Player of the Week (Jan. 24): Cincinnati's Craig Reichert is the Rodney Dangerfield of the AHL. Reichert's been a top player for Cincinnati and Baltimore for the last four years without getting a single game in the NHL or any recognition for his achievements in the AHL. Now Reichert finally wins the POTW after picking up five points in two games for the week - but wins it during All-Star week, when the AHL does a minimal job of publicizing the award. Figures. Reichert racked up all the points in Cincinnati's 7-1 win over Syracuse.

Player of the Week (Jan. 31): He wasn't there to pick up the award, but Hartford's Derek Armstrong won it anyway. Armstrong had been recalled to the Rangers for the first time this season prior to being named the winner. He's also leading the AHL in scoring. This particular week Armstrong had three goals and three assists in three games and that doesn't count his scoring from the All-Star Game.

Rookie of the Month (Jan.): He was a Player of the Week and an All-Star, so he may as well be a Rookie too. Andre Savage was named the AHL's best rookie for January after picking up 11 points in seven game for Providence, all of which they won, and also winning the accuracy contest at the All-Star Game. Savage missed a couple games to play for Boston where he also scored, and he had his first professional hat trick while ranking second in rookie scoring and first in rookie plus/minus. Busy guy.

Goaltender of the Month (Jan.): You knew he was gonna get it. Rochester's Martin Biron was declared the winner after going 7-1-2 with a 1.69 GAA and .943 save percentage for the month. He picked up his fifth shutout of the season along the way and was named as the starter for the Canadian All-Star team. As of February 5 he leads the AHL in wins (22), shutouts (5) and goals against average (1.94), and is near the top in minutes played (2,045), saves (938), and save percentage (.934).

Plus-Minus Player (Jan.): If you're wondering where this award went, apparently the AHL only gives it out if they have a corporate sponsor for it. A sponsor was found late in December and Albany's Ken Sutton was deemed December's winner with a +13. With the award in place from the start of the month, the AHL wound up with a tie. Both Hershey's Mitch Lamoureux and Hartford's Derek Armstrong finished the month at +12 - and both played 12 games too, eliminating the tiebreaker. So they both get the award.

A Season From Hell: Hershey's Mike Gaul was struck with yet another personal tragedy during the All-Star Break - his mother suffered a major stroke that has left her paralyzed on her left side. This was the third family tragedy for Gaul this season: Gaul's mother had a breakdown in November, shortly after his father was killed in a car accident. Gaul has left the Bears indefinitely to be with his family.

Freddie's Not Dead: Not next season, anyway. The first results of the University of New Brunswick's feasibility study on the Aitken Centre were that nothing should be done until after they finish more studies, meaning at least a year. That buys the Fredericton Canadiens one more season in the building, until the University makes a final decision on what to do with the building longterm. The team has already submitted open dates to the AHL for next season.

In other arena news, the Pennsylvania legislature went nuts with the budget last week and approved new, separate baseball and football stadiums for both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Oh yeah, and they also approved a new arena for the Bears. However, the Bears went looking for the money first, and haven't even started considering where to build it, design, etc., so the Hersheypark Arena isn't going anywhere for probably five years or so.

Nothing Lasts Forever: But sometimes it explodes in your face. The Providence Bruins put together a 16 game unbeaten streak, marred only by a tie with Worcester, and trooped in Hershey Jan. 30 looking for number 17. For 35 minutes, they had it, as only David Aebischer stood between Hershey and annihilation. But dumb penalties ruin the best laid plans and all it took was a too many men penalty against Providence for the Bruins' bottom to drop out. The Bears then scored on both ends of a five-on-three power play and added four more goals in the third period to end the Bruins' streak in an ugly way. Rob Shearer picked up a hat trick for the Bears, and Mitch Lamoureux scored two points, the second of which was his 800th point in the AHL.

Bad Boys: Providence and Albany are the most penalized teams in the AHL, so maybe it wasn't a surprise that their January 29 matchup featured a first period brawl. After a penalty call, there was some yapping in the vicinity of the Bruins' bench and Geordie Kinnear wound up on it. Then the Bruins' Aaron Downey wound up on the Rats' bench with a little help from Sasha Lakovic, and Downey claims Albany coach John Cunniff kicked him while he was in there. But it was assistant coach Red Gendron who got the gate, along with Providence assistant coach Bill Armstrong, Kinnear, Downey, Lakovic, and a cast of thousands. For an encore, the originally penalized player, David Cunniff, later left the penalty box in the third period to punch Terry Virtue for the game's ninth game misconduct. It took a week, but the AHL finally issued discipline: three games to Downey, one to Armstrong, three each to Kinnear and Skrlac (two of Skrlac's games were mandatory based on accumulated game misconducts) and one to David Cunniff.

