Back on the farm

Providence's Hoggan working toward another NHL shot

He is 2 games shy of his 100th career National Hockey League contest.

For both the St. Louis Blues and, more recently, the Boston Bruins, he accounted himself quite nicely in roles on various third and fourth lines.

This year, Jeff Hoggan hasn't gotten so much as a sniff of The Show, but it's not stopping him from coming to the rink every day with the right attitude. Saturday night in Portland, Hoggan scored a shorthanded goal in the third period to help force overtime before scoring the clinching goal in a shootout to lead Providence to a 4-3 win over the host Pirates.

There's not a lot that makes sense about Hoggan's career, and Providence head coach Scott Gordon is the first to admit as much.

"He's a guy that you look at his career and you probably wouldn't expect him to be in a shootout, but he's got a knack for scoring goals on a breakaway," Gordon said.

In 212 career AHL games, Hoggan has just 48 goals -- and he's got only a pair in 98 NHL contests. Even in a 4-year collegiate career at Nebraska-Omaha, the 29-year old right wing wasn't able to hit 100 points for his career. Hoggan did, however, log 252 minutes in penalties in college, and he's got 215 in the AHL, testament to his role at virtually every stop along the way as a checker.

"He's the type of guy that he just wins battles and he competes hard," Gordon said. "(But) he's got speed ... and he doesn't complicate things."

Hoggan said he's naturally been disappointed at not seeing the NHL this season after playing 46 games under then-Boston coach Dave Lewis in 2006-07, but he's not dwelling on what might be.

Through 30 games, Hoggan has 13-11--24 totals -- just 12 point shy of his career best set with Houston in 2003-04.

"I always remain with a positive attitude," said Hoggan, a native of -- fittingly -- Hope, British Columbia. "I definitely want to be up, but I keep telling myself to just keep working hard and things will work out."

The team's runaway start to the season (an AHL-best 56 points through 34 games) has helped Hoggan stay positioned in the present.

"Winning makes it a lot easier, and you never get down," he said. You just keep pushing."

Road warriors

P-Bruins win 3rd game in as many nights away from home

PORTLAND -- The Providence Bruins have remained remarkably consistent throughout the first half of the season, racking up the American Hockey League's best record, while the Portland Pirates have sought that trait for their own game.

Perhaps predictably, then, in a game where a "complete 60 minutes" is stressed in every dressing room across the continent, the more consistent Bruins twice erased 2-goal deficits to post a 4-3 shootout win over the Pirates at the Cumberland County Civic Center tonight.

Jeff Hoggan scored the clincher in the shootout, not long after scoring his 13th goal of the year with Providence shorthanded midway through the third period to help force overtime. The Atlantic Division-leading Bruins (27-5-2-0) capped off a 3-road-games-in-3-days trip with their third straight victory.

"As lousy as they probably felt going into this game, knowing how much energy they exterted, they found a way to get it done," Providence coach Scott Gordon said of his team, which also benefited from goals from Pascal Pelletier (league-leading 21st of the year) and checker Byron Bitz.

Portland (18-12-2-2) received first-period goals from Jason King and Brendan Mikkelson to open the early 2-0 lead, with Mikkelson netting his third of the year with the team on the power play. Geoff Platt's 15th of the year (11th with the Pirates) made it 3-1 for Portland in the first minute of the second period.

Then the Bruins went to work turning the momentum of the game, chipping away bit by bit, shift by shift.

"We haven't been in that situation too often," Gordon said of playing from behind. "But one of the things about our team, we've come pretty close to playing a full 60 minutes every night. For that reason, it might not be the first period, it might not be the second, but it might be in the third, we'll come up big.

"We're going to have a big period for ourselves, and our guys have gotten used to that."

Portland coach Kevin Dineen was left looking for more from his team.

"There a team that's played a lot of hockey in the past couple of days, and we didn't take advantage of that as well as we could have," Dineen said.

"We had our moments where we were playing a solid brand of hockey, and the trick is to try and keep that going through 60 minutes. We definitely had some consistency issues with that tonight."

