ROUND TWO 

    VERSUS   

The Hartford Wolf Pack came into their game Saturday night with a number of questions needing to be answered. How would they respond to an incredibly sub-par performance from the previous night in Portland and would their be retribution from the chippy game last Saturday in Hartford where the Pack embarrassed the Falcons 7-3?

Wolf Pack head coach Ken Gernander said their was no doubt about the answer to the first question. “I thought the effort was a lot better tonight.” He said after his team lost 2-1 before 3,853 at the Mass Mutual Center in Springfield. “I thought we limited the number of chances against tonight I thought we did a much better job of that than we did (Friday) night. 14 shots on goal is a pretty low number.” The third year head coach said. “You make one or two mistakes there; far fewer mistakes than we made last night. I thought the guys worked hard.” Unfortunately for the Pack, those two mistakes wound up in the back of the Pack net.

The first period was like the early rounds of a championship fight. Both teams came out testing the other to see what they brought to the Arena. A strong, aggressive fore-check for the first ten plus minutes, gave the Pack a 9-3 edge in shots on goal and kept the Falcons on their heels. Despite some good scoring opportunities on Falcons netminder Devan Dubnyk, (32 saves, 3-3-0 3.54GAA, .908%), the period ended scoreless.

Just 57 seconds into the second period the Falcons capitalized on a Pack defensive zone turnover by Dale Weise. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native tried to clear the puck, but the puck instead was intercepted by forward Chad Wiseman along the boards. The ex-Pack, playing on a Professional Try-Out contract with the Falcons, slid a perfect pass just under Corey Potter’s stick and right on the tape of a streaking Charles Linglet. The Springfield left winger broke in up the slot all alone and fired a low, hard shot that beat goaltender Miika Wiikman (12 saves, 0-1-0, 2.00GAA, .857%) between the legs in his first game of the season with the Pack.

Linglet scored his second of the match and what would prove to be the game winner at 8:33 of the third period. Colton Fretter, who had just spent two minutes in solitary on a boarding call, sprung Linglet free in the left circle. Linglet moved into the crease and let fly a shot that hit Michael Sauer’s stick flew up and hit Wiikman in the shoulder and fell behind the Swedish netminder into the twine.

But the Pack refused to surrender and quickly responded. Just under a minute and a half later, with the Pack playing a man down with Brodie Dupont in seclusion having taken an extra roughing minor after a Ryan Potulny slashing call, the always hard working Jordan Owens did the dirty work in the left corner of the offensive zone and took control of a loose puck. He saw Paul Crowder alone in the slot. Crowder displayed great patience and surveyed the landscape and found Sauer pinching on the right side by the slot. Crowder put a perfect lead pass in front of his defensive teammate. “I saw it there and tried to really step into it.” Sauer said. “I just identified an area and figured he’s a tall goaltender so I’d go high and I was fortunate to put it right there and past him.” Dubnyk did manage to get a piece of it with the blocker but not enough to keep it out of the back of the cage. It was the Pack’s third short handed tally in just six games this season. The Pack led the entire AHL last season with 19 short handed tallies.

In the third period, the Pack again made line changes to shorten the bench trying to spark scoring chances. Having already shaken things up to start the game shifting center Patrick Rissmiller to the top line with P.A. Parenteau and Evgeny Grachev and shifting Paul Crowder to the third line with Brodie Dupont and Jordan Owens on his flanks.  Over the last eight minutes the Pack fired 17 shots on Dubnyk, but the Falcon netminder was sharp. 

“Some of our better chances we missed the net, not to say that Dubnyk didn’t have some big, big saves but if he had, what 16 shots through two periods in that span of 40 minutes some of our better chances we missed the net and I thought he played very well at the end there down the stretch.” Gernander said.

Assistant captain Dane Byers said that he feels things are due to come around for the 2-4-0 Wolf Pack. “The guys are working hard. I don’t think it has anything to do with work ethic. We’re probably forcing it a little too much now.” He said. “It takes a while sometimes for a team to get their chemistry going, guys playing with new guys to start the year out and sometimes it clicks and some times it takes a little longer.” Byers added that, “There’s a lot of good people and good talent in this room. It’s just a matter of time. I’ve been here four years and it’s just a slow start. We’ll get it turned around here.”

