VERSUS 
BY: Bruce Berlet
Special teams often are the difference at all levels of hockey these days, and the Connecticut Whale proved that again Friday night against the Portland Pirates.
Andre Deveaux and Brendan Bell scored the game’s first two goals with the man advantage, then the Whale got three tallies from secondary sources in a 5-1 victory before 4,722 at the XL Center.
Posted in AHL, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, ECHL, Greenville Road Warriors, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Sports
Tagged Andre Deveaux, Andreas Thuresson, Brendan Bell, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Johnson, Ken Gernander, Pirate, Pirates, Portland Pirates, Springfield Falcons, Tommy Grant, XL Center
BY: Bruce Berlet
One of the Beatles’ most famous songs in a litany of platinum recordings was entitled “The Long and Winding Road.”
The creation of songwriters Paul McCartney and the late John Lennon was released 16 years before Chad Kolarik was even born, but the Connecticut Whale wing can certainly relate.
The 26-year-old Kolarik skated with the Whale on Tuesday for the first time since he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in New York Rangers training camp Sept. 20. Kolarik had surgery Oct. 5 and then began that long and winding road back with intensive rehabilitation under the guidance of Whale athletic trainer Damien Hess and strength and conditioning coach/trainer Mark Cesari.
Kolarik also received a very helping hand from college sweetheart Kylee Botterman, a gymnastics star at the University of Michigan whom he married in July during an upbeat offseason in which he also signed a new contract with the Rangers after a promising four games on Broadway and getting 17 goals and 14 assists in 36 games with the Whale after being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets for former Hartford Wolf Pack captain Dane Byers.
Posted in AHL, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Sports
Tagged AHL, Cameron Talbot, Chad Kolarik, Columbus Blue Jackets, Connecticut Whale, Craig Weller, Damien Hess, John Tortorella, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Ken Gernander, New York Ranger, Wade Redden, Whale, XL Center
![Connecticut-Whale_thumb_thumb_thumb_[2]](http://howlings2.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/connecticut-whale_thumb_thumb_thumb_22.jpg "Connecticut-Whale_thumb_thumb_thumb_[2]")
VERSUS 
Sunday afternoon in Providence the Connecticut Whale could not find an answer for Carter Camper who’s hat-trick sealing third goal sunk the New York Rangers’ AHL affiliate 4-3 at the Dunkin Donuts Center in front of a raucous crowd of 10,951.
After Kelsey Tessier lifted the Whale out of a second period daze with a dramatic goal to erase what was a two-goal deficit and knot the score at three just 1:55 into the third period. The Whale picked up their game and kept pushing for more, but Camper, a Rocky River, OH native, followed up a Calle Ridderwall rebound off the chest of Cam Talbot (11-12-0, 35 saves) and backhanded it into the net for the game winner.
“We got that big one in the third (from Tessier),” Connecticut head coach Ken Gernander told the Whale’s Brian Ring after the game. “I thought things were moving in the right direction and they got that quick one and it’s hard to come back on the road when the other team is given the lead like that.”
Posted in AHL, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, ECHL, Greenville Road Warriors, Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Sports
Tagged AHL, Andre Deveaux, Anton Khudobin, Bruin, Cam Talbot, Carter Camper, Casey Wellman, Chris McKelvie, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Dunkin Donuts Center, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Kelsey Tessier, Ken Gernander, Kris Newbury, Mats Zuccarello, P-Bruins, Providence Bruins, Talbot, Tim Erixon, Wade Redden, Whale
![Connecticut-Whale_thumb_thumb_thumb_[2]](http://howlings2.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/connecticut-whale_thumb_thumb_thumb_21.jpg "Connecticut-Whale_thumb_thumb_thumb_[2]")
VERSUS 
Winning is contagious.
Much like Ronald Reagan’s trickle down economics, the same seems to be the case with the Connecticut Whale. After a horrendous January where they were winless, going 0-6-3-2, the Whale benefitted from the conditioning stints of Wojtek Wolski and Jeff Woywitka and won five of their first six games in the month of February before dropping a 2-1 loss to Bridgeport last Sunday.
Posted in AHL, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Sports
Tagged AHL, Andre Deveaux, Andreas Thuresson, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Cam Talbot, Casey Wellman, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Jeff Woywitka, Kelsey Tessier, Ken Gernander, Kris Newbury, New York Ranger, Wade Redden, Whale, Wojtek Wolski, Worcester Sharks, XL Center
VERSUS 
The Connecticut Whale had one of their strongest third periods of the season scoring three goals and got outstanding performances all over the ice to beat the Springfield Falcons 6-3 at the XL Center on Friday night.