Gerald Coleman stopped 29 shots for the Pirates, while counterpart and AHL-leading goaltender Tuukka Rask made 26 saves in the Providence nets.

For the complete game summary, click here.

It's deja vu all over again. Again.

Watching the Zamboni on cruise control during the 1st intermission at the 4 C's, where Portland leads Providence 2-1, I realize it's been three years since I covered the Providence Bruins on a daily basis.

Here's a list of what's the same in Providence, and what's not.

THE SAME: Scott Gordon is head coach.
DIFFERENT: Everybody sitting on the bench in front of him.

THE SAME: Trainer Michael Poirier, a Rhode Island native.
DIFFERENT: Without tough guy Steve Parsons on the roster, there's a lot less blood and broken knuckles for Poirier to tend to.

THE SAME: The P-Bruins are good enough to lead the AHL's Atlantic Division.
DIFFERENT: Their power play is atrocious, just 24th in the league entering the night. It's a far cry from the days when Lee Goren, Matt Herr, Martin Samuelsson and Keith Aucoin made the man-advantage go.

THE SAME: The Baby Bruins logo.
DIFFERENT: The Baby Bruins game sweaters.

THE SAME: Gordon probably still believes I don't have a clue about hockey.
DIFFERENT: Gordon's got a bona fide No. 1 netminder in Tuukka Rask this time around, instead of the Andrew Raycroft-Tim Thomas platoon of days gone by.

THE SAME: I gotta say, I still love going to the rink.
DIFFERENT: With 2 little pucksters of my own around the house these days, I get up a heck of a lot earlier on game days.

The game's darkest moments

When the horn sounds on the final game of a season, and the banks of lights thunder into darkness in the rafters of an arena, what happens next?

For most of us, we watch the transaction wires and get ready for next year's training camp. That camp convenes in September, and by the season's opening in October, we've forgotten about those third- and fourth-liners, those sixth- and seventh-defensemen that are either in another league, with another team or out of hockey altogether.

We forget about them almost as easily as they forget about the game -- and not because they wanted to. The Toronto Star's Randy Starkman has this great piece from last Sunday's paper.

It's a must read.

Game of the Week (12/27): Providence at Portland

What: American Hockey League
When: 7:05 p.m, Saturday
Where: Cumberland County Civic Center, Portland

PROVIDENCE (24-5-2-0, 1st in Atlantic Division): The Baby Bruins are the creme-de-la-creme of the AHL'S Eastern Conference, tearing through the league to the tune of just 5 regulation lossess. Tuukka Rask is one of just 3 goalies in the entire league with a sub-2.00 GAA (1.99) and has a stint with the parent club on the resume. Pascal Pelletier is the league's leading goal-getter with 17 goals, and he sits 5th in overall scoring with 35 points.

PORTLAND (17-12-2-1, 3rd place in Atlantic Division): The Pirates have moved into 3rd place in the division despite going just 5-4-1 in their last 10 games. Andrew Ebbett has stepped up through the team's rash of call-ups and injuries and sits 7th in the AHL in scoring at 9-25--34. Gerald Coleman, the Manchester Monarchs aside, is beginning to play very well -- and he carries a 3.06 goals against average.

YOU SHOULD KNOW: There's always a big crowd on hand at the 4 C's when Providence is in town. It's produced a spirited rivalry over the past several seasons, and it's a chance for Maine hockey fans to see Boston's top prospects up close and personal. Portland is an impressive 12-4-1 on home ice this season, and this could prove to be a great launching point for the Pirates to make a run leading up to the All-Star Game next month.

Former Black Bears still like the old digs

ORONO -- Eric Weinrich couldn't remember too many nights like this at the Alfond. Scott Pellerin felt like a kid again during the morning skate. Teddy Purcell picked up right where he left off.

Fresh off a Hockey East Rookie of the Year campaign with the University of Maine last winter, Purcell scored two goals as part of a 3-point night to lead the Manchester Monarchs to a 6-2 win over Weinrich's Portland Pirates in an American Hockey League game played at Alfond Arena on Tuesday night. All the while, Pellerin -- the 1992 Hobey Baker Award winner while with the Black Bears -- beamed from his perch as an assistant coach behind the Monarchs' bench.

