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Another bumper crop of rookies taking AHL by storm

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


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... It will be no easy task duplicating the incredible class of rookies that dotted the American Hockey League landscape in 2004-05, but this year's group of first-year pros is making its own case to become NHL stars of tomorrow.

Last year's freshmen were the some of the most talented young players ever to come through the AHL, with standouts like Rene Bourque, Thomas Vanek, Cam Ward, Zach Parise, Brandon Bochenski, Ryan Whitney and R.J. Umberger, all of whom have already made a mark in the NHL this fall.

Leading AHL rookies in scoring so far in 2005-06 is Houston Aeros forward Roman Voloshenko, with 12 goals and six assists for 18 points in 19 games. Voloshenko, a native of Belarus who won't turn 20 until May, began his pro career with a hat trick in his debut on Oct. 7, and followed that up with a four-goal effort on Oct. 21. Voloshenko was a second-round draft pick by Minnesota in 2004.

Geoff Platt of Syracuse also has 12 goals this season, adding five assists for 17 points. Platt, a 45-goal scorer in junior with Erie (OHL) last season, has recorded a point in 10 of his 13 games played, including a hat trick vs. Rochester on Oct. 22 and a four-point performance vs. Hamilton on Oct. 28. Ryan Shannon, the RBK Hockey/AHL Rookie of the Month for October, has tallied eight goals and eight assists for 16 points in 14 games for Portland.

Manchester's Jeff Tambellini, a first-round draft pick by Los Angeles in 2003, started off slowly, but has picked up 14 points (7g, 7a) in his last seven games, and is one of six rookies who currently own at least a share of their team scoring leads. In addition to Tambellini and Syracuse's Platt, forward Jean-Francois Jacques and defenseman Andre Benoit are among four co-leaders on Hamilton's scoring page with 13 points each, Joey Tenute is tied for Hershey's team lead with 14 points and Martin St. Pierre has 13 points in 11 games for Norfolk.

Rookie defensemen Noah Welch (plus-14) and Ryan Lannon (plus-13) rank first and second in the entire AHL in plus/minus rating, patrolling the blue line for the league-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Daniel Carcillo, a first-year forward for the Pens, has put up seven goals and seven assists in 13 games.

Al Montoya, the sixth overall pick in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, won five of his first six pro decisions for Hartford (2.50, .929), and Portland's Nathan Marsters was 5-0-0 with a 1.50 goals-against average before both went down recently with injuries. Milwaukee's Pekka Rinne (5-3-1) ranks fifth in the AHL with a 1.85 GAA, and Jamie Holden has a record of 5-1-0 with a 2.47 GAA in six appearances for Cleveland in his first year out of Quinnipiac University.

The AHL presents the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award each year to the player voted to be the league's outstanding rookie. Previous winners include Terry Sawchuk, Roger Crozier, Darryl Sutter, Pelle Lindbergh, Steve Thomas, Ron Hextall, Brett Hull and Daniel Briere.

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COMEBACK KINGS ... It's not the ideal way to put together a three-game winning streak, but the Manchester Monarchs played with fire three times last week and came away with six points.

On Thursday night, Manchester was staring at a 5-2 deficit in Springfield when Brendan Bernakevitch and Jeff Tambellini (twice) scored in the final 4:17 of regulation, then Noah Clarke scored the only shootout goal for a stunning 6-5 victory over the Falcons. On Friday, the Monarchs were down 4-2 with less than nine minutes to play before Brad Smyth (11:34) and Petr Kanko (14:18) evened the score to set the stage for a 5-4 shootout win over Lowell. Finally on Saturday, Ryan Murphy scored with 5:58 to go in regulation and Lauri Tukonen scored in overtime as the Monarchs beat former head coach Bruce Boudreau and his Hershey Bears, 6-5.

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LUCKY THIRTEENS ... Grand Rapids forward Jiri Hudler has recorded a point in each of the Griffins' 13 games this season, tallying 13 goals and 13 assists for 26 points, one behind Houston's Erik Westrum for the league lead (in six fewer games). Hudler has tallied at least two points in eight of the 13 games, and has four multiple-goal efforts.

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DANIS SHINES IN AHL RETURN ... Assigned to Hamilton to get some playing time, Yann Danis responded by stopping 91 of 95 shots and leading the Bulldogs to three wins last week. After beating Binghamton and Cleveland, Danis made 35 saves in a 5-2 win over division-leading Grand Rapids on Saturday night.

In six combined appearances between Hamilton and the Montreal Canadiens this season, Danis has gone 5-0-0 with a 1.41 goals-against average and a .953 save percentage.

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ETC. ... Dustin Penner equaled a Portland team record with four goals in the Pirates' 7-4 win at Hartford on Wednesday... Brandon Bochenski, who has 11 points in six games since being assigned from Ottawa, tied Jason Spezza's franchise record with five points (2g, 3a) in Binghamton's 6-5 win over Hartford on Friday... The Wolf Pack scored first in all four of its games last week but went winless (0-3-0-1), coughing up leads of 2-0, 3-0 and 3-1 along the way... Former Senator Pat Kavanagh recorded a hat trick as Philadelphia ended a nine-game winless streak (0-7-0-2) with a 5-2 win over Binghamton on Sunday... Jason Pominville recorded his second hat trick of the season on Saturday as Rochester beat Chicago, 5-2... Since returning from injury on Nov. 6, Houston's Josh Harding has stopped 102 of 107 shots (1.25, .953) and gone 4-0-0... Peoria's Colin Hemingway has tallied a point in each of his nine AHL outings this season (6g, 5a)... Danny Richmond (Carolina), Craig Adams (Carolina) and Cody McCormick (Colorado) were recalled to the NHL from Lowell over the weekend... Milwaukee has won six in a row since an 0-3-0-1 start to the season... After losing seven of its first nine games this season, Bridgeport has won five in a row, by a combined score of 19-7... Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (13-0-1-0) has won each of its seven games away from home this year and owns a franchise-record nine-game road win streak dating back to last season... Cleveland has won a team-best five straight on home ice.

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