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The American Hockey League announced today that Jason LaBarbera of the Hartford Wolf Pack has been named the Koho AHL Goaltender of the Month for October. LaBarbera was a perfect 4-0-0 in four starts on the month, with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .962 save percentage.
LaBarbera, the AHL’s 2003-04 winner of both the “Baz” Bastien Award (outstanding goaltender) and the Les Cunningham Award (most valuable player), allowed exactly one goal in each of his four starts for the Wolf Pack in October, helping the club to a perfect 6-0-0-0 month. He stopped 101 of 105 shots faced, including a 36-save performance in a 2-1 win over Worcester on Oct. 22.
In recognition of his achievement, LaBarbera will be presented with an etched crystal award prior to an upcoming Wolf Pack home game.
A native of Burnaby, B.C., the 24-year-old LaBarbera is in his fifth professional season after being selected by the New York Rangers in the third round of the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. Including another win to start the month of November, LaBarbera owns a record of 65-38-16 in 134 career AHL contests, all with Hartford, where he was 34-9-9 with an AHL-record 13 shutouts a year ago.
Other nominees for Koho AHL Goaltender of the Month include Ray Emery of Binghamton, Dieter Kochan of Bridgeport, Kari Lehtonen of Chicago, Ilya Bryzgalov of Cincinnati, Dimitri Patzold of Cleveland, Tyler Moss of Edmonton, Joey MacDonald of Grand Rapids, Yann Danis of Hamilton, Mike Smith of Houston, Cam Ward of Lowell, Mathieu Garon of Manchester, Brian Finley of Milwaukee, Craig Anderson of Norfolk, Antero Niittymaki of Philadelphia, Justin Eddy of Portland, Ryan Miller of Rochester, Travis Scott of San Antonio, Jamie Storr of Springfield, Mikael Tellqvist of St. John’s, Pascal Leclaire of Syracuse and Curtis Sanford of Worcester.
