SO MUCH FOR UNBEATEN…AND OTHER PACK NEWS 

  VERSUS   

Former Hartford Wolf Pack forward Paul Healey had a two goal night and Vladimir Nikiforov sealed the deal with the game winner as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers dispatched the Wolf Pack’s unbeaten streak and avenged a 4-2 loss the night before with a 3-2 win Saturday night at The Rinks in Shelton, Connecticut.

“There were positives and negatives to tonight’s game,” Wolf Pack Head Coach Ken Gernander said after the contest. “I thought we had a couple of penalties that I didn’t care for. We tried to force some plays offensively that led to counter attack, but some of it is trying to show yourself, make a statement. We’ve got a week to work on some of those things.”

Derek Couture scored his fourth goal in the last three games with just 26.1 seconds remaining in the first period, knotting the score. Couture’s goal came off a feed from defenseman Brent Henley and forward Patrick Rissmiller from the right circle past the Tigers starting netminder Scott Munroe (8 saves). The Calgary native continues to make a solid impression on the coaching staff. “He’s played well.” Gernander said of the 6’1” 205 pounder. “He’s made a real case for himself.” The question for the 25-year old is if the Pack even have a need for a player on the right side.

Also making a strong case for himself was Davos, Switzerland native Andres Ambuhl, who has also caught the coach’s eye. Ambuhl signed with the Pack on May 27th. “He’s one guy who’s gotten better and better each night.” But Ambuhl despite a lot of hard work, Ambuhl has yet to light the lamp for the Rangers AHL franchise. “We gotta get him to find the back of the net,” said the Pack’s third year head coach. “It’ll be a little bit of a relief for him I’m sure. He really wants to impress and show himself, but I like his hustle for a smaller guy, a European guy, he’s finishing checks out there. He’s aggressive and tenacious on the puck. He’s done well I think.”

While the Pack seemed to have possession of the puck for most of the contest, they only managed to put two in the net. One by Munroe, and the second by the NY Islanders second round pick, Mikko Koskinen (30 saves). “He was getting to see everything.” Gernander said when asked about the performance of the 6’5” 187 pound Finnish netminder. “We had to get a little more traffic out in front. Bysies (Dane Byers) tip was a good one there right at the end. He didn’t face a steady diet of those. We’ve got to have more of that and make things difficult.”

But overall, Gernander stated that he was content with the performance of his squad. “I thought some guys started out real strong…they’ve got one more night to really make a push for a spot on our team,” Gernander said. “I thought some of our veteran guys did what they were expected to do. It was a decent enough game tonight.”

Gernander did make some cuts earlier in the day (See story below). The final cuts should come after Sunday afternoon’s contest with Worcester. 

On thing is for certain, when it comes time to make some of these last cuts, it won’t be easy on the Head Coach. “They’re all kids with a dream, you know. Not that being cut from the Wolf Pack is the end of the road, I’m sure it’s difficult. Everybody’s been let go from a team at some point in time and it’s the nature of the business. It’s certainly not an easy task.”

LINES:

Byers – Crowder – Couture

Hillier – Rissmiller – Owens

Henley – Arnason – Weise

DiDiomete – Zaborsky – Ambuhl

Glass – Potter

Williams – Heikkinen

Urquhart – Sauer

Zaba

Here is the official release regarding the cuts and assignments:

Hartford Wolf Pack general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the team has deleted six players from its training camp roster.

Defenseman Tysen Dowzak has been reassigned by the parent New York Rangers to the Wolf Pack’s ECHL affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers.  The Rangers have reassigned blueliner Tomas Kundratek to the Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Medicine Hat Tigers.  The Wolf Pack have loaned forward Jean-Philip Chabot and defenseman Mike Berube to Charlotte and have released defenseman Luke Lucyk, who will also be joining the Checkers.  Forward Dan LaCouture has also been released.

Twenty-eight players remain on the Wolf Pack’s camp roster, heading into their final preseason tune-up today at the International Skating Center of Connecticut in Simsbury against Worcester.  That game faces off at 3:00 PM.

Reassigned by NY Rangers from Wolf Pack to Charlotte (ECHL):

Defensemen (1):     Tysen Dowzak

Loaned by Wolf Pack to Charlotte (ECHL):

Forwards (1):          Jean-Philip Chabot

Defensemen (1):     Mike Berube

Released by Wolf Pack and Joining Charlotte (ECHL):

Defensemen (1):     Luke Lucyk

Reassigned by NY Rangers to Medicine Hat (WHL):

Defensemen (1):     Tomas Kundratek

Released by Wolf Pack:

Forwards (1):          Dan LaCouture

Following is the list of players who remain on the Wolf Pack’s training camp roster:

Goal (4):            Chad Johnson, Ryan Munce, Miika Wiikman, Matt Zaba

Defense (9):       Trevor Glass, Ilkka Heikkinen, Brent Henley, Jared Nightingale, Corey Potter, Bobby Sanguinetti, Michael Sauer, David Urquhart, Nigel Williams

Forwards (15):   Andres Ambühl, Tyler Arnason, Dane Byers, Derek Couture, Paul Crowder, Devin DiDiomete, Brodie Dupont, Ryan Hillier, Corey Locke,

Jordan Owens, P.A. Parenteau, Patrick Rissmiller, Justin Soryal, Dale Weise, Tomas Zaborsky

The Wolf Pack’s 2009-10 regular-season home schedule kicks off Saturday, October 10 at the XL Center against the Springfield Falcons (7:00).  Once again this season, tickets to the home opener are only $10 each.

The Wolf Pack is offering “Knockout Season Ticket Prices” for 2009-10, with across-the-board price reductions of 8-13% depending on the seat location, as well as terrific discounts for groups of 15 or more.  For more information, visit www.hartfordwolfpack.com, or call the Wolf Pack ticket office at (860) 548-2000 to talk with an account executive today about all of the Wolf Pack’s many ticket options.

Single-game tickets for 2009-10 Hartford Wolf Pack regular season home games are on sale now at the XL Cent
er box office, through Ticketmaster Charge-by-Phone at 1-800-745-3000 and on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com.