Portland Pirates hold onto front-place spot

Published Date Written by Ken Levinsky

The Portland Pirates occupy the top spot in the Atlantic Division of The American Hockey League's Eastern Conference for the sixth week in a row. With 50 points (teams receive 2 points for each victory and 1 point for an overtime or shootout loss) Portland is 4 points in front of the second place Manchester Monarchs and 7 points in front of the third place Providence Bruins. In their 41 games the Pirates have 24 wins, 15 losses, 1 overtime loss and 1 shootout loss.
Portland played three games in three days last weekend winning in Providence, and then losing twice: at home to Connecticut and at Manchester. The Pirates had won fourteen of their last sixteen games before the two recent losses.
Portland leads the Atlantic Division in goals scored with 123. Individually, Rob Klinkhammer (No. 12) has 31 points on 9 goals and a team leading 22 assists, while Andy Miele (No. 21) has 11 goals and 15 assists. Alexandre Bolduc (No. 49) the team leader with 32 points (17 goals and 15 assists) was promoted to the NHL parent club Phoenix Coyotes. Bolduc played 10 shifts in the Coyotes' 4-3 opening day loss at Dallas on Saturday. He did not play in Sunday's loss at home to Chicago.
The Pirates face their two closest division rivals this weekend, traveling to Providence tonight for a clash with the Bruins and then returning home to the Cumberland County Civic Center to host Manchester on Saturday at 7 p.m. Pirates' games can be heard on WPEI (95.5 and 95.9 FM) and WOXO (92.7 and 100.7 FM).