Player of the Week (Feb. 8) No award given.

Player of the Week (Feb. 15) There were many offensive players who turned in a better week, Ryan Mulhern and Shawn Carter springing to mind, but the award went to a goaltender instead. Albany backup Rich Shulmistra picked up the award for a 2-0 week in which he had a 1.50 GAA and a save percentage of .957. Shulmistra shut down the Hershey Bears 3-2 and took down Adirondack the next night 3-1, stopping 67 of 70 shots faced. 'Shuey' leads the AHL in GAA and save percentage for the season.

Ryan Mulhern by Tricia McMillan

Scorchin': The Albany River Rats are riding a 10-game winning streak, which took place in just 19 days encompassing the All-Star Break and also included two wins over second place Hamilton. The Bulldogs failed to hold onto a 3-2 lead in the third period over Albany Feb. 20, giving up four goals in the third. Steve Brule and Brendan Morrison each had four points in the game, but theirs weren't the most significant achievement of the evening, as Albany's Peter Sidorkiewicz set a new modern AHL record for career wins with his 165th AHL game to pass Sam St. Laurent for the lead. (The 'modern' era is essentially post-1972, when the league decided to put more effort into keeping track of statistics.) He won't take the record much further - Sidorkiewicz has all but announced his retirement at the end of the season. And another Rat set a marker last week too, as Steve Brule became the franchise's all-time leading scorer. Hot rats.

For Sale: The Portland Pirates. Yes, not only are the Pirates dickering over their affiliation agreement, the team has also been officially placed up for sale. Primary owner Tom Ebright died over the summer and his widow, Joyce, is not interested in continuing ownership of the team beyond next season. She has announced the affiliation agreement will be completed first, then the team's sale will proceed. All the groups making offers to date have been local and minority owner Godfrey Wood appears most likely to acquire the team. In any event they don't expect to leave Portland.

Also Stirring: The Florida Panthers say they really don't have any problems with New Haven, except that it's Carolina's affiliate. That being the case, the Panthers have purchased the West Palm Beach franchise and are negotiating for a place to put it. Optimally, they'd like an AHL in the Panthers' current arena and duplicate the Philadelphia situation. If the Panthers can find a suitable building by May, they'll pull out of New Haven, but otherwise things remain the same for next year.

Peter Sidorkiewicz by Kevin Fischer

Getting to Know You: Getting far too familiar over the weekend were Kentucky and Rochester. While the two teams managed to get through the first game of the two-game set with a minimum of shenanigans, other than Rochester's thumping the 'blades, the second game got a little out of hand. OK, a lot out of hand, as in 193 penalty minutes and a full-fledged brawl near the end of the game involving everybody but the goaltenders. Rochester didn't show up for much other than the fights, making a paltry 13 shots on goal while Kentucky lit the lamp five times. Kentucky coach Jim Wiley received the first ejection of his coaching career when ref Blaine Angus caught a little too much of Wiley's complaining about a non-call; later Angus drop-tackled the Amerks' Derek Wood in an attempt to break up a melee. Wood, along with two other Amerks and two T-blades, was tossed from the game. The T-Blades' Frederik Oduya was suspended for one game due to his antics.

Radar Blip: Two other teams that really don't get along well together are the Bears and the Worcester IceCats, odd since they rarely play each other. But in Worcester's lone visit to Hershey Feb. 22, it took less than ten minutes for both teams to erupt after a particularly chippy shift and soon there were four separate bouts in progress at the same time. Hershey captain Mike McHugh began the brawl by throwing his gloves in IceCat Mike Prokopec's face; then the other skaters on the ice paired off. Even the goaltenders eyed each other. But the only genuine matchup of the lot was Patrick Traverse and Derek Diener and both were ejected from the game, as were the unlikely combination of Wade Belak and Rory Fitzpatrick. When the dust cleared the two teams had accumulated 102 PiMs in one period...then had 18 for the rest of the game. Virtual peace and tranquility. Go figure.

Making Lemonade: Which is what you do with lemons, which is what Rochester Americans' GM Jody Gage decided to do with Brent Fedyk. As you may recall, Gage traded Patrice Tardif to the IHL's Detroit Vipers for Fedyk and defenseman Tim Murray, but Fedyk refused to report. Gage packaged the recalcitrant Fedyk with diminutive sniper Martin Menard and sent both to the IHL's Cincinnati Cyclones in exchange for Mike Casselman and Steven King. Both King and Casselman have experience in the AHL, with Carolina and Baltimore, and both showed up for work.

Egg In Face: The number one rule in cheating is don't get caught. And if you do get caught, don't try to cover it up right in front of the referee, a point that was lost for the Philadelphia Phantoms' Mike Maneluk. In the Phantoms' Feb. 21 game with Hershey, the Bears noted Maneluk's stick was very illegal and called over referee Bernie DeGrace to ask for the stick to be checked. Realizing he was up the creek, Maneluk tried to switch sticks - in full view of DeGrace. Not real swift. Maneluk not only picked up the minor for the stick, he also received a misconduct and the Bears went on to score on the resulting power play.

