Today is an important day for young hockey players all across the American Hockey League. Today is the day teams submit their “Clear Day List” which is the 22-man roster of players allowed to play in the post-season.
Only the players listed on a team’s Clear Day roster are allowed to play in whatever games that team has over the rest of the AHL regular season and in the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs. Players can be added on if emergency conditions come about due to recall, injury or suspension.
What surprises await on the list to be released later today?
Hard to say.
Sean Avery fans are certain to wonder if he will be on the list?” The Answer, probably not.
However, will say Lee Baldwin or Blake Parlett be on the list? Maybe one or maybe even both.
What about Jeff Prough or perhaps another forward from Greenville? Perhaps.
One name the team was hoping they could put on the list, forward Chad Kolarik who has missed this entire season to this point with a knee injury, won’t be. Kolarik announced the following on his twitter account, “Cleared for contact, but because I was not on the AHL roster on Feb 27 I cannot play this year. Next goal is to be ready for camp.”
One name fans are hoping to see, but almost certainly won’t be on it, at least for now, is New York Rangers franchise crown jewel, Chris Kreider. He has not signed yet with the Blueshirts, nor has he signed a Professional Try-Out (PTO) with the Whale. But don’t be alarmed. When his college season is over, and it’s not yet, that could easily change as those players, along with their counter-parts in Canadian juniors are allowed to be added without an issue.
In terms of the coming Calder Cup playoffs, the American League this season adopted the same format as the NHL for their rankings. The top three division leaders will rank 1,2,3 and then the other five will be seeded accordingly. As you can see below, the Connecticut Whale currently sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference despite being tied in points with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Whale have played two more games than their intra-state rivals. The two proud franchises mix it up again just three more times this season, all this month. They meet both this and next Friday at the XL Center (7pm starts) and then on Sunday, March 25th (3pm) at the Webster Bank Arena.
Keep checking back to Howlings.net and watch our Twitter (@HowlingsToday) account for updates.
(Standings provided by theahl.com)
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