Before we get to the River Rats game tonight against visiting Norfolk, a bit of news.
Albany and its NHL partner, the Carolina Hurricanes, have agreed in principle to a one-year extension of their affiliation agreement that expires following this season. There are also one-year options for additional years beyond 2009-10. At this point, it is a matter of crossing the t's and dotting the i's, as they say.
Also, after years of waiting for its return, the Rats sound people dusted off the Thin Lizzy CD and are playing "The Boys are Back in Town," a great tune. Unfortunately, warmups just ended, but it's a start. Baby steps, baby steps.
To the game. Albany is hosting Norfolk, leading the last-place Admirals by two points in the East Division standings. The Rats, who have 18 games remaining, are 14 points out of a playoff spot, trailing fourth-place Binghamton, a 3-1 winner at Portland last night.
Norfolk head coach Darren Rumble said before tonight's game that defenseman Matt Lashoff joined the team late last night from Tampa Bay. An East Greenbush native who was traded by Boston to the Lightning last week, Lashoff has been with the NHL club having a gash on the back of his left knee examined and doing rehab. He skated here this morning before the team but won't be in the lineup tonight, instead watching the game with family.
"He came in and skated with our assistant coach, Alan May," Rumble said. "He'll skate again tomorrow and play this weekend. We're dusting him off to send him back to Tampa. Who knows how long he'll be here, but the plan is to get him ready to go back up."
Radek Smolenak will be in the lineup for Norfolk. He traveled to Albany apart from the rest of the team after not rejoining the bench for the final two periods Sunday in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Smolenak arrived at RPI's Houston Field House around 10 for a scheduled noon practice yesterday, but it was pushed back to late afternoon due to a travel delay.
"He had stayed back for personal reasons," Rumble said. "We got stuck when a police officer did a random check at our hotel on the bus. We were short a battery for some light on the trailer or something like that, so we were unable to make our scheduled practice time. We came in and they were nice enough to give us a secondary option for some ice time."
Albany's two newest players, ECHL callups Mathieu Roy and Patrick Bordeleau, are in warmups and will play. Bordeleau is wearing No. 25 and Roy, No. 9. He is the ninth player to wear it for the Rats this season (Marc Cavosie, Matt Auffrey, Danick Bouchard, Ryan Cruthers, Brock Hooton, Colin Nicholson, Steve Ward, Brad Zanon).
Hooton, by the way, is playing for Norfolk. He signed a pro tryout with the Ads last weekend over Albany, who he played for on Feb. 7 and who were interested in having him back.
Daniel Manzato is getting the start in goal for Albany. He is 6-1 in 2009 and is making back-to-back starts for the first time since Dec. 7 and 12. He'll be opposed by Riku Helenius.
Rats line combinations from warmups: Jakub Petruzalek-Yannick Tifu-Pat Dwyer (C); Mathieu Roy-Nick Dodge-Jerome Samson; Aaron Clarke-Mike Angelidis (A)-Ryan Weston; Brad Herauf-Harrison Reed-Patrick Bordeleau.
Defense pairings: Bryan Rodney (A)-Brett Carson; Ryan McGinnis-Mark Flood; Benn Olson-Noah Babin.
Scratches: Stefan Chaput, Bobby Hughes, Joe Jensen, Nicolas Blanchard, Jonathan Paiement, Casey Borer, Trevor Gillies.
Norfolk's line combinations: Justin Keller-Zenon Konopka (C)-Brandon Bochenski (A); Pete Zingoni-Blair Jones-Brandon Segal (A); Grant Potulny-Juraj Simek-Chris Lawrence; Radek Smolenak-Hooton-Wade Brookbank.
Defense pairings: Daryl Boyle-Ty Wishart; Vladimir Mihalik-Kevin Quick; Brent Henley-Mike Lundin.
Scratches: Bracken Kearns, Matt Lashoff, Scott Jackson, Steve Downie.
