CANTLON’S CORNER: WOLF PACK OFF SEASON REPORT – VOLUME 7 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The ECHL’s Kelly Cup has been won. The AHL’s Calder Cup winner was decided. On Wednesday night, the top award in professional hockey, the Stanley Cup will be awarded to either the St. Louis Blues or the hosting Boston Bruins. While that might be the top talk of the sport right now, it’s not all that’s going on in what was once again another busy week in the off-season.

PACK UPDATE

When JD speaketh people listen.

In his first interview since taking over the Presidency of the New York Rangers, John Davidson spoke about the direction of the organization he now commands will be taking. The first topic he spoke about was here in Hartford and the dysfunction that has been the Wolf Pack over the past five years which is how long it’s been since their last playoff appearance. Not only have they not made the playoffs, but the Wolf Pack have been languishing at or near the bottom of the entire AHL over that span. It’s been one season worse than the next with no winning, no player development, and no fan happiness. Read about it HERE.

LARRY PLEAU FEATURE

Larry Pleau is one of the true Hartford Whaler legends.

In his early career, the Lynn, MA native played for the 1963-64 Memorial Cup finalists Montreal N.D.G. (Notre Dame de Grace) Monarchs with future NHL’ers Carol Vadnais and Rogie Vachon, and the head coach was a very young, Scotty Bowman.

He played in the AHL just before the WHA emerged. He played for the first Montreal-based team AHL team, the Voyageurs. They finished tops in a nine-team AHL but lost a second-round, three-team round-robin series to Buffalo and Springfield. He played for Montreal in 1971-72, after starting with the AHL team that moved to Nova Scotia, that lost to the Rangers in six games.

Pleau jumped to the renegade WHA the following year. He played for the New England Whalers in their first season in Boston where they won the WHA Avco Cup.

Pleau played all in seven New England Whaler WHA seasons, finishing as the second all-time leading scorer with 372 points to Tom Webster’s 425. He was tops in assists with 215 and second in games played with his 468 to Rick Ley’s 478. Brad Selwood was third with 431.

When the Hartford Whalers were born, Pleau was with the team in its early NHL days. After retiring as a player, he worked behind the bench. Pleau as an assistant for two seasons (1979-1981) before being elevated to the head coach where he replaced Don Blackburn in 1981,

Pleau was a head coach until 1983 before he making a second foray into the AHL, but as a coach. He was the head coach in Binghamton, who, at the time, was the Whalers’ top affiliate, from 1984-1988. He won the AHL Coach of the Year (Louis A. Pieri Award) in 1985-86.

He was brought back as a Whalers’ head coach once again in 1987 as a mid-season replacement to Jack Evans where he stayed until 1989.

Pleau hooked-up for a long association with the Rangers. He was there from 1989-1997 as their assistant GM, and Director of Player Development. He was also the last General Manager for the Rangers’ Binghamton affiliate from 1995-1997 before the Rangers moved their farm team to Hartford.

He moved on to become the GM of the St. Louis Blues from 1997-2010 and is still in a Senior Advisor role with the Blues.

Read a fabulous piece on his relationship with the Blues HERE.

CALDER CUP FINALS

The high-speed hockey train called the Charlotte Checkers won their first Calder Cup title.

Trailing by a 3-1 score on Thursday night, the Checkers dominated the second half of the game and scored four unanswered goals for a 5-3 win over the Chicago Wolves. They then went on to clinch their first title Saturday night in Chicago with another 5-3 win.

In the deciding game, Morgan Geekie had a goal and two points, Andrew Poturalski scored twice and Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 26 of the 29 shots to have AHL Commissioner, Dave Andrews, come down and present the team with the Calder Cup.

In Game 4, Nicolas Roy scored two goals, Martin Necas also chipped in with two points and ex-Wolf Pack, Dustin Tokarski, picked up his sixth win in the AHL post-season without a loss.

Tokarski finished the campaign with a 13-0 record since being reassigned to Charlotte by the Rangers on February 28th in a swap that sent defenseman Josh Wesley to Hartford.

The last Wolf Pack playoff win was on May 15, 2015, in a 6-3 win over the Hershey Bears. The Pack was led by Marek Hrvik, who had a hat trick. The Pack has had 56 franchise hat tricks during the regular season, but only four in the playoffs. The record for goals in a playoff game is held by Chris Kenady. He had four goals on April 20, 2000, against Springfield.

