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AHL News by Tricia McMillan, AHL Correspondent Player of the Week (Nov. 16): Hamilton goaltender Steve Passmore picked up the award after a week in which he was 2-0-1 with a 1.29 GAA and .965 save percentage. Passmore also had a shutout along the way. The AHL donates hockey equipment to kids hockey organizations in name of the POTW, but unlike most recipients of the award, Passmore asked the league to send the equipment to an organization in British Columbia instead of an area group.
Player of the Week (Nov. 23): When Springfield and Portland finished in a 0-0 tie Nov. 22 for Robert Esche's first pro shutout, it sealed the deal on the rookie stopper's first POTW award. Esche allowed only two goals in the three games he played last week, stopping 90 of 92 shots and going 2-0-1 for the Falcons. Esche has accounted for 11 of the 15 points the Falcons have posted to date this season. Goaltender of the Month: OK, so it took the league awhile to get around to picking somebody. Let's face it, though, what with Marcel Cousineau, Martin Biron, Brian Boucher and Jean-Sebastien Giguere to choose from, it couldn't have been easy. But a decision was made and Giguere takes the title for October despite missing the Flames' first few games. Giguere went 4-0-2 in the six games for which he was available, with a 1.46 GAA and a .957 save percentage. At the time of receiving the award, not only did Giguere lead the AHL in GAA and save percentage, he was in the NHL. Moving Out?: As if losing streaks, the Canadian dollar and a small facility weren't enough trouble for one franchise, the Fredericton Canadiens are facing possible eviction from the Aitken Centre. The Centre belongs to the University of New Brunswick, who are proposing to convert the arena into a fitness facility, a change which would necessitate kicking out the baby Habs. The young Habs already run in the red due to the lack of seats in the Centre and removing most of the rest of the seats would be the final blow, but the University claims to be losing too much money at Aitken to continue operating the building as a hockey rink/convention center/community event center. While converting the Centre would not happen until at least after this season, such changes would likely also move out the UNB hockey team and numerous community events as well, and, as a consequence, no decision will be made in the near future. The Name Game: It's time for American Thanksgiving, so we should give some thought to family. So far the Portland Pirates haven't been winners, but by golly do they have the bloodlines, and not just in hockey - Craig Mills is the son of Dennis Mills, a Member of the Canadian Parliament representing the Toronto area and chairman of a subcommittee which oversees the impact of sports on Canadian economy and society. The elder Mills is presently occupied with attempting to revoke the tax exemption status of the NHLPA - a union to which the younger Mills belongs. Good thing they're not having their holiday this week or that would be one spirited Thanksgiving dinner. Hockeywise, Alexander Volchkov's father, Alexander Senior, was a prominent member of the Soviet elite teams of the 1970's and was also a member Russian team that played in the original tournament against Canada in 1972. Casey Hankinson is the younger brother of former Albany River Rat and Adirondack Red Wing Ben Hankinson, last seen in the IHL. Defenseman Todd Rohloff is the younger brother of former P-Bruin and current T- Blade defenseman Jon Rohloff. Alain Nasreddine, who played for Portland until he was traded to Montreal last week, is the older brother of Fredericton's Sami Nasreddine - and compliments of the trade, now Alain plays for Fredericton as well. And Mike Peluso is the first cousin of the recently retired NHLer of the same name. The Peluso clan apparently doesn't have much imagination with regard to names. "As you get to know our family, it gets worse," admits Peluso. "Both of our fathers are named Jim, and our grandfather is also Mike. My family is really weird." Not to mention in serious need of a baby names book.
