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Pirates Travel to Manchester for First Road VIP Cup Matchup

December 20, 2013 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Portland Pirates News Release


Manchester, NH - The Pirates will look to tie the VIP Cup Series, presented by VIP Tires & Service, at 2 games apiece in their first road game of the series as they travel to Manchester to take on the Monarchs. Puck drops at 7:00 PM at the Verizon Wireless Center. Manchester leads the VIP Cup Series 2 games to 1.

The Pirates are coming off a 5-1 win over the Worcester Sharks, a game that saw Andy Miele tally his first professional hat trick and 5 points on the night. Rostislav Klesla and Jordan Martinook added the other Pirates tallies, while Mark Visentin made 30 saves in the win. Miele's fantastic night capped an 8 point week and earned him the CCM/AHL Player of the Week Award. The Pirates are on a 5 game streak with at least a point in each game, and have moved from 14th to 12th in the Eastern Conference.

Manchester, meanwhile, has earned a point in their last 5 games as well, and have won their last 3 games, including a 3-1 win over Bridgeport last Sunday. The Monarchs have outscored their last three opponents 11 to 5, and sit in first place in the Eastern Conference. Manchester's offense got a boost yesterday when Linden Vey was returned to the team from the parent Los Angeles Kings. The Monarchs also boast a 9-1-1-1 record at home, while the Pirates are 6-4-1-1 on the road.

The last meeting between the Monarchs and Pirates was on December 7th, the third straight meeting between the two at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. Manchester scored twice in the third period to tie the game at three and won in a shootout. Tobias Rieder scored twice, his second two goal game against the Monarchs this season, and Brandon McMillan tallied the other Pirates goal. Mark Visentin made 33 saves in the loss.

KeyBank Key to the Game

VIP Treatment: Tobias Rieder has 5 of his 9 goals against Manchester this season, while no other Pirate has more than one. On the other end of the ice, Mark Visentin has started all three games against Manchester this year, posting a .940 save percentage and a 1.89 goals against average. The Pirates will have to rely heavily on Rieder and Visentin tonight to anchor the team and even the VIP Cup series, presented by VIP Tires & Service, at 2.

This is the 4th game of the VIP Cup series, presented by VIP Parts tires and service. The two teams will meet again on December 26th for the final game of the 2013 portion of the season. The Pirates won the 2012-13 VIP Cup 7-5. Make sure to visit www.VIP-Cup.com for all the series information and to vote for the VIP Player of the Series!

Tonight's game can be heard on the Pirates flagship stations WPEI 95.5/95.9 FM as well as WEZR AM 1240 in the Lewiston/Auburn area and WTME AM 780/1450 in Oxford County. The game can also be heard online at portlandpirates.com by clicking "Listen Live" and can be seen live on AHL Live at ahllive.com. The pregame show starts at 6:40 with Jeff Mannix. Tickets are available by calling (207) 783-2009 or online at thecolisee.com. Follow all the action on the Pirates official Facebook page and Twitter account (@PortlandPirates) with the hashtag #PiratesAway.

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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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