Disappointing finish doesn't mar River Rats' season

Throughout the day today, Albany River Rats head coach-GM Tom Rowe will meet individually with his players in annual exit

interviews that accompany the end of the season.

From start to finish, the message will be clear. Even the short-term frustration of losing a heart-breaking seven-game playoff series wasn’t enough to overshadow the franchise’s best season in a decade.

Philadelphia’s 2-0 win in Game 7 of their epic series Tuesday night meant Albany failed to get out of the first round in its fourth straight postseason appearance, despite the heroics of AHL goaltender of the year Michael Leighton.

“The overall season was terrific,” Rowe said Wednesday. “Guys

developed, for sure. I can’t think of anybody who didn’t get better from the beginning of the season to the end. That’s the real positive.

“Another positive is the work ethic of the team, and the fact that nobody ever quit in any game. Everybody wants to go to the

finals and win a championship. It just wasn’t meant to be this year, as great as Leighton was. Everybody ran out of gas at the end of the

series. It was still a great year.”

Albany finished with 93 points, going 43-30 with three overtime losses and four shootout losses. It was the Rats’ first season as a full Carolina Hurricanes affiliate, after

sharing prospects with the Colorado Avalanche in 2006-07.

From Feb. 22 to March 5, Albany put together an eight-game winning streak, the franchise’s longest since 1998, catapulting from the playoff bubble to the division title race.

It wasn’t until the first weekend of April that the Rats were knocked from title contention, winding up third, behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Philadelphia.

“There were certain things

[assistant coach] Geordie [Kinnear] and I demanded they do back in training camp and again in October, November and December, and

after that, it was a consistent theme every single game how they play and compete,” Rowe said.

“Honestly, the players deserve all the credit. It really comes down to them going out and executing the way we had to play. It’s tough to do when you’re as young as we were. We had guys like Leighton and [Pat] Dwyer and [Trevor] Gillies and [Jamie] Johnson and [Joey] Mormina pushing the young kids to step it up, knowing we needed to have everybody going to stay in the playoff race.

Leighton led the AHL and set a franchise single-season record with seven shutouts, also finishing first in shots faced (1,755), saves (1,634) and save percentage (.931); second with 3,451 minutes and a 2.10 goals-against average; third with 58 games; and fourth with 28 wins. He became the first Rats player to win the AHL’s Baz Bastien Award as top goalie.

In the playoffs, Leighton went 3-4, 1.18 and .968, allowing only 10 goals on 314 shots in seven games.

Johnson led Albany in regular-season scoring with 37 assists, 58 points and 79 games played. Brandon Nolan, who missed the last two months with an injury, was tops with 22 goals and second with 48 points in 48 games.