Wolves just one win away

The Chicago Wolves took a commanding 3-1 lead over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the Calder Cup 2002 Finals with a thrilling 4-2 victory Friday night. The Sound Tigers peppered Wolves goaltender Pasi Nurminen with 31 shots, but could not answer Brad Tapper's game winning goal scored at 3:08 of the third period. The Wolves now have the opportunity to win the 66th AHL Calder Cup Championship on home ice Monday night.

The first four goals of the game were all scored on the power play, including the game's first at 10:33 of the first period. Bridgeport defenseman Chris Armstrong notched his third goal of the postseason with the assists credited to Ray Giroux and Justin Mapletoft. Less than four minutes later Rob Brown, the 2002 playoff points leader, put one past Bridgeport's Rick DiPietro, to tie the game at one.

Brown would then score his 29th point of the postseason with his second goal of the game on the power play at 10:30 of the second period. Bridgeport battled back and 26 year-old second round NHL draft choice Jason Podollan evened up the score less than three minutes later.

Tapper's third period goal, his third goal of the playoffs, turned out to be the game-winner, despite a Bridgeport rush later in the third. Karlsson notched an empty net insurance goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation.

The win forces the Sound Tigers to win the series' final three games or watch the Wolves celebrate their first AHL Calder Cup Championship. Monday's Game 5 will face-off at 7:00 CT.
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Monday, June 3, 2002

Wolves win Calder Cup



ROSEMONT, IL . . . The Chicago Wolves completed a historic run to the Calder Cup with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Monday night, capturing the 66th American Hockey League championship, four games to one.

In front of an Allstate Arena crowd of 15,132 fans, the second-largest playoff crowd in AHL history, Yuri Butsayev scored at 2:05 of the second overtime period to give the Wolves the title after captain Steve Maltais had scored the first three goals of the night. The Wolves' top line of Andreas Karlsson centering Maltais and Rob Brown paced Chicago's offense all spring, combining for 26 goals and 76 points during the Calder Cup 2002 Playoffs. Karlsson recorded 18 of his 21 points over the last 11 games, Maltais led the AHL with 12 playoff goals (including his Game 5 hat trick) and Brown posted a record-tying 26 assists and league-leading 33 points in the postseason.

Pasi Nurminen was outstanding in net for the Wolves throughout their playoff run, tying an AHL record with 15 victories and earning the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as the Calder Cup Playoffs' most valuable player. Nurminen, who represented Finland at the 2002 Olympic Games, finished with a record of 15-5 in 21 playoff contests, with a 1.94 goals against average, a .936 save percentage and two shutouts. En route to the championship, Nurminen defeated an impressive list of counterparts that included Martin Prusek, J-F. Labbe, Jamie McLennan and Rick DiPietro. He is the first goaltender to win the Jack Butterfield Trophy since Albany's Mike Dunham and Corey Schwab shared the award in 1995.

Chicago, top development team of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers, was an impressive 12-2 on home ice during the Calder Cup 2002 Playoffs, winning their last nine contests at Allstate Arena by a combined margin of 35-11.

The Wolves, led by head coach and former AHL MVP John Anderson, finished fourth in the West Division, seventh in the Western Conference and 16th in the AHL's overall standings in the 2001-02 regular season, and were actually on the verge of elimination just one day into the postseason. Chicago went the distance in defeating Cincinnati, Grand Rapids and Syracuse, becoming the first team ever to win three winner-take-all games in one Calder Cup playoff, and then ousted Houston to reach the Final. The Wolves knocked off an unprecedented three division winners in the Griffins, Crunch and Sound Tigers, and became the sixth team in AHL history to win the Calder Cup in their first year in the league.

The American Hockey League's 66th season was its most successful to date, seeing an expansion from 20 to 27 teams and an all-time high in average attendance, with nearly 6.7 million fans attending games across North America. The AHL serves as the top development league for all 30 National Hockey League teams; more than 75 percent of all players to compete in the NHL this season were AHL graduates, and 350 players took the ice in both leagues in 2001-02.







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"Brothers everywhere, raise your hands into the air,
we're warriors, warriors of the world"

Glückwunsch an die Wölfe!

Vor allem an Francis Lessard. Meiner Meinung nach der beste Fighter in der Verteidigerkaterogie. Hatte immer paar starke Kämfe wie z.B. gegen Nathan Perrott. Hoffentlich bekommt er mehr Einsätze bei den Trashers in der nächsten Saison.
Nach Lessard folgen auf meiner Liste noch Frederik Oduya und Paul Laus.

@ bigfoot:

Und? Steht das gleiche wieder auf nhlnews?

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Stu "The Grim Reaper" Grimson herrscht!