AMBÜHL PACK MVP?

VERSUS

Who knew that Andres Ambϋhl was such an integral part of the Hartford Wolf Pack? With Ambϋhl, the Pack knocked off Norfolk with little trouble handing the Admirals a 5-1 spanking. Ambϋhl was sent by the Rangers organization to join the Swiss National team that will be playing in the Olympics these next two weeks. The next thing you know, the Pack play probably their second worst game of the season in dropping a 7-1 decision in Rhode Island. The worst defeat of the season was the 9-2 shellacking they took from the Hershey Bears on December 6th. But that was the Hershey Bears…the best team in the AHL and who will probably win a record 11th Calder Cup this spring. No, this wasn’t against the Bear, this was the sixth place Providence Bruins. A team the Pack had beaten in their three previous times they played. Surely it has to be the loss of the Swiss forward, Ambϋhl.

It certainly didn’t help that Chad Johnson, who has been on such a tremendous roll and has played brilliantly both in New York and in Hartford coming into last night’s contest, was simply dreadful. Johnson stopped just 29 of 35 shots and just fought the puck all night long even on the ones he did stop. The Calgary, Alberta native simply laid an egg. He entered the game with a 2.03GAA. He left the Dunkin Donuts Center with a 2.22GAA. His record fell to 14-9-2 and will now have to rebound from such a terrible loss for the first time in his professional career.

For the New York Rangers top farm team just nothing went right all night long.

The Pack were not able to do a single thing with either Jordan Knackstedt, who had a goal and three assists, or Mikko Lehtonen who put the puck past Johnson twice.

Hartford was sleepwalking right from the outset. They were outshot over the first 15:10 of the match 12-4 and fell behind two goals. The first by Jeff Penner who scored from the right wing point on a shot that never should have gotten past Johnson and the second off a terrible giveaway by Jared Nightingale in the defensive zone that Lehtonen blasted right past Johnson’s glove.

The Pack were outshot in the first period 16-5.

In the second period the Pack got as close as they were going to get when Evgeny Grachev ended an eight game scoreless streak with a rebound put back of a Brodie Dupont shot on the power play at 2:22.

1:03 later Andrew Bodnarchuk deflected a shot in from a Andy Wozniewski shot and beat Johnson for the third Providence lamp lighter.

Their fourth tally came 2:59 later on the power play as Lehtonen registered his second of the game and eight goal in eight games against the Pack this season when Trent Whitfield made an amazing cross ice pass to find the right winger wide open on the opposite side.

Providence added two more within 17 seconds of each other in the third period after another great feed by Whitfield found Knackstedt all alone and then Knackstedt returned the favor setting up Levi Nelson for his fifth of the season from the slot by Johnson.

They would get one more by Johnson with just 53.2 remaining when John Lammers took a wide open shot from the slot off a drop pass from Zach Hamill.

Hopefully with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers rivalry game Saturday night in Hartford, the team can regroup and put on a praiseworthy performance. The Pack are going to need to start stringing some wins together if they expect to make the playoffs and keep their AHL record streak of twelve straight playoff appearances alive and breathing.

Bob Crawford filed this report at Hartfordwolfpack.com.  No local coverage for the Bruins again, so the only story from their P.O.V. is their own site at ProvidenceBruins.com.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

STANDINGS

NOTES:

* If you have yet to sign up for our new service to our readers on Twitter, you’re really missing out on the most extensive coverage of the Wolf Pack and Checkers you’ll find anywhere. In addition to keeping you posted here on all major news stories, visit www.twitter.com/howlingstoday for in-game coverage of both Wolf Pack and Checkers games. Please “Follow” us on Twitter.

