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October 10, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


A five-point night by Brett McLean and a five-goal outburst by Norfolk's power play unit led the Admirals to a 6-3 win in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday as the AHL opened its 68th regular season. Rookies Matt Ellison (2g, 1a), Anton Babchuk (1g, 1a), Matt Keith (1g) and Duncan Keith (1a) found the scoresheet in their pro debuts, and Marty Wilford recorded four assists. The Ads went 5-for-11 on the power play, and chased Penguins starting goaltender Martin Brochu, the AHL's MVP in 2000, with four goals on 16 shots. Team captain Tom Kostopoulos scored twice for the Penguins, who dropped to 1-4-0 all-time in season openers.

Wed 10/8
Norfolk 6, WILKES-BARRE 3

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LOOKING AHEAD:

The 2003-04 season moves ahead with 27 games over the holiday weekend, including the debut of the Toronto Roadrunners in Milwaukee tonight (7:00 CT, 8:00 ET). Geoff Ward leads the new top affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers after guiding Hamilton to within one win of the Calder Cup last spring. The Admirals are looking to build upon their success of a year ago, which featured their first trip to the AHL postseason. Darren Haydar is back in Milwaukee after winning the Dudley "Red" Garrett Award as the league's top rookie in 2002-03.

Manchester opens the season against Worcester tonight (7:35 ET) at the Verizon Wireless Arena, where the Monarchs led the league in attendance a year ago with just under 9,000 fans a game. Both clubs begin the 2003-04 season after being swept out of last postseason in the conference quarterfinals. The Monarchs have added John Tripp, coming off a career year with 29 goals, and former Calder Cup champion goaltender Milan Hnilicka; the IceCats are high on rookie Jay McClement, a second-round draft pick by St. Louis in 2001, and second-year pro Johnny Pohl, who notched 58 points in 58 games last season.

Grand Rapids and Chicago renew their heated rivalry at Allstate Arena on Saturday (7:00 CT, 8:00 ET), five months after the Griffins completed a four-game sweep of the Wolves in last year's conference semifinals. Chicago hits the ice with heavy hearts after this week's passing of former teammate Dan Snyder, a member of their 2002 Calder Cup championship squad. The Wolves are loaded to make another title run, with three of the top 11 scorers in the AHL last year (Steve Maltais, Simon Gamache, Eric Healey) on board. Two highly-touted prospects could make their North American debuts in this contest: 19-year-old Chicago goaltender Kari Lehtonen, the second overall pick in the 2002 draft, and 2000 first-rounder Niklas Kronwall, 22, for Grand Rapids.

(all times local)
Fri 10/10
Portland at Lowell, 7:00... Bridgeport at Hartford, 7:05... Binghamton at Philadelphia, 7:05... Springfield at Providence, 7:05... Worcester at Manchester, 7:35... Hamilton at Rochester, 7:35... Toronto at Milwaukee, 7:00... San Antonio at Utah, 7:05

Sat 10/11
Hamilton at Cleveland, 7:00... Rochester at Binghamton, 7:05... Philadelphia at Bridgeport, 7:05... Portland at Hartford, 7:05... Norfolk at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05... Providence at Worcester, 7:05... Hershey at Syracuse, 7:30... Toronto at Cincinnati, 7:35... Lowell at Manchester, 7:35... Albany at Springfield, 7:35... Grand Rapids at Chicago, 7:00... Utah at San Antonio, 7:00... St. John's at Manitoba, 7:30

Sun 10/12
Norfolk at Philadelphia, 5:05

Mon 10/13
Worcester at Lowell, 2:00... St. John's at Manitoba, 2:00... Norfolk at Albany, 4:00... Toronto at Hamilton, 4:00... Binghamton at Bridgeport, 4:05

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ALUMNI WATCH:

2003 AHL All-Rookie forward Jason Spezza had a goal and an assist to lead Ottawa to a 5-2 win over Montreal on Thursday night; Ron Hainsey, an All-Rookie selection in 2002, scored his first NHL goal for the Canadiens... Jason King scored his first NHL goal in Vancouver's 4-1 win over Calgary... On Wednesday, 2002 AHL Rookie of the Year Tyler Arnason potted the only goal in Chicago's 1-0 victory over visiting Minnesota.

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AHL-TV:

Friday, Worcester at Manchester -- WMUR-TV 9 (Manchester) -- 7:35 ET
Saturday, Providence at Worcester -- WCTR-TV 3 (Worcester) -- 7:05 ET
Saturday, Portland at Hartford -- CN8 (The Comcast Network) -- 7:05 ET
Saturday, Grand Rapids at Chicago -- Comcast Cable (Chicago) -- 7:00 CT

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American Hockey League Stories from October 10, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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