First, the parent St. Louis Blues acquired Mike Peluso from the Washington Capitals organiz­ation. Pelsuo is a veteran player and a winner; he was a member of the New Jersey Devils’ Stanley Cup championship team in 1995.

Last week, Worcester swapped forwards with the Louisville Pan­thers, acquiring Eric Boguniecki for Andrej Podkonicky. Bogu­niecki was Louisville’s lone all-star representative who had 13 goals and 25 points in 28 games this season. Last season, he led the Panthers with 33 goals and 75 points.

Podkonicky had two goals and five points this season with the Ice Cats.

Boguniecki celebrated his first home game with Worcester Fri­day night by scoring two goals in a 38-second span of the first pe­riod in a 7-0 win over the defend­ing Calder Cup champion Hart­ford Wolf Pack.

Daniel Corso added two goals and two assists in the victory, the most lopsided in Ice Cats history. Corso almost did not play in the game. He was called up by St. Louis and was on a plane, wait­ing at a gate at Logan Airport when he was told to head back to Worcester. While he made it, his equipment did not. He had to use an old pair of skates and gloves, borrow pants and shoulder pads from teammates and use a new helmet.

Worcester is also getting solid goaltending, a must come playoff time. Cody Rudkowsky and Dwayne Roloson have combined for a franchise-record five shut­outs this season.

The Ice Cats are 18-7-2-2 this season. Their 40 points are sec­ond in the league only to Provi­dence’s 44.

Climbing the ladder

Jean-Francois Labbe’s 4-0 shutout win over Albany Dec. 16 was the 164th of his AHL career, tying him for second place on the all-time list with Sam St. Lau­rent. Peter Sidorkiewicz holds the AHL record with 171 wins. Ironically, St. Laurent is the goaltending coach with the New York Rangers, who dealt Labbe from Hartford to the Syracuse Crunch earlier this season.

"I said, ‘You tied me up, you better keep going all the way,’" St. Laurent told the Syracuse Herald Journal. "I really hope he puts (the record) way out of reach. I think he’s

probably the best goalie to go through (the AHL) in modern times."

Stick wars

With 1:53 left in the third pe­riod of the Rochester Americans’ 3-0 win over the Providence Bruins Friday, Bruins coach Bill Armstrong challenged the mea­surement of Rochester goalie Mika Noronen’s stick. It was ille­gal, meaning Noronen was as­sessed a penalty.

Not to be outdone, Amerks coach Randy Cunneyworth then challenged the stick of Provi­dence goalie Andrew Raycroft. It, too, was illegal, thus drawing a penalty as well.

"I knew it was going to be ille­gal," Raycroft told the Provi­dence Journal. If you check 90 percent of the sticks, they’ll be off."

AHL rules state that the blade of a goaltender’s stick "shall not exceed 3½ inches in width at any point except at the heel, where it must not exceed 4½ inches in width." The stick also "shall not exceed 15½ inches in length from the heel to the end of the stick." The wide portion of the stick

"shall not extend more than 26 inches from the heel and not ex­ceed 3½ inches in width."

Kinnear retires

Geordie Kinnear, an original Albany River Rat who is the team’s all-time leader in games played (406) and penalty minutes (1094), announced his retirement Thursday due to medical rea­sons.

For years, Kinnear kept feel­ing a burning sensation and numbness in his right arm. An MRI finally revealed that a chronic neck injury caused nerve damage. He would risk perma­nent injury, even paralysis, if he continued to play.