* Busy day in Wolf Pack land. Three transactions of note. 1) Donald Brashear is headed to the Wolf Pack where he will likely spend the next year and a half. Hopefully he will add some protection to guys like P.A. Parenteau, when and if he’s able to return, so that some of the clowns in the AHL that are taking liberties because they know the Pack don’t have a legit heavyweight to contend with, should stop. If Brashear comes in with the right attitude and doesn’t go around sulking, he could be a tremendous help to guys like Jared Nightingale, Devin DiDiomete and Justin Soryal who’ve been doing all the heavy lifting. 2) Michael Del Zotto was seriously injured when he fell on Evgeny Malkin’s skate. According to the Rangers, the gash, just below his heart on his chest required some 50 stitches to close. As a result Corey Potter has been summoned to New York to take his place. It’s a safe bet that Potter will probably just play in the Rangers pre-Olympic finale against Tampa Bay and then return to the Pack immediately after. With the two week Olympic break coming up, that should be sufficient time for Del Zotto to heal. 3) Steve Valiquette was put on re-entry waivers.

* The Pack power play continues to drop in the standings as they have tumbled from first, where they spend a considerable portion of the early season, down to their current spot 16th. The Penalty kill, which has not been good all year stays mired at 22nd.

* On the road this season, the Pack have been awful and it’s most likely the reason they are where they are. 10-15-2-2 is the road record while 15-6-1-2 is the tally at home.

* Fortunately for the Pack, their next opponent, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers are coming off a horrible loss and don’t play well on the road either. The Tigers lost 6-1 to red-hot Worcester and are 9-13-3-3 away from the Arena at Harbor Yard.

LINES:

Grachev – Dupont – Roche
Byers © – Locke – Weise
Soryal – Crowder – Couture
DiDiomete – Carroll – Owens

Urquhart – Potter
Heikkinen – Schaeffer
Williams – Nightingale

Johnson
Wiikman

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Ryan Garlock – Undisclosed – Day-to-Day
Steven Valiquette – Hand Injury – Day-to-Day
Michael Sauer – Undisclosed – Day-to-Day
Bobby Sanguinetti – Lower Body – Day-to-Day
P.A. Parenteau – Concussion – Indefinite
Mathieu Dandenault – Lower Body – Indefinite
Matt Zaba – On recall with the NY Rangers
Brent Henley – Knee  – Season
Mike Hoffman – Shoulder – Season

THREE STARS:

1. PRO – J. Knackstedt
2. PRO – M. Lehtonen
3. PRO – B. Marchand

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Zac Wiebe (89)

Linesmen:
Todd Whittemore (70)
Bob Paquette (18)

NEXT GAME:
Up next is Brendan Witt and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Anyone care to lay a wager that there are some fights in this one involving Donald Brashear and say either Witt, ex-Pack Trevor Gillies, Pascal Morency (that would be good for a laugh or two), or Brett Westgarth? It could be a slugfest tonight as both teams come off lousy performances and have coaches that just plain don’t like to lose. Game time is 7:00 with Bob Crawford on the pre-game show at 6:30.

To watch the game live, you can purchased it for $6.99 at AHL-live.

If you can attend the cost is as little as $10 a ticket, why not just go? For Ticket information call (860) 548-2000.

Too far away or can’t make it? Listen live at WTIC.com.

SCORE-SHEET:

Hartford Wolf Pack 1 At Providence Bruins 7 – Status: Final

Feb 12, 2010 – Dunkin’ Donuts Center

Hartford 0 1 0 – 1

Providence 2 2 3 – 7

1st Period-1, Providence, Penner 5 (Weller, Hamill), 6:40. 2, Providence, Lehtonen 18 (Wozniewski, Lefebvre), 15:10. Penalties-Lehtonen Pro (tripping), 0:34; DiDiomete Hfd (fighting), 6:23; MacDermid Pro (fighting), 6:23; Schaeffer Hfd (hooking), 17:19; Wozniewski Pro (tripping), 18:16.

2nd Period-3, Hartford, Grachev 12 (Dupont, Williams), 2:22 (pp). 4, Providence, Bodnarchuk 2 (Knackstedt, Marchand), 3:25. 5, Providence, Lehtonen 19 (Whitfield, Marchand), 6:24 (pp). Penalties-Goulet Pro (tripping), 0:59; Soryal Hfd (fighting), 2:23; Fletcher Pro (fighting), 2:23; Weller Pro (tripping), 3:39; DiDiomete Hfd (hooking), 6:07.

