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April 15, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


Norfolk grabbed an early lead in its East Division qualifying series with a 3-0 win in Binghamton last night. Michael Leighton, who also blanked the Senators five days earlier, turned aside 31 shots for his second career playoff shutout. Quintin Laing scored twice for the Admirals, who go for the sweep on Friday night.

Five other series get underway tonight, including an Atlantic Division semifinal between Manchester and Worcester. The Monarchs get the edge in experience, as Steve Kelly (New Jersey, 2000) and Bryan Muir (Colorado, 2001) each played on a Stanley Cup champion, and goaltenders Milan Hnilicka (Hartford, 2000) and Adam Hauser (U. of Minnesota, 2002) have titles on their resumes as well. One of Hauser's teammates with the Golden Gophers was IceCats forward Johnny Pohl, who had seven points in nine games against the Monarchs in the regular season.

Bridgeport hosts Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Game 1 of their East Division semi tonight, following an eight-games season series that featured six one-goal decisions. Fourth-year pro Sebastien Caron is expected to make his first career playoff appearance in net tonight for the Penguins, who were winless in their final four regular-season games (0-1-2-1). The Sound Tigers, who led the league with an incredible 90.7 percent efficiency on the penalty kill, was even better against Wilkes-Barre (31-for-33, 93.9%).

Portland visits Providence in their qualifying series opener tonight, the rivals' first playoff clash since 1995. Pirates coach Tim Army, a Providence native, led his team to a 7-0-1-1 finish to the regular season, and goaltenders Maxime Ouellet and Rastislav Stana are drawing comparisons to the Olaf Kolzig-Byron Dafoe tandem that led Portland to the 1994 Calder Cup. The Bruins' Tim Thomas recorded six shutouts over his final 11 starts, and will get the call in Game 1.

Toronto heads to the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville for the North Division qualifier, as the Roadrunners and Barons make their Calder Cup Playoff debuts tonight. The postseason is nothing new for the two head coaches: Cleveland's Roy Sommer led Kentucky to three straight playoffs (1999-2001), while Geoff Ward guided Hamilton to the 2003 Calder Cup Final. This game comes nearly 32 years to the day after the last AHL playoff game played in the Cleveland area (Apr. 14, 1972).

Houston won 15 postseason games to capture the Calder Cup last year; they'll need 18 wins to repeat this spring as Cincinnati visits for a best-of-three beginning tonight. The Aeros were 5-1-3-0 in their last nine games at the Toyota Center, including a pair of ties with the Mighty Ducks on Apr. 1-2. Ilya Bryzgalov was the AHL's leader with 3,748 minutes played in 2003-04 as he attempts to lead Cincinnati to the franchise's first-ever playoff series victory.


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TONIGHT'S GAMES
§Game 1 – Toronto at Cleveland, 7:00
Game 1 – Wilkes-Barre at Bridgeport, 7:05
Game 1 – Worcester at Manchester, 7:05
Game 1 – Portland at Providence, 7:05
Game 1 – Cincinnati at Houston, 8:05


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SERIES SCHEDULES
Atlantic Division Qualifying Series
4-Providence vs. 5-Portland
Game 1 – Thu 4/15 at Providence, 7:05
Game 2 – Fri 4/16 at Providence, 7:05
*Game 3 – Sun 4/18 at Providence, 4:05

East Division Qualifying Series
4-Binghamton vs. 5-Norfolk
Game 1 – Norfolk 3, BINGHAMTON 0
Game 2 – Fri 4/16 at Binghamton, 7:05
*Game 3 – Sat 4/17 at Binghamton, 7:05

North Division Qualifying Series
4-Cleveland vs. 5-Toronto
§Game 1 – Thu 4/15 at Cleveland, 7:00
§Game 2 – Sat 4/17 at Cleveland, 7:00
*§Game 3 – Sun 4/18 at Cleveland, 7:00
§at Strongsville, Ohio

West Division Qualifying Series
4-Houston vs. 5-Cincinnati
Game 1 – Thu 4/15 at Houston, 8:05
Game 2 – Sat 4/17 at Houston, 8:05
*Game 3 – Sun 4/18 at Houston, 6:05

Atlantic Division Semifinal
2-Manchester vs. 3-Worcester
Game 1 – Thu 4/15 at Manchester, 7:05
Game 2 – Sat 4/17 at Manchester, 7:35
Game 3 – Sun 4/18 at Worcester, 5:05
Game 4 – Tue 4/20 at Worcester, 7:05
*Game 5 – Thu 4/22 at Manchester, 7:05
*Game 6 – Sat 4/24 at Worcester, 7:05
*Game 7 – Sun 4/25 at Manchester, 4:05

East Division Semifinal
2-Bridgeport vs. 3-Wilkes-Barre
Game 1 – Thu 4/15 at Bridgeport, 7:05
Game 2 – Sat 4/17 at Bridgeport, 7:05
Game 3 – Sun 4/18 at Wilkes-Barre, 5:05
Game 4 – Tue 4/20 at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05
*Game 5 – Thu 4/22 at Bridgeport, 7:05
*Game 6 – Fri 4/23 at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05
*Game 7 – Sun 4/25 at Bridgeport, 4:05

North Division Semifinal
2-Syracuse vs. 3-Rochester
Game 1 – Fri 4/16 at Syracuse, 7:30
Game 2 – Sat 4/17 at Syracuse, 7:30
Game 3 – Wed 4/21 at Rochester, 7:05
Game 4 – Fri 4/23 at Rochester, 7:35
*Game 5 – Sun 4/25 at Syracuse, 5:00
*Game 6 – Wed 4/28 at Rochester, 7:05
*Game 7 – Sat 5/1 at Syracuse, 7:30

West Division Semifinal
2-Grand Rapids vs. 3-Chicago
Game 1 – Fri 4/16 at Grand Rapids, 7:30
Game 2 – Sun 4/18 at Grand Rapids, 6:00
Game 3 – Wed 4/21 at Chicago, 8:00
Game 4 – Fri 4/23 at Chicago, 8:30
*Game 5 – Sat 4/24 at Grand Rapids, 8:00
*Game 6 – Mon 4/26 at Chicago, 8:00
*Game 7 – Wed 4/28 at Grand Rapids, 7:00

*if necessary... All times Eastern


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FROM CALDER TO STANLEY:
Robert Esche made 35 saves to lead Philadelphia past New Jersey last night, 3-0; Esche played for Springfield in the Calder Cup Playoffs in 1999 and 2000.

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BY THE NUMBERS:
3 - Road teams which have won a best-of-three qualifying series since the round was implemented two years ago... Manitoba turned the trick twice, winning in Worcester in 2002 and in Portland in 2003.

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