Player of the Week (Mar. 21): The Beast of New Haven had a busy week, winning all four of their games. Byron Ritchie was responsible for two of the winning goals including an overtime winner, so he takes the prize. Ritchie had six points overall during the week, at least one in each game, and four goals, although none were as big as the OT goal in Hartford. Ritchie is tied for second in the league in game-winning goals.

Byron Ritchie by Meredith Martini

Player of the Week (Mar. 28): It never hurts to be en fuego - eventually, you're going to win the award. And since Albany's John Madden has been ripping through the AHL this month, he finally got the acknowledgement. Madden had nine points in four games during the week, including two three point nights and a game-winning, short-handed goal. He now stands fourth in the AHL in both goals and assists.

Plus/Minus Player of the Month (Mar.): Considering his short-handed prowess, we probably shouldn't be too surprised that the Phantoms' Richard Park has won the award. Park was a +17 in 15 Phantoms games during March, helped in great part by over a half dozen short-handed goals scored while he was on the ice, if not by Park himself. Park's season number is +34, trailing Providence's Antti Laaksonen.

Not So Mighty: Well, he did it. Cincinnati Mighty Ducks defenseman Byron Briske set a new AHL record for futility on Mar. 28 as he appeared in his 175th AHL game - and, as in the previous 174, failed to score a goal. Briske can now reluctantly set his sights on the NHL record, held by Allan Pederson. Pederson played 238 NHL games without a goal.

Vladimir Vorobiev by Meredith Martini

Trade Bait: The NHL trading deadline played havoc with some AHL teams as players switched around. Some moves - like Kevin Brown and Vladimir Vorobiev - were simple. Others, well...Greg Pankiewicz's NHL rights were traded from Calgary to San Jose, and the Sharks wanted him in Kentucky. But Pankiewicz's minor league rights had to be traded for as well, so Saint John received the AHL rights to former T-Blade Fredrik Oduya, then traded with the IHL's Orlando Solar Bears to actually get Oduya to the Flames. The T-Blades and the Amerks also worked out an AHL-only mutual loan, swapping Alexander Boikov and Steffon Walby. Saint John also traded with the Grand Rapids Griffins and made previous deals with Orlando to overhaul their roster. All in all, 21 of the 30 players traded at the NHL deadline were or had been in the AHL.

99: Not THE Great One, just two very good ones. Just last season the AHL's oldest franchise, Hershey, celebrated a double retirement of the number nine for Arnie Kullman and Tim Tookey. On March 19, the second oldest franchise, Rochester, did likewise for Dick Gamble and Jody Gage. Gamble played ten seasons for the Amerks in the sixties, and holds the AHL record for 30-plus goalscoring seasons with 11. He is also fifth on the AHL all-time scoring list, and fourth on the goalscoring list. Gage, now the Amerks' general manager, played in the AHL for 17 seasons, 11 with Rochester, and topped the 500 goal and 1000 point marks. Gage scored more playoff goals than any other player in AHL history and was named to the AHL's All-Time Team in 1992.

Other Things: Vladimir Vorobiev took a seven game scoring streak with him to Hamilton...

Providence's Antti Laaksonen continues to top the AHL leader board with a +36 and is battling teammate Terry Virtue (+34) for the season title...

The Fredericton Canadiens have scored the first goal in their games 41 times, by far the best mark in the league...

Portland finally received a decision in overtime Mar. 17, after their previous six trips to extra time ended in ties...

Cincinnati blueliners Scott Ferguson and Joel Kwiatkowski haven't missed a game yet this season, and their 68 straight appearances is the best for the franchise...

For the record, 13 players have appeared in every game for their team this season. And no, I don't know all thirteen...

The Phantoms' short-handed goal count is up to 25.The AHL record for a single season is 26...

Clearly the Amerks will top the AHL in fewest goals allowed but Kentucky and Hamilton are tied for second and could both finish the season with fewer than 200 goals allowed...

Fredericton went bananas on Saint John Mar. 23 with a 10-2 trampling of the Flames. Martin Gendron and Scott King had two goals, and Marc Beaucage, Alexei Lojkin and Aaron Asham all had three points...

Peter Allen by Meredith Martini

Peter Allen scored the game-winner for Kentucky as they knocked down the Bulldogs 2-1 on Mar. 23...

Adirondack tied the game but newcomer Steffon Walby scored the game-winner 14 seconds later as Kentucky defeated the baby Wings 3-2 on Mar. 24...

The Red Wings' move to Rossford, Ohio was made official on March 24. The team will remain in Glens Falls for the 1999-2000 season, then move to Ohio...

Albany keeps getting the points from John Madden, who had three assists in the Rats' 4-3 win over Rochester Mar. 24. Rob Pattison had two goals...

