BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The calendar has turned to July, and the Hartford Wolf Pack is working daily to prepare for the 2021-21 AHL season with a new staff gearing up to tackle the challenge.
“Let’s say we have a lot more work this July than we did last July, that’s for sure,” said team VP of Business Operations Erik Hansen, the Lone Ranger in the office all of last year.
Sans an unreleased schedule that will remain unknown to the public until the end of July, the sales staff and team are operating on the premise that indoor restrictions will be fully lifted.
“We haven’t heard anything to the contrary,” Hansen said. “We have some plans. If things do change, that’s something we all learned the last year; things can change. We’re pleased with our renewals which is near 80%, and we’re going to change things up a bit in promotions and giveaways, and that is a work in progress.
“We have called our ticket holders, and we’re very pleased with the feedback. People think they’re ready to resume their activities, and the Wolf Pack is one of them.”
The outdoor sporting world, including the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats, USL’s Hartford FC at Dillon Stadium, and international soccer matches at Rentschler Field, are an early laboratory Spectra will use to know how they well handle indoor events.
“It’s the only model we have, and we’ll have to see what works and what doesn’t. See how people are responding. I have been to a couple of Yard Goats games, and it’s been handled very well, and I’m adjusting like everybody else. We can learn from everybody as we re-engage,” remarked Hansen.
The new 72-game season schedule for Hansen is a blessing despite losing two dates.
“To be honest, if we lose some Wednesday games, that’s a positive for us. The schedule will be what we have been used to, but I have not seen a final version yet, but safe to say we’ll have more opponents than last year.”
WHALER ALUMNI NIGHT WITH THE YARD GOATS
One of the summer’s highlights the last few years is when the Whalers alumni return to town and celebrate their hockey history (1975-1997) in the WHA and NHL. The reunion this year will be a bit different.
“This year is a stripped-down version of Whaler Weekend. There is no luncheon; there will be the autograph session when gates open at 4 pm on July 17. Because of the COVID conditions, guys from Canada will not be able to attend, unfortunately,” Yard Goats Assistant GM Dean Zappalorti stated in an email.
SCHEDULED ATTENDEES
Andre Lacroix (who will be doing a book signing, “After the Second Snowfall: My Life on and Off the Ice)
Bill Bennett
Bob Crawford
Chuck Kaiton
Dan Fridgen
David Jensen
Ed Hospodar
Marty Howe
Norm Barnes
Russ Anderson
Scott Daniels
Paul D’Amato, who played Tim “Dr. Hook” McCracken in the film “Slapshot.”
Suffield resident, Mike Corrigan (LA Kings/Penguins)
Cheshire resident, Dan McCarthy (NY Rangers/New Haven Nighthawks/Springfield Indians)
Paul Lawless (Tentative)
Jeff Brubaker (Tentative)
RANGERS SWITCH ECHL AFFILIATES
The Rangers are moving their affiliation way down South.
Team President and General Manager Chris Drury announced that The Rangers were switching their ECHL affiliate for the Blueshirts and the Wolf Pack from the Maine Mariners to the Jacksonville Icemen in Florida.
The switch comes after just two seasons in Maine, who sat out last year because of COVID.
Wednesday afternoon, the Bruins announced they are returning to Portland and the Mariners as their new affiliate. The Bruins leave Atlanta, who also sat out last season.
The Wolf Pack sent one player, Jake Elmer, to Jacksonville last season to get ice time.
RANGERS ECHL HISTORY
The Rangers ECHL affiliates were the Charlotte Checkers when they came to Hartford 24 years ago. Things remained that way until 2010 when the Checkers moved up to the AHL in an affiliation deal with the nearby NHL Carolina Hurricanes.
The Rangers then went to the Greenville (SC) Road Warriors/Swamp Rabbits until 2017.
Maine seemed a logical and good fit, but with Winnipeg leaving Jacksonville, the Rangers headed to “The First Coast area” in Florida.
