Steve Guolla by Kevin Fischer

Player of the Week (Dec. 14): WARNING This is not, I repeat, this is NOT my last column again. It just looks that way since it's starting out precisely the same way, that is, with Kentucky's Steve Guolla being named as the POTW. This time around, Guolla had nine points in three games, including a six- point game against Portland Dec. 14, to win the award for the third time this season and the second time in three weeks. (Then-Portland Pirate Jim Carey is the only other player in AHL history to win the award three times in one season.) Guolla had an assist against Philadelphia, two assists against Portland Dec. 12 and then exploded for two goals and four assists on the 14th. Guolla now leads the league in scoring despite missing three weeks playing in the NHL.

Player of the Week (Dec. 21): Springfield Falcons goaltender Scott Langkow earns the award after going 3-0 for the week with a shutout, a 2.00 GAA and .932 save percentage. He had a scoreless streak of 123:38 and was unbeaten in six straight starts. Didn't last though; Langkow was lit up for five goals in two periods in his first game after receiving the prize.

Player of the Week (Dec. 28): The way the Hershey Bears started the season, it didn't seem likely one of their players might come up with the POTW. But the Bears have been hot of late, especially Christian Matte, and he takes the honors. Matte had a four-goal, two-assist week for the Bears in three games, although it was as much when he scored as how many that earned him the award. Matte scored two goals against Hartford,including the tying goal with just three seconds remaining in the game, then scored two goals including the game-clincher against Adirondack later that weekend. He leads the Bears in overall goal-scoring.

Christian Matte by Kevin Fischer

Player of the Week (Jan. 4): Standing in the shadow of Steve Guolla all season hasn't done much for the visibility of Guolla's linemate, Alexei Yegorov, but finally someone noticed that 'Yeggy' has had a pretty good season himself. Yegorov had an 11-point week for the Thoroughblades, racking up three goals and eight assists in four games. He had multiple points in every game, including four points against Philadelphia. Yegorov is now second to Guolla in AHL scoring and fourth in both goals and assists.

K & K Insurance Player: Oh yeah, those monthly awards again. Top dog in the plus/minus category was, no big surprise considering how the team's been playing, an Albany River Rat. Specifically, team captain Geordie Kinnear took the honors with a +16 rating in 12 games for the month. Kinnear had at least one point in all 12 games. The overall season lead belongs to Kentucky's Steve Guolla, who presently has a +24 rating.

Rookie of the Month: Also a River Rat. 1997 Hobey Baker winner Brendan Morrison now has some more hardware for his shelves, after picking up 13 points in ten games during the River Rats' December run. Morrison had three three-point games on Dec. 20, 23, and 29, and totalled three goals and ten points on the month. He is presently ranked third in AHL rookie scoring with 37 points and also got to spend four games playing with the New Jersey Devils during which he scored his first NHL goal.

Whoops, There It Is: Whomp, there was a foot and a half of snow in Syracuse the morning of December 30 and a forecast calling for at least another six inches. So for the first time in two years, an AHL game was cancelled. The Hershey Bears were already in town, had even practiced, but the Crunch players were unable to get to the arena and neither were team and arena employees, much less the fans. The game has been rescheduled for March 10. But the Bears were able to get back to Hershey, which beats the last postponement in the AHL; after a January, 1996 game in Baltimore was cancelled, the Rochester Americans were stuck in Baltimore for three days waiting for Pennsylvania to reopen its roads.

All-Star Stuff: Preparations for the All-Star Game are in full swing. The AHL announced honorary team captains for the Game on Dec. 17, naming former 'Miracle On Ice' goaltender Jim Craig and longtime NHLer Patrick Flatley to the posts. Interestingly, neither player spent much time in the AHL, Craig with a half season with the Erie Blades and Flatley a handful of games with the Springfield Indians. Both players have more than enough hockey credentials to make up for their lack of AHL connections though.

Lunchtime: One of the more popular features of the AHL All-Star Game is the AHL Hockey Hall of Fame All-Star Luncheon, held the day of the game and featuring not only all of the players participating in the game but also several members of the Hockey Hall of Fame (thankfully, NOT Alan Eagleson!). This year's guests are recent inductee Bryan Trottier, Islanders and Panthers architect Bill Torrey, and stalwart defenseman Harry Howell, who played in more professional hockey games than any other defenseman in history. Trottier is presently the coach of the AHL's Portland Pirates, Torrey served as governor to the Springfield Indians for several years, and Howell spent a few years playing in the AHL; add Trottier and Torrey's Islanders ties and Howell's years with the Rangers and you've got an AHL/New York party.