The Monarchs scored four power-play goals against Portland, which was playing its first home game away from the Cumberland County Civic Center in the 15-year history of the franchise.

Weinrich, a U.S. Olympian from Gardiner who helped launch the Maine hockey program to national prominence with a Frozen Four appearance in 1988, the local boy made good, took to the cozy Alfond Arena ice almost 20 years after leaving to embark on his professional career.

Despite the loss, Weinrich, who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League, chose to look at the positives -- the opportunity to play hockey in the place where it started for him and the chance to help bring the professional game to an area that rarely sees it.

"It was fun, yeah," Weinrich said, who appeared to be in form. "Every hockey game's great. It would have been nice to get the win -- losing 6-2 is no fun, but we played as hard as we could. Everybody at UMaine really made it a great day for us, and it felt like home here."

Whereas the Alfond atmosphere has become something of a 7th man for the Black Bears over the years as they established a program of national significance, the same couldn't be said for the Pirates. The four-goal loss equaled the team's worst this season.

Though Portland didn't fare well in its foray onto surrogate ice, Maine has fared quite well by contrast when using the Pirates' home barn as its own. Since becoming a Hockey East school, Maine is 14-2-3 alll-time in games played at the Civic Center.

Pellerin and Purcell are both quite accustomed to winning hockey at the Alfond. Purcell scored 16 goals in 40 games for Maine last winter in helping lead the team to the Frozen Four, and his 43 total points as a rookie for the Black Bears were the most scored by a Maine freshman since a pretty good player led the team to the 1993 national championship -- a kid by the name of Paul Kariya.

Purcell picked up right where he left off last year. With his three points, he moved into the AHL scoring lead with 11-26--37 totals.

"It was pretty nice. To be fortunate enough to play for Manchester against Portland up here was pretty special," Purcell said. "It was a special night."

Manchester head coach Mark Morris certainly felt it was special.

"I'd like to have Teddy play up here all the time," he quipped with a smile.

Neither Weinrich nor Purcell said they were nervous heading into the contest.

"I think the morning skate really did take some of that out, yes," said Weinrich, who earlier in the week had worried about nerves creeping into his game. "I didn't feel nervous at all. But that's the way hockey goes. If you're not on the winning end, it's not much fun."

"It was a pretty cool night," Purcell said. "I was trying to hold back the smiles a little bit."

Purcell, Monarchs power up against Pirates

ORONO -- Teddy Purcell stole the show in the return of several former Black Bears to their old haunts on Tuesday night.

Purcell moved back into the American Hockey League scoring lead with a 2 goals and an assist in the barn he used to call home, leading the Manchester Monarchs to a 6-2 win over the hosts-away-from home Portland Pirates. The game was played at the University of Maine's Alfond Arena, the first time Purcell had been back to the cozy little rink since scoring 16 goals and 43 points as the Hockey East Rookie of the Year last year while at Maine.

Manchester continued to torch the opposition with the league's best power play, scoring 4 times Tuesday with the man advantage. Purcell first scored as the Monarchs built a 3-0 lead in just over 22 minutes (the team's 3rd goal on just 6 shots), and he also set up Matt Moulton's power play strike late in the second period to thwart a brief comeback attempt by the Pirates.

"Obviously, we got some fortunate bounces and the power play was clicking tonight," said Purcell, who now has 11-26--37 totals on the season. "It was just one of those nights where luck was a little on my side."

Purcell and David Meckler added third-period goals for Manchester (12-12-3-1), which blanked Portland 4-0 last Friday night and registered only 21 shots on goal. Bruno St. Jacques and Brandon Segal had the goals for the Pirates (16-12-1-1).

In addition to Purcell, the game featured the return of former Black Bears Eric Weinrich, a Pirates defenseman, and Scott Pellerin, Manchester's assistant coach. Weinrich played 18 years in the NHL, while Pellerin also played in the NHL after winning the Hobey Baker at Maine in 1992.

The game was the first home game played away from the Cumberland County Civic Center in the 15-year history of the franchise.

Click here for the complete game summary.