The Hartford WolfPack righted the ship against Springfield as JF Labbe picked up a 33 save shutout Mar. 24...

Philadelphia's Brian Boucher had a 25 save shutout the same night, but this one was a lot uglier. The Phantoms trounced Syracuse 8-0 as the hapless Crunch went 0 for 10 on the power play and gave up three short-handed goals to Jim Montgomery, Peter White and Mikhail Chernov...

Cincinnati's wheels came off in Hershey, as the Ducks blew a 3-2 lead and granted the Bears five unanswered goals for a 7-3 Hershey victory Mar. 24. Serge Aubin scored two, while Christian Matte had a four point night to extend his scoring streak to 13 games...

Saint John picked up a win against Worcester Mar. 25 - barely. The Flames had a 5-1 lead, but the game finished at 5-4. Travis Brigley scored two goals...

The Syracuse Crunch have been shut out nine times this season. That ties them for the all-time AHL mark with three other teams - except there's still a couple weeks to go for the record...

Fredericton's Jose Theodore stopped 39 shots in the first two periods, but the Canadiens didn't win until Francis Bouillon's overtime goal made it 3-2 against Worcester Mar. 26...

Meanwhile, Tom Askey stopped 48 shots and lost. Philadelphia beat Cincinnati 5-1 on two Peter White goals Mar. 26...

Dwayne Hay by Meredith Martini

Providence blew a 4-2 third period lead over New Haven, as Dwayne Hay scored in the final minute of regulation to give the Beast a 5-4 win Mar. 26. Shane Willis and Randy Robitaille had three points each...

Steve Passmore made 29 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, goose-egging the Bears 1-0 Mar. 26. Only Vladimir Vorobiev scored...

Albany defeated Kentucky 4-1 as John Madden had three points and Eric Bertrand two goals...

It was only the second time in Albany franchise history the team went a full game without being called for a penalty. For that matter, Kentucky was only called for one...

Albany now has four thirty goal scorers in their lineup - Bertrand, Madden, Jeff Williams and Steve Brule. No other team has more than one...

Springfield knocked off Lowell 4-2 as Josh Green and Maxim Spiridonov went double up on power-play goals...

Lonny Bohonos scored short-handed once and unassisted once as St. John's beat Syracuse 5-2 Mar. 26...

Rochester nearly blew a 3-1 lead in the third period, allowing Adirondack three goals in less than three minutes. But Domenic Pittis tied the game and Craig Fisher scored the game-winner for a 5-4 Amerks win...

Saint John finished a weekend sweep of Worcester with a 2-0 blanking Mar. 27. Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 49 saves...

Cincinnati's Tom Askey was also busy that night stopping 45 shots as the Ducks beat Albany 3-2. Mike Leclerc scored the winning goal...

Portland finally won a game against Lowell, just their second in 11 tries, on Mar. 29. The Pirates picked up a 4-1 win as Trent Whitfield scored the game-winner...

The Falcons sent a mere 14 shots JF Labbe's way Mar. 29, but three of them went in and Springfield went on to a 3-1 win...

St. John's made it interesting against Hamilton Mar. 28, getting the tying goal with 15 seconds left in regulation and then getting an OT game-winner from Yuri Khmylev 27 seconds into the OT for a 3-2 win...

Robert Esche stopped 43 for Springfield but another five got past him as Providence beat the Falcons 5-1 Mar. 28...

That game featured the first goal of the season for Bob Beers, presently pulling double duty as a player for Providence and a TV color guy for Boston...

Saint John picked up Allan Egeland from the IHL at the trade deadline and he had two goals and an assist as the Flames beat Portland 4-2 Mar. 28...

The Phantoms didn't get a lead until there were only 34 seconds left in regulation, but Richard Park's late goal was good enough for a 5-4 win over New Haven Mar. 28. Peter White, Scott Levins and Marcus Nilsson all had two goals...

John Madden had two goals including a short-handed game-winner as Albany took out Adirondack 3-2 on Mar. 28...

Herbert Vasiljevs had two goals and two assists and Shawn Burr set up three, but Larry Courville and Matt Cooke had three points each too and Syracuse and Kentucky finished their Mar. 28 tilt in a 5-5 tie...

Domenic Pittis had a day Mar. 28, as he played a regular shift for the Buffalo Sabres in an afternoon game in Buffalo and a regular shift for the Rochester Americans in an evening game in Rochester. He had two assists for the Amerks...

Just call them Springfield South - the Hartford Wolfpack presently have eight former Falcons on the roster...

Providence's Randy Robitaille seems assured of setting a new franchise record for points in a season. The record is 96...

