Providence Bruins Become First To Clinch AHL Playoff Berth

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com - SPRINGFIELD, Mass.  - With four weeks remaining in the 2007-08 regular season, the Providence Bruins have become the first team to clinch a berth in the 2008 Calder Cup Playoffs.

The Bruins will be making their 10th consecutive postseason appearance, becoming the 10th team in AHL history to reach the playoffs every season for at least a decade. They have hit the 40-win mark for the fourth year in a row under head coach Scott Gordon, and with 46 wins and 13 games remaining, the B’s still have an outside shot at breaking the 1992-93 Binghamton Rangers’ all-time AHL record of 57 victories in a season.


ADVERTISEMENT Providence punched its playoff ticket when captain Nate Thompson scored in overtime for a 4-3 win at Manchester on Friday night. It was the Bruins’ 23rd road win of the season, leaving them four shy of that league record with six road games remaining. The Portland Pirates in 2005-06 and the Chicago Wolves and Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights last season all won 27 games away from home.

The races to join the 16-team Calder Cup Playoff field are heating up as winter turns to spring. The top four finishers in each division qualify for the postseason, with one possible exception: if the fifth-place team in the West Division finishes with more points than the fourth-place team in the North Division, it would cross over and compete in the North Division playoffs.

It’s shaping up to be a fight to the finish in the West, where 14 points separate second place from eighth. Houston (75 points) would be in line for that crossover if the season ended today, but Peoria sits just one point behind the Aeros; Quad City and Hamilton are six points back; and Iowa trails by just seven points.

Toronto’s lead atop the North, which was 17 points on Feb. 17, is down to seven points one month later. Manitoba has points in eight straight outings (7-0-0-1) and 12 of their last 14 (11-2-0-1), but the Moose haven’t been able to pull away from the third-place Syracuse Crunch, who have earned points in 11 consecutive contests in a row (8-0-0-3) and 17 of 18 (12-1-0-5).

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