AHL Player of the Week (Photo by Jon Fobes , Cleveland Plain Dealer)
What hockey fans already know is the NHL has cancelled 135 games. What everyone should do is channel that fanhood to the AHL. The minor hockey league is 10 days into a great season. Here’s what you ought to know…
The Conference Leaders…
The Syracuse Crunch lead the Eastern Conference with 9 points (4-0-0-1). The Bridgeport Sound Tigers (3-0-0-0) and Manchester Monarchs (3-1-0-0) follow with six points each. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins sit at the bottom of the barrel with four consecutive losses.
In the Western Conference, the Lake Erie Monsters take the number one spot thanks to their 17 goals, otherwise they share a 4-1-0-0 record with Chicago. They are being closely followed the Charlotte Checkers (3-1-0-1) and Abbotsford Heat (3-0-0-1).
The Top Scorers…
Cory Conacher of Syracuse has claimed a beautiful nine points in five contests (4g,5a), including a goal in the 6-5 overtime victory in Binghamton on Saturday night. Syracuse came back after a huge five goal deficit.
Marcus Foligno of Rochester and Tyler Johnson of Syracuse follow with a respectable eight points, each earning five goals and three assists.
Oklahoma City Barons defenseman Justin Schultz has been selected as the CCM/AHL Player of the Week. Schultz scored two shorthanded goals, and got the helper on the game-winning goal in the Barons’ home opener on Friday night.
T.J. Brennan of Rochester leads defencemen with seven points (3g, 4a).
Abbotsford’s Roman Horak is on a four-goal streak that kicked off October 12th.
The Top Tendies…
The goalies are a bit more difficult to truly judge as the games played range from one to five, but just looking at save percentage, Matt Climie of Chicago takes the cake with .967 SV% (29 saves) in one outing. Barry Brust of the Heat also has just one game under his breezers, but earned a .962 SV% with 25 stops. Lake Erie’s rookie, Calvin Pickard, has managed the crease in three games and blocked 94 shots to earn a .969 SV%. Binghamton’s Robin Lehner has played the most games with five showings and has an impressive .954 SV%.
Shirt of the Day: Super soft unisex tee available at www.outeredgethreads.com
The NHL Venues Seeing Action…
Buffalo, Montreal, St. Paul, Washington, Raleigh, and Philadelphia are NHL cities scheduled to host AHL games this season. Rochester Americans travel to Buffalo to host the Hamilton Bulldogs at the First Niagara Center on October 23rd. The Toronto Marlies will play a home game at Air Canada Centre on Dec. 26, and Detroit will host an outdoor game between Toronto and Grand Rapids at Comerica Park on Dec. 30.
That’s what you ought to know puck heads. Follow us on Twitter to keep up with AHL news and more.
Shirt of the Day: Since our team, Charlotte Checkers, lead the South Division in the West, Southern Creases gets the nod.
