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The envelopes, please...

March 29, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, Mass. ... The American Hockey League begins handing out individual awards this week in recognition of the top performers during the 2003-04 season.

In what will be remembered as the year of the goaltender, several worthy candidates are vying for the Aldege "Baz" Bastien Award as the league's outstanding netminder. In the first 67 seasons of play in the AHL, a grand total of five goaltenders ever finished with a goals-against average under 2.00; that exclusive club could double in membership by the end of next weekend. Bridgeport's Wade Dubielewicz (1.42) and Hartford's Jason LaBarbera (1.56) are poised to better Hall of Famer Frank Brimsek's record-low goals against average of 1.79, and Manchester's Adam Hauser (1.85), Bridgeport's Dieter Kochan (1.91) and Grand Rapids' Joey MacDonald (1.97) are all sub-2.00 as well. (Portland's Rastislav Stana, at 1.56, may not finish with enough minutes to qualify.)

Another group of talented rookies is in contention for the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award. While Bridgeport's Wade Dubielewicz and Manchester's Adam Hauser have put their clubs in the hunt for a division title with their goaltending, the Monarchs' Noah Clarke, Milwaukee's Timofei Shishkanov and Hamilton's Chris Higgins and Alexander Perezhogin have done the same with their offensive abilities. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton freshman Michel Ouellet leads AHL rookies with 29 goals, while Kyle Wellwood of St. John's and defenseman Garrett Stafford of Cleveland share the rookie lead with 34 assists each. Worcester's Mike Glumac and the Barons' Jon DiSalvatore are among the group of seven AHL rookies with at least 20 goals this season.

Milwaukee's Curtis Murphy is looking to become just the fourth player ever to win back-to-back Eddie Shore Awards as the AHL's top defenseman. The three-time AHL All-Star trails only Manchester's Bryan Muir in blueliner scoring (48 points to 47), and his plus-38 rating would be the highest in the AHL in five seasons. Murphy's Admirals teammate Brad Tiley and Cleveland rookie Garrett Stafford are also having noteworthy seasons, as are two-time winner John Slaney of Philadelphia and Norfolk's Marty Wilford.

The winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Award as the AHL's outstanding coach traditionally parlays the honor into a ticket to the National Hockey League; recent winners include Claude Julien, Bruce Cassidy, Glen Hanlon and Peter Laviolette. Leading candidates this season are first-year coaches Claude Noel in Milwaukee, Doug Jarvis in Hamilton and Greg Cronin in Bridgeport, as well as Norfolk's Trent Yawney, Hartford's Ryan McGill, Manchester's Bruce Boudreau and Cleveland's Roy Sommer.

The award announcements begin on Tuesday when the AHL reveals the 28 finalists for the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award as the AHL's Man of the Year. The 2003-04 AHL All-Rookie Team will be announced on Wednesday, and the First and Second All-Star Teams will be unveiled on Thursday.

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UNBE-LEAF-ABLE COMEBACK ... Down five goals with 22 minutes left in regulation on Saturday, St. John's stormed back for a 7-6 overtime win in front of 6,118 stunned spectators in Syracuse. Josh Holden started the Leafs' comeback at the 18:00 mark of the second period, and finished it off just 11 seconds into OT. Nathan Barrett (:34), Carlo Colaiacovo (:50), Ben Ondrus (6:13), Brendan Bell (16:11) and Harold Druken (16:39) scored in the third period as St. John's erased 5-0 and 6-3 deficits.

Despite the heartbreaking loss, the Crunch are still 8-1-1-3 during the month of March, and enter the week three points behind first-place Hamilton in the North Division with three games in hand on the Bulldogs. They scored 22 goals in four games last week, led by Jeremy Reich and Kent McDonell with eight points apiece.

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OFF THE ICE ... Chicago honored the memory of its late teammate on Dan Snyder Night at Allstate Arena on Saturday, with a jersey auction to raise funds in his memory and the presentation of the Wolves' Dan Snyder Man of the Year Award to Kurtis Foster... Because they sold the most tickets for Chelmsford Town Night at Tsongas Arena, students from the Center School will get a visit from the Calder Cup later this week... Norfolk's jersey auction on Saturday raised nearly $23,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association... Worcester raised $26,000 in its St. Patrick's Day jersey auction to benefit the Worcester Parks and Recreation Department... Three AHL rinks – Van Andel Arena, Verizon Wireless Arena and Pepsi Arena – hosted regionals for the 2004 NCAA men's hockey tournament over the weekend.

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ETC. ... Fresh off a four-year career at Brown University, 2004 Hobey Baker Award finalist Yann Danis made his pro debut with Hamilton on Sunday and stopped 22 shots to shut out Toronto, 3-0... Domenic Pittis has recorded 30 points (10g, 20a) in his last 20 games for Rochester... Since the signing of former Minnesota State linemate Shane Joseph, Cleveland's Grant Stevenson has recorded 11 points in seven games; Joseph has three goals and an assist in five contests... Grand Rapids has followed its 16-game home unbeaten streak by dropping four of its last five at Van Andel Arena... Utah has gone five games without a loss (3-0-2-0) to climb back into the playoff race in the West Division... San Antonio is closing out the regular season with 13 games in 17 days, including five-in-six stretches in each of the final two weeks... Wade Dubielewicz stopped all 14 Philadelphia shots he faced in relief to earn the win in his NHL debut with the N.Y. Islanders on Thursday... In their next game, the Flyers were beaten by newly-recalled Steve Valiquette (38 saves) and the N.Y. Rangers... With Eric Perrin (Tampa Bay) and Dennis Bonvie (Colorado) getting the call from Hershey on Saturday, a total of 398 players have now suited up in both the AHL and NHL this season.

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