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Amerks clinch, but North Division race tightens

March 14, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... While Rochester continues to run away from the field in the hunt for another division championship, the race to join the Americans in the 2005 Calder Cup Playoffs is heating up in the rest of the North Division.

On Sunday evening, Rochester became the first team to clinch a berth in this year's postseason, what will be its 16th consecutive trip to the Calder Cup Playoffs. The Amerks, who have now reached the 100-point mark for the seventh time in franchise history, saw their 17-game home winning streak end on Wednesday, but they still have not lost in regulation on home ice since Dec. 10 (18-0-1-2).

St. John's has won five in a row – each by a single goal – to close to within one point of second-place Manitoba in the North. The Maple Leafs, who missed the AHL postseason in 2003 and 2004, have already won 37 games this season, their highest total since the 1993-94 season under Marc Crawford.

On Feb. 9, Edmonton was firmly planted in fourth place, 11 points up on Syracuse and Hamilton and 13 ahead of Cleveland. That night, the Road Runners began a stretch in which they would play 17 of their next 19 games away from home; they are on a 1-9-1-4 slide since then, and a four-team race for the final playoff spot in the North Division has developed.

Syracuse has ridden a four-game winning streak to the head of that pack. The Crunch were tied for sixth heading into a daunting home-and-home weekend series with Rochester; Syracuse won both games, with newly-acquired 2004 AHL All-Star Nathan Robinson posting a goal and three assists, and now have a one-point lead over Hamilton and Edmonton. The Bulldogs, eyeing an eighth postseason appearance in nine years, have won nine of 14 games to catch the Road Runners. Chris Higgins, a first-round draft choice by Montreal in 2002, has recorded nine goals and eight assists to lead Hamilton over that span. And with one regulation loss in its last nine (6-1-0-2), Cleveland is just three points behind the fourth-place Crunch, with three head-to-head meetings still scheduled against Syracuse.

All seven teams in the North Division boast points percentages better than .500, but only three spots in the 2005 Calder Cup Playoffs remain up for grabs. The chase resumes on Tuesday when Cleveland visits St. John's for the first half of a two-game series.

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ICECATS' GRANATO ILL ... Worcester head coach Don Granato has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease and will miss the remainder of the season, having returned home for treatment. A native of Downers Grove, Ill., the 37-year-old Granato is in his fifth year as coach of the IceCats. He won the Louis A.R. Pieri Award as the AHL's outstanding coach as a rookie in 2000-01.

IceCats assistant Steve Pleau will lead the team in Granato's absence. He will be joined on the bench by St. Louis Blues head coach Mike Kitchen.

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AU NATUREL ... Binghamton's Antoine Vermette and Worcester's Peter Sejna each recorded natural hat tricks – three successive goals – in their teams' victories on Saturday night.

Vermette's performance enabled the Senators to defeat Albany, 5-3. It was the second career AHL hat trick for Vermette; the first was Mar. 7, 2003, also against the River Rats. Sejna, who had played 118 contests in his AHL career without even a two-goal game, netted three goals in the third period of a 5-2 win over Providence. It was the first hat trick by an IceCats player since Jan. 2, 2004 (Mike Glumac).


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OFF THE ICE ... The Portland Pirates have joined with local artist and avid hockey fan Greg Sturniolo to unveil a series of five original works depicting the sport of hockey; the originals and limited edition prints are available for purchase at shop.portlandpirates.com, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Portland Pirates Foundation... The Hershey Bears Foundation raised more than $30,000 with an auction of the 1968-69 throwback jerseys worn by the Bears on Sunday.


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ETC. ... Jay McClement tied an AHL season high with five points (2g, 3a) in Worcester's 7-3 win over Portland on Wednesday... Antero Niittymaki stopped 88 of 91 shots in Philadelphia's wins at Lowell, Manchester and Worcester... Mike Cammalleri hit the 40-goal mark for the season in Manchester's 4-2 win over Lowell on Sunday... Philadelphia's Jon Sim had 11 goals in an eight-game span from Feb. 25 to Mar. 11... Syracuse goaltender Karl Goehring has stopped 30 of 33 attempts in going 6-0 in shootouts this season... Matt Ellis netted two shorthanded goals for Grand Rapids in a 4-1 win over Hamilton on Saturday... Five-time AHL All-Star Craig Darby scored his 200th career AHL goal for Springfield on Wednesday... Chicago has earned a point in 11 straight games (10-0-1-0) and has tied Milwaukee for first place in the West Division... The Wolves' Steve Maltais is one point shy of becoming the 71st member of the AHL's 500-point club... With two victories over the weekend, St. John's is 8-0-0-0 against Edmonton this season with seven one-goal wins (including one in overtime and three via shootout)... Norfolk scored three goals in 57 seconds during Friday's 6-0 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton... Houston tied a franchise record for goals in an 8-0 win over San Antonio on Saturday... Portland has tied a franchise record with eight straight home wins... Hartford's 2-0 loss to the Pirates on Sunday was its first regulation defeat at the Cumberland County Civic Center since Nov. 20, 1999... AHL teams have until 3:00 p.m. ET on Thursday to submit their Clear Day lists to the league office.

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