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Pirates Open Playoffs against Manitoba

April 7, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


PORTLAND, ME - The Portland Pirates make their return to the American Hockey league's Calder Cup Playoffs this week with a qualifying series against the Manitoba Moose at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The Pirates will host the Moose in a best-of-three series beginning Thursday, April 10 at 7:05 p.m. Game two will be played on Friday at 7:05 p.m. Game three, if necessary, will be Sunday at 6:05 p.m. The Pirates finished the final week of the regular season with a win over Providence, a tie with Worcester and losses to Manchester and Saint John. They conclude the regular season with a record of 33-28-13-6, good for 85 points, and eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

LAST WEEK:

Wednesday, April 2: Manchester 4, Pirates 1

The Pirates dropped their final game of ten against the Monarchs, 4-1. Despite a depleted Manchester roster and three power plays in the first period, the only goal the Pirates managed to get past netminder Travis Scott was disallowed after referee Jeff Smith lost sight of the puck in a net mouth scramble. Manchester got on the board in the second period when a Pirates' clearing attempt hit Jeff Giuliano who fed the puck to Jared Aulin for his first of two in the period. With Portland on a five-minute power play, the Monarchs struck again with a pair of shorthanded goals just 27 seconds apart midway through the third period. Todd Rohloff broke Scott's shutout bid with a shorthanded bid of his own a few minutes later, but Portland could muster no more offense.

Friday, April 4: Pirates 2, Providence 1

The Pirates closed out the road portion of their schedule with a 2-1 win over the North Division-champion Bruins. Providence opened up the scoring as Zdenek Kutlak's wrist shot was deflected on the way to Rastislav Stana, fluttering just beyond his glove. The Pirates responded less than three minutes later as Graham Mink pounced on a rebound for his 21st of the year to knot the score at 1-1 after one period. The Pirates took the lead at the mid-point of the third period as Matt Pettinger tossed home a rebound of a Jakub Cutta shot. The Pirates were tested late in the game when Chris Ferraro was whistled for a four-minute spearing penalty, but they were able to hold on for their third win in Providence this season.

Saturday, April 5: Pirates 1, Worcester 1 OT

The Pirates assured themselves of home ice advantage in the qualifying round of the playoffs with a 1-1 tie with the IceCats. The tie, combined with a loss by the Moose, gave the Pirates the additional point needed to lock out the Moose. Andreas Salomonsson snapped the Pirates 0-for-25 stretch on the powerplay with a goal early in the second period. Jason Dawe scored from John Pohl with the two teams playing four-on-four in the third. Both Stana and Worcester's Curtis Sanford turned in sterling performances in goal, stopping a combined 77 shots. The tie kept the Pirates out of sixth place in the conference. The Pirates and IceCats finished the season series tied at 3-3-2-0.

Sunday, April 6: Saint John 3, Pirates 2

The Flames finished the season unbeaten in five straight against the Pirates with another hard-fought win in Portland. The Flames were playing for pride after being eliminated from the Calder Cup Playoffs in the previous week. Graham Mink scored for the Pirates less than nine minutes into the game but Jason Morgan responded less than three minutes later to tie the game at one after one. The Flames surged ahead early in the second on a powerplay tally by Robert Dome, but rookie Kevin Spiewak, playing in just his third professional game, scored on a penalty shot just 24 seconds later to tie the game again. The winning goal came early in the third. J-F Boutin sent Matt Lombardi around the Pirates' defense, and Lombardi beat Maxime Ouellet to make it 3-2. The Pirates had a powerplay in the final minute but could not capitalize. The Pirates finished the season 4-3-1-2 against the Flames.

PIRATES AND MOOSE MEET FOR FIRST TIME IN CALDER CUP PLAYOFFS

Eastern Conference Qualifying Series -- Series "Q4"
MANITOBA MOOSE VS. PORTLAND PIRATES

Thursday, April 10, 7:05 P.M.
Friday, April 11, 7:05 P.M.
Sunday, April 13, 6:05 P.M. (If necessary)

The Pirates and the Manitoba Moose will meet for the first time in the Calder Cup Playoffs. In fact, the two teams met for the first time ever earlier this season when they played the first of four games during the regular season in Portland. The series ended tied, 1-1-2-0. The Pirates were 1-0-1-0 at home and 0-1-1-0 in Manitoba's Winnipeg Arena.

Just a single point separated the Pirates and Moose in the Eastern Conference standings. Manitoba finished with a record of 37-33-8-2, good for 84 points. They ranked near the middle of the pack in offense, averaging 2.86 goals per game (14th). They finished 16th in team defense, averaging 2.85 goals per game. The Pirates, by comparison, ranked 16th in offense (2.76 goals/game) and 4th in defense (2.44 goals/game). The Pirates are returning to the playoffs after a one-year hiatus. Their most recent playoff series came in 2001, a 3-0 series loss to the eventual Calder Cup Champions, the Saint John flames. The Moose made their first Calder Cup playoff appearance last season in their first year in the AHL. They beat the Worcester IceCats 2-1 in a qualifying series in Worcester. They were the only road team to win a qualifying series last season. They bowed to the eventual Eastern Conference Champions, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 3-1 in the conference quarterfinals. Center Brandon Reid led the Moose in scoring this season with 54 points in 73 games. He had a team-leading 36 assists. Ryan Ready was the Moose's leading goal scorer with 24 in 68 games. Justin Kurtz was Manitoba's top-scoring defenseman with eleven goals and 39 points in 71 games. Tyler Moss and Alex Auld split time in the Moose's net. Moss led the team with 21 wins and a .909 save percentage. Auld, who is currently on recall to the Moose's NHL affiliate, the Vancouver Canucks, led the team in goals against average (2.64). The Moose are coached by Stan Smyl and Eric Crawford.

SHIP'S LOG:

· The Pirates set a franchise record for fewest goals against in a season, surrendering 195 goals, an average of 2.44 goals per game. The old record was 202, set during the 1999-2000 season.

· Rookie Kevin Spiewak scored his first professional goal on a penalty shot against the Saint John Flames on April 6. The native of Shaumburg, Illinois also had an assist in the game, just his third in the American Hockey League. He joined the Pirates after a four-year career at the University of North Dakota.

· Spiewak's penalty shot was the Pirates' first this season. It came in game number 80.

· The Pirates had a string of 33 consecutive penalty kills snapped on Sunday when Robert Dome of Saint John scored against Maxime Ouellet. That tied a franchise record for consecutive penalty kills set during the 1997-98 season. The Pirates have killed 37 of the last 38 penalties against.

· The strong finish by the penalty-killing unit allowed the Pirates to set another franchise record for best penalty killing percentage in a season. The Pirates killed off 86.6 % of the penalties whistled against them this year. The old record was 85.6%, set during the 1999-2000 season.

· The Pirates had 361 powerplays this season, the fewest of any team in the AHL.



American Hockey League Stories from April 7, 2003


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