CANTLON: WOLF PACK START FINAL WEEKEND OF THE SEASON 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The 2018-19 season that started out with so much promise, comes to an end with it being the fifth of the last six springs in Hartford without post-season hockey.

The magic of fourteen straight seasons with the Wolf Pack playing post season hockey has long since gone. In its place have come an annual ritual of eerily quiet locker rooms and the omnipresent feel of gloom with the recognition that the roster for 2018-19 does not resemble the one that started or in some cases that ends this season.

Friday night is the home finale against the Hershey Bears with the puck drop coming at 7:15 pm on Fan Appreciation night. Then the team travels to Pennsylvania to close things out. Saturday night they will be in Allentown against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and then on to the Giant Center in Hershey on Sunday.

The team’s record of 29-34-7-3 will again be under .500 for the season. The Pack is 3-6-1-0 in their last ten, currently 40 points behind the division-leading and AHL’s best, the Charlotte Checkers, and twenty points behind Hershey, who were below the Pack in the standings on December 1st.

The team will be in eighth and last place in the Atlantic Division. Only the Binghamton Devils prevent them from being last in the 16 team conference. The Pack will finish with either the fourth or fifth worst record in the AHL and have the third worst goals against at 2.54.

Not a pleasant read.

John Gilmour is battling Steven Fogarty for the team scoring title. Gilmour has 54 points and was named to the first team of the AHL All-Stars on Thursday. Gilmour is also in a race with Hershey’s Aaron Ness (51 points), and Zach Redmond of Rochester (50 points) to lead all AHL defenseman in scoring. If he succeeds, after Sunday’s games, Gilmour will become only the second player in franchise history to do so.  In 2008-09, Andrew Hutchison was the other.

One of the likely 2019-20 roster members will be Nick Jones. In his first six games, Jones has shown elements missing for large chunks of this season in Hartford.

He picked up two points last week in a game in Springfield, His first pro goal helped the Pack climb back into the game.

“It felt good to get it out of the way and not have to think about it too much. I caught him (Springfield goalie, Chris Driedger) in a weird position and I was able to sneak by the five-hole on him,” remarked Jones.

Jones is going through the standard pro-baptism like every college and Junior level player goes through.

“There is such a wide range of guys here and it’s a nice organization, happy to be here,” said Jones.

He has learned to play with different players very quickly.

“Seems like I have a new set of linemates every night and I’m certainly getting a feel for different players. Actually, at North Dakota, I had a lot of different linemates too. It’s nothing new to me.”

Life at North Dakota saw him get to play at one of the more prestigious hockey programs. He played at the Ralph Engel Arena, one the nicer hockey venues in the country.

“It’s a special place. I was very happy and fortunate to play there. The fan base, the culture, and the history it’s amazing to play in that arena every night.”

The Calgary, Alberta native opted for the college route than major junior.

“It gives you more time to develop. I think you don’t finish at 20, just a little later and I think it made a difference for me. I think you get more practice time, get to play against bigger players, which helps when coming to this level. There are a lot of draft picks on the team and in the league, and you get a lot of exposure.“

Jones is completing his degree with a concentration in sociology. Getting his diploma means working on time management.

“It’s so different. I’m trying to figure out what do with so much time because I’m running off to class and going to finish things up and head back for graduation next month.

His audition thus far looks like Jones will be a major piece of the 2019-20 puzzle for the Wolf Pack.

PYATT RETURNS

Its been ten long years and a lot of traveling, but ex-Pack forward, Tom Pyatt, finally found himself back in Hartford last weekend with the Utica Comets.

He started out his third season in Ottawa but got caught up in in the early season issues of the Senators and was traded to the Vancouver Canucks and found himself back in the AHL with the Comets.

He was able to pop in a goal in a 4-0 shutout victory.

“I was very excited to play here tonight,” Pyatt said. “I was able to walk downtown a bit before the game and it brought back a lot of memories. Time goes by quickly. I was 20-21 years old then, now I’m 32. It’s good to be back.”

With all his travels as a player, the thought of being back in Hartford wasn’t at the top of his mind.

“Things go by so quickly. You never know in this business where you might wind up.”

Pyatt scored just his fifth goal in 33 games so it meant a lot to him to get on the scoresheet last Saturday.

“Its been a while since I scored, so that felt really good. Credit Reid (Boucher). He did all the work on that play. Getting one shorthanded, always a plus. We have gone through a tough month-and-a-half. Between here and the changes in Vancouver, it hasn’t been an easy time. We’ve stuck together pretty good. It was nice to get Maz (ex-Pack netminder, Marek Mazanec) a shutout. It was one of our better defensive efforts,” Pyatt said,

Pyatt and his teammates helped the former Hartford goalie to record his first shutout of the season.

Pyatt spent two seasons in Switzerland with HC Geneva-Servette where he was coached by a former New Haven Nighthawk, Chris McSorley. He is currently undecided on his future hockey plans.

“I really am not sure. Been a pretty tough season. I started out my third year in Ottawa and halfway through changed my address. I really enjoyed my experience over there in Europe. I’m just looking to finish out this season and take some time off and think over the summer back in Thunder Bay and enjoy the family, enjoy the house and then make a decision later in the summer.”

When he was a member of the Wolf Pack, Pyatt took an extended period to help his middle brother, Taylor Pyatt, who had lost his then-fiancee, Carly Bragnalo, as a result of a car accident in a cab in Jamaica. She was just 27-years-old.

Time has been a great healer.

“It was great. I got to play with him in his last year of pro in Switzerland. That was a lot of fun. Now, he is a Dad with a two-year-old girl. I was in Hartford back then and took time off. It was a hard time for him. He got married again, and man how time flies, but things are all good for him now.”

