Chirps from Center Ice

Blogger note: If you missed the news of the day regarding recalls, demotions and additions, click here.

Being number one is like a kiss of death in the Chirps from Center Ice AHL Power Rankings. The number one team hasn’t stayed number one for consecutive weeks since the first two weeks of the season when all the teams hadn’t played yet and I had no idea what I was doing and if I was even going to continue to rank 30 AHL teams, half of which I don’t see live.

But the reception to date has been positive, so we continue.

Anyway, your Grand Rapids Griffins are the number one team this week and this homer this blogger changes the positions of all teams except the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins, which remain fifth in the Rankings.

If you didn’t click through via link, hop through the jump to see where everyone else ended up this week:

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I apologize to the Steel City.

No, not the American version. The one in Hamilton, Ontario. I criminally underrated their Bulldogs in last weeks rankings and erroneously stated that they lost two in a row. The Bulldogs sit atop the North Division at the quarter pole in the AHL season. I have atoned for my ineptness, the Bulldogs are your biggest gainer this week, up 18 spots this week.

Five teams didn’t move at all this week.

The Abbotsford Heat, winners of 13 of their last 14, overtake the Binghamton Senators in Week 8. The B-Sens step down one spot to second.

To see where your favorite team ranks, check out the rest of the rankings below. Click through the jump if you didn’t link in from somewhere else.

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NOTE: News of the day from Coal Street included Brian Gibbons’ recall and four recalls from Wheeling. Read about it here.

More bad than good in Week 7 of the AHL Power Rankings. That’s why teams like the Chicago Wolves are up 13 spots in 9th this week after winning five in a row.

It also seems like the team that gets to number one, can’t stay there. Last week it was the Grand Rapids Griffins. They lost two this week to divisional foes and are down seven spots in eighth.

If the Abbotsford Heat won ten in a row, they’d be number one. Ilya Bryzgalov made sure that didn’t happen Saturday in Oklahoma City so the Binghamton Senators are your new number one. Can they stay there? They have one this week with Adirondack, whom they are 1-2 against and two this weekend with the Hershey Bears, the only team this week not to go anywhere in the rankings this week.

Biggest fall this week belongs to your Syracuse Crunch, down eleven to thirteenth.

If you didn’t link in from somewhere else, click through to see where everyone else filed in.

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I really dislike Monday games. One, the Penguins rarely play Monday games and two, the AHL Power Rankings go up later waiting for the days action to finish.

Some shuffling this week as everyone is in a different spot from last week.

The Utica Comets are out of the basement! Yes! The Comets won two games this week and are finally in the win column!

Biggest riser this weeks are the Providence Bruins, Adirondack Phantoms and Syracuse Crunch, all up 9 spots respectively.

To prove to you guys I’m not a Penguins homer when it comes to the Power Rankings, the Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins are among three other teams (Norfolk, Charlotte and Hartford) down ten spots this week from last week.

After the jump if you haven’t linked in from someplace else, the rankings for Week 6:

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Things are starting to shake out here in Week 5 of the Power Rankings. No team has gone higher than 9 spots or lower than 8. There are also five teams that haven’t changed from last week.

But there’s been a change at the top, as the Manchester Monarchs rule over the Week 5 AHL Power Rankings. Can they hold onto the top spot for another week? Seems that whatever team gets named #1 is out of the top spot the next week.

If you didn’t link in from someplace else, please click through to see the rankings…

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Them Pigs are hot!

The Rockford IceHogs are the top team in the Week 4 AHL Power Rankings this week. They are tops in the ultra competitive Western Conference, where three points separate fifth to thirteenth.

Biggest riser this week are your Hamilton Bulldogs, up twelve spots to fourteenth this week.

Biggest faller this week are the Hartford Wolf Pack, a team decimated by call ups this week. Such is life in the AHL.

After the jump if you just happened to the blog without a link from somewhere, are the Rankings…

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Okay, I put the Penguins at the top spot. There, I said it. Please don’t let that fact coming from this, “fan blog about the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre / Scranton Penguins” devalue the intent of the Rankings.

The Penguins left me no choice. I had to rank them number one. There isn’t another team right now hotter in my opinion.

The Iowa Wild are your biggest gainer this week, up 9 spots from 25th last week. The San Antonio Rampage are still getting scored on by the Texas Stars, and are on a big 16 spot slide down the Power Rankings to 27th.

After the jump, if you just happened here without a link from someplace else, are my rankings. If you think your team should be higher or their rival lower, let me know in the comments.

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