2005–06 AHL season explained

The 2005–06 AHL season was the 70th season of the American Hockey League. Twenty-seven teams played 80 games each in the schedule. The Hershey Bears won the Calder Cup, defeating the Milwaukee Admirals in the finals.

To celebrate the AHL's 70th anniversary, the league announced on January 6, 2006, the first inductees into the AHL's new Hall of Fame http://www.ahlhalloffame.com . The first inductees were; Johnny Bower, Jack Butterfield, Jody Gage, Fred Glover, Willie Marshall, Frank Mathers and Eddie Shore.

Team changes

• The Cincinnati Mighty Ducks suspend operations, becoming dormant.
• The Edmonton Road Runners suspend operations, becoming dormant.
• The Utah Grizzlies suspend operations, becoming dormant.
• The dormant Saint John Flames resumed operations as the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights, playing in the West division.
• The dormant Louisville Panthers resumed operations as the Iowa Stars, playing in the West division.
• The St. John's Maple Leafs moved to Toronto, Ontario, becoming the Toronto Marlies.
• The Worcester IceCats moved to Peoria, Illinois, becoming the Peoria Rivermen, playing in the West division.
• The Albany River Rats shift from the East division to the Atlantic division.
• The Grand Rapids Griffins shift from the West division to the North division.

Final standings

• indicates team clinched division and a playoff spot
• indicates team clinched a playoff spot
• indicates team was eliminated from playoff contention

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
y–Portland Pirates (ANA)	80	53	19	5	3	114	306	241
x–Hartford Wolf Pack (NYR)	80	48	24	2	6	104	292	241
x–Manchester Monarchs (LAK)	80	43	30	3	4	93	236	230
x–Providence Bruins (BOS)	80	43	31	1	5	92	254	217
e–Lowell Lock Monsters (CAR/COL)	80	29	37	6	8	72	222	257
e–Springfield Falcons (TBL)	80	28	43	3	6	65	220	312
e–Albany River Rats (NJD)	80	25	48	4	3	57	206	278

East Division
y–Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (PIT)	80	51	18	5	6	113	249	178
x–Hershey Bears (WSH)	80	44	21	5	10	103	262	234
x–Norfolk Admirals (CHI)	80	43	29	4	4	94	259	246
x–Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI)	80	38	33	6	3	85	246	253
e–Binghamton Senators (OTT)	80	35	37	4	4	78	258	295
e–Philadelphia Phantoms (PHI)	80	34	37	2	7	77	197	232

Western Conference

North Division
y–Grand Rapids Griffins (DET)	80	55	20	1	4	115	323	247
x–Syracuse Crunch (CBJ)	80	47	25	5	3	102	272	251
x–Manitoba Moose (VAN)	80	44	24	7	5	100	243	217
x–Toronto Marlies (TOR)	80	41	29	6	4	92	270	263
e–Rochester Americans (BUF/FLA)	80	37	39	2	2	78	261	270
e–Hamilton Bulldogs (EDM/MTL)	80	35	41	0	4	74	225	251
e–Cleveland Barons (SJS)	80	27	48	2	3	59	210	302

West Division
y–Milwaukee Admirals (NSH)	80	49	21	6	4	108	268	234
x–Houston Aeros (MIN)	80	50	24	3	3	106	285	242
x–Peoria Rivermen (STL)	80	46	26	3	5	100	253	226
x–Iowa Stars (DAL)	80	41	31	1	7	90	238	228
e–Chicago Wolves (ATL)	80	36	32	4	8	84	278	275
e–Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights (CGY)	80	35	31	3	11	84	206	221
e–San Antonio Rampage (PHX)	80	23	50	3	4	53	153	251

Scoring leaders

Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
		80	43	67	110	95
		71	34	64	98	138
		76	36	60	96	56
		78	47	46	93	64
		80	35	57	92	50
		77	56	35	91	65
Donald MacLean	Grand Rapids Griffins	76	56	32	88	63
		80	34	52	86	69
		71	27	59	86	44
		72	29	56	85	68

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses: OTL = Overtime losses; SL = Shootout losses; GA = Goals Allowed; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average

Player	Team	GP	Mins	W	L	SL	GA	SO	GAA	Sv%
		49	2943	30	14	4	111	4	2.26	0.922
		49	2822	26	17	4	113	6	2.40	0.919
		57	3241	26	20	9	135	3	2.50	0.912
		50	3000	25	19	6	125	3	2.50	0.917
		40	2153	18	18	1	91	2	2.54	0.914

Calder Cup playoffs

See main article: 2006 Calder Cup playoffs.

All Star Classic

The 19th AHL All-Star Classic was played on February 1, 2006, at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Team Canada defeated team PlanetUSA 9–4. In the skills competition held the night before, team Canada defeated team PlanetUSA 21–12 in front of two sellout crowds of 15,115, the largest for an AHL event. https://web.archive.org/web/20090819073132/http://www.theahl.com/allstar/events/

Trophy and award winners

Team awards

Calder Cup Playoff champions:	Hershey Bears
Richard F. Canning Trophy Eastern Conference playoff champions:	Hershey Bears
Robert W. Clarke Trophy Western Conference playoff champions:	Milwaukee Admirals
Macgregor Kilpatrick Trophy Regular season champions, League:	Grand Rapids Griffins
Frank Mathers Trophy Regular Season champions, Eastern Conference:	Portland Pirates
Norman R. "Bud" Poile Trophy Regular Season champions, Western Conference:	Grand Rapids Griffins
Emile Francis Trophy Regular Season champions, Atlantic Division:	Portland Pirates
F. G. "Teddy" Oke Trophy Regular Season champions, East Division:	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Sam Pollock Trophy Regular Season champions, North Division:	Grand Rapids Griffins
John D. Chick Trophy Regular Season champions, West Division:	Milwaukee Admirals

Individual awards

Les Cunningham Award Most valuable player:	Donald MacLean - Grand Rapids Griffins
John B. Sollenberger Trophy Top point scorer:	Kirby Law - Houston Aeros
Willie Marshall Award Top goal scorer:	Donald MacLean - Grand Rapids Griffins & Denis Hamel - Binghamton Senators
Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award Rookie of the year:
Eddie Shore Award Defenceman of the year:	Andy Delmore - Syracuse Crunch
Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial Award Best Goaltender:	Dany Sabourin - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial Award Lowest goals against average:	Dany Sabourin - Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award Coach of the year:	Kevin Dineen - Portland Pirates
Fred T. Hunt Memorial Award Sportsmanship / Perseverance:	Mark Cullen - Norfolk Admirals
Yanick Dupre Memorial Award Community Service Award:
Jack A. Butterfield Trophy MVP of the playoffs:	Frederic Cassivi - Hershey Bears

Other awards

James C. Hendy Memorial Award Most outstanding executive:	Doug Yingst, Hershey Bears
Thomas Ebright Memorial Award Career contributions:	Al Coates
James H. Ellery Memorial Awards Outstanding media coverage:	Phil Janack, Albany (newspaper) Kelly Moore, Manitoba (radio) Gregg Mace, Hershey (television)
Ken McKenzie Award Outstanding marketing executive:	Mike Wojociechowski, Milwaukee Admirals
Michael Condon Memorial Award Outstanding service, on-ice official:	Luke Galvin

See also

• List of AHL seasons

References

• AHL official site
• AHL Hall of Fame
• HockeyDB