The NHL should end fairly soon and I can't wait! As you could probably tell by the gradual lessening of posts, I got bored of the AHL after a while, and with the Pirates being too inconsistent (and eventually failing to make the playoffs) I lost track of it. And speaking of the playoffs, the Philadelphia Phantoms won those.
Besides, the Pirates aren't even the Caps' official AHL affiliate anymore - that changed a while back towards the end of April. The Caps' new AHL affiliates are the Hershey Bears, who are based in Pittsburgh (which is a lot closer to D.C. than Portland ever was). The Pirates are now affiliated with the Mighty Ducks.