Hope I Die Before I Get Old: To keep the league young and vibrant, AHL teams are limited to six dressed players with 260 or more games in the AHL, IHL, NHL or European Elite Leagues - unless a player has over 600 games in those leagues, in which case he doesn't count as a veteran but more of a fossilized relic. The list of fossils in the league reads the same as last year - Hershey's Mitch Lamoureux, Philly's John Stevens, Portland's Kent Hulst, Hartford's Ken Gernander and Springfield's Rob Murray. It's fortunate for Philadelphia that Stevens doesn't count as a veteran, or they would have eight on their roster and would have to sit two guys every game. Both the Phantoms and Hartford still scratch a veteran every night. Confusion: On Nov. 15 it was the Phantoms' turn to play with jerseys on a Turn Back the Clock night - except they were a little confused. Since the Phantoms don't have a history to turn back to, they wore the other team's old sweaters, in this case the Maine Mariners, while opponents Portland wore their regular duds. The Phantoms jerseys were essentially Flyers jerseys with a different logo on the front. Then things got more confusing - the team silently auctioned the jerseys during the game - but the 'winners' of the silent auction still didn't get the jersey. They had to report to a live auction and keep bidding on the same item, with no guarantee of getting it after the live auction. Using Your Head - And Other Parts: There are weird goals, and then there are weird goals. For those of you just getting used to the 'silly shot', get ready for the 'butt shot'. During the Hershey Bears' Nov. 21 game with Hartford, Bear Dan Hinote was knocked into the crease and on top of Hartford goaltender Kay Whitmore by a WolfPack defenseman. Hinote wound up on his side, with his back facing the goal, lying on top of Whitmore. While Hinote and Whitmore tried to extricate themselves from each other's equipment, Rob Shearer took advantage of the opportunity to bank the puck into the net - off of Hinote's derriere. Give Hinote an ass-ist on that one. The Main Non-Event: After the shenanigans of the first Kentucky/Hershey matchup of the season, which landed Hershey's Scott Parker and Kentucky's Garrett Burnett some serious suspension time, the first rematch of the two on Nov. 22 in Hershey was pretty heavily hyped by both teams. The Bears even gave away 'Scott Parker masks' to the fans. As it turned out, Parker and Burnett were never on the ice at the same time in the game. Heck, nobody was on the ice at the same time as Burnett - he took exactly two shifts, both in the first period and the second only lasted long enough for the linesman to drop the puck before Burnett was in a fight. The fight was with Troy Crowder, whom Burnett sucker-punched in the original melee; this time, Crowder dropped Burnett with two punches and that was it for Burnett, who spent the remainder of the game opening and closing the bench door. Refunds, anyone? Sweating Small Stuff: Lance Ward scored his first professional goal as New Haven ended a five game winless streak on the Rock Nov. 10... Hey! The Pirates won! Portland nailed down Hartford 5-3 Nov. 10, carried by a pair of goals from Jean-Pierre Dumont and Mike Rosati's return. The Pirates still had to come from behind and take advantage of a hurting team though... The Worcester IceCats came up short in goal when both Rich Parent and Brent Johnson were recalled and Scott Roche was injured. They went with an untried ECHLer and beat the Falcons, 6-3 on Nov. 10. Goalie Dan Murphy had help though - the IceCats didn't allow Springfield a single shot in the third period... Hamilton ended a three-game winless streak by shutting out Cincinnati, 4-0, on Nov. 10. Steve Passmore stopped 34 shots... Hey! The Pirates won again! On home ice! They scored at home! (I mean the rink, you pervert.) Portland picked up goals from four different players and knocked down Hershey 4-2 Nov. 11. Serge Aubin scored both for Hershey...
