AHL American Hockey League

2005 Calder Cup Playoffs are ready...are you?

Published on April 18, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... Another exciting, down-to-the-wire regular season has concluded, setting the stage for the 2005 Calder Cup Playoffs to begin this week.

Manchester entered the weekend with a six-point lead on Hartford and three games remaining, but the race for the Atlantic Division title wound up coming down to Sunday afternoon. The Monarchs took a 2-1 decision from Worcester in the IceCats' farewell at the DCU Center, clinching the first division title in team history.

Norfolk shook off back-to-back shutout losses to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and posted a 4-2 win in Philadelphia on Sunday, wrapping up third place in the East and setting up a first-round playoff date with the Phantoms. The Penguins dropped to fourth, and will meet Binghamton in the East Division semifinals.

Houston went 9-2-0-2 in its last 13 regular-season games, but couldn't hold off Cincinnati, which finished a point ahead of the Aeros for third place in the West Division. The Mighty Ducks get a rematch with defending Calder Cup champion Milwaukee in the first round (the Admirals needed seven games to oust Cincinnati last spring), while Houston draws division-winning Chicago.

And in the North, St. John's earned home-ice advantage in its opening-round series with Manitoba by sweeping a two-game set with Edmonton, the Maple Leafs' final two regular-season games at Mile One Stadium before the team moves to Toronto next fall. The Leafs finished the year with 46 wins, the most in their 14-year history.

Goalies even got into the scoring act over the weekend. Houston's Mike Smith dished out two assists in Friday's 5-2 win over Chicago, and, not to be outdone, Milwaukee's Seamus Kotyk became the eighth goaltender in AHL history to score a goal in Sunday's 6-1 win at San Antonio.

Milwaukee will be trying to become the first team since the 1990-91 Springfield Indians to successfully defend its Calder Cup title when the 2005 Calder Cup Playoffs get underway on Tuesday night. The AHL's championship trophy is named after Hockey Hall of Famer Frank Calder, who served as the first president of the National Hockey League from 1917-43. During the 1920s, Calder was instrumental in guiding professional hockey into the mainstream of the United States' major cities, including New York, Boston, Chicago and Detroit, while also helping form the American Hockey League in 1936.

2004-05 BY THE NUMBERS ... Final attendance for the regular season was 6,675,786, up 6.5 percent from last year... Both the total and average (5,960) attendance marks established all-time AHL highs... Eight teams finished with at least 100 standings points... Jason Spezza's 85 assists were the second-most ever in a single AHL season... Springfield was shut out an AHL-record 17 times this season, and was the only team not to record a shutout of its own... There were a record 62 penalty shots attempted in the regular season; shooters converted on 20 (32.3%)... Bridgeport's Rob Collins was 7-for-8 in shootout attempts; Syracuse's Karl Goehring stopped 34 of 38 attempts while going 7-0... Thomas Vanek's 42 goals for Rochester were the most by an AHL rookie since the 1990-91 season, and his 25 power-play goals were two shy of the AHL record... Brian McGrattan finished with 551 penalty minutes, an AHL record... Hartford's Jason LaBarbera and Manchester's Adam Hauser joined Alfie Moore (1937-39) as the only goaltenders in AHL history to post a GAA under 2.00 twice in their careers... Wilkes-Barre/Scranton recorded 29 sellouts, leading the league for the sixth year in a row... Chicago ended Manchester's two-year run as AHL attendance kings, boosted by 15 crowds of more than 10,000... Grand Rapids is the first team in AHL history to win at least 40 games and still miss the Calder Cup Playoffs... Forty-nine AHL skaters appeared in at least 80 games this season, compared to 17 who accomplished that feat last year.

FOLLOW THE LEADERS ... Some of the statistical leaders for the 2004-05 AHL season:

Points 117 Jason Spezza, BNG
Goals 46 Mike Cammalleri, MCH
Assists 85 Jason Spezza, BNG
Games Played 82 Jay Bouwmeester, SA/CHI
Penalty Minutes 551 Brian McGrattan, BNG
Power Play Goals 25 Thomas Vanek, ROC
Shorthanded Goals 7 Eric Staal, LOW
Game-Winning Goals 12 Chuck Kobasew, LOW
Plus/Minus +37 Eric Staal, LOW
Chuck Kobasew, LOW
GAA 1.77 Steve Valiquette, HFD
Save Percentage .937 Cam Ward, LOW
Wins 41 Ryan Miller, ROC
Shutouts 10 Frederic Cassivi, CIN
Saves 1,814 Ryan Miller, ROC
Minutes 3,754 Joey MacDonald, GRA
Points (rookie) 70 Brandon Bochenski, BNG
Goals (rookie) 42 Thomas Vanek, ROC
Assists (rookie) 44 R.J. Umberger, PHI
Points (defenseman) 53 Niklas Kronwall, GRA
Goals (defenseman) 20 Joel Kwiatkowski, SA/STJ
Assists (defenseman) 44 Denis Grebeshkov, MCH
Power Play % 20.1 Binghamton
Penalty Killing % 90.0 Norfolk
Power Play Goals 85 Milwaukee
Shorthanded Goals 24 Binghamton
Goals For 276 Binghamton
Goals Against 160 Hartford
Shots For 2,693 Lowell
Shots Against 2,090 Norfolk
Attendance 369,390 Chicago (9,209 avg.)

ETC. ... Chad Larose recorded his third hat trick of the season in Lowell's 6-1 win over Albany on Sunday; Manitoba's Lee Goren also had three three-goal games this year... University of Massachusetts product Thomas Pock scored his first career AHL goal in Hartford's 4-1 win at Springfield on Saturday... Former Ferris State goaltender Phil Osaer made 56 saves in San Antonio's 6-2 win at Grand Rapids on Saturday, eliminating the Griffins from playoff contention... In his first AHL action since Jan. 18, Andy Chiodo made 24 saves as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton shut out Norfolk on Saturday, 3-0... The Penguins' Michel Ouellet snapped a 27-game goal-scoring drought in that win... Binghamton's Ray Emery closed out the regular season on an 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-2)... Syracuse defensemen Francois Beauchemin and Jamie Pushor were each a plus-6 in the Crunch's 7-4 win over Rochester on Saturday night... Edmonton's Jeff Woywitka (162 GP) and Hamilton's Dan Jancevski (160) have not missed a game over the last two regular seasons... Manchester went 34-5-2-1 against non-playoff teams in 2004-05, and 17-16-2-3 against playoff-bound clubs... St. John's forward David Ling finished third in the AHL scoring race with 88 points, a personal high for his 10-year career and one point better than teammate Kyle Wellwood.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 18, 2005


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