AHL Quick Hits — November 29-30, 2006

LOOKING BACK:
Andrei Kostitsyn scored twice and Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves, including a stop on Ramzi Abid’s penalty shot in the third period, as Hamilton earned its third straight victory, 3-0 over visiting Milwaukee on Tuesday night… It was Halak’s fourth shutout in his last eight starts

Mon 11/27
No games scheduled

Tue 11/28
HAMILTON 3, Milwaukee 0


LOOKING AHEAD:
The Bulldogs go right back at it on Wednesday night when they visit Grand Rapids in the first meeting of the year between the North Division foes… Andrei Kostitsyn’s two-goal effort on Tuesday night extended his scoring streak to seven games (5g, 6a)… Mikhail Grabovski added two assists, giving him eight points (1g, 7a) in his last four outings… Hamilton is 9-2-0-1 during the month of November after losing six of eight in October… The Griffins have won two of three after a seven-game losing streak, but are coming off a 6-1 defeat in Houston on Sunday… Kip Miller, Grand Rapids’ leading scorer with 23 points in 21 games this season, is two goals shy of 400 and two assists shy of 700 for his professional career.

Chicago heads home to face Iowa on Wednesday in a battle between the top two teams in the West Division… Jason Krog, Darren Haydar and Brett Sterling, the top three point-getters in the AHL, have combined to score exactly half of the Wolves’ league-leading 98 goals this season… Kyle Wanvig is Chicago’s top goal-scorer outside of that trio, with five on the year… Rookie defenseman Boris Valabik leads the Wolves in both plus/minus (+12) and penalty minutes (84)… Iowa is 3-1-0-0 so far on its six-game road trip, and has won six of its seven lifetime visits to Allstate Arena, including both this year… Marty Sertich, who had four goals in his first 15 games for the Stars, has that many in his last four contests… Vojtech Polak has seven points in his last six outings for Iowa.

With top scorers Brandon Bochenski and Martin St. Pierre having been recalled by the parent Chicago Blackhawks, Norfolk heads to Bridgeport to visit the Sound Tigers on Wednesday night… Rookie Troy Brouwer assumes the lead among active Admirals with 20 points in 20 games… Captain Craig MacDonald, who has 11 points in 10 AHL games, is back with Norfolk after spending the last three weeks with the Blackhawks… Bridgeport has just one win in seven tries on home ice this season (1-4-0-2), and has dropped three straight overall to fall one point behind fourth-place Albany in the East Division… Jeff Tambellini has recorded a point in six consecutive games for the Sound Tigers (5g, 5a)… Bridgeport has killed off 42 of 45 shorthanded situations on home ice this season (93.3 percent).

(all times Eastern)
Wed 11/29
Hamilton at Grand Rapids, 7:00… Manitoba at Hershey, 7:00… Binghamton at Lowell, 7:05… Syracuse at W-B/Scranton, 7:05… Norfolk at Bridgeport, 7:30… Milwaukee at Toronto, 7:30… Iowa at Chicago, 8:00

Thu 11/30
Omaha at San Antonio, 8:00

Fri 12/1
Rochester at Grand Rapids, 6:30… Milwaukee at Albany, 7:00… Syracuse at Binghamton, 7:05… Manitoba at Philadelphia, 7:05… Lowell at Providence, 7:05… Hershey at W-B/Scranton, 7:05… Worcester at Norfolk, 7:15… Toronto at Hamilton, 7:30… Springfield at Manchester, 7:35… Iowa at Peoria, 8:00… Omaha at San Antonio, 8:00


ALUMNI WATCH:
On Tuesday, 2004 AHL All-Star Chris Kunitz scored with 17 seconds left in regulation and Ryan Getzlaf got the winner in overtime as Anaheim beat Edmonton, 3-2… Colby Armstrong scored his first two goals of the season to help Pittsburgh defeat the N.Y. Islanders, 3-2… 1994 Calder Cup Playoffs MVP Olaf Kolzig stopped 48 shots as Washington beat Tampa Bay, 5-2… Joe Pavelski scored his second NHL goal in San Jose’s 2-0 win over St. Louis… Tim Thomas made 45 saves to backstop Boston past Toronto, 4-1.


BY THE NUMBERS:
6
— AHL teams currently being led (or co-led) in scoring by a rookie: Binghamton (Andrew Ebbett), Bridgeport (Blake Comeau), Hartford (Ryan Callahan), Milwaukee (Alexander Radulov), Omaha (Dustin Boyd) and Providence (Kris Versteeg).


AHL ON B2 NETWORKS:
B2 Networks brings AHL action to your computer all season long with live video webcasts of nearly every AHL game… Visit theahl.com for details.