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Barons Weekly Report

January 5, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Barons News Release


Flashback... Facing their busiest stretch of the season, the Barons began the week in Winnipeg, Manitoba. On Monday, the Barons fell to the Manitoba Moose by a score of 4-2. Patrick Rissmiller assisted on both of the Barons goals that were scored by Brad Boyes and Tomas Plihal. The Barons would avenge the loss on Wednesday as they reacquainted themselves with the Moose.

The Barons, fueled by a Miroslav Zalesak hat trick and a 48-save performance by Seamus Kotyk, defeated Manitoba 5-2. Zalesak, who had his franchise-high nine-game point-streak snapped on Monday against Manitoba, recorded his second hat trick against the Moose this season. Doug Murray and Jon DiSalvatore tallied the Barons other goals. The Barons took New Year's Day off, before returning to action on Friday night on home ice against the Milwaukee Admirals. With the game tied 1-1 in the first period, Barons goaltender Seamus Kotyk suffered an injury that knocked him out of the game.

A cold Dimitri Patzold was forced to take the net against the Admirals who lead the league in scoring. Milwaukee took advantage of the situation and scored 5 unanswered goals in a 6-2 victory. Marcel Goc and Miroslav Zalesak scored goals for the Barons.

Patzold responded to a sub-par performance on Friday with a magnificent showing on Saturday in front of a Barons franchise record 7,876 fans. Patzold backstopped the Barons to a 5-1 victory over the St. John's Maple Leafs with a 35-save night. Grant Stevenson scored two goals for the Barons, while Miroslav Zalesak, Marcel Goc, and Jon DiSalvatore each added one. Garrett Stafford snapped a season-high five-game scoreless streak with 2 assists while posting a +3 rating on the night.

The Barons bussed to Syracuse following the game to play their fourth game in five days against the Crunch. The night started off well with the Barons grabbing a 1-0 lead off of a Garrett Stafford power play goal. After the game was tied 1-1, the Barons received a break when a Syracuse goal was disallowed due to the use of a high-stick. The Barons would grab a 2-1 lead in the second period on a Tavis Hansen goal. Then, for the second time this week, the Barons were hit with the injury bug in between the pipes. Dimitri Patzold was injured after a Syracuse player was knocked into him. At that point, Patzold remained in the game and made a save before having to leave due to injury. The newly recalled Budar Amidovski was called upon to take the net for the Barons. Amidovski was overwhelmed by the Crunch in the third period as Syracuse scored 5 goals. The Barons did not back away and tallied two of their own, but fell just short in a 6-4 defeat.

Coming Up... The Barons will have a chance to catch their breath after a 5-games-in-7-days stretch. Cleveland does not return to action until Friday night. The Barons will continue their six-game, 14-day road trip with a battle against the first place Hamilton Bulldogs. The Barons are 1-3 against Hamilton on the season. In each game of this series, the losing team has scored 2 goals. Patrick Rissmiller has enjoyed his time against Hamilton this season. In the 5 games, Rissmiller has scored 8 points on 4 goals and 4 assists. Hamilton currently leads the entire Western Conference with 48 points. With that said, the Bulldogs are winless in their last four games (0-2-2-0) and only 3-4-3-0 in their last 10 games...On Saturday, the Barons will travel to Grand Rapids to battle the West Division leader Griffins. Grand Rapids is the Western Conference's second best team as they have amassed 44 points on the season. This is the fourth time this season that the Barons will battle the top two Western Conference teams (Hamilton and Grand Rapids) in back-to-back games. The Barons are 2-0 against the Griffins this season. Dimitri Patzold has been stellar against them posting a 2-0 record with a 1.50 GAA and a .945 save percentage. Tavis Hansen and Miroslav Zalesak each have two points against the Griffins this season. The Barons hold a 7-6-0-0 lifetime series lead over the Griffins. Two of the Barons six goals against the Griffins this season have come on the power play. In total, the Barons are converting 20% of their power play opportunities against the Griffins on the season. Barons Player of the Week... The Cleveland Barons Player of the Week is defenseman Garrett Stafford. Stafford scored 6 points on 1 goal and 5 assists in 5 games this week. Stafford has a three-game point streak intact and has two consecutive multi-point games. On the week, Stafford was a +1 for the Barons. Stafford's goal came on the power play and one of his assists was short-handed. Stafford assisted on the game-winning goal against St. John's.

