Player of the Week (October 20): The Albany River Rats' Steve Brule received the honors after scoring six points, four in one game, during the week. Brule had a four-point night against Adirondack and could have had a hat trick, but unselfishly passed the puck to a teammate for the final goal of the game (See A Little Help... below). He also had a pair of assists against Philadelphia and is presently in the AHL's top ten for scoring after leading the Rats in the scoring column last season.

Player of the Week (October 27): If an Albany player wins the POTW, it's a pretty safe bet an Adirondack player will try to top him and that's precisely what happened. The Red Wings' Stacey Roest received the award after a seven-point week, including four goals and at least one in each of the Wings' three games. Two of the goals were game-winners, including one over, you got it, Albany (he also beat Hamilton). Roest is in the top five in the three big scoring categories - goals, assists and points - to start the AHL season.

A Little Help...: The Devils failed to find much ice time for Patrik Elias in the early parts of the season, so he was dispatched to Albany - just in time to score a hat trick against reviled rivals Adirondack. Elias didn't score the trick on his own though, as he needed some assistance from his teammates. A shipment of incorrect sticks left Elias without sticks for the game, so he used Peter Zezel's sticks. Steve Brule was also a star of the game, with two goals and two assists, and had an opportunity to complete his hat trick into an empty net, but instead passed it to Elias who finished his hat trick with the short-handed score. Elias was called back to New Jersey a few days later.

...From My Friends: The Portland Pirate's rookie goaltender Sebastian Charpentier got a lot of help in his professional debut from Andrew Brunette, as Brunette scored two goals and earned the first assist on two others to cement the youngster's first win, 4-1 over Hartford. Charpentier did pretty well for himself, stopping 32 of 33 shots, and did particularly well considering it was the first time he'd seen the net in Portland's eight games. Of course, Charpentier wasn't supposed to be in Portland at all, but in Hampton Roads, and that's where he was sent a few days later; an injury to Bill Ranford kept Portland number one man Martin Brochu in Washington until recently, giving Charpentier a chance in the higher league.

Martin Brochu by Meredith Martini

Deja Vu All Over Again: After a six-year hiatus, AHL hockey finally returned to New Haven, Connecticut, on October 24. The Beast are a probationary team placed in New Haven largely because they had nowhere else to go; the city gets the team for two years in a last attempt to prove the city a viable site for hockey. Unfortunately one of the problems with New Haven caused the delayed opening night - the Veterans Memorial Coliseum needed some serious renovating and the Beast never saw the inside of the Coliseum until game day. The Beast were also missing their sweaters for the first several games, playing in their white practice jerseys and forcing their opponents to wear road unis at home.

But after a couple months of Yale practices, seven games worth of road trips (the team started off 3-3-1) and many hockey fashion faux pas, the Beast finally kicked off 'New Haven, New Hockey', utilizing the whole building (normally the upstairs is blocked off with a curtain) and giving the capacity crowd of 8,139 a 2-1 win over Worcester, largely on the efforts of goaltender Mike Fountain and specifically on defenseman Nolan Pratt cashing in on a 5-on-3 power play. The team even survived disastrous pre-game ceremonies a la one of their parent teams, the Hurricanes.

Better Late Than Never: It took them more than a year to do it, but the Thoroughblades posted their first ever road shutout October 22 against ever-popular rivals Hershey and it was one funky game. Jamie Ram was credited with the shutout and had plenty of support as his teammates scored twice on three shots in the first minute or so. Steve Guolla extended his scoring streak to six games with a goal 23 seconds in, and it took only 43 more for Peter Roed to pop one in. Then in the second period, Alexei Yegorov was awarded a penalty shot due to Steve Lingren closing his hand on the puck in the crease and made the Bears pay for it with the first successful penalty shot of the season. Hershey then scored its only goal of the game...which was promptly erased when it was realized offsides had been whistled long before Christian Matte scored. Kentucky finished off the scoring in the third period when Ray Schultz, who was taking his first shift of the entire game, scored his first professional goal. Meanwhile the Bears' home power-play futility continued, as they were 0-7 with the extra guy. Through this game, Kentucky had yet to be defeated this season - in regulation time. For that matter, the only team to defeat Kentucky at all this season is...Hershey. Guess what?

