B-Sens Weekly

Published on October 20, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Binghamton Senators News Release


LAST WEEK: The B-Sens continued their strong play into week two of the 2008-09 American Hockey League season, taking three of four possible points. The B-Sens took the Syracuse Crunch to a shootout before falling on Friday night. Binghamton made a visit to Philadelphia on Saturday night and handed the Phantoms a 3-1 defeat.

FRIDAY, OCT. 17 vs. SYRACUSE (3-2 SOL): Ilya Zubov and Zack Smith buried markers in the middle period to stake Binghamton to a 2-0 advantage. The Crunch quickly erased that lead over a 2:20 span in the third period as Clay Wilson and Craig MacDonald each found the back of the net. The B-Sens fired 14 shots at netminder Dan LaCosta in the third period, but were unable to sneak one past the Crunch goaltender. Following a scoreless overtime period, the Crunch converted on four of five shootout attempts to take the extra point.

SATURDAY, OCT. 18 @ PHILADELPHIA (3-1 W): The B-Sens rebounded on Saturday night with a commanding 3-1 win over the Philadelphia Phantoms. Netminder Jeff Glass made his first start of the season and stopped 24 of 25 shots to earn the win. Center Alexander Nikulin, also making his first appearance of the season, buried the B-Sens first goal of the game with assists from Jeremy Yablonski and Tomas Kudelka. Darroll Powe put the Phantoms on the board early in the third period to tie the game at 1. Less than two minutes later rookie Zack Smith buried the eventual game-winner past netminder Scott Munroe. With the marker, Smith extended his goal scoring streak to three games. Defenseman Brendan Bell added a late insurance goal, his first of the season, to make it a 3-1 final.

THIS WEEK: The B-Sens hit the road for three consecutive contests away from the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, with the first taking place on Wednesday, Oct. 22 against the Albany River Rats. The B-Sens look to avenge their shootout loss to Syracuse on Friday, Oct. 24 when they head up I-81 to take on the Crunch. The B-Sens close out the weekend on Saturday, Oct. 25 in Hershey against the first-place Bears.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 22 @ ALBANY (7 p.m.): The B-Sens struggled against the River Rats in 2007-08, going 2-5-1-0 (W-L-OTL-SOL) in eight divisional games. The good news for Binghamton is that All-Star netminder Michael Leighton is now in Carolina (NHL). The River Rats are 1-2-0-0 in three games this season. Pat Dwyer buried a short-handed goal with five minutes left in the third period on Friday night against Worcester, securing the River Rats first win this season.

FRIDAY, OCT. 24 @ SYRACUSE (7:30 p.m.): Syracuse saw its new AHL record for consecutive regular season wins ended on Saturday night at the hands of the Hershey Bears, who dominated the Crunch in a 7-1 defeat. The Crunch are out to a 3-1-0-0 start, even without the services of Derek MacKenzie (ankle). Syracuse is also currently without Nikita Filatov, who remains on recall with Columbus.

SATURDAY, OCT. 25 @ HERSHEY (7 p.m.): The B-Sens make the trip down I-81 to Hershey for their first contest against the high powered Bears attack. Through six games this season, Hershey has scored 33 goals, 13 more than the next closest team (Providence -20). The top three scorers in the AHL skate for Hershey, with Keith Aucoin leading the way with 14 points (4+10). Former B-Sen Alexandre Giroux and Graham Mink each have 10 points (6+4). In contrast, the Bears have also allowed the most goals (20) in the league.

SENS SNIPPETS: Rookie Zack Smith has extended his goal streak to three games with a game-winning tally against the Phantoms on Saturday. He currently leads the B-Sens in goals (3) and points (4). Second-year forward Shawn Weller notched his first point of the 2008-09 season, assisting on Brendan Bell's goal against Philadelphia.

THE COUNTDOWN TO...300: Defenseman Brendan Bell (292) is closing in on 300 AHL games, as is right wing Danny Bois (274).

B-SENS LEADERS:

POINTS: Z. Smith (3+1=4)

GOALS: Z. Smith (3)

ASSISTS: Bell, Karlsson, Kudelka & Shannon (2)

POWER-PLAY GOALS: Shannon, Z. Smith & Zubov (1)

SHORT-HANDED GOALS: None

GAME-WINNING GOALS: Z. Smith & Zubov (1)

SHOTS: D. Smith & Z. Smith (13)

WINS: Elliott (2)

SAVES: Elliott (86)

GAA: Elliott (1.00)

SAVE PERCENTAGE: Elliott (0.960)

PRACTICE & SCHEDULE:

Monday, Oct. 20 - 10:30-11:30 @ Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena

Tuesday, Oct. 21 - 11:30-1 @ Broome Community College Ice Center

Wednesday, Oct. 22 - 10 - 11 @ Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena

Game @ Albany - 7 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 23 - 10:30 - 11:30 @ Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena

Friday, Oct. 24 - game @ Syracuse

Saturday, Oct. 25 - game @ Hershey

B-SENS IN THE COMMUNITY:

The Clay Ground Pottery Workshop - Monday, Oct. 20 - 1-3 p.m. @ The Clay Ground - The B-Sens make their annual trip to The Clay Ground in Vestal to decorate and design a unique pottery piece which will be auctioned at B-Sens' home games on Friday, Nov. 21 and Saturday, Nov. 22. While the event is closed to the public, media is welcome to attend.

"Paint with the Players" Workshop - Tuesday, Oct. 28 - 11:45 a.m. - 1:45 p.m. @ the Arena

The B-Sens team with the Magic Paintbrush Project for the third annual "Paint with the Players" workshop. This fun, messy event pairs special needs children with B-Sens' players for an art workshop. The unique event will include an on-ice painting session by Binghamton Senators' players, a painting workshop on the main concourse level of the Arena, and a pizza party for all event members. The event is open to the public.

B-SENS ON THE AIR: Catch all the action LIVE on WINR 680-AM & WENE 1430-AM, via webcast or streaming video cast at www.ahllive.com

B-SENS TICKET PACKAGES: 2008-09 full-season, half-season tickets, coupon books, 10-game, 5-game and 4-game plans are on sale. For information on ticket packages contact the Binghamton Senators' executive office at (607) 722-SENS.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 20, 2008


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