LCS Hockey - AHL NEWS

AHL News
by Tricia McMillan, AHL Correspondent

Sifting Through the Remains: The biggest news/mess of the off-season was easily the travails of the financially distraught Albany River Rats, who came within 24 hours of having the franchise suspended and the AHL moving on without them. For reasons as yet unclear, the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee repeatedly stalled efforts by area businessman and minority Rats owner Charles Robb to buy out majority owner Albert Lawrence in favor of trying to get a higher price for Lawrence's shares. What was that about taking what you can get?

At any rate, with the Rats already in arrears to three different NHL teams (New Jersey, Detroit, and Boston) the AHL didn't want the River Rats functioning until there was a payoff or sufficient commitment to same from ownership to the NHL teams. Without an owner, no payoff. So the AHL devised two separate schedules, one with and one without Albany, and held up the release of either schedule until the Court assured the league there would be an owner and he would pay up to the NHL teams. And, finally, the Court conceded only Robb was going to make a financially sound offer and sold the team to him outright. The AHL approved the sale a month later. Robb has made good on the team's debts to date and announced he wants the Rats to stay in Albany.

End of story? Maybe not. Businessman Joseph O'Hara attempted to buy the team as well but his offer was turned down. O'Hara has announced he intends to sue the Bankruptcy Court and possibly Robb as well. This one won't end any time soon.

At Least They're Owned: The sale of the Portland Pirates also became a point of contention when the intended new owner, John Hathaway, showed up at the formal announcement ceremony and announced he'd changed his mind. No details given, just 'see ya'. (It later developed Hathaway could not finalize the finances of the deal).

The Pirates wound up being sold to Mentmore Holdings Corporation, a New York company which has promised a practice rink for the Pirates and other local teams, and would like to build a new arena for AHL games. The subsidiary which will run the Pirates, Family Ice Enterprises, is run by Rick Dudley of NHL Enterprises fame. Running the Pirates themselves will be John Eisenberg, formerly president of the Buffalo Blizzard soccer team, who opened his tenure by signing the Pirates to a three- year lease with the Civic Center with two extension options, guaranteeing the Pirates will remain in Portland for at least three years.

Staying and Coming: One of the AHL's more endangered franchises can be taken off the protected list for at least six years. The Toronto Maple Leafs agreed to keep the baby Leafs in St. John's through the 2004-05 season while Newfoundland works on plans for a $36-million, 6,000-seat arena and convention center to be built hopefully by 2000. The present arena is smaller than the current standards and didn't seat enough people to offset the exceptional travel costs associated with flying to the Rock. The new arena will be managed by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the same guys handling the job in Toronto.

One more thing - the new deal includes a stipulation that the parent Leafs get extra money when attendance rises, plus better attendance assists the province government in getting funding. Translation - the Maple Leafs are going to make a point of putting a good team in St. John's this year. Maybe better than the one in Toronto.

Coming...maybe...sort of is Hampton Roads. After many years of begging, haggling and extortion, the AHL approved Hampton Roads to become the league's 22nd franchise in the year 2000. This finally came about when the ownership of the Scope, home of the Admirals, worked a provision into the Admirals' lease requiring them to join a higher level league by the year 2000 or be evicted. That'll motivate you. There remain an assortment of ownership and affiliation questions (Los Angeles is very interested in an arrangement), and much may occur between now and the team taking the ice in 2000.

What In The...: It was bad enough that for two seasons in a row, the Calder Cup finalists had never seen each other before. But at least the AHL was bright enough to have Hershey and Hamilton open the next season against each other. Not only will Saint John and Philadelphia not open against each other, they won't play each other period. Not unless they both go to the finals again. All the odder considering Fredericton and St. John's will wander south to face off against Philadelphia and Hershey a few times. What were they thinking in West Springfield...or are they even thinking?

Ride The Carousel: All buckled up and ready to go? Here are the coaching and affiliation changes which occurred late last season or during the off-season, by division.

