BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – A strong two-goal second period by the Syracuse Crunch (9-6-2-0) allowed the visiting team to effectively control play as they would hand the Hartford Wolf Pack a 3-1 loss, just their second regulation defeat of the season. The match-up was part of the Wolf Pack’s annual mid-day “Edu-Skate” game that they played before 3,818 on Wednesday at the XL Center.
The Pack (11-2-0-5) were leaving after the game to start a five-game road trip that starts in Rochester on Friday night followed by a rematch with Syracuse on Saturday.
“It was a good, exciting first period. Each team had scoring opportunities, and as we have seen a few times, we play a good first period and don’t score,” remarked Pack head coach, Kris Knoblauch. “Then in the second period, we change our play and we just don’t play well.”
Syracuse continued their puck control early in the third period and built a 3-0 lead.
Syracuse’s Ben Thomas entered the Wolf Pack zone via the left-wing and found Gemel Smith cutting into the slot. Smith then quickly put a soft-pass across the grain to Taylor Raddysh who had inside position on Vincent LoVerde, and easily deposited his first of the year at 4:47.
“We didn’t play our best today,” said Raddysh’s brother and Pack defenseman, Darren Raddysh. “We won’t get good results when we don’t play our best. They were moving fast and created turnovers, but we have to move on.”
The Pack answered back 30 seconds later with a goal, ending the Crunch bid for a shutout. It also brought a glimmer of hope the team might mount a comeback.
Steven Fogarty got to a loose puck behind the net and sent a backhand pass to Phil DiGiuseppe, who curled in, wheeled and sent a backhanded shot that was stopped. The rebound was deftly put in the net by Lias Andersson from the right side of the net at 5:17 registering his first goal.
The second period was all Syracuse. Like his battery mate, Adam Huska, on Saturday against Providence, Igor Shesterkin kept the Pack in the game.
Syracuse had an 8-1 shot advantage with the last two coming 51 seconds apart, but Pack mistakes ended with pucks in the back of the net.
On the first six, Shesterkin made some jaw-dropping saves, especially on ex-Pack, Chris Mueller on his sharp angle snapshot, and then on Nolan Valleau, and finally on Mitchell Stephens, who caught him up high.
Then Shesterkin made a spectacular glove save while in the butterfly on ex-Pack, Daniel Walcott’s point blank blast at 14:02.
15-seconds later, the Crunch finally solved Shesterkin.
The first goal saw Gemel Smith outwork the Pack defensive pair of LoVerde and Raddysh behind the net. He turned, and while falling down, put the puck on Stephens’ stick who in turn sent it over Shesterkin’s glove at 14:17 for his third of the season.
The blame doesn’t go to the defense on this one.
“Really, the forwards have to recognize when they’re back behind the net battling,“ Knoblauch said. “They need to fill in with the back pressure, so I wouldn’t (pin it on those guys). They’ve been our top pair of defenseman for most games.”
Raddysh was harder on himself than the coach was.
“The turnover was by me, and we lost the battle back there,” the downcast defenseman said.
A little miscommunication led to the second goal.
Shesterkin went behind the net to retrieve a dump in by Syracuse’s Dominick Masin. Shesterkin got the puck as rookie rearguard, Joey Keane, went back as well. Shesterkin tried to send it out of the zone, but it hit the boards awkwardly and came right back to a Crunch forward.
Mason Geersten was out of position and was trapped, so the Crunch’s Otto Sompii got the puck. He fed a wide-open Dennis Yan in front for an easy goal and a 2-0 Syracuse lead.
It was Yan’s fourth on the season.
Knoblauch explained the miscommunication saying, “The players are expecting (Shesterkin) to rim it out and get a breakout, but that didn’t happen, so their guy got to it first, It was just one of those hockey plays.”
Shesterkin nearly cost them another time when he made a clear straight up the middle of the ice on the very next shift after the goal. The puck was intercepted by Alex Barre-Boulet, who then forced Shesterkin to make a quick save narrowly avoiding a third quick Syracuse goal.
The Pack’s one shot of the period came from Raddysh and they had a second chance from Nick Ebert, but his shot connected with the post, so while not an official shot on goal, it came right after Boulet’s shot.
The first period of a morning hockey game, as expected, was at times choppy, as the two teams game time body clock took about half a period to kick in.
The Pack outshot the Crunch 10-8 with their best chance coming on a net-front play as the recently reassigned Andersson getting a shot that was stopped by Syracuse goalie, Scott Wedgewood.
