Monarchs to Face Pirates in First Round
April 20, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release
MANCHESTER, NH - The Manchester Monarchs, primary affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings, will face the Portland Pirates in the Calder Cup Playoffs' Eastern Conference Quarterfinals with Game 1 set for Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Verizon Wireless Arena.
The complete schedule is as follows:
Game Date / Time Home Away Broadcast
1 Apr. 23 / 7 p.m. Manchester Portland AHL Live
2 Apr. 25 / 7 p.m. Manchester Portland AHL Live
3 Apr. 26 / 5 p.m. Portland Manchester AHL Live
4* Apr. 30 / 7 p.m. Portland Manchester AHL Live
ESPN 900/1250 AM
5* May 2 / 7 p.m. Manchester Portland AHL Live
ESPN 900/1250 AM
Monarchs and Pirates
- This will mark the second time these two clubs have ever faced each other in postseason play. The Monarchs swept Portland in the best-of-seven Divisional Semifinals of the 2010 playoffs. Manchester went on to the Eastern Conference Finals that year, where they lost in six games to Hershey.
- Manchester won nine of its 12 games against the Pirates this season (9-2-0-1) and finished the season on a four-game winning streak against them. The Monarchs have won 18 of 24 games against Portland since the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
- The Monarchs have not won a playoff series since beating Worcester in the 2010 Divisional Finals. They have lost five consecutive playoff series since then, posting an 8-17 record in that time.
- Manchester has a 33-49 all-time record in postseason play.
- Head Coach Mike Stothers, the winner of the Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award for the AHL's outstanding coach, is looking to become the first Monarchs coach to win a playoff series in his first season since Mark Morris took the team to the Conference Finals in the 2007 postseason.
O'Neill Wins Scoring Title
- Brian O'Neill, who was awarded the Les Cunningham Award for AHL Most Valuable Player on Saturday, also secured the John B. Sollenberger Trophy for winning the regular season scoring title (22 goals, 58 assists, 80 points). He is the first Monarchs player to ever be named MVP and joins Pavel Rosa (88 points in 2003-04) as the only Manchester players to ever lead the league in scoring.
- O'Neill led all Monarchs with 12 points (goal, 11 assists) in 12 games against the Pirates this season. That included a five-assist performance on Dec. 17 that tied the franchise records for points and assists in a single game. The Monarchs have three players (O'Neill, Justin Auger, Jordan Weal) who have tallied at least 10 points against Portland this year, while the Pirates' leading scorer against Manchester is Alexandre Bolduc with eight points.
- O'Neill ended the regular season on a four-game point streak from Apr. 11-19, registering six assists in that span.
Monarchs Returning 14
- 14 of the 22 players on this year's playoff roster were also on the club in last year's Calder Cup Playoffs. Derek Forbort, Vincent LoVerde, Colin Miller, Andrew Bodnarchuk, Zach O'Brien, Sean Backman, Jordan Weal, Andrew Crescenzi, Brian O'Neill, Scott Sabourin, Patrik Bartosak, J.F. Berube, Nick Shore and Jeff Schultz were all on last season's postseason roster.
- Weal (3 assists) and O'Brien (2 goals) are the only players returning from last season who recorded multiple points during the 2014 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
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