FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet 

By Bruce Berlet

Ron Francis. Kevin Dineen. … Kevin Dineen. Ron Francis.

Trying to select the best player in Hartford hockey history always comes down to the two most iconic figures since the New England Whalers arrived in town from Boston in 1974.

Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull, the best right wing and left wing in NHL history, are the most famous and legendary members of the All-Hartford Hockey History roster, but Francis/Dineen or Dineen/Francis has to be No. 1 and 1A in terms of contributions to the franchise.

But even Dineen would admit his former linemate, fellow captain and man with whom he had his No. 11 retired with No. 10 and the No. 5 of close friend Ulf Samuelsson on that memorable and emotional Jan. 6, 2006 night at the XL Center should get the nod if for no other reason than he’s the only former Whaler to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

“It’s hard for me to define a highlight or a moment in my career,” Dineen once said. “Just Ronnie himself is at the top of the list.”

Still, Dineen was/always will be the John Wayne of Hartford hockey, the man of action and exploding synapses to this day as coach of the Portland Pirates. Dineen’s fireball demeanor was best demonstrated when he burst down left/off wing and around future Hall of Fame defenseman Larry Robinson and beat future Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy in overtime of Game 4 in the 1986 playoffs against Montreal. The Canadiens would win the Adams Division finals in seven games and then capture the Stanley Cup, but Dineen’s dash will live forever in Hartford hockey lore.

But a close second to Dineen is former Hartford Wolf Pack All-Star Ryan Callahan, who fittingly is also a right wing, an alternate captain of the New York Rangers and the leading candidate to replace Trumbull native Chris Drury as the person wearing the C on Broadway. Callahan was a fourth-round pick in 2004 (Dineen a third-rounder in 1982), and both earned their way into the hearts of Hartford fans and reached pro hockey’s highest level thanks largely to grit, guts and perseverance.

Callahan is still a poor boy’s Dineen, but that’s no knock on Callahan, who joined Dineen as a United States Olympian in February, when the Americans won a silver medal. Dineen is one of only six players in NHL history to score at least 300 goals (355) and have at least 2,000 penalty minutes (2,229), demonstrating his full range of skills, dedication and determination. But nearly as remarkable is that when he retired in 2002, Dineen was among the top 60 all-time in games played (1,188). He was 5 feet, 190 pounds but played as if 6-3, 225. And he kept a non-stop, breakneck pace despite suffering from Crohn’s disease (chronic inflammation of the digestive tract) for which he has been a national spokesman for years.

The Pirates usually display their coach’s traits, and Rangers coach John Tortorella didn’t mince words about his feeling for Callahan before he returned from a 19-game absence on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were without their two top guns, Sidney Crosby (concussion) and Evgeni Malkin (sinus infection). Callahan, the Rangers’ de facto captain when Drury missed 31 of the team’s first 32 games, had been out since Dec. 5 with a broken hand sustained when he blocked a shot by Penguins All-Star defenseman Kris Letang. But the resilient Rangers more than stayed afloat with a 10-7-0 record during Callahan’s absence.

Still, Tortorella gushes when he talks about No. 24.

“Cally does everything for us,” Tortorella told the New York media. “He’s one of our leaders. I give our team a lot of credit because when we lost him is when I most worried about where the team was going to go. I give our guys a lot of credit for hanging in there and finding a way. Cally is that important, so it’s good to have him back in the (locker) room first of all and then on the ice. I hope the whole team runs off (Callahan) because that’s the way we have to play.”

