Albany Devils to Open Playoffs

After a playoff race that went right up to the end of the season, the Albany Devils’ first round, divisional semifinal has been set.

The A-Devils clinched their playoff spot about two weeks ago with a 46-20-8-2 record, finishing second in the North Division of the AHL. But their opposition came down to the wire to clinch their spot. They could have faced several teams, all of whom were still in the running to finish as the Devils’ opponents, but in the end it was the Utica Comets who came out on top. The Comets are the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks.

According to an article written on TheAlbanyDevils.com by Kevin Zalaznik, the series is previewed. Games one, two and a possible fifth game will be played at Albany’s Times Union Center. Games three and a possible fourth will be played at the Utica Auditorium. All games are at 7 PM except for games two and five, which will have a 5 PM puck drop. The series will take place from April 22 to April 30.

Albany won the season series 6-0-2-0 and Jim O’Brien had eleven points (seven goals and four assists) and Matt Lorito had seven points (three goals and four assists) to pace all Devils skaters against the Comets. The A-Devils goaltenders, Scott Wedgewood and Yann Danis both went 3-0-1 in the 2015-16 season against Utica.

The Utica Comets finished third in the North Division with a 38-26-8-4 record. PK Subban’s brother, Jordan, was the Comets’ leading scorer against Albany, scoring six points (one goal and five assists). In goal, Richard Bachman had a 2.77 goals against average and a .889 save percentage against the Devils while Joe Cannata had a 3.45 GAA and a .892 save percentage. All of this information came from the Zalaznik article.

Good luck to the Albany Devils as they begin their quest for the Calder Cup.

On the topic of the A-Devils, congratulations to Mike Sislo, who was named to the AHL’s Second All-Star team. This was voted on by the “coaches, players and media in each of the league’s 30 member clubs” according to another article by Zalaznik on the A-Devils’ official website.

Sislo played for the New Jersey Devils this season, 17 games, netting three goals and one assist for four points.

Albany’s Rick Kowalsky Named AHL Coach of the Year

According to an article by Kevin Zalaznik at TheAlbanyDevils.com, Rick Kowalsky, the head coach of the Devils’ American Hockey League affiliate has been named the winner of the 2016 Louis A.R. Pieri Award as AHL Coach of the Year.

Kowalsky is the bench boss of a team that has gone 42-18-8-2 (for 94 points and a .671 win percentage) and has jumped out to the best record for a Devils’ AHL affiliate since the 1999 Albany River Rats. He won the award on Friday when Albany still had six games left. Since then, they beat the Syracuse Crunch 4-3 in a shootout, lost to the Binghamton Senators, 2-1 and defeated the Toronto Marlies 3-0. The rest of their schedule includes a home game against Binghamton, a game at the Rochester Americans and a home game against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

The A-Devils were third overall in the AHL at the time of the award announcement. Zalaznik mentions that Kowalsky is the fourth youngest coach in the AHL (at 44 years of age), yet has the “third-longest tenure with his club” (six seasons behind the Albany bench). Kowalsky has been in the Devils’ organization since 2006 (he coached the Trenton Devils of the ECHL from 2006-2010 – he was named coach of the year in the ECHL in 2009 too).

Zalaznik points out that all of what Kowalsky has achieved has been done with a revolving door of a roster. The New Jersey Devils have called up 13 players this season from the AHL club, yet the A-Devils have stayed the course.

Among other notable winners of the Louis A.R. Pieri Award listed in Zalaznik’s article are the late Fred Shero, two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Flyers and father of current Devils GM Ray Shero, who won the award in 1970, former New Jersey coach Robbie Ftorek, who won the award in 1995 and 1996 while coaching the Albany River Rats, the then-AHL affiliate of the Devils, current Devils scout Claude Noel, who won the award in 2004 and current New Jersey bench boss John Hynes, who won the award in 2011.

The Albany Devils have already qualified for the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs and recently extended their lease at Albany’s Times Union Center, ensuring that they will remain in the New York state capital through 2018-19.