Sharply dressed in black, the Albany River Rats begin their 17th American Hockey League season tonight against the Manchester Monarchs at the former Knickerbocker Arena.
The special sweaters with matching helmets, pants and socks were created years ago under the old New Jersey Devils regime but never allowed to be used by Albany's former parent club. They were modified to reflect the Carolina Hurricanes affiliation and brought out for the opener.
Albany is 7-7-2 all-time in season openers, including 2-2 on home ice, winning in 1995 and 2004, and losing in 1999 and 2008.
Right wing Nicolas Blanchard is in the starting lineup for Albany, his first game since being seriously injured in the team's Feb. 19 bus crash.
Two members of the Rats' 1995 Calder Cup title team are in the house, both behind the bench as assistant coaches: Geordie Kinnear (Albany) and Scott Pellerin (Manchester).
To the game. Veteran goaltender Justin Peters is getting the start in goal for the Rats, opposed by Manchester's Jonathan Bernier.
Albany's line combinations: Zach Boychuk-Brandon Sutter-Pat Dwyer (C); Chris Terry-Nick Dodge-Jerome Samson; Drayson Bowman-Mike Angelidis (A)-Nicolas Blanchard; Brad Herauf-Stephan Chaput-Steve Goertzen.
Defense pairings: Bryan Rodney-Brett Carson (A); Jonathan Paiement-Jamie McBain; Zack Fitzgerald-Brett Bellemore.
Scratches: Benn Olson, Matt Pistilli; Harrison Reed.
Manchester line combinations: John Zeiler-Corey Elkins-Kevin Westgarth; David Meckler-Gabe Gauthier-MarcAndre Cliche (A); Bud Holloway-Justin Azevedo-Brandon Segal; Scott Parse (A)-Oscar Moller-Andrei Loktionov.
Defense pairings: Viatcheslav Voynov-Thomas Hickey; Joe Piskula-Drew Bagnall (A); David Kolomatis-Patrick Mullen.
Scratches: Andrew Campbell, Geoff Walker, Juraj Mikus.
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