Then Albany went back and did it again January 30 as they were involved in their second brawl in as many nights, this time with Adirondack. Things were calm enough until Lakovic and Martin Laitre fought late in the first period, and Laitre beat Lakovic handily. Both players came out for the first intermission warmup skate and Lakovic went looking for Laitre, reportedly jumping him from behind. Fortunately this time the on-ice officials were able to limit the fisticuffs outside of the Lakovic/Laitre matchup. Lakovic set a new Albany record with 49 penalty minutes for the evening, after receiving two minors, a fighting major, a 10-minute misconduct, a game misconduct and a major-match penalty for headbutting Laitre in the nose, and thus granting Adirondack a nine minute power play. Laitre received a mandatory four game suspension for receiving his fourth game misconduct, and Lakovic, unpenalized for the previous night, was given the mandatory six game suspension for fighting between periods. But, Lakovic had already been recalled by New Jersey and will not serve the suspension unless/until returning to the AHL.

A final thought for mulling over: a fan at the Providence/Albany fights took some photos of the brawl and posted them on his personal web site. An employee of the River Rats took offense and asked for the photos to be removed because according to him, the photos were unduly influencing the AHL in deciding suspensions for the incident. If the AHL is basing its disciplinary actions on a fan's amateur photographs, we're all in trouble. And we're in trouble anyway if the teams are policing personal web pages and trying to control the content thereof.

Complications: Longtime AHLer Barrie Moore, late of the Bulldogs and Amerks, is back in the AHL with the Portland Pirates after coming over from the IHL's Indianapolis Ice. Sounds simple enough - due to the Blackhawks' affiliations with both teams, plenty of players have moved between the two teams this season. But it wasn't simple, because Moore was a restricted free agent whose NHL rights were owned by Edmonton, and whose minor league rights were owned outright by Indianapolis. So the Capitals traded first round bust Brad Church to Edmonton for Moore's NHL rights (Church wound up in Hamilton), then traded Patrick Boileau to Indianapolis for Moore's contract. Nothing's ever simple, is it?

Oh, and the Capitals also finally resigned Ryan Mulhern, who had an excellent year for Portland last season. But he's under contract to IHL Kansas City, so he won't be coming to Portland unless the Pirates can send an acceptable player to Kansas City.

Little Things: Maybe it's a good thing John Nabokov wasn't named to the All-Star Game. He had an emergency appendectomy during the break and could be out up to a month...

Dan Lacouture scored two goals for Hamilton in a 2-2 with Albany Jan. 27, but was upstaged by Steve Brule who scored the tying goal just 18 seconds after Lacouture scored the go-ahead goal...

Providence's streak went up to 15 games as they held off the IceCats 5-4 Jan. 27. Eric Nickulas scored two, but Worcester's Jamal Mayers had a hat trick as Worcester made a third period comeback attempt...

The Hartford WolfPack went nuts on Springfield Jan. 27 for an 8-5 win. Scott Fraser, Brad Smyth, Derek Armstrong and Alexei Vasiliev had three point games for Hartford. Springfield changed goaltenders three times and 11 of the 13 goals were scored on the same net as the teams alternated periods...

Fredericton won for the fourth time in five games Jan. 29, as Jean-Francois Houle scored the gamewinner with just 84 seconds left on the way to a 3-1 win over St. John's...

Dan Lacouture scored the go-ahead goals twice in Hamilton's previous game but the Bulldogs couldn't make the goal stand. On Jan. 29, Lacouture's shorthanded goal with less than two minutes left in regulation did stand up for a 5-3 win over Syracuse...

Portland won for only the second time in 15 games as J.P. Dumont and Dan Cleary scored 20 seconds apart. The Pirates went on to beat Springfield 5-3...

Providence worked their unbeaten streak to 16 games with a 3-1 win over Albany Jan. 29. Albany's only goal was shorthanded, from Sasha Lakovic of all people...

Derek Bekar came back from a broken ankle with the tying goal for Worcester against Kentucky Jan. 29...

Hartford was the only AHL yet to be involved in a shutout, until they got one Jan. 29 on Jean-Francois Labbe's 30 saves against Lowell...

Fredericton finished off a two game sweep of St. John's with a 6-1 win Jan. 30 on Gerry Fleming Night at the Aitken Centre. The Canadiens had 11 power plays in the game; St. John's had one...

St. John's Greg Smyth was suspended, again. This time for three games, for a stick-swinging incident in the Fredericton game...

B.J. Young had a pair of goals, Shane Hnidy had three assists as Adirondack defeated Albany 5-3 Jan. 30. The Wings had four power play goals, three of them on a nine minute power play in the second period. Jeff Williams had two goals for the Rats...

Martin Biron kept up his All-Star form, stopping 45 of 46 shots as Rochester sent Syracuse to their sixth straight loss 5-1...

Saint John managed a 3-1 over New Haven Jan. 30 on Eric Healy's two goals and J-S Giguere's stellar net play. Giguere stopped 20 shots in the third period alone...

ECHL callup John Kosobud had two goals for the Falcons and Brandon Convery scored 1:59 into overtime for Springfield's 3-2 win over Lowell Jan. 30...

Cincinnati continued on their 11 game homestand with a 6-3 win over Worcester Jan. 30, with Mike LeClerc scoring twice...

Philadelphia's Brian Wesenberg and Paul Healey went double up on Kentucky, scoring two goals each as the Phantoms beat the T-Blades 5-4 Superbowl Sunday...

