FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet

By Bruce Berlet

The season to forget could be over for Rangers captain and Trumbull native Chris Drury.

Drury, who missed 31 of the first 32 games this season with a twice-broken finger, will have surgery on his left knee that will keep him out an estimated six weeks.

Drury has tried to play through the pain of the ailing knee the past few weeks, but Rangers coach John Tortorella said after practice Wednesday that Drury would undergo surgery at a time to be determined. Drury had missed the last few games after having fluid drained from the knee on Friday.

“They’re gonna go in and scrape his knee and take a look at it,” Tortorella said. “They haven’t really pinpointed anything. That guy has played hard for a long time, and I just think it has worn on him. It certainly hasn’t been getting better. He tried like hell to keep on playing, but it has gotten to the point where he can’t.”

The twice-broken index finger and injured knee have caused the 34-year-old Drury to miss 33 of 56 games this season after missing only 20 games the past eight seasons. Drury, who signed a five-year, $35 million contract in 2007, has no goals and four assists this season and won’t be available as the Rangers try to hold onto a playoff spot after missing the postseason last year when they lost the regular season finale in a shootout to the Philadelphia Flyers, who advanced to the Stanley Cup finals.

Tortorella defended Drury from what he considered doubts from the media about his captain’s motivation and will and that the surgery spares the Rangers from having to make difficult decisions about including him in the lineup once all of the injured forwards have returned.

“It pisses me off that some things come out about Chris Drury, about him thinking that he might be out of the lineup or maybe he’s just giving in here a little bit,” Tortorella said. “But that’s certainly not what happening here with this guy. He tried to play on it, and we tried playing him. It didn’t work out. It’s a tough thing.

“You guys know him as well as I do, and it’s killing him. It came up in one of my press conferences, and it just bugs me so this is a good opportunity for me to say it because he’s not built that way and we all know that.”

It’s inconceivable that anyone would question the will of one of sports’ grittiest players and biggest winners, from being the winning pitcher and knocking in two runs in Trumbull’s stunning Little League World Series victory over Taiwan in 1989 to winning a Division I state hockey title at Fairfield Prep to a NCAA title and Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s best player while at Boston University to a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche to helping the United States earn a silver medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics.

And Drury didn’t publicly complain when he was relegated to the fourth line and penalty killing after returning in December.

Tortorella, whose team will try to end a season-high, five-game losing streak (0-4-01) in Atlanta on Friday night, said he isn’t sure if the six-week timetable ends Drury’s season.

Drury, who has tried to keep a low profile during this forgettable season, was not available for comment. This corner’s only comment is that I hope all the leeches (and I don’t mean Brian) who have bad-mouthed Drury jump into a hole and think about what they said. Drury’s career certainly is on the downside, but it’s doubtful anyone has handled such trying times with more class, which is his middle name. I just hope Drury doesn’t try to come back too early again and jeopardize what’s left in a Hall of Fame career.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE GOALIES GONE?

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers found themselves without a goalie Tuesday night when recently signed Joel Martin had to be called up to the parent New York Islanders on an emergency basis after rookie Kevin Poulin, on recall from the AHL, caught a blade in a rut in the ice and sustained a left-knee injury in WARM-UPS.

Poulin, 20, flopped to the ice and had to be helped to the runway leading to the dressing room without putting any weight on his left leg. Poulin, called up Jan. 31, left Nassau Coliseum on crutches, and after a MRI on Wednesday, it was announced he will miss the remainder of the season after surgery to repair a dislocated kneecap.

So Mikko Koskinen, who had a 5-15-0 record and 3.64 goals-against average with the Sound Tigers, had to make an emergency first NHL start against the Toronto Maple Leafs and gave up two goals on the first two shots he faced. But the three goals he allowed in the third period led to a 5-3 loss.

“I didn’t even have time to be nervous,” Koskinen told reporters after the game. “I can’t be happy with the third period. I made a couple of mistakes that cost us the win.”

Koskinen, a 6-foot-6 Finn and the Islanders’ second-round pick in 2009, was the fifth goalie this season for the Islanders, who didn’t have a backup until Martin arrived for the third period. It was Martin’s 15^th hockey city, including juniors, and left the Sound Tigers scrambling for a goalie.

Some of the craziness was alleviated on Wednesday night when the Islanders acquired former Hartford Wolf Pack goalie Al Montoya, the Rangers’ first-round pick (sixth overall) in 2004, from the Phoenix Coyotes for a sixth-round pick in June. Montoya, who turns 26 on Sunday, was taken by the Rangers after two seasons at the University of Michigan but never played a game in New York while toiling for three seasons in Hartford.