Providence's John Grahame notched his second shutout in less than two weeks Nov. 11 in a 5-0 win over Worcester... Albany rookie Pierre Dagenais scored over a goal a game last season. He needed over six weeks to get one in the AHL, but finally scored against Syracuse Nov. 11. Jeff Williams had three points in the same game... Lowell won their fifth straight game, defeating Saint John, who lost their third straight, Nov. 11... Jeff Libby's right eye was removed and he has gone home pending further medical procedures. Libby has visited the Lock Monsters and hopes to work with them in an off-ice capacity while finishing his degree at Maine, so he's staying busy already. The get-well notes posted to the Internet for Libby - approximately 465 of them - were delivered to the Lock Monsters Nov. 23 and should reach him shortly... Marc Denis stopped Eric Houde's sure fire goal with one second remaining in the Bears and Canadiens' Nov. 12 tilt. Fredericton went down to 0-11-1 in their last 12... Fredericton dropped their 13th straight on the 13th, losing 13 - OK, it was 14 - seconds into overtime to a Byron Ritchie goal. Neither the Habs nor the Beast could score until halfway through the third period... Cincinnati held a 'guaranteed win' promotion against Portland Nov. 13. Ouch. They won too, 3-1... Hartford's JF Labbe stopped Bruce Coles on a penalty shot attempt Nov. 13, then the man whose penalty brought the call, Brent Thompson, scored game-winner... Rookie Stefan Cherneski broke his kneecap in the same game and probably won't be back this season... Strange things happen on Friday the 13th. The Hamilton Bulldogs blew a third period 3-0 lead against St. John's and settled for a 3-3 tie, even more embarrassing since the Maple Leafs haven't won in eight games... Meanwhile Rochester took a 3-0 lead against Syracuse into the second - and then let the Crunch score four goals in less than nine minutes... Herbert Vasiljevs went nuts against Portland Nov. 13, with two goals and two assists as the T-Blades routed the Pirates 8-1. Steve Guolla also had three points, and Andy Sutton and Matt Bradley each scored their first professional goals... Psst - Providence is in first place. No kidding, really. The young Bruins won six straight and eight out of ten to leapfrog Hartford and Worcester...
Speaking of those teams, only a crossbar prevented Hartford's Derek Armstrong from having a six-point night against Worcester. He settled for five assists after his goal attempt was deflected and Hartford took the win, 6-3... Herbert Vasiljevs was back against Cincinnati Nov. 15th, with two more goals and another assist for seven points in two nights... For fifty minutes, the Portland Pirates quite shockingly outplayed and outscored the Philadelphia Phantoms in Philly Nov. 15. But then the effects of eight games in ten days kicked in and the Phantoms scored twice in 17 seconds for a 4-2 win... Lowell's Mike Kennedy is rolling hard, and was involved in all three Lowell goals in their 3-3 tie with Worcester Nov. 15th... Dwayne Roloson, who has yet to play a minute in the NHL this season, had a one game conditioning stint in Rochester made much easier by Syracuse, who gave the Amerks 14 - yes, 14 - power-play chances. The Amerks made hay with five of them, and Dean Sylvester had a four-point night en route to the 6-3 win... Jesse Boulerice's suspension from the AHL is over and he returned to Phantom ice Nov. 15, just in time to pick a fight. Boulerice has a pretrial hearing Dec. 4, and if a trial is warranted it won't happen until 1999... Providence and Rochester each have nine players on their rosters who have already reached double digits in scoring... Besides Hartford's 9-0 record, Lowell is also perfect in their division at 8-0. Philadelphia is unbeaten in division at 3-0-1... The Worcester IceCats have already used more goaltenders this season, five, than they have at any time in their history... While Cincinnati is the second best home team in the league after Rochester, they still haven't won a game on the road... The Kentucky Thoroughblades won six straight at home, outscoring their opponents 34-11 in the process... Some of the Crunch rookies are starting out fine. Defenseman Michal Roszival is tied for the AHL lead in defense scoring with 14 points and winger Boris Protsenko leads rookies in goal scoring with nine... Dateline, Nov. 19 - nothing new under the sun. St. John's lost again, although for variety's sake they did it on the road this time, blowing a two-goal lead on Saint John. Fredericton also lost, 3-2, to Hamilton. At one point the two teams were a combined 0-21-3 in 24 games... Add Portland to that hideous combination, and you get a season long combined record of 12-39-2-4, for a winning percentage of .240. And just think - at least two of those three teams will still make the playoffs... Lowell is the only AHL team that has yet to give up a short-handed goal... The Bulldogs went nuts on Saint John Nov. 20, blasting the Flames 8-1 as Fredrik Lindquist had his first North American hat trick and Jim Dowd had a pair to boot... The Philadelphia Phantoms defeated Hartford 2-1 Nov. 20 in the third highest attendance game in the history of the AHL. The game, moved to the First Union Center due to a scheduling conflict, brought in 18,907... That game was also the first time this season the WolfPack lost a game in which they had scored first, and the first time they lost one after they led after two periods. They had been 8-0 and 10-0 in those situations... Jim Carey had a 31 save shutout for Providence against the Lowell Lock Monsters Nov. 20... Springfield borrowed perennial ECHLer Jim Brown for the weekend and he scored twice for them in a 4-1 win over St. John's... Hey! Freddie won a game! The Canadiens needed overtime but they did finally defeat the Beast of New Haven Nov. 20 for the Habs' first win in 15 games... Worcester's Jochan Hecht scored a pair of power-play goals less than two minutes apart en route to the IceCats' 5-2 win over Portland... There were but three goals scored in the Rochester/Cincinnati tilt of Nov. 20 - and they came in a span of 1:27. The Ducks sandwiched the Amerks' goal for the win...