In his time in Hartford, Pyatt was a very underappreciated player by the Rangers. He went on to rack up nearly 500 NHL games in other places like Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver.

“When you’re that young, you don’t appreciate the breadth of the game. I’ve had a lot of different experiences, but I got it all started here. It takes a few years to develop. I had two good years here and enjoyed my time here.”

Hopefully, Pyatt has a few more years of service as he’s one of the true good guys in hockey.

NOTES:

Former UCONN defenseman, and their team captain, Derek Pratt, who played in the Wolf Pack training camp, and was later recalled from Maine, but never played here signed a PTO deal with Utica for the final AHL regular season weekend.

The Pack released defenseman Matt Register after five undistinguishable games where he added an assist and five shots on goal. He was returned to the Toledo Walleye (ECHL).

Quinnipiac’s Scott Davidson signs with the AHL’s best team, the Charlotte Checkers. He brings the number of Division I college players that have signed pro contracts to 155 and the total number of college players to 174.

Ex-Pack, Chris McCarthy, who spent all season with the Reading Royals (ECHL) signs a PTO deal with Hershey.

Former Yale Bulldog, Mike Doherty, goes from Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) and signs a PTO deal with the Providence Bruins.

Another former UCONN player, Joseph Masonius, was released after twelve games with Manchester (ECHL). He’s had a long season. Masonius was cut from the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins after (AHL) camp. He was sent to the Wheeling Nailers (ECHL). His contract was brought out so he then played one game with the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) before being released. Pro hockey is a tough business.

Stratford native, Jamie Sifers, played his high school hockey at Fairfield Prep and Salisbury Prep (winning titles at both schools). He was in the opening lineup last weekend for Utica. He announced he will retire after this weekend after playing in 640 AHL games and compiling 167 points.

Sifers won a Calder Cup with Lake Erie (nee Cleveland) in 2016 and had 37 NHL games with Toronto and Minnesota. He also spent three seasons in the German DEL league after a four-year college career at the University of Vermont.

Ex-Pack Bert Robertsson gets his first head coaching gig in Sweden after seven years as an assistant coach at Skelleftea AIK in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL). He will be the head coach of Linkopings HC in the fall.

Congrats to ex-Pack and ex-Ranger, Dane Byers, truly one of the nicest players ever to come through the Connecticut capitol city. He has announced his retirement from hockey after completing a second season with the Manchester Storm (England-EIHL) where he was their team captain.

He tallied 29 goals and 55 points in 56 games and 182 PM. He had 11 games in England 53 goals and 125 points and 289 PM

Byers played for the Wolf Pack for three-and-a-half years. He was the captain for two-plus years. Byers was the last captain before the ill-fated switch to the CT Whale brand. He was the first Wolf Pack captain ever traded, albeit at his own request, and ironically his first game was with the then Springfield Falcons in Hartford two days later on November 12, 2010.

In 255 games in Hartford, Byers scored 72 goals had 90 assists for 162 points and racked up 546 PM.

He was a captain with Hershey and Springfield, plus he was an assistant captain at Oklahoma City. In 564 AHL games, Byers had 128 goals and 304 points and 1,245 PM. He played with San Antonio too. In just 14 NHL games he scored one goal with the Rangers and had 60 PIM. He was an assistant captain for the Lahti Pelicans (Finland-FEL) for one season.

His brother Cole Byers played in one Wolf Pack training camp with him. He is the cousin of legendary Bruins ruffian, Lyndon Byers.

His wife Ashley and their three sons are moving back to his native province of Saskatchewan and taking a job outside of hockey.

The IIHF Division 2 Group A World Championships are underway in Belgrade, Serbia with Cheshire, CT native, Rob Malloy, playing for the third time for the Australian National Team. In their first game, Malloy tallied the second goal at 2:58 of the first period just 1:27 after Australia struck first.

The Mighty Roos dropped the opener in overtime to Belgium 4-3, but they won their second game, 3-2 over host Serbia. The key came in killing off a major penalty late in the second period and early third period to preserve their first win.

The Australian team shutout Spain 4-0 in their third game. Malloy was helped on their first tally, a power play goal, at 13:01 of the opening frame. Switching off with Jamie Woodman at the right point, Malloy headed to the left side of the net.

Woodman’s right point shot was redirected by Malloy but was stopped by Spain goalie Ander Alcaine. However, the rebound was the right there for AIHL top scorer Darge Wehebe to bang the rebound at the right side of the net.

Vadim Virjassov and Kieren Webster each had a goal and an assist for Australia including beautiful play on the fourth goal with Webster intercepting a Spanish outlet pass and sent a great behind the back pass to Visjassov and finished it with a forehand to backhand lifted over a prone Alcaine with 5:50 left in regulation.

The other countries in the six-team group are Serbia, Belgium, Croatia, Spain and China.

The only other familiar name is former NHL first round pick for Boston and AHL’er, Shaone Morrison is skating for Team Croatia after playing the regular season with the Oji Eagles (Japan-ALIH).

-When Malloy returns for the start of AIHL (Australian Ice Hockey League) season he will see a CT face face in the lineup against him with the Melbourne Ice.

Former UCONN player Jesse Schwartz who played this season with Roanoke Valley (SPHL) and a  two game recall to Brampton (ECHL) become the third university player to play in the AIHL (Matt Grogran and Trevor Gerling were the others).

-The short season South African Super League (SASL) has a new champion in year four of the league as the Cape Town Kings finished with the best regular season record winning all eight games and outscored their opponents 61-26. The leagues’s leading scorer is a former US Division III college player (Nazarethy College-UCHC) Uthman Sammal with 32 points in those eight games.

The Pretoria Capitals finished in second place.