Leighton Named Rbk/AHL Player of the Week

Published on October 29, 2007 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Albany River Rats News Release


ALBANY, NY - The Albany River Rats announced today that goaltender Michael Leighton has been named the Rbk/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending on October 28, 2007.

Leighton, 26, completed Week 4 with a 3-0-0 record, a 0.67 goals against average and 0.977 save percentage. He started the week with 30 saves on 32 shots in a 3-2 win over Syracuse on Wednesday, October 24. Friday, October 26, Leighton stopped all 24 shots he faced to earn his first shutout of the season, a 1-0 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at Wachovia Arena. Sunday, October 28, Leighton made it back-to-back shutouts by turning aside 30 shots in a 2-0 win over the Hershey Bears at the GIANT Center. During the Hershey game, Leighton set an Albany franchise record for the longest shutout streak (157:23), passing Ari Ahonen's streak of 148:13 set in the spring of 2005.

The Petrolia, Ontario native helped Albany improve to 5-2-0-1 on the season (11 points), good for second place in the East Division. For the year Leighton is 4-2-0-1 in seven starts; he ranks second in the AHL with a 0.948 save percentage and fifth in the league with a 1.56 goals against average. Leighton now has 24 shutouts in his AHL career, putting him in a four-way tie for 8th place on the AHL's All-Time Shutouts list.

This is the first AHL weekly award received by a River Rats player since Aleksander Suglobov was named AHL Player of the Week on December 12, 2004. In recognition of his achievement, Leighton will be presented with an etched crystal award prior to an upcoming River Rats home game.

The River Rats begin another four-game home stand at the Times Union Center this week. On Wednesday, October 31st Albany will host the Toronto Marlies at 7:00 pm; the first ever meeting between the two clubs. Next Friday, November 2nd, Hershey is in town and Saturday, November 3rd the River Rats will square off with the Lowell Devils; both games begin at 7:00 pm.

Partial season tickets and flex ticket packages for the 2007-08 River Rats season are on sale now. For more information please contact the Albany River Rats at (518) 487-2244 or online at www.albanyriverrats.com.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from October 29, 2007


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