Albany Splits Games In Short Week After Holiday Break

Published on December 29, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


The River Rats had a short week after enjoying a brief AHL holiday break. Albany returned to action on Saturday as they hosted the Rochester Americans at the Times Union Center. Dwight Helminen scored twice as the Rats took a 3-0 lead early into the third period, but the Amerks made it interesting by scoring two goals in the final six minutes before Albany held on for a 3-2 win.

Sunday the River Rats made their first visit of the season to the Giant Center in Hershey to take on the East Division's first place Bears. After trading goals in the first period, Hershey scored three in the second period to open up a 4-1 lead. But the Rats didn't quit and closed the gap to 4-3 with 2:17 remaining with goals from Pat Dwyer and Nick Dodge just 31 seconds apart. But the Bears hung on and added an empty net goal for a 5-3 win, led by former Albany captain Keith Aucoin's three-point game (1 goal, 2 assists), which included scoring the game-winning goal.

Week 13 Preview: There will be no rest for the River Rats this week as they plunge headfirst into busy schedule as they close out 2008 and welcome in 2009. Albany plays four games in the next five days, beginning on Tuesday, December 30 when they face their former affiliation with a 7:00 pm game against the Lowell Devils at the Times Union Center. The River Rats then travel to Binghamton for a New Years' Eve game at 6:05 pm against the Senators at Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena. The team will have a light practice on New Years' Day in preparation for a tough two-game weekend homestand against East Division opponents.

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins make their first trip to Albany on Friday, January 2nd and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers return to the Times Union Center on Saturday for the first time since the season-opener on October 11th. Albany had eight players out of the lineup due to injury this past weekend and will be hoping to get one or two players back to help bolster the roster. The River Rats have not dressed a full four lines of forwards in any of their last seven games; the last time Albany had 12 forwards in the lineup was on December 12th in a 7-1 win at Manchester. One player who will not return for the River Rats is left wing Dan LaCouture, who was suspended by Carolina Monday after he left Albany to play overseas in the Continental Hockey League (KHL) in Russia. Week 13 Schedule: (All games are broadcast LIVE on 104.5 FM "The Team" ESPN Radio, are streamed free over the Internet at www.albanyriverrats.com and can be watched via internet pay-per-view video on www.ahllive.com)

Tuesday, December 30 - 7:00 pm - Times Union Center - Albany, NY vs. Lowell Devils (13-14-1-3, 30 pts) Sixth Place, Atlantic Division The Devils won both games this past week, snapping a seven-game winless and a five-game losing streak. Lowell got the goals going as they blew out the Providence Bruins 7-1 Saturday night at Tsongas Arena and then came back from a 3-1 second period to beat Hartford 5-4. Rookie goaltender has established himself as the number one goaltender and has started nine of the Devils' last eleven games, posting a 4-3-1 record over that span. Former River Rats captain Pascal Rheaume returns to Albany for the first time this year, one of eight former Rats playing for Lowell. Leading Scorer: Jon DiSalvatore (RW) - 27 points (9 goals, 18 assists) in 30 games played. Leading Goaltender: Jeff Frazee (G) - 2.49 GAA, 0.926 save pct., 8-5-2 record in 16 GP. Who's Hot: Jon DiSalvatore (RW) - 6 points (4 goals, 2 assists) in last five games played. Barry Tallackson (RW) - 4 goals in last five games played. Chad Wiseman (LW) - 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists) in last five games played.

Wednesday, December 31 - 6:05 pm - Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena - Binghamton, NY @ Binghamton Senators (17-10-3-3, 40 pts) Fourth Place, East Division The red hot Senators were cooled off by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Sunday afternoon, losing 6-3 at Wachovia Arena; the loss snapped Binghamton's four-game winning streak and seven-game point streak. Goaltender Brian Elliott has won four straight games, leads the AHL with 16 wins and ranks second in the league in games played (27) and saves (737). Prior to Sunday's game in Pennsylvania, Elliott had started seven consecutive games; Jeff Glass got the nod in Wilkes-Barre and allowed five goals on 38 shots. Elliott's two wins this week were a 3-2 overtime win over Syracuse and a huge 4-1 in Hershey where he made a colossal 43 saves. Leading Scorer: Ilya Zubov (C) - 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 21 games played.