How Quickly They Forget: Last season's AHL Rookie of the Year was Portland's Jaroslav Svejkovsky and the AHL has put plenty of effort into making sure we remember that; Svejkovsky graces the cover of the AHL Media Guide, season schedule, and many of their promotional materials. But apparently some people never even read the cover. Svejkovsky was sent down to Portland on a conditioning stint and scored two goals in each of his first two games against Providence and Hartford. Both the Providence Journal and the Hartford Courant spelled Svejkovsky's name wrong repeatedly in their game stories the next day. The Courant was especially remiss, with four mistakes including the addition of letters never before seen in his name. You guys want to look at what's on your desk sometime?

The Boss Is In Town: Former POTW Lonny Bohonos was sent back to Syracuse again, but this time as a result of clearing waivers. He will remain with the Crunch for as long as Mike Keenan feels like leaving him there. Speaking of whom, Keenan got his first look at the Crunch as they took on Fredericton Feb. 16. No truth to the rumor he traded the whole team to San Jose for Stephane Matteau. In fact, the Crunch seem to know what side their bread is buttered on because they turned in a sterling 4-1 victory. And oh yeah, Bohonos had a goal and an assist, but Keenan refused to admit anyone on the team played well.

Things: The Portland Pirates' eight-game unbeaten streak at home ended Feb. 6 with a 5-4 loss to Hartford...

The Kentucky Thoroughblades lost mascot Lucky to major league baseball. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays were sufficiently impressed with Lucky's alter ego, Matt Marlowe, to hire him away from the 'blades...

Dan Cloutier by Tricia McMillan

Hartford Wolfpack goaltender Dan Cloutier will make a cameo appearance on ABC's 'Spin City' Feb. 25 at 8 pm...

A Providence-area writer instructed P-Bruins fans to boo the team Feb. 17. The few fans who showed up booed the team for the whole game...

Mike Pomichter, released by Springfield, has caught on with Cincinnati, but then, who hasn't lately...

The Albany River Rats hadn't scored more than three goals in 10 straight games before exploding for eight against Adirondack Feb. 7. Steve Brule had a hat trick along the way...

There was a power surge in Hershey Feb. 7. Of the six goals in Hershey's 4-2 win over Rochester, every one was on the power play...

And a power failure the next night, as the Bears were 0-for-9 on the power play against Philadelphia and allowed three short- handed goals...

The Beast of New Haven plastered the Crunch Feb. 6, 9-2. Ryan Johnson had a five-point night, including two goals; Ian MacNeil and David Nemirovsky each had three assists...

Portland's Benoit Gratton was awarded a penalty shot against Worcester's Brent Johnston on Feb. 14, but didn't score...

Sasha Lakovic broke his leg in his second NHL game this season, but returned to Albany on Valentine's Day with a goal and something less than love for Adirondack's Martin Laitre. Lakovic's return didn't last long, however - he was suspended four games for kneeing Red Wings captain Brandon Smith...

Philadelphia was up 3-1 on Hershey Feb. 14, but the Bears came storming back in the third period with a pair of goals from Pascal Trepanier to win 4-3. Keith Jones also had two goals...yes, THAT Keith Jones. He finished a rehab stint with the Bears and headed back to Colorado...

Benoit Gratton by Tricia McMillan

Albany apparently has no need for coach John Cunniff. They were undefeated in seven games under assistant Red Gendron while Cunniff was in Nagano...

The Worcester IceCats hadn't been shutout all season. Then Saint John blanked them 4-0 on Feb. 6 and the next night the 'cats were nearly blanked again before losing to Fredericton 5-1...

It took them seven games, but the Beast finally beat the Hartford Wolfpack 2-1 on Feb. 8...

Rochester has had its problems on the road, but got off to a good post-All-Star start with a big win over Kentucky Feb. 13. Vaclav Varada and Dan Frawley each scored twice...

The River Rats shipped Zdenek Skorepa out to Detroit of the IHL for the time being...

Worcester's Terry Virtue leads the IceCats in most categories, but he no longer leads the team. Virtue's play has slipped so much this season coach Greg Gilbert gave Virtue's captaincy to Ricard Persson and Virtue was a healthy scratch against Hershey...

New Haven came back from a 3-1 hole to defeat Hershey 4-3 in OT Feb. 15. The game-winner was scored by Jeff Daniels, who was falling down at the time...

Portland put together a makeshift line of Ryan Mulhern, Rick Kowalsky and Benoit Gratton for a three-game set Feb. 13-15. The trio had 23 points in their next four games, including 11 for Mulhern alone...

The Rats have a league high 11 players with 10 or more goals so far this season...

Pirate Jan Benda was successful in Nagano even if his team wasn't - he scored four goals in four games for Germany, who failed to make it out of the preliminary round...

Saint John's Tyler Moss denied Providence's Landon Wilson on a penalty shot Feb. 17...

