Player of the Week (Feb. 7): Cincinnati didn't have to do much this week. Just two games, and all they had to do in those was watch the goalie. Tom Askey picks up the POTW after allowing only one goal in those two contests, both wins for the Mighty Ducks. Askey started by shutting out Hamilton then spotted them one the next game for a .50 GAA and .985 save percentage for the week. In all, he stopped 67 of 68 shots.

Tom Askey by Kevin Fischer

Player of the Week (Feb. 14): The Providence Bruins have produced their fourth different POTW, this time with AHL leading scorer Randy Robitaille finally getting a turn. And what a week he had, with ten points in four games, eight of them assists. With 28 points in his last 15 games, Robitaille now leads the AHL in both total points and assists, but won't be adding to them for a while as Boston finally decided he was worth a look.

Guinea Pigs: All the AHL needs is an exercise wheel in the front office to complete the change. Despite the fact the AHL does a reasonable job of resolving tie games (38% of AHL ties were decided in OT), the NHL talked the AHL into trying more experiments in OT - specifically, playing four-on-four. The change went into effect Feb. 19 and lasts until the end of the regular season. Since the AHL is already using a different OT format than the NHL, any difference this rule may make is still inapplicable to the NHL - but they're doing it anyway.

For the record, should a team be penalized in OT or a penalty from regulation carry over, the teams would play four on three. If a penalty is called in overtime which ordinarily would result in a five on three (yeah, right, I'll believe that when I see it), it will be played at five on three. The first game subject to this new rule was the Feb. 20 game between Saint John and St. John's, which was won by the Flames in overtime.

John Stevens by Kevin Fischer

Hanging Them Up: Back in December, Phantoms captain John Stevens was hit in the eye with a puck and suffered a detached retina. The word then was the injury would end his career. On February 10, following surgery to reattach the retina and medical indications he would not regain full vision, Stevens admitted as much and retired. After he recovers from the surgery the Phantoms will keep him on as an assistant coach.

All Kinds of Crunch: The Syracuse Crunch took a rare lead in their game against Rochester on Valentine's Day, but we may never know if they would have finally ended their 11-game non-winning streak. Because Syracuse wasn't the only 'crunch' on the ice - there was also the unpleasant sound of skate blades on cement. The War Memorial Arena was unable to put down an adequate amount of ice prior to the game and the result was truly thin ice, with several holes and numerous incidents of blades striking the floor. After one period of trying to play sans ice, both teams agreed to give it up and try again later. The game will be rescheduled.

Goalie Shortage: St. Louis is a little short in that department right now. Grant Fuhr is out, so Rich Parent was called up from Worcester. Then he suffered a freak warmup injury so Brent Johnson was called up from the IceCats. Then Jamie McLennan was injured so Scott Roche, who has never started a game in the AHL much less the NHL, got the call. That left Peoria backup Dan Murphy, who was just supposed to be spelling Roche in the ECHL, as Worcester's No. 1 goaltender. All this leads to the ultimate question - who's playing in Peoria?

Conducting Business: In their own unique way, of course, are the Islanders. As you may recall, the Islanders agreed to let Dane Jackson continue playing in Rochester last season despite signing on with the Isles. Well, now the Islanders are suing the Amerks for half of Jackson's salary. Jackson broke his ankle and missed about half the season, worth $37,000 in salary. Since Jackson's workers compensation came via the Islanders, the Amerks presumed Jackson was getting paid through workers comp and didn't pay him themselves. But if the Islanders even filed a claim for compensation, they won't admit to it and have demanded payment from the Amerks. The Amerks continue to maintain the Isles' policy should have paid it. Stay tuned.

Curtis Doell by Meredith Martini

Strange: More wacky ref calls from Hershey. Kentucky's Alex Boikov picked up a penalty against Hershey Feb. 21 that sent everyone at the game scurrying for the rulebook - and apparently, no one was able to find any rule regarding that penalty in the rulebook. T-Blade Curtis Doell dropped his stick and Boikov picked it up with the intent of returning it to Doell, but the puck came to Boikov before he could give the stick back. Referee Kevin Maguire called a minor on Boikov for using two sticks.

