Falcons weekly notes

Published on January 13, 2003 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


THIS WEEK'S GAME CAPSULES

---WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2003 AT WORCESTER ICE CATS---

The Springfield Falcons and Worcester IceCats will meet for the fifth time this season when they face off on Wednesday night at the Centrum Centre. The Falcons are 0-3-1 against the Cats this season. Worcester is currently in fourth place in the North Division with an 18-16-7-1 record for 44 points. Worcester is 0-2-1 in their last three games. Springfield and Worcester tied in their last meeting 1-1 on 12/29/02 in Worcester. John Pohl leads the team in scoring and is second among AHL rookies with 16 goals and 25 assists for 41 points. Sergei Varlamov is second on the team in scoring with 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points. Justin Papineau leads the team in goals with 17 and in power play goals with seven. Papineau is third on the team in scoring with 31 points. Igor Valeev leads the team in penalty minutes with 75. Brett Scheffelmaier is second on the team in penalty minutes with 70. Curtis Sanford has a record of 9-8-4 with a 2.57 GAA and a .915 save percentage. Phil Osear has a record of 8-6-2 with a 2.86 GAA and a .893 save percentage. Worcester has the seventh ranked power play in the AHL scoring on 18.3 percent of their power play opportunities. Worcester is 21st in the AHL in penalty killing, killing 81.7 percent of their shorthanded situations. The Falcons and IceCats tied in their last meeting 1-1. Jason Bonsignore scored for the Falcons while Mike Van Ryn scored for the IceCats. Patrick DesRochers made 34 saves for Springfield while Curtis Sanford made 27 saves for Worcester and was the game's first star. Springfield has been outscored 15-6 in the previous four games against Worcester. Three of the Falcons five goals against Worcester this season have been scored by Bonsignore, two of which were on the power play. Christian Backman, Jason Dawe, and Papineau have two goals each against Springfield this season. Sanford is 1-0-1 against the Falcons this season with a .048 GAA and a .983 save percentage. He shutout the Falcons on 12/28/02 in Springfield.

---FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2003 VS. HARTFORD WOLF PACK---

---SATURDAY, JANUARY 18, 2003 AT HARTFORD WOLF PACK---

The Springfield Falcons and Hartford Wolf Pack will meet for the third time this season when they open a home-and-home series on Friday in Springfield. The two teams will meet again the following night in Hartford. The Wolf Pack are 2-1 against the Falcons this season, but lost the last meeting 4-3 in Springfield. Hartford is currently in third place in the East Division with an 18-15-6-2 record for 44 points. Hartford lost their last game 4-0 at Manitoba. Dixon Ward leads the team in scoring with 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points. Ward's 13 goals are tied for second on the team with Ken Gernander. John Tripp leads the team in goals with 21 and is second in points with 32. Tripp is currently on recall with the New York Rangers. Jeff State leads active players in penalty minutes with 98. Former Falcon Gordie Dwyer leads the team in penalty minutes with 117, he is also on recall with the Rangers. Johan Holmqvist has a 6-6-4 record with a 2.41 GAA and a .919 save percentage. Jason LaBarbera has an 11-9-2 record with a 2.79 GAA and a .907 save percentage. Hartford has the third ranked power play in the AHL scoring on 19.6 percent of their power play opportunities. Hartford is 16th in the AHL in penalty killing, killing 83.9 percent of their shorthanded situations. Erik Westrum has one goal and three assists in two games against the Wolf Pack this season. Gernander has three goals against the Falcons this season and five total points. Roman Lyashenko has two goals against the Falcons and also has five total points. Hartford had a 3-1 lead in the last meeting as Springfield scored three unanswered goals from Darren Rumble, Shane Willis and the game-winning goal from Dan Focht. Focht scored on the power play with just 45 seconds remaining in the game.

PLAYER/TEAM NOTABLES:

Frank Banham had a four-game goal scoring streak going into Sunday's game at Albany, a Falcons season high.

Gaetan Royer scored his first goal of the season on 1/12/03 at Albany and has two points in his first three games with the Falcons this season.

Peter Fabus has a three-game point-scoring streak (one goal, two assists).

Corey Foster has six points in his last four games (one goal and five assists).

Alexander Svitov has five points in his last four games (two goals and three assists).

Jason Bonsignore had a three-game point-scoring streak snapped on 1/10/03 at Manchester.

TRANSACTIONS:

01-05-03 – Phoenix Coyotes recall Jeff Taffe from Springfield.

01-09-03 – Springfield Falcons recall center Gaetan Royer from Pensacola of the ECHL.

WEEK IN REVIEW (0-3-0):

JANUARY 10 Springfield- 1 at Manchester- 6

JANUARY 11 Springfield- 4 at Binghamton- 5

JANUARY 12 Springfield- 2 at Albany- 3

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

JANUARY 15 Springfield at Worcester 7:05 PM Worcester Centrum Centre

JANUARY 17 Springfield vs. Hartford 7:35 PM Springfield Civic Center

JANUARY 18 Springfield at Hartford 7:05 PM Hartford Civic Center

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American Hockey League Stories from January 13, 2003


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