One Ugly Day: January 3 featured a full assortment of ugly incidents, some imaginary, some accidental, a lot intentional.

Petr Franek by Kevin Fischer

Match penalties are uncommon and very unlikely to be given to a goaltender, but an incident in the Hershey/Philadelphia game prompted referee Rob Martell to eject Hershey's Petr Franek. Martell adjudged Franek to have intentionally high-sticked Dave MacIsaac, who had attacked a Bears player at the front of the crease. Franek was suspended a game for his infraction.

Imaginary were the 45 minutes in penalties assigned to New Haven's Wes Swinson in the third period of a game against Springfield; while Swinson was dressed and on the bench, he was there solely to give New Haven the minimum number of skaters and didn't participate in the game. How he was credited for the shenanigans is a mystery. Meanwhile the Beast's Chad Cabana did pick up a two-game suspension for a high-sticking incident in the same game.

Hartford's Pierre Sevigny scared a lot of people in Worcester when he took a hit away from the play, skated to the bench and promptly passed out on it, striking his head on the dasher as he fell. Sevigny was rushed to a local hospital and kept overnight; last word was a head injury, not serious.

Last, a disputed goal by Portland led to some serious misbehavior by two Providence Bruins. Jean-Yves Roy repeatedly struck his stick on the net, was ejected from the game, then broke his stick over the net and chased referee Bernard DeGrace, throwing the broken shaft at DeGrace. Roy received a double game misconduct and was later suspended three games by the league. In the same game, Providence's Andre Roy speared a Portland player who was in the penalty box; Roy also received a game misconduct but no suspension.

Sifting Through the Ruins: Of that amazing game between Worcester and Springfield Dec. 14, in which seven league records were set. Here are the new and old records for fastest goals:

Goals New   Old   Teams/Date
  8   3:37  5:06  Hershey Bears vs. Providence Reds, 11/26/39
  6   1:21  2:23  Quebec Aces vs. Buffalo Bisons, 2/24/65
  5   1:16  1:43  Hershey Bears vs. Springfield Indians, 3/28/82
  4   0:36  0:39  Springfield Indians vs. Cleveland Barons,
3/11/61
  3   0:20  0:21  Hershey Bears vs. Cleveland Barons, 11/14/62
  2   0:04  0:05  Many times: most recently, Portland Pirates vs.
St. John's Maple Leafs, 3/23/97 

The teams' seven goals, however, were not a record. The St. John's Maple Leafs and Cape Breton Oilers managed to score seven in 2:56 on November 3, 1995. Last but not least, Springfield's three empty-net goals set a modern AHL record.

Wanted - A Goaltender: Both the Beast of New Haven and the Albany River Rats found themselves a little short in the goaltending department recently. New Haven's Mike Fountain went down with a groin injury and the team recalled Tripp Tracey from Richmond. By the time Tracey arrived in New Haven, David Lemanowicz was down with the flu and Tracey went from the airport directly to the ice with an equipment manager as his backup for the evening. Lemanowicz had to play the next night despite his illness because Tracey was then recalled to Carolina to back up Pat Jablonski after Carolina traded Sean Burke.

Albany wasn't doing a lot better, as Peter Sidorkiewicz was recalled to replace an ill Martin Brodeur and then Mike Dunham was injured, forcing the Devils to recall Richard Shulmistra, who had played the previous evening with Albany's equipment manager as his backup. Raleigh goaltender Frederic Henry was recalled quickly and more than held his own stopping 37 of 38 Hartford shots in his AHL debut; Henry was backed up by the brother of a Hartford Wolfpack employee. Henry allowed only one goal in his second game as well.

Norm Maracle by Tricia McMillan

Last, Adirondack's Zac Bierk can't get ice time in Glens Falls but now he'll get it in Tampa, as both Daren Puppa and Corey Schwab went down at the same time. The Red Wings recalled David Arsenault from ECHL Toledo to back up Norm Maracle.

Back to the Future:The automatic suspension of Hershey goaltender Petr Franek for the match penalty caused the Bears some difficulty in securing a backup for Marc Denis the next evening. David Aebischer was still in Finland celebrating Switzerland's bronze medal in the World Juniors and Patrick Labrecque couldn't get to Hershey from Louisiana in time for the game. So the Bears plucked an employee from the town's Chocolate World to back up Denis - Dave Parro. If the name sounds familiar, Parro has played for the Bears before - like 1980? Parro hadn't suited up professionally in 15 years and fortunately didn't have to actually play on this occasion.