Also that year, the Manchester Monarchs, in their last AHL season, swept the Pack en route to the Calder Cup. They scored the game’s first goal in 15 of the 19 playoffs games that year winning all 15 games. Charlotte’s performance is the only team that has come close to that level of perfection,

During this playoff season, the Checkers scored first eight times, but in three of their wins, the opponent scored first. 

KELLY CUP FINALS

In their first ECHL season, the Newfound Growlers captured the championship in six games. They won the decisive championship game 4-3 over the Toledo Walleye at Mile One Centre in St. John’s. They became the first, first-year team to win the title since the Greensboro Monarchs in 1990, who were then coached by former Whaler, Jeff Brubaker.

Former QU Bobcat goalie Michael Garteig played in 19 playoff contests for the championship squad.

Five members of the team were from St. John’s, starting with playoff MVP, Zach O’Brien (16 goals and 29 points), and including captain James Melindy, Marcus Power, and Adam Pardy (Bonavista), a former NHL defenseman rounded out the playing quartet. After the game, Pardy announced he was retiring after giving his nephew a championship to see in person.

The fifth Newfie was former New Haven Nighthawk, and Rangers assistant coach, and Mt. Pearl native, Darryl Williams, who is in his second coaching stint in his native province. The first was with the St. John’s Fog Devils (QMJHL) where, for three seasons, he was an assistant coach. He was hired temporarily in December with the medical absence taken by head coach and ex-Ranger, Ryane Clowe. He was formally added to the staff at the end of January. Williams is a St. John’s resident.

Williams was a rough and tumble player during his skating days. He had 495 PIM in 136 AHL games along with 29 goals and 56 points. They all came during his time with New Haven, “Willy,” as he was known, played and racked up 1,906 PIM in 540 IHL games along with 98 goals and 224 points. He played with Phoenix, Long Beach, and Detroit. He played in only two NHL games in 1992-’83 and had 10 PIM.

Ex-Pack, Matt Register, played for the runner-up, Toledo Walleye. He climbed the statistical ECH playoff ladder with 124 playoff games played and 14 assists in the Kelly Cup Finals.

UCONN 2019-20 SCHEDULE RELEASED

The Huskies hit the XL Center for the first time on November 11th and 13th. It’s a Friday and Saturday night with two non-conference games against Army (WCHA) for the home opener and then RPI from ECACHL conference the following night. The first Hockey East game will be against Merrimack on November 1^st. They then will mark their visit ever from Miami (OH) (NCHC) on November 29-30, a week after Thanksgiving.

The first-ever Connecticut Ice tourney with all four CT Division I college teams is from January 25th and 26th at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.

The schedule is HERE.

NAHL DRAFT

One of the last two major North American drafts was held last Tuesday when the US Tier II junior circuit-the North American Hockey league.

Here are the CT connected draftees.

Matt Crasa (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep) was selected in the second round (31st overall) by the Amarillo (TX) Bulls. Crasa is a Sacred Heart University (AHA) commit for 2020-21. He was drafted by the Sioux City Stampede (USHL) this spring and by Windsor Spitfires (OHL) in 2017

Cooper Swift, (West Hartford/Choate Prep) also went in the second round (35th overall) by the Jamestown Rebels. He was selected by the Fargo Force (USHL) in their draft earlier in the spring.

Corey Clifton was drafted in the third round (55th overall) by the Corpus Christi (TX) IceRays. He will become the third Clifton from his Matawan, NJ family to play at Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) in 2020-21. He played this season with the Surrey Eagles (BCHL) and was just traded this week to the Trail Smoke Eaters to play next season. He was drafted by Muskegon Lumberjacks (USHL) in 2017 and previously by the Aston Rebels (NAHL) in 2017.

His brother, Connor Clifton, is competing for the Stanley Cup with the Bruins while his oldest brother, Tim Clifton, is with the San Jose Barracuda (AHL).

Ian Pierce of Kent Prep went in the third round (60th overall) to the St. Cloud Blizzard. He is a Dartmouth (ECACHL) commit for 2020-21.

