AHL Manchester Monarchs

Monarchs Report

March 7, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


LAST WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS

Vs. Worcester (3/1): Left wing Peter Sejna's shorthanded goal scored with less than three minutes remaining in the game lifted the Worcester IceCats over the Monarchs, 2-1, at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Tuesday night. Center Michael Cammalleri scored the lone Monarchs goal at 5:28 of the second period. Center Brendan Brooks scored a power play goal to tie things up at 7:30 of the third period. Monarchs goaltender Adam Hauser took his eighth loss of the season, stopping 22 shots. IceCats goaltender Curtis Sanford earned the win with 33 saves. Manchester went 0-for-4 on the power play. Worcester was 1-for-5 on the power play.

At Hartford (3/2): Center Jamie Lundmark's hat trick and four-point game gave the Hartford Wolf Pack a 4-2 win over the Monarchs at the Hartford Civic Center on Wednesday night. Lundmark scored on the power play, shorthanded and into an empty net for the hat trick. Centers Jeff Miles and Michael Cammalleri scored for the Monarchs. Wolf Pack goaltender Jason LaBarbera earned the win with 27 saves, and Mathieu Garon (35 saves) took the loss for the Monarchs. Manchester went 0-for-5 on the power play and Hartford was 1-for-6.

Vs. Providence (3/6): Center Michael Cammalleri scored two goals and assisted on two more as the Monarchs skated past the Providence Bruins, 4-2, at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Sunday evening. Defenseman Beau Geisler scored his first AHL goal and the game winner at 3:52 of the third period. Defenseman Joe Rullier sealed the victory with his third tally of the season. Center Keith Aucoin and left wing Dan LaCouture scored for the Bruins. Monarchs goaltender Adam Hauser, who replaced Mathieu Garon (9 shots, 7 saves) at the beginning of the second period, earned his 14th victory of the season with 15 saves. Bruins goaltender Chris Madden took the loss, stopping 19 shots. Manchester went 0-for-5 on the power play and Providence was 0-for-6.

MONARCHS INJURY REPORT

2/18/05: Petr Kanko is week-to-week with a broken finger.

1/19/05: Yanick Lehoux is out indefinitely following knee surgery.

1/8/05: Scott Barney is out 16 weeks after undergoing hip surgery.

12/13/04: Greg Hogeboom is out 10-12 weeks after undergoing wrist surgery.

MONARCHS TRANSACTIONS

3/2/05: The Monarchs returned on loan left wing Connor James to the Bakersfield Condors (ECHL).

News & Notes

Including Sunday's game against the Providence Bruins, the Monarchs have a record of 32-0-1-1 in the 34 games in which they've scored three or more goals this season.

The Monarchs hosted their 12th sellout of the season on Sunday night. Through 30 home games this season, the Monarchs are averaging a league-leading 8,932 fans per game. The Edmonton Road Runners are second in the league with an average of 8,883 fans per game. The league average for fans per game is 5,880.

The Monarchs snapped a three-game home losing streak on Sunday night against the Bruins. The home losing streak was the longest in the four-year history of the franchise.

Sunday's game was the 150th regular season game played at the Verizon Wireless Arena. The Monarchs have an all-time record of 91-40-19* and an all-time winning percentage of .670 at the Verizon Wireless Arena over four seasons. *The third column in the team's record includes, ties, overtime losses and shootout losses.

The Monarchs will tie a franchise mark with their next home win. The team record for home wins in a season is 23, set in 2001-02 and tied in 2002-03 and in 2003-04. The Monarchs are second in the Eastern Conference and third in the AHL with 22 home wins (22-5-2-1 on home ice) this season.

The Monarchs collected their 200th goal of the season on Sunday night against the Bruins. The Monarchs lead the AHL in goals (200), assists (352), points (552) and goals -per-game average (3.33).

The Monarchs team record for goals in a season is 254, set during the 2002-03 season.

Center Michael Cammalleri tied a career high with four points as the Monarchs moved back into sole possession of first place in the American Hockey League's Atlantic Division with Sunday night's win over the Bruins.

Cammalleri, who leads the AHL with 36 goals and ranks second overall in the league in scoring with 84 points (36-48=84), finished Sunday's game with two goals and two assists.

His four points matched a previous career high of four points recorded against the Norfolk Admirals on March 26, 2004. Cammalleri, selected by the Los Angeles Kings in the second-round (49th overall) in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, had three goals and one assist in that game, won by the Monarchs by a score of 5-3.

Cammalleri, who on Monday was named the CCM Vector/AHL Player of the Week for the second time this season, enters this week's action with a nine-game scoring streak (6-8=14) and a three-game goal-scoring streak (four goals during the streak).

Cammalleri needs just one more power play goal to move past former Monarchs left wing Eric Healey into first place on the Monarchs all-time power play goals scored list. Cammalleri and Healey share the career mark with 20 power play goals.

