Rissmiller becomes Barons assist king

October 24, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Cleveland Barons News Release


10/21/05 Rochester 8, Barons 4 - The Barons began a four-game road stretch at Rochester on Friday night falling 8-4. Barons rookie forwards Lukas Kaspar, Josh Hennessy and Steve Bernier all scored goals for the Barons, but it wasn't enough to hold off the Amerks power play. Finishing the night 5 for 6 with the man-advantage, Rochester won for the second time in as many games against Cleveland. The goal by Hennessy was his first as a professional and Bernier's tally extended his point streak to five games. Grant Stevenson also scored for the Barons. Cleveland is now 0 for 16 on the power play in two games against the Americans. Chris Taylor (6-assists) and Jason Pominville (5-goals) tied franchise records with their production in the game. The two teams meet again in Rochester on Friday, November 4.

10/22/05 Cleveland 2, Hamilton 1 - The Barons earned their first road victory of the season with a 2-1 win on Saturday night at Copps Coliseum. Steve Bernier produced his second consecutive 1 goal, 1 assist performance, including the first game-winner of his pro career. Patrick Rissmiller also scored for the Barons, his first goal of the season. Dimitri Patzold made his second consecutive start in goal turning aside 36 Bulldog shots for his first win of the season. The two North Division rivals will meet seven more times this season with the next contest scheduled for Friday, November 11 at Hamilton.

Coming Up

10/27/05 Cleveland @ Manitoba - MTS Centre, Winnipeg, MT

The Barons road trek continues with the defending North Division Champion Manitoba Moose on Thursday night. Last season the Barons struggled against the Moose with a 2-6-0-0 regular season record, including a loss in all four visits to the MTS Centre. In fact, the Barons are winless in their last six visits to Winnipeg. Manitoba is 5-2-1-0 against the Barons all-time in Winnipeg and overall leads the all-time regular season record with a 5-10-1-0-0 mark against Cleveland.

10/29/05 Cleveland @ Manitoba - MTS Centre, Winnipeg, MT

The last road win for the Barons in their series against the Moose came on December 31, 2004 when a hat-trick by Miroslav Zalesak paced the Barons to a 5-2 victory at Winnipeg Arena. Patrick Rissmiller leads the current crop of Barons players in scoring against the Moose with 10 points (1+9=10) in 16 games played. Dimitri Patzold holds a 2-4-0 record against the Moose with a 3.56 GAA in the life-time series. Moose goaltender Wade Flaherty is a perfect 3-0-0 lifetime against the Barons.

Barons Player of the Week

The Cleveland Barons Player of the Week is Steve Bernier for the second consecutive week. The Sharks former 1st Round Draft selection (16th Overall, 2003) registered 2 goals and 2 assists in two games this week extending his point streak to six consecutive games (4+4=8). In the Barons win on Saturday night, Bernier registered the first game-winning goal of his pro career with a second period tally against Olivier Michaud of the Hamilton Bulldogs. Bernier finished the week with four points (2+2=4), 7 shots-on-goal, and was a +3.

Rissmiller's Reached The Top

Patrick Rissmiller's 2-assist performance on Friday in Rochester was more than just his first multi-point game of the season. It propelled the fourth-year Barons winger to the top of the franchise's all-time assist mark with his 83rd helper in a Cleveland uniform. The assist surpassed Miroslav Zalesak's 82 assists gathered in the 2001-2004 seasons. Rissmiller scored his 50th goal in a Barons uniform on Saturday at Hamilton and now trails Zalesak for the franchise goal mark by 34 and the all-time points lead by 32 points.

First Things First

Barons rookie forward, Josh Hennessy scored his first professional goal on Friday night in the Barons 8-4 loss at Rochester. The goal by Hennessy mid-way through the third period on Rochester's Jean-Marc Pelletier climbed the Barons back to within two goals at 6-4. The goal was assisted by Steve Bernier and Patrick Rissmiller. Hennessy finished the week tied for third on the Barons in rookie scoring with four points (1+3=4).

The "Young Guns"

Through six games of the 2005-2006 season, the Barons are being led by first-year professionals. Steve Bernier currently leads the squad in goals (4), assists (4) and points (8). Second in scoring for the Barons is rookie Mike Iggulden with five points (2+3=5) followed by Lukas Kaspar (3+1=4) and Josh Hennessy (1+3=4). Brad Staubitz is the only first-year professional on the Barons roster to have played in a game this season and is not ranked among the top four scorers on the team. Instead, Staubitz leads all Barons rookies in penalty minutes with 9.