Kennedy O’Connor (Loomis Chaffee) also went in round three (67th overall) to the Shreveport (LA) Mudbugs. He is a UMASS-Amherst (HE) commit for 2021-22. The Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) took him in their draft in April.

Carter Primo Self, (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep) was taken in the fifth round (127^th overall) by the Amarillo Bulls and is a Miami (OH) (NCHC) commit for 2020-21.

Matt Iasenza of Canterbury Prep (New Milford) went in the sixth round (144^th overall) to the New Jersey Titans and has no college commit at this time.

Philip Ekberg of the CT Jr, Rangers (USPHL) was taken in the ninth round (212^th overall) by the Maryland Black Bears and also in uncommitted at this time.

Logan Martinson, the son of former Nighthawk, Steve Martinson, the current coach of Allen (ECHL), was taken in the tenth round (236th overall) by the New Mexico Ice Wolves. He was selected by Langley (BCHL) in their 2018 Draft and in 2017 by Tri-City (USHL).

The another CT Jr. Ranger was taken. Maxim Kuznetsov went in the tenth round (260th overall) by the Johnstown. Tomahawks.

The last amateur draft before the NHL Draft in Vancouver in two weeks will be the QMJHL (Quebec Major Junior Hockey League) in Quebec City on Saturday at the Videotron Centre.

PLAYER & COACHING MOVEMENT

Ex-Sound Tiger head coach Jack Capuano was hired as an associate head coach for the Ottawa Senators.

Five more AHL’ers leaves for Europe.

Josh Jooris, the ex-Ranger, leaves the Toronto Marlies and heads to HC Lausanne (Switzerland-LNA) on a rare three-year deal. Jooris holds Swiss citizenship. When his father Mark Jooris, a Vancouver scout and Junior A coach, played for Lausanne in the 1990s, he also played some junior hockey there before they returning to Canada.

Libor Sulak leaves Grand Rapids for Severstal Cherepovets (Russia-KHL). Braden Christoffer goes from Bakersfield to Sterjen (Norway-NEL). Travis Murphy and Andrej Suster both go from San Diego to Kunlun (China-KHL) on two-year deals.

These exits make 36 AHL’ers to sign in Europe. 21 of the league’s 31 teams have now lost at least one player to Europe.

Ex-Sound Tiger defenseman Mathieu Gagnon Brampton (ECHL) signs with Manchester (England-EIHL).

Kevin Morris, (Salisbury Prep), the son of ex-Nighthawk, Mark Morris, announces his retirement after playing with Coventry (England-EIHL) this past season. He completed his MBA and heads off to the working world.

Alex Barron (Quinnipiac University) signs with HK Dukla Michalovce (Slovakia-SLEL) after splitting last season with EHC Freiburg (Germany DEL-2) and HK SKP Propad (Slovakia-SLEL).

Mitch Ferguson of Division III SUNY-Geneseo (SUNYAC) signs with GHC Bordeaux (France-FREL) next season. That raises the number of college players signing in Europe to 33 and the total number of collegians to have signed pro deals art 218.

Ex-Sound Tiger, Peter Mannino, who was let go at the University Miami (OH) (NCHC) as their associate head coach, doesn’t stay unemployed long. He lands with the Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) as their new head coach.

The Sioux Falls Stampede are the new USHL Clark Cup champions. They completed a three-game sweep in their best-of-five final over the Chicago Steel by the score of 5-1.

Leading the way for Sioux Falls was goaltender Jaxson Stauber, the son of former Wolf Pack and Nighthawk goalie, Robb Stauber.

The younger Stauber head to the University Minnesota-Mankato (NCHC) in the fall.

Chicago was led by their head coach, the former Wolf Pack captain, and Sound Tiger, Greg Moore.

THE CRAZY WORLD OF BILLY TIBBETTS

The following link is of ex-Pack, Ranger, and Danbury Whaler, Billy Tibbetts. He actually ran for the Scituate, MA city council and lost. It’s a tour de force performance of classic Tibbetts and his riding high, riding low. It’s unfiltered, raw, and unbridled.

WARNING: For those sensitive to foul language, there are swear-words in some of these series of one and two-minute video clips. Tibbets is a lot of things, boring isn’t one of them. HERE