By Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack are among the final eight AHL teams still playing in May.
What seemed improbable seven weeks ago has become reality. Trade deadline moves and an incredible streak of winning 15 of their last 18 games have brought them to this place in the season. They knocked off the Springfield Thunderbirds in the first round. They followed that up by eliminating the Providence Bruins in four games in the second round, despite finishing 17 points behind them in the regular season. That puts the Pack on a collision course in the Division Finals with the Hershey Bears, who finished the regular season 16 points ahead of them.
Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch knows the tall order that lies in front of them.
“(They’re) a big strong team. Outstanding defensively; don’t give you much room,. That’s in part because of their defense. They have some players who can score goals. Their team specialties (powerplay and penalty kill) are very good. We’re just gonna have to find a way to the net,“ He said.
Hershey’s physical height is plentiful. The Bears are led by their captain, the 6’5 defenseman and ex-Pack, Dylan McIlrath. McIlrath was much maligned when he was a member of the Wolf Pack. He played on the last Pack playoff team eight years ago. Ironically, that year, they eliminated Hershey.
Joining McIlrath is Aliaksei Protas at 6’6, Gabriel Carlsson at 6’5, Vincent Iorio at 6’3, and Benton Maass, who’s 6’2. Their two in-house goalies include the 6’4 Clay Stevenson and the 6’3 Garin Bjorklund. Bjorklund was recalled when the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) were eliminated from the Kelly Cup playoffs. It’s possible that the 6’2 Zach Furcale will need to be dealt with all over the ice as well.
The Bears have eight players who are 6’2 and taller.
Casey Shepard will likely start in the net for the Bears.
In terms of height, the Pack can counter with the 6’8 Matt Rempe and the 6’6 Adam Edström.
PRODUCTION
While during the regular season, no Wolf Pack player was anywhere near the top in player production categories. Now, in the postseason, the Pack finds themselves all over the stat sheet as the Atlantic Division final begins.
Leading the way for the New York Rangers AHL affiliates is goaltender Dylan Garand who has a 5-1 with a 1.17 GAA, tops in the AHL. He also is at the top of the production sheet for netminders with two shutouts. He will likely start.
In the plus/minus department, Ty Emberson is atop the AHL charts at plus-13. In second place in that category is Anton Blidh at plus-11. In assists, Lauri Pajuniemi is fifth-best in the league with eight.
Tim Gettinger and Tanner Fritz find themselves in the Top Ten in scoring with seven points each. The Pack also has two of the top three leaders in PIMs. Adam Clendening and Will Lockwood. The top shot producer is Zac Jones. He’s tied at 21.
A team with a championship mindset expects to be playing its best and most productive hockey in the playoffs. The Wolf Pack are undoubtedly not only the best they’ve been all season, but you could also argue they’re the best they’ve been in eight years.
NOTES:
The Rangers did some organizational housekeeping before leaving Tuesday to head to Hershey for Thursday’s series opener. They released from ATO and PTO deals 18-year-olds Bryce McConnell-Barker, who didn’t play, and Adam Sýkora, who played two regular season games and two playoff games.
Sýkora might be added to the Slovakia World Championship team when the IIHF tourney starts May 12th running through May 29th. It’s a 16-country tournament and will be played this year in Tampere, Finland, Pajuniemi’s hometown. They will also play in Riga, Latvia.
The team also sent home Maxim Barbashev and Ryder Korczak.
When the Peterborough Petes earned a 3-2 victory in Game 7 on Monday night over the North Bay Battalion, it guaranteed that Brennan Othmann will not be coming to Hart City this spring.
Othmann had the game-tying goal in the game, and in Game 6 had the tying goal and an assist on the game-winner. The Petes will also play for the John Ross Robertson OHL championship against the London Knights, coached by Dale Hunter, starting on Thursday.
The Petes also feature Chase Stillman, grandson of former New Haven Knights and Springfield Indians’ alum Bud Stefanski.
A Memorial Cup berth for the tournament will be played in Kamloops, BC, at the Sandman Centre from Friday, May 26th, until Sunday, June 4th. That’s where Garand spent his junior career. The Cup will be awarded to the winner.
The Winnipeg Ice (WHL), coached by former Ranger/Whaler James Patrick, along with Easton Armstrong, the son of former Wolf Pack, Derek Armstrong, will be playing for the WHL Championship. They will have their home games (the first two) starting Friday at the Life Canada Centre, home of the NHL Winnipeg Jets against the Seattle Thunderbirds, Rempe’s former junior team, that won 4-2 on Monday over the Kamloops Blazers, who still make the tournament as the host team.
Lane Sim, the son of ex-Sound Tiger Jon Sim, was drafted by the OHL Sarnia Sting in the OHL Priority Draft a few weeks ago. He played for Weeks U-18 (NSMHL) in Nova Scotia.
