HARTFORD WOLF PACK EARN PT IN OT LOSS TO PHANTOMS 

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

ALLENTOWN, PA – The Hartford Wolf Pack overcame the recall of three players to New York and earned an O.T. point in a 5-4 loss to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Friday night. The Pack travel to Utica, New York, for a game with the Comets on Saturday.

Eliott Desnoyers employed his speed during the three-on-three overtime period to gain zone entry. He then sent a pass to Samu Tuomaala, who slipped past his check and put it past Dylan Garand at 1:07 for the win.

The Pack were already shorthanded due to injury recalls in New York to Adam Fox, Filip Chytil, and Igor Shesterkin; they added to the loss as Anton Blidh and Ben Harpur went out of the game in the third period when they managed to score the first two goals of the period.

Brett Berard controlled the puck on the upper right-wing boards and sent a blind backhand pass at 1:40 to Jake Leschyshyn. In the lower right-wing circle, Leschyshyn snuck his first of the season on the power play past Lehigh Valley’s goaltender, Parker Gahagen, to tie the game at three. At the net front, Adam Edström battled Mason Millman, which may have distracted Gahagen. Replays made it look as if the puck might have deflected off Millman’s skates.

At 4:17, Ryder Korczak was caught in full flight with a cross-ice pass from the left side by Blake Hillman. Korczak rushed in and snapped a 30-footer for his first AHL goal over Gahagen’s glove on the short side to give the Pack the lead.

The Phantoms found a way to tie the score at four.

Rhett Gardner was parked at the left side of the net and redirected Will Zmolek’s shot from the left point. The goal was his second of the year and came at 6:46, capping a series of quick goals, three in 6:26.

Despite being down in numbers on the bench, The Pack maintained puck possession in the third period and nearly earned a fifth goal when Leschyshyn was stopped with four minutes remaining. The Pack outshot the Phantoms in the game 33-to-21.

SECOND PERIOD

In the second period, the Gahagen started the period, relieving Phantoms starter Felix Sandstrom.

There was a wave of goals in 1:53 of the period. Two were scored by the Phantoms, with the Pack tacking one on to stop the Phantoms’ momentum.

The Phatoms’ Olle Lycksell was alone on the left-wing side before sneaking his seventh goal past Garand’s short side pad at 10:49. Samu Tuomaala’s excellent pass slipped past Harpur and a sliding Adam Sýkora.

42 seconds later, Jon-Randall (J.R.) Avon got behind Harpur on a lead pass by Tuomaala. 21 seconds later. Korczak’s hard work behind the net paid dividends as he sent the puck to the left point. Berard passed the biscuit over to Mac Hollowell at the right point, who fired it on the net. Matt Rempe, who was screening in front, tipped in his first goal of the season at 11:52. The assist point extended Hollowell’s AHL-best eight-game point-scoring streak.

FIRST PERIOD

In the first period, the Pack took excellent advantage of their opportunities. Brennan Othmann found Alex Belizle on a two-on-one as defenseman Will Zmolek went to Belize. He then slipped it over to Harpur, who redirected his first goal of the year at 7:18.

Harpur tumbled into the end boards, and for the second consecutive shift, Wolf Pack trainer Brian Fairbrother was forced to go on the ice to check on a player down on the ice.

Rempe and Evan Polei exchanged fists in a spirited bout at 6:14. It was Rempe’s third fight in as many games over the last two weeks.

Lehigh Valley was supposed to start a different goalie from last Sunday’s meeting. But Gahagan, the ex-Pack emergency goalie, was reassigned to the Reading Royals (ECHL) on Monday. He was only recalled because Flyer’s goalie Carter Hart sustained an injury that forced the recall of Cal Petersen. He wound up playing when Sandstrom got injured.

LINES:

Ryder Korczak-Adam Sýkora-Anton Blidh
Alex Belzile-Brennan Othmann-Riley Nash
Jake Leschyshyn-Brett Berard- Adam Edström
Matt Rempe-Turner Elson-Karl Henriksson
Bobby Trivigno

Mac Hollowell- Blake Hillman
Ben Harpur-Nikolas Brouillard
Brandon Scanlin

Dylan Garand
James Lorah

SCRATCHES:

Matt Robertson (out day-to-day)

NOTES:

While the Pack’s ECHL affiliated team, the Cincinnati Cyclones, are home to play the Iowa (Coralville) Heartlanders, there wasn’t enough time to engineer the necessary recall. The Pack signed Jordan Lorah, a local P.A. native, as an emergency backup for Garand.

