2003–04 AHL season

The 2003–04 AHL season was the 68th season of the American Hockey League. The league introduces the Willie Marshall Award in honour the career points leader in the AHL, and awards it to the annual top goal scorer. 
The AHL changes from a six division alignment to four divisions within two conferences. The Eastern conference consists of the Atlantic and East divisions, and the Western conference consists of the North and West divisions. Twenty-eight teams played 80 games each in the schedule. The Milwaukee Admirals finished first overall in the regular season, and won the Calder Cup, defeating the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the finals.
==Team changes==
*The Saint John Flames suspend operations, becoming dormant.
*The Hamilton Bulldogs and Quebec Citadelles merger dissolves, remaining as a Montreal Canadiens affiliate. 
*The Edmonton Oilers affiliation resumed operations as the Toronto Roadrunners, based in Toronto, Ontario, playing in the north division.
==Final standings==
Note: GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; T = Ties; OTL = Overtime Losses; GF = Goals For; GA = Goals Against; PTS = Points; 
===Eastern Conference===
Atlantic Division 	GP	W 	L 	T 	OTL	Pts	GF 	GA
Hartford Wolf Pack (NYR) 	80	44	22	12	2 	102	198	153
Manchester Monarchs (LA) 	80	40	28	7 	5 	92 	223	181
Worcester Ice Cats (STL) 	80	37	27	13	3 	90 	207	186
Providence Bruins (BOS) 	80	36	29	11	4 	87 	170	170
Portland Pirates (WAS) 	80	32	27	13	8 	85 	156	160
Lowell Lock Monsters (CAR/CGY)	80	32	36	6 	6 	76 	208	242
Springfield Falcons (PHX) 	80	26	43	9 	2 	63 	179	234
East Division 	GP	W 	L 	T 	OTL	PTS	GF 	GA
Philadelphia Phantoms (PHI) 	80	46	25	7 	2 	101	216	168
Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NYI) 	80	41	23	12	4 	98 	178	140
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (PIT)	80	34	28	10	8 	86 	197	197
Binghamton Senators (OTT) 	80	34	34	9 	3 	80 	210	216
Norfolk Admirals (CHI) 	80	35	36	4 	5 	79 	210	216
Hershey Bears (COL/TB) 	80	33	34	8 	5 	79 	203	218
Albany River Rats (NJ) 	80	21	39	11	9 	62 	182	157
===Western Conference===
North Division 	GP	W 	L 	T 	OTL	PTS	GF 	GA
Hamilton Bulldogs (MON) 	80	41	25	10	4 	96 	235	191
Syracuse Crunch (CBJ) 	80	38	25	10	7 	93 	239	235
Rochester Americans (BUF) 	80	37	28	10	5 	89 	207	188
Cleveland Barons (SJ) 	80	37	28	8 	7 	89 	235	220
Toronto Roadrunners (EDM) 	80	35	34	8 	3 	81 	219	224
Manitoba Moose (VAN) 	80	32	35	11	2 	77 	214	232
St. John's Maple Leafs (TOR)	80	32	36	8 	4 	76 	225	265
West Division 	GP	W 	L 	T 	OTL	PTS	GF 	GA
Milwaukee Admirals (NAS) 	80	46	24	7 	3 	102	269	191
Grand Rapids Griffins (DET) 	80	44	28	8 	0 	96 	195	166
Chicago Wolves (ATL) 	80	42	26	9 	3 	96 	246	208
Houston Aeros (MIN) 	80	28	34	14	4 	74 	197	220
Cincinnati Mighty Ducks (ANA)	80	29	37	13	1 	72 	188	211
San Antonio Rampage (FLA) 	80	30	42	8 	0 	68 	191	231
Utah Grizzlies (DAL) 	80	27	42	6 	5 	65 	162	230
==Scoring leaders==
Note: GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty Minutes
Player 	Team 	GP	G 	A 	Pts	PIM
Pavel Rosa 	Manchester Monarchs 	77	39	49	88 	32
Domenic Pittis 	Rochester Americans 	75	20	57	77 	137
Miroslav Zalesak	Cleveland Barons 	72	35	40	75 	80
Eric Perrin 	Hershey Bears 	71	21	54	75 	49
Kirby Law 	Philadelphia Phantoms 	74	32	41	73 	139
Brad Boyes 	Cleveland Barons/Providence Bruins	78	31	41	72 	51
Steve Kelly 	Manchester Monarchs 	59	21	49	70 	117
Craig Darby 	Albany River Rats 	77	21	48	69 	44
Jeff Hamilton 	Bridgeport Sound Tigers 	67	43	25	68 	26
Donald MacLean 	Syracuse Crunch 	77	27	41	68 	45
==Calder Cup Playoffs==
	
==All Star Classic==
The 17th AHL All-Star Classic was played on February 14, 2005, at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Team Canada defeated team PlanetUSA 9-5. In the skills competition held the night before, team PlanetUSA defeated team Canada 18-9. 