Atlantic
Unlike other AHL teams, who merely changed coaches, Saint John's coaching situation got really weird. As you may recall, last season the Mighty Ducks wanted Calgary assistant coach Pierre Page to coach in Anaheim (apparently not as much as they said they did, but that's another story). Calgary initially insisted on a compensation package of draft picks and cash that was considered more than a little high.

Flash forward to this year. Saint John head man Bill Stewart, who also happened to be the Coach of the Year in the AHL, was interviewed by several NHL teams to be their new head coach and apparently at least one (the Islanders?) was extremely interested in hiring him. But Stewart was still under contract to Calgary, and rather than release him from the second year of his contract to take a positional promotion, a standard act in professional sports, Calgary was rumored to have demanded a third-round pick and a half-million cash to release Stewart. Yikes, said the formerly interested NHL team, and backed off. Stewart was quite livid and refused to work for the Flames this season.

THEN the Flames willingly released him for a seventh-round pick, and Stewart joined the Islanders as an associate coach. Stewart and the Flames evidently were less than enthralled with each other prior to this incident, largely over Calgary's failure to keep a full roster in Saint John last year, and thus the Flames hired what they hope will be a yes-man in Rick Vaive to coach Saint John this season. Assistant Jeff Perry had an additional year remaining on his contract and will stay on for at least this season.

Meanwhile, back in the less politically active areas of the division, Portland head coach Bryan Trottier vamoosed to become an assistant with the Colorado Avalanche and was replaced by Mark Kumpel, most recently of the ECHL's Dayton Bombers. Kumpel has considerable playing experience in the AHL and NHL and was the Capitals' first choice for the job. Assistant Jay Wells followed Trottier to the Avalanche organization and was replaced by Neil Belland. The Pirates also added something else - a partial affiliation with the Chicago Blackhawks that will net the Pirates up to seven Hawks prospects.

Fredericton will not be home to any Los Angeles prospects this season, and for that reason assistant coach John Perpich, a member of the Kings organization, will not be back. He is replaced by Gerry Fleming...yes, THAT Gerry Fleming. Fleming retired over the summer and was rewarded for his tenure with the team with the assistant's job - all the more interesting considering Fleming and head coach Michel Therrien didn't see eye-to-eye much last season.

Last but not least, St. John's opted to stay the course and Al MacAdam will head the helm again, aided and abetted by Rich Brown.

New England
New guys all around in Lowell, as the expansion team sets up shop as an Islanders affiliate and taps Roanoke Express head man Frank Anzalone to head up the first year team. Big surprise too, Lowell's ECHL affiliate will be - Roanoke. Wonder how that happened.

The LA Kings abandoned Fredericton in favor of their other AHL affiliate, Springfield. The Falcons will have 8-10 Kings prospects on the roster and John Perpich comes over from Fredericton to be an assistant coach.

The Worcester IceCats fired longtime assistant coach Paul Pickard and replaced him with local boy Steve Pleau.

Last season the Providence Bruins were enough to make a strong man cry and, in this case, to get Tom McVie and Rod Langway fired, not that they had anything to work with. Replacing McVie is longtime P-Bruin Peter Laviolette, who holds the franchise record for games played and is coming off a strong rookie coaching season with the ECHL's Wheeling Nailers...where he replaced McVie as head coach. A pattern developing here. As with Fredericton, one of last year's P-Bruins will move to a playing/coaching position and assist Laviolette - Bill Armstrong will tackle the job.

Hartford and New Haven both stay put with EJ Maguire and Kevin McCarthy, respectively. In fact, the Hurricanes extended McCarthy's contract by a few years.

Empire
Hamilton head man Lorne Molleken was tapped by the Islanders to be an assistant in Nassau; he was replaced by recently dismissed Anaheim assistant coach Walt Kyle, last seen in the AHL with the ill-fated Baltimore Bandits. Kyle, who has also coached the WHL Seattle Thunderbirds, the IHL San Diego Gulls and the U.S. World Junior Team, has signed on for at least two years with the Bulldogs.

Rochester and Albany made no changes, although Randy Cunneyworth may become a player/assistant coach for Rochester should he be assigned there.

