HARTFORD WOLF PACK COMPLETE PERFECT PRESEASON 

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack ended an unbeaten preseason by slaying the Bridgeport Islanders 3-1 at the Koeppel Community Center on the campus of Trinity College on Saturday.

“We got a chance to see a lot of the guys we’ll have in the opening night lineup and expected to be with the team,” Wolf Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. “To be fair to the Islanders, they were still looking at a lot of guys, looking to make cuts. It wasn’t a real representation of their team.”

The lineup will be tweaked before opening night on Friday in Providence against the Bruins. The following 24-48 hours will determine who plays with whom.

The New York Rangers put both Pack Captain Jonny Brodzinski and Ben Harpur were placed on waivers on Friday and needed to clear them before they could report to Hartford and play. During the game with Bridgeport, they cleared the waiver wire and are officially with the team, as is Brennan Othmann. The team will need to slice two forwards and one player who qualifies as a veteran, as the team now has six when the maximum allowable is five.

“With Jonny and Othmann, we have big decisions to make at forward. We have to take two guys out of the lineup from today. We have a veteran issue with Harpur here, but he is a quality defenseman you would like to have in your lineup. We have a lot of quality hockey (guys) here, so there will be some difficult decisions to make,” Knoblauch said. “We have just a little bit of time. We hope that by Monday, everything is settled and good (lineup) in place.”

The Pack power play tallied two goals and showed promise, while last year’s was highly ineffective.

“We added a lot of skilled guys there on defense and at forward with guys like Riley Nash. We added four guys, and there is an expectation that the powerplay will be better than last year.”

The first goal came off a blast from a newcomer, the recently assigned Mac Hollowell, who was perfectly positioned in the left-wing faceoff circle. He one-timed a right-point pass from fellow newcomer Nikolas Brouillard. Hollowell was on his off-wing side and sent it to the top shelf at 15:14 of the first.

“It was a very good shot. (Hollowell) looked off the (forward) and gave Nik that extra second to make that pass. A lot of good positives from that play,” remarked Knoblauch.

The pair factored in the third goal as well.

Hollowell sent a pass to Brouillard, who then wired a one-timed slapshot that evaded the Islanders’ Tanner Lennox, who played the entire game. The goal came at 46 seconds on a penalty called on ex-Pack Tanner Fritz, which had carried over into the period, making it a 3-1 lead and earning him his second point of the afternoon.

“Nik was very good for us this afternoon. He moved the puck around well. He and (Hollowell) looked like high-caliber AHL players. We were able to put those guys out there together, and with changes we may have, it might not be possible. They (both) made a lot of nice plays,” said Knoblauch.

The Islanders tied it late in the first as Samuel Asselin, a Pack killer the past two seasons when he was a Providence Bruin, tied the game at one. He won a one-on-one battle against Brandon Scanlin and scored with 44.4 left in the first frame.

The Wolf Pack made it 2-1 when Jake Leschyshyn won the draw to start the scoring sequence, and Blake Hillman finished. Hartford was never in danger of losing the lead as they controlled play in both ends of the ice.

Having all three goals come from the backline helps the forwards.

“Nik and Mac and the others played very well tonight, and we’ll need that going forward.”

Veteran Louie Domingue played the whole contest in net for the Wolf Pack. He stopped 18 of 19 shots in his only preseason action.

“He stopped one or two breakaways (one from Fritz on the right wing). He played the way you would expect a veteran goalie to play. He could be an NHL goalie. We’re very fortunate to have him here, “Knoblauch commented.

His best period was the second, stopping golden scoring chances from Aidan Fulp at the right point,  William Dufour from the left wing, and Jeff Kubiak with 3:30 left.

NOTES:

As expected, the Rangers assigned Othmann to Hartford. The talented forward split last between Peterborough with the Petes and in Flint (OHL) with the Firebirds. He had 24 points in 16 games in Flint before the trade last November. He registered 43 points in 40 games while in Peterborough.

Othmann played on the Canadian WJC team and, in the playoffs, had 25 points in 23 games for Peterborough, who became the eventual OHL playoff champions. He also had the opportunity to play in the Memorial Cup last spring.

The Wolf Pack made significant cuts on Friday.

Off to their new ECHL affiliate, the Cincinnati Cyclones, went Sahil Panwar and goalies Olof Lindbom and Talyn Boyko.

Defenseman Matt Cairns, Billy Constatinou, and Steven McLaren.

Forwards Luka Burzan, James Hardie, and Michael Mrazik.

