HARTFORD WOLF PACK WIN LAST PRESEASON GAME 

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack and Bridgeport Islanders faced off for the second straight night, this time at the Koeppel Community Center on the campus of Trinity College for the annual Ryan Gordon Foundation game. The Wolf Pack saw five different skaters tally goals in a convincing 5-1 win.

Bobby Trivigno scored a strong goal and made a superb backchecking with 2:30 left on a Kyle McLean breakaway for the Islanders among his several stand-out plays for the Wolf Pack.

“He really showed his high-end skill set on his goal, and great hustle throughout. He also set up his linemates all night creating chances for them,” remarked Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch.

Midway through the first period, the Pack scored on a picture-perfect power play.

Newcomer Tuner Elson was on the right wing and converted with a tap-in goal from a strong cross-ice feed from Lauri Pajuniemi, who in turn was set up by a perfect initial pass from Tanner Fritz on the game’s first goal.

The Islanders tied the score in the last minute of the period as Ryan MacKinnon netted a goal from just inside the blue line. He dropped a right-handed rocket of a shot off a pass from former UCONN standout Ruslan Iskharov with 53.2 seconds left on the clock.

Bridgeport controlled and commanded the puck during the first five minutes of the second period. They put four quality shots toward Louie Domingue but fired them over the top of the net while pinning the Wolf Pack in their end of the ice.

The Wolf Pack regained the lead when Tim Gettinger smartly redirected of pass/shot from Brandon Scanlin at 6:08 on the team’s first shot of the period and converted for a 2-1 lead. Gustav Rydahl picked up the second assist on the play while displaying some heady work down the middle.

Trivigno displayed his collegiate Hobey Baker prowess, instantly burying the rebound of Austin Rueschoff’s shot at 14:07 to make it 3-1, and the Pack was off to the races.

Early in the third period, Tim Theocharis, with the Wolf Pack on a Professional Try-Out (PTO), continued to make a strong case to remain in Hart City, as did second-year pro Cristiano DiGiacinto, last year’s walk-on, and teammate Karl Henrikson, who tallied his first goal at 5:06 of the third.

“Henriksson had a strong night. Tim played well, and showed a lot of movement with puck, and all three players showed a real physicality,” said Knoblauch.

Domingue cemented his #1 status in Hartford by stopping a penalty shot with 8:33 remaining. He turned aside a penalty shot bid by Michigan’s Jimmy Lambert.

Playing Domingue the entire game was the game plan.

“He is our #1 goalie to start the season. The backup is one right now we still have to make a choice. He made some big saves early in the second and he handles the puck very well for us. He handles it like Igor (Shesterkin) did.”

Fritz, a former Bridgeport Sound Tiger, snapped a shot from off the left wing giving Elson his second point of the evening at 14:27 to give the Pack their 5-1 lead.

Even with the big lead, Trivigno’s backcheck on McLean late in the contest got his coach’s attention. “It was great hustle by Bobby. We didn’t put a specific unit out, just some players (to) see what we could get. His efforts clearly stopped a wide open breakaway,” said Knoblauch.

NOTES:

Fan jerseys of the night – 22 Thomas Poeck and 23 Jed Ortmeyer, now the Rangers Director of Player Development and a fan with an Israeli national jersey – actually was designed years ago by the mother of former Wolf Pack Oren Eisenmann of Canadian/Israeli heritage.

Goalie coach, special assignment scout, and now a father, Jeff Malcolm remembered one of his Pack relief stints getting called up from Greenville on the road, stepping off a plane in Windsor Locks, and heading right to Springfield to play a game. “ My pre-game meal was in an Atlanta airport. It was a Chick Fil-A meal.” That’s not part of the training regimen these days.

Rangers will likely make their final roster moves mid-week, and then there will be corresponding moves made by the Wolf Pack and subsequently with Jacksonville as the ECHL training camps start next week. It will be a tough rest of the weekend for Knoblauch. “We have some big decisions to make, mostly at forward we have a lot  work ahead of us,” he said.

The Pack got Swedish center Gustav Rydahl yesterday. He played last year for Färjestad BK (Sweden-SHL), where he recorded 30 points in 44 games and earned one assist in four pre-season games with New York. The 27 -year-old acquitted himself well in his first North American action in New York and in Hart City. “He’s not your average rookie at 27 years old he played a strong game,” said Knoblauch.

Late yesterday, pending clearing waivers, captain Jonny Brodzinski was assigned to the Wolf Pack. Four other ex-Pack pending waiver clearance are also heading to the AHL. Two in Providence, Vinni Lettieri and Keith Kinkaid, Jayson Megna is sent from the Colorado Avalanche to the Colorado Eagles, and the other is Lias Andersson heads to Ontario from LA.

Brodzinski is not available for this game.

A fifth is designated for assignment to Grand Rapids in ex-Pack and US Olympian Steven Kampfer.

The Bridgeport Islanders have been active this week so far.

The parent New York Islanders sent five players, Andy Andreoff, Cole Bardreau, Dennis Cholowski,  Arnaud Durandeau, and Parker Wotherspoon (brother Tyler was sent down by New Jersey to Utica) cleared waivers and were assigned to Bridgeport.

The team signed two more to one-year contracts in defenseman Mike Cornell and ex-Pack and Springfield, MA area resident Paul Thompson who played last night, got robbed by Domingue as he pounced on a turnover and fired one from 20 feet out and earned 14 minutes in penalties.

Islanders forward Jimmy Lambert saw his brother Brad, a Winnipeg first-round pick (30th overall) in the summer, assigned to Manitoba on an ATO (amateur tryout) agreement from Lahti (Finland-FEL). The younger Lambert is 18 years old and still WJC-eligible for the Finnish team.