After losing three straight games to the Falcons, the Whale have now won two straight and have a 7-2-0-1 record against their I-91 rivals. The Whale got multi-point games from seven skaters Friday night. Andre Deveaux and Ryan Bourque each had two goals for the Whale. Meanwhile the team’s top two leading scorers, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault (18g, 28a, 46 pts) and Kris Newbury (18g, 27a, 45pts) had three assists each. Mats Zuccarello finished with a goal and two helpers and Casey Wellman had a goal and an assist.
Posted in AHL, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Greenville Road Warriors, Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Sports
Tagged Ken Gernander, XL Center, Chad Johnson, Springfield Falcons, Kris Newbury, Cam Talbot, Connecticut Whale, Pavel Valentenko, Whale, Cam Atkinson, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Andre Deveaux, CTWhale, Falcon, Casey Wellman
BY: Bruce Berlet
Brent Thompson could be in line for a Coach of the Year daily double.
The former Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman was named ECHL Coach of the Year last season after leading the Alaska Aces to the regular season and playoff titles. Now Thompson is a leading contender for AHL Coach of the Year after guiding the Bridgeport Sound Tigers from seeming oblivion to challenging the Connecticut Whale for the Northeast Division lead.
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Posted in AHL, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Danbury Whalers, ECHL, Greenville Road Warriors, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Sports
Tagged Brent Thompson, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Jeff Woywitka, Justin DiBenedetto, Ken Gernander, New York Ranger, Northeast Division, Sound Tigers, Sunday, Trevor Gillies, Whale, Wojtek Wolski
BY: Bruce Berlet
Mission accomplished.
That’s the consensus of left wing Wojtek Wolski and defenseman Jeff Woywitka after playing six games in 10 days with the Connecticut Whale in two-week conditioning assignments from the New York Rangers. The stints don’t officially end until Wednesday, but the Whale don’t play again until Friday night at home against the Springfield Falcons.
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Posted in AHL, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Sports
Tagged AHL, Casey Wellman, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Jeff Woywitka, Ken Gernander, New York Ranger, New York Rangers, NHL, Ranger, Springfield Falcons, Whale, Wojtek Wolski, Wolski
![Connecticut-Whale_thumb_thumb_thumb_[1]](http://howlings2.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/connecticut-whale_thumb_thumb_thumb_11.jpg "Connecticut-Whale_thumb_thumb_thumb_[1]")
VERSUS 
“All good things must come to an end,” goes the old English proverb. For the Connecticut Whale their five-game winning streak ended in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers before 7,693 at the Webster Bank Arena Sunday afternoon.
David Ullstrom used defenseman Tim Erixon as a screen just 37 seconds into overtime and fired it over the glove of Chad Johnson (15-10-5, 40 saves) to finish off a game that had both teams digging and clawing to get any traction at all through the game’s first 60 minutes.
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Posted in AHL, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Sports
Tagged Blake Parlett, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Chad Johnson, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Jeff Woywitka, Johnson, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Ken Gernander, Mats Zuccarello, Whale, Wojtek Wolski
VERSUS 
The Connecticut Whale struck three times in a span of just 1:31 in the second period and then rode solid goaltending by Chad Johnson to win their fifth straight game 4-1 at the Verizon Wireless Center in Manchester over the Monarchs Saturday night.
In the second period, newcomer Casey Wellman and Jonathan Audy- Marchessault set each other up for goals just nine seconds apart at 12:01 and 12:10 respectively and Kris Newbury scored on the power play 1:22 later to break the game open for the visiting Whale. The two goals by Wellman and Audy-Marchessault were just one second off the team record that came against the former Albany River Rats on January 5, 2002. Both goals in the record eight seconds came off the stick of then Hartford Wolf Pack centerman Benoit Dusablon.
Posted in AHL, Connecticut Whale, CTWhale, Greenville Road Warriors, Hartford Wolf Pack, Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Sports
Tagged Ken Gernander, Hartford Wolf Pack, Chad Johnson, Manchester Monarchs, Kris Newbury, Blake Parlett, Kelsey Tessier, Connecticut Whale, Mats Zuccarello, Richard Clune, Wojtek Wolski, Whale, Tim Erixon, Andreas Thuresson, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Brendan Bell, Johnson, Andre Deveaux, CTWhale, Audy-Marchessault, Casey Wellman
Recognized as the Top AHL blog by SportsMemorabilia.com readers!
Mitch Beck spent over 20 years as an on-air radio personality and Standup comedian. He is self employed and has been reporting on the Hartford Wolf Pack / Connecticut Whale exclusively since 2005.
