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Barons Weekly Report

October 18, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Barons News Release


Flashback

10/15/04 Grand Rapids 3 – Cleveland 2 SOL ... The Cleveland Barons opened the 2004-05 season on Friday night in Grand Rapids . The Barons jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first period. The scoring began with a Tomas Plihal power play goal. Rookie forward Scott Dobben then added a goal less than two minutes later. Dimitri Patzold stopped 24 of 26 shots on the night for the Barons. The Barons participated in their first Overtime Shootout in team history and fell short by a count of 3-2.

10/16/04 Manitoba 6 – Cleveland 4... The Barons would again get on the scoreboard first as they christened the National City Rink in Gund Arena. The top line of Marcel Goc, Patrick Rissmiller, and Ryane Clowe combined for the opening goal. Goc was credited with the goal to extend his home goal-scoring streak to an AHL high 6 games. Marcel would add the second Barons goal as well, to cut the Barons deficit to 4-2. Clowe and Tomas Plihal would score the Barons other goals.

Coming Up

10/20/04 Cleveland vs. Milwaukee – National City Rink in Gund Arena

The Barons will welcome the AHL Calder Cup Champion Milwaukee Admirals to National City Rink in Gund Arena on Wednesday for their only trip to Cleveland this season. With the Admirals sailing into town, Cleveland fans will get their chance to see former Barons netminder Seamus Kotyk. In his fourth season of professional play, Kotyk spent his first three seasons in Cleveland . In those three seasons, Kotyk was 26-43-5-1 with a 3.30 goals against average and a .904 save percentage. Kotyk is coming off of a career season in which he was 13-10-5 with a 2.48 goals against average, and a .925 save percentage. The Admirals have picked up where they left off last season. With a 2-0-0-0 start to the season, the Admirals are victorious in 9 consecutive games including last season's playoffs. Center Wyatt Smith, who has 83 games of NHL experience under his belt, leads the Admirals with 5 points on 2 goals and 3 assists. Meanwhile, Darren Haydar, who leads Milwaukee with 10 points ( 5-5-10 ) against the Barons in his career, has a goal and an assist in two games. The Barons have fared well against the Admirals' number one goaltender Brian Finley. In two games against the Barons, Finley is 0-1-1 with a 2.94 goals against average and a .864 save percentage.

10/22 & 23/04 Cleveland @ Houston – The Toyota Center

Houston started the season by losing to San Antonio on Friday. They rebounded to knock off Cincinnati the next night. At 1-1-0-0, Houston has four goals on the season, all recorded by a different player. In fact, no player has more than one point at this time. Houston brings to the table a solid mix of young prospects and solid veterans. With over 900 games of NHL experience on the roster, the Aeros will look to make a run at their second Calder Cup in three years. Even more impressive are the stable of 1 st round draft picks from the last three years ( Mikko Koivu-2001, Brent Burns-2003, and Pierre-Marc Bouchard-2002). Koivu and Burns have scored 2 of the Aeros 4 goals. Also on the roster is Junior Lessard, the reigning Hobey Baker Award winner.

Wild Wild West

With three West Division opponents on the slate this week, the Barons may feel comfortable. Last season, the Barons posted a 15-7-3-3 record against the West. Cleveland gained a point in their first West Division battle on Friday with a 3-2 shootout loss against Grand Rapids .

Barons Player of the Week

The Cleveland Barons Player of the Week is center Marcel Goc. The native of Germany posted 2 goals and 1 assist in the game against Manitoba on Saturday. The detailed centerman also added a +1 rating. Goc was excellent in the face-off circle, winning 63% of his draws. With his two-goal performance on Saturday, Goc now has a six-game goal streak at home, the longest in the AHL. Goc also has at least one goal in the seven of his last 11 AHL games ( 9-2-11 ). During that time, Goc is a +6.

Interesting Statistics Of The Week

The Barons are powerful again. Last season, the Barons finished fourth in the league with a 16.7% power play percentage. The Barons started the season with 3 power play goals on 13 opportunities for a 23.1% conversion rate. Entering the season, head coach Roy Sommer owned a 17.7% power play percentage over the last six season. Only two teams, Providence and Philadelphia, had a better rate in those six seasons.

The Best Defense Is A Good Offense

Christian Ehrhoff , a defenseman, led the Barons with 7 shots on goal on Friday night. His ten shots lead the Barons through two games. Last season, he averaged nearly three shots per contest in 27 games with the Barons. During the Playoffs, Ehrhoff led the Barons with 36 shots in 9 games.

The Power Of Plihal

Center Tomas Plihal loves starting against the Grand Rapids Griffins. Last season, Plihal played his first AHL game against the Griffins. He scored the game-winning goal in the Barons 2-0 win. This season, Plihal scored the game's first goal in the Barons 3-2 shootout loss to Grand Rapids . Plihal then added a goal against the Moose on Saturday. The goal on Friday snapped a career-long 26 game scoreless drought. Interestingly enough, the drought started after he scored in back-to-back games for the first time in his career.

A Clowe-ser Look

Ryane Clowe began the season with an assist against Grand Rapids and a goal and an assist against Manitoba . In Clowe's last seven regular season games, the left wing has 2 goals and 8 assists for 10 points.

The Duetsche Duo

Marcel Goc and Christian Ehrhoff were teammates on Team Germany in the 2004 World Cup of Hockey this past summer. Germany almost pulled off an upset against the runner-up squad from Finland, but were edged with a late third period goal in a 2-1 game.

National City Breakaway with the Barons presented by WDOK and Marc's

The Cleveland Barons will host the first National City Breakaway with the Barons presented by WDOK and Marc's on Tuesday, October 26th at Winterhurst Ice Rink from 7-9pm . The Barons will hold a one-hour practice that is open to the public. Following the practice, the Barons will take the ice with the fans. It is the perfect opportunity to get autographs from and photographs with the team. Children 14-and-under will receive a complimentary ticket to a future Barons game. Winterhurst Ice Rink is located on 14740 Lakewood Heights Blvd. in Lakewood .

Schedule Change

The Cleveland Barons will now host the Edmonton Road Runners on Tuesday, November 9th in San Jose, CA. at HP Pavilion, home of the San Jose Sharks. The game will start at 10:30pm EST and will be aired on WKNR 850-AM. Due to the new travel schedule, the game on Thursday, November 11th originally scheduled for 10:30am at National City Rink in Gund Arena will now start at 7:00pm .

Practice Makes Perfect

Below is the Barons schedule for the week. Practice times are subject to change. All practices at Barons Arena are open to the public. For information, contact the Barons at 216-420-0000...

Date Event Location Time
10-19 Practice Barons Arena 10:30am
10-20 Pre-Game Skate National City Rink in Gund Arena 10:00am
10-20 vs. MILWAUKEE National City Rink in Gund Arena 7:00pm
10-21 Practice Barons Arena 10:30am
10-22 @ Houston Toyota Center 8:35pm
10-23 @ Houston Toyota Center 8:35pm
10-25 Practice Barons Arena 10:00am

Barons Broadcasts

All road games this week can be heard live on The Voice of the Fan WKNR 850-am. All games this season can be heard live by Crashing The Net at www.sportstalkcleveland.com .

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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