The Bears also needed a forward in a hurry due to suspensions and a new spate of injuries, so longtime icon Mitch Lamoreux was signed on for spot duty. Lamoreux, who retired after last season, has already performed the same service for the UHL's Binghamton team this season.

Another team that went dipping into their past was the Rochester Americans. Buffalo sent backup goaltender Steve Shields to the Amerks for one game as a tuneup, but Shields didn't shake off the rust in time to notch a win.

Borrowed Buildings: The Fredericton Canadiens can't seem to pull much of a crowd in Fredericton, but out of town they're just fine. In fact, the baby Habs faced the baby Leafs at Montreal's Molson Centre and drew 14,416 fans. The young Habs will appear at Molson Centre two more times this year.

Rochester played in Buffalo's Marine Midland Arena earlier this season due to construction problems at their own building and also faced off against Hamilton there on January 4, when Shields took a turn in net. The remaining AHL games to take place at an NHL arena are:

February 8, Syracuse Crunch vs. Fredericton Canadiens at Molson Centre; February 13, Philadelphia Phantoms vs. Adirondack Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit; and February 15, Hamilton Bulldogs vs. Fredericton Canadiens at Molson Centre.

Mikka Elomo by Tricia McMillan

Speaking of Ruins: First it was the Providence Bruins. Then it was the Hershey Bears. And then that horrid smell wafting through the league was the Portland Pirates. Believe it or not, the Pirates lost ten consecutive games and were winless in 11 straight, both of which shattered team records (seven and six were the old records.) This despite the Pirates setting another team record, this one for scoring a power-play goal in 14 straight games, which is also a league high streak this year, and Andrew Brunette leading the league in scoring before being recalled to Washington. The Pirates got so bad, they banished three players including two No.1 draft picks (Mikka Elomo and Alexander Volchkov) to the stands and replaced them with three players from the United Hockey League's Quad City Mallards. They also brought back Trevor Halvorson, who had been playing in the IHL, and recalled Rick Kowalsky and Rob Bonneau from Hampton Roads. The changes worked out just fine, as the last three formed a line which led the Pirates to four straight wins.

Welcome to the Show: As of December 23, 131 players had appeared in both the AHL and NHL this season. Nearly all were players recalled from the AHL, as not too many rehab stints have occurred to date. The Hamilton Bulldogs have already sent 12 players up to the bigs and Saint John is right behind them with 11.

TEAM        PLAYERS            TEAM         PLAYERS
Hamilton       12              Springfield     7
Saint John     11              Hershey         6 
Cincinnati     10              New Haven       6
Syracuse       10              Portland        6
Kentucky        9              Worcester       6 
Providence      9              Philadelphia    5 
Fredericton     8              Rochester       5 
Hartford        8              Adirondack      4
Albany          7              St. John's      2

Milestones: New Haven's Mike Fountain recorded his 100th AHL victory on December 14th against Providence. Fountain is only the ninth AHL goaltender in the last 25 years to reach that number. Another goaltender who reached it is Albany's Peter Sidorkiewicz, who is not only still active but closing in on the modern record, set by Maine Mariner Sam. St. Laurent. St. Laurent recorded 164 victories; Sidorkiewicz has 157.

Don't Give Up Your Day Job: Ed Ronan did and he may be sorry. Ronan retired prior to the start of this season and took a job in finance after the Sabres didn't offer him a contract and his wife was due to have their second child. However, Providence coach Tom McVie tracked down Ronan and offered him a deal with the desperate P-Bruins. The immediate result was Ronan played four games in five days and had only negative double digits on the plus/minus chart to show for it.

Christian Dube by Tricia McMillan

Streakin': Hartford's Christian Dube saw his season-high 17-game scoring streak come to an end Dec. 19 when Springfield shut out the Wolfpack. The next longest active streak in the league, ten games, belonged to Hamilton Bulldogs winger Barrie Moore, who set a Bulldogs record with his tenth straight game with a point before his streak ended. Then there was the nine- game streak belonging to Hershey Bears defenseman Mike Gaul. Really. Gaul spent last season in Germany, missed training camp and six weeks of the season due to an emergency appendectomy, and wound up in the East Coast League to start the year. Injuries brought him back and he has more than made up for lost time.

