team record with its 10th straight win on Sunday evening, knocking off Norfolk, 3-2, on an overtime goal by Ben Stafford. The streak, which began on Oct. 22, has included six come-from-behind wins, two OT wins and a shootout victory. Eighteen different Phantoms have recorded a goal in the 10 games, as the club has outscored the opposition by a 37-16 margin.

Patrick Sharp is the Phantoms’ top scorer with 12 points this season, and he had a nine-game scoring streak end on Friday, although he did contribute a shootout goal in that win. Mark Murphy is second on the team in scoring, and the veteran winger recorded his 250th career AHL point on Sunday. R.J. Umberger has tallied a point in eight of his last nine, while fellow rookie Tony Voce, a Philadelphia native, has six goals and three assists in his first 12 pro games.

The Phantoms are once again getting stellar goaltending from Antero Niittymaki and Neil Little, the duo which accounted for 45 wins and 13 shutouts between them last year. Niittymaki has won his last seven starts; Little has moved into 11th place on the AHL’s all-time wins list with three this year, giving him 191 career victories.

Philadelphia boasts one of the youngest groups of defensemen in the AHL, but they have still allowed fewer than two goals per game so far in 2004-05. Freddy Meyer, who leads the team in plus/minus rating at plus-8, and Randy Jones are both coming off impressive rookie seasons with the Phantoms. Dennis Seidenberg is first on the club in scoring from the blue line with nine points, trailed closely by 2002 fourth overall draft pick Joni Pitkanen. Add David Printz, Wade Skolney and Joey Hope, and the only Phantoms defensemen over the age of 24 and with more than two years’ AHL experience is John Slaney, a four-time league All-Star.

The Phantoms’ 10-game winning streak, tied for the longest in the AHL since Providence won 11 in a row during the 1998-99 season, gets put to the test with four games in five days this week. Philadelphia hosts Binghamton on Wednesday and Bridgeport on Friday before visiting Albany and Providence.

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WHITE MOVING WEST … Prior to Sunday’s game, Philadelphia announced it had loaned forward Peter White to the Utah Grizzlies in exchange for the services of Jon Sim. White, a two-time Calder Cup winner and three-time AHL scoring champion, ranks eighth in AHL history with 508 career assists, and has climbed to 17th place with 746 career points.

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MONARCHS SETTING THE PACE … Almost everywhere you look, Manchester is the tops. The Monarchs own the league’s best record at 11-1-0-0, and rank first in both offense (4.50 GF per game) and defense (1.42 GA per game). Four of the AHL’s top six scorers – Yanick Lehoux, Mike Cammalleri, Tom Kostopoulos and Dustin Brown – wear purple and black, as do two of the top four goaltenders in Adam Hauser (1.25 GAA) and Mathieu Garon (1.50) and five of the top seven players in plus/minus rating.

Manchester has scored first in all 12 games, has outscored its opponents 40-7 in the first and second periods combined, and has trailed once all season – the final 27:52 of its only loss, a 4-2 defeat at Worcester on Nov. 5. The Monarchs are also once again leading the league in attendance, averaging 9,006 fans per game at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Manchester ranked first at the gate in both 2002-03 and 2003-04.

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OFF THE ICE … Utah forward Sheldon Keefe will be serving breakfast at a local McDonald’s to commemorate World Children’s Day this Thursday… Lowell will be hosting a Thanksgiving food drive prior to Sunday’s game; all fans donating a Hannaford-brand food item will get a complimentary ticket to a future game, courtesy of Hannaford Supermarkets... Milwaukee held a similar food drive at the Bradley Center on Saturday… Grand Rapids’ school-day game this Tuesday will have a government theme, including a videotaped address from Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm and interactive displays on the concourse... Jennifer Crisafulli, an Albany native and a contestant on The Apprentice 2, will make an appearance at the River Rats' game at Pepsi Arena this Friday.

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ETC. … Binghamton co-coach John Paddock earned his 500th career AHL coaching victory in a 4-3 shootout decision at Hamilton on Friday night; Paddock had lost his previous nine visits and was 1-9-0 in his AHL career at Copps Coliseum before the milestone win… Norfolk goaltender Craig Anderson (7-1-1) had his season-opening eight-game unbeaten streak end in a 3-2 overtime loss to Philadelphia on Sunday… Cleveland’s Nolan Schaefer was 0-5-0 on the season before beating North Division rivals Manitoba and Hamilton last week… Houston’s Mikko Koivu missed 12 games following an appendectomy, but returned last week and scored in the Aeros’ 5-2 win over Milwaukee on Saturday afternoon, the Admirals’ first regulation loss in 18 games (15-1-1-1) dating to the Calder Cup 2004 Playoffs… Winners of five in a row and fresh off a 10-game homestand, St. John’s plays its next 10 games away from Mile One Stadium, beginning with the grand opening of the MTS Centre in Winnipeg on Wednesday night… Hartford, which did not allow more than two goals in a game during its 9-0-0-0 start, gave up three in the first period of Wednesday’s 4-1 loss to Hershey… Bridgeport, 6-13-1-2 when trailing after two periods last season, is already 3-4-0-0 in such games in 2004-05… Rochester, which joined the AHL in 1956, is just 17,298 fans shy of the 10-million mark in franchise history… Chicago scored first a league-high 53 times last season; they’ve done so just twice in 11 games this year… Syracuse plays 10 of its next 12 games on home ice, with the only two road contests down the Thruway in Albany.


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American Hockey League Stories from November 15, 2004


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