Falcons Set To Host Monarchs Tonight

December 6, 2008 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


The Springfield Falcons and Manchester Monarchs meet for only the second time this season and tonight will be the first trip for Manchester into Springfield this year. The Falcons beat the Monarchs way back on October 19 by a score of 4-1 at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Tim Sestito led the Falcons in that contest with a pair of goals. Including tonight's contest, the Falcons and Monarchs will meet three times in December with Manchester heading back to Springfield on December 26, followed by Springfield heading to New Hampshire on December 28.

The Falcons head into Saturday's contest having snapped a five-game losing streak on Friday night with a 3-2 shootout win over the Portland Pirates. Bryan Lerg and Derek Bekar scored for the Falcons in regulation, while Ryan Potulny, Viacheslav Trukhno and Carl Corazzini all converted in the shootout. Devan Dubnyk earned his 10th win of the season stopping 28 of 30 shots, and he also blocked three of four shooters in the extra session. Springfield is now 10-9-2-1 on the season and remains in the hunt in a very tight Atlantic Division. The Falcons are tied with Manchester and Hartford with 23 points, one point behind Worcester, two behind Lowell and only six points behind both Providence and Portland for the top spot in the division. The Falcons visit Providence on Sunday.

The Monarchs head into Springfield having snapped a mini two-game losing streak Friday night with a 3-2 win over the Worcester Sharks on home ice. Manchester built a 3-0 lead on goals from Brian Boyle, Alec Martinez, and David Meckler, while goaltender Jonathan Quick was steady in goal stopping 43 of 45 shots on goal, including turning aside 21 of Worcester's 23 third period shots. Quick was named the game's second star, while Boyle was the first star with one goal and one assist in his first game with Manchester this season.

PLAYER MOVEMENT: The Falcons announced on Friday that forward Gilbert Brule has been recalled by their National Hockey League affiliate, the Edmonton Oilers. Springfield also announced that forward Cory Urquhart has been recalled from their ECHL affiliate, the Stockton Thunder.

Urquhart is currently leading the Thunder in scoring this year with seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points in 18 games played. The 6-foot-3, 196-pound native of Halifax, Nova Scotia is in his fifth season of professional hockey after signing an American Hockey League contract with the Falcons on August 12, 2008. Urquhart has played in 54 career AHL games all with the Hamilton Bulldogs. Urquhart was originally drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round (40th overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

Urquhart saw time with Hamilton, the ECHL's Cincinnati Cyclones and the CHL's Arizona Sundogs during the 2007-08 campaign. He scored 20 goals and added 13 assists for 33 points in just 16 games with Arizona last year. He picked up 14 goals and nine assists for 23 points with the Cyclones and recorded five goals and four assists for nine points in 21 contests with the Bulldogs. He has reached the 20-goal plateau three times in his pro career, including a career-high 26 markers with Long Beach during the 2005-06 campaign.

MAKING AN IMPACT: Falcons rookie forward Bryan Lerg scored his fifth goal of the season on Friday night giving him goals in back-to-back games for the second time this season. Lerg has five goals and three assists for eight points in 11 games with the Falcons and currently on Springfield's active roster, he is third in goals only behind Ryan Potulny's 11 markers and Derek Bekar's seven goals.

Lerg is in his first pro campaign after finishing second on the Michigan State Spartans scoring list and 11th in the CCHA scoring race with a career-high 20-19-39 in 42 games last season. He led Michigan State in both goals (20) and power play goals (10). He made his pro debut on April 5, 2008 at Binghamton as a member of the Falcons and collected two assists on April 13, 2008 at Worcester, his first two assists of his pro career.

MONARCHS PLAYER NOTES:

Manchester forward Brian Boyle made his 2008-09 Monarchs debut last night scoring one goal and adding one assist earning the game's top star. Boyle started the season with Manchester's NHL affiliate, the Los Angeles Kings, where he scored one goal in 14 games played. Boyle was second on the Monarchs in scoring last year with 31 goals and 31 assists for 62 points in 70 games.

Goaltender Jonathan Quick has won his last four starts in goal and for the season, the Milford, CT native has a record of 5-5-1 with a 2.63 goals against average and .922 save percentage. Quick played his college hockey with UMass-Amherst from 2005-2007 and he was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the third round (72nd overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.



American Hockey League Stories from December 6, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central