Western Conference notebook

	Dec. 14 vs. San Antonio, W, 2-1 Dec. 16 at Iowa, L, 1-4 Dec. 17 vs. Milwaukee, L, 3-4 Dec. 18 at Peoria, L, 4-5 (SO)	Dec. 21 at Cleveland, 6:05 CT Dec. 23 vs. Hershey, 7:30 CT
Chicago recorded a team season-high 48 shots in Sunday’s 5-4 shootout loss in Peoria. Billy Tibbetts has collected six points in six games since signing with the Wolves on Dec. 7. Chicago will play 16 games in 33 days beginning with Wednesday night’s match in Cleveland.

	Dec. 14 vs. Rochester, W, 4-2 Dec. 16 vs. Toronto, L, 2-5 Dec. 17 vs. Rochester, W, 3-2 (SO) Dec. 18 at Milwaukee, L, 4-5	Dec. 21 vs. Chicago, 7:05 Dec. 22 vs. Hamilton, 7:05 Dec. 23 at Grand Rapids, 7:00
Ryane Clowe has tallied 10 points (5g, 5a) in seven games with Cleveland this season. The Barons allowed just 15 shots – one in the first period – in Saturday’s 3-2 shootout win over Rochester. Grant Stevenson has recorded 11 points (5g, 6a) in his first 11 NHL games with San Jose.

	Dec. 14 at Toronto, L, 0-5 Dec. 16 at Rochester, L, 1-4 Dec. 17 at Toronto, L, 3-6 Dec. 18 at Syracuse, W, 4-3	Dec. 21 at Milwaukee, 8:00 ET Dec. 22 vs. Hershey, 7:00 Dec. 23 vs. Cleveland, 7:00
Grand Rapids was outscored 24-8 during a five-game losing streak that ended with a 4-3 win in Syracuse on Sunday. With Sunday’s win, the Griffins are 4-0-0-0 in the final game of three-in-three stretches. Jiri Hudler’s back-and-forth shuttling between Grand Rapids and the parent Detroit Red Wings resulted in him playing eight games in 10 days from Dec. 9-18.

	Dec. 16 at Philadelphia, W, 3-1 Dec. 17 at Hershey, L, 0-4 Dec. 18 at Toronto, L, 2-4	Dec. 22 at Cleveland, 7:05 Dec. 23 vs. Rochester, 7:30
Brad Winchester has tallied 11 points in his last six games (7g, 4a). Jonathan Ferland, who had missed 23 games with a knee injury, returned to the Bulldogs lineup on Friday in Philadelphia and promptly amassed 26 penalty minutes against the Phantoms; Ferland had 24 PIM in 62 games last year. Andrei Kostitsyn scored his first NHL goal in last Tuesday’s 5-3 Montreal victory over Phoenix.

	Dec. 16 vs. Peoria, W, 5-3 Dec. 17 vs. Peoria, W, 7-2	Dec. 23 vs. Omaha, 7:35
NHL goaltenders Chris Osgood, Ryan Miller and Patrick Lalime have been no match for Houston; the Aeros beat them for 17 goals on 87 shots (.805 save percentage) in three wins this year. Houston boasts the top two scorers in the AHL (Erik Westrum and Kirby Law), two of the top five rookie scorers (Roman Voloshenko and Patrick O’Sullivan) and the third-highest-scoring defenseman (Curtis Murphy), as well as the AHL’s leader in wins (Josh Harding). Voloshenko has joined the Russian team for the 2006 World Junior Championships, which get underway next week in British Columbia.

	Dec. 16 vs. Chicago, W, 4-1 Dec. 17 at Omaha, W, 3-1 Dec. 18 vs. Omaha, W, 3-1	Dec. 23 vs. Milwaukee, 7:05
With Mike Smith representing Canada at the Loto Cup tournament in Slovakia, Dan Ellis played all three Iowa games over the weekend and gave up a single power-play goal in each, stopping 93 of 96 shots total. Mathias Tjarnqvist has six goals and one assist in seven games with the Stars this season. Iowa has won four straight and is 8-1-1-1 in its last 11 games.

	Dec. 13 vs. Syracuse, W, 5-2 Dec. 14 vs. Syracuse, L, 4-7 Dec. 16 vs. San Antonio, L, 2-3 Dec. 17 vs. San Antonio, W, 1-0	No games this week
Jason Jaffray picked up a goal and five assists in Manitoba’s four games last week. Rookie Mike Brown scored on a penalty shot Saturday, the only goal in the Moose’s 1-0 win over San Antonio. With Kevin Bieksa making his NHL debut for Vancouver in Monday’s game against Los Angeles, all six members of the 2004-05 AHL All-Rookie Team have now played in the NHL this season.