The Rest of the Story: Two winning streaks came to halt in the same game Feb. 9. Both the Phantoms' six-game and the Bruins' three-game streaks ended when the teams tied, 2-2...

Aaron Brand, Kevyn Adams, Ryan Pepperall and Mark Deyell - they all had a goal and two assists, as St. John's spanked Saint John 7-2 Feb. 10. Ladislav Kohn also had three points...

Cincinnati also posted a 7-2 that evening, as Eric Lecompte and Frank Banham combined for seven assists in the win over Adirondack...

Albany blew a 2-0 lead on Lowell Feb. 10, allowing the Monsters four third-period goals...

Fredericton has only won two games on the road in 1999 - both in Worcester. Mathieu Garon stopped 41 of 42 shots in the Habs' 3-1 win there Feb. 10...

Rochester's Dean Sylvester turned in a natural hat trick in the second period of the Amerks' 4-1 defeat of New Haven the same night...

As of February 10, 1999, 165 AHL players had been recalled to the NHL. Portland sent the most players onward and upward, with 15 reporting to Washington or Chicago. Conversely, St. John's has only sent two players - Jeff Reese and Francis Larivee - to Toronto...

The current shutout pace would bring the AHL's season total to 83. The record of 61 seems to be in serious jeopardy...

Providence's Shawn Bates had a 14-game point streak, all the more unusual because he was in Boston for three months in the middle of it...

Should the Rochester Americans continue their present progress, they will break the modern AHL record for fewest goals allowed in a season. Saint John set the record last year, allowing only 201 goals and a 2.51 GAA. Rochester is on pace to give up - 167. At a 2.08 GAA. Wow...

Hartford's Brad Smyth launched 13 shots on goal against Lowell Feb. 7, an AHL season high. He got a hat trick out of it...

Robert Esche by Meredith Martini

Springfield's Robert Esche, Rochester's Martin Biron and Hamilton's Steve Passmore have all played over 2,000 minutes already this season...

Being the Maytag repairman wasn't enough for Hamilton backup backstop Tim Thomas - he quit. Frustrated behind Passmore, Thomas simply packed and left to return to the Finnish leagues...

The Providence Bruins' success is somewhat odd given that they lead the league in penalty minutes, averaging 31.2 minutes per game...

The Lowell Lock Monsters haven't won a home game since Dec. 19...

Jeff Williams only needs to score eight goals - in 34 games - to become Albany's all-time single season goal-scoring champ. Shouldn't be a problem for him...

Philadelphia leads - and I do mean, LEADS - the AHL in short- handed goals. The Phantoms have scored 18 of them. In second place is Albany. They have 9...

As of Feb. 10, the AHL's best penalty killers were - the Hamilton Bulldogs, at 87.97%. Rochester is second...

Pittsburgh Penguin rookie Martin Sonnenberg has been in Pittsburgh since last year. Specifically, Dec. 29, 1998. And he still leads the AHL rookies in power-play goals...

Providence kept on trucking Feb. 12 with a 7-2 pounding of Portland. Landon Wilson picked up a hat trick plus a helper, and Terry Virtue and Brandon Smith had three assists each...

Landon Wilson by Meredith Martini

Chris Ferraro scored twice, unassisted, once short-handed, but it was Daniel Lacroix who got the game-winner for Hamilton Feb. 12 against Fredericton. Final score, 3-2...

The Springfield Falcons didn't want to lose to Hartford Feb. 12, so they scored the tying goal with four seconds left in regulation. They went on to win the game 4-3 in OT...

Syracuse extended their losing streak to nine and non-winning streak to ten with a 4-2 loss to Hershey, which scored in the first minute of the game and kept going from there...

The Phantoms' seven-game unbeaten streak ended Feb. 12 with a 2-1 loss to Albany. John Madden scored the game-winner...

Hamilton has the best penalty killing in the AHL, but forgot to tell Hershey that. The Bears scored four power-play goals, including two on a five-on-three, in their 6-3 win on Feb. 13. Blueliner Chris Armstrong scored a hat trick on just three shots, all on the man-advantage, and Ville Niemenen and Mike Gaul also had three points...

