AHL American Hockey League

Admirals Both in Ship Shape

Published on November 4, 2002 under American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, MA ... Among the best teams in the AHL over the first three weeks of the 2002-03 season are the Admirals. Both of them.

In Norfolk, Trent Yawney's defending South Division champions have earned a point in the standings in every one of their games this season (8-0-1-2). Their offense has been spread out, with eight different players accounting for the Admirals' eight game-winning goals. Mike Peluso leads the blue and gold with 5+9=14 pts. on the year, Casey Hankinson has scored a team-best six goals, and Peter White and rookie Igor Radulov have chipped in with five tallies apiece.

Norfolk's defensive corps features former first-round draft picks Steve McCarthy and Johnathan Aitken, as well as Marty Wilford, who ranks among the AHL leaders with a plus-9 rating. And in the cage, second-year pros Michael Leighton (4-2-1) and Craig Andersson (4-0-0) have combined for a .925 save percentage.

The Milwaukee Admirals were the last team to fall from the ranks of the unbeaten and have still not suffered a regulation loss, sitting at 4-0-4-1 on the season. Led by first-year AHL head coach Peter Horachek, Milwaukee is off to a quick start after missing the Calder Cup Playoffs a year ago. The Admirals' season-opening eight-game unbeaten streak ended with a 7-6 overtime loss to Chicago on Sunday.

October's AHL Rookie of the Month Darren Haydar leads Milwaukee's offense with seven goals and 13 points in nine games. Former Calder Cup champion Cameron Mann (1999) and two-time Cup finalist and 1999 AHL scoring champion Domenic Pittis have added experience to the Admirals' lineup, while first-year defenseman Andrew Hutchinson, an All-American at Michigan State, has joined former AHL All-Stars Bubba Berenzweig, Peter Smrek and Pascal Trepanier in shoring up Milwaukee's blue line.

Both Admirals' successes have been felt throughout their respective organizations. In Nashville, the Predators' lineup this season has already included Wyatt Smith, Greg Classen, Vern Fiddler, Mark Eaton and Adam Hall. The Chicago Blackhawks have made NHL regulars out of Norfolk graduates Mark Bell, Kyle Calder, Shawn Thornton and NHL Rookie of the Month for October Tyler Arnason.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER ... It was a wild night around the AHL on Saturday, including four shutouts, three hat tricks, two overtime wins and a 48-save effort that ended in a loss.

After just two shutouts were recorded league-wide through the first 118 games of the 2002-03 season, there were four on Saturday night: Albany's Ari Ahonen, Hershey's Philippe Sauve, Bridgeport's Rick DiPietro and Hartford's Jason LaBarbera. Ahonen's shutout was the first by a River Rats goaltender since Mar. 10, 2001, a span of 103 games.

In Portland, Maxime Ouellet made 48 saves, including 29 in the second period alone, but rookie Jared Aulin's goal in the opening minute of overtime gave Manchester a 2-1 win, extending the Monarchs' unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1). Manchester outshot the Pirates 50-19 on the evening, including 43-6 after the first period. (Also on Saturday, Sebastien Charpentier made 43 saves for Washington but took a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay.)

John Tripp of Hartford and Shane Endicott of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton each recorded a natural hat trick on Saturday, and Milwaukee's Greg Classen scored all three of Milwaukee's goals in a 3-3 tie with Grand Rapids. Tripp, who also scored three times on Oct. 25, has 10 goals in his last six contests after scoring 13 times in his first 124 career AHL games.

Worcester teammates John Pohl and Sergei Varlamov potted four points apiece in the IceCats' 7-6 win over Manitoba, and Nikita Alexeev's first career two-goal game capped Springfield's 4-3 overtime victory over Providence.

OFF THE ICE ... Gervase Peterson, a contestant on the original Survivor television series, dropped the ceremonial first puck before Friday's Norfolk-Philadelphia game at the First Union Spectrum... The Phantoms will host Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in an 11:05 a.m. start on Wednesday, with some 8,000 schoolchildren expected to attend and participate in math, science and geography lessons pertaining to hockey... Tie-dyed jerseys worn by Grand Rapids on Saturday night fetched $9,420 in a post-game auction for Big Brothers Big Sisters... The Cincinnati Metro Firefighters and Police Officers will take on the Detroit Red Wings Alumni Association in a benefit hockey game on Nov. 9 at Cincinnati Gardens... The Bridgeport Sound Tigers will honor Atlantic League baseball's Bridgeport Bluefish in a pre-game ceremony on Nov. 8... AHL vice president of sales and marketing Chris Nikolis completed Sunday's New York City Marathon in an official time of 4:29:57.

ETC. ... After starting the year on a six-game road swing, San Antonio played its inaugural home opener before 8,536 fans at the new SBC Center on Sunday... Providence forwards Matt Herr and Lee Goren have combined for 26 points (11 goals, 15 assists) in the Bruins' last six games... Fedor Fedorov, younger brother of three-time Stanley Cup champion Sergei Fedorov, scored in overtime of Manitoba's 4-3 win at Hartford on Wednesday... Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Jean-Francois Labbe made the 100-mile trip down Interstate 71 to Cincinnati for a brief conditioning stint on Saturday, and stopped 33 shots for Syracuse in a 4-2 win over the Mighty Ducks, his 202nd career AHL victory... Bridgeport's Trent Hunter has a point in each of his eight games played this season (7+6=13)... Despite an 0-7-2 record, Rochester rookie Ryan Miller ranks seventh in the AHL with a 2.38 goals against average... Micki DuPont (Saint John), Steve Kariya (Manitoba), Travis Roche (Houston), Michael Henrich (Hamilton), Mathieu Chouinard (Binghamton) and Jon Sim (Utah) will join Team Canada for this week's Deutschland Cup tournament in Hannover, Germany... Hamilton has allowed only two first-period goals this season... Manchester has outscored the opposition 18-7 in the third period and overtime... Rochester's 12-game winless streak (0-6-4-2) to start this season is still nine off the AHL record, set by Baltimore (0-19-2) in 1987-88... The Houston Aeros and their NHL affiliate, the Minnesota Wild, are a combined 19-3-2-0 this season.

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American Hockey League Stories from November 4, 2002


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