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Playoff Races Heating Up

March 3, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, MA ... With five weeks remaining in the 2002-03 regular season, the American Hockey League is once again preparing for an exciting finish, with tight races paving the way for terrific competition leading up to the Calder Cup 2003 Playoffs.

In the Eastern Conference, Hamilton and Providence are cruising toward the top two seeds, with the Bulldogs owning a 12-point cushion in the race for the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, given to the league's overall points champion in the regular season. Bridgeport, looking to defend its East Division title of a year ago, sits four points in front of Binghamton, while North Division rivals Portland and Manchester are hooked up in a battle for the fourth seed in the conference, which carries an extra home game in the best-of-five conference quarterfinal round.

If the current standings hold between now and April 6, the qualifying series in the East would pit Worcester against Manitoba in a rematch of the Moose's best-of-three win over the IceCats last spring, and Hartford against Springfield in a battle of I-91 rivals. However, the Falcons' hold on 10th place is anything but safe, with Albany five points back and Saint John and St. John's lurking seven points behind.

The fight for the top seed in the Western Conference is shaping up to be a two-team race between Grand Rapids and Houston, and could come down to the final Saturday of the regular season, when the Griffins visit the Compaq Center in Game 80 for both clubs.

Norfolk, the South Division champion last year, sits atop the division again, but with just one point between them and Hershey. And only 10 points separate the fourth-place Bears from ninth-place Rochester, the difference between home-ice advantage in a conference quarterfinal series and hitting the road to play a best-of-three qualifier. Milwaukee sits 10th in the West with Philadelphia and Cincinnati in close pursuit, but with a league-high 20 games remaining, the Admirals control their own ability to move up the standings.

Hamilton is in, but there are still 19 invitations to the AHL postseason waiting to be issued, and 240 games left on the schedule to sort it all out.

RIVER RATS ANNOUNCE ALL-DECADE TEAM ... As part of their 10th-anniversary celebration, the Albany River Rats have announced their All-Decade team, as voted by fans.

The team consists of forwards John Madden, Patrik Elias, Steve Sullivan, Petr Sykora and Steve Brule; defensemen Colin White, Geordie Kinnear and Ken Sutton; and goaltenders Mike Dunham and Corey Schwab.

MAC IS BACK ... After missing the first five months of the season with a neck injury discovered in training camp, Donald MacLean began his comeback with two goals and an assist in two weekend games with Syracuse.

MacLean signed with Columbus in the offseason after winning the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL's leading scorer with St. John's in 2001-02. The 26-year-old center has scored at least 25 goals in each of his last three full AHL seasons.

OFF THE ICE ... Philadelphia Phantoms players, coaches, wives and staff recently collected $2,300 out of their own pockets to donate to the Jennifer Ferraro Fund for gastric cancer research... Hockey Hall of Famer and AHL graduate Steve Shutt dropped the ceremonial first puck in Hamilton on '70s Night at Copps Coliseum on Friday... By winning the season series with Syracuse, Binghamton captured the BSB Bank & Trust Battle of I-81; BSB will donate $1,000 in sports equipment to the Boys and Girls Club of Binghamton... During the month of March, customers who make a purchase of at least $50 at Syracuse's ShoppingTown Mall will receive two tickets to a select Crunch home game.

ETC. ... Marty Demers, who was one of the linesmen for Rob Murray's 1,000th AHL game in Springfield on Friday night, also worked the lines for Murray's first game on Oct. 7, 1988... Hamilton claimed the Sam Pollock Trophy as the 2002-03 Canadian Division champions with a 4-2 win over Philadelphia on Friday... Grand Rapids' Jason Williams led all AHL scorers during the month of February with 18 points (12g, 6a) in 13 games... After losing in Cleveland on Friday and in Cincinnati on Saturday, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defeated the Mighty Ducks on Sunday, 3-1, for its first win ever in Ohio (1-7-0-1)... Milan Kraft returned to the AHL Penguins last week and now has 7+11=18 pts. on a current 11-game AHL scoring streak... Hartford swept its four-game season series against former head coach John Paddock's Binghamton Senators... Last-place Albany swept first-place Bridgeport by identical 5-3 scores in a weekend home-and-home between the East Division foes... A franchise-record crowd of 7,056 in Norfolk saw the Admirals defeat Manchester at Scope on Friday night... Portland is 7-3-1-1 this season when playing the third game in three nights... Hamilton is 33-0-4-4 when scoring first... San Antonio plays five games in seven nights this week against division leaders Houston (Monday, Sunday) and Grand Rapids (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday)... Manitoba's Brandon Reid picked up an assist in his NHL debut with Vancouver on Saturday night... Jason Botterill, the AHL's leading goal scorer with 36, was recalled on Friday and picked up a goal and an assist in Buffalo's 5-3 win over Dallas that night... In a battle of Worcester IceCats alumni, Curtis Sanford (27 saves) outdueled Dwayne Roloson (13 saves) and earned his first NHL shutout as St. Louis blanked Minnesota on Saturday, 2-0... Making their NHL debuts on Wednesday, Mike Zigomanis and Tomas Kurka each recorded his first NHL goal in Carolina's 4-2 loss at Phoenix.

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