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January 29, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


Tomas Kopecky scored twice and added two assists as Grand Rapids routed Houston on Tuesday, 7-0, in a battle between Western Conference division leaders. The Griffins led 2-0 late in the second period before scoring five times in a span of 8:13, including a pair of goals from Michel Picard. All-Star goaltender Marc Lamothe stopped 32 shots for his fourth shutout of the season, ending the Aeros' five-game winning streak.

Justin Kurtz scored with 6:04 left in regulation to give Manitoba a 4-3 win over Chicago on Tuesday, snapping the defending champs' five-game unbeaten streak. The Moose rallied from deficits of 2-0 and 3-2, with help from Chris Herperger, who tallied his fifth goal in as many games since coming over from the Wolves. Alex Auld made 23 saves to improve to 13-13-2 on the season. The teams get together again tonight in Winnipeg (7:30 CT).

Mon 1/27
Lowell 3, PORTLAND 2

Tue 1/28
GRAND RAPIDS 7, Houston 0... MANITOBA 4, Chicago 3

LOOKING AHEAD:

Hershey hosts Philadelphia tonight (7:30 ET) for the teams' seventh meeting of the season. The Phantoms have lost four in a row, scoring a total of two goals in the four games, and currently sit 11th in the Western Conference, on the outside looking in on the playoff picture. Hershey remains fourth in the conference despite an 0-5-3-0 record in their last eight outings. Each team has three wins in the season series so far, and Philadelphia owns a 36-32-8 edge in 76 all-time regular season meetings.

At the Centrum Centre tonight (7:05 ET), Worcester can stay in the thick of the North Division race by continuing its success against Portland. The IceCats are six points behind the third-place Pirates in the North, but are 3-0-1 against their rivals this season. Portland is 3-0-0-1 in its last four road games, and Trent Whitfield has 8+15=23 pts. in 15 games away from home this season. Worcester's All-Star trio of Sergei Varlamov, John Pohl and Justin Papineau lead the 'Cats with six points each in the season series vs. the Pirates.

Binghamton puts an eight-game unbeaten streak on the line tonight (7:05 ET) when Springfield visits Broome County for an East Division showdown. Jason Spezza (7+9=16 pts.) and Joe Murphy (5+7=12 pts., +13 rating) have led the offense during the first-place Senators' 6-0-2-0 run, which began with a 5-4 win over the Falcons on Jan. 11. Springfield has lost six in a row on the road, and is 1-8-0-0 when visiting division foes this season.

(all times local)
Wed 1/29
Hartford at Albany, 7:00... San Antonio at Grand Rapids, 7:00... Springfield at Binghamton, 7:05... Saint John at Bridgeport, 7:05... Cincinnati at Cleveland, 7:05... Houston at Rochester, 7:05... Syracuse at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05... Portland at Worcester, 7:05... Philadelphia at Hershey, 7:30... Chicago at Manitoba, 7:30

Thu 1/30
Lowell at St. John's, 7:35

Fri 1/31
Lowell at St. John's, 7:35... Hershey at Albany, 7:00... Syracuse at Binghamton, 7:05... San Antonio at Cleveland, 7:05... Saint John at Providence, 7:05... Utah at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05... Manitoba at Hamilton, 7:30... Chicago at Norfolk, 7:30... Worcester at Bridgeport, 7:35... Hartford at Manchester, 7:35... Houston at Rochester, 7:35... Portland at Springfield, 7:35... Grand Rapids at Milwaukee, 7:12

ALUMNI WATCH:
On Tuesday, Ramzi Abid scored two goals, including the game-winner with 1:49 left, as Phoenix defeated Calgary, 4-3... Rick DiPietro made 24 saves to lead the N.Y. Islanders past Pittsburgh, 5-2... In Monday's action, Jim Fahey recorded two assists as San Jose defeated Los Angeles, 3-0... Philadelphia's Mike Siklenka, Pittsburgh's Konstantin Koltsov and Los Angeles's Scott Barney all made their NHL debuts in the past week.

ON THE AIR:
Wednesday, Syracuse at Wilkes-Barre -- Adelphia 63/WNEP-DT 16-2 (NE Pennsylvania) -- 7:05 ET (live)
Thursday, Lowell at St. John's -- Rogers Cable 9 (St. John's) -- 7:35 NT (live)
Friday, Utah at Wilkes-Barre -- Adelphia 63/WNEP-DT 16-2 (NE Pennsylvania) -- 7:05 ET (live)
Friday, Manitoba at Hamilton -- Rogers Sportsnet (Ontario region and Winnipeg) -- 7:30 ET (live)
Friday, Houston at Rochester -- Time Warner 98 (Rochester) -- 7:35 ET (live)

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