Falcons Fodder

February 28, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


SETUP: The Springfield Falcons and Hartford Wolf Pack will meet for the seventh time this season and the fourth time in Springfield. The Falcons are 2-4-0 against the Wolf Pack this year, including 2-1-0 at "The Nest." The last time these two divisional rivals played each other was on January 24th when Hartford beat the Falcons, 2-1 at the Hartford Civic Center. These two teams have not met in Springfield since January 17th when Springfield beat the Pack, 3-1. This will be the 59th meeting all-time between Springfield and Hartford with the Falcons posting a record of 23-28-4-3 over that span. Hartford has scored the game's first goal in five of the six meetings and the Pack has outscored Springfield, 9-1 in the opening period.

The Falcons enter tonight's game looking to snap a three-game winless streak (0-2-0-1) and looking to end a three-game winless streak at home. Springfield has been off since this past Sunday when they lost to the Providence Bruins, 4-2 in Providence. Springfield fell behind 1:22 into that game, but came back to tie the score at 1-1 when Rob Murray scored his 2nd goal of the season midway through the opening period. Sheldon Keefe scored his 9th goal of the season against Providence tying the score at 2-2 at 19:59 of the second period. Carl Corazzini netted the game-winner for Providence midway through the third period. Springfield enters tonight's game with a record of 25-29-5-1 good for 56 points and 10th place in the Eastern Conference. The Falcons will play three games in three days this weekend and tonight they will conclude a month of February that saw them play 11 games, including eight home games. The Falcons have gone 5-3-1-1 thus far in February. Springfield is five points behind both the 9th seeded Manitoba Moose and the 8th seeded Worcester IceCats. The Falcons are currently six points behind the 7th seeded Hartford Wolf Pack.

Hartford enters tonight's game unbeaten in their last two games tying Manchester, 2-2 this past Sunday and beating the Albany River Rats, 5-2 on Saturday. Hartford has collected at least a point in their last four road games going 2-0-1-1 in that span. In fact, the Wolf Pack has gone 4-1-1-1 in their last seven road games. Hartford will also play three games in three days this weekend when they host Binghamton on Saturday and travel to Worcester on Sunday. Including tonight's game, the Wolf Pack has a combined record of 9-2-1-0 against their opponents for this weekend. Hartford has gone 3-0-0 against Binghamton and 2-0-1 against Worcester.

1,000 AHL GAMES FOR "MR. FALCON": Tonight's game will feature Springfield Falcons captain, Rob Murray's 1,000th AHL game and his 483rd game in a Falcons uniform. Murray becomes only the 6th player in American Hockey League history to play in 1,000 AHL games. Murray joins Willie Marshall (1,205), Fred Glover (1,201), Harry Pidhirny (1,071), Mike Nykoluk (1,069), and Jody Gage (1,038) in the 1,000 games played club. Murray is in his 16th season of professional hockey and is in his 3rd stint with the Falcons. He joined the Falcons for their inaugural season of 1994-95 and was a co-captain with John Stevens that season. Murray remained the Falcons captain until the 1999-00 campaign when the Phoenix Coyotes dealt him to Edmonton on December 1, 1999 in exchange for Eric Houde. Murray finished the 1999-00 season with Hamilton before joining the Philadelphia Phantoms during the 2000-01 season. Murray returned to the Falcons on February 3, 2001 when he was loaned by Philadelphia to Springfield and helped the Falcons to a record of 8-4-2 in their final 14 games almost giving Springfield a playoff birth. Murray spent the 2001-02 season with the Saint John Flames and was the only Saint John player last year to play in all 80 games. He returned to the Falcons this summer and was named team captain of this year's Falcons squad on November 18th. Murray is currently the Falcons all-time leader in games played (482), assists (155), and penalty minutes (1,490). He ranks 3rd on the Falcons all-time points list (216), and 4th on the team's all-time goals list (61).

MURRAY NOTEABLES: Murray collected his first point in a Falcons uniform on October 1, 1994 at Worcester and scored his first goal as a member of the Falcons on November 2, 1994 at Portland. He scored the game-tying goal of the 1997 AHL All-Star Game in Saint John and Murray has had 273 different teammates over his Falcons career.

TAKING OVER: Falcons defenseman Corey Foster has points in five straight games and had a four-game goal-scoring streak from February 15th-February 22nd . Foster is now the Falcons leader in scoring among defensemen with six goals and 17 assists for 23 points in 39 games played.

KNOCKING ON THE DOOR: Hartford captain, Ken Gernander has played in 51 games for the Wolf Pack this season collecting 15 goals and 11 assists for 26 points and a +12 rating. Gernander has now played in 809 career AHL games and he played in his 800th career AHL game on January 31st in Manchester. Gernander has three goals and two assists in three games against the Falcons this season, including two shorthanded goals. Gernander was a teammate of Rob Murray while with Moncton during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons. Gernander has been with the N.Y. Rangers organization since July 4, 1994 when he signed with the Rangers as a free agent.

WOLF PACK STREAKS: Forward Nils Ekman has points in three straight games collecting two goals and three assists in that span....All-Star John Tripp has points in seven of his last eight games registering four goals and five assists in that span, including a hat trick on February 12th at Worcester.



American Hockey League Stories from February 28, 2003


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