ECHL callup Martin Villeneuve did the job for Fredericton Feb. 13, stopping 45 of 47 shots to defeat the River Rats 4-2. Darcy Harris scored the game-winner...

Dean Sylvester had a pair of goals as Rochester won 5-2 over Syracuse Feb. 13. Mike Harder also had three points as Syracuse lost their tenth in a row. The record is 16...

Hartford scored the important goal late this time, picking up the game-winner from Christian Dube with exactly one minute left to beat Worcester 3-2...

Providence boosted their latest unbeaten streak to six with a 4-1 win against New Haven. Randy Robitaille scored two...

Cincinnati took advantage of the Flames Feb. 13 with a 5-3 win, capped by Frank Banham's third-period natural hat trick...

Lowell got an overtime goal from defenseman Mike Mader to take down St. John's 2-1 on Feb. 13...

Kentucky's 4-1 win over Adirondack on Valentine's Day included two short-handed, empty-net goals. All four T-Blade goals came in the last period...

Jean-Pierre Dumont returned from a sprained ankle to score twice and pick up an assist as Portland beat St. John's 6-3 on Feb. 14. Josef Marha set up three goals...

Lowell trampled Fredericton 7-1 on Feb. 14, getting a pair of goals from the returning John Namestnikov and another pair from Sean Haggerty...

Landon Wilson kept it up with two more goals including the game- winner from Providence Feb. 14 in a 5-2 win over Hartford. The WolfPack took a two-goal lead, then let the Bruins have their way the rest of the way...

The league is looking into an incident between Worcester and Philadelphia on Valentine's day. IceCat Bryce Salvador was jumped by a Phantoms player during intermission under the stands. Given the light sentence Greg Smyth received for a similar transgression, not much will come of this...

Speaking of Greg Smyth, he'll miss the next month of play and for a real change, it's not league-mandated. Smyth dislocated the knee and ankle on the same leg in a game mishap...

The Philadelphia Phantoms are now the second AHL team to top 300,000 in attendance in three consecutive years. Providence did it first...

Believe it or not, there is a team that can beat Providence. Hartford is 4-2-0 against Providence this season...

The Springfield Falcons have gone to overtime twelve times this season and haven't lost yet. They have won five times. Both marks lead the AHL...

Lowell defenseman Mike Mader has only scored three goals for the Lock Monsters. All three were game-winners...

Bryan Muir was the fiftieth different player to appear in a game for Portland this year, a new franchise record...

Two AHL teams feature three players with 50 points or better: Philadelphia (Jim Montgomery, Richard Park and Peter White) and St. John's (Jason Podollan, Lonny Bohonos and Ladislav Kohn)...

The closing of Maple Leaf Gardens left the Hersheypark Arena as the oldest professional hockey arena in North America. Catch a piece of history - before it's replaced too...

The Bears scored twelve power-play goals in four home games and missed another by two seconds...

The Hamilton Bulldogs are ranked second in short-handed goals and in penalty killing at 87.12%, despite allowing four power-play goals to Hershey in one game...

The Syracuse Crunch had 233 man-games lost to injury in their first 52 games. They lost 149 all of last season...

Kentucky won their fourth straight and Adirondack dropped their fourth straight in a 4-2 final Feb. 15, as Dan Boyle had a three- point game...

Springfield scored two power-play goals on an early five on three and the Falcons went on to knock down Worcester 4-1 Feb. 15...

Brian Wesenberg's second goal of the game in overtime boosted the Phantoms over Cincinnati 3-2 on Feb. 15...

Portland's Jean-Pierre Dumont scored a power-play goal in the third period to give the Pirates a tie with the Red Wings Feb. 15. It was the first time this season the Pirates got a point from a game in which they didn't lead after two periods...

ECHL callup Dan Murphy came close to a shutout of the Lowell Lock Monsters Feb. 17, but settled for a 5-1 win. Lowell has yet to beat Worcester...

Providence's latest unbeaten streak ended at seven when New Haven clipped the Bruins 4-3 on Feb. 17. Mike Fountain stopped 48 shots...

Darren Sinclair by Meredith Martini

Darren Sinclair, who had scored one goal all season, scored two on the power-play and Syracuse ended an 11 game winless streak with a 4-3 win over Saint John Feb. 17. UHL goalie Patrick Charbonneau, signed as an emergency backup, stopped 29 shots for the win...