3rd Period-6, Providence, Knackstedt 5 (Whitfield), 14:00. 7, Providence, Nelson 5 (Knackstedt, Marquardt), 14:17. 8, Providence, Lammers 2 (Hamill, Knackstedt), 19:06 (pp). Penalties-Weller Pro (tripping), 2:47; Nightingale Hfd (high-sticking), 9:20; Byers Hfd (high-sticking), 10:59; DiDiomete Hfd (fighting), 14:01; MacDermid Pro (fighting), 14:01; Couture Hfd (roughing), 15:35; Bodnarchuk Pro (roughing), 15:35; Couture Hfd (boarding), 17:58.

Shots on Goal-Hartford 5-12-9-26. Providence 16-10-9-35.

Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 1 of 5; Providence 2 of 5.

Goalies-Hartford, Johnson 14-9-2 (35 shots-28 saves). Providence, Sabourin 21-17-0 (26 shots-25 saves).

A-7,503

MEANWHILE DOWN IN CHARLOTTE

VERSUS

SHORTHANDED CHECKERS BURY GLADIATORS 5-1

Newcomer Crane Scores Two In Debut; Munce Wins Fourth Straight

Playing shorthanded and with two newly-added players, the Charlotte Checkers scored five unanswered goals and downed the Gwinnett Gladiators, 5-1, on Friday evening in Georgia.

The Checkers were without three regulars as Andrew Carroll and Ethan Graham were called up to Hartford and Milwaukee, respectively, while Mike Taylor was unable to play in the contest. Newcomer Ryan Crane was moved from his regular post on defense to forward to fill the gap up front.

Crane led the charge with two goals and an assist in his first game in a Charlotte uniform while Ryan Munce stopped 25 shots for his fourth win in a row. Munce has now earned the team at least a point in six straight games (5-0-1).

With the win, the Checkers improve to 7-3-2 in 12 games versus division-rival Gwinnett this season and take a four-point lead over third-place Florida in the South Division standings.

Charlotte went on the attack early, however Gladiators goaltender Danny Taylor made several key stops, including a point-blank one-timer by Matt Stefanishion, to keep his team from giving up the first goal.

Gwinnett then opened the scoring when forward Tim Miller took the rebound from a Drew Paris point shot and wrapped it around the Charlotte net past Munce. The goal came at the 15:33 mark of the period and was Miller’s ninth of the season.

Charlotte continued to throw everything they could at Taylor but the Gwinnett netminder stood strong until he was eventually solved late in the second period. After a faceoff win in the Gladiators end, Julien Brouillette let a wrist shot go from the left wing side and Matt Schepke was on the doorstep to bang home the rebound.

The Checkers held a 28-14 shot advantage through two periods of play.

Just over eight minutes into the third, Charlotte would take its first lead of the game when Stefanishion stripped the puck from a Gwinnett forward and dished a pass to Tyler Doig on the right side. Doig let a shot go and the rebound went to Steve Ward who skated in from the point and beat Taylor over the shoulder.

Less than three minutes later, Crane stepped over the blueline, used a Gladiators defenseman as a screen and fired a slap shot that dipped low on the glove side of Taylor for the 3-1 lead.

Crane would then give the Checkers a three-goal lead, shortly after his first tally, when he took a pass from David Marshall in the high slot and beat Taylor once again low on the glove side.

