Falcons Weekly

December 10, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Springfield Falcons News Release


THIS WEEK'S GAME CAPSULES

---FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2002 VS. ST. JOHN'S MAPLE LEAFS---

The Springfield Falcons and St. John's Maple Leafs will meet for the first time this season when they face off on Friday at the Springfield Civic Center. The Falcons were 1-3 against the Maple Leafs last season, but lead the All-Time series with an 11-8-2-1 record. St. John's is currently in fourth place in the Canadian Division with an 8-15-2 record for 18 points. St John's lost their last game 7-3 against the Portland Pirates. Brad Leeb leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 14 goals and eight assists for 22 points. Leeb is tied for the AHL lead with Ramzi Abid in power play goals with eight. Josh Holden is second on the team in scoring with seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points. Brad Boyes is tied for 8th among AHL rookies in scoring with seven goals and 11 assists 18 points. Boyes is tied with Bob Wren for second on the team in power play goals with four. Nathan Barrett is tied for 13th among AHL rookies in scoring with four goals and 11 assists for 15 points. Doug Doull leads the team in penalty minutes with 69. Former Falcon, Craig Mills has one goal and nine assists for 10 points in 15 games played. Sebastien Centomo has a 4-6-1 record with a 3.75 GAA and a .881 save percentage. Mikael Tellqvist is 4-8-1 with a 4.06 GAA and a .892 save percentage. Jamie Hodson is 0-1 in two games played with a 4.41 GAA and a .848 save percentage. St. John's has the ninth ranked power play in the AHL scoring on 17.5 percent of their power play opportunities. Syracuse is ranked 26th in the AHL in penalty killing, killing 79.4 percent of their shorthanded situations.

---SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2002 AT LOWELL LOCK MONSTERS---

The Springfield Falcons will meet the Lowell Lock Monsters for the third time this season when they face off on Saturday night at the Tsongas Arena in Lowell. The Falcons are 2-0 against the Lock Monsters this season. Springfield won the last meeting 2-1 in Lowell and won the first meeting 4-2 in Springfield. Lowell is currently in fifth place in the North Division with a 6-19-2 record for 14 points. Lowell is 0-10-1 in their last 11 games and have gone 1-12-1 since playing the Falcons on November 15th. Jeff Heerma leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and eight assists for 18 points. Heerma also leads the team in power play goals with six. Ryan Bayda is 12th among AHL rookies and second on the team in scoring with five goals and 11 assists for 16 points. Kaspars Astashenko leads the team in penalty minutes with 42. Tomas Malec is second on the team in penalty minutes with 38. Randy Petruk has a 1-11-2 record with a 3.29 GAA and a .910 save percentage. Rob Zepp will be Petruks backup. Zepp has a record of 8-3 with a 1.78 GAA and a .943 save percentage with Florida of the ECHL. Lowell has the 25th ranked power play in the AHL, scoring on 12.0 percent of their power play opportunities. Lowell is 28th in the AHL in penalty killing, killing 73.7 percent of their shorthanded situations. The Falcons won the last meeting in Lowell 2-1. Brent McDonald gave the Lock Monsters a 1-0 lead after the first period. Ramzi Abid would tie the game with 2:06 remaining in the second period and Frank Banham would give the Falcons the lead for good 2:56 into the third period. Darren Rumble assisted on both Falcons goals. Evgeny Konstantinov made 21 saves in recording the win. Randy Petruk made 34 saves for the Lock Monsters.

---SUNDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2002 VS. SAINT JOHN FLAMES---

The Springfield Falcons will meet the Saint John Flames for the second time this season when they face off on Sunday afternoon at "The Nest." The Falcons are 1-0 against the Flames this season winning the first meeting 5-3 in Springfield. Saint John is currently in third place in the Canadian Division with an 8-12-2-1 record for 19 points. Saint John is 0-2-1-1 in their last four games. Matthew Lombardi leads the team and is sixth among AHL rookies in scoring with 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points. Lombardi's 10 goals are good for second among AHL rookies. Robert Dome is second on the team in scoring with six goals and 10 assists for 16 points. Ryan Christie leads the team in power play goals with five. Darcy Verot leads the team in penalty minutes with 103. Goaltender Dany Sabourin has a 5-4-2 record with a 3.16 GAA and a .891 save percentage. Levente Szuper is 3-7 with a 2.85 GAA and a .896 save percentage. Saint John has the 14th ranked power play in the AHL, scoring on 16.8 percent of their power play opportunities. Saint John is 25th in the AHL in penalty killing, killing 80.8 percent of their shorthanded situations. The Falcons won the only meeting this season in Springfield 5-3. Springfield was spotted a three-goal lead with goals from Martin Grenier, Ramzi Abid, and Shane Willis. Saint John would come back to tie the game at 3-3 with goals from Oleg Saprykin, Robert Dome, and Ryan Christie. Jason Bonsignore would score 1:26 after the third Flames goal to give the Falcons a 4-3 lead. Nikita Alexeev would add an empty net goal to seal the victory for the Falcons 5-3. Zac Bierk made 35 saves in recording the win.

PLAYER/TEAM NOTABLES:

Jeff Taffe recorded his first career hat trick and earned the games first star on 12/6/02 against Syracuse.

Frank Banham has a three-game point-scoring streak with two goals and two assists in those games.

Ramzi Abid has a three-game point-scoring streak with two goals and one assist in those games.

Goaltender Evgeny Konstantinov is 3-1 in his last four starts with a 1.76 GAA and a .926 save percentage in those games.

The Falcons had their six-game win streak snapped against Manitoba on Saturday. It was the teams longest win streak since the franchise record was set during the 1994-95 season (eight games).

Ramzi Abid is tied for the AHL lead in power play goals with eight.

Ramzi Abid leads the team in scoring with 14 goals and 10 assists for 24 points.

Jeff Taffe is second on the team in scoring with eight goals and 13 assists for 21 points and is 5th in the AHL in rookie scoring.

TRANSACTIONS:

12-4-02 – Tampa Bay Lightning recall defenseman Darren Rumble from Springfield.

12-4-02 – Tampa Bay Lightning recall center Alexander Svitov from Springfield.

12-5-02 – Tampa Bay Lightning reassign defenseman Darren Rumble to Springfield.

12-7-02 – Tampa Bay Lightning recall defenseman Darren Rumble from Springfield.

NEXT THREE HOME GAMES:

Friday December 13 vs. St. John's 7:35 PM

Sunday December 15 vs. Saint John 5:05 PM

Friday December 20 vs. Binghamton 7:35 PM



American Hockey League Stories from December 10, 2002


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