Weinrich gets to go home again

PORTLAND -- Every rink has its own echoes, the sounds players hear when the stands are empty. Pucks shriek as they careen into Plexiglas, sticks rattle lyrically across the frozen floor and goalie pads thunder throughout the spacious rafters. The sounds vary just a bit from building to building.


In 20 seasons of professional hockey, Gardiner native Eric Weinrich has heard the echoes everywhere, from old barns like Chicago Stadium and the Boston Garden to the amenity-laden new complexes like Philadelphia's Wachovia Center and Vancouver's General Motors Place.



But the echoes that resonate the loudest to Weinrich, still to this day, come from tiny Alfond Arena on the University of Maine's Orono campus.




"One of my best memories was the first practice we had (at Alfond)," said Weinrich, who played for the Maine Black Bears from 1985-88. "We had to wait until midnight, and we went out and there was like a full house there for our first practice. It was like basketball's Midnight Madness. For a freshman, that was a pretty cool experience."

Tonight, Weinrich gets to go back. Set to turn 41 on Wednesday, the American Hockey League's oldest player will be on the ice when his current club, the Portland Pirates, hosts the Manchester Monarchs at Alfond at 7:05 p.m.

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal.

Around the boards (12/17): Maineiacs moves highlight Sunday action

During the holiday trading period, the Lewiston Maineiacs officially split ties with disgruntled forward David Taylor.

Taylor, who left the team the day after a 4-point night in a win over Halifax on Dec. 5, was flipped to Shawinigan in exchange for defenseman Guillaume Durand. Durand, 19, was taken off Shawinigan's roster earlier this season.

Taylor left to return to AAA hockey, and after leaving Lewiston, he told a French-language newspaper that he felt an anti-Quebec sentiment existed in the Maineiacs organization. Maineiacs head coach and general manager Ed Harding laughed at the notion, saying if anything, he was guilty of being hardest on American-born players on the team.

Taylor had 6-9--15 totals in 26 games with Lewiston this season. Durand notched 3 assists in a 4-game playoff exit at the hands of the Maineiacs last year.

LEWISTON 4, VICTORIAVILLE 2: Newcomer Pier-Olivier Morin was one of 4 different Lewiston goal-scorers on Sunday, as the Maineiacs won their 3rd straight heading into a 10-day Christmas break.

Stefano Giliati scored his 20th of the season, and Danick Paquette also scored as part of a 3-goal second period for Lewiston. Lucas LaBelle had the other Lewiston goal.

AHL

PORTLAND 1, SPRINGFIELD 0: Gerald Coleman made 25 saves to earn the shutout at the Cumberland County Civic Center on Sunday afternoon.

Ryan Carter's shorthanded goal, his 3rd goal of the season, came just over a minute into the third period and stood up as the game's only tally. Portland has now won 4 of its last 5 games.

HOCKEY EAST

No. 10 NEW HAMPSHIRE 2, MAINE 0: Bobby Butler scored early in the first period and Peter LeBlanc added an empty-netter for the Wildcats at the Whittemore Center.

Ben Bishop made 31 saves for Maine, which has won only 1 of its last 8 games (1-5-2).

AHL: Pirates feeding off team chemistry

The minor leagues may be the toughest place in the hockey world for a team to form.

Injuries come and go, just as they do anwhere in the game, at any level. Roster moves compound the chemistry formula -- as players are shipped off to the National Hockey League to fill voids there, those holes to be plugged here by East Coast call-ups.

College rosters change only once a year; even NHL rosters aren't in flux the way they are in the AHL. The Portland Pirates have been hit especially hard by recent comings and goings, but Saturday's night's 4-3 overtime win over Springfield may serve as a springboard through a grueling stretch of games over the holidays.

"It's extra motivation for us to go win like that, so close to Christmas," said Pirates center Geoff Platt, who arrived at the rink just 20 minutes before face-off after being demoted by Anaheim earlier in the day and then proceeded to assist on the game-tying goal late in the third period.

"You're emotions run a little lower, just because it's that time of the season where everyone wants to be with their families and wants things to be easier. It boosted the morale of the whole team."

