AHL American Hockey League

AHL Quick Hits

February 10, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


LOOKING BACK: On Wednesday, Mark Cullen scored two third-period goals to help Norfolk to a 5-4 win over Hershey... Tony Voce and Marc Cavosie picked up a goal and an assist each in Philadelphia's 3-2 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton... Konstantin Pushkarev recorded a hat trick to lead Manchester over San Antonio, 6-1... Binghamton scored four unanswered goals, capped by Brandon Bochenski's second of the night, in a 4-3 overtime win over Portland.

Wed 2/8 Norfolk 5, HERSHEY 4... Syracuse 3, CHICAGO 1... Albany 5, SPRINGFIELD 2... PHILADELPHIA 3, Wilkes-Barre 2... MANCHESTER 6, San Antonio 1... Providence 5, LOWELL 1... BINGHAMTON 4, Portland 3 (OT)

Thu 2/9 Toronto 4, CLEVELAND 3 (SO)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LOOKING AHEAD: With its lead in the Atlantic Division down to two points, Portland continues its road trip with games in Toronto on Friday (7:30 ET) and Hamilton on Saturday (7:00 ET)... The Pirates, who have owned at least a share of first place every day since Dec. 11, have lost five of their six games played outside of New England this season (1-3-2-0)... Portland rookie Ryan Shannon has been held off the scoresheet in back-to-back games for the first time in three months... Jeremy Williams, who scored twice in Toronto's shootout win over Cleveland on Thursday, has 11 points (6g, 5a) in nine games since returning from injury... The Pirates have not played at Hamilton's Copps Coliseum since Dec. 20, 2002, and their only win there came back on Dec. 6, 1996.

West-leading Houston makes a trip north this weekend, kicking off a five-game road trip against Atlantic contenders Manchester and Hartford... Patrick O'Sullivan, third on the Aeros but fifth in the AHL in scoring with 54 points, has five goals and three assists in his last five games... Houston is 7-3-0-1 in 11 games since losing goaltender Josh Harding to injury... The Monarchs defeated the Aeros in overtime on Oct. 22 in the only other all-time meeting between the clubs, with ex-Aero Marty Wilford scoring the winning goal... Houston has gone 146:57 without a goal at the Hartford Civic Center, including shutout losses in their last two visits.

The names and faces have changed, but 2005 Calder Cup finalists Philadelphia and Chicago renew acquaintances on Saturday (7:00 CT) for the first of two rematches in a seven-day span... Most of the central figures from last year's championship series have graduated to the show - 17 members of the champion Phantoms have skated in the NHL this season, including playoff MVP Antero Niittymaki and leading playoff scorer Jeff Carter... The Wolves enter the weekend having lost seven of their last eight overall and five of their last six at home... Before heading to Chicago, Philadelphia visits Grand Rapids on Friday night.

(all times Eastern) Fri 2/10 Philadelphia at Grand Rapids, 7:00... San Antonio at Hartford, 7:00... Chicago at Cleveland, 7:05... Albany at Providence, 7:05... Hershey at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05... Springfield at Norfolk, 7:15... Binghamton at Syracuse, 7:30... Portland at Toronto, 7:30... Lowell at Bridgeport, 7:35... Houston at Manchester, 7:35... Hamilton at Rochester, 7:35... Iowa at Milwaukee, 8:00... Omaha at Manitoba, 8:30

Sat 2/11 Binghamton at Toronto, 4:00... Peoria at Grand Rapids, 7:00... Portland at Hamilton, 7:00... Houston at Hartford, 7:00... Bridgeport at Hershey, 7:00... Albany at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05... Springfield at Norfolk, 7:15... Rochester at Syracuse, 7:30... Providence at Manchester, 7:35... Philadelphia at Chicago, 8:00... Milwaukee at Iowa, 8:05... Omaha at Manitoba, 8:30

Sun 2/12 San Antonio at Hamilton, 4:00... Wilkes-Barre at Bridgeport, 4:05... Chicago at Milwaukee, 5:00... Iowa at Peoria, 6:00... Springfield at Philadelphia, 6:05 (at Wachovia Center)

Mon 2/13 No games scheduled

Tue 2/14 Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7:00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ALUMNI WATCH: On Thursday, Brian Gionta's second goal of the game and 33rd of the season gave New Jersey a 3-2 overtime win over Boston... Two-time AHL All-Star Kari Lehtonen made 34 saves to lead Atlanta past Ottawa, 2-1... On Wednesday, 2005 Calder Cup champions Mike Richards (hat trick), Jeff Carter (1g, 1a) and R.J. Umberger (1g, 1a) paced Philadelphia to a 5-2 win over the N.Y. Islanders.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BY THE NUMBERS: 4 -- Times in AHL history that both reigning Calder Cup finalists failed to qualify for the postseason: 1940 (Cleveland, Philadelphia), 1960 (Hershey, Buffalo), 1986 (Sherbrooke, Baltimore) and 2002 (Saint John, Wilkes-Barre)... Philadelphia and Chicago, finalists from 2005, are both currently nine points out of a playoff spot.

Check out the American Hockey League Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from February 10, 2006


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.


Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central