Callahan obviously enjoyed wearing a uniform more than a suit in the stands as he skated on a line with rookie center Derek Stepan and call-up Mats Zuccarello. Callahan was the Rangers’ leading scorer (10 goals, 13 assists in 32 games) when he was injured and returned for a key game against the Penguins. Callahan deflected in Michael Del Zotto’s power-play shot with 13 seconds left in the second period to tie it at 3, but Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury outdueled fellow All-Star Henrik Lundqvist in a shootout, stopping seven shots while call-up Dustin Jeffrey converted in Round 7 to give the Penguins a 4-3 victory and a six-point lead over the sixth-place Rangers. Callahan was denied in the fourth round of the shootout, while Zuccarello was stopped for the first time in five attempts in the NHL. The one-day Ranger captain notched a power play goal with 13 seconds remaining in the second period to tie the score at three goals apiece, while making his return to the lineup after missing the last 19 games with a broken hand suffered at Pittsburgh on December 15.  He was also credited with a team-high, seven hits and registered four shots on goal in 21:07 of ice time to capture second star honors.

“Yeah, it went real fast,” Callahan said sarcastically when asked about agonizing “bag skates” under the watchful eye of assistant coach Mike Sullivan, a former coach of the Providence Bruins. “I have full strength, it’s 100 percent. It’s an exciting game to be coming back for.”

Earlier this season, Callahan said doing the little things are his major focus and objective.

“I try to be good on the puck, be really good on the forecheck, take the body and do what I can,” said Callahan, who was among the league leaders in blocked shots when injured. “Obviously, I want to chip in with the goals when I can, too, but when that’s not going well, you definitely have to concentrate on the other things, and when you do that, you start to get bounces toward the net and start getting more chances. … I try to go out there and lead by example, finishing checks and blocking shots. If guys are jumping on board with it, that’s great. And I think everyone has bought into the system we’re trying to do – hard on the forecheck, sacrificing ourselves for the team.”

Tortorella points to a game in Boston in November that epitomizes Callahan.

“You watch him block shots, you see the things he does on the wall, everything about him,” Tortorella said. “I like the way he stepped up in the locker room in between periods when we taking all those penalties. It’s the most I’ve heard him say in the locker room since I’ve been with him. So I think he’s embracing being a leader on this club, too. It’s good stuff.”

The Rangers needed the All-Star Game break more than any NHL team after spending most of the season trying to field a team thanks to the extended injury losses of Callahan, Drury, Marian Gaborik, Vinny Prospal, Alex Frolov, Erik Christensen, Ruslan Fedotenko, Derek Boogaard and former Wolf Pack wing Brandon Dubinsky, who was activated from injured reserve Tuesday. Callahan, Dubinsky and former Wolf Pack defenseman Dan Girardi returned to the lineup Tuesday night, and Prospal is expected to make his season debut Thursday night at home against the New Jersey Devils. Christensen and Fedotenko hope to return in mid-February, while Frolov and Boogaard are expected to miss the remainder of the season.

The Rangers had 24 players, one over the NHL limit, on the ice for practice Monday after Del Zotto and forwards Kris Newbury and Evgeny Grachev were called up from the Whale Sunday during the AHL All-Star break. The multitude of injuries have given Whale players an unprecedented shot with the Rangers, who reached 200 man-games lost to injury Tuesday night, compared to 78 games all of last season. As many as eight Whaler players have been in New York on recall, with four in the lineup Tuesday night: forwards Zuccarello and Newbury and defensemen Del Zotto and Ryan McDonagh as Grachev was returned to the Whale after Dubinsky was deemed healthy to go. Dubinsky started on a line with Gaborik and former Wolf Pack center Artem Anisimov, while Newbury was paired with Drury and Sean Avery.

Del Zotto, who switched place with McDonagh on Jan. 3, was paired with Matt Gilroy, who ironically had been assigned to the Wolf Pack last season to try to revive his game and had four assists in five games. Del Zotto replaced Steve Eminger, meaning for the first time in history, all six Rangers defensemen had played in Hartford. The other pairings were Girardi with All-Star Marc Staal and McDonagh with Michael Sauer.

After reports from Rangers assistant general manager/assistant coach/Whale GM Jim Schoenfeld, Tortorella continued to laud the players on the Hartford-New York shuttle.