Defenseman Chris Cameron was released and heads to the Indy Fuel (ECHL), and Peter Laviolette III was released and heads to the Wheeling Nailers (ECHL).

The ECHL opens its training camp on Monday.

Ryan McCleary, the son of former New Haven Senator Trent McCleary, was cut loose and will head back to the Swift Current Broncos  (WHL) junior team to play his overage year in his hometown.

The Wolf Pack has 19 forwards, nine defensemen, and three goalies (28 total) on the roster. The team will see a switch of between three to five players possible by opening night.

The Islanders sent 19 players to Bridgeport, including Ruslan Iskharov (UCONN). 10 of those 19 went to waivers first and were then formally assigned.

Ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger/Islander/Wolf Pack Paul Thompson, a Springfield resident, announced his retirement from hockey Saturday.

One-time Sound Tiger Will Cullen leaves HK Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia-IceHL) and signs with the Toledo  Walleye (ECHL).

Quite a few players with CT connections were put on waivers before being assigned to their minor league teams.

The Detroit Red Wings sent Artem Anisimov (Wolf Pack), Brogan Rafferty (Quinnipiac University), Nolan Stevens (the son of former Hartford Whaler John Stevens), Wyatt Newpower (UCONN), Tim Gettinger (Wolf Pack) and Austin Czarnik (Sound Tigers) to the Grand Rapids Griffins after all of them made it through waivers.

Will Lockwood (Wolf Pack) is on waivers from the Florida Panthers before going to the Charlotte Checkers. The Carolina Hurricanes sent Kieffer Bellows through waivers to yet unknown AHL destination.

Samuel Poulin, the son of ex-Whaler Patrick Poulin, was sent to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Nashville Predators sent Jachym Kondelik (UCONN) to the Milwaukee Admirals.

Jordan Timmons (UCONN) leaves the Kansas City Mavericks (ECHL) and signs with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL).

The Washington Capitols Dylan McIlrath (Wolf Pack) and Joe Snively (Yale University) are both ticketed for the Hershey Bears.

The Columbus Blue Jackets expose Billy Sweezey (Yale University) before he heads to the Cleveland Monsters. Ryan Carpenter (Wolf Pack) goes down just around the corner by the San Jose Sharks.

The Calgary Wranglers assign Nick DeSimone to the Rapid City Rush (ECHL).

One curious note was the absence of winger Tristan Mullin, who was acquired but never showed for camp.

The team refused to comment on the matter. Whether he was injured or dissatisfied in some fashion remains unknown.

The last two games were also an important fundraiser for the Roger Jacob Poulin Foundation.

The attendees were suggested to make a $5 donation for a child sadly struck down by child cancer in his brief life. In his name, much work non-hockey has been done for ill children.

UCONN opened their season on the road with a non-conference meeting with Colgate University on  Saturday night. They won 4-2 over the Red Raiders, who ex-Pack Mike Harder coaches.

Matt Wood, Nashville’s #15 overall draft choice, opened the scoring for the Huskies. There were three goals in a span of 46 goals in the first. Ryan McGuire (New Canaan), the son of former Whalers’ head coach Pierre McGuire, scored Colgate’s first goal and added an assist.

Joey Muldowney had two assists for UCONN as part of their opening-night victory.

The defending national champions, the Quinnipiac University Bobcats (ECACHL), raised their national championship banner before battling in a non-conference contest with a loaded Boston College Eagles squad Saturday night in Hamden at the M&T Bank Arena before an SRO crowd.

The Bobcats, despite a sterling performance by goalie Vinny Duplessis (BU grad transfer), lost 2-1 with nine seconds left in overtime on opening night.

Ex-Pack Brandon Alderson signs with the Cardiff Devils (Wales-EIHL).

Brent Raedeke, the nephew of New Haven Nighthawk Mark Raedeke, signs with the Kalamazoo Wings (ECHL).

A good listen for hockey fans is Offsides Episode 7, heard on Canadian radio stations such as TSN 690 in Montreal. It’s hosted by former Yale University player Ryan Steeves, who had a brief three-year minor pro career, and ex-CT Whale Brendan Bell, who had a 13-year pro career.

Both are parents of youth-aged hockey players, and they coach at that level. Their host presented an articulate, erudite discussion of world hockey at the youth level.

Both men are Lead Instructors for the Ottawa Sports Academy and present a well-balanced, articulate analysis of the issues plaguing youth hockey in the US and Canada over the last several years.

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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