Falcons Weekly Notes

Published on November 1, 2006 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


THIS WEEK'S GAME PREVIEWS

--FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2006 VS ROCHESTER AMERICANS--

The Americans and Falcons meet for the first time this season as Springfield goes into the game with a 3-5 record and Rochester (8-1) ranks first in the North Division. Overall, this is the first meeting between Springfield and Rochester since the 2000-01 campaign.

Rochester comes off a two game series against the Syracuse Crunch, where each team gained one win. The Crunch shut out the Americans 5-0 on Friday, October 27, giving Rochester their first loss of the season. Before the start of the game, the Americans were the only still undefeated team in the AHL and Syracuse was on a 6-game losing streak.

Goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier made his first start of the season in Saturday's game, making 25 saves, as the Americans managed to counteract their loss against the Crunch with a 2-1 win. The game ended in a shootout, as the Amerks received shootout goals from Drew Stafford, Drew Larman and Greg Jacina, while forward Michael Ryan scored the team's only goal in regulation.

Americans goalie Craig Anderson leads the league in save percentage at .959. Within division games Rochester records a 4-1 standing and outside their division they're 4-0. Overall, Rochester ranks third in the AHL standings. Clarke Macarthur leads Rochester in scoring with three goals and five assists for eight points in nine games played.

--SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2006 VS WORCESTER SHARKS--

Springfield welcomes the Worcester Sharks into Falcons' territory on Saturday night as Worcester brings a two game winning streak to the ice.

After taking games against both Manchester and Portland, Worcester stands at 5-2 on the season and ranks second in the Atlantic Division. They won their first home game of the season against Portland last Friday 4-2 as forward Mathieu Darche scored two goals and leads the Sharks in scoring with 11 goals and three assists for 14 points in nine games played. Darche also ranks fourth in league leading scorers, first in power play goals and first in goals scored. Rookie Joe Pavelski leads all AHL rookies in scoring with three goals and 11 assists for 14 points in nine games played. Worcester defenseman Mathieu Biron leads all AHL defensemen in scoring with one goal and 11 assists for 12 points in nine games.

Against Manchester, Tom Cavanagh, Grant Stevenson, Scott Ferguson, and Garrett Stafford all recorded their first goals of the season to give the Sharks a balanced scoring attack as they won 5-4.

Worcester goaltender Nolan Schaefer ranks seventh in the league with a 2.00 goals against average. He is undefeated at 3-0-0 and has a .922 save percentage. Worcester also has a 5-2 record within their division and has not played outside their division yet.

--SUNDAY NOVEMBER 5, 2006 AT LOWELL DEVILS--

Springfield and Lowell meet for the second weekend in a row as each team prepares to break the series tie of 1-1 from the week before.

Springfield travels to Lowell who will have played both Manchester and Binghamton at the start of the weekend. After their two-day competition Lowell and Springfield are still tied at 6 points each in the Atlantic Division, currently in fifth place.

LAST WEEK'S GAME RECAPS

--SPRINGFIELD vs. LOWELL, OCTOBER 27 - W 6-4--

The Falcons started off Friday night's game against Lowell quietly and ended it with the MassMutual Center echoing with cheers as they beat the Devils 6-4 in their first meeting ever in franchise history.

The Falcons fell behind early in the first period when Lowell's Patrick Davis scored at 11:53, followed by David Clarkson just 56-seconds later giving Lowell a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. In the second period, the Devils built a 4-0 cushion when Tuomas Pihlman scored just 56-seconds into the second period, followed by Ryan Murphy converting for Lowell at 6:23 of the second period.

But Springfield decided that was it for the Devils and began to score their way back into the game. Captain Norm Milley started a trend in the second with an important power play goal followed by Eric Healey at 18:37. It didn't take the Falcons long in the third period to have their offense explode as Blair Jones netted a pair of goals less than five minutes into the final period tying the score at 4-4.

Healey put the Falcons in place to win the game with his second goal of the night at 9:46 of the third and Marek Kvapil added some insurance to it with his first goal of the season with 10:46 left to go.

--SPRINGFIELD at LOWELL, OCTOBER 28 - L 4-1--

The Devils got another chance to show the Falcons what they could do Saturday afternoon and made a strong effort to win the game. The Falcons tried to extend their winning streak to three games, but came up short losing to the Lowell Devils 4-1 in front of 2,014 at the Paul Tsongas Arena. Blair Jones scored his third goal in two games at 4:21 of the second period with the help of Norm Milley and Eric Healey, but that's where Falcons' scoring ended for the night.

