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December 26, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


The top two teams in the North Division are set to battle on Saturday as first-place Hamilton (43 points) visits second-place Rochester (42 points) for the second time in seven days... The Bulldogs collected a 5-4 overtime win over the Amerks last Sunday and are 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 contests overall... Hamilton has earned a point in seven straight road games (6-0-1-0) since a 5-3 loss at Manitoba on Nov. 20... Mathieu Darche notched a hat trick, including the game-winning goal, in Sunday's victory at Rochester... Darche (11-4-15 in 19 games) and David Desharnais (11-9-20 in 17 games), both of whom have missed time to injury, are tied for the team lead with 11 goals apiece... The Americans are on a four-game winless skid (0-3-1-0) and have just two victories in their last 10 tilts (2-7-1-0)... Rochester defenseman Jordan Henry shows 1-6-7 in three meetings with Hamilton this season and 2-4-6 in 28 games against everyone else... Chris Taylor is riding a three-game scoring streak (2-3-5) for the Amerks.

Hartford looks to snap out of its recent slump on Saturday as it visits intra-state rival Bridgeport... The Wolf Pack are just 2-5-1-2 in their last 10 games since moving a season-high five games over.500 (13-8-0-1) on Nov. 27... Corey Locke continues to lead the league in scoring with 38 points (13-25-38) in 32 games for the Wolf Pack... Former first-round draft pick Bobby Sanguinetti is tied for second among AHL defensemen with 23 points (6-17-23) in 27 games on the Hartford blue line... Dale Weise (9-12-21) has netted three of the Wolf Pack's league-leading 11 shorthanded goals on the campaign... Bridgeport has picked up a point in six of its last seven contests (5-1-1-0) but has been held to four regulation goals in three games against the Wolf Pack this season (1-1-1-0)... Sean Bentivoglio paces the Sound Tigers with 22 points (11-11-22) in 35 games, and is 11 goals are tied with Greg Mauldin (11-8-19) for the team lead... Bridgeport's 35 games played (18-14-1-2) are tied with Manitoba for most in the AHL.

Binghamton puts its five-game home winning streak on the line Saturday when division-rival Adirondack visits the Broome County Arena... The Senators have outscored opponents 27-4 during the home winning streak, including a 7-0 triumph over the Phantoms on Nov. 26... Binghamton also took a 5-0 decision from the Phantoms in Glens Falls on Nov. 13... Josh Hennessy has a team-high five points (2-3-5) in the season series for the B-Sens, and captain Denis Hamel has scored four goals in the two contests... Three-time AHL All-Star Martin St. Pierre leads Binghamton overall with 32 points (12-20-32) in 29 tilts... Adirondack is coming off a 4-3 come-from-behind win at Worcester on Dec. 19 and is 4-2-0-0 in its last six contests... Stefan Legein has a point in eight of his last 10 games (9-2-11) for the Phantoms, and Jared Ross shows a point in four of five (2-3-5)... Adirondack is just 5-9-2-0 against East Division teams this year, compared with a 7-2-0-0 mark against the Atlantic.

Winners of six of its last seven games (6-1-0-0), Milwaukee travels to Rockford on Saturday to kick off its post-Christmas schedule... It marks the Admirals' league-high 20th road contest in 31 games to begin the season; Milwaukee is 10-6-1-2 away from the Bradley Center thus far... Mike Santorelli, Peter Olvecky, and Wacey Rabbit all have two game-winning goals during the Ads' recent hot streak... Santorelli shows eight goals and 16 points in just 12 AHL contests for the season... Cal O'Reilly is riding a six-game scoring run (2-5-7) for Milwaukee and leads the team with 28 points (6-22-28) in 23 games overall... The Admirals are the only AHL team yet to suffer a regulation loss after scoring the game's first goal (9-0-1-2)... Rockford is just 2-4-0-0 since registering five straight wins from Nov. 27 to Dec. 5... Kyle Greentree has a point in 11 of his last 12 games (7-7-14) for the IceHogs after putting up just five points in his first 14 outings... Mark Cullen leads Rockford with 11 goals and 27 points in 34 contests, and Bracken Kearns shows 12 points (4-8-12) in his last 11 games.

(all times Eastern)

Sat 12/26

Hartford @ Bridgeport, 7:00

Chicago @ Grand Rapids, 7:00

Syracuse @ Hershey, 7:00

Providence @ Lowell, 7:00

Manchester @ Portland, 7:00

Adirondack @ Binghamton, 7:05

Hamilton @ Rochester, 7:05

Albany @ W-B/Scranton, 7:05

Springfield @ Worcester, 7:05

Toronto @ Lake Erie, 7:30

Milwaukee @ Rockford, 8:05

San Antonio @ Houston, 8:35

Sun 12/27

Providence @ Manchester, 3:00

Hartford @ Springfield, 3:00

Lowell @ Worcester, 3:05

Peoria @ Grand Rapids, 4:00

Lake Erie @ Toronto, 4:00

Rockford @ Chicago, 4:00

Texas @ San Antonio, 4:00

W-B/Scranton @ Albany, 5:00

Norfolk @ Hershey, 5:00

Binghamton @ Rochester, 5:00

Abbotsford @ Manitoba, 8:30

ALUMNI WATCH:

On Wednesday, Antti Niemi pitched a 33-save shutout as Chicago blanked Detroit, 3-0... On Tuesday, rookie Brandon Yip, who has two goals in six AHL games for Lake Erie, notched his first career NHL goal in Colorado's 4-2 loss to Anaheim.

BY THE NUMBERS:

92.0 -- Hershey's penalty-killing percentage this season, which ranks first in the AHL... The Bears, who had the league's 29th-ranked penalty kill last season (78.6 percent), host Syracuse and Norfolk at the Giant Center this weekend.

AHL LIVE:

Watch live games, highlights and features, get video on demand and more all season long with AHL Live. Visit ahllive.com for more information.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 26, 2009


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