After playing with the Ducks, Platt said he knew as soon as he hit the Cumberland County Civic Center Saturday that this was a tightly knit group of players -- one that has won 3 of its last 4 contests.

"A great indication was when I came back here, a player like (Ryan) Dingle who was traded here, and it's like right away -- and I haven't been here in 2 weeks -- and he's already a full-fledged member of the team," Platt said. "The whole team has already embraced him. It's great, and I'm happy to see it from everyone in the entire organization."

The Pirates were blanked, 4-0, at Manchester on Friday and twice trailed the Falcons by 2 goals on Saturday. Defenseman Brian Salcido said the team learned a few lessons in the loss to Manchester, namely that they couldn't afford to quit mid-stride.

Salcido scored on the power play to make it 3-2 midway through the third period, and Andrew Ebbett scored the equalizer with 2:33 remaining in regulation.

"You never see that with a team that wasn't connected like we are," Platt said.

"Everyone's really close," said Salcido, a 2nd-year pro out of Colorado College. "I don't think anyone really takes anything for granted, and we really treat everyone like family. Whether you get called up or sent down or whatever, we're all on the same team and we're all pushing for the same things. I think it's really important for a team when you have that."

Salcido also said he recognizes the difficulty of playing in the minor leagues, where rosters seem more fluid than anywhere else. But the atmosphere in the Portland room seems to be succeeding despite the uncertainty.

"We're getting better each day," Salcido said. "We had a couple of injuries there, a couple of call-ups, but it really kind of forces you to mesh -- on the ice, in the locker room and outside of the rink with each other. It's a big stretch right before Christmas, so hopefully we can get some wins going into the break."

AHL: Pirates rally for win

Wirtanen lifts Portland in overtime

PORTLAND -- Dead in the water with just minutes remaining in what was shaping up to be another disappointing effort, the Pirates found a way to create a little more home ice magic.

Portland scored twice in the final 11 minutes of regulation to force overtime on Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center, and then the Pirates got Petteri Wirtanen's goal with under a minute to play in overtime -- lifting the home team to a 4-3 win over the Springfield Falcons.

The goal was Wirtanen's 3rd of the season; the win was the team's 10th in 14 games at home.

"We were down early and we never stopped," said defenseman Brian Salcido, who had a goal and two assists. "We were down yesterday a few goals, too, and I think everybody started sulking a little bit. Tonight, we kept pushing and we realized as a team we needed to keep doing what we were good at."

Part of the reason the Pirates found themselves in a 3-1 hole was their penalty-box procession. After being whistled for 7 minor penalties through the first 2 periods -- leading to power-play goals for Falcons Marc Pouliot and Mathiew Roy -- Portland stayed out of the box completely in the third, save for a Brandon Segal fighting major.

That allowed Salcido to thread a slapper through traffic at the 9:15 mark to pull the Pirates to within 3-2, and then Andrew Ebbett scored his 8th goal of the season with 2:27 remaining in regulation to draw the home team even.

"Coach (Kevin Dineen) came in and called us out a little bit," Ebbett said of the discussion in the Pirates dressing room during the second intermission.

Portland goaltender Mike McKenna made 23 saves, one of them on Liam Reddox's penalty shot at 12:44 of the third. Reddox, who opened the night's scoring early in the first period, swooped right and then left, and his shot along the ice was thwarted by McKenna's pad.

McKenna also had a hand on the overtime goal, which came with the teams skating three aside. He tried to freeze the puck at the edge of his crease when things got scrambly around him, but referee David Banfield told him to play it.

Salcido picked it up, fired up the right wing wall to Stephen Dixon, and Dixon centered for a streaking Wirtanen -- who reached out with the blade of his stick to re-direct the puck past Jeff Deslauriers (42 saves).

Click here for the complete summary.

AHL: Mid-game meanderings

Just a few things to think about as we pass the halfway mark here at the 4-C's Resort in downtown Portland, where the Pirates trail visiting Springy (in the hockey vernacular) by a 2-1 count...