Christian Matte by Meredith Martini

The Bears and T-blades had at it again a few nights later and wouldn't you know, the Bears took their revenge and handed Kentucky their first regulation time loss of the year. It didn't help Kentucky that Guolla and Jarrod Skalde were recalled before the game and Jamie Ram wasn't in the building, but it did help Hershey to reacquire Wade Belak from Colorado. (Belak scored his first NHL goal, a game-winner against the Capitals, and was rewarded with a demotion. Go figure.) Hershey hadn't had a power-play goal at home yet, but Steve Lingren scored just eight seconds into Alexei Yegorov's penalty (a little revenge?) and picked up another extra-man goal later in the game which proved the game-winner. Christian Matte not only set up both of Lingren's goals, but scored his own power-play marker in the middle. Meanwhile, last season Hershey shipped out Petr Franek in frustration but he hasn't lost yet this season, stopping 40 shots by Kentucky. Kentucky's recently-demoted Alexander K! ! orolyuk scored his first AHL goal on the game's first shot but didn't last the game after taking a stick in the eye, and the T-blades were a big 0 for 8 on their power plays.

All In the Family: Sometimes you just know it's genetic. That would seem to be the case with Worcester goaltender Brent Johnson, who was originally ticketed for Hershey until Colorado traded him to St. Louis. (Johnson was recently recalled to St. Louis after an injury to Jamie MacLennan.) Johnson's father is Bob Johnson, goaltender for St. Louis and Pittsburgh for several years. And granddad is some guy named Sid Abel. I think I heard the name somewhere before, kinda familiar, hey didn't he play for Detroit?

When It's Good, You'll Know: And if it's really good, the opposition's audience will let you know. Portland goaltender Mike O'Neill received a full ovation recently...from the fans in Saint John! He deserved it too, after stopping an amazing 51 of 52 shots on the night, committing outright robbery in many instances. O'Neill stopped 21 shots in the second period alone, but after allowing one goal in the first period (a Paxton Schulte deflection, scored on the power play) was actually in danger of losing the game. Fortunately, Dwayne Hay managed to put a shot past Tyler Moss midway through the third period to gain O'Neill and the rest of the Pirates a 1-1 tie.

Dwayne Hay by Meredith Martini

Ugly Is Ugly: And that was what the Syracuse Crunch and Rochester Americans played, in a game marked by a total of 262 penalty minutes, 11 full blown brawls, and eight game misconduct. Syracuse's Paul Ferone not only received a game misconduct, but also a rare gross misconduct. The largest of the brawls occurred with just 16 seconds remaining in the game and league discipline seems likely. The main sources of the problem were Rochester's four-goal second period and the seventh consecutive loss for the Crunch, who really didn't take it very well.

Turnabout Is Fair Play: The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks started the season a little short in the goaltending department, but they've made up for it lately. Sophomore stopper Tom Askey pitched Cincinnati's first shutout on Halloween night against Kentucky, and the next night the previously suspect Chris Mason turned in an excellent game and his first professional win against Hershey.

Uhh...Whatever: The IceCats' Chris Kenady has been on a tear this season, most recently culminating in a hat trick against the Portland Pirates. What was unusual about this particularly hat trick was the fact hats weren't the only article of clothing found on the ice afterwards. Something a little lower...underwear...OK, it was a bra. A teal one. Really. I wouldn't make this up.