In terms of the physical play, you could sense that tempers were being checked at the door, but the underlying anger between these two teams surfaced at the conclusion when Parenteau pushed Kip Brennan from behind as the two teams were leaving the ice causing a number of scrums that had to be pulled a part by the referees.

The two teams won’t play again till a home and home series on December 27th and 30th.

Bob Crawford recaps the game at HartfordWolfPack.com. For the Springfield perspective there’s Jason Remillard at masslive.com.

GAME SUMMARY  and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

NOTES:

* The concussion to goaltender Matt Zaba seems to have subsided. Gernander stated that the Yorkton, Saskatchewan native, “…skated and is symptom free, but still has a sore neck. He’s day-to-day”

* Writer extraordinaire Gerry Cantlon shared this tidbit. Springfield’s win is just their second in the last 12 meetings between the two I-91 rivals. The span runs just over years with the last win coming on opening night last season.

* With the addition of Wiseman, the Falcons now have three ex-pack on their current roster which includes team captain Dean Arsene and assistant captain Jake Taylor.

* Patrick Rissmiller is from Belmont, MA and went to college in Boston.

* Former Wolf Pack captain, Craig Weller, was traded Sunday along with a second round pick and the rights to prospect Alexander Fallstrom to the Boston Bruins for Chuck Kobasew.

* News from Charlotte:

The Charlotte Checkers opened the 2009-10 season with a 3-1 victory over the defending Kelly Cup Champion South Carolina Stingrays on Saturday. Two-time ECHL All-Star Tyler Doig led the way for the Checkers with the game-winning goal and an assist.

South Carolina opened the scoring just 25 seconds in when forward Matt Scherer let a wrist shot go from the side boards that seemed to fool Checkers’ netminder Ryan Munce.

Charlotte would answer back at 14:17 of the opening frame when Aaron Slattengren took a pass on the goal line from Michel Leveille and tucked it between the legs of goaltender Todd Ford. Matt Ford drew the other assist.

The Checkers carried the play throughout the first period posting a 20-4 shot total.

Five minutes into the second, South Carolina forward Gregg Johnson drew a slashing penalty that would prove to be costly. On the ensuing power play, Charlotte forward Ryan Garlock fed a behind-the-back pass to Tyler Doig who netted his first of the year.

Early in the third period, Checkers’ all-star forward Matt Ford was sent in alone on a breakaway but Todd Ford turned the shot aside to keep it a one-goal game.

With just over 11 minutes to play in the contest, Ryan Munce fell awkwardly into the Checkers’ net and left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. Rookie netminder Billy Sauer entered the game for his first taste of professional action.

The Checkers would add to their lead on a power-play goal with 6:26 to play in the contest. Ethan Graham fired a shot from the blueline that deflected off a South Carolina stick and trickled in past Ford.

Sauer went on to stop all nine shots he faced to preserve the 3-1 victory. Ryan Munce, who stopped 22 of 23, earned the victory while Todd Ford made 37 saves for the Stingrays in a losing cause.

LINES:

Grachev – Rissmiller – Parenteau

Byers –  Locke – Weise

Dupont – Crowder – Owens

Soryal – Arnason – Ambuhl

Heikkinen – Sanguinetti

Henley – Potter

Urquhart – Sauer

Wiikman

(Assistant Captains Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Devin DiDIomete – Broken Arm – Mid-November

Matt Zaba – Concussion – Day to Day

Nigel Williams – Healthy

THREE STARS:

1. SPR – 40 Devan Dubnyk 
2. SPR – 7 Charles Linglet 
3. HTD – 4 Michael Sauer

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Chris Brown (86), Referee 
Chris Low (82), Linesman 
Rich Patry (52), Linesman

NEXT GAME:

The Pack will have some time to regroup as they are off till next Friday when they finish the six of their first seven on the road as they visit Adirondack to take on the former Philadelphia Phantoms. They play the first two five-game home stands they’ll play this season.