Wolf Pack Off Season Volume 5
BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Five weeks out from the end of the Hartford Wolf Pack season and there are still plenty of things going on.
CALDER CUP FINALS
The Calder Cup finals started Friday night and came to a thrilling conclusion. In Game One, the Grand Rapids Griffins got a goal from Tomas Nosek with 13.9 seconds remaining to break a 2-2 deadlock with the Syracuse Crunch.
The series is in a 2-3-2 format.
Games 2 will also be in Grand Rapids with the next three in Syracuse.
During the regular season, both teams were hit hard when injuries became a factor for their parent clubs, the Tampa Bay Lightning (Syracuse) and the Detroit Red Wings (Grand Rapids) respectively. As time heals all wounds, as both teams got healthy and didn’t make the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, they were able to return players to both their farm teams which benefitted greatly.
Each team won Game 5 of the conference final series to advance to Calder Cup final.
Syracuse knocked off the Providence Bruins as ex-Sound Tiger, Cory Conacher, (league best 20 playoff points) continues his strong play. Yanni Gourde, the Eddie Shore Trophy winner, Matt Taormina and Erik Condra have all played exceptionally well too. The Crunch feature North Branford native, Adam Erne, ex-Pack, Daniel Walcott, Quinnipiac University grad, Matt Peca, and former Sound Tiger, Mike Halmo. The trade deadline move in acquiring veteran goalie Mike McKenna from the Springfield Thunderbirds has proven to be very helpful to the Crunch’s playoff run.
Former Ranger, Jeff Halpern, is a Crunch assistant coach.
The Griffins dispatched of the San Jose Barracuda in five games with a very balanced team scoring attack. Seven players had ten or more points. Leading the way are Ben Street and Eric Tangradi who had 15 points each. Others on the scoring parade include Tyler Bertuzzi, Tomas Nosek, Matt Lorito, Mitch Callahan and Evgeny Svechnikov.
Ex-Pack on the Griffins include Dylan McIlrath (plus-12 in 13 playoff games) and Matt Ford (nine points). Conor Allen is on the roster but suffered a season-ending injury. Former Ranger, Mike Knuble, is one of the Grand Rapids assistant coaches.
ECHL KELLY CUP FINAL
In the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals, the series resumes on Sunday in South Carolina. The Colorado Eagles won the first two games at home by the identical score of 3-2 over the South Carolina Stingrays.
PLAYER MOVEMENT
Players moving from the AHL to Euro has seen the list expand to 29 with the latest signings.
The latest to jump the ocean is the third member of the Wolf Pack to head overseas, center/winger Philip McRae signs with Assat Pori (Finland-FEL). The deal is for one year and will be McRae’s second crack at Finnish hockey.
Vojtech Mozik of the Albany Devils moves to Vityaz Chekhov (Russia-KHL). Martin Lundberg of the Rockford IceHogs goes to Vaxjo (Sweden-SHL). Jonas Gustavsson of the Bakersfield Condors goes to Linkopings HC (Sweden-SHL). Max Gortz goes from the San Diego Gulls to IF Malmo (Sweden-SHL) while Matt White of the Milwaukee Admirals moves to Augsburger (Germany-DEL).
Sean Backman, the Greenwich native who played at Avon Old Farms and went to Yale University, leaves the Ontario Reign and heads to Eisbaren Berlin (Germany-DEL). Both teams are owned AEG. Bridgeport’s Andrew Rowe, an ex-Wolf Pack, signs with Mora IK (Sweden-SHL).
Former Wolf Pack, Tomas Kundratek, goes from HC Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia-KHL) to Torpedo Novgorod (Russia-KHL) next season.
Ex-Pack and former Wolf Pack captain, Dane Byers, follows in his brother Cole’s footsteps and signs a deal with Manchester (England-EIHL) for next year. He played with Cologne – Germany-DEL) this year.
Ex-Sound Tiger, Ty Wishart, relocates from HC Banska Bystrica (Slovakia-SLEL) to HC Dynamo Pardubice (Czech Republic-CEL).
