VERSUS      

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HERSHEY, PA – Wolves are not supposed to be able to maul bears, but they did on Saturday night.

The Hartford Wolf Pack burst out with four goals in the first 8:03 of the game, and they did it on just seven shots and beat the Hershey Bears 5-2. The win extends their season-high unbeaten streak to ten games (9-0-1-0). The team is now four games above .500 with a record of 24-20-1-3 for 55 points.

The Hershey Bears, usually at or near the top of the AHL standings race, are in last place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 18-25-3-4 for 43 points.

The Pack silenced the 10,574 at the Giant Center, a building that has swallowed some Wolf Pack teams whole over the years.

The Wolf Pack scored on their first powerplay.

Vince Pedrie took Steven Fogarty’s pass and from dead center, 50 feet out, dropped a big slap shot. Cole Schneider, the UCONN product, was in front of the net set a wide screen in front of Bears’ goalie Pheonix Copley and got his stick on the puck for a perfect tip-in for his tenth of the campaign at 1:30.

At 3:15, the Pack made it 2-0.

Dan Catenacci came off the right-wing and sent a backhand attempt at the net. Copley was looking to trap the puck with his glove hand but instead saw it sail past him. Eric Selleck was on the left side, and quickly grabbed the puck and stuffed it in on the short-side for his third goal of the season.

The Pack made it a 3-0 score on a four-on-four situation.

The scoring sequence started with a big defensive play by Ryan Sproul, who was able to force the Bears’ Wayne Simpson on a break down on the right wing and forced him wide with no shot and then crunched him into the backboards.

The puck found rookie Filip Chytil who, with a nice short chip off the boards, sprung Boo Nieves for a free rush down the left wing. Nieves hit Sproul coming up as the trailer and he rifled his sixth goal in six games and his tenth of the season at 7:02. The Bears defenseman, Colby Williams, assisted by backing in and knocking Copley down.

Bears’ head coach, Troy Mann, responded by pulling Copley in favor Vitek Vanacek hoping to stop the bleeding.

The Pack completed their highly-unlikely offensive outburst 61 seconds later on the power-play.

Fogarty made a short pass that split the Bears defense and allowed he and Ryan Gropp to break in on a two-on-one. Gropp waited and then slipped the puck back to Fogarty who put his eighth into the back of the net converting on a tripping penalty by ex-Wolf Pack captain Joe Whitney, traded to the Bears just over 24 hours ago.

At the end of the period, The Pack got another power play as a former Quinnipiac University Bobcat, Jamie Langlois, high-sticked Gropp earning himself a double minor.

The Pack made it 5-0 at 1:08 of the second period as Chytil picked up his second assist when he found and sent a pass toward Scott Kosmachuk, who had inside position on Colby Williams and redirected his 12^th past Vanacek.

The Bears tallied their first as Dustin Gazely was right on the doorstep and took a pass from Tyler Grabovac who had retrieved an Aaron Ness pass. He swept around to make the pass and Gazely buried his seventh of the season at 12:14.

The Bears had eleven shots-on-goal in the third and were able to get only one more past Halverson.

Jonas Siegenthaler retrieved Garnett Mitchell’s wide shot and then found Liam O’Brien. He got the puck and stuffed it into the open right side for his ninth goal at 3:18, but that as far as it got for Hershey. Halverson (31 saves) kept the door closed the rest of the way.

NOTES:

The Pack will bus to Philadelphia tomorrow and fly to Charlotte for a pair of mid-week games.

Sproul (1^st star)

Fogarty (2^nd star)

Chytil (3^rd star)

Pedrie and Gropp, and the Three Stars all had two-point games each.

Adam Tambellini’s seven-point game scoring streak came to an end.

It was Halverson’s first game for the Wolf Pack since he played April 14 of last year in the next to the last game of the season against Utica. That game was a 5-4 loss.

