I went to a pair of Adirondack (AHL) games and listened to two others on
the radio over break and thought I'd share my observations on some current
AHL ex-collegians, in case anyone might be interested.
 
Just for background, the Wings and the Portland Pirates tied on Wednesday
at 2. On Friday, also at home, Adirondack edged the Cornwall Aces, 6-5 in
a penalty filled game. In another slugfest on Saturday, the Albany Riverrats
downed Adirondack, 6-3. In Sunday's finale, Adirondack again toppled Cornwall.
 
ADIRONDACK PLAYERS
BRETT HARKINS (Bowling Green) struggled a bit, despite finishing the sesaon
as the wings top rookie scorer. He was playing the point on the power play
and had all kinds of problems keeping the puck in. I don't think he shot it
once (while on the PP). MIKE CASSELMAN (Clarkson) has improved significantly
from last year. He is much much more aggressive, especially in the corners
and is an effective forechecker. He's looked really good on the line with
JOE FREDERICK (Northern Michigan). On Friday, Frederick got his first pro
hat trick. To show his versatility, he took a number of shifts on Sat and
Sun on defense, due to a player shortage. AARON WARD (Michigan) is still
adapting to the pro game (and life, but that's another discussion). He
has, at times, showed flahses of offensive brilliance but is still learning
when and when not to rush. Is showing fairly good defensive skills.
 
OTHERS
Albany's DAVID EMMA (BC) was not much of a factor in Saturday's game. I heard
he was having problems adapting to the more phsycial defensive style of
the postseason which teams started to go to late in the reg. season. Teammate
SCOTT PELLERIN (Maine) looked pretty good on Saturday and got the nail in
the coffin goal on a breakaway. Cornwall backliner ED WARD (N Michigan)
apparently played very well on Sunday, but was not much of a factor on
Wednesday. Aces goalie GARTH SNOW (Maine) did not look spectacular either
night. Most of the goals on Wednesday were not his fault (3 of the 5 were
PPG's) but he did not look that sharp either. He was replaced by PAUL
KRAKE (AK-Anchorage) on Wednesday, who looked much better. He made several
big saves keeping Cornwall in teh game. It was a surprising off night for
Snow who had played in most of the Aces recent games.
 
Just thought someone might be curious...
 
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Bri Farenell                                     Clarkson '95
[log in to unmask]                 Glens Falls High '91
AHL and NCAA contact for rec.sport.hockey        Go Erin Whitten (GFH '89)!
Adirondack Red Wings, AHL Calder Cup Champions: '81  '86  '89  '92
The Drive for Five (Calder Cup titles)-----1993-94 Northern Division Champs