With less than three minutes to play, Charlotte added some insurance when Marshall stick-handled around a Gwinnett defender, took a shot on net and put his own rebound into the top corner.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow in Gwinnett before Charlotte (28-15-6) returns home to host the Toledo Walleye on Thursday for the ‘Midnight Game’. Puck drops at 11:59 p.m. and ticket information can be obtained by calling 704-342-4-ICE or visiting www.gocheckers.com

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

TEAM	GP	W	L	OTL	SOL	PTS	GF	GA	STK	P 10	PIM
1. South Carolina Sting Rays	55	32	14	4	5	73	189	177	1-0-0-0	2-5-2-1	789
2. Charlotte Checkers	49	28	15	3	3	62	189	158	5-0-0-1	7-2-0-1	1036
3. Florida Everblades	51	25	18	3	5	58	162	152	1-0-1-1	5-3-1-1	946
4. Gwinnett Gladiators	49	23	21	3	2	51	173	186	0-2-0-0	5-5-0-0	815

NOTES:

* Charlotte is 5-0-1 in its last six games…

* The Checkers lead the ECHL with 35.84 shots per game…

* Mike Taylor is currently riding a four-game point streak (1g, 4a)…

* Goaltender Ryan Munce is unbeaten in regulation in six straight games (5-0-1)…

* Julien Brouillette ranks fifth among all ECHL defensemen with 30 points (12g, 18a)…

* Tyler Doig ranks fourth among all ECHL players with 56 points (14g, 42a)…

* T.J. Reynolds leads the ECHL with 197 penalty minutes and is second in overall plus-minus with a +22 rating…

* Andrew Carroll, Derek Couture, Kenny Roche and Kevin Schaeffer are with Hartford (AHL), Matt Ford and Randy Rowe are with Lake Erie (AHL) and Ethan Graham is with Milwaukee (AHL)…

* Trevor Glass, Chris Snavely and Chris Chappell are on the 21-day injured reserve.

LINES:

Stefanishion – Leveille © – Doig
Slattengren – Tkaczuk – Schepke
Crane – Chabot – Marshall

Brouillette – Ward
Berube – Reynolds
Dowzak

Munce

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Trevor Glass – Lower Body – Early March
Chris Snavely – Upper Body – 2-3 Weeks

Chris Chappell – Shoulder Surgery – Season Over

THREE STARS:

1. CHR – R. Crane
2. CHR – M. Schepke
3. GWT – T. Miller

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Steve Patafie (29)

Linesmen:
David Jones (57)
Ben Shiley (92)

NEXT GAME:

The Checkers play the second of a back-to-back with Gwinnett before they do the most unique thing we’ve ever seen in professional sports…a midnight game with the Toledo Walleye Be sure to check out www.twitter.com/howlingstoday for coverage.

You can buy tickets for any Checkers game home or away at Ticketmaster.com.

Should you want to watch this very exciting team from the comfort of your computer chair, all Checkers games are available on B2Live.

SCORE-SHEET:

Charlotte Checkers 5 At Gwinnett Gladiators 1 – Status: Final

Feb 12, 2010 – The Arena at Gwinnett Center

Charlotte 0 1 4 – 5

Gwinnett 1 0 0 – 1

1st Period-1, Gwinnett, Miller 9 (Paris), 15:33. Penalties-Francis Gwt (hooking), 18:48.

2nd Period-2, Charlotte, Schepke 16 (Slattengren, Brouillette), 14:18. Penalties-Munce Chr (delay of game), 7:00; Stefanishion Chr (hooking), 9:08; Francis Gwt (unsportsmanlike conduct), 16:25.

3rd Period-3, Charlotte, Ward 3 (Doig, Stefanishion), 8:04. 4, Charlotte, Crane 2 (Reynolds), 11:00. 5, Charlotte, Crane 3 (Marshall, Chabot), 13:52. 6, Charlotte, Marshall 14 (Crane, Munce), 17:44. Penalties-Brouillette Chr (hooking), 2:22.

Shots on Goal-Charlotte 12-16-11-39. Gwinnett 5-9-12-26.

Power Play Opportunities-Charlotte 0 of 2; Gwinnett 0 of 3.

Goalies-Charlotte, Munce 13-9-1-1 (26 shots-25 saves). Gwinnett, Taylor 14-10-1-2 (39 shots-34 saves).

A-3,792