Falcons Fodder
January 17, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release
SETUP: The Springfield Falcons and Hartford Wolf Pack will meet for the fourth time this season and third time in Springfield. The Falcons are 1-2-0 against Hartford this season, including 1-1 at the Springfield Civic Center. The Falcons won the last meeting between these two divisional rivals, 4-3 on November 24th. The Falcons rallied from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits in that game scoring two third period goals, including Dan Focht's game-winner with 45-seconds remaining in regulation. Darren Rumble and Ramzi Abid, who are both on recall to the National Hockey League, are the Falcons top two scorers against Hartford this season. Erik Westrum is Springfield's active leader in scoring against the Wolf Pack with one goal and three assists for four points in two games against Hartford. Roman Lyashenko and Ken Gernander each lead Hartford in scoring against Springfield with five points in three games. After only seeing each other three times in the first 42 games of the season, the Falcons and Wolf Pack will meet three times in the next seven days.
The Falcons are looking to snap a four-game losing streak and three-game home-losing streak tonight. Springfield ended a seven-game road trip on Wednesday night when they were shutout by the Worcester IceCats, 1-0. The Falcons ended their seven-game trip with a record of 1-3-2. Springfield's last win at home was on Sunday, December 15th when they beat the Saint John Flames, 4-3. The Falcons will start a stretch of games tonight that will see them play eight games in the final 14 days of January, with four of their next six games on home ice. Springfield is 10-9-0 at "The Nest" this season. The Falcons are currently in fifth-place in the East Division, three points behind the Albany River Rats.
Hartford heads into tonight's game on a two-game losing streak and they are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games. The Wolf Pack also played this past Wednesday night losing to the Providence Bruins, 5-1 in Hartford. Hartford allowed two goals in both the first and second periods in the loss. The Wolf Pack remain in third-place in the East Division with a record of 18-16-6-2 good for 44 points. Hartford will also be busy over the next couple of weeks playing eight games in the final 14 days of January, with five of their eight games at home. The Wolf Pack have been outscored 10-3 in their last three games and they have scored three or more goals in three of their last 13 games played.
FALCONS TRANSACTIONS: Since the Falcons last home game on December 28th, the roster has been through some changes. On December 31st, the Phoenix Coyotes traded goaltender Patrick DesRochers to the Carolina Hurricanes and in return acquired goaltender Jean-Marc Pelletier. Pelletier was recalled by Phoenix on January 3rd, but was reassigned to the Falcons earlier today. Pelletier has spent the majority of this season with the Lowell Lock Monsters. Pelletier led all Lowell goaltenders in wins (21) and shutouts (2) last season......Defenseman Darren Rumble, goaltender Zac Bierk, forward Jeff Taffe, and defenseman Dan Focht are all currently on recall to the National Hockey League......New faces on the roster include center Brian Holzinger and forward Gaetan Royer. Tampa Bay assigned Holzinger to the Falcons on January 13th and Royer was recalled from Pensacola of the East Coast Hockey League on January 9th. Holzinger has played in seven games for Springfield collecting two goals and nine assists for 11 points. Royer has one goal and one assist for two points in four games with Springfield this season.....Nikita Alexeev and Alexander Svitov also remain on recall to the Tampa Bay Lightning, as both forwards were recalled on Wednesday.
MOVIN' ON UP: Falcons forward, Frank Banham has moved into 3rd place on the Falcons in team scoring with 11 goals and 11 assists for 22 points in 27 games played. Banham has led the team in scoring over the last five games with four goals and two assists for six points and he had a four-game goal-scoring streak from January 3 â January 11. The four-game goal-scoring streak was the longest by any Falcons player this season.
WOLF PACK LEADER: Hartford right winger, Dixon Ward leads the Pack in scoring with 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points in 32 games played. Ward has registered at least a point in 13 of his last 18 games played......Wolf Pack left winger, Nils Ekman leads the team in scoring for the month of January with five goals and three assists for eight points in seven games played.
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American Hockey League Stories from January 17, 2003
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- Griffins' MacDonald denies Ducks for first career AHL shutout - Cincinnati RailRaiders
- Phantoms defeat Cleveland 4-3 - Adirondack Phantoms
- Rita Recalled by Oilers - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Andrews and Petrovek to Hold All-Star Briefing - Portland Pirates
- Julien Promoted to Canadiens - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Cincinnati Mighty Ducks Tonight - Cincinnati RailRaiders
- Flames Assign Sutter to Johnstown - Saint John Flames
- Moose to Take Part in Carnival - Manitoba Moose
- Crunch Zamboni up for Auction on eBay - Syracuse Crunch
- Falcons Fodder - Springfield Falcons
- Tellqvist recalled to Toronto - Toronto Marlies
- Rochester Americans vs. Hershey Bears - Rochester Americans
- St. John's Maple Leafs @ Providence Bruins - Toronto Marlies
- Yablonski Called Up by AHL Cincinnati - Peoria Rivermen
- AHL Quick Hits - AHL
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