AHL American Hockey League

Playoff Races Hit Home Stretch

March 31, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, MA ... One week remains in the American Hockey League's 67th regular season, and the battles for playoff berths and positioning are once again going down to the wire. Five postseason spots are still up for grabs, as are a pair of division championships.

Houston and Providence both hit the 100-point plateau over the weekend while wrapping up division crowns. With a 6-0 win in Utah on Saturday, the Aeros claimed the N.R. (Bud) Poile Trophy as the champions of the West Divison; Sunday's overtime loss in Manitoba helped the Bruins capture the Emile Francis Trophy as the North Division victors.

Norfolk and Hershey are in a battle for the Frank Mathers Trophy in the South Division. The Admirals, who have been eliminated from the postseason by the Bears each of the past two seasons, enter the final week of the season with a four-point lead over their rivals from Chocolatetown, and the teams go head-to-head at Scope on Wednesday and at the Giant Center on Sunday. Norfolk captured the division title in 2002, finishing three points ahead of Hershey.

The East Division race between Binghamton and Bridgeport also comes down to the wire. The first-year Senators wrap up the regular season with two games against Albany and one each against conference-leading Hamilton and Providence, while the defending division champion Sound Tigers take on the Bulldogs and River Rats before finishing with a home-and-home against Hartford. The East Division winner earns the F.G. (Teddy) Oke Trophy, which was first awarded in 1927 to the champions of the Canadian Professional Hockey League, one of the precursors to the AHL.

Five teams are battling for the final four playoff berths in the Western Conference, with Philadelphia currently on the outside looking in. The race could come down to Sunday's finales, when Utah and Milwaukee, now tied for seventh, hook up at the Bradley Center, while Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (currently ninth) visits the Phantoms.

The only team currently locked into a playoff seed is the defending Calder Cup champion Chicago Wolves, who will finish fourth in the Western Conference and open their title defense in the conference quarterfinals against any of five potential opponents.

FIT TO BE UNTIED ... Following are the tiebreaking procedures in the event of a tie in the standings following the completion of the regular season on Sunday.

When a tie among three or more teams is broken resulting in a two-team tie, the original tiebreaking procedures are used.

Between two teams:
a) wins
b) wins in season series between tied teams
c) goal differential
d) goals scored in season series between tied teams
e) intraconference record

Among three or more teams:
a) wins
b) points percentage in season series among tied teams
c) goal differential
d) goal differential in season series among tied teams
e) intraconference record

SUNDAY, NUTTY SUNDAY ... Down 6-1 entering the third period on Sunday, the Worcester IceCats staged an epic comeback to dethrone the Manchester Monarchs, 7-6.

Jeff Panzer and John Pohl each scored twice during the final frame, and Panzer capped the IceCats' first hat trick of the season and the six-goal rally at the 1:53 mark of overtime. Aris Brimanis scored five seconds after Panzer's second goal, tying an AHL record for the fastest two goals by one team. Worcester improved to 5-0-3-0 in its last eight home games.

The Monarchs' overtime loss allowed Providence to clinch the North Division championship.

OFF THE ICE ... San Antonio raised more than $16,500 in a charity jersey auction on Sunday afternoon. The Rampage wore patriotic jerseys to raise funds for Operation Uplink, which keeps military personnel and hospitalized veterans in touch with their families and loved ones by providing them with a free phone card... The Hamilton Bulldogs will be offering $10 general admission tickets to their Apr. 5 game against Manitoba, with all proceeds going to the Travis Carter Fund to find a cure for Batten Disease... The Albany River Rats and several local Girl Scouts troops will be sending care packages, including 2,500 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, to U.S. military personnel stationed overseas.

ETC. ... During the month of March, Chicago goaltender Norm Maracle was 9-0-1, while Manchester's Eric Healey (10g, 13a) and Albany's Craig Darby (7g, 16a) led all AHL scorers with 23 points each... Hartford's Nils Ekman has recorded 26 points (9g, 17a) on his current 14-game scoring streak, the longest in the AHL this season... The Wolf Pack were winless in their previous 10 meetings with Lowell (0-4-3-3) before Saturday's 4-1 win at Tsongas Arena... The Lock Monsters' Rob Zepp made 46 saves for his first AHL victory, a 4-0 shutout of Springfield on Sunday... Rastislav Stana's 28-save effort against Worcester on Saturday allowed Portland to set an AHL record with its ninth home shutout of the season... Grand Rapids tied an AHL record on Saturday with a 3-2 win in Cincinnati, the Griffins' 25th road victory of the year... Entering the weekend, Hamilton had not lost in regulation all season when scoring the game's first goal (36-0-5-4); it then happened on consecutive nights in 3-1 losses to Syracuse and Rochester... Binghamton's 3-2 win in Wilkes-Barre on Friday gave John Paddock his ninth 40-win season behind an AHL bench, three more than any other head coach in league history... The Penguins are on track to record their 100th consecutive regular-season sellout at the First Union Arena on Saturday night... Gordie Howe, who played for the Houston Aeros in the WHA from 1973-77, will have his #9 retired on Saturday when the AHL's Aeros play the final regular season game ever at the Compaq Center.

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