The last game action Halverson had was with the Pack’s ECHL affiliates, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, on January 10th. That was a 4-2 road loss to Jacksonville.

The newest Wolf Pack, John Albert, wore #23 and was at center ice for the opening game faceoff. Hubert Labrie wore #32 and had a big hit on former Pack Adam Chapie in the third.

Chapie wore #22 for Hershey and Joe Whitney, #21. Whitney had two shots and Chapie none.

Veteran d-man, Brendan Smith, made his Wolf Pack debut. He wore #42 and goaltender Chris Nell arrived from Kansas City (ECHL) to be Halverson’s backup.

Defenseman Desmond Bergin was released by the Pack after one game and was returned to Adirondack (ECHL).

Charlotte blitzed Springfield 7-0 tonight with Andrew Poturlarski with the hat-trick. Former Ranger, Josh Jooris, was reassigned by Carolina and played wearing #37 and picked up an assist.

Former Salisbury Prep goalie Callum Booth is with Charlotte called up from Florida (ECHL).

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The post CANTLON: (SAT) PACK EXTEND UNBEATEN STREAK TO TEN first appeared on Howlings.

      VERSUS      

Hartford Wolf Pack 5, Hershey Bears 2

BY: Bob Crawford, Hartford Wolf Pack

Hershey, PA, February 10, 2018 – The Hartford Wolf Pack exploded for four goals in the first 8:03 of the game Saturday night at Giant Center, and cruised to a 5-2 win over the Hershey Bears.

The win was the Wolf Pack’s fourth in a row, and the team now has at least a point in a season-high ten straight games (9-0-1-0).  Hartford’s season record is now 24-20-4-3 for 55 points, a high-water mark of four games above .500.

“We wanted to make sure in this building that we had a good start, and we were able to pressure pucks, use our speed and get the lead that we wanted,” Wolf Pack head coach Keith McCambridge said.

The Wolf Pack’s first-period barrage started at the 1:30 mark, on a power-play goal by Cole Schneider.  With Nathan Walker in the penalty box for tripping, Schneider tipped a shot from the middle of the blue line by Vince Pedrie past Hershey starting goaltender Pheonix Copley.

Just 1:45 later, at 3:15, Eric Selleck would make it a 2-0 Wolf Pack lead with his third goal of the season.  Dan Catenacci slid the puck on net while being knocked down by a Hershey defender, and Copley attempted to cover it.  It slid away from him, though, and Selleck swept it into the net.

Copley’s night was ended at 7:02, when Ryan Sproul scored the Wolf Pack’s third goal on five shots, and his sixth in six games.  With the teams skating 4-on-4, Boo Nieves carried into the Hershey zone and passed to the right circle.  Copley had no chance on Sproul’s shot from there, with Bear defenseman Colby Williams running into his own goaltender.

Only 61 seconds after Vitek Vanecek relieved Copley, the Wolf Pack would score the fourth goal, at 8:03.  Ryan Gropp and Steven Fogarty broke past the Hershey defense, and Gropp sent a perfect pass to Fogarty at the right side of the goal mouth, setting him up for an easy finish past a helpless Vanecek.

The Wolf Pack carried the momentum over into the second period after Hershey’s Jeremy Langlois received a double-minor for high-sticking Gropp at the 20-minute mark of the first.

On that power play, Scott Kosmachuk increased the Wolf Pack lead to 5-0 only 1:08 into the second, the Wolf Pack’s third man-advantage goal of the game.  Filip Chytil passed the puck off the right-wing boards, and Kosmachuk got his stick free in the slot to deflect it past Vanecek.

Hershey answered that goal at the 12:14 mark, eight seconds after a Bear power play expired.  Tyler Graovac stickhandled the puck loose at the left-wing side of the goalmouth and slid it in front to Gazley, who rapped it past Wolf Pack goaltender Brandon Halverson, making his first AHL appearance of the season.

