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Published on December 30, 2002 under American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


Rookie Jack Baker scored 1:28 into overtime as Philadelphia won a see-saw 4-3 decision from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday night. Peter White, Kirby Law and Mark Greig gave the Phantoms three separate one-goal leads, but the Penguins answered each time behind Tom Kostopoulos, Tomas Surovy and Toby Petersen. Antero Niittymaki stopped 37 shots to earn the win for Philadelphia.

Hamilton extended its road winning streak to 10 games with a 6-4 come-from-behind triumph in Rochester on Friday. Francois Methot and Milan Bartovic scored 56 seconds apart to give the Amerks a 3-1 lead, and Jason Pominville made it 4-2 after two periods. But Jani Rita (7:18) and Jason Ward (15:21) tied it for the Bulldogs before Fernando Pisani netted the game-winner with just 1:02 remaining. Benoit Gratton finished with a goal and three assists for Hamilton.

Dan Snyder scored twice, including his league-leading fifth shorthanded goal of the season, to lead Chicago past San Antonio on Saturday night, 5-3. Kirill Safronov, Derek MacKenzie and Garnet Exelby also scored for the defending champs, and Ben Simon added two assists. Sean Gagnon netted two goals for the Rampage, who lost their sixth in a row.

Cory Larose, a member of the 2002 AHL All-Rookie Team, scored a pair of second-period goals to propel Houston to a 4-2 win over Cincinnati on Saturday, as the Aeros extended their winning streak to five games. Jeff Hoggan and former Mighty Duck Rastislav Pavlikovsky also lit the lamp for the West-leading Aeros, who fired 48 shots on Cincinnati's Ilja Bryzgalov.

Norfolk ended a three-game slide with a 4-1 win in Hershey on Sunday evening. The Admirals struck four times in the first 17:08 of the game, with Dmitri Toklunov recording a goal and two assists in his third game back after recovering from an off-season ankle injury. Igor Radulov, Matt Henderson and Brett McLean all scored for Norfolk and Michael Leighton finished with 32 saves.

Thu 12/26
Rochester 5, CLEVELAND 2... HARTFORD 3, Albany 2... GRAND RAPIDS 6, Cincinnati 1... MILWAUKEE 4, Chicago 3... Philadelphia 4, WILKES-BARRE 3 (OT)... Houston 7, SAN ANTONIO 2... PORTLAND 3, Saint John 2... BINGHAMTON 3, Syracuse 2

Fri 12/27
WORCESTER 4, Albany 1... Portland 3, SAINT JOHN 2... Manchester 5, LOWELL 4... PHILADELPHIA 4, Hershey 2... Wilkes-Barre 1, NORFOLK 0... Hamilton 6, ROCHESTER 4... Binghamton 4, SPRINGFIELD 1... Houston 4, MILWAUKEE 1... Chicago 4, SAN ANTONIO 2... PROVIDENCE 4, Hartford 4 (OT)... UTAH 7, Cleveland 2... Grand Rapids 3, CINCINNATI 2 (OT)... St. John's 4, SYRACUSE 0

Sat 12/28
Providence 4, PORTLAND 3... ALBANY 2, Binghamton 2 (OT)... Wilkes-Barre 4, NORFOLK 1... Saint John 1, MANCHESTER 0... Worcester 3, SPRINGFIELD 0... HAMILTON 4, St. John's 1... Milwaukee 6, GRAND RAPIDS 1... HERSHEY 3, Philadelphia 0... Rochester 3, SYRACUSE 2... MANITOBA 4, Bridgeport 0... CHICAGO 5, San Antonio 3... HOUSTON 4, Cincinnati 2... Lowell 2, HARTFORD 0... UTAH 6, Cleveland 1

Sun 12/29
PROVIDENCE 3, Manchester 2... WORCESTER 1, Springfield 1 (OT)... Norfolk 4, HERSHEY 1... HAMILTON 6, St. John's 3

LOOKING AHEAD:

Utah visits Grand Rapids tonight and Tuesday (7:00 ET, 5:00 MT) with a four-game unbeaten streak in tow. The Grizzlies beat Cleveland over the weekend, 7-2 and 6-1, to keep pace with first-place Houston in the West Division, while the Griffins had their six-game winning streak end with a 6-1 home loss to Milwaukee on Saturday. Grand Rapids has won two of the first three meetings in this season series, with all three games decided by one goal.

Providence closes out 2002 against rival Hartford on Tuesday (4:05 ET) in the teams' fifth meeting in 24 days. The Bruins are unbeaten in nine (8-0-1-0) overall and 14-3-3-1 on home ice this season, as well as 3-1-1-0 against the Wolf Pack in 2002-03, with Keith Aucoin leading all scorers with 4+5=9 pts. Hartford's Dixon Ward, a former Boston Bruin, has four points and a +5 rating in two games for the Pack against the B's.

(all times local)

Mon 12/30
Utah at Grand Rapids, 7:00... Portland at Lowell, 7:00... Milwaukee at Cleveland, 7:05... Syracuse at Rochester, 7:05... San Antonio at Chicago, 7:00... Cincinnati at Houston, 7:00

Tue 12/31
Hartford at Providence, 4:05... Bridgeport at Manitoba, 4:00... St. John's at Binghamton, 6:05... Philadelphia at Portland, 6:05... Hershey at Wilkes-Barre, 6:05... Utah at Grand Rapids, 7:00... Norfolk at Syracuse, 7:00... Lowell at Manchester, 7:05

Wed 1/1
Portland at Saint John, 7:00

ON THE AIR:
Monday, Syracuse at Rochester -- Time Warner 98 (Rochester) -- Saturday, 11:00 am ET (tape)
Friday, Springfield at St. John's -- Rogers Cable 9 (St. John's) -- 7:35 NT (live)
Friday, Wilkes-Barre at Philadelphia -- CN8 (The Comcast Network) -- 7:05 ET (live)

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American Hockey League Stories from December 30, 2002


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