The Providence Bruins ruled the first batch of season-end awards, taking home four spots on the All-Star teams as well as MVP and Coach of the Year. Randy Robitaille took home the Lester Cunningham MVP award after leading the AHL in scoring for most of the season. He has also led the AHL in assists and appeared in the All-Star Game while picking up a few Player of the Week awards.

The Louis A. Pieri award for Coach of the Year went, no surprise here, to Peter Laviolette, the rookie AHL coach in only his second year at the helm of any team. Also the AHL's youngest head coach, Laviolette took the Bruins from worst to first and the best record in the franchise's history. No argument for either of these awards.

The All-Star teams looked like this:

Position  First Team                   Second Team
Goalie    Martin Biron, Rochester      Steve Passmore, Hamilton
Defense   Ken Sutton, Albany           Dan Boyle, Kentucky
Defense   Brandon Smith, Providence    Terry Virtue, Providence
Forward   Randy Robitaille, Providence Jeff Williams, Albany
Forward   Landon Wilson, Providence    Steve Guolla, Kentucky
Forward   Shane Willis, New Haven      Richard Park, Philadelphia

Plenty to argue here though. Rochester's Domenic Pittis became just the fifth AHL scoring leader to not be named to a year end All-Star team, and he was left out of the All-Star Game to boot. Considering Pittis played on a team which placed defense ahead of offense at all times, that had to be good for something, didn't it? Likewise, John Madden's performance should have landed him on the second team at a minimum, and surely someone from Rochester's defense qualified? I'll admit to some bias based on having seen Providence exactly once this season - and they stunk. One of the worst performances I've seen by an AHL team in years.

The Rookie Team:

Goalie   Robert Esche, Springfield 
Defense  Dan Boyle, Kentucky
Defense  Cory Sarich, Rochester
Forward  Shane Willis, New Haven
Forward  J.P. Dumont, Portland        
Forward  Andre Savage, Providence 

What we have here is one impressive group of skaters. In goal...Esche has been a workhorse, but a wildly inconsistent one. David Aebischer was a better choice for the All-Star Game and either Aebischer or Mathieu Garon would be better here.

Martin Biron by Meredith Martini

No doubt who was the best goaltender in the AHL this year. The Aldredge 'Baz' Bastien Award went to the Rochester Americans' Martin Biron, the lone Amerk to be noticed by voters. Biron finished the season with the best GAA in the league at 2.07 and the highest win total of 35 despite spending a good part of the season in Buffalo. He also made the mid-season and post-season All-Star teams and was Goaltender of the Month for January.

The Eddie Shore Award goes to the best defenseman in the league and unlike the Norris Trophy, the blueliner has to able defensively as well as offensively. That describes Albany's Ken Sutton, who ranks third in assists and fourth in points among blueliners but is also second in plus/minus at +34. Although Sutton has been a pro for ten years, this was by far his best season.

In his first season in the AHL - 18 years ago - Mitch Lamoureux was named Rookie of the Year and a second team All Star. Now, all these years and a brief retirement and return later, the venerable Bear goes to a permanent retirement with the Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award in hand. Lamoureux didn't fade away either, with a +30 ranking and over 50 points for Hershey this season. He finishes his career seventh on the all-time AHL scoring list.

Shane Willis by Meredith Martini

The Dudley 'Red' Garrett Award for the best Rookie was an easy one. Like someone other than New Haven's Shane Willis was even considered. Willis, who landed on the First All-Star Team, the Rookie All-Star Team, and the Canadian All-Star Team, led the newcomers in assists and points and for much of the season toyed with the scoring title before a recall the Carolina sidetracked him. Willis was also the Rookie of the Month for October and recorded the AHL's hardest shot at the All-Star Skills Competition.

The Rochester Americans give thanks for awards based strictly on numerical statistics. Otherwise, Domenic Pittis would be empty-handed. But he does get the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the AHL's top scorer after piling up 104 points, including 38 goals, in 76 games. Pittis was particularly fruitful against his previous team, Syracuse, and also managed to play two games on the same day for different teams - and it was the two points he got for that day that gave him the edge. Pittis also finished second in game- winning goals, with nine, to teammate Dean Sylvester's ten.

The Amerks weren't through yet, adding the Harry 'Hap' Holmes Trophy for the lowest team goals-against-average. Both Martin Biron and Tom Draper appeared in at least 25 games, so they share the award. Biron finished with a 2.07 and Draper finished at 2.30, for a combined GAA of 2.18, an alltime record for the AHL. Not surprising considering the Amerks shattered the AHL record for fewest goals allowed in a full season by 25 goals.

The last award to be given out is the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award for community service. That award will not be given until April 23, so check the playoff coverage for that winner.

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