Falcons open season with win over Portland
October 11, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release
THIS WEEK'S GAME PREVIEWS
--FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2005 VS. HARTFORD WOLF PACK--
The Springfield Falcons and Hartford Wolf Pack will meet for the first of 10 meetings this year. The Falcons and Wolf Pack played once in the preseason with the Falcons beating the Pack 5-4 in overtime. Defenseman Paul Ranger scored the game-winning goal in the extra session. Similar to Springfield, Hartford won their season opener at home Saturday night, 4-3, over the Manchester Monarchs. Wolf Pack center Jarkko Immonen scored the game-winning goal on the power play with 52-seconds remaining in regulation to give Hartford the win. Immonen had a pair of power play goals in the win and is tied for the team lead in scoring with 2-0-2 totals. Forwards Fedor Fedorov and Bruce Graham also added a pair of assists and are tied with Immonen for the Wolf Pack lead in points. Hartford goaltender Al Montoya stopped 22 of 25 shots for his first professional victory between the pipes. This will be the 83rd all-time meeting between these two divisional rivals with Springfield posting a 31-45-6 record in that span.
--SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2005 VS. MANCHESTER MONARCHS--
The Springfield Falcons and Manchester Monarchs will meet for the first of 10 meetings this year. Manchester lost their season opener, 4-3, against Hartford on Saturday night at the Hartford Civic Center. Manchester built a 2-0 first period lead in the game with goals by defenseman Marty Wilford and center Connor James. James scored his second marker of the game in the second period and leads the Monarchs in scoring through one game with 2-0-2 totals. Manchester goaltender Adam Hauser stopped 33 of 37 shots on goal. Saturday will be the 31st all-time meeting between these two teams with the Falcons posting a record of 8-21-1 in that span.
LAST WEEK'S GAME RECAP
---PORTLAND AT SPRINGFIELD, OCTOBER 8 - W 4-2---
After allowing two goals to the Portland Pirates early in the first period, the Springfield Falcons pulled together for an exciting come from behind victory in the first game of the season at the newly-renovated MassMutual Center. Jim Campbell scored the Falcons' first goal of the season at 17:55 of the first period. He was assisted by Norm Milley and Paul Ranger. The second period passed with no scoring by either team, but the Falcons came out strong in the third. Evgeny Artyukhin tied the game with the first of the Falcons' three unanswered goals in the period. Paul Ranger and Ryan Craig also scored.
PLAYER NOTABLES:
Goaltender Brian Eklund stopped 27 of the 29 shots he faced Saturday night earning his first victory of the season. Eklund held the Pirates scoreless for the final 45:06 of regulation time against Portland....Center Jason Jaspers collected two assists on Saturday night against Portland moving him into a tie with Tavis Hansen for 6th on the Falcons all-time assist list with 79 career assists. Jaspers is currently 4th on the Falcons all-time games played list with 241....Evgeny Artyukhin scored the game-tying goal and assisted on Ryan Craig's third period insurance marker Saturday. Artyukhin was also a +3 rating.
TEAM NOTES:
The Springfield Falcons opened the newly renovated MassMutual Center on Saturday, October 8 with a 4-2 win. The Falcons crowd of 5,165 was their biggest opening night crowd since the 2002-2003 season....The Falcons came back from a two-goal deficit on Saturday scoring four unanswered goals on their way to victory. Springfield used four different goal scorers and eight different Falcons players collected at least a point in the win. The Falcons scored three goals in the third period erasing a 2-1 deficit.
TRANSACTIONS
10-8-05 - Falcons sign defenseman Brad Bombardir to a Professional Tryout Agreement.
COMMUNITY
Monday, October 10 marked the 8th annual Columbus Day Italian Open Golf Tournament at Crestview Country Club. Each year, Falcons players, coaches and staff participate in the event to benefit the Shriners Hospital.
Bank of America has become the newest corporate sponsor of the Springfield Falcons Charities, Inc..In addition to contributing to the Columbus Day Italian Open Golf Tournament, Bank of America will be presenting many community outreach programs including: Adopt a Falcon, Hockey 101, all player and mascot appearances, all food and clothing drives, and the Falcons wives and girlfriends charity projects.
NEXT HOME GAMES
Friday October 21 vs. Hartford 7:35 PM
Saturday October 22 vs. Providence 7:05 PM
WEEK IN REVIEW
OCTOBER 8 Springfield-4 vs. Portland-2
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
OCTOBER 14 Springfield at Hartford Wolf Pack 7:00 PM Hartford Civic Center
OCTOBER 15 Springfield at Manchester Monarchs 7:35 PM Verizon Wireless Arena
*Radio Broadcasts on WMAS 1450AM
* Watch Live on the B-2 Network
American Hockey League Stories from October 11, 2005
- Kings Loan Petiot To Manchester; Monarchs Loan Three To Reading - Manchester Monarchs
- Left wing re-assigned by Dallas - Iowa Chops
- Sound Tigers Stressing Youth Involvement - Bridgeport Islanders
- Marlies' Marc Moro named team captain - Toronto Marlies
- Falcons open season with win over Portland - Springfield Falcons
- Colorado Signs DaSilva, Love - Albany Devils
- Sharks assign Gorges to Barons - Cleveland Barons
- Aeros release C Corbeil - Houston Aeros
- NHLer Larsen Returns to Wolves - Chicago Wolves
- B-Sens weekly - Binghamton Senators
- Capitals recall defenseman Mike Green from Hershey - Hershey Bears
- AHL weekly update - AHL
- Griffins look to extend remarkable road streak - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Rivermen's Sejna named CCM Vector AHL Player of the Week - AHL
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