On Feb. 26, 2008, Montoya was traded to the Coyotes with Marcel Hossa for Fredrik Sjostrom, David LeNeveu and Josh Gratton and spent most of the last three-plus season with the San Antonio Rampage. His only NHL playing time came in 2008-09, when he went 3-1-0 with a 2.08 GAA, .921 save percentage and one shutout in four games with Phoenix. Montoya was 11-8-0 with a 3.19 GAA and .891 save percentage in 21 games with the Rampage. He reportedly will report to Bridgeport and then be called up for a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.

Most of the maneuvering stemmed from former No. 1 pick Rick DiPietro deciding to play Rocky by leaving the crease to fight Pittsburgh goalie Brent Johnson 16 seconds from the end of a 3-0 Penguins victory on Friday night. DiPietro, who has appeared in only 13 games the past two seasons, sustained facial fractures and will miss at least 4-to-6 weeks.

It was the latest in a series of injuries for DiPietro, who hasn’t come close to living up to the ground-breaking, 15-year, $65 million contract that he signed in 2006. He hasn’t played a full season since 2007 and ranks 41^st out of 42 NHL goalies in save percentage at .890, a major reason the Islanders are in last place despite a bit of a resurgence under interim coach Jack Capuano, who started the season behind the Sound Tigers’ bench.

“You’ve got to make the best of it, but for whatever reason, these things have happened to us,” Capuano said.

That sounded all too familiar to the Rangers’ situation with a plethora of injuries to forwards that led to as many as eight Connecticut Whale players being called up at the same time. And two former Sound Tigers wings will be sidelined for awhile. Blake Comeau has been placed on injured reserve because of a concussion, and Trent Hunter, out since November, will undergo left-knee surgery to repair a torn MCL and will miss the remainder of the season.

So what did the Sound Tigers do to fill their void? Right now only Riley Gill, signed to a professional tryout contract from Kalamazoo of the ECHL on Saturday. Their first-year equipment manager, Leni DiCostanzo, played goal in junior hockey and the Southern Pro, ECHL and AHL for four years.

And to think that on New Year’s Day, the Islanders had five goalies on NHL contracts. But they traded veteran Dwayne Roloson that night and called up Nathan Lawson. DiPietro was in and out, but when he was in, Lawson was usually out so Poulin has been with the Islanders most of the time since early January. Last week, Lawson was out with a sprained knee, and DiPietro took Johnson’s left to the face, so Koskinen was called up for a game at the XL Center on Friday night that the Whale won 3-2.

Then Poulin dislocates his knee, Martin has to be called up and the Sound Tigers left with an empty net and the prospect of facing three of the AHL’s top teams this weekend – Friday vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Saturday at Manchester and Sunday vs. Portland. Certainly not Cupcake City!!!

Now don’t you just love hockey, especially when it comes to arguably the most important position in sports?

SOMETHING POSITIVE FOR SOMMER

Five days after taking a deflected puck to the face and sustaining a broken nose, Worcester Sharks coach Roy Sommer won the reGen Muscle Recovery Beverage/AHL Performance of the Month award for January.

And, no, it wasn’t for returning from the locker room minutes after the incident in a 4-3 shootout victory over the Manchester Monarchs on Friday night that earned Sommer the award.

No, it was for coaching his 1,000^th regular-season game as an AHL coach on Jan. 14 in a 3-1 victory over the Springfield Falcons. Sommer, whose 13 years is the longest current coaching run in the AHL, is only the fourth man in league history to reach that milestone.

The 53-year-old Sommer has a career record of 466-462-82 in 1,010 AHL games, all as the head coach of the San Jose Sharks’ top affiliates in Kentucky (1998-2001), Cleveland (2001-06) and Worcester (2006-present ). He ranks third behind AHL Hall of Famers Frank Mathers, Fred “Bun” Cook and John Paddock in games and victories. Sommer has coached more than 80 players who have played in the NHL. Before becoming a coach, Sommer had a 10-year playing career, including a Calder Cup championship with Maine in 1984.

Congratulations, Roy, from the entire Whale family. You’ve always been a straight shooter.

BALDWINS TO OPEN HOCKEY FEST 2011 ON THURSDAY AT 3 P.M.

The historic “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” will begin Thursday at 3 p.m. with Whalers Sports and Entertainment chairman and CEO Howard Baldwin and WSAE president and COO Howard Baldwin Jr. officially opening the 12-day event with a ceremonial first skate. They also will unveil the legacy jerseys to be worn by the Hartford Whalers and Boston Bruins alumni teams in that portion of the “Whale Bowl” on Feb. 19.

