AHL Manchester Monarchs

Monarchs Increase Division Lead With Road Win Over The Pack

Published on February 26, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


HARTFORD, CT – The Manchester Monarchs tied a season high with four goals in a period and solidified their hold on first place in the American Hockey League's Atlantic Division with a 4-1 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack before 7,928 fans at the Hartford Civic Center of Saturday night.

With the win, the Monarchs (37-13-3-3, 80 points) moved four points ahead of the second place Wolf Pack (36-18-2-2, 76 points) in the division. The win was also the second in a row for the Monarchs in head-to-head action with the Wolf Pack. Five games into the season series, the Monarchs have a record of 2-1-2-0 against the Wolf Pack.

The teams skated through a scoreless opening period, thanks to Hartford goaltender Steve Valiquette (30 shots, 26 saves), who finished with 15 saves in the stanza. Valiquette's best save came late in the period when he rejected a backhander in the slot from Monarchs right wing Tom Kostopoulos. The Monarchs were enjoying their fourth power play of the period at the time.

The Monarchs took advantage of that fourth power play in the middle period by scoring the first goal of the game. Left wing Dustin Brown was credited with the goal, fired home from the right circle just 34 seconds in. Left wing Noah Clarke and center Michael Cammalleri shared assists on Brown's 24th of the season.

The Monarchs added to their lead at 12:14 when Kostopoulos redirected a slap shot from defenseman Joe Rullier into the Hartford net. Cammalleri, who took advantage of an odd puck bounce out of the right corner, also assisted on the 19th of the season for Kostopoulos.

The Monarchs added two more goals in the last half of the period and took a four-goal lead into the locker room. Rookie center Matt Ryan sliced a penalty shot through the pads of Valiquette at 14:22, and rookie right wing Ryan Kinasewich beat Valiquette high glove side at 16:18. Defenseman Denis Grebeshkov assisted on Kinasewich's first career AHL goal. The penalty shot was awarded to Ryan by referee Gord Dwyer after Ryan was hooked down in front of the Hartford net.

The middle period also included three spirited fights. Kostopoulos and Hartford defenseman Lawrence Nycholat fought at 12:38, Monarchs left wing Ryan Flinn and Hartford left wing Trevor Gillies dropped their gloves at 16:07, and Rullier and left wing Garth Murray traded punches at 16:37.

Hartford goaltender Jason LaBarbera (10 shots, 10 saves) replaced Valiquette to start the third period and the Wolf Pack scored just 1:36 later when right wing Jed Ortmeyer beat Monarchs goaltender Mathieu Garon for his sixth goal of the season. Defenseman David Liffiton had the only assist on the play.

Garon (24-10-3) set a Monarchs single season record by registering his 24th win of the season. He finished with 30 saves. Valiquette (13-9-1) took the loss, his second against the Monarchs this season.

The game included 126 penalty minutes between the two teams.

The Monarchs return to action when they travel to Providence to meet the Providence Bruins at the Dunkin' Donuts Center on Sunday night at 4:05 p.m. The game against the Bruins will be the fourth of four straight on the road for the Monarchs, who return to the Verizon Wireless Arena to host the Worcester IceCats on Tuesday, March 1 at 7:05 p.m.

Notes: The Monarchs welcomed four players back from injury on Saturday night. Back in the lineup were left wing Ryan Flinn (out since Nov. 6 with a foot infection), right wing Tom Kostopoulos (out since Jan. 16 with an abdominal strain), right wing Brad Smyth (out since Jan. 30 with a knee sprain) and right wing George Parros (out since Feb. 18 with a lacerated finger).

Mullet Night – The Final Cut: The Manchester Monarchs will pay homage to "hockey hair" one last time when they host the Worcester IceCats at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Tuesday, March 1. On hand for this sad but historic event will be former Mullet Hall of Fame winners Barry Melrose, a former coach of the Kings and current ESPN personality, and The Hanson Brothers, immortalized as members of the Charlestown Chiefs in the classic hockey movie, "Slap Shot."

Tickets for Mullet Night - The Final Cut, sponsored by TRIMZ Family Haircut Center, are on sale now and may be purchased at the Verizon Wireless Arena box office. Individual tickets may also be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (603) 868-7300, or by visiting Ticketmaster on-line at www.ticketmaster.com .

The first 5,000 fans attending the Monarchs game against the IceCats on March 1 will receive free mullet wigs, courtesy of TRIMZ Family Haircut Center. For more information, contact the Monarchs at (603) 626-7825 or visit the Monarchs on-line at www.monarchshockey.com.

Ticket Availability: Single seats in the Gold Level and 1,850 seats in the Silver level remain for Mullet Night – The Final Cut.

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



American Hockey League Stories from February 26, 2005


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