Legal Maneuvers: Saint John has been pretty busy with the lawyers and other paper pushers of late. The Flames have been a victim of their own success in that their five-year lease with Harbour Station is up at the end of the season and as the Flames have averaged nearly 2,000 fans per game more than anticipated in the original lease, well, Harbour Station upped their rent. A lot. In fact, the original rent request was for $300,000 per year, which would have been the highest rent in the league, while the Flames were offering $40,000. Negotiations are continuing and the two sides have actually gotten to within $15,000 of each other. It is hoped the deal will be worked out within the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile the Flames managed only their second sellout of the season but continue to average nearly 5,000 fans per game.

When the Flames finish up with rent negotiations, they have another, potentially bigger headache in front of them. Former Flame Mike Murray has filed lawsuits against the Saint John Flames, the Calgary Flames, Saint John's former trainer, Saint John's physicians and several New Brunswick physicians and therapists. Murray broke his right leg while playing for the Flames in December, 1995, and while he played for the Flames as recently as the 1997 playoffs, he was let go by Calgary after the season and a tryout contract with Hershey was voided when he flunked the Bears' physical. Murray maintains he can no longer play hockey - or take a position in the field he studied in college, law enforcement - because improper medical treatment to the broken leg caused permanent injury to his knee. Murray's position is that the Calgary Flames were never advised as to the course of his medical treatment, several procedures were performed on him without proper consent, the surgery and rehabilitation he underwent were medically improper, and that the rehabilitation program damaged his knee. Saint John had better be worried about this too; two recent similar cases, including one involving former Hershey player Glenn Seabrook, were found in favor of the player.

Jurisprudence: The Syracuse Crunch's Paul Ferone was arrested during the December 28 game between Syracuse and the host Beast of New Haven and charged with third degree assault for swinging his stick at a heckler. The fan claimed he wasn't heckling Ferone and announced on television he was getting a lawyer; a police officer stated the fan was in fact heckling Ferone and Ferone appeared to be trying to hit the railing, not a person. Ferone, who had scored his first professional goal earlier in the game, was leaving the ice after the second period when the incident occurred and was promptly arrested, although he released on his own recognizance later. Ferone was also suspended four games by the AHL for the incident. New Haven doesn't do much by way of security at the visitor's gate and things have been known to get ugly down there, leading Syracuse coach Jack McIlhargey to request a canopy be installed over the gate. Good idea.

Rumor Mill: The AHL has already made a couple tries at enticing ECHL teams to join the AHL, succeeding only with Greensboro. That may change, as the new lease in Hampton Roads requires the Admirals join the AHL within two years or be evicted from the Scope. While the Admirals might be pretty close to joining the league, they'll need neighbors - so the AHL has resumed begging Richmond to take a shot at the AHL and is also discussing with Capitals' owner Abe Pollin the possibility of placing a team - affiliated with the Capitals, of course - in the newly vacated USAir Arena. We'll keep you posted.

Take a Guess: Many of you have probably heard that the Muskegon Fury's Gary Coupal was permanently banned from the UHL after throwing his stick in the stands. You might also know that Coupal was banned from the ECHL and the rest of pro hockey last season after he tomahawked an opposing player who was sitting on the bench minding his own business. Coupal's victim was hospitalized with a serious head injury; he has since not only recovered but moved up in the hockey world to be an AHL regular this season. Who is he? (Hint: He can take care of himself now, thanks.)

Minors: The Adirondack Red Wings scored three short-handed goals all of last season. Per Eklund has already equalled that mark this season himself, scoring three shorties in the last few weeks...

While St. John's Greg Smyth hasn't received punishment for alleged racial comments last season, the AHL did suspend him for five games for generally being a jerk. Smyth received his fourth game misconduct of the year with a match penalty for head-butting and the combination was too much for the league to ignore...

Another guy with a small problem was Hershey's Martin Lamarche. Lamarche picked up a six-game suspension for abusing an official on Dec. 28. The Bears' Cory Banika and Brian Corcoran were suspended three and one games, respectively, for accumulating game misconducts...

Fredericton Canadiens continue to give and take: they're the only team in the league to not only score more than 100 goals, they've allowed more than that too...

Not only have Saint John allowed fewer goals than any other AHL team, they've also scored fewer than any other team...

