Falcons Weekly Recap: Week 26.5
As good as Sunday was for the character of this hockey team, Wednesday brought a 180, as the Falcons were victimized by some bad breaks, and dropped a crucial 3-2 game in Bridgeport in front of about 6000 screaming school kids. In other games relative to the chase for the playoffs, Portland went into St. John's and beat the IceCaps 5-1. Syracuse continued their hot play, defeating Binghamton 5-1 in Syracuse. Worcester, with barely a pulse, beat Albany 2-1 to stir the pot just a bit more.
Fittingly, the week (and a half) started and finished with games in Bridgeport. The Friday night game was out of control early, as the Sound Tigers won handily 6-2. The roller coaster Falcons returned home for a Saturday night game against Providence. The first sellout crowd in over four years saw a great hockey game and the Falcons beat the Bruins 3-1. This was only the third win in ten games against Providence this season. Sunday, the Falcons closed their last three-in-three of the season out in Worcester. Springfield spotted the Sharks a deuce, but came roaring back with a big third period to take a 3-2 win. Standings and stats after the jump:
AHL EASTERN CONFERENCE STANDINGS (as of 4/5/12):
| Pos. | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | GF | GA |
| 1. | Norfolk Admirals (TB) | 71 | 50 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 103 | 254 | 173 |
| 2. | St. John's IceCaps (WPG) | 71 | 41 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 90 | 227 | 199 |
| 3. | Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI) | 71 | 38 | 24 | 3 | 6 | 85 | 219 | 208 |
| 4. | Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (PIT) | 71 | 41 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 89 | 222 | 205 |
| 5. | Hershey Bears (WSH) | 70 | 38 | 21 | 4 | 7 | 87 | 233 | 203 |
| 6. | Connecticut Whale (NYR) | 70 | 34 | 24 | 7 | 5 | 80 | 201 | 195 |
| 7. | Syracuse Crunch (ANA) | 71 | 34 | 27 | 5 | 5 | 78 | 229 | 222 |
| 8. | Manchester Monarchs (LA) | 71 | 36 | 31 | 1 | 3 | 76 | 191 | 195 |
| 9. | Portland Pirates (PHX) | 72 | 33 | 30 | 4 | 5 | 75 | 208 | 242 |
| 10. | Adirondack Phantoms (PHI) | 70 | 34 | 32 | 2 | 2 | 72 | 187 | 198 |
| 11. | Springfield Falcons (CBJ) | 72 | 33 | 33 | 3 | 3 | 72 | 201 | 221 |
| 12. | Albany Devils (NJD) | 71 | 30 | 30 | 6 | 5 | 71 | 179 | 209 |
| 13. | Providence Bruins (BOS) | 71 | 32 | 32 | 3 | 4 | 74 | 180 | 202 |
| 14. | Worcester Sharks (SJ) | 70 | 29 | 30 | 4 | 7 | 69 | 185 | 201 |
| 15. | Binghamton Senators (OTT) | 72 | 28 | 38 | 4 | 2 | 62 | 194 | 232 |
The hottest teams in the East are the Norfolk Admirals, who continue to win. Their streak is now at 23 consecutive wins. Their last loss was February 5th in Springfield. The other is the Syracuse Crunch. Currently on a 9-0-2 streak, the Crunch picked the right time of the season for a run like that.
Likely the biggest news of the week (and a half) for Springfield was the loss of Matt Calvert. Calvert blocked a shot in Saturday night's game against Providence and hasn't been back since. Coach Riley after the game didn't even give the predictable "day to day" response when asked about Calvert's condition, but termed Matt's potential return as "indefinite".
The week (and a half) saw Manny Legace return after dealing with a bad knee for the better part of a month. Also, the Wednesday game saw the pro debut of highly touted Blue Jackets draftee, Boone Jenner. Jenner was relegated to fourth line status, playing limited minutes. I felt he showed good puck sense in his time on the ice.
Although the Falcons haven't been playing badly, the schedule that had been their friend early in the season has turned into their worst enemy. Down to four games remaining and four points back is not where the team wanted to be when they took to the ice for the first time some six months ago. Like so many weekends over the last two months in particular, these final four games are must wins. Even at that, the Birds will need help from the likes of Manchester, Portland and Adirondack.