Chris Kenady by Kevin Fischer

Is It Over Yet?: There are bad weeks, and then there are the weeks like the one Albany River Rat Eric Bertrand recently experienced. Bertrand kicked off his week by getting into a car accident, suffering a concussion, and missing a game. A few days later he badly cut his hand on a can opener. With numerous stitches in hand, Bertrand proceeded with the Rats to Hershey, where he was hit in the eye with a puck. More stitches and a truly awesome shiner. Fortunately the week ended a little better for Eric with a pair of goals against Springfield, but all the same it's doubtful he wants to relive the experience.

Plus One Sweater, Minus One Puck: The Hershey Bears went deep into their closet seeking a new look and found one in something old, to be specific, their World War II era sweaters. The old-style jerseys were debuted Halloween night against Albany, and will be used occasionally throughout the season...including the next evening against Cincinnati. Good thing they added a sweater though, because they lost a puck. Pucks hitting center ice scoreboards aren't too unusual, except when Cincinnati's penalty kill clearing attempt achieved more height than distance, Hershey's lights/PA combo decided to keep the puck. The puck was stuck. The game went on.

Other Stuff:

The Springfield Falcons are now unbeaten in 22 consecutive home games (17 wins, two in OT, and five ties). The streak goes back to February of this year and ties the AHL's all-time record, originally set by the Boston Braves. The record could be broken Nov. 7 when Portland visits...

Portland's Steve Poapst signed a two-year contract extension with the Pirates. Poapst is the only player remaining of those who came to Portland from Baltimore, and the contract will bring his tenure with the team to the seven-year mark...

The Kentucky Thoroughblades played three straight overtime games, going 1-1-1. The first two games also ended by the same score, 4-3, as the 'Blades defeated Albany but lost to Hershey. They completed the hat trick with a 1-1 tie against Cincinnati, with both goals coming during Cincinnati power plays...

Mike Maneluk continues his tour of AHL teams, as the Ottawa Senators traded him to the Philadelphia Flyers. Maneluk moved from Worcester to the Phantoms in the process, his third AHL team...

Corey Hirsch decided to play for Syracuse after all. Also joining him there are Mark Wotton, Alek Stojanov and Tuomas Gronman, so the Crunch could be a tough team to play...

Saint John shook up their lineup, sending Jim Dowd and Tyler Moss to the big team in exchange for Denis Gauthier and Dwayne Roloson...

It had to happen - the injury bug struck the Capitals again, bringing four of Portland's top scorers to Washington. Andrew Brunette and Todd Krygier returned to the bigs, while Ryan Mulhern and Dwayne Hay made their NHL debuts...

Hershey hasn't scored at even-strength in two weeks, with five games during that time. The Bears were shut out twice, and in the other three games had six power-play goals and one goal on a delayed penalty...

Providence was unbeaten in four games until New Haven came to town and defeated them 5-2 on a pair from Kevin Brown. New Haven had been on a losing streak...

Former Boston Bruin Cam Neely turned down the Capitals' offer of an assistant coaching job, but turned up in Providence recently to pass along some knowledge to the young Bruins...

The Hershey Bears had a little trouble with the power play to start the season. They went 0-24 in their first four home games, and didn't capitalize on a chance at home until Steve Lingren picked up a pair in their fifth game. Then they scored only on the power play in their next five...

Peter Zezel by Meredith Martini

Peter Zezel and defending Hobey Baker winner Brendan Morrison each doubled up on the Philadelphia Phantoms, scoring a pair of goals each to gain the River Rats a 5-5 tie against the Phantoms. The Phantoms' Peter White also had two goals, plus two assists as the Phantoms went unbeaten in five games...

Hartford received an offensive jump start from the parent Rangers when Marc Savard was sent down for a game, but promptly had the plug pulled when Savard was called back the next day. Hartford also lost Pierre Sevigny to the big club...

The Hamilton Bulldogs dropped their opening game and haven't lost since then. The 'dogs are also the only AHL team to have posted two shutouts so far this season...

The entire Atlantic Division is being coached by rookies. Fortunately all but Fredericton came out of the gate quickly, so the freshmen still have a chance to become sophomores...

