Falcons Weekly Recap: Week 10
The Springfield Falcons wrapped up Week 10 of their AHL schedule with a 1-1 mark.
The Falcons were back on track, playing some consistent hockey. Saturday night, the Manchester Monarchs came to Springfield and beat the Falcons 3-2 in a close game. Territorially, the Falcons had the advantage for most of the night. In the end, Manchester profited from a deflected goal and then their D tightened up with their goalie, Jeff Zatkoff, turning in a solid third period for the win.
The bad news was defenseman Nick Holden, who had played all of the Falcons games so far, left the ice limping badly after his elbowing penalty. Our favorite twitterer, @KatyLovesHockey, tweeted the following after Sunday afternoon's game:
Holden is on crutches. I am very sad.
This week, the standings look like this:
AHL NORTHEAST DIVISION STANDINGS (as of 12/12/11):
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | GF | GA |
| Connecticut (NYR) | 26 | 15 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 33 | 83 | 76 |
| Adirondack (PHI) | 25 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 76 | 65 |
| Albany (NJD) | 25 | 12 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 61 | 76 |
| Bridgeport (NYI) | 26 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 77 | 87 |
| Springfield (CBJ) | 25 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 75 | 73 |
It's a rather cruel twist of fate, with the
Blue Jacketsas close to healthy as they've been all season and now the Falcons are feeling the injury bug biting them when they need it the least.
Two of the team's best d-men are now on the shelf for extended periods.
was on the ice for a presentation on Sunday, left arm in a cast. And as mentioned earlier, Nick Holden is on crutches. I don't have any further details on Nick's condition, but the crutches are definitely not a good sign.
The Falcons brought
up from the Chicago Express, presumably to fill Goloubef's spot. With the Express, Campbell in 20 games, was tied for third in team scoring (2-14-16) and played to a +3 rating. Now with Holden also sidelined, look for some maneuvering to help the Falcons rapidly depleted blueline.
Falcons Individual Stats:
| Player | Pos. | GP | G | A | Pts. | +/- | PIM |
| Martin St. Pierre | C | 23 | 6 | 22 | 28 | +7 | 14 |
| Nick Drazenovic | C | 17 | 5 | 15 | 20 | -1 | 12 |
| Cam Atkinson | RW | 23 | 12 | 7 | 19 | +5 | 16 |
| Alexandre Giroux | LW | 15 | 8 | 7 | 15 | +4 | 14 |
| Dane Byers | LW | 23 | 7 | 8 | 15 | -7 | 63 |
| Ryan Russell | C | 23 | 9 | 4 | 13 | +1 | 9 |
| Wade MacLeod | LW | 22 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 8 |
| David Savard | D | 17 | 2 | 8 | 10 | +4 | 10 |
| Nick Holden | D | 24 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -4 | 14 |
| Ryan Garlock | C | 23 | 1 | 7 | 8 | -4 | 6 |
| Cody Goloubef | D | 21 | 0 | 8 | 8 | -7 | 29 |
| Brent Regner | D | 24 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 2 |
| Tomas Kubalik | RW | 15 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -2 | 16 |
| Andrew Joudrey | C | 23 | 2 | 4 | 6 | +1 | 2 |
| Brett Lebda | D | 13 | 1 | 5 | 6 | +3 | 6 |
| Cody Bass | C | 7 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 13 |
| Matt Calvert | LW | 12 | 3 | 1 | 4 | -5 | 8 |
| Mike Thomas | RW | 18 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -5 | 9 |
| Adam Mair | C | 18 | 0 | 4 | 4 | -2 | 39 |
| Aaron Bogosian | LW | 18 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 16 |
| Ray Macias X | D | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +3 | 0 |
| John Moore X | D | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 2 |
| Teddy Ruth | D | 14 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 |
| Tim Spencer | LW | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Oliver Gabriel X | LW | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -5 | 0 |
| Dalton Prout | D | 19 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -5 | 18 |
| Darcy Campbell | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 2 |
| Chaz Johnson X | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Anton Blomqvist | D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 7 |
| Maksim Mayorov | LW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Allen York X | G | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Paul Dainton | G | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steven Delisle X | D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 8 |
| Manny Legace (SPR only) | G | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Danny Taylor X | G | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
GOALTENDING:
Manny Legace checks in at 15th in the AHL with a 2.41 GAA and a .916 save percentage.
I also wanted to mention that former Falcon, Danny Taylor, since joining the Abbotford Heat is 3-0-0, with a GAA of 0.67, a save percentage of .978 (no, that's not a typo) and has recorded one shutout. He's now ranked fifth among AHL goalies.
Transactions This Week:
Dec. 5: Allen York reassigned to the Chicago Express (ECHL)
Dec. 5: Paul Dainton recalled from Chicago Express
Dec. 9: Cody Bass returned from Columbus
Dec. 10: Darcy Campbell signed PTO.
Media This Week:
Bruce Landon tells us about a lunch meeting with some of Springfield's all time heavy hitters. The subject: Sports, what else???
With his impending callup to the Jackets, Garry Brown profiled Falcons captain Dane Byers last Tuesday.
The boys put up a five spot yesterday. Here are all five, cut into one minute, 15 seconds of pure joy. Not a cheapie in the bunch, all beauties!
Injury Report:
The injury list is growing. Anton Blomqvist, Nick Drazenovic, Cody Goloubef and Nick Holden are all on the shelf.
The Falcons return to the ice on Tuesday night at The Nest. They'll be closing out a five game homestand against the Worcester Sharks. Special game time is 6PM.
The Birds will close out their week on the ice with a pair of weekend games. Friday night in Providence against the Bruins and Saturday night in Albany when they take on the Devils. Both of those games are 7PM starts.