St. John's Shawn Carter scored two goals each in two consecutive games Feb. 13-14, but the Leafs dropped both games...

Hamilton's Barrie Moore notched a hat trick against Fredericton Feb. 15...

How's this for a line: Albany combined Dody Wood, Rob Skrlac and Sasha Lakovic against Hamilton. Yikes. Skrlac showed his purpose, taking a minor, a major, a misconduct and a game misconduct on the same play...

The Druce got loose in Philly again as John Druce notched a hat trick in a holiday matinee against Kentucky Feb. 16. Druce didn't last the game after a collision with Brendan Yarema sliced up his eye...

The Red Wings' Paul Brousseau leads the AHL in power-play goals with 20 and is a serious threat to the league's all-time mark of 27, held jointly by Mitch Lamoureux, Brad Smyth and Peter Ferraro...

When Saint John and Providence hooked up recently, it was a match between the two teams tied for fewest goals scored. However, Saint John has allowed the fewest goals as well, while Providence has given up the most...

The Phantoms lead the league in overall scoring with 212 goals, with Albany right behind them with 202...

Rochester's newly acquired Steven King hasn't forgotten how to score in this league, with four points in his first two games...

Syracuse defenseman Mark Wotton set the franchise mark in games played with his 213th game on Feb. 17...

Cincinnati's Matt Cullen was good for a minimum of two points and at least one goal in nine straight games...

Christian Dube by Tricia McMillan

Two players in the AHL have over 40 points, but haven't scored 10 goals yet: Hershey's Josef Marha, and Hartford's Christian Dube...

Albany's Bryan Helmer made a bid to break out of that group when the Rats played Hershey Feb. 18. Helmer had two goals and an assist in the game to bring his goals totals to nine. He had to wait until Feb. 22 to get the tenth goal...

Cincinnati's Tom Askey joined the league leaders in shutouts with his third. Askey has played far fewer games than the other shutout leaders...

In 18 games backing up JF Labbe, Mike Minard played all of 20 minutes. Given his first start Feb. 22 against Kentucky, he stopped 40 of 41 shots including 20 in the third period for a 4-1 win...

Saint John lost three consecutive home games to the Hartford WolfPack - in one week...

St. John's Brandon Convery totalled nine points in four games last week and is expected to be traded sometime this week...

The Portland Pirates were down 6-2 to start the third period against Cincinnati Feb. 22. They not only tied the game up on a Steve Poapst goal with 17 seconds remaining in regulation, but Jaroslav Svejkovsky scored with 12 seconds remaining in OT for the win...

Last year, the Blackhawks loaned Eric LeCompte to Worcester in a fit of frustration with the underachiever. This year, Cincinnati got the honors as LeCompte joined the team and promptly had a hat trick against Portland...

Tom Askey by Kevin Fischer

The St. John's Maple Leafs are on top of the AHL - in penalties. The Leafs lead the league in penalty minutes (1,925), minors (455), majors (101), 10-minute misconducts (30), and match penalties (3) and are averaging 35.6 PiMs per game...

The only category the Leafs' don't lead is game misconducts. The Kentucky Thoroughblades have 23 of those, including one to their coach...

The Beast of New Haven won eight straight, including their first overtime victory at home, their first win over Hartford and a come-from-behind victory over the league-leading Phantoms, before losing in overtime to Springfield...

Fredericton's Roman Vopat returned from broken ribs just in time to take a successful penalty shot against St. John's Francis Larivee...

Fredericton is the only AHL team which hasn't won a game in OT...

Saint John's Hnat Domenichelli has now had 11 multiple-goal games this season, most in the league...

The longest active scoring streak in the AHL belongs to Saint John's Jim Dowd, whose streak is up to 12 games...

Fredericton's Eric Houde has 13 points, including 10 goals, in his last nine games...

Saint John signed the IHL's Martin St. Louis, a leading contender for Rookie of the Year in that league, and loaned Burke Murphy to the Cleveland Lumberjacks to replace St. Louis...

The Worcester IceCats are 22-14-4 in weekend games, but 4-12-1 during the week...

The Phantoms took a 4-0 lead on the Red Wings Feb. 20, then nearly blew it as they allowed the Wings three goals in the third period. Corey Spring had two of the three...

Jason Podollan had a hat trick, all on the power play and including the game-winning goal, against Providence as St. John's defeated the Bruins 4-3 Feb. 21...

Fredericton's Stephane Robidas had a hand in all four of the Habs' goals against Kentucky Feb. 21, including scoring two power-play goals...

Springfield's Daniel Briere laid it on New Haven Feb. 21, scoring two goals including the game-winner and tallying five points overall...

Lastly, a Jeer: With apologies to that publication that tells us what's on TV tonight, a great big jeer to the Hershey Bears for firing LCS photographer Kevin Fischer. They claim photography is not an appropriate free time activity for an employee of the arena and therefore canned him. This came two weeks after I was booted for attempting to photograph the Hamilton Bulldogs. Make of this what you will.

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