Given the newspaper coverage from the Albany Times Union, one would think that the Albany River Rats didn't play at all this weekend.

The Rats were on the road though, and downed the Providence Bruins 5-2 on Saturday, the only game they have played this week.

Shane Willis tallied twice in the opening minutes of the game, getting the Rats onto the board just 49 seconds after the initial drop of the puck. It was the 100th Career AHL goal for the Hurricane prospect, who also has 31 NHL goals and 43 assists in 174 appearances with the Hurricanes.

Willis came back for number 101, just over two minutes later on the power play with assists to Kyle Cumiskey and Jeff Finger to make it 2-0.

Not to be outdone, Scott Kelman found the back of the net for the Rats, unassisted at 8:11 of the same period, and Cuminskey would net his own goal at 9:27 to put the Rats up 4-0.

Despite a goal by the Bruins T.J. Travelyan, Providence had allowed themselves to dig a great big hole that was going to be tough to climb out of.

"We made poor decisions," Providence coach Scott Gordon was quotes as saying in the Providence Journal. "You can't throw the puck rink wide. You can't throw the puck up the middle twice in one shift -- that leads to a penalty and gives them a power play...When we had the puck on the stick, we made poor decisions."

Colorado prospect Ben Guite earned an assist on Matt Murley's goal with just two seconds left to play in the middle stanza, extending his point streak to six games, matching a career-high which he set last season while playing with the team he was faceing off against.

Rookie Justin Peters turned back 24 shots to make the big lead stick, and improve his record to 6-9-0.

"Even when the game was out of hand, [Peters] kept making some pretty good saves," Gordon said in the same article. "He's had three good games against us and we have not been able to solve him."

The Rats lost captain Keith Aucoin to a call up by the Carolina Hurricanes. It is his second call up of the season. Aucoin will fill Andrew Ladd's spot on the roster after Ladd underwent an emergency appendectomy on Thursday.

A former Everblade, Aucoin leads Albany in five different categories including points, goals and game-winning goals.

The Rats return home to host the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears Wednesday, December 20, at 7 p.m. at Pepsi Arena.

Game Summary
Game Report
Boxscore

This will be the last year that the Hurricanes share an affiliate with the Avalanche. Colordo announced they have signed a long-term affiliation agreement with the new American Hockey League franchise in Cleveland, Ohio. The as of yet unnamed team is set to begin play in the 2007-08 season.

"It has always been this organization's goal to have our own independent farm team where we could develop prospects with our philosophy," said Avalanche executive vice president and general manager Francois Giguere in a recent press release. "This organization in Cleveland is committed to building a strong hockey team and we're looking forward to being a part of that effort.

"We'll have most of our prospects on the same team, which should help their development as well as their understanding of our culture and philosophy."

The new Cleveland franchise was purchased by a group led by Dan Gilbert, owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, in May. Gilbert is also chairman and founder of the nation's largest online home mortgage lender, Quicken Loans, Inc. The team will play out the Quicken Loan Arena.

Don't forget to help vote your favorite Rat to the AHL All-Star game. Vote today and register to win a team-signed authentic 2007 AHL All-Star jersey. Voting takes place online at theahl.com.