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April 8, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


On Wednesday night, Joe Motzko had two goals and an assist as Syracuse kept its playoff hopes alive with a 4-3 win at Manitoba... Kirby Law and Zbynek Michalek each recorded a goal and two assists for Houston in a 5-3 win over Utah... Pavel Vorobiev scored on a penalty shot to lift Norfolk over Philadelphia, 4-3... Jason LaBarbera stopped 41 shots in Hartford's 3-2 win at Worcester... On Thursday, Kip Miller recorded three goals and two assists as Grand Rapids took out San Antonio, 7-4.

Wed 4/6
LOWELL 4, Springfield 2... Milwaukee 4, HAMILTON 3 (SO)... CHICAGO 3, Cincinnati 2... MANCHESTER 5, Portland 4 (OT)... Hartford 3, WORCESTER 2... Binghamton 3, WILKES-BARRE 1... Houston 5, UTAH 3... Albany 3, BRIDGEPORT 2... NORFOLK 4, Philadelphia 3... Syracuse 4, MANITOBA 3

Thu 4/7
Grand Rapids 7, SAN ANTONIO 4


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LOOKING AHEAD:
With six straight wins, Providence has narrowed the gap on third place in the Atlantic Division... The Bruins can inch closer when they host Lowell on Friday night... The Lock Monsters are just four points up on the B's heading into the weekend, and Providence owns a 6-1-0-2 edge in the season series... Brad Boyes and Andy Hilbert have combined for 25 points (13g, 12a) in nine games against Lowell on the year... Hannu Toivonen has won 10 of his last 11 decisions in net for the Bruins... Eric Staal (72) and Chuck Kobasew (71) have both surpassed Jeff Heerema's Lowell team record of 70 points in a season.

The East Division playoff race could come down to two meetings this weekend between fourth-place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and fifth-place Hershey... The Bears have taken six of their eight meetings with the Penguins – all since Jan. 28 – and come into play just three points back of the defending conference champions... Marek Svatos has nine points (3g, 6a) in his last four games for Hershey... Peter Budaj is one victory shy of becoming the Bears' first 30-game winner since J.F. Labbe in the championship season of 1996-97... Wilkes-Barre brings a seven-game winless streak (0-5-1-1) into the weekend... Ramzi Abid leads the Penguins with four goals and seven points in the season series with Hershey.

Chicago and Milwaukee collide for the tenth and final time this regular season on Saturday night at the Bradley Center... The reigning Calder Cup champions are 6-1-1-1 against their nearest rivals this year, but enter the weekend two points behind the first-place Wolves in the West Division... Milwaukee's Simon Gamache has led the way with 15 points (3g, 12a) against his former mates this season... The Admirals rank third in the AHL on the power play, thanks in part to a 16-for-57 clip (28.1%) against Chicago... Stephen Weiss comes into play riding a 13-game scoring streak for the Wolves (6g, 9a).

(all times Eastern)
Fri 4/8
Syracuse at Cleveland, 7:00... Rochester at Binghamton, 7:05... Bridgeport at Philadelphia, 7:05... Lowell at Providence, 7:05... Hershey at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05... Milwaukee at Hamilton, 7:30... Albany at Norfolk, 7:30... Houston at Cincinnati, 7:35... Worcester at Springfield, 7:35... Manchester at Portland, 8:05... St. John's at Edmonton, 9:00... Grand Rapids at Utah, 9:05

Sat 4/9
St. John's at Edmonton, 4:00... Philadelphia at Hershey, 7:00... Wilkes-Barre at Binghamton, 7:05... Lowell at Bridgeport, 7:05... Providence at Hartford, 7:05... Manchester at Springfield, 7:05... Portland at Worcester, 7:05... Albany at Norfolk, 7:30... Rochester at Syracuse, 7:30... Cleveland at Cincinnati, 7:35... Houston at San Antonio, 8:00... Hamilton at Manitoba, 8:30... Chicago at Milwaukee, 8:30... Grand Rapids at Utah, 9:05

Sun 4/10
Hamilton at Manitoba, 3:00... Portland at Lowell, 4:00... Binghamton at Bridgeport, 4:05... Hartford at Providence, 4:05... Springfield at Worcester, 4:05... Cincinnati at Cleveland, 5:00... Wilkes-Barre at Hershey, 5:00... San Antonio at Houston, 6:05... Albany at Philadelphia, 6:05

Mon 4/11
Rochester at St. John's, 6:05

Tue 4/12
Grand Rapids at Milwaukee, 8:00... Manitoba at Edmonton, 9:00


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BY THE NUMBERS:
522 – Penalty minutes accumulated this season by Binghamton's Brian McGrattan, tying the single-season AHL record set by Dennis Bonvie in 1996-97... The Senators have five games remaining in the season.


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AHL-TV:
Friday, Milwaukee at Hamilton -- Cable 14 (Hamilton) -- 7:30 ET (live)
Saturday, Chicago at Milwaukee -- Comcast Cable (Chicago) -- 7:30 CT (live)
Sunday, Hartford at Providence -- Cox Sports Television (Providence) -- 4:05 ET (live)
Monday, Rochester at St. John's -- Rogers Television 9 (St. John's) -- 11:00 NT (tape)
Tuesday, Grand Rapids at Milwaukee -- Comcast Local (Grand Rapids) -- 8:00 ET (live)

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