Milbury was upset about what he viewed as a lack of ice time for Islanders’ prospects playing for the Lowell Lock Monsters.

So Milbury did what any hot-headed sports executive might do. He pulled pulled five players from Lowell and reassigned them.

Forwards Jason Krog, Juraj Kolnik and defenseman Mathieu Biron went to the Springfield Falcons. Defenseman Bransislav Mezei was brought up to the NHL and right wing Petr Mika was sent to the Trenton Titans of the East Coast Hockey League.

The Islanders are the secondary affiliate with Lowell, with the Los Angeles Kings being the primary affiliate. Milbury was concerned that the Islanders prospects were not playing as much as the Kings’ prospects.

Lock Monsters coach Bruce Boudreau disputed Milbury’s claim.

“I try to be fair to everybody,” Boudreau told the Lowell Sun. “We wanted the New York Islanders to be happy. We like the partnership.”

Lowell vice president Tom Rowe called Milbury “a volatile, emotional guy” who “made an irrational decision.”

In a statement released by the Islanders, Milbury defended his actions.

“The only thing that matters to me is the development of our young players,” Milbury said. “They need to play and that’s why we have made this decision. Our agreement with the Kings and Lowell was that players would be in the lineup based on merit. That wasn’t happening. Our kids were being taken out of the lineup in favor of Kings prospects when Lowell management knew L.A. scouts were going to be in the building. That simply wasn’t fair.”

Milbury placed some of the players in Springfield because the Islanders have a similar arrangement with the Falcons as they did in Lowell. Next season, the Islanders will be affiliated with the expansion Bridgeport, Conn., Sound Tigers.

The Kings’ affiliation with Lowell also expires after this season. The Lock Monsters are expected to announce in the near future that they will be affiliated with the Carolina Hurricanes next season.

Ed Johnston and Peter Mahovlich have been named honorary team captains for the AHL All-Star Classic Jan. 14-15 at First Union Arena at Casey Plaza.

Johnston is currently assistant general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He played 16 seasons as a goaltender in the NHL with the Boston Bruins. He holds the distinction of being the last goalie to play every minute of every game in one season (1963-64).

Mahovlich won two Calder Cups as a player in the AHL. In the NHL, he recorded 773 points (288 goals-485 assists) in 884 games and won four Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens. He currently is a scout with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

ΤSunday’s 6-5 victory over the Lowell Lock Monsters assured the Providence Bruins of having the best winning percentage by Wednesday’s deadline to determine who the other AHL All-Star coach will be. That means Bill Armstrong will pilot the PlanetUSA squad.

It will mark the second straight year Armstrong is behind the bench at the All-Star Game. He was an assistant to Peter Laviolette for last year’s event in Rochester.

“I didn’t want to get too high in case it didn’t happen. But I’ve got to be honest, I’m very excited,” Armstrong told the Providence Journal. “It’s a credit to (our) guys to play that many games (26) and get points (38) in almost all of them.”

John Paddock of the defending Calder Cup champion Hartford Wolf Pack will guide the Canadian All-Star team.

The Rochester Americans will be without the services of veteran defensemen Doug Houda and Mike Hurlbut for a while.

Houda suffered a broken right ankle when he went skate-first into the boards with 1:07 left in Thursday’s game at Norfolk. He will be sidelined at least six weeks.

Hurlbut is out two weeks with a sprained knee and ankle.

“Not only do we lose their on-ice contributions, but more importantly their leadership roles and off-ice leadership is second to none,” Amerks coach Randy Cunneyworth told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Hershey Bears defenseman Stewart Malgunas is sidelined until mid-February after suffering a broken left ankle Friday in Philadelphia. Malgunas collided with the Phantoms’ Chris Heron at the blue line in front of the Hershey bench. As he fell, his leg bent awkwardly underneath him.

Rookie defenseman Mike Mottau of the Hartford Wolf Pack has been named AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Sunday. The reigning Hobey Baker Award winner as the top collegiate player, Mottau had one goal, three assists and a plus-5 rating in three games.