PLAYER/TEAM NOTES:

The Springfield Falcons line of rookie Blair Jones, captain Norm Milley and Eric Healey combined for 17 points in two games this past weekend, including the trio combining for 14 points (Jones 2goals, 2 assists, Milley 1 goal, 4 assists, Healey 2 goals, 3 assists) in Springfield's 6-4 come-from-behind win over Lowell on Friday night. The Falcons scored six unanswered goals erasing a 4-0 deficit and beating the Devils 6-4. Jones was the game's third star, Healey second star and Milley first star on Friday night.

Rookie Blair Jones scored his first two professional goals on Friday night, and he came back on Saturday and netted his third marker of the year at Lowell. Jones has points in four straight games and has collected three goals and five assists for eight points in that span. Jones is third on the team in scoring with three goals and eight assists for 11 points in eight games played. Jones is currently ranked third in the AHL in rookie scoring.

Captain Norm Milley has registered at least a point in five straight games collecting three goals and eight assists for 11 points in that span. Milley has registered three multi-point games in his last four contests. For the season, Milley has collected four multi-point games in eight games played this year. Milley recorded one goal and four assists and the game's first star Friday night in Springfield's 6-4 win over the Lowell Devils. Milley leads the team in scoring with four goals and nine assists for 13 points in eight games played.

Veteran forward Eric Healey has collected points in four straight games registering three goals and seven assists for 10 points in that span. Healey scored the game-winning goal on Friday night in Springfield's 6-4 win and was the game's second star. Healey leads the Falcons in goals with five and is second on the club in scoring with 12 points in eight games played.

The Falcons penalty killers have successfully defended their last 17 shorthanded situations, including holding the opposition scoreless on the man advantage in their last four games played.

INJURY REPORT

Zdenek Blatny missed one game due to sickness.

TRANSACTIONS

10-28-06-Defenseman Geoff Waugh and goaltender Jonathan Boutin were reassigned to Johnstown.

ON THE FARM - JOHNSTOWN CHIEFS

The Chiefs face a long schedule this week as they face the Toledo Storm on Wednesday at Toledo, then bring it back home against the Trenton Titans and Wheeling Nailers Friday and Saturday. Johnstown is currently 2-3 on the season. Radek Smolenak leads the Chiefs in scoring with four goals and two assists for six points in five games played. Jean Desrochers is tied with Smolenak for the club lead in points with three goals and three assists for six points as well.

OUT AND ABOUT IN THE COMMUNITY

Halloween Masks a Success!: Thanks to everyone who participated in the Autographed Halloween Mask auction on Saturday night. The individually designed masks, which were signed by players and created by wives and girlfriends of the players, took in a total of almost $1,200! Additionally, The Six Flags New England Trick or Treat Trail event helped raise over $600 on Sunday. That's a combined weekend total of over $1,800 for Springfield Falcons Charities.

Icing and Blue Line Candle - Pilgrim Candle: The Falcons are proud to partner with Pilgrim Candle to introduce the Falcons Icing and Blue Line Candle. The candle features the Falcons' blue colors and the scents of Butter Cream Cookie together with Blackberry Bramble. These delightful and charitable decorations will be sold at scheduled Falcons games throughout the season and Pilgrim Candle stores in Westfield and South Hadley. Great for home, the office or anywhere to show your Falcons spirit and enjoy an engaging scent, the candles cost $18.25 with proceeds benefiting Springfield Falcons Charities, Inc. The program has thus far donated over $375,000 to children related organizations over the last nine seasons. Special thanks to Pilgrim Candle, Dion Label and Aucella & Associates for making this project happen.

Family Fun Nights at Friendly's Return: Friendly Ice Cream is proud to announce "Family Fun Nights at Friendly's" to benefit Springfield Falcons Charities, Inc. Falcons players and Screech meet and greet fans at area Friendly's Restaurants throughout the Pioneer Valley.

WEEK IN REVIEW

OCTOBER 27 Springfield-6 vs Lowell-4 (Goal scorers - Healey(2), Milley, Jones(2), Kvapil)

OCTOBER 28 Springfield-1 at Lowell-4 (Goal scorers - Jones)

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

NOVEMBER 3 Springfield vs Rochester 7:35 PM MassMutual Center

NOVEMBER 4 Springfield vs Worcester 7:05 PM MassMutual Center

NOVEMBER 5 Springfield at Lowell 4:05 PM The Paul Tsongas Arena

*Radio Broadcasts on The Zone 640 AM

*Watch Live on the B-2 Network

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American Hockey League Stories from November 1, 2006


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