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March 24, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


On Thursday, Grand Rapids hit the 50-win mark with a 4-1 victory in Cleveland, the Griffins' eighth win in a row... Omaha opened up an eight-point lead over idle Iowa with a 5-4 shootout decision over Houston... On Wednesday, Portland edged Wilkes-Barre in a shootout, 2-1, in a battle of division leaders... Mark Popovic and Brian Maloney had a goal and an assist each in Chicago's 5-2 victory over San Antonio.

Wed 3/22 BINGHAMTON 5, Albany 3... CHICAGO 5, San Antonio 2... Milwaukee 4, HAMILTON 3... HARTFORD 3, Manchester 1... Portland 2, WILKES-BARRE 1 (SO)

Thu 3/23 Grand Rapids 4, CLEVELAND 1... OMAHA 5, Houston 4 (SO)

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LOOKING AHEAD: Whoever wins the East Division this year will likely look back on this weekend as a big reason why... Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey hook up for games Friday (7:05 ET) and Sunday (5:00 ET), with the Penguins holding a two-point lead with three games in hand on the Bears... Hershey has won two straight meetings since an 8-1 thrashing by the Pens on Dec. 26, but Wilkes-Barre is still an impressive 5-1-1-1 in the season series, allowing just 13 goals in the eight games... Krys Kolanos has five points in six games since joining the Penguins at the trade deadline... Former Wilkes-Barre captain Kris Beech has two goals and an assist in three games with the Bears.

Milwaukee is fighting for the division title in the West, while Manitoba is shooting for home-ice advantage in its opening-round playoff series... The Admirals visit the Moose for games at the MTS Centre Friday and Saturday (7:30 CT)... Milwaukee, which is playing nine of its final 11 games on the road, is 7-1-2-1 in its last 11 games away from home... Chris Durno recorded three goals and an assist in the Admirals' 7-4 win over the Moose back on Feb. 17... Wade Flaherty made 39 saves to outduel fellow All-Star Pekka Rinne in a 1-0 Manitoba victory on Oct. 14... The Moose enter the weekend two points behind second-place Syracuse in the North Division with a dozen games remaining.

Sixteen points back less than four weeks ago, Binghamton has used an 8-2-1-1 run to climb to within six points of fourth-place Bridgeport in the East Division... The Senators' only weekend action is Friday night in Syracuse (7:30 ET) against the Crunch, while the Sound Tigers wrap up a seven-game road swing with visits to Manchester, Hartford and Springfield... Binghamton captain Denis Hamel has 19 goals in 24 games since the All-Star break, giving him 46 for the season and 201 for his AHL career... Bobby Robins, fresh off his senior season at UMass-Lowell, scored twice in the Senators' win over Albany on Wednesday.

(all times Eastern) Fri 3/24 Springfield at Hartford, 7:00... Albany at Philadelphia, 7:05... Hershey at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05... Portland at Norfolk, 7:15... Binghamton at Syracuse, 7:30... Providence at Lowell, 7:35... Bridgeport at Manchester, 7:35... Cleveland at Rochester, 7:35... Houston at Chicago, 8:30... Milwaukee at Manitoba, 8:30... San Antonio at Peoria, 8:30

Sat 3/25 Cleveland at Toronto, 4:00... Rochester at Grand Rapids, 7:00... Bridgeport at Hartford, 7:00... Albany at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05... Portland at Norfolk, 7:15... Hamilton at Syracuse, 7:30... Springfield at Lowell, 7:35... Providence at Manchester, 7:35... San Antonio at Chicago, 8:00... Peoria at Omaha, 8:00... Houston at Iowa, 8:05... Milwaukee at Manitoba, 8:30

Sun 3/26 Rochester at Grand Rapids, 4:00... Hartford at Providence, 4:05... Bridgeport at Springfield, 4:05... Wilkes-Barre at Hershey, 5:00... Milwaukee at Toronto, 5:00... Portland at Philadelphia, 5:05... San Antonio at Iowa, 6:05

Mon 3/27 No games scheduled

Tue 3/28 Houston at Peoria, 8:00... San Antonio at Iowa, 8:05... Toronto at Manitoba, 8:30

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ALUMNI WATCH: On Thursday, Cristobal Huet made 33 saves as Montreal downed Toronto, 5-1... Pavel Kubina's goal gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 OT win over Washington... James Wisniewski scored his first NHL goal for Chicago, but David LeNeveu made 37 saves as Phoenix beat the Blackhawks, 4-3... On Wednesday, 2003 AHL All-Star Jonathan Hedstrom scored on a penalty shot in overtime to give Anaheim a 5-4 win over Colorado.

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BY THE NUMBERS: 52 -- Goals scored by George Parker for the 1950-51 Grand Rapids Rockets of the IHL, a professional hockey record in that city until Donald MacLean netted his 53rd goal for the Griffins on Thursday night.

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