BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings
HARTFORD, CT – It has been 323 days since the Hartford Wolf Pack last played in a game, a 3-1 loss to the Providence Bruins on March 12, 2020.
The Pack returned to play on Sunday in their first exhibition game since that loss. The opponent Sunday were those very same Providence Bruins, and the result was the same, a 3-1 defeat at the XL Center. There were no fans in attendance.
The Bruins got goals from Cooper Zech, and Jack Ahcan and Nick Wolff added an empty-net tally in the win.
For the first exhibition game of the season, the team’s performance was a mixed bag.
The Pack made things interesting as veteran Jonny Brodzinski converted on the power play on a rare, big rebound left by Bruins goalie, Jeremy Swayman (29 saves), beating him to the far side at 17:20.
The Wolf Pack made a strong bid to tie. After lifting goalie Francois Brassard, with 1:31 to go, Brodzinski had a chance from the right point denied by Swayman.
On a late power play chance, the Pack’s Anthony Greco fired a shot from the top of the right circle. Swayman denied the attempt with a right pad, but the puck rebounded to Patrick Newell in front of the net. He made a deft pass in the slot to Brodzinski, who blasted it past Swayman’s far side to trim the score to 2-1.
FIRST HALF OF THE GAME
Providence controlled the first half of the game with ample offensive zone time, scoring twice in the first period for a 2-0 lead.
The Bruins took the lead just 2:46 into the game. Pavel Shen, operating below the goal line, zipped a pass to Zech in the slot’s left side, sending a wrister on the game’s first shot past Pack starter, Adam Huska.
Ahcan upped the lead to 2-0 at 10:43 on the game’s first power play.
Forward Robert Lantosi, fresh from returning from his home in Slovakia, dropped the puck back to Ahcan at the right point. He fired a shot got past Huska.
SECOND HALF OF THE GAME
In the second half of the second period, the Wolf Pack put 13 shots on Swayman. Ty Ronning had three of his shots as the Pack made a strong effort to pressure the rookie, a former University of Maine product who played in the XL Center against UCONN.
“It was a tough battle, a fast-paced game, and we generated some pucks at the net; playing with (Michael) O’Leary, we ended up a little short. (Swayman’s) a good goalie. We were generating some good chances off the rush; we just couldn’t put one in the net,” Ronning said.
Ronning is in his third training camp and is on the last year of his ELC deal.
“We had our chances, but he didn’t give us much to look at and made some saves on us; we just didn’t finish them,” O’ Leary said.
Leary, a Notre Dame grad, played his prep school hockey at Salisbury School. He spent the off-season back in Halifax training with teammate Morgan Barron.
His linemates, O’ Leary, and an 18-year-old, Will Cullye, made an impression on Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch.
“All three played very hard tonight. They played at a high pace and are very quick. Cullye skates very well, but he’s more cerebral, smoother with the puck, takes his time a little more.”
The Wolf Pack pulled Brassard with 1:55 left for an extra attacker in a bid to tie the game. Wolff, a former college teammate of the Pack’s Justin Richards at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, iced the game with 24.5 seconds left. He brought the puck out of the Providence zone and fired the puck from outside the blue line to secure the 3-1 final.
NOTES:
The Wolf Pack outshot the Bruins 30-22.
Huska played the first two periods, allowing two goals on 14 shots. Brassard played the third period stopping all seven shots tossed his way.
LINES:
Tim Gettinger – Jonny Brodzinski – Anthony Greco
Morgan Barron – Justin Richards – Patrick Newell
Alex Whelan – Patrick Khodorenko – Austin Rueschhoff
Will Cullye – Michael O’Leary – Ty Ronning
Tarmo Reunanen – Vincent LoVerde
Brandon Crawley – Braden Schneider
Steven Ruggiero – Zach Guittari
Adam Huska
Francois Brassard
Dylan Garand
Monday’s game has been postponed because of the impending snowstorm and is not likely to be rescheduled.
Wolf Pack begins their abbreviated schedule on Sunday, February 7th at 1:00 PM against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
During the game, the New York Rangers announced that they had placed Tony D’Angelo on waivers. Reports surfaced that the defenseman had had an altercation with ex-Pack goalie Alexander Georgiev in the team’s runway tunnel leading to the locker room.
According to Rick Carpinello of The Athletic, D’Angelo was placed on waivers, resulting in a ripple effect in the team lineup as far as the taxi squad and maybe even in Hartford.
D’Angelo had issues in his time in Harford. Fighting a teammate, however, has proven that’s something the Rangers will not tolerate.