The Providence Bruins are the AHL team least likely to outshoot their opponents (eight times) or score the first goal (nine times)...

Fredericton's Jose Theodore stopped 118 of 126 total shots faced in three consecutive games. He only won one of those games...

The Hamilton Bulldogs broke five of their club records while pasting Cincinnati 8-2, and also managed 25 shots on goal in one period...

The St. John's Maple Leafs still didn't have a backup for goaltender Francis Larivee after two weeks, so they settled for a Fredericton police inspector. Not as bad as it sounds, as the cop happened to be Brian Ford, formerly a goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Quebec Nordiques...

The Hartford Wolf Pack have lost only two games in which they scored the first goal...

Worcester's Robert Petrovicky hit a hot streak, scoring 12 points in seven games including a four-point game against Providence Dec. 20...

The Beast of New Haven are 0-14-1 when trailing after two periods...

When the Bears and the Adirondack Red Wings came to a 3-3 standstill Dec. 14, it was the first time this season the Bears recorded a tie. They were the last AHL team to do so this season...

The Bears played three consecutive home overtime games, going 2-0-1 in the three. The third one hurt, as the Bears had a 3-0 lead in the third but let Cincinnati tie it up before Ville Niemenen scored a winner in OT...

Rochester took a 2-0 lead on Hamilton Dec. 17. Then they allowed the Bulldogs seven unanswered goals in half a game...

Kentucky and Philadelphia can each boast two players with over 30 points. The T-Blades have Steve Guolla and Alexei Yegorov, the Phantoms have Peter White and Craig Darby...

When the game is on the line, call one of the following: New Haven's Herbert Vasiljevs, Philadelphia's Peter White, Hartford's Marc Savard, or Hershey's Rob Shearer. Each have four game-winning goals...

The Philadelphia Phantoms lead the AHL in five offensive categories - goals (112), assists (191), points (303), short- handed goals (8) and shooting percentage (12.2 %)...

The Portland Pirates are so bad, they gave up three goals in 2:07, including two goals in :48 seconds, to the offensively challenged and road weary Hershey Bears...

Cameron Mann by Tricia McMillan

Providence Bruins rookie Cameron Mann has 11 goals so far, three of which were unassisted. He ranks third in rookie goal- scoring...

Rochester Americans' winger Vaclav Varada set a team record with a nine-game goal-scoring streak before he was recalled by Buffalo. The streak holds until he returns...

The Saint John Flames' Todd Hlushko potted two short-handed goals in one period Dec. 13 and has four unassisted goals so far. He was recalled by Calgary...

The Beast of New Haven scored three goals in the first period, including Mike O'Grady's first professional goal, against Adirondack Dec. 21. Then they let the Red Wings have five straight to win the game. Oops...

The Kentucky Thoroughblades outshot the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks 43-24 on Jan. 7, but naturally it was Cincinnati that came away with a 5-2 victory. T-Blade Richard Brennan set a Kentucky team record with 10 shots on net...

Adirondack won six of eight games in one stretch, with both losses coming to Syracuse...

Red Wings' rookie Xavier Delisle has been hot, with a four-point game and then four more points over the next two games...

The goaltender logjam in Hamilton is finally gone. The Bulldogs loaned Steve Passmore to the IHL's San Antonio Dragons indefinitely, leaving the net to JF Labbe...

The Phoenix Coyotes reassigned Chad Kilger to the Springfield Falcons. Kilger flat out refused to report and was suspended by the Coyotes for the balance of the season. One day later Kilger quit crying and reported...

Bryan Muir was traded to the New Jersey Devils in the Arnott/Guerin deal just before Hamilton played Rochester Jan. 4. Problem was no one got around to telling Muir that and he played a full game for the Bulldogs as property of New Jersey...

The Syracuse Crunch don't have a player with double-digit goals yet this season, but are tied with Hartford and Springfield for second in the league lead with 12 players in double-digit scoring...

The AHL leaders for players in double-digit scoring are the Worcester IceCats, who have 13 such players. They're also second in the AHL with 103 goals scored. But only Chris Kenady has ten or more goals...

Albany River Rat Brendan Morrison took a short side trip to the NHL but continues to lead AHL rookies with 13 goals, staying ahead of Cameron Mann and New Haven's Bates Battaglia. Mann leads in power-play goals, with six...

There have already been 99 ties this season and 72 of those stayed tied, on par with last season's numbers. The Phantoms and Pirates have each gone overtime ten times this season, with the Phantoms leading the way in OT victories (5) and the Pirates leading in ties (7)...

