AHL Quick Hits
Published on May 22, 2002 under American Hockey League (AHL) News Release
The Richard F. Canning Trophy and the AHL's Eastern Conference championship are on the line in Game 7 tonight (7:05 ET) as Bridgeport hosts Hamilton at the Arena at Harbor Yard. Louie DeBrusk's goal 9:10 into overtime gave Hamilton a come-from-behind 3-2 victory on Monday night and forced the Eastern Conference Final to a decisive game for the second time in three years. It was the first OT winner of DeBrusk's 11-year professional career, and just his second career game-winning goal. Peter Sarno scored twice in regulation for the Bulldogs, and Marc Lamothe finished with 33 saves.
> Hamilton, 4-0 all-time in winner-take-all games, is looking to become the 11th team in AHL history to come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a best-of-seven series, and the 14th to rally from 0-2 down...
> The Bulldogs are also trying to become just the third AHL team ever to win Games 6 and 7 of a series on the road...
> This will be the 52nd Game 7 in Calder Cup Playoff history; all-time, the home team is 27-24 (.529), but 6-14 (.300) in the last 20 seventh games...
> This will also be the 113th winner-take-all game in an AHL playoff series; the home team is 63-49 (.563) all-time, but 15-26 (.366) in the last 41 deciding games...
> Sound Tigers rookie Raffi Torres, the fifth overall pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, has recorded a point in 10 straight games...
> While Bridgeport has outshot Hamilton by a margin of 187-129 in the series, the Sound Tigers' edge in scoring is just 17-15...
> Monday's loss was the Sound Tigers' first on home ice in the Calder Cup 2002 Playoffs (6-1) and the second in their last 16 home games (13-2-1)...
> Both teams have had success on the power play in the series, combining for 12 goals in 53 chances (22.6%)...
> The Bulldogs' Kevin Brown leads all scorers in the series, picking up a point on nine of the Bulldogs' 15 goals... Brown's Springfield Falcons lost Game 7 of their conference final series to the Hershey Bears in 1997.
> Peter Sarno has six playoff goals for Hamilton, after scoring 12 goals in 76 regular season games...
> Bridgeport's Jason Podollan played in a Game 7 in 1997, with his St. John's Maple Leafs losing at home to the Hamilton Bulldogs, 3-0...
TONIGHT'S GAMES:
Game 7 - Hamilton at Bridgeport, 7:05
FROM CALDER TO STANLEY:
Jeff O'Neill scored 6:01 into overtime as Carolina took Game 3 of the NHL's Eastern Conference final series, 2-1 over Toronto on Tuesday night... In the Western Conference, 1985 Calder Cup champion Patrick Roy made 30 saves on Monday as Colorado rebounded for a 4-3 overtime win in Game 2 against Detroit.
AHL RINKSIDE:
Sat 5/25
WXSP-TV (Grand Rapids), 2:00 pm ET
Sun 5/26
Leafs TV, 11:00 am ET
American Hockey League Stories from May 22, 2002
- Sound Tigers Win the East - AHL
- Mighty Ducks Promote Babcock - Cincinnati RailRaiders
- Admirals Update - Norfolk Admirals
- AHL Quick Hits - AHL
- Checkers Back At Full Strength - Charlotte Checkers
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