“Tough game today, but we’ve got to keep going. They’re a good team with skill and hard workers. It’s (going to) be fun that we play them (again) this weekend,” remarked Andersson.
Shesterkin’s best save came off Smith, who was open on the left wing and then fell awkwardly in the backboards, but was not injured.
LINES:
Andersson-Fogarty-DiGiuseppe
Nieves-Meskanen-Beleskey
Jones-O’Regan-Newell
Lettieri-Ronning-Zerter-Gossage
Raddysh-LoVerde
Keane-Geersten
Day-Ebert
SCRATCHES:
Ryan Dmowski (healthy)
Jeff Taylor (healthy)
Jake Elmer (healthy)
Gabriel Fontaine (Shoulder surgery – Season-ending)
LIAS ANDERSSON:
Knoblauch said Andersson will be slotted at center and will not be playing the wing. He added that he was pleased with his first effort, even double shifting him in the third seeking to generate offense.
“It was nice to see Lias play hard. I thought he played well. His enthusiasm and attitude is great, and that’s what we expected (of him). It was a good (first) step for him.”
Andersson admitted he was feeling it after the game.
“It was very different. I hadn’t played on a top-line or had those minute since training camp. It was good to play big minutes and have the puck, but I’m little tired right now. My heart in pumping a bit right now,” Andersson said with a laugh.
Andersson had mixed feelings about being sent for his third assignment to Hart City, but has accepted it and is trying to make the most of the opportunity.
“I won’t say I was happy, but it felt good to come back to play. All I want to do, as a young guy, is play the game I love. I was frustrated by not playing, so it’s gonna be good for me to come down and play a lot.”
NOTES:
Knoblauch was non-committal regarding his goalie rotation, “They’ll split the next two games, but we haven’t made a decision on the order.”
The Wolf Pack’s next home game is on Saturday, December 7th against the Binghamton Devils. Game time is at 7:30 pm and is part of a UCONN/Wolf Pack hockey doubleheader.
The Wolf Pack are now second overall in the AHL overall. They are .05 percentage points behind the Milwaukee Admirals (12-3-1-2) each with 27 points.
After the game the team announced Jake Elmer was being reassigned back to the Maine Mariners (ECHL).
The Raddysh brothers, Darren (Wolf Pack) and Taylor (Syracuse) played against each other for the second time professionally. They met for the first time last year in Syracuse.
The Crunch also have ex-Pack, Mueller, Walcott (who only played one game with the team), and Ross Colton (Taft Prep) on their roster.
Mathieu Olivier, the son of former New Haven Knights (UHL) Simon Olivier, got in his first NHL game with Nashville last night.
Ex-Pack, Shawn O’Donnell, has signed with EV Ravensburg Towerstars (Germany DEL-2).
Ex-Pack goalie, Chris Nell, signs with Adirondack (ECHL) while former UCONN Husky, Joe Masonius, signs with Norfolk (ECHL).
Mitch Jones, the son of former New Haven Nighthawk, and Senator, Brad Jones, leaves Jacksonville (ECHL) and signs with Gyergyoi HK (Romania-EBEL).
Ryan Wilson (Darien) is playing with Springfield (Illinois) (NAHL) and makes a commitment to Army (AHA) in 2020-21.
Two more sons of Wolf Pack playing organized hockey in Europe.
Vladimir Vorobiev, Jr. who was born in Hartford when his father played on the first two Wolf Pack teams, is skating with a Czech Republic team, HK Kralupy in the U-20 Division-2 league. Vladimir Sr. is the head coach of Dynamo Moscow (Russia-KHL).
Simon Robertsson, the son of ex-Pack, Bert Robertsson, plays with Skellelftea AIK J-20 team as a 17 year old. He also plays with the Swedish U-17 Team in international competition. Bert is the head coach with Linkopings HC (Sweden-SHL).
Kravtsov Update:
He has played six games with Traktor Chelyabinsk (Russia-KHL) and tallied just a goal and an assist. His head coach is ex-Pack goalie, Petr Skudra. His play hasn’t improved much since going back over there. He was loaned to their farm team, Chelmet Chelyabinsk (Russia-VHL).
The VHL-Vyassha Hockey League is the Russian equivalent of the AHL minus Laval, Toronto, Texas and soon Palm Springs, CA.
He earned one assist in his first game.
Happy Birthday:
Connor Lewis, the youngest son of Wolf Pack equipment manager, Craig Lewis.
