River Rats sign Phil Aucoin

There has been a whirlwind of call-ups and reassignments over the past few weeks between Carolina and its AHL affiliate, Albany River Rats. Both clubs are decimated with illness and injury, so the revolving door sends guys like Brandon Nolan and Keith Aucoin up and down depending on whether Carolina has an off day.

To ease some of this stress, the River Rats have signed two players to Professional Tryout Offers. These offers are usually made to ECHL players as a stop-gap measure for AHL clubs while the parent club uses its players. They are not NHL contracts and are usually temporary. One of the players receiving a PTO was Phil Aucoin, who is the younger brother of Keith Aucoin.

P. Aucoin joined the River Rats for their game last night, and did not register a point. The 5'10" left wing played NCAA Division III hockey at Norwich University, which is where Keith also played.

Make no mistake. These Aucoin brothers aren't the Staals. They aren't the Sutters. They aren't the Millers. They aren't the Howes. They aren't the Bures. The aren't the Primeaus, or even the Brookbanks. They're nowhere even close to any of these. Still, it's kinda neat to have two brothers with ties to the same organ-eye-zation.