AHL Manchester Monarchs

Monarchs Report

Published on January 2, 2007 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


LAST WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS

At Lowell (12/27): The Manchester Monarchs took control of first place in the Atlantic Division with a 3-1 victory over the Lowell Devils at the Tsongas Arena on Wednesday night. Right wing Mike Hoffman, defenseman T.J. Kemp and left wing Jeff Giuliano tallied for the Monarchs. Right wing Aaron Voros scored the lone Devils goal. Monarchs netminder Jason LaBarbera stopped 28 shots for the win and Devils goaltender Frank Doyle made 35 saves. Manchester went 0-for-6 on the power play. Lowell was 1-for-7 with the man advantage.

Vs. Worcester (12/29): The Manchester Monarchs drowned the Worcester Sharks 5-3 at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Friday night. Right wing John Zeiler scored twice for the Monarchs and right wing Ryan Murphy, defenseman Bryan Schmidt and right wing Tim Jackman added goals for the win. Right wing Graham Mink collected two of his own for Worcester and right wing Ashton Rome collected his third tally of the season for the Sharks. Monarchs goaltender Jason LaBarbera earned the win with 33 saves. Sharks netminder Dimitri Patzold took the loss stopping 27 shots. Manchester went 1-for-5 on the power play. Worcester was 1-for-6 with the man advantage.

At Hartford (12/30): Goaltender Yutaka Fukufuji earned his first AHL win of the season in his first start and left wing Noah Clarke made history in the Manchester Monarchs 5-2 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack at the Hartford Civic Center on Saturday night. Hartford's left wing Nigel Dawes and defenseman Marvin Degon put the Wolf Pack on the board early but the Monarchs answered back with five goals. Manchester's goal scorers were right wings Lauri Tukonen, Mike Hoffman and Tim Jackman, left wing Noah Clarke and defenseman Eric Werner. Fukufuji earned the win with 21 saves. Wolf Pack goaltender Stephen Valiquette took the loss stopping 12 shots. Manchester went 2-for-5 on the power play. Hartford was 2-for-6 with the man advantage.

Vs. (12/31): Left wing Noah Clarke, right wing Tim Jackman and defenseman Eric Werner tallied goals and goaltender Jason LaBarbera earned his fourth shutout of the season in the Manchester Monarchs 3-0 blanking of the Springfield Falcons at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Sunday night. LaBarbera stopped all 26 shots he faced. Falcons goaltender Jonathan Boutin took the loss with 24 saves. Manchester went 1-for-4 on the power play. Springfield was 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

MONARCHS NEWS & NOTES

The Monarchs (19-10-6-1) are in first place in the Atlantic Division with 45 points.

Manchester has a home record of 11-4-4-0 and a road record of 8-6-2-1.

The Monarchs power play is ranked sixth in the AHL after 36 games with a 20.7-percent man advantage scoring percentage. Manchester has scored 40 goals on 193 opportunities so far this season with the man advantage.

Manchester's penalty kill is ranked 23rd in the league after letting in 41 goals on 197 situations when the team has been down a man for a 79.2 percentage.

At home, the Monarchs are undefeated in their last six games at the Verizon Wireless Arena. Manchester is also undefeated in regulation in their last 12 games at home with a record of 9-0-3-0.

The Monarchs are on a four-game win streak after beating the Lowell Devils 3-1 on Wednesday, December 27; topping the Worcester Sharks 5-3 on Friday, December 29, skating to a 5-2 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday, December 30 and blanking the Springfield Falcons 3-0 on Sunday, December 31.

Left wing Noah Clarke leads the Monarchs in scoring with 28 points (12-16=28).

Clarke's 12 goals also lead the team.

Clarke scored his 11th goal of the season on Saturday versus the Wolf Pack to surpass center Michael Cammalleri (71) on the all-time goals scored list for the Monarchs with his 72 goal. The 5-foot-9, 192-pound native of LaVerne, California, has 73 goals in 235 Monarchs games from 2002-2006. Clarke's goal on Saturday ended a 15 game goal-scoring drought.

Clarke's two points (a goal and an assist) on Saturday in the Monarchs 5-2 win over Hartford moved him into first place on the Monarchs all-time scoring list with 169 points (72-97=169) as a Monarchs player. Clarke passed Cammalleri who had 168 points (71-97=168) in 133 games from 2002-05.

Clarke leads the Monarchs all-time in goals (73), points (170) and power play goals (24) and he is tied with Cammalleri for second place in assists with 97 each.

Center Patrick O'Sullivan (11-12=23) is in second place in scoring for the Monarchs with 23 points.

O'Sullivan is also in second place for Manchester with 11 goals.

Left wing Matt Moulson (8-14=22) is ranked third on the Monarchs roster with 22 points.

Defenseman T.J. Kemp leads Manchester's blueliners with 20 points (3-17=20) and is tied for fourth on the Monarchs squad in scoring with right wing John Zeiler (10-10=20).

Kemp is tied for fifth place among AHL defensemen with 20 points.

Rookie Kemp is also tied for the Monarchs team lead in assists with defenseman Peter Harrold (2-17=19), they both have 17.

Harrold is second on Manchester's squad among defensemen and is ranked sixth overall with 19 points.

Defensemen Brendan Buckley and Eric Werner scored their first goals of the season in the Monarchs 3-2 win over the Lowell Devils on Wednesday, December 20. Defenseman Doug Nolan is the lone Monarchs player without a goal this season.

Goaltender Jason LaBarbera is first in the league among minutes played with 1,814 minutes in 31 games.

Friday's game against the Worcester Sharks was LaBarbera's 19th consecutive game in a Monarchs uniform which tied him with netminder Travis Scott for the most consecutive appearances by a Monarchs goaltender. Scott appeared in 19 straight games from February 19, 2003 to March 22, 2003 with a record of 6-10-3 (three ties). LaBarbera's record in his 19 consecutive games from November 18 to December 29 was 11-5-3-0. The streak ended for LaBarbera when netminder Yutaka Fukufuji started between the pipes for the Monarchs on Saturday, December 30, a 5-2 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack.

LaBarbera is ranked first in the AHL in the saves category with 909 on the season.

LaBarbera is ranked second in the league with a save-percentage of .928 and he is fifth among goaltenders with a goals-against-average of 2.35.

LaBarbera has played in 216 AHL games with the Monarchs and Wolf Pack. He has a record of 109-67-20, a goals-against-average of 2.17 and a save-percentage of .926 in 11,995 minutes of work between the pipes and 5,403 saves in the AHL.

LaBarbera collected his fourth shutout of the season on Sunday, December 31 versus the Falcons stopping all 26 shots he faced. His 25 AHL career shutouts with the Monarchs and Wolf Pack lead all active goaltenders and ranks seventh all time in the AHL.

Fukufuji made his first start in net for the Monarchs on Saturday, December 30 and came out with his first win of the season with a 5-2 victory over the Wolf Pack. The 6-foot-1, 186-pound native of Tokyo, Japan, has only appeared in one other game with the Monarchs this season when he replaced LaBarbera for the third period in the 6-4 loss to the Worcester Sharks on Friday, December 22.

Monarchs goaltender Barry Brust, on recall with the Los Angeles Kings, has played in seven NHL games this season collecting a record of 2-2-1, a 3.08 goals-against-average and a .900 save-percentage with the Kings.

TRANSACTIONS

The Monarchs did not have any player movement this week.

INJURIES

12-30-06 Right wing Ryan Murphy is week-to-week with a shoulder injury.

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American Hockey League Stories from January 2, 2007


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