HARTFORD WOLF PACK REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack announced two home dates for their three-game pre-season action.
Both contests will be held on the Hartford Campus of Trinity College at the Koeppel Community Center. The arena serves as the Wolf Pack’s off-site training facility for practice sessions for a second straight season.
The first of the two games will be on Wednesday, October 4th, in the first of many meetings with the Pack’s I-91 rivals, the Springfield Thunderbirds. The puck drop will be at 7:00 p.m. Then, game two will be the backside of a home-and-home with the Bridgeport Islanders, who will play under new head coach Rick Kowalsky, who has ex-Pack Pascal Rheaume as one of his assistants. That game will be on Saturday, October 7th, at 1:00 p.m.
Sandwiched between those two games, early in the afternoon on Thursday, October 5th, will be the front end of the home-and-home with the Islanders in Bridgeport, which will be closed to the public.
OTHER NEWS
Bridgeport officially announced what Howlings first reported: a new one-year AHL deal with now-ex-Pack Tanner Fritz. He returns to “Park City,” where he spent the first six years of his career. Fritz played collegiately at Ohio State when the Buckeyes were in the CCHA before moving to the Big 10.
Over 20 years ago, the New Haven Ravens Double-A baseball team disbanded. Their announcer from 1994-1995, Matt Devlin, is now part of the voice of the NBA Toronto Raptors.
The hockey connection?
Devlin’s two sons will play Ivy League Division-I hockey this year.
Ian Devlin, 21, went undrafted after playing with the Coquitlam Express (BCHL) in 2021-22. He’s joining the Princeton Tigers (ECACHL).
Luke Devlin, 19, is a 2021 sixth-round Pittsburgh Penguins draft choice. He played with the West Kelowna Warriors (BCHL) last season and will be skating in Ithaca, NY, for his freshmen season. The youngest Devlin will lace them up with the Cornell University Big Red (ECACHL).
Speaking of Cornell, the school’s top star from the last century, NHL Hall of Famer, and legendary Montreal Canadien, Ken Dryden will see his grandson, Hunter Dryden, skating for a prep school in the Nutmeg State this year.
Hunter is a Fairfield, CT, resident who played for the CT Jr. Rangers U-15 program. This winter, he will play at the defending New England small school champion Taft School (Watertown). He will try to fill the big skates of the now-departed Detroit Red Wing draft pick and Yale University-bound (next year) Rudy Guimond.
Guimond will skate for the Cedar Rapids Roughriders in the USHL. They helped develop another Taft player a generation ago, Max Pacioretty.
EVEN MORE NEWS
Former UCONN Husky (HE) Joe Masonius heads overseas to play with HC Csiikszereda (Hungary-MOL) this year.
Two more AHL’ers head to Europe. Bobby Lynch leaves the Rockford IceHogs to play for Torpedo Novgorod (Russia-KHL). Goalie Anthon Khudobdin also leaves Rockford but heads to the Sokol Krasnoyarsk (Russia-KHL).
Hockey agents ignore the concept of “no business with Russia” because of the war in Ukraine.
