Flames Weekly
December 9, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Saint John Flames News Release
The Flames enter the week ranked third in the Canadian Division with 19 points and a record of eight wins, twelve losses, two ties and one overtime loss.
Saint John hosts the Albany River Rats in back-toback games at Harbour Station this Friday, December 13 @ 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, December 14 @ 7:00 p.m.
Flames Ticket packages info is available by calling (506) 635-2637 or by stopping by the administration office on the second floor at Harbour Station.
THE OPPONENT...
The ALBANY RIVER RATS enter the week tied for fourth in the East Division with 24 points and a record of 9-13-4-2. The Rats are 3-5-1-1 in their last ten games and dropped their last contest, a 3-1 loss to Bridgeport.
The weekend's games will be the second and third of four this season between Albany and Saint John. Leading Albany are centre Craig Darby (5g- 16a=21pts), defenceman Ray Giroux (6g- 14a=20pts) and left wing Jiri Bicek (4g-10a=14pts). The goaltending duo of Scott Clemmensen and Ari Ahonen handle the netminding duties in Albany. In 19 appearances, Clemmensen is 5-9-3 with a 2.42 GAA and a .910 sv%. Ahonen, in 12 appearances, is 4-6-1 with a 2.63 GAA and a .909 sv%.
Left wing Max Birbraer is tied for third among League scorers in shooting percentage (.250). Giroux is tied for fourth among League defencemen in scoring. Clemmensen and Ahonen rank 14th and 19th respectively among League netminders.
FLAMES TICKETS
Individual tickets for all Flames December & January home games are currently available at the Harbour Station Box Office, the Imperial Theatre Box Office and selected Irving Locations (Main Street West, Champlain Heights, Millidgeville, Marr Road, Hampton and Grand Bay). Tickets may also be Chargedby- Phone at 657-1234 or 1- 800-267-2800. Call now!
FLAMES ALUMNI DOT NHL SCORESHEETS...
Jean-Sebastien Giguere (1997/98 - 1999/00) made 17 saves in Anaheim's 4-3 win vs. Chicago on Friday and followed with a 20 save, 3-0 shutout win vs. Nashville on Sunday. Giguere is currently tied for 3rd among NHL Netminders in games played (25), ranked 3rd in saves (607) and has recorded 2 shutouts.
Dwayne Roloson (1994/95 - 1997/98) made 32 saves in Minnesota's 4-2 win vs. Vancouver on Saturday. Roloson ranks 7th among NHL goaltenders with a 2.05 GAA.
Derrick Walser (1998/99 - 2000/01) recorded the game winning goal, his 4th goal of the season, in Columbus' 4-2 win vs. Los Angeles on Saturday. Martin St. Louis (19997/98 - 1999/00) recorded his 16th goal of the season in Tampa Bay's 3-1 loss vs. Chicago on Sunday. He is now tied for fourth in the NHL in goals.
FLAMES FANS OPEN HEARTS TO THOSE IN NEED...
Flames fans got into the giving mood this past weekend as the Flames hosted the Binghamton Senators.
Friday was the Flames third annual McDonald's Teddy Bear Toss night, and event that raised stuffed animals to be distributed to underpriviledged individuals in the Saint John area in time for Christmas.
Saturday's game was Aliant Telecom Night and at the game, the Aliant Pioneer Volunteers were collecting donations of non-perishable food items for their food drive initiative.
Both nights were incredibly successful, the Teddy Bear Toss raising over 900 stuffed toys and the food drive initiative collecting 41 boxes of nonperishable food items.
NOTABLES...
Flames rookie defenceman Ian Manzano recorded his first American Hockey League goal on Friday night in memorable fashion versus Binghamton Senators goaltender Ray Emery.
Manzano's goal, the first Flames tally of the game, triggered the highly anticipated Teddy Bear Toss which saw over 800 stuffed animals rain down onto the ice surface in celebration of his effort.
Flames netminder Levente Szuper played 102 minutes and 24 seconds without allowing a goal, from 16:32 in the first period of Friday's game to 18:56 of the third period in Saturday's game.
Flames defenceman Steve Montador, currently on recall to Calgary, averaged over 20 minutes of icetime in the Flames three games last week - versus Detroit, Colorado and Minnesota.
Flames alumni Jean-Sebastien Giguere's, 3-0 shutout win versus Nashville on Sunday was the 10th of his NHL career.
RISING STAR
"#9 Matt Lombardi"
Flames rookie centre, 20- year-old Matt Lombardi, currently leads active Flames in points (20) and goals (10) and is tied for the club lead in assists (10) with Jason Morgan, Robert Dome and Ladislav Kohn. Lombardi, selected by the Calgary Flames in the 3rd round, 90th overall, of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, is a native of Montreal, Quebec.
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
American Hockey League Stories from December 9, 2002
- Upcoming Games and Promotions - Cincinnati RailRaiders
- Checkers Snap Six-Game Losing Streak - Charlotte Checkers
- Phantoms Week in Review - Adirondack Phantoms
- AHL's Top Two Defenses Prepare to Meet - Grand Rapids Griffins
- Riva Assigned To The Reading Royals - Manchester Monarchs
- Flames Weekly - Saint John Flames
- IceCats loaned Mike Van Ryn - Worcester IceCats
- Moose Complete Successful Road Trip - Manitoba Moose
- Pirates Tie Team Records on 'The Rock' - Portland Pirates
- San Antonio on a Rampage - AHL
- River Rats Look to Build on Three-Win Week - Albany River Rats
- AHL Quick Hits - AHL
- Sabres Recall Botterill from Rochester - Rochester Americans
- Whitfield Named Player of the Week - AHL
- Bulldogs in First Place - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Pittsburgh Recalls Pair - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
- Crunch Look To Find Winning Ways - Syracuse Crunch
- Rochester Sweeps Norfolk at Home - Norfolk Admirals
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.
