FALCONS RETURN HOME THIS WEEKEND
April 11, 2012 - The Springfield Falcons return to practice on Wednesday one day after returning to Springfield following their Easter Weekend road trip to St. John's. Newfoundland where the split a pair of games. The Falcons conclude their regular season schedule this weekend when they host the Adirondack Phantoms on Friday and St. John's IceCaps on Saturday. Springfield's playoff hopes are still alive heading into Wednesday as they sit three points behind both Manchester and Portland for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Manchester lost to the Worcester Sharks on Tuesday and Portland hosts the Connecticut Whale on Wednesday night, a game Falcons fans will be rooting for the Whale.
The Falcons return to practice on Wednesday with a full roster as Cam Atkinson, Ryan Russell, Dalton Prout, Maksim Mayorov and Will Weber all joined the team from Columbus.
Falcons player notes:
Andrew Joudrey has five goals in his last four games and now has 14 markers on the year, one goal shy of his career high of 15 set during the 2009-10 season.
Alexandre Giroux has three goals in his last four games increasing his total to 27 on the season.
With Alexandre Giroux (27) and Cam Atkinson (29) both over the 25 goal mark, this represents the first time since the 2006-07 campaign the Falcons have had two players score 25 or more goals in a season. Norm Milley (26) and Eric Healey (27) were the last tandom to accomplish this mark for the Falcons.
Martin St. Pierre continues to remain in the top 10 in scoring in the AHL with 11 goals and 53 assists for 64 points in 72 games.
The Falcons have a record of 34-34-3-3 through 74 games. The Falcons are one win shy of recording back to back 35 or more win seasons for the first time since they won 45 games in 1997-98, followed by 35 wins in 1998-99.
| Rank | Eastern Conference | GP | W | L | OTL | SOL | PTS | PCT | GF | GA | STK | P10 | S/O | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | y * - Norfolk Admirals | 73 | 52 | 18 | 1 | 2 | 107 | 0.733 | 261 | 175 | 25-0-0-0 | 10-0-0-0 | 3-2 | 1402 |
| 2 | y * - St. John's IceCaps | 73 | 42 | 23 | 5 | 3 | 92 | 0.630 | 234 | 208 | 1-0-0-0 | 4-5-0-1 | 4-3 | 1017 |
| 3 | x * - Bridgeport Sound Tigers | 73 | 39 | 25 | 3 | 6 | 87 | 0.596 | 224 | 213 | 0-1-0-0 | 7-2-0-1 | 4-6 | 1310 |
| 4 | x Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins | 73 | 43 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 93 | 0.637 | 229 | 207 | 2-0-0-0 | 7-3-0-0 | 7-5 | 1180 |
| 5 | x Hershey Bears | 73 | 38 | 23 | 4 | 8 | 88 | 0.603 | 237 | 211 | 0-3-0-2 | 5-3-0-2 | 7-8 | 1540 |
| 6 | x Connecticut Whale | 73 | 36 | 25 | 7 | 5 | 84 | 0.575 | 204 | 199 | 1-0-0-0 | 4-4-2-0 | 7-5 | 1212 |
| 7 | Syracuse Crunch | 73 | 35 | 28 | 5 | 5 | 80 | 0.548 | 233 | 227 | 1-0-0-0 | 7-1-1-1 | 7-5 | 1194 |
| 8 | Manchester Monarchs | 73 | 36 | 32 | 2 | 3 | 77 | 0.527 | 193 | 201 | 0-1-2-0 | 5-3-2-0 | 5-3 | 1284 |
| 9 | Portland Pirates | 73 | 34 | 30 | 4 | 5 | 77 | 0.527 | 213 | 246 | 2-0-0-0 | 5-2-1-2 | 5-5 | 1265 |
| 10 | Adirondack Phantoms | 73 | 36 | 33 | 2 | 2 | 76 | 0.521 | 197 | 207 | 0-1-0-0 | 6-3-0-1 | 3-2 | 1242 |
| 11 | Providence Bruins | 73 | 34 | 32 | 3 | 4 | 75 | 0.514 | 187 | 204 | 3-0-0-0 | 7-3-0-0 | 7-4 | 1066 |
| 12 | Springfield Falcons | 74 | 34 | 34 | 3 | 3 | 74 | 0.500 | 210 | 228 | 0-1-0-0 | 4-6-0-0 | 5-3 | 1236 |
| 13 | Worcester Sharks | 73 | 30 | 31 | 4 | 8 | 72 | 0.493 | 193 | 210 | 1-0-0-1 | 2-7-0-1 | 2-8 | 1589 |
| 14 | Albany Devils | 73 | 30 | 32 | 6 | 5 | 71 | 0.486 | 184 | 217 | 0-4-0-0 | 3-7-0-0 | 2-5 | 1226 |
| 15 | Binghamton Senators | 74 | 28 | 40 | 4 | 2 | 62 | 0.419 | 196 | 239 | 0-3-0-0 | 3-6-1-0 | 2-2 | 1155 |