The WHL Bantam Draft is on Thursday. May 11th. Players from the two Western Provinces of British Columbia and Alberta and the three Western territories – the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Yukon – are eligible.
The US states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming are eligible to be selected.
The QMJHL Draft is on June 10th at the Palais des Sports in Sherbrooke, Quebec. The draft is divided into two separate drafts. In the first portion, the selections are primarily for kids from the Province of Quebec, the Canadian Maritimes, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island-PEI, and Newfoundland. Occasionally, a small number of New England players get taken.
A separate US Draft will be held afterward, comprising Northeastern US states Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont are taken.
Any US-born player who plays a second of major junior hockey is NCAA ineligible.
Players from European countries, excluding Russia and Belarus, are taken in the CHL Import Draft in which all Canadian major junior teams participate. It will be held a week after the NHL Draft on July 5th. Usually, the top slots are taken by NHL draftees.
Now former Wolf Pack’s Adam Sýkora was taken first overall by Medicine Hat (WHL) last year but elected to stay in Slovakia instead.
The USHL Phase I Futures Draft and Phase II General Draft were completed a week ago.
In Phase I, Mason Kraft, the son of ex-Sound Tiger Ryan Kraft, was selected in the fourth round (48th overall) by the Sioux Falls (SD) Stampede out of Moorhead HS (MN).
In Phase II, Sioux Falls also chose Anthony Bongo (Ridgefield) from the Mid-Fairfield U-15 squad in the second round (18th overall).
In the third round (33rd overall), Matej Teply (Stamford) was chosen. He played for the Selects Academy program at South Kent Prep. He was selected by the Chicago (Ill.) Steel.
In the fifth round (63rd overall), Ronan Buckberger, the youngest son of former Beast of New Haven Ashley Buckberger, was selected by the Madison (WI) Capitols out of the Saskatoon U-18 (SMHL) program. Two years ago, he was selected by Swift Current (WHL).
Taft’s (Watertown) top-flight goalie Rudy Guimond (Yale -ECACHL commit), from Pointe-Claire, Quebec, was selected by the Cedar Rapids (IA) Roughriders. He was taken in the fifth round (69th overall).
Tate Pecknold (Southport), the son of Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) head coach of the defending national champion Bobcats, Rand Pecknold, was taken in the 13th round (185th overall) by the Omaha (NE) Lancers. This season, he transferred from Avon Old Farms (CT) to St. George’s (RI).
Lastly, Jackson Potulny, the nephew of ex-Pack Ryan Potulny, was taken in the 13th round (197th overall) by the Chicago Steel. He was selected from the U-18 team from the successful Minnesota program at Shattuck’s St. Mary’s (NAPHL).
Back in the AHL, the North Division final pits the Toronto Marlies against the Rochester Americans. The Marlies feature Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) goalie Keith Petruzzelli, who won against the Wolf Pack in April. They may get some players from around the corner if Florida eliminates the parent Toronto Maple Leafs.
Rochester features Michael Mersch, the son of late New Haven Nighthawk Mike Mersch and ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger Mason Jobst.
The Hartford-Hershey tilt winner will play the North Division series winner for the Eastern Conference crown.
Out west, two of the newest AHL teams, the Calgary Wranglers and Coachella Valley Firebirds, will square off.
Player-wise, Calgary has former Rangers Kevin Rooney and Dryden Hunt. They also have Nick DeSimone (CT Oilers-EHL) and ex-UCONN (HE) defenseman Yan Kuznetsov.
Behind the bench as one of the assistant coaches is former Whaler, New Haven Nighthawk, and Springfield Indian Don Nachbaur. The goalie coach is ex-Pack Mackenzie Skapski and AHL coach of the Year for two years in a row, Mitch Love.
The Firebirds have former Quinnipiac University defenseman Brogan Rafferty.
The Texas (Austin) Stars in the Central Division have just one Connecticut connection in GM Scott White, a one-time New Haven Senator.
The Stars will tangle with the Milwaukee Admirals, who received nine players from the parent Nashville Predators. They feature recently acquired at the trade deadline from Hartford, Austin Rueschhoff, and ex-Pack captain and former UCONN (AHA years) player Cole Schneider. Also on the roster is Luke Evangelista, a second cousin to former Whaler Brendan Shanahan.
The winners of those two series will battle for the Western Conference championship.
The Charlotte Checkers released Mackie Samoskevitch (Sandy Hook) and Skylar Brind’Amour (Quinnipiac University) from their PTO and ATO deals.
Charlie Risk of the NCAA Division III Independent, Albertus Magnus College (New Haven), signs with Mont Blanc (France-FFHG Division-2).
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