Falcons Host The Bears On New Year's Eve
December 30, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release
GAME SETUP: The Springfield Falcons and Hershey Bears meet for the first and only time in Springfield this season when they face-off for a New Year's Eve matinee starting at 1 pm on Wednesday. Springfield and Hershey are two of the most historic AHL cities and overall, the Falcons are 10-15-7 all-time against the Bears. Springfield and Hershey will conclude their season series on March 11 when the Falcons visit the Giant Center in Hershey, PA.
The Falcons head into Wednesday's game looking to snap a six-game winless streak (0-5-1-0) having lost their most recent game this past Sunday by a score of 4-2 at Manchester. Springfield continues a busy stretch of games as they will play eight games in the next 12 days. The Falcons start a three-game homestand Wednesday as they will also host Manchester on Friday and Providence on Saturday. Overall, Springfield will play five of their next six games on home ice. The Falcons currently have a record of 12-16-4-1 and start Wednesday's action in seventh place in the Atlantic Division. Springfield is one point behind sixth place Lowell and five points behind fifth place Manchester.
The Bears head into Springfield having the best record in the AHL with a mark of 23-8-0-1 good for 47 points in the East Division. Hershey has scored the most goals in the AHL this year with 128 and they have also given up the second fewest goals in the league this year with 86 goals against. The Bears have won three of their last four games and they will start a five-game road trip on Wednesday. Hershey will head to Providence on January 2, Hartford on January 3, and Worcester on January 4 before concluding in Norfolk on January 7.
BUSY WEEK OF TRANSACTIONS: The Falcons announced Monday that goaltender Jeff Deslauriers has been assigned to Springfield by the Edmonton Oilers for a two-week conditioning assignment. In six games with the Oilers this season, Deslauriers has posted a 3-2-0 record with a 2.73 goals against average and a .915 save percentage. During the 2007-08 campaign, Deslauriers was named Springfield's Most Valuable Player posting a record of 26-23-5 with a 2.90 goals against average and .912 save percentage in 57 games with the Falcons.
The Falcons also announced Monday that forward Adam Huxley has been recalled from their ECHL affiliate, the Stockton Thunder, while goaltender Glenn Fisher and defenseman Rob Bina have been assigned to the Thunder. Huxley started the season with the Falcons playing in one regular season game before being assigned to Stockton on October 14. In 26 games with the Thunder, he has six goals and 92 penalty minutes ranking second on Stockton in penalty minutes. Bina has played in 16 games for the Falcons registering four assists and 16 penalty minutes. In seven games with the Thunder this year, the Grand Forks, North Dakota native has one goal and two assists for three points and eight penalty minutes. Fisher has appeared in three games for the Falcons this year and has posted a record of 0-1-0 with a 3.00 goals against average and .900 save percentage.
HERSHEY PLAYER NOTES:
Leading scorer Keith Aucoin has scored a goal in back-to-back games leading into Wednesday's contest. Aucoin has two goals and two assists in his last two games and for the season, he has 11 goals and 30 assists for 41 points in 30 games. Aucoin leads the entire AHL in scoring.
Chris Bourque is on a two-game scoring streak having collected one goal and two assists in that span.
Kyle Wilson has collected at least a point in four of his last five games collecting five goals and one assist in that span. Wilson has 14 goals and 12 assists for 26 points in 32 games this year.
The Bears have a pair of rookies in the top five in rookie-scoring in the AHL. Oskar Osala has 17 goals and seven assists for 24 points in 30 games. Osala is second on the Bears in goals this year. Mathieu Perreault has four goals and 20 assists for 24 points in 30 games. Perreault is tied for second on the club in assists.
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