The sputtering Lock Monsters may not win their division after all, but they will lower their ticket prices back to reality next season. Plans are for tickets to run $9-$15, rather than the $35 they were this season...

Cincinnati's Bob Wren has 18 games with multiple points so far this season...

The best plus/minus figure for a T-Blade prior to this season was Ville Peltonen's +16. Nine current T-Blades are at that number or better...

Goaltender Joaquin Gage is now with his third AHL team in a month. After playing for Portland and Providence, he's now with Syracuse...

Nothing like finishing the month on a tear. Four players racked up a hat trick on March 31st...

Ryan Tobler by Meredith Martini

Adirondack hadn't won a game in their last ten, but Ryan Tobler scored both goals - in the first three minutes of the game - as the Wings set down Hamilton 2-1 Mar. 31...

All those goals Jeff Williams has, and he didn't get a hat trick until Mar. 31. John Madden also had three points, as the Rats defeated Hershey 5-3...

Jochen Hecht not only had a hat trick, he had a five point night. Didn't help Worcester much, as they dropped an 8-7 decision to Philadelphia in overtime. Shayne Toporowski and Richard Park each had four points on the night, and Chris Joseph scored the game-winner...

A four point night for Saint John's Chris Clark too, as he picked up a hat trick in the Flames' 5-3 win over Syracuse Mar. 31...

The double-duty man had a hat trick too. Domenic Pittis' trick included the game-winning goal as the Amerks took out Hartford 5-2 Mar. 31. Pittis had four points overall on the night, putting him in a tie for the AHL scoring lead...

It was a Good Friday indeed, as the hat tricks keep on comin'. Peter Ferraro picked up one, along with an assist, as Providence gave Fredericton a royal 9-4 spanking Apr. 2...

Cincinnati's Rastislav Pavlikovsky also had a hat trick that night as the Ducks beat Springfield 5-1. Tom Askey stopped 45 of 46 shots...

The Phantoms took a 4-1 win over Kentucky on two goals by Mark Greig Apr. 2, extending their lead over the T-Blades in the division race...

Syracuse, well, what can you say. The Crunch took a 3-0 lead on Hamilton into the third period and blew it big time, as Hamilton tied the game on a shortie by Jeff Daw and the game stayed 3-3...

Adirondack lost to Hartford Apr. 2 under a Chris attack. Winnes, O'Sullivan and Kenady all scored for the 'pack...

Albany squeaked out a 5-3 win over New Haven April 2 with two late goals. Eric Bertrand scored a pair...

Martin Biron stopped 25 of 26 shots and lowered his GAA with a 3-1 win over Saint John Apr. 2. Dean Sylvester scored just seconds into the game...

The St. John's Maple Leafs are unbeaten in five games despite allowing Lowell to come back and tie them 2-2 on Apr. 2...

Mike Omicioli, all 5'5" of him, has a term paper due at Providence College this week. Instead of working on the paper, Omicioli scored the lone goal of Portland and Worcester's Apr. 2 tilt and Martin Brochu stopped 34 shots for the shutout...

Omicioli scored again the next night but Fredericton took the game 4-2 on a pair of goals from Marc Beaucage...

Paul Brousseau tied it up and Serge Aubin scored seconds into overtime as the Bears mounted a comeback against Cincinnati Apr. 3. The final was 3-2...

Hamilton's Steve Passmore shut down the Amerks Apr. 3 and Fredrik Lindquist did the scoring as the Bulldogs won 3-1...

Jean-Sebastien Giguere picked up a 23 save shutout and Martin St. Louis scored a pair and had an assist as the Flames took out the Red Wings 4-0 Apr. 3...

Derek Bekar by Meredith Martini

Albany won against Syracuse Apr. 3 by a 3-1 score. Jeff Williams scored two, giving him the Rats' club record for goals in a season. John Madden scored short-handed and had an assist, giving him club records for short-handed goals, assists, and points in a season...

Brent Johnson stopped 42 and the IceCats won 4-2 over Springfield Apr. 3. Derek Bekar the first and the last goals, the first short-handed...

The Bruins kept up the firepower with a 6-4 win over New Haven, getting two goals each from Randy Robitaille, Annti Laaksonen and Peter Ferraro...

That gave the Bruins an even 300 goals scored on the season. No other team has even reached the 260 mark, so Providence will be the only team accomplishing it this year...

Marc Robitalle stopped all 30 Lowell shots Apr. 3 as St. John's won 1-0. It was Robitaille's first professional blanking. The only goal was scored by Dallas Eakins...

The Kentucky Thoroughblades have won at least one game in every AHL building - except Albany's Pepsi Arena. Nothing changed on Easter as the Rats won 2-1...

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