“Del Zotto played well the last couple of games (in Hartford) and did some decent things as far as puck movement on the power play, so we’ve got to make a decision there,” Tortorella said. “Grachev has really played much better (seven goals and one assist in last six games with the Whale), but it hasn’t transformed here yet. But Schoney watched two games during the (NHL) break and felt Grachev and Newbury were the guys (to call up). I like Newbury’s grit and hopefully he can take a face-off or two. Grachev has scored some goals and played hard (in Hartford) and is going through the process. The next step for him is to protect pucks (in New York) as we’ve asked him to do (in Hartford) but also try to create some offense. (Dale) Weise played well, too, but we can’t take everybody.”

All-Star wing Jeremy Williams and wings Chad Kolarik and Brodie Dupont also have been call-ups, and Tortorella said he believes the numerous injuries and recalls will be beneficial to the organization in the long run.

As an aside, Lundqvist between the pipes, the No. 1 reason the Rangers have been able to weather the injury storm, made history Sunday when he saved the first penalty shot in All-Star history, making a pad stop on Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche. But Lundqvist took the loss after allowing three goals, though the winner turned out to be an empty-netter by Dallas Stars forward Loui Eriksson, this fourth point of the game. Eric Staal, captain of Team Staal and the hometown Carolina Hurricanes, scored with 33.6 seconds left to make it the third All-Star Game in which both teams hit double digits in goals.

WHALE HOMESTAND ENDS FRIDAY NIGHT

The Whale (22-20-2-5) and the rest of the AHL are off until Thursday, and then they end a four-game homestand Friday night at 7 against another struggling team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (19-23-3-3). A last-second, 3-2 loss to the Portland Pirates on Saturday night was the Whale’s third in a row overall and fourth straight and sixth in seven starts at home after eight consecutive wins at the XL Center. It dropped the Whale into fourth place, one point behind Worcester, which beat Providence 3-2, and they are only three points ahead of the Bruins, who have two games in hand. The Whale is 11-12-2-1 at home and 11-8-0-4 on the road but 4-1-0-1 in the GEICO Connecticut Cup against the Sound Tigers, capped by Chad Johnson’s 22-save shutout in a 4-0 victory at Bridgeport on Dec. 26. Williams leads the team in goals (22) and points (40), followed by Newbury (5, 31), Kolarik (17, 16) and center Tim Kennedy (9, 24). Williams was the Whale’s long representative in the AHL All-Star Game on Monday night, when he scored on his only shot and had an assist as the Eastern Conference beat the Western Conference, 11-10.

The Sound Tigers arrive at the XL Center on a four-game losing streak that ended the worst calendar month in franchise history (1-9-2-1) and dropped them into the division cellar. Like the Whale, the Sound Tigers have had to battle through countless call-ups, including on Monday, when goalie Kevin Poulin and defensemen Ty Wishart and former Wolf Pack Dylan Reese were recalled by the parent New York Islanders. Poulin and Reese returned to the Islanders after spending two games with the Sound Tigers during the NHL All-Star break. Reese had a goal in a 3-2 loss at Worcester on Friday, when Poulin made 45 saves. The Sound Tigers’ leading scorer is right wing Rhett Rakhshani, who has three of his 10 goals and two of his 24 assists against the Whale and is tied for first in rookie scoring. Center Rob Hisey (7, 18) is second in scoring, and center David Ulstrom (6, 17) is tied for third with Wishart (4, 19). Left wing Michael Haley (12, 10) leads the team in goals. Rookie Mikko Koskinen (5-14-0, 3.67 goals-against average, .882 save percentage) has played the most games in goal for the Sound Tigers.

After the Sound Tigers game, the Whale will play a home-and-home set with Portland, Saturday at 7 p.m. in Maine and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the XL Center. The teams have split their first four games, with both Whale victories coming on overtime goals by former Pirates center Tim Kennedy on Dec. 29 and 31. The Pirates (29-14-4-1) have won five of their last six games to move within a point of Atlantic Division-leading Manchester.

