Sharks entering the playoff push

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

John Rooke, GoLocalWorcester Sports Editor

It’s not yet crunch time, but for all practical purposes, now’s the time for the Sharks to take their bite out of the American Hockey League.

With 13 games left in the regular season, the Worcester Sharks find themselves sitting in the eighth – and final – playoff spot in the AHL’s Eastern Conference, going into Wednesday night’s game at Albany. At this stage, however, it’s anyone’s guess as to post-season standings and seedings – only six points separates 7th place from 14th in the East. With the top eight teams reaching the playoffs, there’s a lot of opportunity remaining to climb the playoff ladder, or to fall off of it completely.

The Sharks are presently right in the middle of the playoff picture. At the present time, there are eight teams realistically contending for three playoff spots within the Eastern Conference. Not including the Norfolk Admirals, St. John’s IceCaps, Connecticut Whale, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and the Hershey Bears – who are all currently at the top of the playoff picture – Worcester is neck-and-neck with Manchester, Syracuse, Springfield, Albany, Portland, Adirondack and Providence for one of the last three spots.

In order to secure a playoff spot, success against divisional rivals should prove to be the difference, as seven of the Sharks’ final 13 games are against those teams.

If you’re looking for the hot hands, try the Syracuse Crunch…7-3 in their last 10 games, including a current 4-game winning streak. Syracuse plays Rochester twice this week, and will also host St. John’s. On the flip side, Wednesday’s opponent – Albany – has lost six of their last 10, and Worcester gets the Devils again on April 4th at the DCU Center. And after the Sharks’ 5-2 win over Providence last Friday, the P-Bruins are also sliding a bit with just 11 games left on their schedule, including two more with Worcester.

Shark Bites

• The Sharks drew 12,810 fans to the DCU Center at the two home games last week, highlighted by 7,787 fans on Friday in the 5-2 win over the Bruins.
• Worcester leads the AHL with 108 fighting majors through 63 games, shattering the franchise record of 81 set last season.
• Tough guy Jimmy Bonneau is one fight away from tying Frazer McLaren’s team record of 21 fighting majors (2008-09) in a season.
• “The Sheriff” Frazer McLaren is now just one penalty minute away from tying Brad Staubitz for the franchise record in career penalty minutes with the Worcester Sharks. Frazer has 461 penalty minutes in 184 games played with Worcester while Staubitz had 462 penalty minutes in 162 games played.
• Sebastian Stalberg, the younger brother of Viktor Stalberg of the Chicago Blackhawks, scored his first professional goal in his first professional game on Sunday against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
• Andover, MA native and BU alum, John McCarthy leads the Sharks with 39 points (16-23-39) in 52 games this season. Brandon Mashinter also has 16 goals.
• The Sharks welcomed over 2,000 job seekers during the 2nd annual Worcester Sharks Job Fair on Friday.
• The Sharks begin a three game road trip in Albany tonight at 7:00 pm and will also make stops in Manchester and Bridgeport before returning home to host the Portland Pirates on March 30 at 7:30 pm.
• Good when leading… the Sharks are 15-3-1-1 when leading after the 1st period of play and 15-3-0-2 when leading after the 2nd period of play this season.
• With the NCAA Hockey Regionals taking place this week at the DCU Center, it’s worth noting the Sharks have five players on the roster that have won the NCAA Division 1 Championship…. John McCarthy was co-captain for Boston University in 2009, Benn Ferriero and Nick Petrecki with Boston College in 2008, Tim Kennedy with Michigan State in 2007, and Ben Guite with Maine in 1999.