The Worcester IceCats were a little late in putting out an official web site, but the site is debuting with a major bang. CBS featured the site on a Web-related television show October 25...

Syracuse Crunch d-man Sven Butenschon was called back to Pittsburgh pretty quickly, partly due to injuries to the Pens' blueline but partly because he led the league in defense goal-scoring with four...

Good thing Adirondack defeated the St. John's Maple Leafs recently. It was the first time in 13 games the Red Wings left a Maritime game with a win, dating back to 1995...

Cincinnati defenseman Ruslan Salei had nine points in six games recently, while winger Mike LeClerc had seven points in the same six games. The difference is Salei was recalled to Anaheim...

Buffalo and Rochester can quit sniping at each other over Dane Jackson, at least for a month - he had knee surgery and will miss about four weeks...

It took Kentucky's Brendan Yarema several games into the season to score, but he must've liked it - he had a pair of goals and an assist against Cincinnati October 26. One of the goals broke Kentucky's 0-for-30 power (play) outage...

Albany's Colin White racked up 46 penalty minutes in one game, including two game misconducts. Not a record, as Wally Weir of the Amerks had 54 in one game back in 1981, but a nice try for the rookie nevertheless...

New Haven didn't score a short-handed goal until their tenth game, when Ryan Johnson beat JF Labbe for the Beast's only goal of the game...

The Hartford Wolf Pack are better short-handed than on the power play, as demonstrated by their having scored more than one short-handed goal in a single game twice already this season...

The Phantoms are riding an eight-game unbeaten streak...

Sharks head man Darryl Sutter may have taken a dislike to Steve Guolla in training camp, but after the Thoroughblade led the AHL in plus/minus (+7) and short-handed goals (2), and was third in both assists (9) and overall points (12), well, you gotta recall him and the Sharks did...

The Phantoms' Bruce Coles had an eight-point week, bringing him just short of the league's scoring leader, his linemate Peter White...

Philadelphia defenseman Jamie Heward leads AHL defensemen in scoring with 12 points, but he didn't score a goal until October 26...

The Bruins demoted Paxton Schaefer to Charlotte to make room for rookie John Grahame. So far, so good, as the former backup to Blaine Lacher at Lake Superior State is 3-2-1, along with an impressive .924 save percentage...

The Albany River Rats unleashed 92 shots in two games and didn't win either game...

The Amerks' rookie Denis Hamel had a somewhat unusual first professional hat trick against the Bulldogs, as two goals came on the power play and one was short-handed...

Another rookie turning the trick was the Springfield Falcons' Daniel Briere, who did it against Adirondack. Briere made it interesting, scoring the third and game-winning goal with just 13 seconds remaining in the game...

Kentucky's Alexei Yegorov also had a hat trick against Philadelphia Nov. 2, the last goal coming in the final minute with Jamie Ram pulled for an extra attacker. It also tied the game...

Briere and Philadelphia's Andy Delmore lead the rookie scoring parade with 12 points each. The leading rookie goal-scorers in the NHL, Richard Zednik and Vaclav Prospal, both spent last season in the AHL...

Every player on the Hamilton Bulldogs and Kentucky Thoroughblades is playing at even or plus...

Only Adirondack has yet to play overtime this season. Cincinnati finally picked up their first OT victory at Hershey November 1, their sixth OT game already (1-3-2)...

Fredericton's Jose Theodore leads the league in minutes played (despite being tossed from one game) and also leads in total saves...

The Thoroughblades went 330+ minutes without giving up an even-strength goal...

Saint John Flames' Ladislav Kohn leads the league in plus-minus at plus eight, and teammate Eric Charron leads defensemen in the same category with a plus-six...

St. John's Maple Leaf Brandon Convery leads the league in shooting percentage, lighting the lamp on more than a third of his shots (34.8%, or eight for 23). He is also responsible for 44.4% of the Leafs' goals so far this season, as well as half their power-play goals...

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