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Rivals heading down to the wire out west

March 21, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... They are separated by just 80 miles of highway, but Milwaukee and Chicago are much closer than that in the AHL standings heading into the final month of the 2004-05 regular season.

The Wolves (41-20-5-2) have gone on a 14-2-1-1 run since Feb. 9, including a 13-game points streak from Feb. 19 to Mar. 18, and have pulled even with the Admirals (41-19-3-4) atop the West Division at 89 points. Milwaukee had stumbled during a five-game winless streak coming out of the All-Star break, but has now won five of its last six to keep pace.

Chicago goaltender Kari Lehtonen has shaken off a rough All-Star Game appearance (four goals against) to post 11 consecutive victories since returning from Manchester, upping his record to 34-15-2 on the season. Lehtonen ranks second in the league in victories and second with 1,504 saves. His counterpart in Milwaukee, Brian Finley (32-17-4), places third in wins (32) and sixth in saves (1,359), as well as third in minutes played with 3,090.

J.P. Vigier, one of four Wolves still on the roster from the team's 2002 Calder Cup championship season, has been Chicago's offensive catalyst all season, and is 11th in the American Hockey League with a career-high 65 points. Among AHL defensemen, Travis Roche ranks second with 45 points and third with his plus-23 rating. And Jay Bouwmeester, assigned by the Florida Panthers on Mar. 8, has five goals in six games since joining the Wolves.

Simon Gamache, who scored 35 goals for Chicago in 2002-03, is now Milwaukee's top scorer with 76 points, good for third in the AHL's scoring race. Darren Haydar, who was the league's leading point-getter during the 2004 Calder Cup Playoffs, has 23 goals this year, his third straight 20-goal season. And the dynamic duo of Dan Hamhuis and Andrew Hutchinson are both among the top four in AHL defenseman scoring.

Chicago plays nine of its final 12 games away from Allstate Arena, including a visit to the Bradley Center in Milwaukee on Apr. 9. The Admirals, looking for their second straight West Division title, have dominated the season series so far with a 6-1-1-1 record against the Wolves on the year.

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THE EXPERIENCE IS CLEAR ... The Clear Day lists submitted last week feature 62 players who have won a Calder Cup championship in their careers. Seventeen members of last year's Milwaukee title team are preparing for another Calder Cup run, including 12 that are back with the Admirals:

Player, Current Team (Cup year)
Pascal Rheaume, ALB (1995)
Ray Schultz, ALB (2004)
Dieter Kochan, BRI (2003)
Derek MacKenzie, CHI (2002)
Steve Maltais, CHI (2002)
Travis Roche, CHI (2003)
Ben Simon, CHI (2002)
J.P. Vigier, CHI (2002)
Frederic Cassivi, CIN (2002)
Kurtis Foster, CIN (2002)
Paul Healey, EDM (1998)
Rick Mrozik, EDM (2001)
Dan Smith, EDM (1997)
Bryan Helmer, GR (1995)
Steve Begin, HAM (2001)
Ben Carpentier, HAM (2000)
Raitis Ivanans, HAM (2004)
Ken Gernander, HFD (2000)
Mathieu Darche, HER (2004)
Dan Cavanaugh, HOU (2003)
Marc Cavosie, HOU (2003)
Mark Cullen, HOU (2003)
Zbynek Michalek, HOU (2003)
Erik Reitz, HOU (2003)
Stephane Veilleux, HOU (2003)
Rickard Wallin, HOU (2003)
Kyle Wanvig, HOU (2003)
Brad Smyth, MCH (2000)
Mike Weaver, MCH (2002)
Johnathan Aitken, MTB (1999)
Joe DiPenta, MTB (2002)
Wade Flaherty, MTB (2004)
Vern Fiddler, MIL (2004)
Brian Finley, MIL (2004)
Simon Gamache, MIL (2004)
Darren Haydar, MIL (2004)
Burke Henry, MIL (2000)
Tony Hrkac, MIL (2004)
Andrew Hutchinson, MIL (2004)
Libor Pivko, MIL (2004)
Timofei Shishkanov, MIL (2004)
Wyatt Smith, MIL (2004)
Brad Tiley, MIL (2004)
Scottie Upshall, MIL (2004)
Greg Zanon, MIL (2004)
Jason Morgan, NOR (2001)
Eric Nickulas, NOR (1999)
Neil Little, PHI (1998)
Chris Dyment, PRO (2003)
Jay Henderson, PRO (99, 03, 04)
Darrel Scoville, PRO (2001)
David Cullen, ROC (2003)
Steve Lingren, ROC (1997)
Brandon Smith, ROC (1999)
Andre Savage, SA (1999)
Brian Chapman, SPR (1991)
Craig Darby, SPR (1998)
Peter Ferraro, SYR (1999)
Doug Doull, UTA (2001)
Terry Virtue, UTA (99, 00)
Peter White, UTA (93, 98)
Jeff Hoggan, WOR (2003)

Additionally, 10 AHL head coaches – Robbie Ftorek, John Paddock, John Anderson, Roy Sommer, Todd McLellan, Bruce Boudreau, Claude Noel, John Stevens, Randy Cunneyworth and Michel Therrien – have won Calder Cups as players and/or coaches.


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OFF THE ICE ... The Philadelphia Phantoms raised $27,650 in their St. Patrick's Day jersey auction on Friday night... San Antonio rookie Rob Globke, a former Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, saw his St. Patrick's Day jersey bring in a team-high $1,000 at auction for the Spurs Foundation... Hockey Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman, who won nine Stanley Cups as an NHL head coach, will appear at Van Andel Arena for Grand Rapids' game against San Antonio on Apr. 16.


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ETC. ... There were seven shutouts posted among the nine games on Sunday's AHL schedule, including Ryan Miller's league-leading eighth of the season in Rochester's 2-0 win over Cleveland before 15,288 fans at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo... It was Miller's 38th victory of the year, the most by an AHL goaltender in one season in 40 years, since Gerry Cheevers won a league-record 48 games for the Americans in 1964-65... In his last 13 games, Philadelphia's Jon Sim has tallied 16 goals, including five two-goal games and one hat trick... Matt Lombardi made his first appearance of the season for Lowell on Sunday after suffering a concussion during last spring's Stanley Cup Playoffs, and scored a goal in a 4-0 win over Springfield... Pierre Parenteau scored three times in the first period of Cincinnati's 5-4 overtime win over Cleveland on Saturday... Joey MacDonald has made 20 straight appearances in net for Grand Rapids... Matt Ellison has 10 points (2g, 8a) in his last six games for Norfolk... Joel Kwiatkowski's first goal as a Maple Leaf gave St. John's a 4-3 overtime win over Hamilton on Friday night... Albany ended the weekend with consecutive 1-0 wins, the River Rats' first back-to-back shutouts since Dec. 23-26, 2000... Chicago has scored 12 shorthanded goals this season, all on home ice... Hershey has won five in a row at home, its longest streak since moving into the Giant Center in 2002... Binghamton trailed 2-0 in each of its three games last week, but rallied for one overtime win and two shootout losses... Hartford had won six straight shootouts before Friday's loss to Manchester... Syracuse, Hamilton and Edmonton enter the week tied for fourth place in the North Division, with Cleveland two points back.

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