Ex-Islander Thomas Hickey was released from the New Jersey Devils camp.

Ex-Pack Malte Strömwall was assigned to the Chicago Wolves from the Carolina camp. Former captain Steven Fogarty is assigned to Iowa (AHL) as the last cut, and Chase Priskie (QU)  is heading to Rochester.

Ex-Sound Tigre Calder Brooks goes from Calgary Wranglers’ camp to Rapid City (ECHL).

As reported last week, the last Wolf Pack from last season, Jake Elmer, has signed with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL). After just one season with Cardiff (Wales-EIHL), Ex-Pack Matt Register signs with Idaho (ECHL) on the eve of the ECHL training camp that opens next week. Goalie Trevin Kozlowski (Glastonbury/Loomis Chaffe) goes from Iowa (ECHL/AHL) to Cincinnati (ECHL).

Ex-Pack/Sound Tiger Jack Combs signs with Allen (ECHL), as has ex-CT Whale Mike Pelech with Atlanta (ECHL) and former UCONN player Karl El-Mir signs with Orlando (ECHL).

Ex-Pack defenseman Patrick Sieloff, from two years ago, signed a try-out with the new San Jose Barracuda and their brand-new arena, the Tech CU Center. The team is in Germany, where he played last year (Cologne). For a two-game series with defending DEL champion Eisbaren Berlin.

After just three weeks and six games, Ex-Pack Danny Kristo is released by HC Michalovce (Slovakia-SLEL) and signs a deal with the Sheffield Steelers (England-EIHL).  Ex-Sound Tiger Josh Winquist has been released, too, and signs with Ft. Wayne (ECHL).

Arizona Coyotes have some East Coast CT ties starting with former New Haven Senator John Ferguson Jr. is the assistant GM and GM of Tucson (AHL). Former New England Whaler great player and Hartford Whaler coach/GM Larry Pleau is a special advisor to the GM.

West Haven’s Eric Boguniecki, who played at Westminster Prep and the Gunn School, formerly known as the Gunnery School, was an ex-assistant coach of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for ten years plus played for the Sound Tigers, is an Arizona Pro Scout after taking a year off.

Luke Curadi, of Cheshire, who played public school hockey at Notre Dame-WH and junior hockey with the Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack (ATJHL) and was a training camp invitee for the Wolf Pack, is for the second year a Coyotes amateur scout.

Ex-Pack goalie Magnus Hellberg has gotten himself back into the NHL. He was picked up off waivers from Seattle by Ottawa as help as the Senator lost ex-CT Whale/Wolf Pack Cam Talbot for five to seven weeks to a broken rib, according to the Ottawa Sun, in a freak pre-game injury.

Hellberg has had some hockey journeys in the last year. He was in the KHL in the former Russian Olympic city of Sochi with KHL HC Sochi in his fifth year (one in China, four in Russia) in the KHL.

With the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, he left after representing Sweden in last year’s Olympics and again at the World Championships.

Hellberg, signed with Detroit, played a late season game and likely was ticketed for Grands Rapids. Then this year, he wound up with the Seattle Kraken in mid-July, with Coachella Valley (Palm Springs) Firebirds likely being his new residence, and here he winds up in Ottawa, the Canadian capital city.

Ex-Pack Tysen Helgesen and brother Kenton are in camp with the Calgary Wranglers.

Ranger draftee Alexander Tärnström, son of ex-Sound Tiger Dick, after five games with Rögle BK (Sweden-SHL), is loaned to Tingsryds AIF (Sweden-HockeyEttan).

Goalie Strauss Mann (Greenwich/Brunswick School) heads to San Jose (AHL).

Former UCONN Husky Dallas Drake was sent to Wilkes-Barre Scranton (AHL).

Last week, UCONN traveled to Burlington, Vermont, and swept their first Hockey East series of the season with a 3-1 win over the Vermont Catamounts. They’re across town with their “home opener” at the XL Center in a non-conference matchup with Union College (ECACHL) with a 4-1 win and overtime win over Union on Saturday, have a 4-0 record to start the best opening season since 1975-76 when they were in Division II.

Matt Wood, a 17-year-old freshman,  posted another goal and two points plus one assist Saturday, and Vermont post-grad transfer Andrew Lucas posted another two points. Goalie Arsenii Sergeev got his first win, and Chase Bradley got his first goal.

“We were certainly pleased by the two wins last weekend. By no means was it perfect, it was a good start, and I was happy with our compete level on both nights.  We got two good wins and two good league wins.   We worked on the powerplay in practice. Matty is certainly a shooter, and Andrew Lucas has told him to make sure your shot is there, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a freshman or a senior; good things will happen when you shoot the puck.

“Matty has enough confidence as a player to make the right play, and a couple of times, he didn’t shoot and made a great play through the seam to (pass) to  Hudson (Schandor). It’s positive to see, he’s not a one-trick pony, and it’s nice to see those efforts in practice carry over to games,”  said head coach Mike Cavanaugh.

Wood had no points and four shots, Chase Bradley picked up a goal and assist in the win.

Former Husky Jonny Evans is in camp with the Hershey Bears. Fellow former teammates were assigned to their AHL teams.

Jáchym Kondelík and goalie Tomáš Vomáčka, both from Czechia (Czech Republic), were sent to the Milwaukee Admirals.

Luke Evangelista, the second cousin of former Whaler, now Maple Leafs President, Brendan Shanahan.

Former New Haven Nighthawks and Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) trainer Sal Lombardi works in nearby Springfield, MA school American International College (AHA).

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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