The Springfield Falcons enjoyed a quiet Week 12 of the AHL season. Only one game, a 6-3 pasting of the Worcester Sharks, was the on ice highlight of the week.
After a scoring slump where the Birds lit the lamp with just three regulation goals in their previous three outings, the Falcons attacked the Sharks early and often to prevail on the Sharks home ice.
This week, the standings look like this:
AHL NORTHEAST DIVISION STANDINGS (as of 12/26/11):
| Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | GF | GA |
| Connecticut (NYR) | 30 | 17 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 38 | 95 | 86 |
| Albany (NJD) | 31 | 14 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 33 | 73 | 95 |
| Adirondack (PHI) | 29 | 15 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 32 | 84 | 78 |
| Springfield (CBJ) | 29 | 14 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 85 | 81 |
| Bridgeport (NYI) | 30 | 12 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 28 | 83 | 102 |
The Falcons embark on a busy New Year’s week when they travel to Syracuse, NY to meet the Crunch on Wednesday night. Springfield then returns home on Friday night to take on the Providence Bruins. New Year’s Eve sees the Falcons take a short trip down I-91 to meet the Connecticut Whale to close out the week.
In what was likely the most upsetting news of the week for Falcons fans, Bruce Landon revealed in his weekly blog:
Nick Drazenovic, who was leading our team in scoring, suffered a concussion and there is no timetable for his return.
Falcons Individual Stats:
| Player | Pos. | GP | G | A | Pts. | +/- | PIM |
| Martin St. Pierre | C | 27 | 6 | 23 | 29 | +7 | 18 |
| Cam Atkinson | RW | 27 | 15 | 9 | 24 | +8 | 18 |
| Nick Drazenovic | C | 17 | 5 | 15 | 20 | -1 | 12 |
| Alexandre Giroux | LW | 19 | 9 | 7 | 16 | +4 | 18 |
| Dane Byers X | LW | 23 | 7 | 9 | 16 | -7 | 63 |
| Ryan Russell | C | 27 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 13 |
| Ryan Garlock | C | 26 | 3 | 8 | 11 | -2 | 11 |
| David Savard | D | 21 | 2 | 9 | 11 | +4 | 20 |
| Wade MacLeod | LW | 22 | 2 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 8 |
| Tomas Kubalik | RW | 19 | 5 | 3 | 8 | -3 | 18 |
| Nick Holden | D | 24 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -4 | 14 |
| Brent Regner | D | 28 | 1 | 7 | 8 | +3 | 2 |
| Cody Goloubef | D | 21 | 0 | 8 | 8 | -7 | 29 |
| Matt Calvert | LW | 16 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -2 | 8 |
| Brett Lebda | D | 17 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +3 | 8 |
| Cody Bass | C | 10 | 2 | 4 | 6 | -1 | 35 |
| Andrew Joudrey | C | 27 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Mike Thomas | RW | 21 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -6 | 16 |
| Adam Mair | C | 20 | 0 | 4 | 4 | -3 | 41 |
| Aaron Bogosian | LW | 21 | 2 | 1 | 3 | -1 | 20 |
| Ray Macias X | D | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +3 | 0 |
| John Moore X | D | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 2 |
| Teddy Ruth | D | 18 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -1 | 11 |
| Maksim Mayorov | LW | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 6 |
| Tim Spencer | LW | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 17 |
| Oliver Gabriel X | LW | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -5 | 0 |
| Dalton Prout | D | 23 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -3 | 18 |
| Patrick Cullity (with Springfield) | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 |
| Manny Legace (with Springfield) | G | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Chaz Johnson X | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Anton Blomqvist | D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 7 |
| Darcy Campbell X | D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Paul Dainton X | G | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Allen York | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steven Delisle X | D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 8 |
| Danny Taylor X | G | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
GOALTENDING:
Manny Legace continued his climb up the goaltender ranks of the AHL. Manny now checks in at 6th best in the AHL with a 2.23 GAA and a .923 save percentage. Over the past month, while the Falcons have struggled with injuries and scoring, Legace has been as good as it gets in net for the Falcons.
Elsewhere, last year’s goalie, David LeNeveu checks in at 4th best in the league. Lenny is with the Oklahoma City Barons (Edmonton Oilers) and has a 2.07 GAA and a .927 save percentage along with one shutout to his credit.
Danny Taylor, now with Abbotsford, is 14th in the league. His numbers are 2.37 GAA, .924 save percentage and 1 shutout for the Heat.
Transactions This Week:
Dec. 23: Dane Byers (LW) returned by Columbus
Dec. 26: Dane Byers (LW) recalled by Columbus
Dec. 26: Chad Costello signed to a PTO
Costello at the time of his signing, was playing for the Colorado Eagles of the ECHL and leading the league in scoring.
Injury Report:
Mentioned earlier, Nick Drazenovic is out of the lineup indefinitely with a concussion. Cody Goloubef remains out as does fellow blueliner Nick Holden. Anton Blomqvist still has not returned to the lineup.
Two of the three Falcons games this week are out of their division (Syracuse and Providence). Saturday’s game in Hartford is against the first place team in the Falcons division, so this could be a tough week for the depleted Falcons lineup.