CANTLON: PACK LOSE IN A SHOOTOUT TO LAVAL 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

LAVAL, QUEBEC – After a truly hard fought 65 minutes of Sunday afternoon hockey, the Hartford Wolf Pack saw Alex Belizle scoring the lone goal in the shootout to give the Laval Rocket a 2-1 win.

Belizle used a delayed toe drag and then flipped a backhander past Wolf Pack netminder, Adam Huska.

Ice bags would be necessary for both teams in this highly physical contest that took nearly three hours to play.

The third period saw the two teams push hard to score the second goal.

The Wolf Pack thought they had a game winning goal when defenseman, Mason Geersten, was in front of the net only to have his first shot stopped by Cayden Primeau. On his second chance, Geersten was knocked into Primeau by Laval’s Antoine Waked with 8:16 left. The red light was on and the Wolf Pack were celebrating, but a little prematurely as the referees and lineman consulted and waved off the goal for a crease violation. They looked at the video board showing a replay and denied Geersten the game winner and what would have been a, “Gordie Howe Hat Trick.”

Wolf Pack head coach, Kris Knoblauch, raced down the bench screaming at the officials Connor O’Donnell, and Carter Sandlak. He was very unhappy with their decision when asked about it in the post game.

“’We thought we had scored the go-ahead goal. The arena puts the replay on the screen (video board), which they are not allowed to do (when its under review). The referees are looking at that replay, so they changed their minds.

“I’m very frustrated. We worked so hard, and played so hard, to have it taken away like that,” Knoblauch said while doing his best to contain himself.

When asked if a notice would be sent by the team to the league, Knoblauch replied, “The league has already commented on it, that it was the wrong play (call) very simply, they (the officials) messed up.”

Geersten had a jagged Zorro-like cut on his nose and was a bear on his skates as he made his presence felt all night. He was stoic about the events as he headed for post game medical treatment.

“They’re a quick, fast team out there. It was a pretty physical, chippy game. I really thought I had it there,” He said.

The defensive duo of Geersten and Joey Keane were excellent from the start of the game and on both ends of the ice.

“They were both so good out there all night. Defensively, being physical, and offensively they were solid. Geersten obviously has the reputation of being a physical defenseman. (Joey) Keane doesn’t get enough recognition for his play as a physical defenseman. He’s always giving his body laying it down out there and finishing his checks. Those two were just outstanding.”

After a long stretch with the Wolf Pack tightening the defensive screws, Huska came up with a ten-bell-ringer save on Jake Evans. Huska was ready as Evans was in the right wing circle and dove forward and getting a piece of the shot with just 1:12 remaining in regulation.

“I was just lucky there. I threw myself out there,” Huska said with a Cheshire cat smile. It was a skill move by the humble rookie goalie to make that stop.

At the start of the second period, the Pack continued their late first period progress and tied the game just 49 seconds into the second frame.

Keane was at the right point and took his defensive partner’s pass and just sent it on net where it eluded Primeau, who was screened by Matt Beleskey. For Keane, it was his team leading fifth of the season.

“It was a good, low shot on net, and it was made possible by the screen of Beleskey taking away Primeau’s eyes. He doesn’t get the assist, but that play made it possible,” Knoblauch said of the veteran winger.

Huska was named the game’s Third Star and was able to repel several of Laval’s wide open chances. Matt Peca, the one time Quinnipiac University product, is off to a slow start. He’s a minus-six through five games. He had a solid goal scoring opportunity at 8:18 off a breakaway chance that Huska denied Then he made another gorgeous pad save on Ryan Poehling’s wide open chance.

With 3:01 remaining, Huska stopped Michael McCarron twice, the second time coming with a screen from ex-Pack, Dale Weise.

Vejdemos’ backhanded attempt was denied by Huska’s left pad and then he was denied again a shot from the left wing side.

“In the second period, we gave up way too many quality chances. Adam was just sensational. We’ve had a lot success so far this season because of our goaltending,” commented Knoblauch.

The game was physical and a chippy contest from the outset. There was plenty of hitting with skirmishes breaking out several times in the second period as both teams had played three times in the last eight days with animosity getting well-established.

Geersten was in the middle of it. After hitting Laval’s Jake Evans with a clean hard hit, in the left wing corner, he turned and dropped his gloves knowing somebody was coming. Anthony Waked was outmatched against the much bigger player.

On the next shift, Vinni Lettieri and Weise jostled each other and near the end of the period Danny O’Regan was hit with a double minor for high sticking. Vejdemos tried to wrestle him to the ice with 7.5 seconds left in the period.

The Rocket started their game picking up were they left off in the last one with a 7-2 shot advantage over the first half of the opening period.

Huska was in top form, especially on Victor Olofsson’s open blade redirect that looked like it had the top shelf. Huska made a strong lateral save using his right shoulder to make the stop. Alex Belizle followed with a quality opportunity from 20-feet-out several seconds later.

“I felt pretty good today. It was the best I felt so far in the AHL. I saw him coming backdoor and I knew he was gonna pass it to him. I just waited for him to make that pass,” Huska said ever so nonchalantly of the superb play.

The Rocket’s next shift and next shop came with the shot hitting the back of the net.

