Imposing Mormina came up big for Rats

When they needed him most, the Albany River Rats' biggest player came up, well, big.

After season-ending injuries to Mark Flood and Casey Borer were added to the continued absence of the promoted Tim Conboy, defenseman Joey Mormina took it upon himself to pick up the slack.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound Montreal native, in his third pro season, evolved into a trusted and valued leader down the stretch, dressing as a captain or alternate for 22 of Albany's last 25 games.

Even following Conboy's return from the NHL, Mormina was rewarded again in the playoffs, earning a steady alternate captaincy for the duration, with Trevor Gillies (home) and Jamie Johnson (road) sharing the other 'A.'

"It's definitely an honor," Mormina, 25, said. "It's a lot of responsibility, but I can't let it affect the way I play.

"Coming into the year, I didn't really know anybody. With all the callups and injuries and that sort of stuff, I think I had to emerge on the back end. I was sort of the de-facto old guy on defense."

Assistant coach Geordie Kinnear, a former Rats captain and defenseman, has been a big factor in Mormina's development and is pleased with his progress.

"He's definitely got an intelligence for the game," Kinnear said, "especially how we like to play and ask our defense to play, making reads in different situations. He had a knack for it already, so we just sort of fine-tuned that. He's picked it up very quickly. We've asked him to be more physical and over the course of the season, he's definitely done that. He's a big body, and now that he's playing physical, he makes people accountable down low. That's what we needed from him."

Mormina made his NHL debut Feb. 14, playing 7:45 on 11 shifts and breaking the nose of Pittsburgh's Jeff Taffe in a huge, and clean, open-ice collision.

"Even before he got called up, I felt he was playing very well," Kinnear said. "Then he went up and had a big hit. Confidence comes from when you work hard and have success, and he's playing with that confidence. He's been a great player for us and he's been a mainstay because we had so many guys out of the lineup. He's been a constant."

A Colgate graduate, Mormina dressed for 77 of 80 games, missing one with the flu, one on recall and the regular-season finale to rest for the playoffs. He joined the Rats after playing his first two pro years in Manchester.

Mormina's postseason role grew even larger with Conboy's eight-game AHL suspension handed down last week

"He's been one of our guys that really stepped it up in the last few weeks here," Baz Bastien Award-winning goalie Mike Leighton said. "That's what we needed from him. He's a leader on this team, and he's going to be a big part of this organization in the future. The last few weeks, he's shown why."

TOUCHING TRIBUTE

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton enforcer Dennis Bonvie was saluted by the franchise following its April 12 finale Ñ his final regular-season game in a 15-year career.

Bonvie, 34, was honored following the Pens' 3-2 loss to Norfolk, in a ceremony that included his wife, two children, brother, sister and parents.

Highlights of Bonvie's career were shown on the video scoreboard before, during and after the game. Among his parting gifts were a seven-day beach vacation, a leather recliner, a Swiss watch from his teammates and a framed collage from league president Dave Andrews with photos in each of the eight AHL sweaters Bonvie wore.

Bonvie wore the captain's 'C' and a season-high crowd of 8,370 got to see one last fight, a third-period bout with Norfolk's Jay Rosehill. When it was over, Rosehill raised Bonvie's hand like a referee after a boxing match.

Perhaps the most appropriate gesture came from Wilkes-Barre's front office, which presented Bonvie with the the bench from the Wachovia Arena penalty box. Bonvie was 84-191-275 with an all-time record, 4,493 PIM in 871 career AHL games.

"Fifteen years ago, I wanted to play in one professional hockey game," Bonvie said in his postgame speech. "It's been awesome"

MONTHLY AWARDS

Hamilton's Corey Locke went 7-8-15 and plus-11 in seven games to earn player of the month honors for April. Albany's Nicolas Blanchard (5-1-6, plus-4, 6 games) was also nominated.

Blanchard was also in the running for top rookie, which went to Derick Brassard of Syracuse (4-10-14, plus-7, 7 games).

Houston's Barry Brust was 3-2, 1.22, and .948 with one shutout in five games to earn the nod as April's top goaltender. Rats backup Justin Peters (1-1, 2.02, .911) was Albany's nominee.

BY THE NUMBERS

Providence had 55 wins and 117 points, both ranking third all-time in AHL history. The Bruins set a single-season record with 28 road victories, while Jeff Hoggan led all players with a plus-39 rating.

Rockford's Troy Brouwer had 25 power-play goals, coming within two of matcing the AHL record.

Syracuse ended the regular season with 15 straight wins and points in 23 straight games, both franchise records. It was the longest win streak since Philadelphia had 17 in a row in 2004-05.

Shooters converted 26.4 percent (19-72) of their penalty shots and 31.8 percent of shootout attempts during the season.

Chicago became the first team with back-to-back 300-goal seasons since Phladelphia in 1997 and 1998. A league-high 107 came on the power play.

Wolves forward Jason Krog, the AHL's MVP, became just the third player in its 72-year history to lead the league in goals (39), assists (73) and points (112).

Hershey led the league in total (350,815) an average (8,770) atttendance for the second straight year. Manitoba and Wilkes-Barre also topped the 300,000 mark, while Albany ranked 24th of 29 teams at 157,601 (3,940). Lowell was last with a reported 84,094 (2,102) in 40 games.

EX-FILES

Brian Rolston scored one goal and set up the winner in overtime as Minnesota edged Colorado in Game 3 of their first-round series. Rolston had four points (1-3) and was a team-high plus-5 in four games.

John Madden netted the OT winner for the New Jersey Devils in their Game 3 victory over the Rangers. Madden was 2-1-3 and minus-3, while Patrik Elias led the Devils with 3-2-5 and was minus-4 in four games.

Petr Sykora led Pittsburgh with three goals and was a plus-3 in the Pens' first-round series sweep of Ottawa. Mike Commodore tied for the Sens scoring lead with two points (0-2-2) and was minus-1.

Jason Ryznar went 2-1-3, Ivan Khomutov and Nicklas Bergfors had goals, and Frank Doyle stopped 33 shots as Lowell ended its season with a win over AHL-leading Providence. The Devils finished at 25-43-7-5.

Petr Vrana led Lowell with 41 assists, 61 points and 10 power-play goals, as the only Devil to dress for all 80 games.

Troy native Matt Murley was San Antonio's leader with 41 assists, 62 points and 12 PPG, as well as a plus-20 rating. Defenseman Bryan Helmer went 5-15-20 and minus-9 in 66 games.

Toronto's Derrick Walser

was 16-29-45, plus-6, in 77 games and Lake Erie's Michael Vernace was 3-26-29, minus-27.

were the top scoring defenseman on their teams. Bryan Muir had 18 points and was a club-high plus-23 in 50 games for the Marlies, while Mitch Love topped the Monsters with 213 PIM in 59 games.

David Gove wound up matching an AHL high by playing in 81 games between Albany (45) and Wilkes-Barre (36). His nine game-winning goals (4 Albany, 5 WBS) ranked second in the league.

Adrian Foster played 70 of 80 games for Houston, finishing third on the team with 38 points (15-23) and posting a plus-5 rating. Foster played 69 total games over his previous three seasons.

QUOTEBOOK

"To be the worst team in the league is embarrassing. The hardest thing was going out to play a game every night knowing the other team knew we were the worst in the league."

Rochester forward Rob Globke, to the Democrat & Chronicle. The Amerks finished with 56 total losses and 58 points.