Greg Squires, who played prep hockey at Greenwich-based Brunswick Prep will play for Orebro HK (Sweden-SHL) to HC Kunlun (China-KHL).
Matt Nickerson, an Old Lyme native, moves from Belfast (Northern Ireland-EIHL) to Milton Keynes (England-EIPHL).
Congratulations are due to one of the better heavyweights and one of the brightest players in recent AHL history, Bobby Robins. He retired as a result of repeated concussions a few years ago from Providence. Robins lands a head coaching job with CH Jaca (Spain-SHL).
Nathan “Stormy” Walker, the first Australian ever drafted by an NHL team, has re-upped with the Washington Capitals on a two-year, two-way deal.
The latest tally to date on NCAA players signing North American pro contracts is 183. That number includes 35 underclassmen. All of them, however, were not pure underclassmen. UCONN’s Tage Thompson is an example. The breakdown per conference is; Hockey East-34, ECACHL-30, WCHA-27, NCHC-24, Big Ten-13, AHA-15, Division III-20 and going to Europe-19.
The school hit the hardest is Boston University. The Terriers saw four pure freshmen leave. The latest to do so is Kieffer Bellows. The New York Islanders’ draft pick is heading across the country to play the for the Portland (OR) Winter Hawks (WHL) in the Canadian Major Juniors. Charlie McEvoy and Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson both went to the Boston Bruins and Clayton Keller to the Arizona Coyotes. The second hardest hit is the North Dakota Fighting Hawks (nee Fighting Sioux) with three.
CLARK CUP FINALS
The Chicago Steel captured their first ever USHL Clark Cup title with a 3-2 overtime win over the Sioux City Musketeers.
The Steel are coached by former Yale assistant coach, Dan Muse. His assistant coach is former Sound Tiger goalie, Peter Mannino.
The Steel were led in playoff scoring by Jack Badini (Old Greenwich) with seven goals and ten assists. The 17 points were the sixth most in USHL playoff history. Badini is off to Harvard in the fall.
His teammates included Ben Mirageas (Avon Old Farms) Adam Karaschik (Ridgefield) and backup goalie Matt Ladd (Avon Old Farms) who was on his fifth team of the season.
MEMORIAL CUP
When New York Rangers draft pick Sean Day arrives in training camp in the fall, he’ll be sporting a new championship ring.
Despite a 44 day layoff, Day and his Windsor Spitfire teammates, who were the host city, knocked off fellow OHL team, the Erie Otters 5-2 on Sunday to capture the 99th title of Canadian major junior supremacy,
Day’s good fortune came in part as a result of a midseason trade with Missaugua in November.
The tourney format allows the host to participate despite their record. The Spitfires were knocked out in the first round in a tough seven game series with the London Knights. The other three teams are the playoff champions of three Canadian junior leagues QMJHL, WHL, and OHL.
Day has risen even after having his share of issues both on and off the ice. His head coach in Windsor has also risen to be among the top junior coaches. Someone who put people on notice with their exceptional play was Rocky Thompson.
As a player, he lived up to his first name. Thompson, a former Canadian Golden Gloves champion, amassed 1,919 AHL PM and another 117 in 25 NHL games and tossed in his 906 junior numbers with Medicine Hat/Swift Current for a total of 2,942 PM. He used his five minute or more moments in the sin bin to observe the game.
Thompson paid his dues as a coach three years as an assistant with Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL), four years with the Oklahoma City Barons (AHL), and a year with the Edmonton Oilers (NHL) is now in his second year with Windsor and has a Memorial Cup title.
Along the way, Thompson has shown adaptability and flexibility as a coach. He is now a nattily attired and bespectacled head coach exhorting his troops.
As a player he was a feared bomb thrower with a penchant for a new hairstyle every season. His most memorable battle at the XL Center was with Ryan VandenBussche while in St. John’s that came complete with shadow boxing in the penalty box afterward. See it HERE!
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