Manchester Monarchs - American Hockey League (AHL) - Purple Perfection- On MLN Sports Zone- A Minor League Sports News Magazine™

Manchester Monarchs [AHL]

Purple Perfection
Undefeated in seven games, the Manchester Monarchs open up the 2004 AHL season with the franchise's best start ever.

11.01.04 - For a team that had never won its season opener, the Manchester Monarchs are certainly making the most of a strong start to the 2004-05 campaign.

The Monarchs started each of their first three AHL seasons with a loss. This year, Manchester has reached November unblemished, riding a perfect 7-0-0-0 record to the top of the AHL standings.

Manchester has been convincing in its victories, scoring 34 goals while allowing just 10 in seven games, including a remarkable 17-2 margin over its last four.

Leading the Monarchs' attack has been Yanick Lehoux, who has recorded nine goals and 14 points on the year. Lehoux, 22, is already more than halfway to his pro career high of 16 goals, scored during his rookie season of 2002-03.

Mike Cammalleri, who played 59 NHL games with Los Angeles over the previous two years, has contributed five goals and seven assists. Noah Clarke, an AHL All-Rookie forward in 2004, has kicked off his second season with nine points and a league-leading plus-10 rating.

New additions to the Manchester lineup are contributing as well. Tom Kostopoulos, who played in two Calder Cup Finals during his five seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, has already recorded six multiple-point games this year.

Brad Smyth (4+5=9 pts.) is a two-time 50-goal scorer and former AHL All-Star and Calder Cup champion, and has a point in each of the Monarchs' seven games. Mike Weaver, a Calder Cup winner with Chicago in 2002, is the club's top-scoring defenseman with five points.

Also in the mix are top prospects like Dustin Brown, Denis Grebeshkov, Tim Gleason and Petr Kanko, as well as a formidable goaltending duo of Mathieu Garon and Adam Hauser.

Garon, with back-to-back shutouts this past weekend, is unbeaten in his last 15 AHL decisions (13-0-2) dating back to the 2002-03 season. Hauser, in his second season with Manchester, has lowered his career GAA to 1.94 in 47 AHL appearances.

Monarchs head coach Bruce Boudreau has an impressive resume as well, with 193 career victories as an AHL bench boss, and from his playing days, an AHL scoring championship (1987-88) and a Calder Cup title (1991-92).

The Monarchs are third in the league on the power play, scoring 13 goals in 53 chances (24.5 percent), and are tied for the league lead with three shorthanded goals. They rank first in offense at 4.86 goals per game, and second in defense with 1.43 goals allowed per game. In addition, their seven-game winning streak is one shy of the franchise record, set early in the 2002-03 season.

Keeping Pace

Despite the fast start, the Monarchs have not been able to break away from the 'pack'.

The Hartford Wolf Pack is tied with Manchester at the top of the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division and is off to their best start in franchise history with its 7-0-0-0 record this season.

Center Dominic Moore is riding a six game point-scoring streak (2-6-8), and the goaltending duo of Jason LaBarbera and Steve Valiquette boast the best goals against average in the league at 1.17. The team has allowed just seven goals in six games.

The Wolf Pack, who last year allowed the second-fewest goals ever in an 80-game AHL season, have surrendered just seven goals in 2004-05, while recording the franchise's first seven-game winning streak.