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San Antonio on a Rampage

December 9, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, MA ... Deep in the heart of Texas, a battle is raging for supremacy in the AHL's Western Conference, and after a slow start, the San Antonio Rampage are making a move up the standings.

The Rampage, top affiliate of the NHL's Florida Panthers, began their inaugural season with one win during a six-game road trip, and then dropped their home opener on Nov. 3 to fall to 1-6-0-0. Since then, John Torchetti's club is 7-1-5-2, earning a point in the standings in each of their last 12 games (6-0-4-2) and climbing back into the thick of the West Division race, trailing front-running Houston by 10 points entering the week.

The Rampage's state-of-the-art digs, the brand new SBC Center, has been an uninviting stop for visiting clubs, as San Antonio starts the week with an eight-game home unbeaten streak (6-0-2-0). The Rampage will have ample opportunity to pad their home-ice advantage over the next few weeks, as they are scheduled to play 17 of 23 games in the Alamo City between Dec. 2 and Jan. 15.

Jim Campbell has provided a spark for the Rampage offense, recording 11 points in five games since returning from injury. Campbell, one of four former AHL All-Stars on the Rampage's roster (joining Pierre Dagenais, Denis Shvidki and Jamie Rivers), leads San Antonio with 14 assists and 18 points despite playing in just 11 games this season. Jeff Toms and Serge Payer are second on the club with 15 points each, Mike Green has six goals and an assist in his last five games, and Juraj Kolnik, a Calder Cup finalist with Bridgeport last season, has scored a team-high nine goals on the year.

San Antonio's defense has stepped up as well, allowing just 20 goals during the 12-game point streak after yielding 43 in their first 10 contests. Goaltender Chris Mason is 5-1-2 with a 1.71 goals against average in his last eight decisions, and Mathieu Biron owns a team-leading plus-9 rating from the blue line. The Rampage's defensive corps also includes touted prospects Filip Novak (acquired from the N.Y. Rangers in the Pavel Bure trade) and Kyle Rossiter, a second-round pick in the 1998 draft.

San Antonio puts its winning ways to the test on Tuesday night when the East Division-leading Bridgeport Sound Tigers visit the SBC Center.

'DOG POUNDING ... Sixteen different Bulldogs found the scoresheet as Hamilton scored five times in each period and exploded for a 15-1 victory at Copps Coliseum on Sunday, completing a three-game weekend sweep of a depleted Cleveland Barons team. The 14-goal margin of victory tied an AHL record.

While Benoit Gratton padded his AHL scoring lead with a goal and three assists, most of the damage came from unlikely sources. Chad Hinz, who entered play on Sunday with one goal and three assists in 25 games this season, tied AHL season highs with five assists and six points in the game. Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron added a goal and four assists, matching his totals from the first 27 games of the year. Alexei Semenov and Jani Rita scored twice, as did Ben Carpentier, who began the night with two goals in his first 165 career AHL games. Francois Beauchemin recorded three points and a plus-7 rating.

The Bulldogs own the AHL's best record at 19-6-1-2 (41 points), and have outscored the opposition by a 39-11 count over their last eight games (7-0-0-1).

OFF THE ICE ... St. John's forward Morgan Warren has relaunched the Maple Leafs' Munchkins ticket-donation program that was begun by former Leafs goaltender Mike Minard... No fewer than 11 AHL teams are participating in a Teddy Bear Toss this holiday season, with fans tossing stuffed animals onto the ice for collection and donation to local children's charities... Members of the Chicago Wolves are visiting six public libraries this week as part of the team's "Read to Succeed" program... The Cleveland Barons, Big Brothers Big Sisters and Barons equipment manager Steve "Swiss" Wissman have introduced the "Swiss Christmas" program, in which players purchase holiday gifts for less-fortunate children... Several Saint John Flames staffed Salvation Army kettles around the city on Wednesday night... Members of the Grand Rapids Griffins skated around the clock in a 24-hour Great Skate to benefit the Griffins Youth Foundation... In the spirit of holiday giving, Ted Keegan, who is playing the title role in The Phantom of the Opera at Philadelphia's Forrest Theatre, presented his character's trademark half-mask to Philadelphia goaltenders Neil Little and Antero Niittymaki in exchange for their hockey masks.

ETC. ... Trent Whitfield recorded two goals and four assists and Andreas Salomonsson assisted on all five Portland power play goals as the Pirates raked the St. John's Maple Leafs on Saturday, 7-3... Jaroslav Kristek scored three times and Paul Gaustad twice during a five-goal third period as Rochester rallied past Norfolk on Saturday, 5-2... The Amerks' Chris Taylor has 12 assists in his last six games... Springfield rookie Jeff Taffe netted a hat trick in the Falcons' 6-3 win over Syracuse on Friday... Manitoba captain Brian Chapman returned to the Springfield Civic Center on Saturday night for the first time since his three-year stint with the Indians (1990-93), which included a Calder Cup championship in 1991... Providence's Matt Herr was credited with his seventh game-winning goal of the season in Sunday's victory over Hartford... 2000 Calder Cup champion Milan Hnilicka posted wins over Milwaukee on Friday and Saturday as Chicago extended its winning streak to five games... Syracuse's Pauli Levokari recorded his first AHL goal and added an assist in his Crunch debut on Wednesday, two days after being acquired in a deal with the Atlanta Thrashers organization... Randy Petruk made 46 saves as Lowell snapped a nine-game losing streak with a 1-1 tie at Providence on Friday... Bridgeport took an 11-game home unbeaten streak into the weekend, then went scoreless for 115:27 in back-to-back losses... Al MacNeil, who coached Nova Scotia to Calder Cup championships in 1972, 1976 and 1977, was named interim head coach of the Calgary Flames last week.

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