Adirondack assistant coach Murray Eaves skipped down the ladder to become the head man for ECHL affiliate Toledo; taking his place is former Wing and longtime tough guy Marc Potvin, who just recently retired from playing. Adirondack also welcomes a new GM in Detroit's Jim Nill, who replaces Don Waddell, who will be the GM for the expansion Atlanta Thrashers team. The Red Wings are exclusively that this year, having deep-sixed the Lightning as an affiliate.

In Syracuse, Mike Keenan hasn't had his usual hissy fit and Jack McIlhargey retains his job.

Mid-Atlantic
Hershey head coach Bob Hartley moved up to Colorado as the new head dude for the Avalanche; moving down from behind the Avalanche bench to take Hartley's spot is Mike Foligno. Assistant coach Bob McGill went south to head the ECHL's Baton Rouge Kingfish, so to replace him Hershey will see Portland assistant Jay Wells move south. Hershey also adopts a few Ottawa prospects this season to bolster the roster.

Kentucky head coach Jim Wiley was kicked upstairs after a fashion, to be replaced by Sharks assistant coach Roy Sommer. Wiley's assistant, Mark Kaufman, was kicked both up and down as he was sent down to new affiliate Richmond to be their head coach. Kentucky replaces secondary affiliate New York Islanders with the Florida Panthers to boot, although Florida will not have as many players or as much say on the team as did the Islanders.

Cincinnati, utter disaster that they are, and Philadelphia, with championship in tow, made no changes.

Just to keep everything in perspective, a list of all conferences, divisions, teams, affiliates, coaches and ECHL affiliates as known or assumed. If it's new, it's in bold.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Atlantic Division

Fredericton Canadiens (Montreal) - Michel Therrien, Gerry Fleming - New Orleans.

Portland Pirates (Washington/Chicago) - Mark Kumpel, Neil Belland - Hampton Roads.

Saint John Flames (Calgary) - Rick Vaive, Jeff Perry - Johnstown.

St. John's Maple Leafs (Toronto) - Al MacAdam, Rich Brown - Peoria.

New England Division

Hartford Wolf Pack (NY Rangers) - EJ Maguire, Mike Busniuk - Charlotte.

Lowell Lock Monsters (NY Islanders) - Frank Anzalone - Roanoke.

Beast of New Haven (Carolina/Florida) - Kevin McCarthy, Joe Paterson - Miami, Tallahassee.

Providence Bruins (Boston) - Peter Laviolette, Bill Armstrong - Charlotte.

Springfield Falcons (Phoenix/Los Angeles) - Dave Farrish, Ron Wilson - Mississippi.

Worcester IceCats (St. Louis) - Greg Gilbert, Steve Pleau - Baton Rouge.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Empire Division

Adirondack Red Wings (Detroit) - Glenn Merkosky, Marc Potvin - Toledo.

Albany River Rats (New Jersey) - John Cunniff, Red Gendron - Augusta.

Hamilton Bulldogs (Edmonton) - Walt Kyle - New Orleans.

Rochester Americans (Buffalo) - Brian McCutcheon, Randy Cunneyworth? - South Carolina.

Syracuse Crunch (Vancouver/Pittsburgh) - Jack McIlhargey, Chris Patrick - Augusta.

Mid-Atlantic Division

Cincinnati Mighty Ducks (Anaheim) - Moe Mantha, Eddie Johnstone - Huntington.

Hershey Bears (Colorado/Ottawa) - Mike Foligno, Jay Wells - Chesapeake.

Kentucky Thoroughblades (San Jose/Florida) - Roy Sommer - Richmond, Miami.

Philadelphia Phantoms (Philadelphia) - Bill Barber, Mike Stothers - none.

Justice Is Trying: The AHL may not have considered Philadelphia Phantom Jesse Boulerice's OHL playoff attack on New Haven Beast Andrew Long as serious as the OHL did, suspending him for a quarter of the season rather than the whole thing, but the Michigan courts are taking it seriously. Long filed criminal assault charges against Boulerice in Michigan and after an investigation, the police and states attorney concurred with Long and filed assault charges against Boulerice. Boulerice is expected to go to trial on October 10 and could receive up to ten years in prison, although probation and community service seem more likely.