Falcons Individual Stats:
| Player | Pos. | GP | G | A | Pts. | +/- | PIM |
| Martin St. Pierre | C | 70 | 10 | 52 | 62 | 0 | 56 |
| Alexandre Giroux | LW | 62 | 26 | 26 | 52 | -5 | 60 |
| Cam Atkinson X | RW | 50 | 29 | 16 | 45 | +4 | 31 |
| Matt Calvert | LW | 56 | 17 | 19 | 36 | -2 | 52 |
| Dane Byers | LW | 57 | 15 | 21 | 36 | -11 | 104 |
| Nick Drazenovic | C | 38 | 13 | 22 | 35 | -3 | 16 |
| Brent Regner | D | 71 | 2 | 27 | 29 | +1 | 26 |
| Wade MacLeod | LW | 62 | 8 | 18 | 26 | +3 | 27 |
| Tomas Kubalik X | RW | 50 | 11 | 12 | 23 | -16 | 42 |
| Maksim Mayorov | LW | 45 | 10 | 13 | 23 | -4 | 10 |
| Andrew Joudrey | C | 69 | 11 | 11 | 22 | -3 | 12 |
| Nathan Longpre - season totals | F | 55 | 9 | 10 | 19 | +2 | 10 |
| David Savard | D | 41 | 3 | 16 | 19 | +1 | 66 |
| Ryan Russell X | C | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 15 |
| Ryan Garlock | C | 68 | 5 | 10 | 15 | -9 | 40 |
| Dalton Prout X | D | 60 | 4 | 8 | 12 | -3 | 52 |
| Cody Bass | C | 23 | 5 | 6 | 11 | -3 | 43 |
| Cody Goloubef | D | 46 | 0 | 11 | 11 | -15 | 39 |
| Brett Lebda X | D | 26 | 1 | 9 | 10 | 0 | 18 |
| Patrick Cullity - season totals | D | 47 | 1 | 9 | 10 | -4 | 57 |
| Nick Holden X | D | 25 | 3 | 6 | 9 | -2 | 14 |
| Adam Mair | C | 32 | 3 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 58 |
| Greg Amadio - season totals | D | 59 | 0 | 7 | 7 | -12 | 208 |
| Teddy Ruth | D | 52 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -20 | 39 |
| Aaron Bogosian | LW | 48 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -6 | 84 |
| Mike Thomas X | RW | 25 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -6 | 16 |
| Ray Macias X | D | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | +3 | 0 |
| Tim Spencer | LW | 29 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | 49 |
| John Moore X | D | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 2 |
| Curtis McElhinney X | G | 25 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Manny Legace (with Springfield) | G | 34 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Oliver Gabriel X | LW | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -5 | 0 |
| Brett Motherwell X | D | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 | 4 |
| Sean Collins | C | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 0 |
| Boone Jenner | C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chaz Johnson X | RW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Mike Spillane | G | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Darcy Campbell X | D | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Chris D'Alvise X | C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Morley X | LW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chad Costello X | F | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 |
| Trevor Bruess X | RW | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -4 | 5 |
| Mike Clemente | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mark Dekanich X | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Allen York | G | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steven Delisle | D | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | 8 |
| Danny Taylor X | G | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Anton Blomqvist | D | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 | 19 |
| Paul Dainton | G | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
GOALTENDING:
Manny Legace returned from injury and played well in the Providence and Worcester games.
By the numbers:
Manny Legace - 35 GP, 2.75 GAA, .906 sv pct
Paul Dainton - 25 GP, 3.12 GAA, .891 sv pct
Mike Clemente - 5 GP, 1.99 GAA, .926 sv pct
Transactions since March 30:
March 30: Trent Vogelhuber (RW) signed to ATO
March 30: Daniel New (D) signed to ATO
March 31: Cody Goloubef recalled by Columbus
April 3: Cody Goloubef returned by Columbus
April 3: Boone Jenner (C) signed to ATO
I'll be keeping an eye on the AHL playoff races here at The Cannon!