AHL American Hockey League

AHL Quick Hits

Published on October 15, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


The first weekend of the 2004-05 AHL regular season features some marquee matchups, including a battle on Friday between arch-rivals Milwaukee and Chicago at the Bradley Center as the Admirals raise their Calder Cup 2004 championship banner... The Ads took out the Wolves in six games in the division final last spring... Then on Saturday, Milwaukee heads down to Nashville to face off against Rochester, its victim in the Western Conference final... The Admirals' title defense will be led by returnees such as Darren Haydar, Simon Gamache, Scottie Upshall, Libor Pivko and 2004 AHL All-Stars Timofei Shishkanov and Andrew Hutchinson, along with exciting newcomers like Ryan Suter and Jordin Tootoo.

The AHL makes its Edmonton debut this weekend when the Road Runners host Hamilton in a two-game series at Rexall Place on Friday and Saturday evenings... The Oilers' prospects were 8-3-1 against the Bulldogs in 2003-04, but still finished fifth in a North Division won by Hamilton... Jarret Stoll, who helped the Bulldogs to the Calder Cup Final in 2003, will suit up for the Road Runners after spending the entire 2003-04 season with the NHL Oilers... Hamilton's Tomas Plekanec led the team with 66 points in 74 games a year ago.

Hartford hosts Philadelphia on Saturday (7:05 ET) in a battle of the top two teams in the Eastern Conference last season... The Wolf Pack won the Atlantic Division with 102 points in 2003-04 and the Phantoms finished first in the East with 101; both had their playoff runs stopped short by Wilkes-Barre/Scranton... Hartford's Jason LaBarbera was the AHL's MVP last season, going 34-9-9 with a league-record 13 shutouts... Phantoms forward Peter White enters the year with 502 assists in his AHL career, good for eighth on the league's all-time list.

Elsewhere this weekend, Robbie Ftorek is one win shy of 300 in his AHL head coaching career is he leads Albany against Binghamton on Friday and Bridgeport on Saturday... Springfield's Dirk Graham, Binghamton's Dave Cameron and Lowell's Tom Rowe also make their AHL coaching debuts... San Antonio, with young guns Jay Bouwmeester, Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss, Petr Taticek and Lukas Krajicek, kicks off the year hosting Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Brent Burns, Mikko Koivu and Houston on Friday night.

(all times Eastern)
Fri 10/15
Binghamton at Albany, 7:00... Springfield at Providence, 7:05... Cleveland at Grand Rapids, 7:30... Hershey at Norfolk, 7:30... St. John's at Syracuse, 7:30... Worcester at Manchester, 7:35... Manitoba at Rochester, 7:35... Chicago at Milwaukee, 8:00... Houston at San Antonio, 8:00... Hamilton at Edmonton, 9:00... Cincinnati at Utah, 9:05

Sat 10/16
Rochester vs. Milwaukee (at Nashville), 6:00... Manitoba at Cleveland, 7:00... Norfolk at Hershey, 7:00... Providence at Lowell, 7:00... Syracuse at Binghamton, 7:05... Albany at Bridgeport, 7:05... Philadelphia at Hartford, 7:05... St. John's at Portland, 7:05... Springfield at Worcester, 7:05... Wilkes-Barre at Manchester, 7:35... Grand Rapids at Chicago, 8:00... Hamilton at Edmonton, 8:00... Utah at San Antonio, 8:00... Cincinnati at Houston, 8:35

Sun 10/17
Manitoba at Hamilton, 4:00... Wilkes-Barre at Lowell, 4:00... Philadelphia at Bridgeport, 4:05... St. John's at Portland, 4:05... Springfield at Providence, 4:05

Mon 10/18
San Antonio at Edmonton, 9:00


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BY THE NUMBERS:
23 years, 8 months: Average age of a player on an AHL opening-night roster, as submitted by teams on Wednesday... That figure is 10 months younger than the average AHL player on opening night in 2003... Providence's Patrice Bergeron, who turned 19 in July, is currently the youngest player in the league.


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AHL-TV:
Friday, Worcester at Manchester -- WMUR-TV 9 (Manchester) -- 7:35 ET
Friday, Chicago at Milwaukee -- Comcast Cable (Chicago) -- 7:00 CT
Friday, Manitoba at Rochester -- Time Warner Cable 98 (Rochester) -- Sat., 12:00 pm ET (tape)
Saturday, Philadelphia at Hartford -- MSG 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 15, 2004


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