The first of 30 outdoor youth, high school, prep school, college, celebrity/alumni and pro games will start at 5 p.m. as the Simsbury High School girls play the West Hartford girls, followed by a cthockeyleague.com game at 10 p.m.

“UConn Day” is Sunday, when the alumni plays at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s team facing Sacred Heart at 1 p.m. and the women meeting Providence at 4 p.m. Two days later, Feb. 15, is “Trinity-Wesleyan Day” as the schools’ women’s teams play at 4 p.m., their alumni teams at 6:30 p.m. and the men’s teams at 8 p.m.

The featured attraction is the “Whale Bowl” when celebrities will mix in with the Whalers and Bruins legends at 4 p.m., followed by the Whale playing the Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. In case of bad weather, the Whale-Bruins game will be played Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. at the XL Center.

Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, and Brad Park headline the Bruins legends team. Other commitments are Enfield native Craig Janney, former captain Rick Middleton, who played 12 seasons in Boston and 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, Ed Hospodar, Yvon Corriveau 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.

The official charity of the Hockey Fest is “Sam’s Race for a Place,” a fund-raising effort spearheaded by West Hartford resident Samantha Udolf that benefits the Ronald McDonald House. Since Udolf, a successful competitive skier, founded Sam’s Race for a Place in June of 2008, it has generated donations of more than $43,500.

The Ronald McDonald House is a non-profit charity operating since 1991 that helps hundreds of families and children enjoy the comforts of home while they await treatment at area medical facilities. Udolf became familiar with Ronald McDonald House and its good works while volunteering there, and she conceived Sam’s Race for a Place after learning it is independently-funded and depends on grass-roots campaigns for nearly all of its support.

For more information about Sam’s Race for a Place, visit www.samsraceforaplace.com. Donations also can be made through that web address. Besides the games, the Hockey Fest will include “Whale Town” featuring exhibitors, games and the Whalers Mobile Hall of Fame.

THREE WHALE PLAYERS AMONG PROSPECTS TRADING CARDS

Two Whale players, goalie Chad Johnson and forward Evgeny Grachev, and former Whale defenseman Ryan McDonagh, now on recall to the Rangers, are in the 150-card Heroes and Prospects trading card set by In the Game.

The three have all played with the Rangers, though Johnson’s five-game stint was last season. They are pictured on those cards in the uniform of the Hartford Wolf Pack, which was rebranded as the Connecticut Whale on Nov. 27.

In the Game has been making its Heroes and Prospects hockey set since losing its NHL license after the 2003-04 season and it’s become a must-have for many hockey fans. This year’s 150-card set includes seven Hockey Hero cards, three international prospects, 90 Canadian major junior hockey league players and 50 AHL players. Many of the players have already been drafted, while others are expected to be early picks in upcoming NHL drafts.

There is a lot of memorabilia, autograph, jersey, game used emblem and AHL 75^th Anniversary cards, including the one of AHL Hall of Famer John Paddock, who coached the Wolf Pack to their only Calder Cup title in his first of three seasons, 1999-2000.

Other notable player cards are Logan Couture and Alex Stalock (San Jose-Worcester), P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens-Hamilton Bulldogs), Tyler Ennis (Buffalo Sabres-Portland Pirates), John Carlson (Washington Capitals-Hershey Bears), John Moore (Columbus Blue Jackets-Springfield Falcons), Blake Geoffrion (Nashville Predators-Milwaukee Admirals), Jared Staal (Carolina Hurricanes-Charlotte Checkers) and Linus Omark (Edmonton Oilers-Oklahoma City Barons), as well as Calder Cup champion cards Alexandre Giroux, Chris Bourque, Keith Aucoin, Andrew Gordon and Mathieu Perreault; non-memorabilia insert cards such as Taylor Hall, Cam Fowler and Eric Wellwood; and 75^th Anniversary cards Billy Smith, Brett Hull, Bruce Boudreau, Doug Harvey, Eddie Shore, Emile Francis, Gerry Cheevers, John Slaney, Carey Price, Jason Spezza, Larry Robinson, Les Cunningham, Martin Brodeur, Milt Schmidt, Patrick Roy, Pelle Lingbergh, Terry Sawchuck, Mitch Lamoreux, Willie Marshall and Zdeno Chara.

The card sets cost $94.99 and are available at www.theahl.com. All-Star Game jerseys and merchandise are also available.