With the All-Star Classic officially in the books and teams getting back to work for the final few months of the season, there is a lot going on in the AHL.
One player hit a milestone coming out of the break last Saturday. Chicago Wolves forward Keith Aucoin picked up his 600th career AHL assist in a victory over Abbotsford. This made Aucoin the fifth player in AHL history to reach 600 assists, an accomplishment he reached in his 750th regular season AHL game.
The IceCaps have been on a roll off the All-Star break. Perhaps the excitement of hosting the event carried with the team on their six game road trip. The IceCaps earned a possible nine points out of 12, putting them in the fourth place spot on the Eastern Conference.
John Albert, forward for St. Johns, came home the CCM/AHL Player of the Week award after having five goals and an assist in just four games last week. One of the goals was a shorthanded making Albert the league leader for shorthanded goals.
The IceCaps are not the only team rolling. The Rockford IceHogs entered this past week on a nine-game point streak going 8-0-0-1 so far in February. The IceHogs will visit Oklahoma City tonight.
The San Antonio Rampage are excited to get back to home ice after finishing up a 10 game road trip this past Wednesday in Utica. The Rampage, who are fighting for the eighth place spot in the Western Conference will host the first place Texas Stars on Saturday.
Speaking of playoffs, the Utica Comets may not be as far out as everyone assumed. After beginning the season winless through the first 10 games, the Comets are just seven points out of a playoff spot with 23 games remaining. They play host to the struggling Adirondack Phantoms tonight.
Travis Morin of Texas, Mike Hoffman of Binghamton and Colton Sceviour of Texas still remain in the top three spots for scoring in the league. The three have been battling it out all season. Toronto Marlies defenseman T.J. Breannan continues to impress as well. He currently hold the fourth place stop with 54 points in 53 games. Just prior to the All-Star break, Brennan scored his 20th goal of the season making him the first AHL defenseman to score 20 goals in a season since Joel Kwiatkowski in 2007-08 with Chicago.
The Manchester Monarchs hold a commanding lead for the first place position in the Eastern Conference with 81 points. Behind them in the second place spot is the Springfield Falcons with 71 points, just one point above the third place Binghamton Senators. The Norfolk Admirals and Hershey Bears are tied with 64 points in the eighth place spot.
In the west, Texas holds a four point lead over the Grand Rapids Griffins who only hold a one point lead over the third place Marlies. Milwaukee is currently in the eighth place position with a four point lead over Iowa, in ninth.
A total of 33 games will be played around the league this weekend, 11 tonight, 12 tomorrow and 10 on Sunday.