No Longer Cordial: Last season, relations between the Rochester Americans and New York Islanders were sufficiently pleasant that the Islanders agreed to let Dane Jackson continue playing for the Amerks despite being on the Islanders roster. It ain't gonna happen again. The Islanders signed Amerk Craig Charron to an NHL contract although he had another year left on his contract with Rochester; this was okey-dokey with Rochester as they had agreed to an NHL escape clause in Charron's contract. Problem was the Islanders had no intention of actually having Charron play in the NHL; they wanted him to play in Lowell. Having an AHL contract in Rochester would appear to preclude Charron playing for another AHL team, and the league sided with the Amerks on that one. The Islanders, in a snit, yanked Jackson off the Amerks team and frankly I doubt Jody Gage and Mike Milbury are talking right now.

Heading East: Some of those full-time or part-time AHL players who took off for Europe this season are:

Germany
Augsburg: Francois Groleau (Fredericton)
Cologne: Ricard Persson (Worcester)
Hannover: Scott Metcalfe (Rochester)
Ratingen: Burke Murphy (Saint John)
Landshut: Greg Bullock (St. John s), Mike Casselman (Rochester)
Frankfurt: Victor Gervais (Portland)
Bietigheim/Bissingen (Bundesliga): Patrick Labrecque (Hershey)

Austria
Villach: Jean-Yves Roy (Providence), Mike O`Neill (Portland), Marty Murray (Saint John)

Czech Republic
Sparta Prague: Ladislav Benysek (Hamilton)

Finland
Jan Benda (Portland)

Sweden
Djurgarden Stockholm: Per-Erik Eklund (Adirondack), Espen Knutsen (Cincinnati)

Thanks to Bernd Freimueller in Germany for keeping track of everybody jumping to Europe. And congratulations to him on becoming the head European scout for the Atlanta Thrashers.

Look Ma! We're on TV!: You didn't have to be eagle-eyed to see a lot of the Hartford Wolfpack this summer. The team appeared in a pair of commercials for Norelco shavers which were prominently shown during all manner of sports telecasts as well as other programming aimed at the 18-30 set. And if you missed them, one, buy a television and two, they're a real hoot.

Norelco sent the shavers to the team incognito and then asked for players' reactions. They who had the best answers appeared in the commercials - Derek Armstrong, Brent Thompson, PJ Stock, Adam Smith and Chris Winnes. Armstrong is also appearing in a print version of the ad.

Awards: Just because the season ended didn't mean the awards did. The AHL saves the front office and media awards for the off-season and they were distributed as follows:

The James H. Ellery Award for media coverage normally goes to one person each in print, radio and television. But this year voters couldn't make up their minds and the print award is shared by Brendan McCarthy of the St. John's Telegram and Bill Ballou of the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. The television award was given to Rich Coppola of WTIC-TV in Hartford and the radio award went to Lance McAllister of WBOB-AM; no city/team was noted for McAllister.

The Ken McKenzie Award is given to the marketing director adjudged by the AHL to have done the best promotional job in the past season and Rochester Americans' Vice President of Marketing Chris Palin picked it up in his second season working for the Amerks, largely due to increasing advertising by almost two/thirds and running gametime entertainments.

The Thomas Ebright Award was created last season after the death of the Portland Pirates owner to recognize overall contributions to the league, so the first award went to the AHL Chairman of the Board, Jack Butterfield. Butterfield also served as AHL President for 28 years before taking over the chair in 1993. Butterfield is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame and recipient of two Hendy awards, and won the 1985 Lester Patrick Award.

Oh yeah, the James C. Hendy Award as outstanding executive - this year it was given to the Philadelphia Phantoms' Chief Operating Officer, Frank Miceli. In addition to his resemblance to Mike Keenan, Miceli served as general manager for the Phantoms as they broke attendance records on all sides en route to the Calder Cup Championships.