AHL Manchester Monarchs

Monarchs Report

January 9, 2006 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


LAST WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS
At Providence (1/6): Two unanswered goals in the third period lifted the Providence Bruins over the Manchester Monarchs, 3-2, at the Dunkin' Donuts Center on Friday night. Former Monarchs left wing Eric Healey put the Bruins on the board late in the first period. The Monarchs answered back with goals from center Greg Hogeboom and right wing Brad Smyth in the second period but right wing Eric Nickulas and center Pascal Pelletier gave the Bruins two more tallies in the third period for the victory. Monarchs goaltender Barry Brust took his second loss of the season with 27 saves. Bruins goalkeeper Tim Thomas earned the victory stopping 15 shots. Manchester went 1-for-4 on the power play. Providence was 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

Vs. Hartford (1/7): Former Monarchs defenseman Joe Rullier collected three points (1-2=3) as the Hartford Wolf Pack dominated the Manchester Monarchs in a 5-1 Wolf Pack victory on Saturday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Rullier's goal was accompanied with tallies from center Jarkko Immonen, defenseman Ivan Baranka, center Dwight Helminen and center Alexandre Giroux for the Wolf Pack. The Monarchs lone goal came off of the stick of right wing Brad Smyth. Monarchs goaltender Adam Hauser, in his 100th career AHL game, took the loss stopping 33 shots. Wolf Pack goaltender Al Montoya earned the win with 17 saves. Manchester went 1-for-6 on the power play. Hartford was 2-for-7 with the man advantage.

Vs. Springfield (1/8): Five different players scored for the Manchester Monarchs in their 5-3 victory over the Springfield Falcons on Sunday evening. Center Yanick Lehoux, left wing Jeff Tambellini, defenseman Mary Wilford, forward Brendan Bernakevitch and right wing Brad Smyth collected tallies for the Monarchs. The Falcons scored three goals from right wing Marek Kvapil, center Jason Jaspers and center Nick Tarnasky. Monarchs goaltender Barry Brust earned his seventh victory stopping 35 shots. Falcons goaltender Gerald Coleman took the loss with 20 saves. Manchester went 1-for-2 on the power play. Springfield was 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

MONARCHS TRANSACTIONS
1/7/06: The Manchester Monarchs (AHL) signed forward Mike Kompon to a professional tryout agreement.
1/5/06: The Manchester Monarchs (AHL) signed defenseman Chris Barr and center Jon Francisco to professional tryout agreements.
1/5/06: The Los Angeles Kings (NHL) recalled defenseman Richard Petiot from the Manchester Monarchs (AHL).
1/4/06: The Los Angeles Kings (NHL) recalled center Connor James from the Manchester Monarchs (AHL).

MONARCHS EVENTS/PROMOTIONS
1/10/06: 4th Annual American Red Cross Blood Drive - The Monarchs Care Foundation and the Verizon Wireless Arena are teaming up with the American Red Cross in an effort to help decrease the winter blood shortages. On Tuesday, January 10 from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., you can help eliminate the shortages by visiting the Verizon Wireless Arena and donating.

1/13/06: Union Leader Family Value Night - Eat for free with the Monarchs with Union Leader Family Value Packs! Four tickets, four hot dogs or soft pretzels and four sodas for just $44. Visit www.monarchshockey.com to order tickets.

MONARCHS NEWS & NOTES
The Monarchs (22-10-1-3, 48 points) returned to second place in the Atlantic Division with the win over the Springfield Falcons on Sunday night. The Portland Pirates (24-9-3-1, 52 points) are four points ahead of the Monarchs to lead the Atlantic Division and the Hartford Wolf Pack (20-10-2-5, 47 points) are in third place, only one point behind Manchester.

The club has sent 16 out of their 36 games into overtime and/or a shootout this season, winning 12 out of those 16 games.

Manchester is 7-3 in shootouts and 5-1 in overtime games this season.

The Monarchs are undefeated at home on Fridays (5-0-0-0) and Sundays (3-0-0-0).

At home, the Monarchs are undefeated in regulation when they are leading after the second period (5-0-0-0), in one-goal games (8-0-1-1) and when they score a shorthanded goal (2-0-0-0).

Manchester is undefeated (8-0-0-0) when they score five or more goals.

With special teams, the Monarchs power play is ranked 24th in the League, capitalizing 28 times on 217 opportunities with the man advantage. Ranked 13th in penalty killing, Manchester has given up 40 goals on 237 opportunities.

Manchester has the lowest number of penalty minutes in the AHL with 610 penalty minutes.

The Monarchs are ranked first in the AHL in attendance after 17 home games, averaging 8,453 fans per game. Over the last four years, the Monarchs have been in the top three in attendance, leading the AHL twice. During the 2003-04 season, Manchester led all of North American minor league pro hockey with an average of 9,141 fans per game.

Manchester currently has seven players recalled by their parent club, the Los Angeles Kings: left wing Jeff Giuliano, right wing Petr Kanko, center Matt Ryan, defenseman Denis Grebeshkov, left wing Noah Clarke, center Connor James and defenseman Richard Petiot.

Right wing Brad Smyth (17-22=39) leads the team with 39 points and 22 assists.

Smyth is ranked fourth in the AHL with a plus/minus of plus-17 and his 39 points rank 10th in the league.

A 6-foot, 200-pound native of Ottawa, Ontario, Smyth has 10 points (6-4=10) in his last seven games including five goals in his last four games.

Left wing Jeff Tambellini (18-19=37) leads the team with 18 goals.

A former University of Michigan Wolverine, Tambellini is ranked second in the AHL among rookie scorers (37 points), 10th among league scorers (37), third among rookie goal scorers (18) and fifth among rookies in assists (19).

Tambellini is ranked fourth among AHL rookies with a plus/minus of plus-13.

Center Yanick Lehoux is currently on a four game scoring streak collecting two goals and two assists.

Goaltender Adam Hauser is ranked sixth among AHL goaltenders with 14 wins on the season.

Hauser appeared in his 100th AHL game in the Monarchs 5-1 loss to the Wolf Pack on Saturday night. All but one of the100 games were played in a Monarchs uniform. The 6-foot-2, 194-pound native of Bovey, Minnesota, has an overall record of 53-34-10, a goals-against-average of 2.16 and a save-percentage of .924 in 100 career AHL games.

Right wing Lauri Tukonen competed for the bronze medal winning team Finland in the 2006 International Ice Hockey Federation's World U20 Championship. Tukonen played in all seven games for team Finland and recorded three goals and seven assists for 10 points. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound native of Hyvinkaa, Finland, ranked second in the tournament in overall scoring (10 points), assists (7) and plus-minus with a plus-9.



American Hockey League Stories from January 9, 2006


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