Monarchs Clinch Playoff Spot With Victory Over Hershey
March 27, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release
HERSHEY, PA â The Manchester Monarchs in three weeks will make their third consecutive trip into the American Hockey League's post-season. They punched their Calder Cup playoff ticket with a 3-0 win over the Hershey Bears before 9,116 fans at Giant Center on Saturday night. With the win, the Monarchs (38-23-6-5, 87 points) pulled to within one point of the Atlantic Division-leading Hartford Wolf Pack (37-20-12-2, 88 points) with seven games left on their regular season schedule. The Wolf Pack did not play on Saturday night. The second place Monarchs also moved eight points ahead of the third place Worcester IceCats (32-25-12-3, 79 points), who suffered a 4-2 home loss to the Portland Pirates on Saturday night.
The loss was a costly one for the Bears (30-31-8-4, 72 points), who entered Saturday's action one point back of the Norfolk Admirals and the Binghamton Senators in the race for the fifth and final playoff spot in the East Division.
Three games into their four-game road trip through the southern tier of the AHL, the Monarchs have a 2-1-0-0 record. They'll complete the road swing when they visit the Wachovia Spectrum and meet the Philadelphia Phantoms on Sunday (6:05 p.m.).
The Monarchs struck first with a power play goal from defenseman Bryan Muir, who lit the lamp with 52 seconds remaining in the opening period. Muir, the leading blue line scorer in the AHL (12-36=48), added to his total with his 12th goal of the season and fifth on the power play. The goal extended Muir's scoring streak to four games (2-2=4). The former University of New Hampshire Wildcat has 11 points (3-8=11) in his last nine games. Defenseman Denis Grebeshkov and right wing Pavel Rosa assisted on the goal. Rosa, the league's leading scorer (34-45=79) extended his point streak to four games (5-3=8) on the play.
Center Michael Cammalleri, who on Friday night registered his first professional hat trick, added to the Monarchs lead with a power play goal with 2:24 remaining in the second period. The second-year pro roofed center Steve Kelly's pass over goaltender Phil Sauve to make it 2-0. Kelly (3-6=9) and defenseman Tomas Zizka (0-5=5) each extended their scoring streaks to four games with assists on Cammalleri's 17th goal of the season.
Kelly and Zizka also notched assists on rookie left wing Noah Clarke's 25th goal, scored at 10:23 of the final period. Clarke's goal effectively sealed the win for the Monarchs over the offensively challenged Bears, who earlier in the day lost center Eric Perrin (21-54=75), the league's second-leading scorer, to a call-up with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The goal support proved more than enough for goaltender Adam Hauser (20-13-6), who won his seventh straight game with 33 saves. The shutout was his team-record seventh of the season, eclipsing former Monarch Travis Scott's record of six shutouts, set during the 2001-02 season.
Sauve (2-4-0), who has six AHL appearances after spending most of the season with the Colorado Avalanche, dropped his fourth decision with 30 saves.
The Monarchs return to action when they meet the Philadelphia Phantoms at 6:05 p.m. on Sunday, March 28 at the Wachovia Spectrum. The Monarchs next home game is slated for 7:35 p.m. on Friday, April 2 versus the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Only single seats remain for Friday's game. For ticket information, visit the Monarchs on-line at www.monarchshockey.com.
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American Hockey League Stories from March 27, 2004
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- Sound Tigers Lose 3-1 In Norfolk - Bridgeport Islanders
- Phantoms clinch playoff berth with 1-0 overtime win in Binghamton - Adirondack Phantoms
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- Bears blanked by Monarchs 3-0 at Giant Center - Hershey Bears
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