CANTLON: TWO PACK THIS WEEKEND 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack (5-7-1-1) have two games this weekend. This weekend’s action concludes a span of five straight away from home. The Pack will be in Utica on Friday night for a battle with the Comets and then turn around and head back home for a Saturday night dance with the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins for a third meeting in the last week.

“We have a chance, going into Utica, to build off some positive things and the style of play we’re playing we feel is in a good area for us as a group.” Pack Head Coach Keith McCambridge said.

The Pack road trip has yielded mixed results. They got three out of six possible points, but the team is in all too familiar territory from the last four years being near the bottom of the division (7th) and the conference (10th). They also have the second worst goals against in the AHL having surrendered 55 goals with only Stockton having given up more at 57.

“I think when you get three out of six points, especially against Wilkes-Barre, one of the strongest team in American League, we’re not disappointed with that. Doing a better job with puck possession? I don’t think that was a problem for us, it was more so with the discipline. We shot ourselves in the foot in the Springfield game and to some extent in the first game against Wilkes-Barre, but we did a much better job the remainder of the weekend. It’s still early in the year and we’re still buttoning down the things we want to do structure wise. We’re building a team and forming an identity,” remarked McCambridge.

The goals against is a concern.

“We certainly don’t want to lead the league in that category, but we also have played among the most games in the league, that contributes to that number,” McCambridge said in offering a defense of his team. However, the Milwaukee Admirals and Hershey Bears have also played 14 games and have surrendered 39 and 43 goals against respectively. “We can limit that number by staying out of the box. We have a new crew of players, but to succeed in the league you can’t give teams momentum sitting in the box, but we felt we got better with that on the road trip.”

Defenseman John Gilmour remains optimistic and feels the Pack are poised for some positive moments. “Things have settled down. No doubt we have had some peaks and valleys in October. I think we’re starting to feel more comfortable as a group. We showed good things in the second game in Wilkes-Barre and in the shootout against Hershey. We’re trending in the right direction I think.”

Gilmour is sporting his Movember mustache to raise awareness of prostate cancer as apart of Hockey Fights Cancer this month.

One of the positives of the road trip was the play of center Lias Andersson, who picked up his first three-point AHL game on Saturday and was recalled by the Rangers earlier in the week.

“Mission accomplished. He came down here and worked on the areas that management felt he needed to improve on. Lias has done a good job working on those areas. He was rewarded with more playing time here. Before the recall, he was getting better in all areas, so good for him.”

McCambridge has been leaning on his two veteran goalies to raise their play. Marek Mazanec, who has been doing just that, will start his fourth straight game when the team takes on Utica.

“We’re looking for someone to run with it and Maz has played very well in his last several starts and that’s what we have been looking for,” said McCambridge.

Mazanec’s teammates are appreciative of his stronger play.

“Mazanec has been phenomenal. He has made some big saves for us, and in Hershey during regulation and then in the shootout, he was something else. He clearly has helped settle us down,” Gilmour stated.

One player who has had his share of difficulties early on has been defenseman Sean Day. After sitting for five straight games, Day played last Friday and was lit up like a Christmas tree in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton by Penguins forward Sam Lafferty, a Deerfield Academy grad. Lafferty turned Day inside-out and zoomed in on Dustin Tokarski before whistling the puck past the Pack netminder.

Over six games, Day was a minus-7 before being sent off to the Pack’s ECHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners. He’s the second player in two weeks that was sent to Portland. Shawn St. Amant was the first.

“We have eight defensemen here, and he is a first-year D-man. We really like him. He is important to the organization, but he’s just got to play. We’re healthy right now, and as I said in the past, defensemen are usually the first to go during a season, given that the mindset is we want to Sean to develop.”

Perhaps, not playing much led to Day’s getting beaten so badly?

“Can’t use that as an excuse. Guys in the NHL are making millions of dollars and have had the (inside out move) happen. Day has had some good moments too at the end of the Canadian road trip. Sean had some good quality shifts, and even before the trip in Providence, he took some strides, but we are healthy and it just makes sense, development-wise, for him to go to Maine and play.”

NOTES:

After being told by McCambridge that Boo Nieves was back in New York, and didn’t know anything about it, two hours later the Rangers officially announced that Nieves, out since the pre-season with a concussion, would be assigned to Hartford.

Nieves condition and reassignment confirms Cantlon’s Corner exclusive a week ago that he would be reassigned to Hartford.

It was a bad week to be an ex-Whaler who was coaching. Five of them were canned at the start of the week.

On Monday, John Stevens and Don Nachbaur were relieved by the Los Angeles Kings. On Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks cleaned house. They fired the three amigos of head coach, Joel Quenneville, and assistants Kevin Dineen, and Ulf Samuelsson.

Ex-Sound Tiger, Jeremy Colliton, who was with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs, was promoted and signed to take the helm.

Kenny Agostino (Yale University-ECACHL) is recalled from Laval by Montreal.

Former Bulldog teammate, goalie Alex Lyon, continues his yo-yo recall this time reassigned by the Flyers to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Former UCONN Husky defenseman, Joseph Masonius, signs with the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) after being released by Wilkes Barre/Scranton.

The New York Rangers sixth-round draft pick (163^rd overall) last summer, Simon Kjellberg, who is presently playing for the Dubuque  Fighting Saints (USHL), has made a commit to the RPI Engineers (ECACHL) of Troy, NY for next fall.

The 6’1, 190 lb., left-handed shooting defenseman, is the son of Rangers European scout and former NHL’er, Patric Kjellberg. He was born in Nashville when his father played for the Predators.

He has played in all 13 of Dubuque’s games and registered one assist and is even in the plus/minus category. He was a second-round pick (24^th overall) by Dubuque in the USHL Phase II Draft last year, His younger brother, Joel, plays back in Sweden with Rogle BK J-16 and J-18 teams.