The Falcons are off to their best start in franchise history.
Springfield Falcon Curtis McElhinney enjoys a pre-Thanksgiving skate with his daughter Jaxen, 2, and his son, Trenten, 4, right, at the MassMutual Center on Wednesday.
SPRINGFIELD – Thanksgiving was no holiday for the first-place Springfield Falcons. They hit the ice as usual for a two-hour practice at the MassMutual Center, tuning up for a three-game weekend that starts with a Friday night visit to Portland.
As coach Brad Larsen noted earlier in the week, “There’s no letup in this business.”
Certainly not, if you play for this guy. Springfield’s new coach has been pushing his players hard all season, demanding that they stick to their roles, play together and be responsible to each other.
“When you’re moving the puck, you need to know that your teammates are going to be where they’re supposed to be,” Larsen said. “That’s sticking with the system. That’s paying attention to detail.”
It has worked so far. At 10-2-0-2, these Falcons have made the strongest 14-game start since the franchise was founded in 1994-95 as a replacement for the Springfield Indians, an American Hockey League charter franchise that was moved to Worcester.
When it comes to the Falcons “moving the puck,” a lot of that responsibility rests with the defensemen. They all have been getting that job done, even when their corps has been hit with injuries. They went into this week down to the minimum of six backliners – John Moore, Dalton Prout, Nick Holden, David Savard, Tim Erixon and Theo Ruth.
“We got four goals from our D last Saturday in Norfolk,” Larsen said, referring to a 5-2 victory.
One of those goals came off the stick of Nick Holden, a fifth-year pro who is back and healthy after playing only 25 games for the Falcons last season because of an injury.
“It’s good to be healthy, and I need to be, with all the injuries we have now,” he said.
Holden scored against Norfolk on what he called “a half-slap shot” from the left side.
“Yeah, I snuck one in,” he said.
At 6-foot-3 and 211 pounds, this native of St. Albert, Alberta, typifies what the Falcons have on defense this season. The entire backline unit has size, mobility and the ability to move the puck out of their zone.
“That’s part of our job, get it up to the forwards,” Holden said.
For the third straight year, Holden has David Savard as his playing partner. Savard spent a good chunk of last season in the NHL with Springfield’s parent club, the Columbus Blue Jackets, after an outstanding rookie year here in 2010-11.
“This certainly is the best defense I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” Holden said. “Everybody’s clicking, getting the puck out of the zone real quick.”
Combine that with stellar checking by the forwards and top-notch goaltending from Curtis McElhinney and Paul Dainton, and you have a team that leads the American Hockey League in fewest goals allowed, 23 (1.64 per game).
ICE CHIPS: After their Portland visit, the Falcons come home to play Manchester on Saturday night and Connecticut on Sunday afternoon ... The Falcons rank second in the AHL to Abbotsford in penalty-killing percentage (90.2). Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Norfolk scored just once on 15 power-play opportunities over the three games last week ... Springfield has gone 7-0-0-0 when carrying a lead into the second period, and 9-0-0-0 when up by at least a goal after two ... McElhinney continues to stay atop the league in victories (9) and shutouts (4), while ranking second in save percentage (.953). Abbotsford’s Barry Brust leads with a .991 percentage, but has played only four games. McElhinney has played 12 of Springfield’s 14.
Garry Brown can be reached at geeman1918@yahoo.com