AHL
Quick Hits 2003
Calder Cup Playoffs Update: 5/22
•
Mark Mowers' goal 5:12 into overtime gave Grand Rapids a 2-1 win over Houston
last night, setting up a Game 7 this evening to determine the 2003 Western
Conference championship. The Griffins avoided elimination for the second
straight game, as Stacy Roest scored his league-leading 10th playoff goal
with 2:17 left in regulation to tie the score. Jean-Guy Trudel, a postseason
AHL All-Star Team selection each of the last four years, scored the lone
goal for the Aeros. Of the six games in the series, five have been decided
by one goal (three in overtime) and the other by one goal plus an empty-netter.
Grand Rapids is the 21st team in AHL history to force a Game 7 after trailing
a series, 3-1; exactly half of the previous 20 successfully completed the
comeback. Tonight's winner will claim the Robert W. Clarke Trophy as the
Western Conference Champion and a berth in the 67th Calder Cup Finals.
• One year to the day after
their 2002 championship dreams were dashed, Hamilton can secure its second
trip to the Calder Cup Finals with a win over Binghamton in Game 5 tonight.
The Bulldogs, who won the Northern Conference title in 1997, have scored
17 goals in four games against a Senators team that allowed 16 in nine games
against Worcester and Bridgeport. League MVP Jason Ward leads all scorers
with six points in the series, and rookie Jarret Stoll has added three goals
and two assists. Brian Pothier is Binghamton's leading scorer with five
assists in two games since returning from injury. The Sens have scored 19
of their 31 goals this postseason in the third period and overtime, including
seven of their 11 against the Bulldogs.