Hershey scored the only goal of the third period, with Liam O’Brien cutting the margin to three at 3:18.  He got to a loose puck behind the Wolf Pack net, and came around the post to Halverson’s left and slid it in.

Halverson and his teammates shut the door after that, and Halverson finished with 31 saves, continuing a run of solid Wolf Pack netminding after Alexandar Georgiev earned a recall to the parent New York Rangers earlier in the day.

“Very nice win,” said McCambridge of Halverson’s effort.  “The guys knew, as a group, that this was a really important game for everybody, but especially for him.”

The game was the first with the Wolf Pack for center John Albert and defenseman Hubert Labrie, trade acquisitions who had been with the Bears before being dealt to the Rangers’ organization Friday afternoon.

“I thought they were excellent,” said McCambridge of the two new additions.  “I thought right away the players in that (Wolf Pack locker) room, the players that have been here, made them feel like they were part of the team, and I thought the on-ice product for all the players was really strong.  Nice additions, and really good job by (Wolf Pack general manager) Chris Drury.”

The Wolf Pack continue a stretch of six straight games, and eight out of ten, on the road Tuesday night, when they make their first visit of the year to Charlotte, NC to battle the Checkers.  Faceoff is 7:00 PM and all of the action can be heard live on News Radio 1410 WPOP, and online at newsradio1410.com and iHeartRadio.  Video streaming is available at ahllive.com.

The next home game for the Wolf Pack is also against Hershey, Friday, February 23, a 7:15 PM contest at the XL Center.  As at all Friday-night Wolf Pack home games, fans can enjoy $1 hot dogs and $2 beers through the start of the second period, presented by Dave & Buster’s.

Tickets for all Wolf Pack 2017-18 home games are on sale now at the Agera Energy Ticket Office at the XL Center, online at hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (877) 522-8499.

Season ticket information for the Wolf Pack’s 2017-18 AHL season can be found online at hartfordwolfpack.com.  To speak with a representative about all of the Wolf Pack’s many attractive ticketing options, call (855) 762-6451.

Hartford Wolf Pack 5 at Hershey Bears 2
Saturday, February 10, 2018 – Giant Center

Hartford 4 1 0 – 5
Hershey 0 1 1 – 2

1st Period-1, Hartford, Schneider 10 (Pedrie, Fogarty), 1:30 (PP). 2, Hartford, Selleck 3 (Catenacci, Andersson), 3:15. 3, Hartford, Sproul 10 (Nieves, Chytil), 7:02. 4, Hartford, Fogarty 8 (Gropp, Pedrie), 8:03 (PP). Penalties-Walker Her (tripping), 1:04; Schneider Hfd (slashing), 5:40; Whitney Her (tripping), 6:44; Sill Her (misconduct – unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:03; Smith Hfd (cross-checking), 16:24; Langlois Her (double minor – high-sticking), 20:00.

2nd Period-5, Hartford, Kosmachuk 12 (Chytil, Sproul), 1:08 (PP). 6, Hershey, Gazley 7 (Graovac, Ness), 12:14. Penalties-Leedahl Hfd (tripping), 10:06; Sproul Hfd (interference), 12:42; Sill Her (tripping), 16:37; Gropp Hfd (holding), 18:43.

3rd Period-7, Hershey, O’Brien 9 (Siegenthaler, G. Mitchell), 3:18. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Hartford 7-9-7-23. Hershey 10-12-11-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 3 / 5; Hershey 0 / 5.
Goalies-Hartford, Halverson 1-0-0 (33 shots-31 saves). Hershey, Copley 8-12-5 (5 shots-2 saves); Vanecek 7-7-1 (18 shots-16 saves).
A-10,574
Referees-Pierre Lambert (47), Corey Syvret (42).
Linesmen-Scott Pomento (25), J.P. Waleski (14).

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The post CRAWFORD: (SAT) PACK CONTINUE TO FIND WAYS TO WIN first appeared on Howlings.