CANTLON: CT HOCKEY OFF-SEASON VOLUME 4 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Incoming Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman Braden Schneider played the first two games of the team’s abbreviated 2020-21 schedule. It was named the WHL Bill Hunter Award as the WHL Best Defenseman of their truncated 25 game season.

Ross Colton (Taft Prep) had a goal and assist in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s series-clinching win over the Carolina Hurricanes, advancing to the Stanley Cup semi-finals against the islanders.

Joining Colton in the semis is ex-Wolf Pack/New York Ranger Ryan McDonagh and their playoff taxi squad ex-Wolf Pack, Daniel Walcott.

Assistant GM/Director of Player Development is ex-Pack, Jamie Pushor, Director of Hockey Ops Mathieu Darche (Choate), and scout ex-Sound Tiger Jeff Tambellini.

OTHER CONNECTICUT CONNECTIONS

Director of Hockey Admin is former Beast of New Haven front office and AHL person, Liz Sylvia-Koharski.

The Islanders have a slew of ex-Sound Tigers on defense. Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield, and Adam Pelech spent a lot of time under the tutelage of another ex-Pack, Brent Thompson.

Upfront Casey Czikas, Matt Martin, Brock Nelson, and Anders Lee, who is out injured this year, spent a little over a season before heading to the NHL.

On the big squad players who had short stints in Bridgeport Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier. On the Islanders’ playoff taxi squad are Michael Dell Colle, Ross Johnston, and Oliver Wahlstrom.

The Islanders’ assistant coach is former Bridgeport head coach and New Haven Nighthawks player Lane Lambert. Also, there’s the team’s head athletic trainer from Hartford, Damien Hess, and Director of Player Development is ex-Pack, Eric Cairns.

OTHER CONNECTIONS

Scouts include former Wolf Pack legend as a head coach and player and AHL Hall-of-Famer, Ken Gernander, ex-Pack, Chris O’Sullivan, and former Sound Tiger briefly, Eric Boulton.

The other semifinal will be played between the Las Vegas Golden Knights and the underdog Montreal Canadiens. The series has some Connecticut connections and interesting sub-plots.

Vegas has former Connecticut Whale and Quebec city native Jonathan-Audy Marchessault, who the Rangers failed to evaluate his talent.

Max Pacioretty (New Canaan/Taft) is a former Canadiens captain. Chandler Stephenson and the nephew of former Whaler, Bob Stephenson.

The Golden Knight’s assistant coach is former Wolf Pack head coach Ryan McGill.

EVEN MORE CONNECTIONS

The team President is former Rangers and New Haven Nighthawk George McPhee, who has to develop Vegas Golden Knights teams that now have been in the NHL Final four three of its first four years in the NHL.

Montreal has ex-Whaler Sean Burke as their goalie coach, who has clearly helped resurrect Carey Price’s career. The decider of who to hire was made by former Whalers teammate GM, Marc Bergevin.

The VP of Hockey Development is Eric Crawford, a former Whaler/Nighthawk and relative of ex-Whaler/Ranger, Bob Crawford.

The NHL announced its Jack Adams Trophy Coach of the Year candidates, and it has a Brass Bonanza feel to it.

Former Whalers Dean Evason (Minnesota) and Joel Quenneville (Florida) were named, and a descendant of the Whalers was the third in Rod Brind’Amour of the  Carolina Hurricanes.

Brind’Amour’s son Skyler plays for the Quinnipiac University Bobcats (ECACHL).

PLAYER MOVEMENT

Eight more AHL players head to Europe.

Lukas Jasek of the Utica Comets signs with Lahti (Finland-FEL).

Josh Currie of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia-KHL).

Philipp Maillet of the Hershey Bears also heads to Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

Thomas Kuhnhackl of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, now Islanders, fresh off playing for Germany in the IIHF World Championship, reaching the semifinals, will stay at home next year with Adler Mannheim (Germany-DEL).

Paul Carey (Salisbury School) of the Providence Bruins departs for Djurgardens IF (Sweden-SHL).

Alex Dostie leaves the San Diego Gulls for HC Innsbruck (Austria-IceHL), and goalie Kevin Davis leaves the Colorado Eagles for Stjernen (Norway-NEL).

Davis teammate Matthew Abt leaves Colorado for Lukko Rauma (Finland-FEL), making 23 AHL players have left overseas, and 16 of 31 AHL teams have lost at least one player so far.

MORE MOVEMENT

Ex-Sound Tiger David Quenneville played mostly with Rapid City (ECHL), coached by ex-Sound Tiger assistant coach Joe Ferras and Binghamton for a few games signed with IK Oskarshamn (Sweden-SHL).

Ex-Wolf Pack, Nigel Dawes, leaves AK Bars Kazan Russia-KHL) and signs with Adler Mannheim (Germany-DEL).

Goalie Filip Lindberg of the NCAA champion UMASS-Amherst Minutemen (HE) is passing up his senior season and likely to sign a standard three-year entry-level deal with the Minnesota Wild. he could start next year in Iowa.

Aaron Miller Bemidji State (WCHA) leaves for Europe after his collegiate career to JoKP (Finland Mestis Division-1).

Another collegian to Europe is Jere Huhtamaa leaving after his sophomore year from Merrimack College (HE) for TUTO (Finland Mestis Division-1), making 22 Hockey East players go and now 30 first-year students who’ve left early. 14 college players have signed in Europe to date, with 91 total college players Division-I or Division-III have signed a pro deal in North America or Europe.

The coach of national champion UMASS, Greg Carval, gets an extension until 2025-26, and UMASS-Lowell assistant coach Juliano Pagliaro leaves for the same role with the Penn State Nittany Lions (Big 10).