Another Rochester-Hamilton game, another shutout of the Bulldogs. Martin Biron did it again, getting his sixth shutout and third against Hamilton Feb. 17 as the Amerks won 3-0. Biron has faced 217 Hamilton shots this season and stopped 210 of them for a .970 save percentage...

Saint John allowed Syracuse their first win in 11 games, then picked up their first win in ten games against St. John's Feb. 19 with a 5-3 win...

Ken Sutton scored a pair and John Madden had a three-point game as Albany defeated Hamilton 4-1 on Feb. 19...

Syracuse returned to form Feb. 19 and lost to Cincinnati, 7-4. Frank Banham scored a pair for the Ducks...

Fredericton's Jose Theodore stopped 41 shots for his second shutout of the season. The Canadiens defeated Springfield 2-0 despite being outshot 41 to 12 and facing NHL goaltender Jimmy Waite, with the Falcons for conditioning...

The Hartford WolfPack took a 4-0 lead over Adirondack into the third period and darn near blew it, allowing the Wings three goals before hanging on to win...

Clash of the titans in Lexington and Providence came away with a 4-2 victory over Kentucky Feb. 19, ending the T-Blades' four-game win streak...

Lowell got the game-winner from Dmitri Nabokov with 93 seconds left to take out Worcester 4-3 Feb. 19...

Philadelphia managed to stay ahead of a Martin Biron-less Rochester Feb. 19, winning 4-2 on a pair of goals from Jim Montgomery...

First they got a point after trailing after two periods. Now, they won one. Portland defeated New Haven 3-2 on Feb. 19, after trailing 2-1 coming into the third period. Jean-Pierre Dumont's late goal gave it to the Pirates...

Portland couldn't keep it up though, losing the next night to Lowell by another 3-2 score. Dumont scored two more goals in the loss...

He finally got to start a game and Scott Roche made it count, coming with a few minutes of a shutout as Worcester beat New Haven 2-1 Feb. 20...

The AHL's first OT game under the new rules went to Saint John when Greg Pankewicz picked up the winning goal for a 6-5 victory over St. John's. Sergei Varlamov had three points for the Flames, Lonny Bohonos had four for the Leafs...

The Hamilton Bulldogs ended a three-game losing streak against Syracuse, picking up a 4-2 win Feb. 20 on Daniel Lacroix's pair of goals. Both Syracuse goals were scored by ECHL callup Stewart Bodtker...

Fredericton scored three goals in 71 seconds and went on to defeat Hartford 5-3 on Feb. 20...

Kentucky captain Jarrett Deuling had a hand in all of the T-Blades goals in their 4-0 win over the Phantoms Feb. 20, setting up two power-play goals in the second period and scoring two short-handed goals in the third. Steve Guolla had three assists and John Nabokov picked up his fifth shutout, second against Philadelphia...

Christian Matte scored a pair and Marc Denis came within 18 seconds of a shutout Feb. 20 against Adirondack. The Bears went on to win 4-1...

Chris Taylor scored two goals for the Bruins against Cincinnati as they defeated the Ducks 4-2 Feb. 20...

Marcus Nilson scored two for New Haven in the Beast's 3-3 tie with Springfield. New Haven got a point despite giving up two goals to the Falcons in 16 seconds...

Jim Montgomery picked up the game-winner for Philadelphia as they whacked the Ducks 3-2 Feb. 21...

Another night, another two goals for Daniel Lacroix. Yeah, you read that right. Lacroix went double up on Syracuse again as the Hamilton Bulldogs won again 5-3. Sergei Yerkovich had a three- point game for the Bulldogs...

Marcel Cousineau stopped 29 for his third shutout of the season, blanking Hartford 4-0 on Feb. 21. Evgeny Korolev and Sean Haggerty each scored two goals...

The Bears went nuts on special teams again, this time with two power-play and one short-handed goal against Kentucky in a 4-3 win over the division leaders Feb. 21...

Albany defeated Rochester 4-2 on Feb. 21 on a game-winner from Matt Ruchty, Rochester's second loss since Martin Biron went to Buffalo...

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