"Hooray For Bernier"

With a 1 goal, 1 assist performance in both games this past week, Steve Bernier extended his point streak to six games and his goal scoring streak to three games (3). With the point streak, Bernier has set the franchise mark for consecutive point streak to begin a season. He also sets the franchise record for rookie point streak to start a career. (The previous mark was held by David Cloutier, who tallied three points (1+2=3) in the first two games of his professional career during the 2002-03 season.) The Barons franchise record for points during the regular season is currently held by Miroslav Zalesak who registered points (6+8=14) in 9-consecutive games during the 2003-04 campaign. The franchise record for a goal streak is also held by Zalesak at five games (5-goals), also set during the 2003-04 season.

Something Besides Bernier

Barons defenseman Matt Carkner, the longest tenured member of the franchise in his fifth year, has a two-game assist streak in place after earning an assist at Rochester and at Hamilton this past weekend. The assists were Carkner's first points of the year. Also with current scoring streaks are Mike Iggulden with a three-game point streak (2+2=4); and Patrick Rissmiller who has gathered all of his season totals over the last three games (1+3=4).

Hamilton/Cleveland - It's all the same...

The first seven visits in Barons franchise history to Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario resulted in a defeat. However, following Saturday's 2-1 win at Copps, the Barons are now 5-2-0-0 in their last seven ventures to Hamilton. The Bulldogs are 6-1-0-0 in their last seven visits to the "Rock ‘N Roll" city, and boast an all-time record of 13-5-0-0 at Cleveland. Hamilton pays its first visit to the Barons on December 22nd.

Schaefer's In The Show

Following an injury to San Jose Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov on Friday night, the Sharks re-called Barons tender Nolan Schaefer. Schaefer joined the Sharks in-time to back-up former Barons goalie Vesa Toskala in the Sharks 2-1 loss at Nashville Saturday night. This is the second time that Schaefer has been re-called by the Sharks, however he has yet to make an appearance for San Jose. The Barons have re-called Jamie Holden from Fresno-ECHL to play goal alongside Dimitri Patzold. Holden, a rookie out of Quinnipiac College, attended training camp with the Sharks and Barons.

The Time is Now...

The Barons 2005-2006 season has begun with five of the first six games within the Barons North Division. Saturday night's win at Hamilton was the Barons first win against a division foe this season (1-5-0-0). Thirteen of the next fifteen Barons games will be against a North Division opponent. All together that's 18 of the Barons first 21 games to be played within the North Division. The Barons then play four consecutive games against the West Division before facing a North Division opponent in six of the following seven games.

Barons United With WTAM

It's time to stop being a spectator and get in on the action! The Barons are joining forces with other local professional sports teams and business for the 3rd annual United Way Sports Auction on 1100-AM WTAM. Currently under way is an on-line portion of the sports auction at www.wtam.com. There will be an on-the-air LIVE auction with WTAM beginning Tuesday, November 1st. Included among the memorabilia and experience packages will be; golf with a Barons player and golf pro Gary Trivisonno; Stick Boy for a Day with the Barons; a trip to the 2006 Masters Golf Tournament and more! Partnering with the Barons, the United Way and WTAM are the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Cavaliers, IMG and Continental Airlines. All proceeds benefit the United Way of Greater Cleveland.

Practice Makes Perfect

Below is the Barons schedule for the week. Practice times are subject to change. All practices at Lakefront Arena are open to the public. For information, contact the Barons at 216-420-0000...

Date Event Location Time

10-24 Practice Lakefront Arena 10:30am

10-25 Practice Lakefront Arena 10:30am

10-26 Travel Day (Team flight to Winnipeg)

10-27 Game @ Manitoba MTS Centre 8:30pm (EST)

10-28 Practice Highlander Ice Arena (Winnipeg) 12:25pm (EST)

10-29 Game @ Manitoba MTS Centre 8:30pm (EST)

10-30 Travel Day (Team flight to Cleveland)

Barons Broadcasts

All games this season will be broadcast live and in their entirety on-line via the B2 Networks. Fans can enjoy the play-by-play action of Barons hockey provided by the "voice of the Barons" Jamie Smock, by Crashing the Net at . Fans can watch the game via B2 Networks' Live Video Stream of the game on a pay-per-view basis of $6.00 per game. There is also a free audio version of the broadcast offered. Every Barons game broadcast begins with a pre-game show 15-minutes prior to face-off



American Hockey League Stories from October 24, 2005


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.

OurSports Central