Friday, November 6, 2009 - Manchester Monarchs vs. Worcester Sharks (San Jose Sharks), DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts, 7:05 p.m.

From the Atlantic to the Pacific, the organizations of the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks sit atop their divisions.  Entering the weekend, the Kings' top affiliate, the Manchester Monarchs, lead the American Hockey League's Atlantic Division by four points over San Jose's No. 1, the Worcester Sharks.  In the NHL's Pacific Division, the Sharks have a two-point edge over the Kings in their battle for the top spot. 

The Sharks host the Monarchs for the first time this season in Worcester and it will be a depleted Worcester roster that will take the ice.  Three of Worcester's top forwards, Logan Couture, Jamie McGinn and Ryan Vesce are currently with San Jose as is one of their leading defensemen in Derek Joslin. Defenseman Joe Callahan has just been returned to Worcester by San Jose after a short stint with the parent club.

The Sharks have been tough at home winning four straight at the DCU Center after dropping their home opener.

Leading the Worcester attack is defenseman Danny Groulx with a goal and 11 assists in 11 games.  Forwards T.J. Trevelyan (5-4=9) and Andrew Desjjardins (5-2=7) are the team's leading goal scorers.

In the first meeting between the two teams last Saturday in Manchester, the Monarchs skated away with a 4-1 victory.  That game was closer than the final score might indicate.  The Sharks outshot the Monarchs in that one, 45-31, but Jeff Zatkoff of the Monarchs was brilliant in goal as he posted the victory.  Worcester netminder Alex Stalock would probably like to get at least one goal back.  Justin Azevedo's first goal of the season came in the second period and sailed over the tip of Stalock's catching glove and into the net behind him.  Azevedo thought it was going to go over the net when he let it go, instead, it wound up being the game-winning goal.  It was Stalock's first  regulation loss of the season.

Manchester's Assistant Coach Scott Pellerin told me this week that the Sharks are the best skating team the Monarchs have faced this season, not to mention a very aggresive one.  The Monarchs got off to a very slow start last week against the Sharks, something they cannot afford to do in this second match-up of the season.

Rookie Andrei Loktionov continues his torrid pace for the Monarchs with a point in six of his last seven games (2-6=8). Overall, the center has five goals and seven helpers in 12 games.  In his 10 games with Monarchs, fellow center Oscar Moller has four goals and five assists.

Saturday, November 7, 2009 - Manchester Monarchs vs. Hershey Bears (Washington Capitals), Verizon Wireless Arena, Manchester, New Hampshire 7:00 p.m.

This is the only appearance of the regular season for the defending Calder Cup champs in Manchester and the second meeting of the year between the two teams.  The first one was just the fourth game of the season for the Monarchs and it came after two hard fought back-to-back contests in Norfolk.  Despite that and the more than five hour bus trip to Hershey from Virginia, the Monarchs came out flying and played what I thought was their best first period of the season en route to a 2-1 victory before an unfriendly sellout crowd at Giant Center. 

Manchester outshot Hershey in that opening 20 minutes, 16-8, but the actual domination was even more distinct than that.  It appeared, however, as if the efforts of the Monarchs were going unrewarded as rookie goalie Braden Holtby was equal to every Manchester shot....until the last one of the period with just five seconds remaining as right wing Brandon Segal buried one past Holtby to put the Monarchs ahead to stay.  A classic goal by center Oscar Moller would give the Monarchs a 2-0 edge in the second period.  The second and third stanzas belonged to Manchester goalie Jonathan Bernier who allowed only an Alexandre Giroux tally in the third period.  The Bears had 27 shots over the final 40 minutes of the game while the Monarchs could muster just 12 in that same stretch.

The Monarchs were spent, gassed, hanging on and then the trash-talking Hershey fans directly behind the Manchester bench played a factor.  A few of the leather-lunged Bears' zealots were spewing less-than-flattering remarks all night long in the direction of the Monarchs players and coaching staff.

Late in the third period, following an icing call, Manchester Assistant Coach Scott Pellerin felt enough was enough and the "fans" crossed the line with their verbal abuse.  Pellerin called for the authorities, a rather lengthy delay ensued and it proved to be just the right amount of time for the Monarchs to catch their collective breath and finish off the Bears on that memorable Sunday evening.

To me, it was a very significant victory for this still very young Manchester team.  It proved that they could play with the "big boys" in this league, a team that returns no less than 20 players from the title team a season ago.

The Monarchs will play a Hershey team that is at full strength in terms of its major stars.  Left wing Giroux has returned from  the parent Washington Capitals as has linemate Keith Aucoin.  In just eight games, Giroux has seven goals and 10 assists and is currently tied for the top spot in the AHL scoring race.  Aucoin has four goals and four helpers in only five games.  Ironically enough, neither Giroux nor Aucoin has a power play goal the season.  Right wing Andrew Gordon is the only Bear with multiple goals while enjoying the man advantage as five of his seven have come on the power play.

Second-year right wing Francois Bouchard is off to a great start for Hershey with five goals and six assists in 11 games.