==Trophy and award winners==
===Team awards===
Calder CupPlayoff champions: 	Milwaukee Admirals
Richard F. Canning TrophyEastern Conference playoff champions: 	Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
Robert W. Clarke TrophyWestern Conference playoff champions: 	Milwaukee Admirals
Macgregor Kilpatrick TrophyRegular season champions, League: 	Milwaukee Admirals
Frank Mathers TrophyRegular Season champions, Eastern Conference: 	Hartford Wolf Pack
Norman R. "Bud" Poile TrophyRegular Season champions, Western Conference:	Milwaukee Admirals
Emile Francis TrophyRegular Season champions, Atlantic Division: 	Hartford Wolf Pack
F. G. "Teddy" Oke TrophyRegular Season champions, East Division: 	Philadelphia Phantoms
Sam Pollock TrophyRegular Season champions, North Division: 	Hamilton Bulldogs
John D. Chick TrophyRegular Season champions, West Division: 	Milwaukee Admirals
===Individual awards===
Les Cunningham AwardMost valuable player: 	Jason LaBarbera - Hartford Wolf Pack
John B. Sollenberger TrophyTop point scorer: 	Pavel Rosa - Manchester Monarchs
Willie Marshall AwardTop goal scorer: 	Jeff Hamilton - Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial AwardRookie of the year: 	Wade Dubielewicz - Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Eddie Shore AwardDefenceman of the year: 	Curtis Murphy - Milwaukee Admirals
Aldege "Baz" Bastien Memorial AwardBest Goaltender: 	Jason LaBarbera - Hartford Wolf Pack
Harry "Hap" Holmes Memorial AwardLowest Goals Against Average:	Wade Dubielewicz & Dieter Kochan - Bridgeport Sound Tigers
Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial AwardCoach of the year: 	Claude Noel - Milwaukee Admirals
Fred T. Hunt Memorial AwardSportsmanship / Perseverance: 	Ken Gernander - Hartford Wolf Pack
Yanick Dupre Memorial AwardCommunity Service Award: 	Kurtis Foster - Chicago Wolves
Jack A. Butterfield TrophyMVP of the playoffs: 	Wade Flaherty - Milwaukee Admirals
===Other awards===
James C. Hendy Memorial AwardMost outstanding executive: 	Jeff Eisenberg, Manchester Monarchs
Thomas Ebright Memorial AwardCareer contributions: 	Roy Boe & Jack Kelley
James H. Ellery Memorial Awards Outstanding media coverage: 	Mike Fornabaio, Bridgeport, (newspaper)John Walton, Hershey, (radio)Comcast Cable, Chicago, (television)
Ken McKenzie AwardOutstanding marketing executive: 	Chris Schwartz, St. John's Maple Leafs
Michael Condon Memorial AwardOutstanding service, on-ice official:	Dan Murphy
03-04WorIC.jpg|Worcester Ice Cats
03-04MilAdm.jpg|Milwaukee Admirals
==See also==
*List of AHL seasons
==References==
*AHL official site
*AHL Hall of Fame
*HockeyDB
*Calder Cup Playoffs @ manitobamoose.com
Category:American Hockey League
Category:2004 in hockey