Leading Goaltender: Brian Elliott (G) - 2.42 GAA, 0.924 save pct., 16-7-1 record in 27 GP. Who's Hot: Danny Bois (RW) - 5 points (2 goals, 3 assists) and a +2 rating in last five games played. Matt Carkner (D) -5 assists in last five games played. Denis Hamel (LW) - 4 points (3 goals, 1 assist) in last five games played.

Friday, January 2 - 7:00 pm - Times Union Center - Albany, NY vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (20-11-1-1, 42 pts) Third Place, East Division The Penguins are rolling as they close out the month of December; they are currently riding a four game winning streak and have won eight of their last ten games.

C Jeff Taffe was named the Reebok/AHL player of the week by posting nine points (2 goals, 7 assists) and a +4 rating in Wilkes-Barre's three games this week. LW Chris Minard leads the AHL with 25 goals and 39 points in 27 games played, averaging just less than 1 goal per game. Prior to Sunday's 6-3 win over Binghamton, goaltender John Curry started five straight games and went 4-1-0, including a 25 save shutout of Philadelphia last Friday at the Spectrum. The Penguins rank second in the AHL in goals scored (118), trailing only the Hershey Bears (128). Leading Scorer: Chris Minard (LW) - 39 points (25 goals, 14 assists) in 27 games played. Leading Goaltender: Adam Berkhoel (G) - 2.37 GAA, 0.920 save pct., 12-5-1 record in 18 GP. Who's Hot: Chris Minard (LW) - 9 points (8 goals, 1 assist) and a +5 rating in last five games played. Jeff Taffe (C) - 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists) and a +4 rating in last three games played. Ryan Stone (C) - 6 points (2 goals, 4 assists) and a +5 rating in last three games played.

Saturday, January 3 - 7:00 pm - Times Union Center - Albany, NY vs. Bridgeport Sound Tigers (21-9-1-2, 45 pts) Second Place, East Division After playing them three times in their first nine games of the season, Albany has not faced Bridgeport in almost two full months; their last meeting came on Sunday, November 2nd in Connecticut. The Sound Tigers have won four of their last six games and trail first place Hershey by just two points in the East Division standings. Goaltender Peter Mannino has started seven of their last nine games, but fellow rookie Nathan Lawson won both his starts over that stretch, including his first AHL shutout to extend his record to a perfect 7-0-0; Lawson's 395 minutes played are 205 minutes shy of the minimum 600 minutes to currently qualify for the AHL's goaltending leaders (he would be tied for first in save percentage and second in the AHL in GAA).

Leading Scorer: Mike Iggulden (RW) - 36 points (15 goals, 21 assists) in 33 games played. Leading Goaltender: Nathan Lawson (G) - 1.52 GAA, 0.945 save pct., 7-0-0 record in 8 GP. Who's Hot: Trevor Smith (LW) - 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) and a +1 rating in last five games played. Kurtis McLean (C) - 7 points (2 goals, 5 assists) and a +1 rating in last five games played. Jeremy Colliton (C) - 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists) and a +5 rating in last five games played.

Week 12 Game Results: 12/27/08 Rochester 2 @ Albany 3 12/28/08

Albany 3 @ Hershey 5 River Rats Player of the Week: (Week 12) Michael Ryan - LW - #21

2 GP, 3 Points (2 Goals, 1 Assist), -1 rating, 2 PIMs Left wing Michael Ryan continues to be one of the River Rats most valuable offensive weapons as he led the team in points this week. The Boston, Massachusetts native scored the game's first goal and assisted on the game-winning goal on Saturday night in a 3-2 win over Rochester. Sunday in Hershey he scored his team-leading tenth goal of the season, tying him for the team lead with 20 points in 23 games played; Sunday was also Ryan's 300th career professional game.

