Shore AHL’s top player; Bodnarchuk to Manchester

22-year-old center Nick Shore used a seven-point (3-4=7), plus-seven week and four Manchester Monarch wins to claim the AHL’s Player of the Week award, the league announced yesterday. The award was punctuated with Shore’s primary assist on Brian O’Neill’s overtime game-winner in a 4-3 win that capped off a perfect week at Hartford on Sunday.

Shore (8-6=14) and fellow center Jordan Weal (6-8=14) lead the team with 14 points in 14 games.

The first place Monarchs (10-4-0), winners of five straight and supported by a plus-15 goal differential, outscored their opponents 18-7 over the streak. Manchester welcomes divisional rival Worcester to Verizon Wireless Arena on Wednesday before traveling to Binghamton and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton over the weekend.

The six-foot, 190-pound Shore, who will be presented with an “etched crystal award” prior to an upcoming home game, was selected in the third round in 2011. In 82 AHL games, the defensively attuned center has 52 points (22-30=52) and a plus-27 rating.

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Defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk, who had been on injured reserve after suffering a knee injury during a training camp practice at Staples Center, has been activated and assigned to Manchester. Bodnarchuk had resumed skating recently but had not been cleared for full contact; the roster move is an indication that the mobile defenseman is nearing his 2014-15 AHL debut. Having appeared in five games with Boston in 2009-10, Bodnarchuk totaled 52 points (13-39=52) in 142 games with the Monarchs from 2012-14 and carries a $550,000 cap hit.