Lorah last played Division II (ACHA) club hockey with the West Chester University Rams. The last time the Wolf Pack had a non-current playing emergency goaltender was with the C.T. Whale incarnation of the team in 2010-11. Brett Leggat, the brother-in-law of then-current Whale Jeremy Williams, was the emergency backup in Hamilton when the Bulldogs were still an AHL team. They are now in the OHL.

Hamilton featured ex-Pack Brendon Nash, the brother of current Wolf Pack Riley Nash. Leggat, 42, still plays. He’s listed on the roster of the Dundas Real McCoys of the Ontario-based Allan Cup Canadian senior league, who open play this weekend.

All these changes allowed Turner Elson to get back in the lineup. He has been sidelined because of the veteran rule.

The Rangers (8-2-0) edged out a tough Carolina Hurricanes team 2-1 Thursday night at MSG on the strength of a third-period game winning goal scored by ex-Pack Will Cullye, his first in the NHL. It earned him the game’s first star honors.

Hot for Utica is winger Xavier Parent. He is coming off a hat trick in a 4-1 victory in Laval, his hometown, on Wednesday. The Utica team features Kevin Dineen on their coaching staff. The ex-Whaler legend has as his assistant ex-Pack assistant David Cunniff, son of New England Whaler John Cunniff.

On the ice, the Devils have Tyce Thompson (Orange/Salisbury School), the son of ex-Pack, current Anaheim assistant coach, and former Bridgeport head coach Brent Thompson.

The Calgary Wranglers, winners over the San Jose Barracuda 1-0, got the game’s lone tally from recently sent down Matt Coronato (Yale Jr. Bulldogs). The Flames recalled Nick DeSimone (C.T. Oilers) from the Wranglers.

In the wake of the horrible that led to the death of Adam Johnson in the EIHA (English Ice Hockey Association). They are responding by making neckguards mandatory equipment across English hockey as of January 1, 2024.

Matt Petgrave, who was the one who cut Johnson’s neck with his skate blade, was signed but never played for the Wolf Pack two years ago. He was quickly released.

One team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, made neckguards mandatory for all players on their minor league teams, effective immediately.

Several do it voluntarily, but other teams will likely follow suit, making them part of the necessary equipment. The NHL and NHLPLA are said to be working on a way forward with the issue, as are the AHL and PHPA, the union for minor league hockey.

A part of the delay is a supply chain issue affecting shipment orders. The Wolf Pack had issues with promotional items last season, famously the military appreciation jerseys ordered in August that didn’t arrive until January.

The QMJHL is the only junior league requiring mandatory neck guards, having done so for the last 20 years. The other two major junior leagues, the OHL and WHL, have not as of yet, but that is likely to change.

The AHL, as in junior hockey, made half-visors mandatory. That came in the wake of then-rookie Jordan Smith losing an eye to an errant puck with the Portland (Maine) Pirates on February 24, 2006. The AHL made them mandatory immediately.

Smith did skate for five more years with the Canadian college hockey’s Lakehead University (Thunder Bay, ON) Thunderwolves (OUAA). He retired and is an assistant coach with the Springfield Thunderbirds.

The neckguard mandate will likely be added over the next few months. The AHL is usually the experimental lab for the NHL when new rules and regulations are instituted.

Colleges require full-face cages, but neck guards will likely become mandatory at the collegiate, junior, and all levels of hockey within the next few months.

Adam Erne (North Branford) is swapped out by the Edmonton Oilers and assigned to the Bakersfield Condors for Sam Gagner, the son of former New Haven Nighthawk/New York Ranger Dave Gagner.

Former UCONN player Joe Masonius leaves HC Csikszereda (Romania-MOL) and signs with the Newfoundland (St. John’s) Growlers (ECHL).

Ty Amonte, the son of the former Ranger, Tony Amonte, and a former UCONN (HE) grad transfer player, becomes an assistant coach at Division-III UMASS-Boston (MASCAC).

Ex-Pack Brodie Dupont has left English hockey as a coach and is going the Canadian college prep hockey route in Sherbrooke, Quebec, with Bishop’s College (CSSHL) as their head coach this season.

Anthony Bongo (Ridgefield/Mid-Fairfield) of the Shattuck’s St. Mary’s U-16 AAA (Faribault, MN) commits to The University of Michigan (Big 10) for 2025-26.

Defenseman Trey Scott of the Omaha Lancers (USHL) commits to UCONN (HE) for next year.

LW Hayden Stocks departs the Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks (NAHL) to hook up with the Neepawa Titans of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL). He started the year playing three games for the Minot (N.D.) Minotaurs (NAHL).

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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