Francis Lessard Reassigned to the Rampage | IXGAMES

Coyotes’ Lessard Reassigned to the Rampage; Rampage’s Bickel assigned to Condors. The Phoenix Coyotes decided to reassign their forward Francis Lessard to the San Antonio Rampage, their American Hockey League affiliate. The recall was done just recently so he could start on his three-game suspension due to a preseason episode. Recently, the NHL also suspended Lessard for two of Phoenix’s final preseason games as well as three regular season games, encompassing the match against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He received boarding major and game misconduct for the hit on Anaheim’s Ryan Donally.  Lessard performed 2 goals and 2 assists. Last season, he is also leading the league with 324 penalties for the rampage. A native of Montreal Quebec, he is also the seventh player in American Hockey League history to reach 2,000 career penalties in minutes. Lessard has played 91 career NHL games from 2001 to 2006, all with Atlanta Thrashers. In 426 American Hockey League games with Philadelphia, Hartford, Chicago and San Antonio, the thirty-year old has collected 22-39-61 and 2,068 PIM. Lessard was drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997 on the third round of the NHL Entry Draft, placing him on the 80th spot overall. The Phoenix Coyotes’ home opener game For their home opener game, the Phoenix Coyotes have already sold out their tickets due to a large decrease in upper bowl ticket prices, lowering the amount to 15 dollars upstairs and 25 dollars downstairs. Fans were also lured by the Coyotes’ back to back wins on the start of the season. The teams’ ownership is still the subject of bankruptcy proceedings, hence the event’s tag of “Welcome Back Whiteout” promotion. T-shirts and pompoms will be distributed to everyone in attendance on the 18,000 seats. Despite the sold-out tickets, however, the Coyotes play needs more work. During the game, the Blue Jackets had a small 1-0 lead and did not even try to shoot a goal during the first minutes of the third period. They’ve managed to kill 16 of the 17 penalties but the Coyotes made it easy with their poor passes. The game ended with Blue Jackets 2, Coyotes 0. The team’s power play was very much lacking. The San Antonio Rampage’s Bickel assigned to Condors As the Phoenix Coyotes’ forward Lessard is reassigned, the San Antonio Rampage’s general manager Brad Treliving stated that defenseman Stu Bickel has been assigned to the Bakersfield Condors. During 2008 to 2009, Bickel has documented one assist in 21 games with the Iowa Chops. In the 2007 to 2008 season, the 23-year old participated in 45 games with the University of Minnesota, collecting 1 goal and 2 assists. The Rampage is now booked for a back-to-back series against Abbotsford for the Heat’s AHL debut. In some of the upcoming games, fans will find the Rampage back home, hosting the Grand Rapids Griffins. With all these changes and reassignments, fans are in for a more exciting season.