LOOKING BACK:
On Wednesday night, Keith Aucoin had three more points as Albany moved into fourth place in the East Division with a 4-1 win over Bridgeport… Ben Simon and Ryan Oulahen scored shorthanded goals in Grand Rapids’ 4-1 win over Iowa… Binghamton ended a 10-game losing streak with a 7-4 victory at Toronto… Adam Dennis made 27 saves and snapped a personal seven-game losing slide in Rochester’s 5-2 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Wed 3/14
ALBANY 4, Bridgeport 1… CHICAGO 4, Peoria 3… GRAND RAPIDS 4, Iowa 1… LOWELL 3, Springfield 1… Omaha 3, MILWAUKEE 2 (SO)… PROVIDENCE 2, Worcester 1… Binghamton 7, TORONTO 4… Rochester 5, W-B/SCRANTON 2
Thu 3/15
No games scheduled
LOOKING AHEAD:
With eight wins in its last 10 games, Omaha enters the weekend three points behind first-place Chicago in the West Division with three games in hand… The Ak-Sar-Ben Knights can trim that deficit when the Wolves visit the Civic Auditorium on Friday night… Brett Sterling (49 goals) and Darren Haydar (99 points) come in on the brink of major milestones for Chicago, which has won all four of its visits to Omaha this season by a combined score of 19-5… Cory Larose, now tied for fifth in the AHL in points, is on a six-game scoring streak for the Wolves (3g, 5a)… Brandon Prust has scored three goals in Omaha’s last two contests… Knights goalie Curtis McElhinney is 2-6-0 with a 4.04 goals-against average in 10 career appearances against Chicago.
In a possible first-round playoff preview, Manitoba heads to Grand Rapids for a two-game series Friday and Saturday… The Moose have opened up a four-point lead atop the North Division by winning 14 of their last 15 games entering the weekend… The teams are meeting for the first time since they played four games in six days during the first week of November… Former Griffin Drew MacIntyre is 15-3-0 in his last 18 decisions for Manitoba… Nathan Smith, who has three goals and two assists in his last three games, returned to the Moose on Thursday after an NHL stint in Vancouver… Grand Rapids has won nine of its last 10 at Van Andel Arena and four of its last five overall… Griffins rookie Jamie Tardif has scored a goal in three straight games and has seven goals in his last seven matches.
Norfolk becomes the first team to punch a ticket to the 2007 Calder Cup Playoffs if it sweeps its two-game series with Bridgeport this weekend… The Sound Tigers, mired in a five-game road losing streak, need wins of their own, trailing fourth-place Albany by one point… The Admirals have gone 30-3-2-0 on home ice this season, but will play eight of their final 11 games on the road after Saturday… Norfolk rookie Troy Brouwer carries an eight-game scoring streak into the weekend (9g, 4a), and is tied for third in the AHL with 35 goals on the year… Pierre Parenteau has recorded 17 points (6g, 11a) in 11 games since returning from NHL Chicago on Feb. 18… Eric Boguniecki has points in seven straight games for the Sound Tigers (4g, 10a).
(all times Eastern)
Fri 3/16
Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7:00… Hershey at Worcester, 7:00… Albany at Binghamton, 7:05… Portland at Lowell, 7:05… Rochester at Philadelphia, 7:05… Hartford at Providence, 7:05… Bridgeport at Norfolk, 7:15… Hamilton at Syracuse, 7:30… Houston at Toronto, 7:30… Manchester at Springfield, 7:35… Peoria at Milwaukee, 8:00… Chicago at Omaha, 8:00… Iowa at San Antonio, 8:00
Sat 3/17
Manitoba at Grand Rapids, 7:00… Philadelphia at Hershey, 7:00… Rochester at Toronto, 7:00… Portland at Binghamton, 7:05… Hartford at Springfield, 7:05… Bridgeport at Norfolk, 7:15… Houston at Syracuse, 7:30… Milwaukee at Chicago, 8:00… Peoria at Omaha, 8:00
Sun 3/18
Syracuse vs. Hamilton, 3:00 (at Montreal)… Portland at Worcester, 4:00… Hartford at Lowell, 4:05… Manchester at Providence, 4:05… W-B/Scranton at Albany, 5:00… Binghamton at Hershey, 5:00… Grand Rapids at Milwaukee, 5:00… Manitoba at Peoria, 5:00… Bridgeport at Philadelphia, 5:05… Iowa at San Antonio, 6:00… Houston at Rochester, 6:05
Mon 3/19
No games scheduled
Tue 3/20
Peoria at Iowa, 8:05… Houston at Manitoba, 8:30
ALUMNI WATCH:
On Thursday night, 2001 Calder Cup champion Chris Clark scored three goals in Washington’s 4-3 shootout loss to Boston… 2007 AHL All-Star Drew Stafford scored twice to lead Buffalo past Florida, 5-3… 2006 AHL All-Star Junior Lessard scored in his first NHL game of the season, helping Dallas to a 4-2 win over Calgary… Robert Nilsson scored a goal in his Edmonton Oilers debut vs. Minnesota… Drew Fata scored his first career NHL goal in the N.Y. Islanders’ 5-2 loss to Ottawa.
BY THE NUMBERS:
3 — Rookies among the AHL’s top four goal-scorers this season: Chicago’s Brett Sterling (49), Norfolk’s Troy Brouwer (35) and Hartford’s Ryan Callahan (35).
AHL ON B2 NETWORKS:
B2 Networks brings AHL action to your computer, web-enabled cell phone or PDA all season long with live video webcasts of nearly every AHL game… Visit theahl.com for details.