The Providence Bruins extended Portland's losing streak, 5-2; Landon Wilson and Anders Myrvold each had a four-point night, Wilson with two goals, two assists and Myrvold with four assists...

The affiliation agreement between the Kentucky Thoroughblades and the San Jose Sharks was up for an opt-out January 1, but both sides are happy and re-upped for the next three years...

Hamilton's Craig Fraser had two hat tricks in three games Christmas week and was rewarded with a recall to Edmonton...

The Syracuse Crunch scored on their first two shots of the game against New Haven Dec. 28. They went on to win 7-4...

The Kentucky Thoroughblades were away from home for three weeks and missing five players and still managed to knock the stuffing out of the Phantoms, 6-1, on Dec. 28. Alexei Yegorov had two goals and an assist, Steve Guolla had three assists...

St. John's, Philadelphia, Hartford, Syracuse, Providence and Worcester all have yet to post a shutout this season...

The T-Blades lost Jason Holland for a month after he broke his heel during the Christmas break. A door closed on Holland's foot while he worked in his garage...

The Philadelphia Phantoms put together a nine-game winning streak...

Even without power-play catalyst Steve Lingren, captain Mike McHugh and big guy Wade Belak, Hershey has turned it around. The Bears were unbeaten in eight straight (6-0-2)...

Bears goaltender Marc Denis had a personal 11-game losing streak finally end on Dec. 27 when the Bears defeated New Haven, but didn't get a decision the next night when he was pulled in the third period...

Kentucky's Alexei Yegorov has 14 multi-point games this season and Steve Guolla has 13...

Rochester defenseman Dean Melanson averages one goal every 23 games. He had two gainst the St. John's Maple Leafs to include the gamewinner...

The recently hapless Portland Pirates trailed Springfield 4-1 going into the third period Dec. 27. Then they tied the game up and won it in overtime...

AHL linesman Tim Kotyra was named to the Olympic officiating staff...

Dan Cloutier by Tricia McMillan

The Rangers pulled a goalie switch, sending Jason Muzzatti to Hartford for a glorified conditioning stint and recalling Dan Cloutier...

The River Rats defeated Syracuse 8-1, with eight different players scoring goals. Peter Zezel tied franchise records with four assists and five points total...

The Wolfpack's Lee Sorochan scored a goal Dec. 29 against Rochester. This is important because it's the first time in a year (65 games) that Sorochan has scored...

Adirondack has now won nine of its last ten meetings with Rochester...

How 'bout dem Rats? Albany went 10-0-1-1 in a twelve game stint to pick up 22 of a possible 24 points. The Rats are third in team defense with a 2.74 GAA and have three 30 point scorers in Brendan Morrison, Steve Brule and Peter Zezel. Yowza...

Saint John leads the league in team GAA, with 2.27 goals allowed per game. Hartford is second at 2.71...

Adirondack goaltender Norm Maracle continues to lead the AHL in wins (14), losses (13), games played (31), minutes (1779) and saves (926). Backup Zac Bierk was permitted two starts against Hershey though, and was very strong in both...

Albany has scored 37 goals in its last six games and 27 in their last four home games...

Albany goaltender Richard Shulmistra is the only goalie in the league who has more than four games and is unbeaten (8-0-1)...

Cincinnati Mighty Ducks goaltender Tom Askey returned from a knee injury against Philadelphia and reinjured the same knee...

Philadelphia Phantoms winger John Druce had a six-game goal- scoring streak, the second longest this season...

The Hartford Wolf Pack and Albany River Rats have each allowed only one short-handed goal...

The Beast of New Haven became the last AHL team to record a decision in overtime when they defeated Syracuse 3-2 Dec. 30...

Worcester IceCats head coach Greg Gilbert was ejected by referee Lyle Seitz from a Dec. 31 game with Portland for mouthing off. It was Gilbert's first ejection as a coach OR as a player...

The Philadelphia Phantoms' winning streak lasted seven games, during which the Phantoms won three overtime games and outscored their opponents 29-13...

Two AHL players are over 30 total points but have less than ten goals. They are Albany's Peter Zezel and Hershey's Josef Marha...

Good news for Fredericton - they've taken over the Atlantic Division lead rom Saint John. Bad news: Saint John has seven games in hand...

Fredericton leads the AHL in majors (58) and bench minors (14), but not overall penalty minutes - Hershey has that honor...