HOWE, PROPP AND HANGSLEBEN VISITING

Former Hartford Whalers and 1986 NHL All-Stars Mark Howe and Brian Propp and ex-Whaler Alan Hangsleben will be at the XL Center on Friday night. They will hold a private, “meet and greet” reception with Whale season ticket holders and invited “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” ticket purchasers before the game (4:30-6:30 p.m.) and then drop the ceremonial first puck. Hangsleben also will sign autographs in the XL Center atrium during the second intermission with selected Whale players.

Friday is the 25^th anniversary of the 1986 NHL All-Star Game at the Hartford Civic Center. Howe and Propp were with the Philadelphia Flyers and played on the Wales Conference team that beat the Campbell Conference 4-3 in overtime. Propp, who finished his 15-year NHL career with the Whalers, scored the first Wales goal. It was one of four All-Star appearances for Howe, the son of hockey legend Gordie Howe who was at the XL Center on Friday night scouting for the Detroit Red Wings, a job he has held since retiring from the Red Wings in 1995.

Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., the Grand Rink at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods will host a skate with Hangsleben and former Whalers Doug Roberts and Garry Swain, former Bruins Bob Miller and Tom Songin and Whale mascot Pucky. Fees are $10 for adults with a $5 skate rental, and $6 for children with a $2 skate rental. Hot beverages and photo opportunities are included, as well as the chance to win tickets to the “Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl” on Feb. 19.

WHALERS AND BRUINS LEGENDS FACE OFF FEB. 19

Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, and Brad Park headline the Boston Bruins legends team that will play the Hartford Whalers legends on Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. in the opener of the doubleheader that’s part of the “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest” on Feb. 11-23 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The Whale and Providence Bruins will play at 7 p.m., and in case of bad weather, that game will be played Feb. 20 at the XL Center.

Other commitments for the Bruins team are Enfield native Craig Janney, former captain Rick Middleton, who played 12 seasons in Beantown and two with the Rangers, Reggie Lemelin, Ken Hodge, Don Marcotte, Rick Smith, Bob Sweeney, Lyndon Byers, Cleon Daskalatis, Jay Miller, Bob Miller (no relation) and Ken “The Rat” Linseman, who was a member of the Whalers for a few moments as he passed through in a multi-player trade with Philadelphia and Edmonton that included Mark Howe leaving Hartford for the Flyers. Derek Sanderson will coach the Bruins team.

Commitments for the Whalers team are WHA Hall of Famer Andre Lacroix, John McKenzie, whose No. 19 is retired in the XL Center rafters, Blaine Stoughton, Pat Verbeek, John Anderson, Garry Swain, Bob Crawford, Chris Kotsopoulos, Jim Dorey, Jordy Douglas, Ray Neufeld, Gordie Roberts, Darren Turcotte, Nelson Emerson, Mark Janssens, Bill Bennett, Jeff Brubaker, Fred O’Donnell, Terry Yake, Scott Daniels and the Babych brothers, Dave and Wayne. Emile “The Cat” Francis, a coach and general manager with the Rangers and Whalers, will be back behind the bench again, and Norm Barnes and former captain Russ Anderson will be assistant coaches.

Celebrities scheduled to play with one of the legends teams include Michael Keaton, Alan Thicke and David E. Kelley, son of New England and Hartford Whalers coach and general manager Jack Kelley and the writer of the 1999 hit film “Mystery, Alaska,” which was produced by Whalers Sports and Entertainment president and CEO Howard Baldwin and his wife, Karen. “Mystery, Alaska” cast members slated to appear are Michael Buie, Scott Richard Grimes, Jason Gray-Stanford and Cameron Bancroft, along with Neal McDonough, Kevin Zegers, Bobby Farrelly, David Henrie and the Hanson brothers – Steve, Jeff and Dave – who played for the Minnesota Fighting Saints and were the comedic linchpins of the classic movie “Slap Shot.”

Tickets ($20 to $85) for the doubleheader can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com and the Bushnell box office in Hartford on Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. or by calling the Whale at 860-728-3366. They also can be purchased online and printed immediately at Ticketmaster.com.