Top Barons... Miroslav Zalesak has recorded a point in 13 out of the last 14 games. During that span, Zalesak has recorded 20 points on 12 goals and 8 assists. With a goal in four consecutive games, Zalesak is just one goal shy of tying the longest goal streak in the AHL this season. Zalesak is tied for second among all AHL scorers with 42 points. His 20 goals are third in the AHL and his 22 assists are tied for fourth in the league. With 16 points on the power play, Zalesak is tied for second among all AHL scorers. His 7 power play goals are tied for third... Rookie defenseman Garrett Stafford is making his presence felt. After snapping a season-high five-game pointless streak, Stafford recorded six points in the last 3 games. His 21 points on the season are the fourth most among all AHL defensemen. His 15 assists are tied for sixth among all defenseman. Among all AHL rookies, Stafford ranks sixth in points, first in points by a defenseman, and tied for fourth in assists. Stafford has tied a career high with his three-game-point streak. He has done it two other times this season... Second year pro Brad Boyes is one of three Barons to score six points on the week (Zalesak and Stafford). By doing so, Boyes is now tied for 13th among all AHL scorers with 30 points. His 19 assists are tied for 16th in the league. In Boyes' six multi-point games this season, the Barons are a perfect 6-0-0-0... Patrick Rissmiller has registered a point in four of the last six games. During that span, Rissmiller has accumulated 5 assists. His 25 points are third on the Barons. The Barons have yet to lose a game in which Rissmiller scores the game's first goal. Tied for the team lead with three first goals, the Barons are 2-0-1-0 when Patrick gives the Barons a 1-0 advantage... Barons defenseman Matt Carkner leads the team in plus/minus boasting a +10 rating. He is the first player in franchise history to eclipse the +10 plateau. Appearing in 34 games for the Barons this season, Carkner is second among all AHL defensemen in minor penalties with 27. By recording an assist on Wednesday night, Carkner set a new career record with 5 assists. He also tied his career high in points, set last season, with five... Marcel Goc has recorded a point in the last four games. Goc has 2 goals and 2 assists in that span with a +3 plus/minus. One of Goc's goals was a game-winner... Lynn Loyns has recorded a point in three of the last four games for the Barons. Loyns is +4 during that span with a short-handed goal...

Interesting Statistics Of The Week... The Cleveland Barons eclipsed a franchise record on Saturday night as 7,876 fans attended the game. The previous high for the Barons was set on February 1st, 2003 as 7,753 fans attended.

WDOK Breakaway With The Barons... The Cleveland Barons will host the fourth and final WDOK Breakaway With The Barons on Monday, January 12th at Gilmour Academy from 7:15-9:15pm. Admission is free to all and all chidren 14-and-under will receive one complimentary ticket to a future Barons game courtesy of SoftRock 102.1 WDOK. Gilmour Academy is located on the corner of Route 91 and Cedar Road in Gates Mills.

SlapShark A Slam... Barons mascot SlapShark will appear at Tuesday night's Cleveland Cavaliers game. SlapShark will team with Moondog all game long.

Pasta Lear's Hitting The Books With The Barons... A Barons player to be announced later will join SlapShark at Rocky River Primary School on Monday, January 12th at 1:30pm. Rocky River Primary School was awarded as the Class of the Month as part of the "Pasta Lear's Hitting The Books With The Barons" program. In addition to the player visit, the entire class will be treated to a pizza party compliments of Pasta Lear's Pizzeria and Deli located on 6310 Engle Road in Brookpark. Kensington Intermediate School is located on Lake Road in Rocky River.

Standings... With the win over St. John's on Saturday night, the Barons regained third place of the North Division. The Barons are currently chasing Rochester with 42 points. Rochester is the hottest team in the division. The Americans currently have a 5-game unbeaten streak and a 7-2-1-0 record over their last 10. The Americans are chasing the Hamilton Bulldogs who have a six-point lead in the division, but share the same winning percentage with Rochester. Grand Rapids maintains a 3-point lead in the West Division. They are holding off Chicago and Milwaukee for first place. Milwaukee owns the best winning percentage in the conference, but only has played 32 games thus far. Milwaukee is riding the crest of a four-game unbeaten streak...In the East Division, Bridgeport is showing no signs of relenting with a league best 53 points. Only two of the seven teams in the division have unbeaten streaks... The Atlantic Division has four reams within six points of each other at the top. Hartford remains in first place, but Providence, Manchester, and Worcester are right behind. Each of those team are coming off of wins.

Up and West... Monday's game against Vancouver marks game No. 41, the halfway mark of the season. After a sluggish start, the Sharks have vaulted themselves to the top of the Pacific Division and have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL since Oct. 30. San Jose has earned points in 30 of their 40 games this season, including 26 of their last 31. Along the way, the Sharks have posted a seven game unbeaten streak (5-0-2-0 from 11/15-11/30/03), a five-game winning streak (11/21-11/30/03) and ARE CURRENTLY ON A FRANCHISE-BEST 11- GAME UNBEATEN STREAK AT HOME (7-0-4 from Nov. 15-Dec. 29). Sharks Head Coach Ron Wilson has tabbed Patrick Marleau as the Sharks Captain for the next 10 games. Marleau had been serving as an alternate captain during Alyn McCauley's 10-game segment. McCauley will serve as an alternate for Marleau and defenseman Mike Rathje will remain an alternate captain. During Wilson's rotating captaincy plan, Mike Ricci, Vincent Damphousse (twice), McCauley and now Marleau have worn the "C"...

The San Jose Sharks called up goaltender Nolan Schaefer from the Fresno Falcons of the ECHL on Sunday. The recall was made necessary as Evgeni Nabokov will miss San Jose's Monday evening contest at Vancouver while attending the funeral of a family friend in Toronto. Nabokov is expected to return to San Jose following the funeral and will not miss any more contests... San Jose will be without Kyle McLaren indefinitely after the hulking blueliner left the Chicago contests Friday night following a big hit to his ribs. McLaren will visit with Sharks team physicians in San Jose and be further evaluated. Jim Fahey was recalled from Cleveland and met the team in St. Louis. In 20 games with the Barons, Fahey has posted one goal and 10 assists. In 13 contests with San Jose, Fahey registered two helpers.

Barons Broadcasts... Friday night's game against Hamilton can be heard live on Fox Sports Radio WTOU-1350am. All games this season can be heard live by Crashing The Net at www.clevelandbarons.net.

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