- Amazing how good a team can look when it's not sitting in the penalty box. The Pirates got off to a dreadfully slow start in this one, and it wasn't so much from a lack of either execution or effort. They were shorthanded for nearly all of the first 10 minutes of the contest. Once they stayed out of the bin, the game picked up considerably.

It's not rocket science, this thing called hockey...

- Umm, this just in: Mathieu Roy can flat-out shoot the puck. He just toasted Portland goalie Mike McKenna with a one-timer that McKenna didn't see until after it glanced off him and jiggled the net behind him. (That made it 3-1, with Springfield's 2nd PPG of the evening)

- Good to see Colin McDonald cashing a paycheck for playing the game at this level. I knew Colin way back when, when I was covering an underachieving Providence College program. McDonald was a hot prospect -- taken in the 2nd round of the 2003 Entry Draft by Edmonton -- when he hit Providence, but he was lost in the fog. He saw Paul Pooley leave the program after his first 2 years, marred by a knee injury, and then had to work through the next 2 years as former Pirates bench boss Tim Army put his stamp in the Friars.

In 27 games entering tonight, McDonald has 6-8--14 totals, and he picked up a helper on a Liam Reddox goal back in the 1st period for his 9th assist of the campaign.

Portland Pirates: In the nick of time

Help has arrived for the Portland Pirates.

Parent Anaheim announced late Saturday afternoon that center Geoff Platt, who's posted 16 points in just 9 games with the Pirates before his recall to the Ducks, and defenseman Bruno St. Jacques are on their way to Portland. Platt didn't make it to the Cumberland County Civic Center in time for the pre-game warmup, but he did make it in time to stretch out below the concourse and get into the Portland lineup for tonight's game against the Springfield Falcons.

On Friday, Anaheim completed a trade for Doug Weight from St. Louis. They also activated defenseman Scott Nidermeyer, allowing them to send St. Jacques back to Portland. St. Jacques was believed to be in the building prior to face-off against the Falcons.

The Pirates announced less than 20 minutes before face-off that Bobby Ryan has been recalled to Anaheim. Ryan, second on the Pirates in scoring, has 10-14--24 totals in 25 games with Portland this season.

Around the boards (12/14): Pirates blanked by Monarchs

The Portland Pirates opened a 4-in-5 stretch by being blanked 4-0 by the Manchester Monarchs in a disappointing performance on Friday night at the Verizon Wireless Arena.

The Monarchs scored 3 power play goals in the American Hockey League matchup.
Former University of Maine standout Teddy Purcell was among the 4 different goal-scorers for Manchester (11-11-2-1). Rookie Erik Ersberg made 21 saves for his 1st professional shutout.

After back-to-back Saturday-Sunday games at home against Springfield, Portland (14-11-1-1) will play host to Manchester at Alfond Arena in Orono on Tuesday.

QMJHL

LEWISTON 3, RIMOUSKI 1: Stefano Giliati had a goal and an assist and Peter Delmas made 18 saves on the road to lead the Maineiacs to a home-and-home sweep of the Oceanic.

Danick Paquette netted his 14th goal of the season for Lewiston (21-13-1-1), and Marc Bourgeois also scored.

Team Canada: Bernier gets nod

Lewiston Maineiacs goaltender Jonathan Bernier will be with Team Canada when it begins its run at the World Junior Championships in the Czech Republic next week.

Bernier joins Steve Mason of the London Knights in the OHL as the 2 goalies on the squad. He was last year's QMJHL playoff MVP after leading the Maineiacs to the President's Cup.

Lewiston teammate Kevin Marshall, a defenseman, was a longshot to make the squad and did not earn a roster spot.

AHL: Platt's back

Not only do the Portland Pirates have ECHL call-ups Matt Christie and Ryan Dingle to bolster the lineup this weekend as they begin a 4-games-in-5-days stretch.

They've also got the return of Geoff Platt.

Platt, who played 4 games for parent Anaheim in the NHL after a recent recall, is expected to be in the lineup for the Pirates tonight against Manchester.

Platt has 7-9--16 totals in his 9 games with Portland. Originally acquired in a trade with Columbus (where he'd been playing with their minor-league affiliate in Syracuse), Platt was scoreless with 2 PIM.