Jacksonville’s head coach is the ECHL’s all-time winningest coach, Jason Christie. The team President is former CT Whale VP of Business Operations, Bob Ohrablo.
The arena is the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena. Their practice facility is the Jacksonville Ice & Sportsplex, scheduled to start major renovations in August. When it’s completed, the arena will be renamed the Iceman Igloo.
The team will host the 2022 ECHL All-Star Classic in mid-January.
PORTLAND HISTORY
The move cements the Northern New England territory for all of Boston’s sports teams’ brands for Portland.
The Bruins AHL franchise is in Providence, Rhode Island, and now their ECHL team is in Portland, Maine.
The Red Sox Triple-A team is playing their maiden season in Worcester at Polar Park. The Red Sox left McCoy Stadium and their long-time affiliate in Pawtucket, RI. In their heyday in Pawtucket, they attracted over 10,000 fans every night. The Double-A team is with the very popular Portland Sea Dogs.
The Celtics NBA G-League team re-branded recently as the Maine Celtics, dropping the Red Claws name made famous by prodigious lobster and seafood connection to the city.
Portland minor league ice hockey history started in 1977 in the AHL as the original Maine Mariners. They were a Flyers affiliate until 1983 and won a pair of Calder Cup titles in their first two years, both times over the same team, the New Haven Nighthawks.
The New Jersey Devils, at the time, an expansion team, stayed in Portland from 1983-1987 before leaving for Utica, New York.
The Bruins’ first stay at the then-named Cumberland County Civic Center lasted until 1992 when the Mariners were sold and moved to Providence, where they remain.
The Portland Pirates came into existence with the relocation of the Baltimore Skipjacks in 1994 and lasted until 2017 under different affiliations. The first was with the Washington Capitals, then the Anaheim Ducks, followed by the Buffalo Sabres, the Arizona Coyotes, and then, finally, the Florida Panthers.
ARENA RENAMED, AND NEW TEAMS
The arena was renamed the Cross Insurance Arena in June 2014 and lost their AHL Pirates again. They were in serious financial distress under Ron Cain’s ownership and sold to an ownership group of 20-people in Springfield, MA, led by insurance executive Paul Picknelly. They were re-christened as the Springfield Thunderbirds.
The Mariners’ name was revived when the Flyers purchased the ECHL’s Alaska Aces and then relocated them across the country in 2017.
JACKSONVILLE HISTORY
Jacksonville has been a part of minor league hockey under several different names and leagues since the early 1960s.
The city’s first and the longest-tenured team was the Rockets. They played in the old Eastern Hockey League (EHL) from 1962 through 1972. The league folded in 1974. For a two-year period, they were called the Florida Rockets.
Mid-season 1972, the original AHL Cleveland Barons were relocated to Jacksonville and played one full season as the Jacksonville Barons before being moved again.
Hockey took a 20-year hiatus in Jacksonville and returned in 1992 with the Sunshine Hockey League (SuHL) and the Jacksonville Bullets. Unfortunately, that lasted for just a single season.
Two years later, the second-longest team, five seasons, was the ECHL Lizard Kings. They took their name from a musical lyric of one of its most famous residents, the late Doors lead singer Jim Morrison.
Morrison lived in Jacksonville before he moved to Los Angeles and went to UCLA. The line “I’m the Lizard King, I can do anything” is the last line of the song, “Not to Touch the Earth.”
The Southern Hockey League (SHL) Bullets tried to compete with them lasted just one season.
The Jacksonville Hammerheads of the Southern Elite Hockey League (SEHL) lasted for two years and folded the same year as the Lizard Kings in 2000.
MORE HISTORY
The Barracudas lasted six years, but in three different leagues, the Atlantic Coast Hockey League (ACHL) and the WHA2 version lasted for two years. The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) incarnation lasted for four years.
The Icemen were relocated from Evansville, Indiana, and will be starting their third season in the ECHL after opting out last season.
