Senators making late campaign push

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … With points at a premium and just four weeks left in the regular season, the Binghamton Senators are making a determined push towards joining the 2006 Calder Cup Playoff picture.

Coming off a storybook season headlined by 11 players who are currently in the National Hockey League, Binghamton began 2005-06 with six straight losses and has been climbing back to the .500 mark ever since. The defending division champions woke up on the morning of Feb. 26 a daunting 16 points out of the fourth and final playoff spot in the East. But by earning points in 10 of their last 12 games (7-2-1-2), the Senators now trail fourth-place Bridgeport by eight points with 12 games remaining, including head-to-head battles with the Sound Tigers on Apr. 2 and Apr. 7.

Captain Denis Hamel has never scored more goals in his accomplished nine-year career than the 46 he has netted so far in 2005-06, and his 77 points, good for sixth in the AHL, are one off the personal high he set last season. Hamel has also scored 22 power-play goals this season, tops in the league.

Steve Martins is second on the Senators with 67 points – a career high for the 11-year veteran – and has hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time since 1997-98. Jeff Heerema has scored 20 himself for the first time since 2001-02, Charlie Stephens’ 19 goals and 54 points are personal bests, and All-Star defenseman Filip Novak has registered 51 points in 62 games after totaling 40 points in 128 games over his first two AHL seasons.

Grant Potulny struggled offensively as a rookie last year with four goals in 50 games, but has rebounded to record 18 goals and 19 assists along with team-best plus-13 rating this season. Potulny ended a 14-game drought with four goals in three games last weekend. Danny Bois, who scored two goals as a rookie in 2004-05, has found the net 15 times this season.

Kelly Guard has emerged as the Senators’ top goaltender, winning nine of 13 decisions since the All-Star break. Guard, MVP of the 2004 Memorial Cup tournament for champion Kelowna, ranks third among AHL rookies in victories (20) and save percentage (.910).

The B-Sens’ quest for a fourth straight Calder Cup Playoff berth continues with a relatively quiet week, featuring two games against in-state rivals. Binghamton hosts Albany on Wednesday before visiting Syracuse on Friday.

THE EXPERIENCE IS CLEAR … The Clear Day lists submitted last week feature 55 players who have won a Calder Cup championship in their careers, including 14 members of last year’s Philadelphia title team who are preparing for another Calder Cup run:

 

Tomas Kloucek, CHI (2000)

Derek MacKenzie, CHI (2002)

Bob Nardella, CHI (2002)

Travis Roche, CHI (2003)

Bryan Helmer, GR (1995)

Terry Virtue, GR (1999, 2000)

Johnathan Aitken, HAM (1999)

Dan Smith, HAM (1997)

Dale Purinton, HFD (2000)

Brad Smyth, HFD (2000)

Frederic Cassivi, HER (2002)

Boyd Kane, HER (2005)

Curtis Murphy, HOU (2003, 2004)

Erik Reitz, HOU (2003)

Paul Healey, LOW (1998)

Craig Darby, MTB (1998)

Wade Flaherty, MTB (2004)

Brian Finley, MIL (2004)

Simon Gamache, MIL (2004)

Darren Haydar, MIL (2004)

Steve Lingren, MIL (1997)

Libor Pivko, MIL (2004)

Scottie Upshall, MIL (2004)

Greg Zanon, MIL (2004)

Mark Cullen, NOR (2003)

Eric Meloche, NOR (2005)

Jason Morgan, NOR (2001)

Steve Bancroft, OMA (1999)

Timofei Shishkanov, PEO (2004)

Marc Cavosie, PHI (2003)

Charlie Cook, PHI (2005)

Riley Cote, PHI (2005)

Ben Eager, PHI (2005)

Randy Jones, PHI (2005)

Freddy Meyer, PHI (2005)

Alexandre Picard, PHI (2005)

David Printz, PHI (2005)

Ryan Ready, PHI (2005)

Wade Skolney, PHI (2005)

John Slaney, PHI (2005)

Tony Voce, PHI (2005)

Dieter Kochan, POR (2003)

Chris Dyment, PRO (2003)

Eric Nickulas, PRO (1999)

David Cullen, ROC (2003)

Brandon Smith, ROC (1999)

Pavel Brendl, SA (2000)

Josh Gratton, SA (2005)

Pascal Rheaume, SA (2005)

Brad Tiley, SA (2004)

Zdenek Blatny, SPR (2002)

Dan Cavanaugh, SPR (2003)

Ray Schultz, SPR (2004)

Andy Delmore, SYR (1998)

Ben Simon, SYR (2002)

 

Additionally, nine AHL head coaches – Robbie Ftorek, John Anderson, Roy Sommer, Don Lever, Bruce Boudreau, Alain Vigneault, Claude Noel, John Stevens and Randy Cunneyworth – have won Calder Cups as players and/or coaches.

POWERED BY HOWARD … Rookie goaltender Jimmy Howard and the Grand Rapids Griffins are showing no signs of cruising into the 2006 Calder Cup Playoffs. Howard is 17-2-1 in his last 20 decisions and the Griffins have won seven straight to take a commanding nine-point lead over Houston and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton atop the overall league standings.

Grand Rapids played five games in seven nights from Mar. 12-18 and won them all in come-from-behind fashion. The Griffins are closing in on their third AHL division title in five seasons, and need eight wins in their final 10 games to match the league record of 57 victories set by the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers.

David LeNeveu turned aside all 53 shots he faced in San Antonio’s 3-0 win over Houston on Saturday night.

ETC.

Houston fired 94 shots at San Antonio goaltenders in a weekend home-and-home, but was shut out by both David LeNeveu (53 saves) and Karl Goehring (41 saves)

In his first game in a Wolf Pack uniform since 2002, Brad Smyth recorded five points in Hartford’s 8-2 win at Philadelphia on Wednesday to regain the franchise’s career scoring lead

Marc Cavosie scored all three Phantoms goals in Friday’s 3-2 overtime win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton

Gregg Naumenko played for his fourth AHL team of the season on Friday night, making 26 saves for Peoria in a 2-1 overtime loss at Manchester

Junior Lessard recorded nine points over a three-game span for Iowa last week

Darren Haydar scored his 100th AHL goal in Milwaukee’s 4-3 win over Houston on Friday

UMass-Lowell’s Mark Pandolfo, cousin of AHL graduates Jay and Mike Pandolfo, made his professional debut for the Lock Monsters on Sunday and recorded a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win over Manchester

Bruno Gervais scored his first NHL goal for the N.Y. Islanders on Sunday, on an assist from fellow 2006 AHL All-Star Jeff Tambellini

Omaha is 14-2-0-1 in its last 17 games overall, and 10-1-0-0 in its last 11 on the road

Hershey’s 2-1 decision over Albany on Saturday marked the Bears’ 13th consecutive win over the River Rats

Syracuse has reached 40 victories for the first time in its 12-year history

Portland will take a franchise best seven-game road winning streak into Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday.