AHL Manchester Monarchs

Monarchs Clinch Second Place In The Atlantic

Published on April 9, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


WORCESTER, MA – The Manchester Monarchs clinched second place in the American Hockey League's Atlantic Division and home ice advantage in next week's Calder Cup playoffs with their 4-1 win over the Worcester IceCats before 4,536 fans at the Worcester Centrum Centre on Friday night. The Monarchs will host Game 1 of their best-of-7 Calder Cup Division Semifinal against a yet to be determined opponent at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday, April 15 at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Tickets for Thursday's game will go on sale at 10 a.m. on Monday, April 12 at the Verizon Wireless box office. Playoff tickets will also be available by calling Ticketmaster at (603) 868-7300, by visiting Ticketmaster on-line at www.ticketmaster.com, or by visiting all Ticketmaster locations, including Filene's at the Mall of New Hampshire.

Playoff ticket prices will be $17.50 for adults in the Gold level and $13 for adults in the Silver level of the Verizon Wireless Arena. Youth tickets will be $10.50 in both levels. For playoff ticket information, contact the Monarchs ticket office at (603) 626-7825.

Goaltender Milan Hnilicka (8-9-0) backstopped the Monarchs to the victory in perhaps his finest effort of the season. He finished with 38 saves, including 27 stops in the last two stanzas, helping the Monarchs snap the IceCats three-game winning streak. Meanwhile, the Monarchs were able to hand goaltender Curtis Sanford (22 saves) his first loss in four games. His record dropped to 0-4-0 against the Monarchs this season.

The Monarchs (40-26-7-5, 92 points), winners of two straight, tied two team records with Friday's victory. The win was their 17th on the road and 40th overall this season. The Monarchs also had 17 road wins and 40 overall wins last season.

Thanks to the loss, the IceCats (36-27-12-3, 87 points) now have a slight one point lead on the Providence Bruins (36-28-10-4, 86 points) in the race for third place in the division. The Bruins, who blanked the Springfield Falcons, 3-0, on Friday night, visit the Centrum on Saturday night. The third place finisher in the division will meet the Monarchs on Thursday night.

The Monarchs spotted the IceCats a goal, and then battled back with first period strikes from center Steve Kelly and center Michael Cammalleri to take a lead they never surrendered.

A turnover led to the only IceCats goal as left wing Marc Brown jammed a rebound past Hnilicka at 3:02. Brown's 14th goal came just seconds after center Jeff Panzer intercepted a pass from Monarchs defenseman Maxim Kuznetsov deep in the Manchester zone.

Right wing Pavel Rosa and defenseman Richard Seeley shared assists on the next goal, scored by Kelly just 90 seconds later. Kelly netted his 20th of the season by neatly depositing the puck between the legs of Sanford as the goaltender attempted to make a sliding save across the crease. Rosa's point on the play was his league-leading 86th of the season (37-49=86).

Cammalleri's 19th goal of the season gave the Monarchs their first lead with 2:46 remaining in the period. The second-year pro patiently slipped his shot inside the left post and around the diving Sanford after forward Yanick Lehoux set him up with a pass at the Worcester blue line.

Cammalleri was at it again in the middle period, joining an impressive list of Monarchs with 20-goal seasons after redirecting right wing Scott Barney's blast from the right circle at 5:18. Barney and rookie left wing Noah Clarke, two others on the list, assisted on Cammalleri's second goal of the game. Kelly and Rosa also have at least 20 goals for the Monarchs this season.

Kelly matched Cammalleri's two-goal night when he scored into an empty net with just 44 second remaining in the third period. Hnilicka had the only assist on Kelly's 21st of the season.

The Monarchs return to action when they travel to the Springfield Civic Center to battle the Springfield Falcons at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday, April 10, before closing out the regular season against the IceCats at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Sunday, April 11 at 6:05 p.m. For ticket information, visit the Monarchs on-line at www.monarchshockey.com.

Monarchs Ticket Availability as of April 9

Sunday April 11 vs. Worcester: 1,500 seats remain.

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American Hockey League Stories from April 9, 2004


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