Rat Bites:

-QUICK STRIKE - The River Rats scored two goals in a span of 31 seconds in the third period of Sunday's game in a late rally that fell just short at the Giant Center in Hershey. Pat Dwyer scored a power play goal at 17:12 and Nick Dodge followed with a goal at 17:43, taking just over a half minute to cut the Bears 4-1 lead to 4-3; Albany allowed an empty net goal and lost 5-3. The two quick goals are the fastest pair for the River Rats this year, beating the previous mark by 10 seconds; Mark Flood and Michael Ryan scored 41 seconds apart on December 12th at Manchester.

-TRI-CENTENNIAL - Left wing Michael Ryan reached a personal milestone on Sunday at Hershey when he played in his 300th career professional game. Ryan capped off the night by scoring his 10th goal of the season, to become the first River Rats skater this year to reach double digits in goals. The Boston, Massachusetts native has 154 career pro points (74 goals, 80 assists) and has divided his six year career between the AHL (233 GP) and the NHL (67 GP).

-REINFORCEMENTS - With the injury bug abound, Albany called up two players from the Florida Everblades (ECHL) on Friday. The Rats recalled Yannick Tifu, who was on Albany's opening night roster, along with left wing Brad Herauf. Tifu was held scoreless in the River Rats first nine games of the season before being loaned to Florida and he made the most of his return to the AHL by recorded one assist in each of Albany's two games this weekend. Herauf, who had played in 281 career pro games prior to his call up, made his AHL debut with Albany on Friday and then recorded his first AHL fighting major on Sunday in Hershey.

-RED CROSS SUPPORT - The River Rats have been his with an extraordinary rash of injuries that currently have eight regular roster skaters out of the lineup. Through 32 games this year Albany has piled up 167 Man-Games Lost due to injury, NHL call up and AHL suspension (an average of 5.22 per game) and they are on pace to reach 417 Man-Games Lost. During the 2007-08 season the River Rats racked up a massive 464 Man-Games Lost (5.80 average) and has 62 players suit up; 35 players have hit the ice for Albany so far in 2008-09.

-ALBANY MILESTONE - Captain Tim Conboy is one game away from his 150th career game played in an Albany uniform. Conboy, who has played in 288 career AHL games, is fourth amongst active River Rats in games played; he trails Brett Carson (167), Jakub Petruzalek (164) and Pat Dwyer (160).

-LETHAL COMBINATION - Michael Ryan and Jakub Petruzalek have generated a potent partnership over the last month amidst all of the injuries to River Rats forwards. Petruzalek has the primary assist on five of Ryan's last seven goals, including several scintillating two-on-one rushes. The two forwards are currently tied for the team lead in points (20), while Ryan has a team-high 10 goals.

River Rats Recent Transactions

December 29 - DELETE Dan LaCouture (LW) - Placed on Suspension by Carolina (NHL).

December 28 - DELETE Steve Ward (D) - Released from PTO and Returned to Reading (ECHL).

December 27 - ADD Yannick Tifu (LW) - Recalled from loan with Florida (ECHL).

December 27 - ADD Brad Herauf (LW) - Signed PTO and called up from Florida (ECHL).

Albany River Rats Team Leaders: Games Played: Mike Angelidis, Nicolas Blanchard, Nick Dodge & Jakub Petruzalek, (32)

Goals: Michael Ryan (10)

Assists: Mark Flood & Jakub

Petruzalek (12) Points: Jakub

Petruzalek & Michael Ryan (20) Plus/Minus:

Steve Ward (+3) Penalty Minutes: Trevor Gillies

(125) Power Play Goals: Dwight Helminen & Michael Ryan

(4) Short Handed Goals: Pat Dwyer, Mark Flood & Dwight Helminen (1) Game-Winning Goals: Dwight Helminen (2)

Shots: Jerome Samson (79)

Shooting Percentage: Stefan Chaput (17.4%)

Saves: Justin Peters (526)

Wins: Daniel Manzato (6)

GAA: Justin Peters (2.79) Save

Percentage: Justin Peters (0.910)

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American Hockey League Stories from December 29, 2008


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