Melting The Ice
2003 Calder Cup Playoff races heating up.

03.03.03 - With five weeks remaining in the 2002-03 regular season, the American Hockey League is once again preparing for an exciting finish, with tight races paving the way for terrific competition leading up to the Calder Cup 2003 Playoffs.

In the Eastern Conference, Hamilton and Providence are cruising toward the top two seeds, with the Bulldogs owning a 12-point cushion in the race for the Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy, given to the league's overall points champion in the regular season.

Bridgeport, looking to defend its East Division title of a year ago, sits four points in front of Binghamton, while North Division rivals Portland and Manchester are hooked up in a battle for the fourth seed in the conference, which carries an extra home game in the best-of-five conference quarterfinal round.

If the current standings hold between now and April 6, the qualifying series in the East would pit Worcester against Manitoba in a rematch of the Moose's best-of-three win over the IceCats last spring, and Hartford against Springfield in a battle of I-91 rivals.

However, the Falcons' hold on 10th place is anything but safe, with Albany five points back and Saint John and St. John's lurking seven points behind.

The fight for the top seed in the Western Conference is shaping up to be a two-team race between Grand Rapids and Houston, and could come down to the final Saturday of the regular season, when the Griffins visit the Compaq Center in Game 80 for both clubs.

Norfolk, the South Division champion last year, sits atop the division again, but with just one point between them and Hershey. And only 10 points separate the fourth-place Bears from ninth-place Rochester, the difference between home-ice advantage in a conference quarterfinal series and hitting the road to play a best-of-three qualifier.

Milwaukee sits 10th in the West with Philadelphia and Cincinnati in close pursuit, but with a league-high 20 games remaining, the Admirals control their own ability to move up the standings.

Hamilton is in, but there are still 19 invitations to the AHL postseason waiting to be issued, and 240 games left on the schedule to sort it all out.