AHL American Hockey League

Sound Tigers, Bulldogs Rule the East

Published on December 2, 2002 under American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, MA ... Last year's conference finalists are setting the pace once again in the East, as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and Hamilton Bulldogs enter December among the hottest teams in the American Hockey League.

Hamilton's dual affiliation with the Montreal Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers has proved to be a blissful marriage on the ice, bolstered by a lineup packed with former top draft picks including Jason Ward (13+19=32 pts.), the 11th overall pick in the 1997 NHL draft and currently the AHL's leading scorer by one point over teammate Benoit Gratton. And while former first-round selections Jani Rita (1999) and Marcel Hossa (2000) and 2002 second-round pick Jarret Stoll have also contributed to the offense, it's been a stingy defense that has been the strength of the Bulldogs' bite.

First-year pro Mike Komisarek and 2002 AHL All-Rookie blueliner Ron Hainsey, both first-round draftees by Montreal, and Bobby Allen, a '98 second-round choice of Boston acquired by Edmonton last spring, anchor a defense that has allowed a league-low 2.04 goals per game and has a league-best penalty killing efficiency of 91.9 percent. In net, Mathieu Garon (second round in 1996) and Ty Conklin are both among the AHL's leaders in goals against average.

The Bulldogs' 16-6-1-1 record on the year is good for 34 points, tops in the Eastern Conference. They have won their last four games – all on the road – by a combined score of 16-4.

After dropping four of its first six contests, Bridgeport is 11-2-5-0 in its last 18 games, and leads the East Division with a record of 13-5-5-1 thanks to some impressive streaks that remain intact heading into this week's play. The Sound Tigers are unbeaten in their last eight games overall (5-0-3-0) and in their last 10 at the Arena at Harbor Yard (8-0-2-0), where they owned a league-best 26-9-4-1 home record a year ago. And 21-year-old goaltender Rick DiPietro hasn't lost a game since Oct. 25, going 8-0-5 with a 1.86 GAA in his last 13 starts.

Trent Hunter leads the Sound Tigers with 11 goals, 13 assists and 24 points in 21 games, and is one of 11 players to have also suited up for the parent New York Islanders in the NHL this season. Eric Manlow has 14 points in 10 games with Bridgeport while splitting his time with the Islanders, and after averaging a point per game in Bridgeport, Mattias Weinhandl has five points in six NHL contests. Second-year pros Raffi Torres and Justin Mapletoft and 2002 AHL All-Star Sven Butenschon, a member of the Hamilton Bulldogs last season, have also ridden the Bridgeport-to-Long Island shuttle this year.

Bridgeport defeated Hamilton in an exciting seven-game series to advance to the 2002 Calder Cup Final.

ALL-STAR BALLOTING UNDERWAY ... With the 2003 Dodge AHL All-Star Classic just two months away, fan balloting has begun exclusively on theahl.com. AHL fans can now visit the league's web site and vote for the starting lineups for both the Canadian and PlanetUSA AHL All-Star teams. The 2003 Dodge AHL All-Star Classic will be held February 2-3 in Portland.

By virtue of winning the 2002 Calder Cup championship, Chicago's John Anderson will serve as head coach of the Canadian squad. The coaching staff for the PlanetUSA club will come from the team with the best points percentage in the AHL standings after play on January 12. The current front-runners for the honor are Houston's Todd McLellan (.738), Grand Rapids' Danton Cole (.714), Norfolk's Trent Yawney (.708), and Hamilton's Claude Julien (.708).

Fan balloting ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on Sunday, December 29.

OVERTIME HEROICS ... Thirty-seven of the 73 overtime games played in the AHL this season (50.7%) have ended with a goal, up from 42.5 percent a year ago.

Five games on Saturday alone ended in sudden death, with Milwaukee's Peter Smrek, Cincinnati's Nick Smith, Houston's Jean-Guy Trudel, Rochester's Francois Methot and Chicago's J.P. Vigier scoring the overtime goals. Rookies Matt Lombardi of Saint John and Erik Reitz of Houston lead the AHL with two OT goals each.

OFF THE ICE ... The NHL Hockey Rules Ice and Inline Hockey Tour, scheduled to visit 21 NHL cities this season, has added an inline tournament on Jan. 3-5 in Centerville, Ohio, in conjunction with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks... Joanne Diaz of Worcester won a prize package including 2003-04 season tickets after being selected as the 2,000,000th fan in IceCats history... Phantoms forward Eric Betournay helped the Philadelphia Firefighters' Union Local 22 prepare Thanksgiving baskets for widows of firefighters on fixed incomes; friends and family from Local 22 attended the Phantoms' game against Hershey on Friday.

ETC. ... Hamilton's Jason Ward and Benoit Gratton combined for 18+27=45 pts. in 16 games during November... Worcester defenseman Matt Walker posted a league-best plus-14 rating in nine games on the month... The IceCats established franchise records for goals in a period (six), goals in a game and margin of victory in an 11-0 blanking of Providence on Saturday, the AHL's highest-scoring shutout since Cornwall beat Hershey, 11-0, on Oct. 8, 1993... Bridgeport's Jeff Hamilton, a product of nearby Yale University, has four goals (including three game-winners) in six games since returning from a four-week stay on the injured list... Cleveland defenseman Jim Fahey has 3+8=11 pts. in his last 13 games... Jason Bacashihua stopped 46 shots in Utah's 4-2 win over Manitoba on Saturday, the third time he has made at least 46 saves in a game this season... Hartford allowed four goals in three wins last week despite playing all three games without top defensemen Mike Mottau, Tomas Kloucek and Vladimir Chebaturkin... San Antonio has earned a point in nine straight games (3-0-4-2)... Hershey is 7-0-1-0 on Saturdays this season... Thursday's 2-1 overtime loss in Binghamton snapped Grand Rapids' 14-game unbeaten streak (11-0-3-0), goaltender Marc Lamothe's personal 13-game unbeaten streak (9-0-4) and the Griffins' 20-game unbeaten streak in OT games (5-0-15).

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American Hockey League Stories from December 2, 2002


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