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Pirates' Hot Streak Cools off

January 20, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


PORTLAND, ME - The Portland Pirates registered their team-record ninth shutout of the season last week but that achievement was tempered by two losses at the end of the weekend that slowed the pace of their second half resurgence. The Pirates shutout the Bridgeport Sound Tigers before losing back-to-back games to the St. John's Maple Leafs and the Lowell Lock Monsters. The Pirates begin the week in third place in the North Division with a record of 21-15-4-5. The Pirates will face one of their toughest weekends of the year when they host the top two teams in the North Division, the Manchester Monarchs and the Providence Bruins on Friday and Saturday.

LAST WEEK:

Thursday, January 16: Pirates 1, Bridgeport 0

Goaltender Maxime Ouellet picked up his AHL-leading and franchise-record-tying 6th shutout with a 1-0 blanking of the visiting Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The game featured a great goaltending duel between Ouellet and Bridgeport's Rick DiPietro. The victory extended Ouellet's personal shutout streak to nearly 150 minutes while Trent Whitfield scored the game's only goal, extending his scoring streak to 11 straight games. The shutout was the Pirates' 9th of the season, a new team record and only 4 shy of the all-time league record (13) at just the midpoint of the season. With six shutouts coming in Portland and three on the road, the Pirates are just 2 short of the all-time league record for shutouts at home (8) and on the road (5).

Saturday, January 18: St. John's 4, Pirates 3

The Pirates wavered on their march up the Eastern Conference standings, falling to the visiting St. John's Maple Leafs 4-3. The loss snapped a streak that saw Portland unbeaten in six games on home ice (5-0-1-0) and marked just the second loss at the Civic Center in the last 10 games (7-2-1-0). Peter Ferraro (1g-2a), Matt Pettinger (1g-1a) and Josef Boumedienne (1g-1a) all posted goals and multiple-point efforts for the Pirates who hit three posts and the cross bar in the losing effort. Chris Ferraro also had a multiple-point night with 2 assists. Rastislav Stana took the loss after surrendering all four of St. John's goals. Maxime Ouellet, who replaced Stana in the third period, extended his personal shutout streak to 167:27, just 26:19 shy of the team mark he set earlier this month.

Sunday, January 19, 2003: Lowell 4, Pirates 2

The Pirates dropped their second straight game for the first time since December. After getting a goal from Chris Hajt just 1:30 into the game, the Pirates fell behind 2-1 after one. After tying the game on a powerplay goal by Trent Whitfield early in the second period, the Pirates watched the Lock Monsters retake the lead on a Brent McDonald powerplay marker later in the stanza. Harold Druken added an insurance goal for Lowell in the final minute of the third. The loss was the first for the Pirates against the Lock Monsters since the first meeting on October 25th. The Pirates had won five straight games including four by shutout.

PIRATES HOME STAND CONTINUES WITH BACK-TO-BACK WEEKEND GAMES

Friday, January 24 vs. Manchester, 7:05 pm

After meeting the Monarchs four times in the first 13 games of the season, the Pirates will get their first look at the team since November 10th. Portland is 1-0-1-2 against its Granite State neighbors with three of the four games going to overtime. The Pirates won the last meeting between the two teams, a 4-0 shutout at the Civic Center on November 10th. The two teams have quickly formed an intense rivalry in the two years the Monarchs have been in existence. The Pirates trail the all-time series, 5-6-3. The Monarchs begin the week in second place in the North Division with a record of 25-9-4-3. They have the second-best winning percentage in the Eastern Conference after league-leading Hamilton. The Monarchs are 2-0-1-0 in their last three games. They host Lowell on Tuesday before visiting Portland.

Saturday, January 25 vs. Providence, 7:35 pm

The Pirates hold a 45-41-12 lead in the all-time series between these longtime rivals, and the hard-fought series has continued with each team holding a record of 3-2-0-1 against the other this season. Only the first game, a Pirates' 5-2 win on November 9th, has been decided by more than two goals. Two of the contests have gone to overtime with each team picking up a win. Portland earned a win in the last meeting, 5-3 on January 11th. Providence continues to be the dominant team in the North, sitting atop the division with a record of 28-10-6-2, good for 64 points. They will visit the Lowell Lock Monsters on Friday before venturing to Portland.

SHIP'S LOG:

· The Pirates lost back-to-back games last weekend for the first time since December 21st and 22nd when they dropped a 4-3 decisions to the St. John's Maple Leafs and a 4-2 game to the Lowell Lock Monsters.

· Goalie Maxime Ouellet earned his sixth shutout of the season in a 1-0 win over Bridgeport on January 16th. He tied a franchise record for shutouts in one season by a goalie. Jim Carey set the record during the 1994-95 season.

· Earlier this year, Ouellet set a new franchise record for shutout minutes at 193:42. Last week, he extended yet another shutout streak to 173:43 before allowing a goal at 6:20 of the first period in a 4-2 loss to Lowell on January 19th.

· On Sunday, January 19th, the Pirates allowed two powerplay goals to the Lowell Lock Monsters. It was the second consecutive game in which they had allowed multiple powerplay goals. Prior to that, the Pirates hadn't allowed more than one powerplay goal in sixteen consecutive games.

TRANSACTIONS:

1/16/03 ADD J-F Fortin (D), reassigned on conditioning loan by Washington (NHL)

1/18/03 ADD Glen Metropolit (C), reassigned on loan by Washington (NHL)

ON THE AIR:

The Pirates' game on January 25th will be the second of four televised on ABC-8, WMTW. Norm Karkos will handle the play-by-play duties while Steve DeOssie will provide the analysis. Melissa Moskau will conduct intermission interviews and Travis Lee serves as the studio host. John Gregory is the producer.

As always, all Pirates' games also can be heard live on the Pirates Radio Network. Sports Radio, WJAB, am-1440 and fm-95.5 serve as the flagship stations. Games may also be heard on WKTQ am-1450, South Paris; WTME am-790 Rumford and 1220 AM, ESPN Radio in Sanford.

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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.

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