Hershey Bears goaltender Petr Franek is second in the AHL in wins (12) and goals-against average (2.49) and fifth in minutes (1,182)...

Bears like home cooking. Hershey are 10-0 at home when leading after the second period...

The Portland Pirates lead the AHL with 46 power-play goals...

Peter Zezel by Tricia McMillan

The Rochester Americans and Saint John Flames have each come from behind in the third period to win three times...

Calgary reassigned Saint John Flames winger Jesper Mattson to Malmo in Sweden. Mattson was a first-round pick but has yet to pan out. Likewise, the Capitals assigned former first-rounder Miika Elomo to IFK in Finland...

Portland veteran Kent Hulst had a good afternoon against Providence Jan. 3, with two goals and two assists...

Paul Brousseau had a hand in all of Adirondack's goals in their 3-3 tie against Cincinnati Jan. 3, with two goals and an assist...

The Adirondack Red Wings spent most of the season out of the penalty box, with 656 PiMs in their first 37 games for a 17.7 average. Then over three games the Red Wings picked up 247 PiMs for an 82.3 average, or more than four and half times their previous average. Martin Laitre alone had 79 PiMs...

Only Saint John, Hamilton and Albany have held their opponents to less than 100 goals so far...

Hamilton and New Haven (!) are the only AHL teams in double digits when it comes to road victories...

Rochester Americans' center Patrice Tardif had a New Year's Eve hat trick against Adirondack, but the Amerks still lost...

The Syracuse Crunch have allowed 12 short-handed goals in just 36 games. The AHL record for most short-handed goals against in a season is 24 and would appear to be in jeopardy...

Syracuse rookie Peter Schaefer had a ten-game point streak ended by Hershey, but still ranks fourth in rookie scoring...

The Beast of New Haven played 269 minutes and 44 seconds worth of games without having a lead. The Beast were up 1-0 on Syracuse Dec. 28 and didn't have a lead again until Jan. 7 at Worcester...

The Hershey Bears still lead the AHL in penalty minutes, up to 1352 now despite most of their bad guys being suspended all the time and with few players over the 100 PiM mark...

The Philadelphia Phantoms are 21-0-2 when leading after two periods...

The Beast of New Haven's Oleg Kvasha had a successful trip to the World Junior Tournament, picking up a silver medal with the Russian team and being named a second team All-Star...

The Worcester IceCats presently host four players with over 100 PiMs, and are the third most penalized team in the AHL. They lead the league in major penalties with 77; Worcester had 87 for all of last season...

The Fredericton Canadiens have scored 47 third-period goals, best in the league...

The Providence Bruins haven't won in their last ten games. That includes blowing two different three-goal leads to Worcester...

The Saint John Flames' Jeff Cowan is suddenly en fuego, with two game-winning goals to give him five on the season...

The Flames are allowing 2.31 goals per game and only 82 total this season, making them a serious threat to set a new AHL record for season goals-against. The 95-96 Springfield Falcons allowed 215...

Worcester rookie Michal Handzus is really lighting things up, picking up four goals and an assist against Providence Jan. 9. He scored short-handed to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation and then scored the game-winner in OT...

The Rochester Americans started shaking things up after losing six straight, signing Chad Remackel from the ECHL and loaning Eric Lavigne to Grand Rapids in exchange for Matt Ruchty, a longtime AHL pest...

Hershey may have the most penalty minutes but it's St. John's Maple Leafs who average the most, now up to 36.1 penalty minutes per game. They lead the AHL in minor penalties (318) and are second in majors (74)...

Kentucky's Brendan Yarema was suspended six games for leaving the bench to start an altercation with Syracuse's Dave Roche on Jan. 4...

Albany's unbeaten streak came to an end Jan. 9 against arch-rivals Adirondack. The only one of 50 Albany shots to get past Norm Maracle was deflected in by Red Wings defenseman Jon Coleman...

The Pirates shut down New Haven Jan. 10, killing off 10 power plays and getting 41 saves from Martin Brochu...

Trivia Answer: Then-Columbus Chill player Gary Coupal chopped then-Hampton Roads Admiral and now-Providence Bruin Aaron Downey. Since Hartford's PJ Stock has spent a lot of time in the NHL lately, Downey has taken over the AHL's major penalty 'race' with 21 and is second in the league with 189 penalty minutes. It's unlikely Coupal would mess with him again.

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