With his two assists against the Bruins, Cammalleri moved past center Yanick Lehoux into third place on the Monarchs all-time assist list. Cammallleri has 82 assists in 113 career Monarchs games over three seasons (2002-05). Cammalleri already ranks third on the Monarchs all-time goals scored list (61) and all-time points list (143).

Monarchs Career Scoring Leaders
1. Steve Kelly (2001-04) 164 pts (50-114=164)
2. Pavel Rosa (2002-04) 151 pts (67-84=151)
3. Michael Cammalleri (2002-05) 143 pts (61-82=143)
4. Yanick Lehoux (2002-05) 133 pts (53-80=133)
5. Eric Healey (2001-03) 131 pts (66-65=131)

Cammalleri, just the third player in franchise history to score 30 or more goals in a season and 60 or more goals during his Monarchs career, needs just six goals over his last 20 games to match Healey for most goals in a season. Cammalleri has 36 goals in 59 games.

Healey collected 42 goals in 75 games during the 2002-03 campaign. Healey led the league in goals scored that year.

With six goals, Cammalleri will also match former Monarchs right wing Pavel Rosa for most career Monarchs goals. Cammalleri has 61 goals in 113 career Monarchs games. Rosa holds the all-time mark of 67 goals, collected in 151 games over two seasons (2002-04).

Cammalleri (48 assists) needs just one more assist to match the Monarchs single season assist record. Former Monarchs center Steve Kelly (2003-04) and Rosa (2003-04) set the franchise mark. Each collected 49 assists last season.

Cammalleri also needs just four points to match Rosa for the team's single season scoring record. Rosa set the mark with 88 points (39-49=88) last year.

With just four more points, left wing Noah Clarke will become the sixth player in the history of the Monarchs franchise to reach the 100-point plateau.

Clarke moved into sixth place on the Monarchs all-time scoring list last week with three points (0-3=3) in three games. Now with 96 points (45-51=96) in 132 career games with the Monarchs, Clarke also is seventh all-time with 45 goals and eighth all-time with 51 assists.

Clarke leads all Monarchs forwards and is tied with defenseman Mike Weaver for second overall on the team with a plus-22 rating.

Left wing Ryan Flinn finished with 35 penalty minutes against the Bruins on Sunday night. Flinn fought three times in the game. He fought center Brendan Walsh in the first period, right wing Colton Orr in the second period and defenseman Brent Thompson in the third period.

With the 35 penalty minutes, Flinn moved past former Monarchs left wing Kip Brennan into second place on the team's all-time PIM list. He has 484 penalty minutes in 137 career games with the Monarchs.

The Monarchs career PIM leader is defenseman Joe Rullier, who moved closer to the Monarchs single season penalty minute record with 14 PIM against the Bruins on Sunday night. Rullier, who also has appeared in more games than any other Monarchs player in the history of the franchise (252), has 740 career penalty minutes as a Monarch.

Rullier, first among AHL defensemen with 255 PIM this season, needs just 14 more penalty minutes to match the Monarchs record of 269 penalty minutes in a season, established by Brennan in 2001-02.

Promotions

Mullet Night – The Final Cut: For the third consecutive year, the Monarchs gained national acclaim with their Mullet Night promotion.

In what was billed as Mullet Night – The Final Cut, the Monarchs paid homage to "hockey hair" one last time when they hosted the Worcester IceCats at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Tuesday, March 1. On hand for this sad but historic event was 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." The first 5,000 fans attending the game received free mullet wigs, courtesy of TRIMZ Family Haircut Center.

Coverage from Mullet Night – The Final Cut ran nationally in the U.S. and in Canada on major media outlets like ESPN, ESPN2, CNN, TSN and NBC.

New Hampshire Legends Of Hockey: The Monarchs wore vintage University of New Hampshire jerseys for Sunday's game against the Providence Bruins. The jerseys, originally worn by the Wildcats from 1956-61, were auctioned off after the game.

Proceeds from the auction will benefit the New Hampshire Legends of Hockey, an organization that honors men and women who have contributed greatly to the sport of ice hockey in the state.

Sunday's auction grossed over $26,000. The jersey worn by left wing and Nashua, New Hampshire native Jeff Giuliano was the most popular, going for $2,100.

Prior to the game, seven new members were inducted into the organization.

The New Hampshire Legends Of Hockey Class of 2005 included: Bernard Arguin, Hampton, NH; Dick Boucher, Manchester, NH; Alphonse Corriveau (deceased), Manchester, NH; Carl Langlais, Berlin, NH; Ken McKinnon, Alton, NH; Dick Roy, Berlin, NH; and Elmo Theriault (deceased), Berlin, NH.

Events

Youth Hockey Practices – Forwards Dave Steckel and Matt Ryan are scheduled to skate with the Lakes Region Lakers at the Laconia Rink in Laconia on Tuesday, March 8 from 5:45 – 7:30 p.m.

Defensemen Denis Grebeshkov and Jason Holland are scheduled to skate with both Pee Wee and Bantam youth hockey players at the Tri-Town Ice Arena in Hooksett on Tuesday, March 8 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.



American Hockey League Stories from March 7, 2005


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