WHALE MOVEMENT

WHALE ANNOUNCE ROSTER CHANGES

*           *           *           *

Four-game Preseason Slate Opens Tonight vs. Albany at Trinity College

Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the parent New York Rangers have assigned forwards Andre Deveaux and Andreas Thuresson to the Whale, and that the Whale has released defenseman Dan Lawson from his training camp tryout.

These moves come as the Whale prepares to open its 2011 preseason schedule tonight, with a game against the Albany Devils at Trinity College’s Koeppel Community Sports Center. The game will face-off at 7:00 PM and will benefit the Ryan Gordon/Connecticut Whale Community Scholars Fund, with donations accepted at the door in lieu of an admission charge.  The fund memorializes young fan Ryan Gordon, who passed away in 2006 and asked that a portion of the monies set aside for his college education be donated to the Connecticut Whale Community Foundation.

The Whale’s lone road preseason contest is tomorrow night, Wednesday, September 28, when they travel to the MassMutual Center in Springfield to battle the Springfield Falcons at 7:00.  The Whale then host the Worcester Sharks at the TD Bank Sports Center at Quinnipiac University this Friday, September 30, with faceoff at 7:00.  Admission to that game is $5, with proceeds benefitting Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, CT.

The Whale’s final preseason action is this Sunday, October 2 at Champions Skating Center in Cromwell, the Sharks again providing the opposition.  That game will face off at 2:00, and a $5 admission charge will benefit Junior Wolf Pack youth hockey.

With the addition of Deveaux and Thuresson and the deletion of Lawson, the Whale’s training camp roster stands as follows, with 31 players currently in camp:

Goal (4):           Chad Johnson, Jerry Kuhn, Jason Missiaen, Cameron Talbot

Defense (9):      Lee Baldwin, Collin Bowman, T.J. Fast, Sam Klassen, Tomas Kundratek, Jyri Niemi, Jared Nightingale, Wade Redden, Pavel Valentenko

Forwards (18):   Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Max Campbell, Chris Chappell, Brendan Connolly, Andre Deveaux, Tommy Grant, Tayler Jordan, Kale Kerbashian, Chad Kolarik, Chris McKelvie, Jordan Owens, Jeff Prough, Matt Rust, Connor Shields, Scott Tanski, Kelsey Tessier, Andreas Thuresson, Jason Wilson

The Whale’s regular-season home opener is coming up Saturday, October 15, a GEICO Connecticut Cup game vs. the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.  Tickets to that game, and all 2011-12 Whale home games, are on sale now at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, as well as on-line at www.ctwhale.com and through TicketMaster Charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Save on your tickets, and get the best seats, with a ticket plan for the Whale’s 2011-12 AHL campaign, which are on sale now. For information on season seats and mini plans, visit www.ctwhale.com, or call the CT Whale ticket office at (860) 728-3366 to talk with an account executive today.