Falcons Fodder
November 9, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release
SETUP: The Springfield Falcons and Worcester IceCats will meet for the 2nd time this season and 82nd time in franchise history. The IceCats beat the Falcons in the first meeting between these two teams on October 30th, 4-1 at the Worcester Centrum Centre. Christian Backman led Worcester in the win with one goal and one assist earning the game's second star. Sergei Varlamov, Justin Papineau, and Jason Dawe also scored for the IceCats, while Darren Rumble scored the Falcons lone goal on the power play. Worcester goaltender, Phil Osaer made 25 saves between the pipes for the IceCats earning the game's first star, while Springfield goaltender Zac Bierk stopped 26 of 29 shots on goal in the first meeting of the season. Springfield is 33-38-10-0 all-time against Worcester.
The Falcons enter tonight's game looking to snap a two-game losing streak having fallen to the Albany River Rats, 4-0 last night at "The Nest." Albany's Chris Hartsburg led the way with two goals for the Rats and goaltender Scott Clemmensen recorded the shutout. Springfield recorded a season-low 23 shots on goal last night and were 0-4 on the power play. The Falcons remain in fifth-place in the East Division with a record of 4-9-0-0 good for eight points. They are four points behind Binghamton and seven points behind Albany, Bridgeport, and Hartford. Springfield will continue a stretch of games that will see them play four of their next five games at home. The Falcons are 2-4-0-0 at the Springfield Civic Center this season. Springfield enters tonight's game with a record of 2-5-0 against the North Division, including 2-1-0 at home.
Worcester comes into Springfield having lost to the Manchester Monarchs last night, 4-3 in overtime. Aris Brimanis, Marc Brown, and Igor Valeev had the goals for the IceCats last night and Cody Rudkowsky made 25 saves earning the game's third star. Valeev and Jeff Panzer both led the Worcester offense with two points each. The IceCats are currently in third-place in the North Division, five points behind both the Manchester Monarchs and Providence Bruins. Worcester is 5-3-1-1 in their last 10 games and 1-3-0-1 on the road. After losing their first three games of the season, the IceCats have picked up points in seven of their last eight games played.
FALCONS DEBUTS: Two players made their Falcons debuts last night against the Albany River Rats. Forwards, Frank Banham and Alexander Svitov were in the lineup last night after being added to the Springfield roster on Thursday. Banham had been playing in Finland for the previous two seasons and signed a multi-year deal with the Phoenix Coyotes on November 7th.....Svitov is in his first professional season and comes to Springfield after starting the season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He collected one assist in 11 games with Tampa Bay. Svitov was Tampa Bay's 1st choice (3rd overall) in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.
GOLDEN GOPHER REUNION: Tonight's game will feature two members of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers team that won the NCAA Division I National Championship last season. The Falcons Jeff Taffe and the IceCats John Pohl were roommates last season on their way to a National Championship and both players are in the top 15 for rookie scoring in the American Hockey League. Taffe is 3rd on the Falcons in scoring with two goals and six assists for eight points in 10 games played. He made his NHL debut earlier this season as a member of the Phoenix Coyotes not registering a point. Taffe has points in five of his last seven games played and scored his first pro goal on October 25th in Manitoba. He finished last season ranked 2nd in the Nation in goals with 34 and 5th in the Nation in scoring with 58 points......Pohl is currently 2nd in the AHL's rookie scoring race, three points behind Milwaukee's Darren Haydar. Pohl is also tied for the Worcester team lead in scoring with six goals and eight assists for 14 points in 10 games played. Pohl led the Nation in assists last season with 52 and was a First-Team All-American during the 2001-02 campaign.
LAST 10: Worcester left wing, Sergei Varlamov leads the IceCats in scoring over the past 10 games collecting four goals and 10 assists for 14 points and a +9 rating. He has points in seven of his last eight games, including five multi-point games in that span.
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