AHL American Hockey League

Pirates Starting to Make Waves in the Atlantic

January 5, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, MA ... The hottest team in the AHL as the calendar turns over to 2004 is the Portland Pirates, who have extended their unbeaten streak to eight games and climbed out of the Atlantic Division basement and into the thick of the playoff race.

Portland is 5-0-3-0 in its last eight contests, and is on a 6-1-3-1 roll since Dec. 10, when former Pirates coach Glen Hanlon was named bench boss of the parent Washington Capitals. Goaltender Rastislav Stana has stopped 243 of 251 shots during the current unbeaten run (.968) and has a league-leading five shutouts on the season, including four in his last six starts.

After a stint as Olaf Kolzig's back-up in Washington last month, Stana switched places with Maxime Ouellet, a Second Team AHL All-Star in 2002-03. Half of the Pirates' 14 wins so far this season have come via the whitewash, and with eight shutouts on the season overall, the team is already just three shy of the franchise record set last season and five behind Syracuse's AHL single-season standard of 13 shutouts, established in 2001-02.

A total of 12 Pirates have already skated in the NHL this season, including leading scorer Colin Forbes, captain Trent Whitfield and NHL debutants Dwayne Zinger and Darcy Verot. Defenseman Chris Hajt was recalled last week and made his Capitals debut on New Year's Eve in Buffalo, where he was raised while his father Bill, a Calder Cup champion with Cincinnati (1973), played parts of 14 seasons with the Sabres.

Graham Mink has scored five of his team-leading 13 goals during the unbeaten streak, and Brian Sutherby, a first-round pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, has added six points in six games since being assigned from Washington on Dec. 19.

Defense has dominated all season for head coach Tim Army's Pirates, who rank third in the league allowing just 2.09 goals per game, joining division leaders Bridgeport, Hartford and Grand Rapids in the top four. The Pirates are also sixth in the AHL on the penalty kill at 87.8 percent, despite being the only team in the league without a shorthanded goal for.

Portland will look to keep rolling with a visit to Lowell on Wednesday night, followed by home dates with Manchester and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton over the weekend.

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MILESTONE FOR MAPLE LEAFS ... The St. John's Maple Leafs will reach a milestone on Wednesday night when they host the Manitoba Moose at Mile One Stadium, becoming the 13th team in American Hockey League history to play 1,000 regular season games.

The Leafs began play in Newfoundland in 1991 and have qualified for the Calder Cup Playoffs in 10 of their first 12 seasons, winning three division titles and reaching the finals in 1992. Notable alumni to represent the Maple Leafs in St. John's include Felix Potvin, Yanic Perreault, Kenny Jonsson, Mike Eastwood, Danny Markov, Nathan Dempsey, Alyn McCauley, Joel Quenneville and head coach Marc Crawford.

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CRONIN TO COACH ALL-STARS ... With a points percentage of .716, Bridgeport is guaranteed to have the AHL's best record at the end of this week, meaning head coach Greg Cronin and assistant Dave Baseggio will be behind the PlanetUSA bench at the 2004 Pepsi AHL All-Star Classic.

By virtue of leading Houston to the Calder Cup title last year, Todd McLellan will coach the Canadian All-Star team.

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SHOOTING GALLERY ... The Hartford Wolf Pack were mired in a franchise-worst slump last week, but it wasn't for lack of effort, as the club fired a total of 110 shots on goal in successive contests against Springfield and Hershey, but scored just three times off the Falcons' David LeNeveu (54 saves) and the Bears' Peter Budaj (52 saves).

The Pack suffered five straight regulation losses for the first time in team history, a streak that included a stretch of over 205 minutes without scoring a goal. Hartford finally posted a 4-2 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday night, then ended a run of eight games in 10 days with a 5-2 victory over Norfolk on Sunday.

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OFF THE ICE ... During January, any party that orders two dinner entrees at Coleman's Authentic Irish Pub and Restaurant in Syracuse will receive a voucher for two tickets to a future Crunch home game... A crowd of 7,876 – a record for the new Barons franchise – saw Cleveland's 5-1 victory over St. John's on Saturday night at Gund Arena... The Springfield Falcons have designated four Senior Nights at the Nest, offering $10 tickets to fans age 62 and over.

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ETC. ... Manitoba Moose forward Ryan Kesler scored during a three-goal third period as the United States rallied to defeat Canada, 4-3, and win the gold medal at the 2004 World Junior Championships in Helsinki today... Mark Hartigan and Joe Motzko, former teammates at St. Cloud State University (1999-2002), combined for 8+6=14 pts. and a plus-17 rating in Syracuse's first three games of 2004... Joffrey Lupul, the seventh overall pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, made his AHL debut on Friday, then scored three times in the final 5:03 of Sunday's game to give Cincinnati a 5-2 win over San Antonio... Manchester's Pavel Rosa has a point in eight straight games to take over the AHL scoring lead... Chicago rookie Karl Stewart leads the AHL with a plus-19 rating this season... The scoreless tie between Portland and Hershey on Saturday was the first for the Bears since 1972, and the first in the AHL since current NHL'ers Martin Prusek and Jamie McLennan battled to a 0-0 draw with Grand Rapids and Houston in 2002... In his first start after being named the AHL Rookie of the Month for December, Bridgeport's Wade Dubielewicz saw his personal 12-game unbeaten streak end in a 2-1 loss to Norfolk on Saturday... Providence forward Carl Corazzini has six goals and an assist in his last six games... Cleveland lost goaltenders Seamus Kotyk and Dimitri Patzold to injury during weekend games... Houston has played to five ties in its last six games (0-1-5-0)... To avoid a direct conflict with the Eagles' NFL divisional playoff game across the parking lot at Lincoln Financial Field, the Philadelphia Phantoms have re-scheduled this Sunday's contest against Albany to Mar. 8 at 7:05... Rosters for the 2004 Pepsi AHL All-Star Classic will be announced on Wednesday (Canada) and Thursday (PlanetUSA) this week.

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