The Portland Pirates were ungracious hosts to Saint John Jan. 31, launching 41 shots at J-S Giguere and scoring on five of them for a 5-1 victory...

New Haven's Tom Buckley took a penalty shot against J-S Giguere Jan. 30 but didn't score...

Hartford killed 34 consecutive power plays...

Providence is on pace to top 110 points for the season. They would be only the seventh team i the league's history to do it...

Worcester has gone to overtime six times this season but has yet to see a decision. Portland doesn't have a decision either, in two trips to extra time...

Four AHL teams have yet to lose a game they've led after two periods, and the list may surpise you - Adirondack, Lowell, Springfield and Worcester...

The Rochester Americans won seven straight road games...

Peter White had two goals including the gamewinner as Philadelphia knocked over St. John's Feb. 3, 4-2. Jason Zent scored on a penalty shot, only the second successful shot this season...

Providence must not have liked losing to Hershey, because they took it out on New Haven Feb. 3 with a 9-3 pounding. Randy Robitaille had a four point night, as did Terry Virtue. However, New Haven scored three goals in the first half of the game which were waved off for three different reasons...

Alexandre Jacques scored the gamewinner for Adirondack as they defeated Hamilton 3-1 Feb. 3...

Hershey scored two goals early in the third period and appeared on their way to a 3-1 win over Hartford Feb. 3. But the Wolfpack scored three goals in the last 5:18 of the game, including Todd Hall's gamewinner with 1:14 left in the game, to win 4-3...

Kentucky stomped on Saint John Feb. 4, as Matt Bradley and Herbert Vasiljevs had a pair of goals each on the way to a 6-1 win. Steve Guolla had four points, and Sean Gauthier picked up a win against the coach who dropped him from an ECHL team - Rick Vaive...

St. John's defeated Worcester 4-3 Feb. 5 after Mark Deyell had two goals and set up the gamewinning goal...

Jeremy Brown had two goals for the Providence Bruins as they beat the Flames 4-2 Feb. 5...

Hershey finally got past the .500 mark with a 4-2 win over Adirondack Feb. 5. Serge Aubin had two goals...

New Haven didn't like being trounced by Providence, so they got it out against Springfield with a 6-3 win. Chris Wells, still on rehab, scored two goals...

Mike Harder had a four point game as the Rochester Americans won 6-3 over the Albany River Rats. Dean Sylvester also had three points...

Cincinnati's Tom Askey finally shut out a team other than Hershey, stopping 39 Hamilton Bulldogs shots as the Mighty Ducks won 3-0 on Feb. 5...

Kentucky hadn't been shutout all season until Portland and Joaquin Gage did it Feb. 5, winning 2-0 as Gage made 29 saves. Portland's second goal, an empty netter from Craig Mills, never went in the net - it was ruled an automatic goal because Dan Boyle threw his stick at it...

Kentucky then went to Fredericton and regained their winning ways with a 3-1 victory Feb. 6, with Jarrett Deuling scoring the gamewinner...

Worcester and St. John's went the distance but the IceCats got the win, 7-5, on Feb. 6. Marty Reasoner and Shayne Toporowski had two goals each, as did the Leafs' Kevyn Adams...

It was the John Madden show in Hershey Feb. 6, as he had two goals (one shorthanded) and two assists en route to a 6-2 rout of the Bears. Eric Bertrand had three assists...

Springfield's Brandon Convery scored twice including the gamewinner as the Falcons defeated Hartford 4-1 in a fight-marred game...

Both the Albany/Hershey and Springfield/Hartford games were marred by so-called 'fans' who threw objects on the ice, leading to several delays and a near disaster in Hershey when a River Rat stepped on a 'chip clip'. Fans don't throw things on the ice; stupid jerks do...

Mike Harder wants to be the POTW. A night after four points, he had three more as Rochester defeated Adirondack 6-1 Feb. 6. The Red Wings scored 25 seconds into the game and then handed it over to the Amerks...

Cincinnati won their third straight as Eric Lecompte scored late in the game for a 2-1 win over Hamilton...

Jean-Marc Pelletier picked up his second shutout of his career Feb. 6 against Lowell, stopping 25 shots while only Mark Greig scored for a 1-0 Phantoms win...

The Portland Pirates nearly beat Saint John Feb. 6, but Mickey Elick scored with 1:08 left to leave the game in a 4-4 tie...

Borrowing Brad Smyth from Milwaukee was a really good idea, since he has nine points in six games. Smyth picked up a hat trick for the WolfPack against Lowell Feb. 7 as the teams skated to a 4-4 tie. Christian Dube set up all of Hartford's goals...

The matchup of the big guns barely produced a pop. Jim Carey kicked out 22 shots and picked up his third shutout against Rochester Feb. 8 as the Bruins took the Amerks 4-0...

Adirondack defeated Syracuse 6-4 on Feb. 8 in a meeting of doormats. The game was most significant as the Crunch's eighth loss in a row, a franchise record...

The Hershey Bears scored four power play goals and set a season high for shots with 47 as they split a weekend series with Albany, winning the second game 4-2. Serge Aubin scored a pair of goals for the Bears...

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