FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet
By Bruce Berlet Chad Kolarik was chilling out around 4 p.m. Thursday when he got a phone call from Columbus Blue Jackets assistant general manager Chris McFarland. To his stunning surprise, the right wing on the Springfield Falcons’ No. 1 line learned he…
FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet
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…
NIGHT VISION
By Bruce Berlet Though this space is usually filled with information and features on the Hartford Wolf Pack/Connecticut Whale and New York Rangers, special occasions bring special consideration. The two games for the Yale women’s hockey team this weekend…
FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet
By Bruce Berlet Coaching hockey at one of the world’s finest institutions of higher learning (and discipline) has been in the Riley family tree for 60 years. Memories abound since Jack Riley began a 36-year run on the banks of the Hudson River in New…
FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet
By Bruce Berlet John Paddock, who guided the Wolf Pack to their only Calder Cup in 2000, got an unexpected request Monday night to become the new interim coach of the Adirondack Phantoms, the top affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers. Paddock, the Flyers…
FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet
By Bruce Berlet Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander has never been averse to shuffling lines to try to shake up his troops, but he has changed them more this year than his socks. And that’s something considering the Wolf Pack usually don’t play more than four…
FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet
By Bruce Berlet Alexa Guglielmi grew up a Hartford Whalers fan, though she didn’t get to see her favorite team much before they pulled anchor and headed to North Carolina. But the parents of the Trinity College women’s hockey team captain were longtime…
FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet
By: Bruce Berlet Losing one of your most versatile forwards and second-leading scorer before the season even starts and your leading scorer and captain in the third game might throw many teams for a loop. The Rangers faced such a dilemma early in their…
FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet
By Bruce Berlet With Tim Kennedy out with an undisclosed injury, the four centers who played for the Wolf Pack on Wednesday night started the game against the Albany Devils with a total of zero goals. That’s nada, zilch, none – in eight games. Ryan…
FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet
By Bruce Berlet Jeremy Williams has seen plenty in seven pro seasons and scored some NHL-type goals while in the AHL, as he did Saturday night for the Hartford Wolf Pack. So while his highlight-reel goal that ended a 159-minute, 18-second scoring drought…