Monday Manchester update
From Don:
Brady Murray scored two goals, Teddy Purcell, Brian Boyle and David Meckler added one goal each, and the Monarchs increased their hold on the final playoff spot in the AHL's Eastern Conference by five points, as the team defeated the Hershey Bears last night 5-2. Goalie Jonathan Quick stopped 31 of 33 shots to improve his record to 8-8-0 on the season. The Monarchs currently have 79 points with only six games left to play - including the final three games of the season against the league's best team, the Providence Bruins (107 points). The Monarchs (35-30-5-4) look to maintain or extend their five point lead over the Springfield Falcons on Wednesday night at home against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
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About the bloggers
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews.com.
Don, I love you!
Rich, could you please sign Don to a new multiyear contract? :)
Give Don a NTC!!!
Can we get a post on the kings goaltending plans moving forward the rest of the season?
Are the Kings planning on keeping Ersberg and Cloutier up with the big club?
Is Bernier heading to Manchester? If so will they platoon him with Jon Quick or is he going to take over the starting job? What kind of effect might this have on team chemistry?
Is Taylor going to end up back in Reading for the playoffs?
It would be nice to have one post where all these questions could be addressed.
Was at the Monarchs-Bears game. Bagnall, Cliche, Lewis are all a lot better than they were when I saw them earlier in the season.
I was very impressed with D-man Josh Kidd. He's tall, RH shot, looks like he could stand to put on 15-20 lbs., but played very well positionally all game. Morris had him out on the first PK unit, and he did very well there, too. He's somebody we might look for in 2-3 years. I'd like to see him get 20-25 minutes/game in the ECHL next season.