EVEN MORE MOVEMENT

Bill Robertson leaves the likely soon-to-be mothballed WCHA conference as its President. He was named the new USHL Commissioner replacing Tom Garrity, and becomes the tenth commissioner in league history.

After a year off from hockey, goalie Max Paddock, the nephew of Wolf Pack great and AHL Hall of Famer, John Paddock, is enrolling at Acadia University (AUAA) located in Nova Scotia to play Canadian college hockey.

The AHL All-Star Game is slated for the Place Bell in Laval at the end of January is still a go as it’s expected the border will be open by then.

The NHL is getting an exemption for the Stanley Cup playoffs for Montreal. The same exemption AHL Canadian teams (Abbotsford, Belleville, Laval, Manitoba, Toronto) are using to formulate the 2021-22 schedule.

Calgary and Edmonton are the only two Canadian teams with their farm teams in the US.

Former Sound Tigers/Wolf Pack Cail MacLean is promoted from head coach of Stockton to an assistant coach with the NHL Calgary Flames.

Former Sound Tiger Steve Bernier has retired and is the new skills coach for Cote-du-Sud Everest (QJAAAHL).

Former New Haven Knights Simon Olivier is out as head coach.

LOTS MORE MOVEMENT

In the last three years of Rangers pro scout, former NHLer Steve Konowalchuk is named the RedDeer Rebels’ head coach (WHL).

The QMJHL President Cup playoff title went to the Victoriaville Tigres (Tigers) in five games beating the heavy favorite, Val d’Or Foreurs.

Victoriaville featured defenseman Vincent Sévigny, the son of ex-Wolf Pack Pierre Sévigny and Brooklyn Kalmikov, is the son of ex-Sound Tiger, Konstantin Kamilkov.

Val d’Or had Samuel Poulin, the son of former Hartford Whaler Patrick Poulin, a Penguins draftee.

Goalie Max Donoso (Salisbury School) signs a junior contract with the Ottawa 67’s (OHL). They originally drafted him in 2019 in the fifth round (98th overall) of the OHL Priority Draft.

In this year’s 2021 OHL Priority Draft in the fifth round (98th overall), Ben Poitras (Salisbury School) was selected by the Saginaw (MI) Spirit.

Ex-Pack Jared Nightingale was named assistant coach for the Flint (MI) Firebirds (OHL) earlier in the week.

NEW ECHL ENTRY

The newest ECHL entry has a name. The Trois-Rivieres team will be called the Lions.

They will have a highly thought out and well-put-together strategy created the name, logo, and color scheme.

They took the name of the only pro team to play in the city in the mid-1950’s team in the 20th century that played on in the old Quebec Hockey League (QHL) that lasted for five years. Four of those years in the QHL and its last season in the EPHL-Eastern Professional Hockey League.

Eight other teams played in the city in the QMHL (Draveurs) and semi-pro LNAH (Draveurs, Caron, and Guay plus Blizzard); other teams’ names in various leagues were the Reds, Flambeau, Maple Leafs, and Ducs. However, the first was 1931-32, called the Black Foxes (ECHA-East Coast Hockey Association).

Inspired by the historical themes of the city, the team designed a logo that combines four main elements that stood out when the team reached out to fans.

First and foremost, the team will present an identity that is Québécois, as evidenced by the fleur-de-lys that constitutes the logo’s backdrop. The metal-plated lion is an homage to this key industry of the region. The torch, an important landmark in Trois-Rivières (le Flambeau) and a trademark symbol for the Montreal Canadiens is displayed in the lion’s mane.

The design of the logo all comes together around the strong, unbreakable, and determined spirit forged into the lion’s piercing gaze. The logo features a dominant metal grey and an iconic Québec blue as its primary colors. Its stylish mustache pays tribute to Sieur Laviolette, founder of the city, in 1634.

“We have worked very hard these last few months to create a team identity that will be representative of the region and that will resonate with hockey fans throughout the province. With the pandemic situation improving, including the return of fans in the stands, now is the right time to finally unveil the team’s name and logo to the people of Trois-Rivières,” mentioned team President Mark Weightman in a press release.

Team GM Marc-Andre Bergeron is expected to announce its first head coach in the next week or so. The team will play in the brand new Nouveau Colisée de Trois-Rivieres (no title sponsor yet) in the fall with a pair of games at home, including the franchise’s first game and home opener on October 12th against the Newfoundland (St. John’s) Growlers that will kick off the 2021-22 ECHL season.

Its most famous graduate was Léon Rochefort, who played with Montreal and the Rangers but got his real break during the first NHL expansion in the late 1960s and early 1970s, playing with brand new teams, the Philadelphia  Flyers then Los Angeles Kings.

He returned to Montreal, playing on the 1971 Stanley Cup-winning team (he was on Montreal 1966 team the year before expansion), compiling 617 NHL games with other stops in Detroit, Atlanta (Flames), and Vancouver before retiring.

His nephew Normand Rochefort played for the Quebec Nordiques and the Rangers.

XL CENTER UPDATE

The big political can that has been kicked around for eight years still has no resolution at the end of the General Assembly legislative session on Wednesday, leaving, as usual, more questions than answers in the future.

The CRDA Executive Director, Mike Freimuth, texted us where things stand.

“No updates on bonding, but we expect there to be some link to sports betting at XL (Center). Details to follow when it’s clearer.”

The announcement of a 72 game schedule for the Wolf Pack starting this season of courses changes their lease arrangements around the edge of their deal.

“Yes, the AHL season amount of games has been reduced by 4 games (2 Home/2 Away). Not sure of the impact until we see the dates. Obviously, losing a Friday will hurt more than losing an early-season Wednesday game. We’ll talk to MSG when we better understand (everything).”

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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