Sophomore goaltender Levente Szuper will be the first to admit that he struggled throughout the first two months of the season, winning just once in eight games. December is a new month, however, and the Hungarian goaltender looks to be back on track, as he backstopped the Flames to 3 wins in 4 games during the past week.

Szuper had his best outing of the season a week ago on Sunday as the Flames played the last of three games in three days, a 2-0 shutout over the Portland Pirates. Coach Jim Playfair gave Szuper another start on Wednesday night, and he delivered with a solid 30 save performance, including a late penalty-shot stop, in a 4-3 overtime win. With Kay Whitmore on recall to Calgary, Szuper won his third consecutive game on Friday night in Lowell, despite battling a case of the flu. While, the winning streak was halted on Saturday night as the Flames lost to Daniel Tkaczuk and the Worcester IceCats by a 3-2 margin, Szuper had yet another solid game and kept the home team close throughout the entire contest.

With the wins, the Flames improved to 9-10-5-1 (24 points) on the season, one point out of the 10^th and final playoff spot in AHL's tough Eastern conference, where 11 of the 14 teams are at .500 or better.

• Levente Szuper – Won three straight games on Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, then played well in a 3-2 loss on Saturday.
• Jason Lawmaster – ECHL call-up played two strong games and was rewarded with a pair of assists.
• Jamie Wright – 2 points in his return to the AHL on Saturday. No doubt that Wright is working hard towards career NHL call-up #20.
• Jason Botterill – Steady play has allowed him to move into 2^nd place in the team scoring lead (7G-9A, 16 Pts). Don't be surprised to see him called-up at some point during the season.

• Dave Huntzicker – Don't mean to keep picking on the guy, but he's just not ready for the AHL.
• Shaun Sutter – A "long-term" project… hasn't contributed much this season.

• Blair Betts leads the teams in goals, assists, and points (8G, 14A, 22 Pts).
• Kay Whitmore remains 4^th among AHL goaltenders with a 2.33 Goals Against Average. Szuper has crept up to 19^th at 2.74.

• Mike Martin remains out of the line-up with a knee injury, while Rick Mrozik should return the to line-up this weekend after missing the last three games.
• The Hamilton Bulldogs (Oilers' AHL affiliate) continue to tear up the league on a nightly basis. The 'Dogs scored five times in a span of twelve minutes on Sunday en route to their 17^th win of the season. Hamilton has scored 109 goals in just 27 games, and center Brian Swanson leads the league with 40 points and +21.

• Rico Fata has 18 points in just 14 games with the Wolf Pack, and is a surprising +6.

• Right-winger David Roche has been recalled by the New York Islanders after an excellent start with Bridgeport. Roche leads the team in goals (14) and power play goals (7).
• Travis Brigley has been successful in his comeback with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. The former 2^nd round pick has 17 points in 17 games thus far.

• The Flames are on their Christmas break this week, and return to action on Saturday on the road against Springfield.