BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – Ty Ronning’s two goals and a strong effort from Tim Gettinger helped the Hartford Wolf Pack earn a 7-4 victory over the Bridgeport Islanders on Friday night.
The Wolf Pack continued to earn divisional standings points with a solid victory over the Islanders.
Ronning scored two unassisted goals negating two goals by the Islanders’ Blade Jenkins, who has registered four career goals against the Pack.
Both of Ronning’s tallies were unassisted and both came deep in the Bridgeport zone a result of effective forechecking that led to the Bridgeport defense coughing up the biscuit.
RONNING RUNNING STRONG
“Hard work pays off,” Ronning said. “We got a couple of good bounces and they went in.”
His coach was very congratulatory.
“He made the most of his reads, forced them into mistakes and made a difference tonight.”
Gettinger extended his point streak to five games with two goals in the game’s second half. He tallied a beautiful backhand goal early in the third period. He burst over the blue line with speed undressing Bridgeport defenseman, Mitch Vande Sompel.
“He is a very good skater and doesn’t get enough credit for his skating and reach,” said Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
Not to be outdone, rookie Alex Whelan joined the scoring parade from off the bench. He came down the left wing wall and swept in his first goal in a lone hand on his stick.
“It’s beautiful in how he works his butt off in practice. He does that all the time. It was fun to watch,” Ronning said.
The two teams combined for six first period six goals with constant lead changes. Hartford seemed to always be on the right side of the scoring ledger as they gained the game’s lead first again for the second straight game and maintained it.
It was another easy decision for Knoblauch as he kept Johnny Brodzinski, Gettinger, and Anthony Greco together as their first line for the fourth game in a row. They were a plus-5 and showed they work well as a strong unit with their shooting, digging time, and retrieving of pucks.
GETTINGER EXCELS
Gettinger was able to maneuver into the zone and had the finishing touch.
“They started off slowly, not badly. You can’t dominate every game, but they progressed and played very well.”
The Pack played defensively without Anthony Bitetto for a second night in a row.
Jabub Skarek of Bridgeport was pulled for NHL vet Cory Schneider.
While Kinkaid has had stronger outings for Hartford, he redeemed himself in the second half of the game thwarting five Islanders shots effort in the Pack zone after a cycle trying to tie the game.
“He redeemed himself in the second half,” Knoblauch said. “We have relied on him a bit as of late. The coach in me always wants to second guess how to get the edge on someone. You usually get to .500, but we’ve done well at home and our record (4-1-0-0) shows.”
The two teams will meet again on Sunday afternoon in a matinee contest at the Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport.
NOTES
P.C. Labrie extended his consecutive game point steak to three games.
Tanner Fritz scored his second goal of the season. Both have come against his former team in Bridgeport.
The coach was undecided on goaltending for the remainder if the weekend between Adam Huska and Tyler Wall.
Terry Broadhurst, an ex-Sound Tiger, moves from the Indy Fuel (ECHL) to the Tucson Roadrunners (AHL).
Matt Ford, an ex-Wolf Pack and Springfield Falcon, retires from the game officially today at 37.
Two goalies are swapped for each other. At one time, both were at Salisbury School. Callum Booth goes to the Maine Mariners (ECHL) and Jon Gillies, who played in the pre-season game in Bridgeport heads to Providence to play for the Bruins.
MORE TRANSACTIONS
DJ King, the son of former Hartford Whaler Derek King, the current coaches of the Rockford Icehogs goes from the Fort Wayne Komets (ECHL) to the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Ex-Wolf Pack, Vinni Letteri, goes from the Anaheim Ducks to the San Diego Gulls (AHL).
Canon Peiper, another QU guy, goes from the Iowa Heartlanders (ECHL) to the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL).
Austin McImurray (Sacred Heart University) is traded from the Florida Everblades (ECHL) to the Toledo Walleye (ECHL).
Noah Anderssonn, younger brother of Lias and Mikael, goes from Farjestad BK (Sweden-SHL) to Vimmerby HC (Sweden Hockey Ettan Division-3).
UCONN
In college hockey, UCONN won on the road in Maine at Alfond Arena. Senior captain, Czech Republic native, and all-time assist leader Jachym Kondelik (Nashville Predators) scored midway thru the third period. He had net front presence and converted on the power play on Ryan Tverberg’s rebound that held up in 4-3 win on the man advantage.
Tverberg (Toronto) had yet another multiple point game (a goal and two assists) and the team peppered Maine goalie Matt Thiessen with 32 shots on the night.
Vladislav Firstov (Minnesota), scored another goal and had two points on the evening for UCONN.
The two teams meet for the second and final time in the regular season on Saturday night.
