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Entries in Hockey (33)
Apr. 19 PORTLAND Me Hartford @ Portland
PORTLAND, Maine -- Pirates win a hard fought playoff "classic", 3-2 over the Hartford WolfPack to take a 2-1 lead in their Atlantic Div Semi...and while Portland was given a huge boost by the return of both Bobby Ryan (from Anaheim) and Drew Miller (from injury), I thought a key to the Pirates' success was the large contribution made by their fourth line --which featured rookie Matt Caruana between Michal Birner and Darryl Bootland-- which spent much of the night in the grill of Hartford goalie David LeNeveu....between them they had three shots (all of them by Birner) and kept WolfPack forwards honest...Of course, in the regular season, when AHL teams can only dress 17 players, there is no true fourth line. However, with 18 dressing in the playoffs, teams that have the personnel (such as Portland) can roll unit after unit, which had a wear down effect on the Pack (whose fourth line consisted of three players from the ECHL)...."When you're four deep," said Portland coach Kevin Dineen, "it's like baseball. Your line up's a little deeper. It's like a 3-4-5 hitter. I think it should be 18 and 2 (goalies) all year long. I wish they would. They say 'aw, then they'll just dress another tough guy.' But we're a development league now, and you're stealing a (roster) spot. We're a development league, and players should get a little better opportunity."
Dan Hickling
in Hockey, Anaheim Ducks, Portland Pirates, American Hockey League
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Jan 27 BINGHAMTON NY License and Registration, please..
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. -- If you should happen to hit 102.1 on a radar gun, you'd better have a good explanation for the statie who pulled you over, or one heck of a slapshot. Fortunately for Mark Mancari of the Rochester Americans, he is the possessor of the latter. He's also the new owner of the record for the hardest slapshot in an AHL All-Star Skills Competition, having hit that aforementioned mark, tonight, eclipsing Kurtis Foster's five year old standard (101.0) set back in 2003. Winding up for his second of two attempts, Mancari split the heart of the net with his drive. And when the supersonic clocking was announced, the full house at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena went nuts.
Dan Hickling
in Hockey, Los Angeles Kings, Manchester Monarchs, American Hockey League
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Jan. 5 Springfield MA
SPRINGFIELD, MA -- Teams go through droughts of all sorts, and the Portland Pirates happen to be experienced a parched power play of late.
Pirates went 0-for-8 against Springfield's PK tonight, and now carry an 0-for-2008. More specifically, they've gone 0-for-25 on man up situations since Brendan Mikkelson scored against Tuukka Rask of Providence back on Dec. 29.
Asked Springfield coach Kelly Buchberger about containing Portland's power play, which had been the seventh best in the AHL. "In our own end, we've been okay," he said. "We've been reading their power play, but they've got some skilled players in Portland. Hats off to our PK tonight. On the five on three (which lasted 1:12 in the second period), you've got to be really sound, and you've got to keep your triangle really tight. If you're moving around and flopping around, it makes it easier for them to find openings. We just wanted to keep it simple."
Said Pirate center Petteri Wirtanen, "we were in a good run, but to keep it up, we've got to play better every night. There are no easy teams in this division."
Dan Hickling
in Hockey, Anaheim Ducks, Portland Pirates, American Hockey League
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Dec. 29 Portland, ME....Providence Takes 4-3 Shootout Win from Portland Pirates
By DAN HICKLING www.MLNSportszone.com PORTLAND, Maine -- Is there any test too stiff for the Providence Bruins to pass? You wouldn’t know it by the way they rallied, Saturday, to pull out a 4-3 shootout win over the Portland Pirates. Down twice by two goals, the Peebs fought back and eventually tied the contest on Jeff Hoggan’s shorthander with 8:21 to go in regulation. “It builds team character, wins like these,” said Peebs captain Nate Thompson. “When you’re down two goals and can find a way to come back. This one was huge tonight, and everyone made it happen.”
Dan Hickling
in Hockey, Anaheim Ducks, Portland Pirates, American Hockey League
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Nov. 16 Portland @ Manchester....three goals and a cloud of chips
MLN Major Blogs- MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Just got through witnessing a pretty good hockey game (in my eyes, there are no bad ones), which had Portland edging Manchester, 5-3...Notable in some ways, such as the Portland debut of Geoff Platt, who had seasons of 30 and 28 goals for Syracuse. He notched a pretty goal that got the Pirates going in the second, then came within an assist of notching the Gordie Howe Hat Trick, when he traded blows with Manchester goalie Dan Cloutier late in the game. "It was a surprising instance," said Platt. "I was cross checked into the goalie, and Dan just exploded on me. I didn't expect that at all. I tried to protect myself, but I was taking body shots. I could see my teammates in my peripheral (vision) coming in like mad men. That was really interesting."
Dan Hickling
in Hockey, Anaheim Ducks, Portland Pirates, Los Angeles Kings, Manchester Monarchs, American Hockey League
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