Aeros.com Power Poll

Aeros.com recently polled several American Hockey League pundits and came up with the following, unscientific Power Poll of all AHL teams. The poll is all for fun.


1 Manchester – Top three are in a virtual dead heat, but Monarchs get the nod due to the fact they’ve won by less than two goals on just two occasions. Manchester owns 70-25 goal advantage over its opponents.


2 Philadelphia – Fourteen straight wins will get you a No. 2 in this week’s poll. Six of last eight victories have come in shootout or overtime.


3 Milwaukee – Responded to loss against Houston by whipping three overmatched foes by a combined 19-6 margin. Remainder of six-game road trip has two games each in Edmonton and Manitoba, which will test the high-flying Ads, who average 4.07 goals per game.


4 Edmonton – Road Runners can run-and-gun with the best of them, and Tyler Moss ranks seventh in the league in gaa (1.87)


5 Norfolk – Admirals have young nucleus of Blackhawk prospects to build upon, and Craig Anderson is playing lights out in net (8-1-1, 1.74). Imagine if Tuumu Ruutu hadn’t hurt his shoulder before the season began.


6 Manitoba – Armed with a super new building that’s going to open with four straight shutouts, the Moose feature two of the league’s top five scorers in Peter Sarno and Jason King, who has an astounding 15 goals in 18 games.


7 Houston – Mark Josh Harding down as the happiest goalie in the land after the Aeros gave him six goals of support Saturday in Syracuse. See Pushor’s comment regarding Aeros for the No. 25 Crunch. Few teams will be able to match Houston in speed.


8 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton – Last year’s Cup finalists were bad early on but haven’t lost in regulation in their last 10 (6-0-3-1). Pens young goalie combo of 2003 No. 1 overall pick Marc-Andre Fleury and Andy Chiodo will battle with Aeros’ duo of Josh Harding and Mike Smith all season long for top goalie tandems under 22.


9 Grand Rapids – Threw in some clunkers during long homestand, but Griffins are a perfect 4-0-0-0 on the road, and Joey MacDonald is for sure ready to emerge from Marc Lamothe’s shadow between the pipes.


10 Hartford – Team will still be good defensively, but with loss of Fedor Tyutin and Maxim Kondratiev on the blueline, goalies Jason LaBarbera and Steve Valiquette will need to be that much better.


11 St. John’s – Maple Leafs are not going quietly in their last season on “The Rock”. St. John’s is in the midst of a nine-game road trip (although two “home” games are to be played in Toronto) that pales in comparison to a 12-gamer 1/8-1/29.


12 Rochester – Amerks have scored first in 10 of 16 games, helping Ryan Miller (7-6-0, 2.59 gaa) overcome some early struggles. Rochester has had some injuries early, most noticeably Jason Botterill, who had eight points (6-2=8) in eight games.


13 Lowell – Lock Monsters have games in hand on everyone in division. Young gun Eric Staal (4-13=17, plus-nine) is helping Lowell overcome errant defense goaltending early (allowing 3.07 goals per game).


14 Worcester – IceCats have dropped three of four, starting with a 4-2 loss to Springfield. The two other losses came against league-leading Manchester. Former Aero Jeff Hoggan is tied for the team lead with six goals.


15 Providence – Patrice Bergeron, who spent all of 2003-04 with Boston, had nine points in four games last week. Bruins sport three players averaging more than a point per game. Hannu Toivonen is in the same boat as Josh Harding. He’s 6-7-1 but with a great 2.04 gaa.


16 Binghamton – Lost two-goal lead at Springfield Sunday. Top prospect Ray Emery is just 4-6-2 with a 2.86 gaa, leading to more playing time for Billy Thompson (4-2-0 but with a higher 2.97 gaa). Jason Spezza leads Sens with 24 points (8-16=24).


17 Chicago – Up-and-down Wolves haven’t strung together back-to-back wins in nearly a month. Ducks snapped their seven-game losing streak over Chicago 4-3 last Friday, but Wolves responded with 3-0 win the next night. Published reports out of the Windy City have Blackhawk Steve McCarthy joining the Wolves this week.


18 Cleveland – Three of Barons’ seven wins have come versus the Aeros, who seemingly have a hard time matching up with Cleveland.


19 Portland – Pirates are 3-5-1-2 since a red-hot 5-1-0-0 start. Portland was outscored 12-1 Saturday and Sunday by Providence and Lowell.


20 Bridgeport – Sound Tigers are a rock-solid 7-1-0-0 at home, but must improve on 2-6-0-0 road mark.


21 San Antonio – Rampage not creating much offense – 24.7 shots per game, 27th in AHL. San Antonio faces last-place Utah in final two games of five-game road trip, which has yielded no wins so far.


22 Albany – Team started out 4-1-1-1 but is 2-6-2-0 since. River Rats full on young talent, and with Philly, Norfolk and Wilkes-Barre combining to go 22-2-4-2 in their last 30 games, Albany needs to keep up with Binghamton and Bridgeport.


23 Hamilton – Winless in eight straight (0-6-1-1) and 3-5-2-0 on the road. Bulldogs rank 23rd in both PP and PK, and their 1.89 goals per game are more than only No. 28 Utah.


24 Cincinnati – Ducks have lost eight of nine after a 5-2-0-0 start, getting held to two goals or fewer in seven of the nine games. Top five Cincinnati scorers have also combined to be minus-41. Frustration is filling over, as the Ducks have moved into the top spot in the AHL in penalty minutes.


25 Syracuse – Happy to be done with the Aeros for 04-05. Said Crunch captain, NHL vet and former Stanley Cup captain Jamie Pushor: "Every time you play a team with that much skill and speed, they will expose you if you are not on top of your game.”


26 Hershey – Bears getting outshot by nearly five shots per night, and getting outscored by 0.88 goals per game. Hershey got Carl Corrazini from Providence trying to shake things up, and he’s gotten two goals in three games.


27 Springfield – Team has two much talent to be in last place, and to have six power play goals – 13 less than the Aeros – in 17 games. Falcons allow nearly four goals per game.


28 Utah – Grizzlies, Falcons trading players at all hours. Grizz get Jarrod Skalde back, and gain veteran ‘D’ Terry Virtue. We’ll see how long it takes everyone to click, with two games in Houston on the horizon this weekend.