Former Quinnipiac University product, Matt Peca, came down the left wing and got a gift as Vincent LoVerde’s clearing attempt hit the metal stanchion and the puck came right to him. From 15-feet out he made the pass to Antoine Waked who found the puck through a maze of players, and then registered his first goal at 12:28. Waked was just recalled from Adirondack (ECHL) and earned a half bear hug from head coach ex-Pack, Joel Bouchard.

At that point, the Pack needed a quick pick-me-up and Mason Geersten tried his best to please his teammates. First, he challenged Michael McCarron in front of the Pack bench and he wouldn’t go. He got him with a high-stick earlier and was cut that neither official called.

Then his next shifty he lined up Waked for a good clean hard hit at center ice that was amazingly called a roughing penalty. The Pack killed off the chance and then got a surprising late power play chance as Laval got their man-advantage.

It looked like Keane and Belizle had dropped the mitts after a collision near the Pack blue line, but the linesman stepped in but gave Belizle got the extra two for a crosscheck.

That woke up the Pack offense. They went on to launch six shots on net before finally forcing Primeau, the son the ex-Whaler Keith to have to work. Phil DiGuiseppe fired two and Matt Beleskey had one.

The two teams don’t meet again till Valentine’s Day. Pretty safe bet that they will not be exchanging candy or flowers.

PACK LINES:

Nieves-Beleskey-Di Giuseppe
Gettinger-Lettieri-Fogarty
O’Regan-Fontaine-Newell
Jones-Meskanen-Zerter-Gossage

LoVerde-Raddysh
Taylor-Ebert
Geersten-Keane

SCRATCHES:

Sean Day

Ty Ronning

NOTES:

The Wolf Pack power outage on the power play continues as the team went 0-for-6 with their success rate dropping to an abysmal 8.8%.

When asked if Geersten had had any “Gordie Howe Hat Tricks” in his career, he responded with a laugh saying, “Had a few in juniors none yet in the pro’s. Thought I had one tonight.”

One of the first “Gordie Howe Hat Tricks” in Wolf Pack history came from big Steve McIntyre in Hershey circa 2004-05.

Weise was in the opening lineup with McCarron and Charles Hudon.

Igor Shesterkin continues to produce strong numbers in the AHL on par with what he did in the KHL. He was rewarded with being named, “The CCM/AHL Goaltender for the Month of October.”

In six games, Shesterkin has a 5-1-0 record, with the AHL’s fifth best GAA of 1.49. He’s surrendered just nine goals. The three he allowed on Wednesday were the most in any of his six games. He also sports a .942 save percentage, good for the AHL’s sixth best.

The Russian rookie is not classified as such because of his time in the KHL. He has the AHL’s sixth highest minutes played at 363:19 behind only Cal Petersen (Ontario), Garrett Sparks (Toronto), Ville Husso (San Antonio), Casey DeSmith (Wilkes Barre/Scranton) and Chris Dreidger (Springfield).

Shesterkin will start Saturday night in Belleville.

Ex-Pack, Josh Wesley, was recalled from Tulsa (ECHL) from San Antonio.

Cole Cassels, the son of former Hartford Whaler, Andrew Cassels, was loaned from Utah (ECHL) to Belleville, where the Wolf Pack play tomorrow night at the CAA Arena.

After five games, ex-Pack, Shawn O’Donnell, has three points. He has left Allen (ECHL).

The Toronto Maple Leafs continue their roster shuffle to remain cap compliant and it affects their AHL farm team, the Toronto Dreidger.

Nic Petan was reassigned this morning after playing just four games with the Leafs. He had two goals and an assist against Belleville in a 7-4 win where he played on a line with former Yale Bulldog, Kenny Agostino.

The team also traded former Canadiens farmhand, Ryan Johnston, to the San Diego Gulls. He was with Montreal for two years. Johnston was in Sweden last year with Mora IK, but the Leafs signed him to a one year AHL-deal in July. He has yet to play this year.

Johnston played ten games with no points over two seasons with Montreal and played on the last two of the Canadiens’ farm teams in St. John’s.

The Flyers sent down Big Samuel Morin, and recalled three players from Lehigh Valley in German Rubtsov, Carsen Twarynski, and Philippe Myers.

Tanner Jago was recalled by Texas from Idaho (ECHL).

After just nine games, ex-Sound Tiger, Mike Sislo, had three assists with EHC Wolfsburg (Germany-DEL). He has requested that his contract be dissolved and he announced his retirement because of a back injury. He played 483 games in the AHL, mostly with Albany, but he has also spent time with San Antonio, Toronto, Tucson, and Bridgeport.

Future Wolf Pack center, Karl Henriksson, a second round pick (59th overall) last summer by Vancouver was elevated from Frolunda HC J-20 (Super Elite) to Sodertalje SK (Sweden-Allsvenskan).

Henriksson is off to a strong start. In 17 games, he has 18 assists and 23 points for Frolunda and is now playing in the second highest league in Sweden as an 18 year old. He had a very strong camp in Traverse City opening the eyes of many. More than likely, Henriksson will be on the Swedish WJC team in December when the annual Christmas time hockey tourney hits the Czech Republic in Ostrava, and Trinec.

While currently unsigned don’t be surprised next spring when his Swedish season is done, he will be pulling a Wolf Pack sweater over his head.