By Bruce Berlet
Left wing Dane Byers will be playing in the Wolf Pack’s home finale Saturday night – for the opposition.
Byers, the Wolf Pack’s fourth captain, was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets by the New York Rangers on Thursday for forward Chad Kolarik, who had four goals and six assists in 13 games with the Springfield Falcons, the Wolf Pack’s opponent Saturday night at the XL Center.
A major move was expected with the Wolf Pack (4-9-2-1) mired in a 1-8-2-0 slide that included a franchise-record, nine-game winless streak (0-7-2-0). But that wasn’t an inkling the departing party would be Byers, the Rangers’ second-round pick in 2004 who has always been a standup guy and strong foot soldier in the corners and in front of the net.
At practice Thursday, Byers was reunited with veterans Kris Newbury and Jeremy Williams, but coach Ken Gernander will have to put together more new line combinations with the departure of Byers, who was tied for second on the team in scoring with three goals and six assists in 16 games.
“Hopefully the trade will help our team,” Gernander said Thursday night. “Kolarik could be more of an offensive player than Dane, and we’ve been having trouble scoring goals. Hopefully he can give us a spark.”
The Wolf Pack has averaged an AHL-low 1.92 goals and has scored only 10 goals in 10 games aside from a 7-1 romp over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Sunday night. But they were shut out for the second time this season on Tuesday night, 4-0 by the Toronto Marlies. That was the eighth time in their last 11 games that the Wolf Pack scored one or zero goals.
Gernander said he wasn’t sure if he would use Kolarik at his listed position of center or at right wing, where he has played this season.
“I’ll talk to him (Friday) and see what he thinks,” Gernander said. “He’s been playing right wing, but I’ll find out where he feels most comfortable. He has potential to create some offense, and that’s what we need.”
Kolarik, 24, has three power-play goals, which was tied for the Falcons lead and ninth in the league. The 5-foot-11, 195-pounder has 50 goals and 60 assists in 165 AHL games with the Falcons, Syracuse Crunch and San Antonio Rampage. He also was scoreless in two games with the Blue Jackets last season.
Before turning pro, Kolarik had 78 goals and 96 assists in 163 games at the University of Michigan of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. He helped the Wolverines capture the CCHA regular season and tournament titles and led Michigan to the NCAA Frozen Four as a senior in 2007-08. He was named a second team All-American, NCAA All-East and All-CCHA First Team All-Star that season after registering career highs with 30 goals, 56 points, seven game-winning goals, four shorthanded goals and a plus-27 rating in 39 games.
The native of Abington, Pa., was a seventh-round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes in 2004 and third on the Falcons (7-5-1-0) in scoring.
Byers, 24, was named Rangers captain last season. His successor could be Newbury or veteran defenseman Wade Redden, who were the alternate captains this season.
All-Wolf Pack Team To Be Announced Saturday
The All-Time Wolf Pack Team, selected by a vote of the fans, will be announced Saturday night before the game against the Falcons, the last for the Wolf Pack at the XL Center. The first 3,000 fans will receive a free Wolf Pack commemorative poster, and there will be video highlights of the 13-plus years of the team, which will be re-branded as the Connecticut Whale on Nov. 27 against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
Fans voted for one goalie, two defensemen and three forwards. The candidates were goaltenders Jason LaBarbera, J.F. Labbe and Steve Valiquette, defensemen Dan Girardi, Mike Mottau, Thomas Pock, Corey Potter, Dale Purinton and Terry Virtue and forwards Gernander, Byers, Derek Armstrong, Nigel Dawes, Alex Giroux, Todd Hall, Greg Moore, P.A. Parenteau, Richard Scott, Brad Smyth, P.J. Stock and Craig Weller.
Wolf Pack Bowl-a-Thon on Sunday
The Wolf Pack will host their annual Bowl-a-Thon on Sunday at the AMF Silver Lanes, 748 Silver Lane, East Hartford. There will be sessions at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
All Wolf Pack players will be bowling with teams of four bowlers, who have collected pledges to benefit Special Olympics Connecticut Eastern Region. A minimum pledge of $200 is required for a team to enter, and the top fund-raising teams will win prizes, including the use of luxury suites at Wolf Pack home games.
Register online at www.soct.org. For more information, call 877-660-6667.
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