Tampa Bay and Edmonton have sired the top two teams in the American Hockey League after woeful stints with Springfield.
Former Falcon David LeNeveu is riding a winner in Oklahoma City.When the Tampa Bay Lightning and Edmonton Oilers served as parent clubs to the Springfield Falcons, they couldn’t deliver playoff teams.
In fact, the Oilers’ situation here got so bleak they fired first-year coach Jeff Truitt midway through the 2008-09 season.
Well, now look. The Lightning – under new management after the dismissal of general manager Jay Feaster – have put together a Norfolk Admirals club that set the AHL record with a 28-game winning streak. It started after they lost 4-2 to the Falcons here Feb. 5, and carried to the end of the regular season.
Center Trevor Smith is the only Admiral to play here as a Falcon, but he did so last season, when he was under contract to Springfield’s current parent club, the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Norfolk has reaped three AHL awards. John Cooper was a can’t-miss choice as Coach of the Year, while winger Cory Conacher, a 38-goal scorer, was named Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player.
Conacher is the fourth rookie to win MVP honors, joining Bill Hicke of Rochester (1959), Pelle Lindbergh of Maine (1981) and Stephan Lebeau of Sherbrooke (1989).
As for the Oilers, they’re under the same management that couldn’t build a winner here, but they have turned things around since the 2010 decision to relocate their farm club.
Their Oklahoma City Barons posted the AHL’s second-best record, and Yann Danis of the Barons was voted the league’s top goaltender.
Only three Oklahoma City players skated for the Falcons – defensemen Taylor Chorney and Bryan Helmer, and backup goaltender David LeNeveu.
SABR SPECIAL: Richard A. Johnson, curator of The Sports Museum in Boston’s TD Garden, will serve as guest speaker at the spring meeting of Springfield’s Rabbit Maranville Chapter of SABR (Society for American Baseball Research). It’s set for Monday, April 30, at 7 p.m. in the Bears Den of Western New England University’s Campus Center, 1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield.
In 2000, Johnson collaborated with Glenn Stout to produce “Red Sox Century,” a masterwork of baseball history. It is one of the 17 books he has written or co-authored on the history of sports in New England and New York.
At SABR’s meeting, he will discuss his latest: “Field of Our Fathers: An Illustrated History of Fenway Park 1912-2012.”
SABR meetings, with a registration fee of $5, are open to the public.
ROCKIN’ RATS: Fran Sypek of The Republican’s sports staff reports that Bruce Springsteen gave the AHL’s Albany franchise a mention during his Monday concert at the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y.
“He said the Albany Devils should change their name back to the Albany River Rats, which he said would be a great title for a Springsteen song.”
BEST BET for the weekend: Term Loan, in the Jerome Stakes.
Garry Brown can be reached at geeman1918@yahoo.com