	Dec. 14 at Omaha, W, 5-4 (SO) Dec. 16 vs. Omaha, L, 0-2 Dec. 17 at Chicago, W, 4-3 Dec. 18 vs. Cleveland, W, 5-4	Dec. 21 vs. Grand Rapids, 7:00 Dec. 23 at Iowa, 7:05
Defenseman Sheldon Brookbank tallied a goal and four assists in four games last week, including three helpers in Wednesday’s 5-4 shootout win over Omaha. Darren Haydar continues to lead the Admirals with 13 goals and 28 points in 28 games this season. Goaltenders Brian Finley and Pekka Rinne were both pressed into service with the parent Nashville Predators last week, with Rinne earning the win in his NHL debut against Chicago on Thursday.

	Dec. 14 vs. Milwaukee, L, 4-5 (SO) Dec. 16 at Milwaukee, W, 2-0 Dec. 17 vs. Iowa, L, 1-3 Dec. 18 at Iowa, L, 1-3	Dec. 22 at San Antonio, 7:00 Dec. 23 at Houston, 7:35
Omaha ran off a four-game road winning streak from Nov. 26 to Dec. 16. David Moss has scored nine goals this season, and all have come on the power play. Curtis McElhinney earned his second shutout of the season with 18 saves in Friday’s 2-0 win over Milwaukee.

	Dec. 16 at Houston, L, 3-5 Dec. 17 at Houston, L, 2-7 Dec. 18 vs. Chicago, W, 5-4 (SO)	No games this week
Peoria salvaged two points on the weekend, snapping a six-game losing streak with a 5-4 shootout win over Chicago on Sunday. Patrick Lalime earned his first career AHL victory by making 44 saves in Sunday’s win. Jason Bacashihua made his NHL debut for St. Louis over the weekend, making 13 players who have skated for both the Blues and the Rivermen this season.

	Dec. 14 at Cleveland, L, 2-4 Dec. 16 vs. Grand Rapids, W, 4-1 Dec. 17 at Cleveland, L, 2-3 (SO) Dec. 18 vs. Binghamton, L, 3-5	Dec. 22 vs. Syracuse, 7:05 Dec. 23 at Hamilton, 7:30
Daniel Paille picked up two goals and two assists in four games last week, giving him seven points in 11 games for Rochester this season. Jiri Novotny had a goal and an assist in Friday’s win over Grand Rapids. The Americans continue to lead the AHL in power-play efficiency at 23.5 percent, scoring 48 goals on 204 chances in 30 games.

	Dec. 14 at Chicago, L, 1-2 Dec. 16 at Manitoba, W, 3-2 Dec. 17 at Manitoba, L, 0-1	Dec. 22 at Omaha, 7:00
2004 AHL All-Star David LeNeveu made his Rampage debut on Friday and made 20 saves in a 3-2 win over Manitoba. LeNeveu spent the first two months of the season in the NHL with Phoenix. San Antonio went 4-2-0-0 on its six-game road trip, and returns home to face Omaha on Thursday. The Rampage will join with the Build-A-Bear Workshop to build teddy bears – dressed in hockey gear – for children at the Alamo Children’s Advocacy Center, which works with children traumatized by sexual abuse.

	Dec. 13 at Manitoba, L, 2-5 Dec. 14 at Manitoba, W, 7-4 Dec. 16 at Wilkes-Barre, W, 2-1 Dec. 17 vs. Philadelphia, W, 4-3 (SO) Dec. 18 vs. Grand Rapids, L, 3-4	Dec. 22 at Rochester, 7:05 Dec. 23 vs. Albany, 7:30
A busy week that featured five games in six nights saw Syracuse garner six points (3-2-0-0). Joe Motzko is on a nine-game scoring streak (5g, 6a), the longest by a Crunch player this season. Syracuse scored five power-play goals in Wednesday’s 7-4 win at Manitoba.

	Dec. 14 vs. Grand Rapids, W, 5-0 Dec. 16 at Cleveland, W, 5-2 Dec. 17 vs. Grand Rapids, W, 6-3 Dec. 18 vs. Hamilton, W, 4-2	Dec. 21 vs. Lowell, 7:30
Marlies leading scorer John Pohl (17g, 15a) recorded six points in three games over the weekend, then made his Maple Leafs debut on Monday night against the N.Y. Islanders. Martin Sagat scored two goals and was a plus-4 in Toronto’s 5-0 win over Grand Rapids on Wednesday night. The Marlies have won four in a row to close to within one point of third place in the North Division.