CANTLON’S CORNER: WOLF PACK PREPARE FOR FINAL SIX GAMES 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The sun is close to setting on the Hartford Wolf Pack’s 2019-20 season.

The Wolf Pack have their last midweek contest in Springfield in a building that has haunted THEM the past two seasons and presently the Thunderbirds lead the series five games to four.

Both teams are looking at some serious roster makeovers in the offseason and maybe changes in coaching staffs.

On Saturday, the Pack host the sliding Utica Comets who have gone 1-8-1 in their last 10, and on Sunday afternoon, the Binghamton Devils come to town at 3 pm. The Devils are tied for the worst goals against in the AHL with Ontario at 253, the Pack is third with 243.

The Pack at 28-32-7-3 and 66 points and the eighth and last spot in Atlantic Division are six points behind Springfield with each having six games left and Hartford is four wins from the .500 mark.

The Rangers end their regular season on Saturday against Pittsburgh and it’s very unlikely Vinni Lettieri and/or John Gilmour will be assigned back to the Wolf Pack for the last four games of the season.

PACK SIGNINGS & MOVEMENTS

The direction for the 2019-20 edition of the Wolf Pack can be seen in the signing of Patrick Newell of St. Cloud St. (NCHC) to an ATO deal. Despite being upset by the Springfield-based American Internation College (AIC) 3-1, the biggest NCCA post-season upset since R.I.T. (Rochester Institute of Technology) knocked off Minnesota in 2012 Newell has an impressive resume.

He was on three consecutive championship teams in three separate leagues. In 2013-14, he was a Clark Cup champion with the Indiana Ice (USHL), 2014-15 BCHL Fred Page Cup champion with the Penticton Vees and won an NCAA championship with St. Cloud St. in his freshmen season.

At St. Cloud St., they also won three Penrose Cup NCHC conference titles. He was on the First All-Star team and a Hobey Baker nominee this season for the 23-year-old from Thousand Oaks, CA.

The Wolf Pack released Greg Chase from his PTO deal. Defenseman Josh Wesley, still in the Carolina organization, was reassigned to the Maine Mariners (ECHL) for a day and then reassigned back by Carolina in what was clearly a paper transaction by the Hurricanes who still have Wesley as a part of their organization.

NOTES:

The first two AHL’ers to sign for Europe next year has occurred.

Axel Holmstrom of the Grand Rapids Griffins returns to his native Sweden to play for HV 71 (Sweden-SHL). Linus Bystrom of Springfield will play for Karpat Oulu (Finland-FEL). Read that HERE.  However, the teams have not made an official announcement which will likely come next week when the AHL regular season concludes.

Former Yale Bulldog, Joe Snively, had his first pro goal with Hershey, a game-winner against Providence.

Dominic Turgeon, the nephew of former Hartford Whaler, Sylvain Turgeon, was recalled by Detroit from Grand Rapids. He joins ex-Pack Dylan McIlrath, who was recalled last week.

Andrew Peeke Notre Dame (Big 10) signs with Cleveland (AHL).

Laval gets two prized underclassmen, Ryan Poehling St.Cloud St. and goalie Cayden Primeau of Northeastern (HE), the son of ex-Whaler Keith Primeau.

The college player signings continue on pace as Shane Bowers BU goes to Colorado (AHL). Daniel Perez Maine (HE) heads to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL). Joe Daccord of Arizona State and an NCAA Division I independent signs with Ottawa after the Sun Devils were eliminated by Quinnipiac over the weekend.

The Bobcats Brogan Rafferty signed a one-year deal two-way deal with Vancouver and could play for  Utica when the Comets take on the Pack this coming weekend. Teammate Craig Martin signed with Springfield while Northeastern’s Liam Pecararo could be in the lineup for the Thunderbirds tomorrow when they host the Pack for the last time this season.

The total number of Division I players who have signed is 123. The total number of signings, including Division II, who have signed pro deals in the US and Europe is 140.

Congrats to ex-Wolf Pack assistant coach JJ Daigneault, who has been in the same position with San Antonio, will head to Quebec City this weekend where he will be inducted into the QMJHL Hall-of-Fame joining a pretty distinguished class along with goalie coach, Francois Allaire, the brother of Rangers’ goaltending guru, Benoit Allaire, former NHL’ers goalie, Stephane Fiset, defenseman Bob Murray, and Mario Tremblay one of the Montreal Canadiens all-time greats.

The QMJHL one of Canada’s three major junior leagues is celebrating its 50th anniversary this season.

In Daigneault’s first junior season, he played with the Laval Voisins with a player named Mario Lemieux, and he was on the Montreal Canadiens last Stanley Cup winner, which ironically is the last NHL team to capture Lord Stanley in 1993.

The Canadian Junior A BCHL Final Four is set with the Vernon Vipers featuring Ben Sanderson, son of ex-Whaler Geoff and is coached by former New Haven Nighthawk Mark Ferner. The Victoria Grizzlies feature UCONN recruit offensive defenseman standout Carter Berger and Wenatchee (WA) Wild with Wilton native Matt Gosiewski and the Prince George Spruce Kings will play for Page Cup trophy.

The BCHL Surrey Eagles hired ex-Pack, Cam Keith, as their new head coach and associate GM.

Ex-Pack, Ahti Oksanen, stays in Finland, but signs with the KHL team for next year in Jokerit Helsinki.

Ex-Pack, Malte Stromwall, is moving from KooKoo (Finland-FEL) to HK Sochi (Russia-KHL) next season.

Former Springfield Falcon, Mike Blunden, goes from HC Bolzano (Italy-EBEL)  goes to ERC Schwenniger (Germany-DEL) next season.

HK Mogo Riga won the Latvia Hockey title in six games over HK Kurbads who feature ex-Pack Juris Stals in six games.

Some bad news for women’s pro hockey with the sudden and unexpected folding of the CWHL (Canadian Women’s Hockey League) a week after the Calgary Inferno won what is the last Isobel Cup title in league history.

The only other women’s pro hockey league now is the NWHL (National Women’s Hockey League) already announced it will expand to Toronto and Montreal. Merger talks have been off and an on between the two leagues and the players were in support of a merger, but an agreement was never reached.

The 40th anniversary of the NHL-WHA merger is coming up. It radically changed the salary structure of professional hockey at that time. It ushered in a new era for the game in new markets. One of the architects of the merger was the owner of the New England Whalers and eventually the Hartford Whalers, Howard Baldwin, Sr. who was rhapsodic about the process that eventually led to the eventual union of the two leagues.

Only the Edmonton Oilers remain from the original merger. The current Winnipeg Jets came from Atlanta and have a totally new logo of course. Only Quebec City has a slim, and outside chance of returning to the NHL with its brand new Videotron Centre. Read about it HERE.