CANTLON: (10/29) MUCH LIES AHEAD FOR PACK 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack return home at the XL Center for their second three games in three days. They will face-off with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and then have their first meeting with the Charlotte Checkers in two years. The Checkers are now the dual affiliate of the Florida Panthers and the expansion, Seattle Kraken, who await the completion of their new arena in Palm Springs, CA.  Next year the Kracken will be in their building and migrate to the Pacific Division. The Pack will finish the weekend with a quick trip down I-95 to play at the Webster Bank Arena and the Bridgeport Islanders.

No players have been assigned to the Jacksonville Icemen, the team’s new ECHL affiliate. Keith Kinkaid will start the weekend in the net, as he has the first two weekends. Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch says who will be in the net for the rest of the weekend remains up in the air.

The first line of team captain Jonny Brodzinski, Tim Gettinger, and Anthony Greco remains intact. Morgan Barron, back from a stint with the New York Rangers, slides into the second line with Justin Richards and Ty Ronning.

The only defensive change is on the third pair, as Hunter Skinner replaces Zach Giuttari and teams up with Tarmo Reunanen. The other pairs are Anthony Bitetto and Zac Jones, and Braden Schneider, and Matt Robertson.

Thus far, the roster is injury-free.

Meanwhile, in New York, forward Ryan Reaves was placed on the IR. Kappo Kaako was taken off that list. Greg McKegg stays in NY for the time being. 

THE BEACH AFFAIR

Allegations of sexual abuse by Wolf Pack forward Kyle Beach that dates back eleven years to his time in the Chicago Blackhawks organization by a video coach have been proven to be true. The scandal has resulted in the firing of the team’s President, John McDonough, the General Manager who also holds the same role for the Team USA Olympic team, Stan Bowman, Assistant GM, Al MacIsaac, and a former head coach, now an ex-head coach of the Florida Panthers, former Whaler Joel Quenneville. However, after a meeting with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the present Winnipeg Jets GM, ex-Springfield Indians player Kevin Cheveldayoff, who was with the Blackhawks at the time, was spared the hangmen’s noose.

Beach was with the Pack for half a season after being acquired on waivers from the St. Louis Blues on December 6, 2013. After seven unpleasant games in Rockford and five rocky years there, he was traded for the current Jacksonville Icemen (ECHL) assistant coach when the team was called the CT Whale, Brandon Mashinter.

The Blackhawks, and by extension the NHL, tried to bury him after Beach was drafted in the first round (11th overall) in 2008. After five years in the AHL, the Chicago organization sent Beach to HV71 in the Swedish Hockey League.

One NHL scout alleged at the time in a private conversation in no uncertain terms with this reporter that Beach had drug and alcohol issues, felt the Rangers had made a mistake in picking him up, and that Beach was anything but a good teammate.

GERNANDER REACTION

He was surely at best in his brief stop in Hart City. Former Pack head coach Ken Gernander, now an amateur NHL scout living in Minnesota, was succinct on his brief tenure.

“At no time, where we told about it by the organization or by him. He was good to work with, and we had no issues with him. The first I heard about it was from my daughter the other day, and I was completely shocked by it.”

By unmasking himself as the “John Doe” in the story by reporter Rick Westhead of The Athletic, Beach laid bare how the system failed him.

Beach is currently still skating for the German Division 3 EHC Erfurt Black Dragons. However, he’ll likely receive a sizable settlement when he retires and could wind up with an NHL job, as was the case with another ex-Wolf Pack, Akim Aliu was last year.

IN MEMORIAM

Original Hartford Whaler fans have lost the voice of their soul.

Bob Neumeier, 70, who overcame a stroke several years ago, the cheery, enthusiastically pleasant voice passed away in Boston of congestive heart failure. He was NBC’s voice of horse racing and did local sports in Boston for WCVB-TV as well.

Before the great Chuck Kaiton, it was Neumeier’s voice that boomed across large swaths of the US and Eastern Canada on WTIC-AM (1080) as the signature sound of the WHA New England Whalers.

RIP

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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