Portland Pirates Weekly Report

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


PORTLAND, ME - The Portland Pirates begin their eleventh season in the American Hockey League on Friday, October 10th when they visit the Lowell Lock Monsters. The Pirates will start their quest for the Calder Cup with just two road games as the AHL's begins its 68th season. Head coach Tim Army and assistant coach Mark Kumpel will look to continue the team's steady improvement during the last two years. In 2002-2003, the Pirates finished with a record of 33-28-13-6, good for eighth place in the Eastern Conference. They were eliminated in the conference qualifying series of the Calder Cup Playoffs by the Manitoba Moose, two games to one. Last season was a record-setting one for the Pirates as the team set new franchise marks for fewest goals allowed (195), best penalty-killing percentage (86.6%) and most shutouts (11). In addition, returning goaltender Maxime Ouellet rewrote four goaltending records, and center Trent Whitfield set a new record for shorthanded goals in a season (5). This season, the Pirates will play 13 AHL member clubs during their 80 game regular season schedule including 60 games against fellow members of the newly-named Atlantic Division which features Hartford, Lowell, Manchester, Providence, Springfield and Worcester.

LAST WEEK:

Tuesday, September 30: Pirates 4, Lowell 0

The Pirates opened the pre-season with a 4-0 win over the Lowell Lock Monsters in Nashua, New Hampshire. One-time Lock Monster Mike Pudlick had two goals and Scott Pellerin and Brad Parsons added the others. Training camp invitees Maxime Gingras and Jamie Vanek combined for the shutout in goal with 25 saves.

Wednesday, October 1: Pirates 3, Manchester 2

In their first "home" game of the pre-season, the Pirates held off the Manchester Monarchs 3-2 at Biddeford Ice Arena. A powerplay goal in the first by Pellerin gave the Pirates a 1-0 lead after two, but the Monarchs tied the game early in the third on a tally by Yanick Lehoux. Defensemen Matt Libby and Chris Hajt scored goals 3:49 a part midway through the third to put the Pirates up 3-1. Noah Clarke trimmed the lead to a goal when he scored at 13:53, but Rastislav Stana was not beaten again.

Saturday, October 4: Lowell 3, Pirates 2

The Pirates dropped their first pre-season game on the ice of the Cumberland County Civic Center. Jason Morgan gave the visitors from Lowell a 1-0 lead on a first period powerplay. Newly assigned Darcy Verot evened the game for the Pirates in the second before Lowell retook the lead on a goal by Allan Rourke. The Pirates answered back on Jason Ulmer's first goal of the pre-season at 17:18 to leave the game at 2-2 after two. The deciding goal came early in the third when Damian Surma scored during a five-minute powerplay. Maxime Ouellet made 24 saves in the loss.

Sunday, October 5: Pirates 3, Manchester 0

The Pirates made it a clean sweep of the Monarchs in the pre-season with their second shutout in four games. Rookie Owen Fussey broke a scoreless deadlock through nearly 40 minutes with his first goal of the pre-season. Ivan Ciernik added a pair of powerplay tallies in the third to give the Pirates some breathing room. Both Hajt and Trent Whitfield, newly assigned from the Washington Capitals, assisted on the goals. Stana earned his second win of the exhibition schedule with 29 saves.

PIRATES HIT THE ROAD FOR WEEK NUMBER ONE

* Friday, October 10 at Lowell Lock Monsters, 7:00 PM

The Pirates open the season against the Lowell Lock Monsters for the second time in their history. Back in 1998, the Pirates helped the first year Monsters stage their franchise opener, a 5-4 loss for the Pirates at Tsongas Arena in Lowell. Last year, the Lock Monsters struggled with a rash of injuries and call-ups to their NHL affiliate, the Carolina Hurricanes, and finished with the worst record in the AHL at 19-51-7-3, good for 48 points. The Pirates went 5-4-1-0 against Lowell, including four shutouts. The Pirates were 2-2-1-0 in Lowell. The Lock Monsters will undoubtedly be stronger this season with the addition of the Calgary Flames as a secondary NHL affiliate. The Flames are placing their top developmental players in Lowell after ten seasons in Saint John, New Brunswick. The two teams split a pair of pre-season games with each team winning on the road. All time, the Pirates are 21-24-7 against Lowell, including a 10-10-6 mark at Tsongas Arena. Lowell will visit Manchester after hosting the Pirates.

* Saturday, October 17 at Hartford, 7:05 PM

The Pirates and the Hartford Wolf Pack played just twice last season, but they will become more familiar with one another as they compete in the same division for the first time in three years. This will be the first of eight meetings between the two clubs. The Wolf Pack will be the Pirates' opponent in Portland for the home opener on October 17th. Last year, the Pirates tied the Pack 2-2 in Portland on February 8th before dropping a 5-1 decision in Hartford on March 12th in the finale of the two-game season series. The Wolf Pack finished last season with a record of 33-27-12-8, good for 86 points and seventh place in the Eastern Conference. The Pack was swept by the Springfield Falcons 2-0 in the other conference qualifying series. All time, the top developmental team of the New York Rangers has had the better of the play against the Pirates, posting a record of 14-7-5 since joining the AHL in 1997. The Pirates are 4-7-2 all time at the Hartford Civic Center. Hartford will play its home opener on Friday night when it welcomes its Nutmeg State neighbors, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

SHIP'S LOG:

* The Pirates finished their four-game pre-season schedule with a record of 3-1-0-0. They won both games played on the road.

* The Pirates picked up right where they left off last season, allowing just five goals in the four pre-season games. Last season, the Pirates finished fourth among the 28 AHL teams in fewest goals against per game (2.44).

* The Pirates' penalty killers also had little rust. They killed off 25 of 27 powerplays against, a success rate of better than 92 percent. In 2002-2003, the Pirates had the fourth-ranked penalty-killing unit in the AHL.

* Fourteen different players scored at least a point for the Pirates during the pre-season. Center Jason Ulmer led the way with four points while Owen Fussey, Chris Hajt and Graham Mink all had three points. Ivan Ciernik, Scott Pellerin and Mike Pudlick tied for the team lead in pre-season goals with two each. Ulmer led the team in plus-minus ratio with a plus-five.

* This is the eighth time the Pirates have opened the season on the road. Their record in road openers is 4-3-0 with one overtime loss. All time, the Pirates are 5-5-0 in season openers including two overtime losses. The Pirates have lost their last three season openers, two of which came in overtime.

TRANSACTIONS:
10/5/03 ADD Nolan Yonkman (D), assigned by Washington (NHL)
10/6/03 DELETE Brian White (D), released from training camp
10/6/03 DELETE Xavier Majic (C), released from training camp
10/6/03 DELETE Miroslav Durak (D), released from training camp

ON THE AIR: Once again this season, all the action of the Portland Pirates' hockey may be heard on Flagship Station WJAB, AM-1440 and FM-95.5 in Portland and on network affiliates WKTQ AM-1450, South Paris; WTME AM-790 Rumford and 1220 AM, ESPN Radio in Sanford. On Saturday, the Pirates will be heard in Portland on WJAB sister station, WLOB FM-96.3 and AM-1310 due to a conflict with WJAB's coverage of the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.



American Hockey League Stories from October 7, 2003


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