Saint John's Jeff Cowan had three points and Martin St. Louis had four, three of them in the first period, as Saint John topped Hamilton Bulldogs, 6-2 Nov. 21 and ended Hamilton's five game win streak... Hartford remained winless outside their division as they lost to Hershey, 5-2, on Nov. 21, allowing Ville Niemenen two goals and Rob Shearer three points, one of them weird... The last time Syracuse and Philadelphia hooked up, Craig Hillier and Brian Boucher had a 0-0 tie. On Nov. 21 it was Jean-Marc Pelletier picking up the shutout for the Phantoms, and the result was close to the same. But Richard Park scored with 1:43 left in the game for a 1-0 win... Providence's seven-game win streak ended Nov. 21 when Springfield's Joe Corvo scored 29 seconds into OT for a 2-1 win. It was the first time this season the Falcons won back-to-back games... Since being demoted to Portland, Matt Herr has failed to score in only one Pirates game and on Nov. 21 he scored the game-winner as Portland finally won - over Fredericton... Albany's Frederic Henry posted his first professional shutout, with 42 saves, on Nov. 21. It came against Adirondack, for which the Rats are all the more jubilant... The points were few and far between in Hershey Nov. 22 as Kentucky won 2-1 - both T-Blade goals were unassisted, and only one assist was given on Hershey's goal... Nov. 22 also saw two rookie goaltenders post their first professional shutouts. Fredericton's Mathieu Garon blanked Hamilton 3-0, only needing to stop 19 shots, and Springfield's Robert Esche stopped 34 shots to goose egg Portland... Catch being, Portland's Joaquin Gage also pitched a shutout, for the AHL's second 0-0 tie this season. It was the first time this season the Pirates got a point without Mike Rosati in the net... And on that same night, it finally happened - Hartford won a game outside their division, a 4-3 win over Philadelphia. They did it the hard way, letting the Phantoms have three power-play goals, including two in less than a minute in the third period, but managed to hold on... There was going to be more offense this year, right? Six shutouts in the AHL last week, 23 in the first 171 games, and a pace for 102 for the season, Yeah, offense... The Beast of New Haven have the best power play in the AHL at 24.5% efficiency - but they're only the 15th best power play at home... The Providence Bruins, no lie, lead the AHL in shutouts with four, two each from John Grahame and Jim Carey... The Bruins are also second only to Philadelphia in penalty killing success... While failing to win 14 times in a row, Fredericton lost by one goal in eight of those games. The young Habs lead the league in one goal games, with 12, and are a whopping 2-10 in those games... Saint John's Martin St. Louis is averaging two points per game since his return from Calgary... The Albany River Rats are unbeaten in their last six, the best current streak... Frederic Henry's shutout raised his save percentage to .932, good for third in the AHL - not bad for the rookie... When he's on, look out. Hamilton's Chris Ferraro has now had two five-point games this season, picking up another five spot against Saint John last week... Syracuse's Craig Hillier has allowed Philadelphia one goal in two games this season and didn't win either game...
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