HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack looks to rebound from their first loss of the season as they set out to play the visiting Providence Bruins on Sunday at 1 PM at the XL Center.

The Pack will try to improve on their 2-1 record.

Gabriel Fontaine will be unavailable to Pack Head Coach Kris Knoblauch after suffering an upper-body injury, but not to his surgically repaired left shoulder.

Not having his veteran center with such a young team and the lack of his presence puts immediate issues for the Wolf Pack with the traditional lack of natural center into play.

The decision to not sign Nick Jones, who played Thursday in Manitoba’s opener in Winnipeg, allowed Ville Meskanen to return to Finland last season, and not signing Matt Beleskey to an AHL deal leaves the Wolf Pack in this early predicament.

On the other hand, the only saving grace is the 24-game schedule.

KNOBLAUCH COMMENTS

“It certainly put us in a tough position. In the second and third, we had to shift some players and (Austin) Rueschhoff taking a faceoff on that goal, he’s a natural winger, so it hurts us, no doubt,” Knoblauch said.

The failure to finish on scoring chances, especially with such disparity as a 23-9 advantage at one point, was another glaring issue.

“We had some great chances Greco coming off the wing and (Tim) Gettinger on a shorthanded two-on-one with (Paul) Thompson. Credit Bridgeport’s goalie (Jakub Skarek) he made the save to keep his team in the game, but we have to bury those chances.”

Rueschhoff, a rookie right-wing, had an intense afternoon with a goal, four shots, and a big one, Cole Coskey, that knocked him out of the game for about half a period.

“Austin had a strong game, and for a big man, he shows he has some good goal-scoring skills. He made a nice play, and that was a good strong well-placed shot, and he was heading to the net on the play.”

QUINNIPIAC’S WHELAN EARNS PRAISE

In his first pro game, Alex Whelan of Quinnipiac University drew some favorable comments from the head coach.

“He did some nice things out there on Austin’s goal. His hit forced a turnover, and he did that in the second period as well. I liked what he for us.”

The Sound Tigers solid forechecking in the second half of the game was very noticeable.

“Part of the winning goal because we’re down a guy with Fontaine, and we couldn’t get the puck out, and they were able to maintain it, and we’re going have to address in our practice and make our team ready Sunday for Providence.”

Tyler Wall made his debut in Bridgeport with mixed results. Several goals didn’t happen because of Wall’s play, and an early first-period save on Thomas Kuhnhackl kept Bridgeport off the scoreboard. Some of the goals were not Wall’s fault. They came as a result of plays and events that occur in a hockey game.

“That save, and he made a few others even though they didn’t have many were important, and it was a nice side to side save, but he and the whole team have things to work on.”

WHO WILL BE IN BETWEEN THE PIPES?

The question after Wall’s performance is, will it be him, Adam Huska, or Dylan Garand who will mind the net for the Pack on Sunday?

“We’ve got a few more practices to go, so we haven’t made a decision yet,” Knoblauch said.

The New York Rangers will play two games this week after a week’s hiatus before the Wolf Pack play on Sunday.

“The schedule will dictate the rosters (taxi squad) in NY, and I have no idea because things change daily, so we’ll come in Sunday and look at the nameplates and go from there,” Knoblauch said with a laugh.

PRACTICE CHALLENGE

The Wolf Pack is structured and bifurcated with defenseman and forwards flip-flopping morning afternoon times as per the COVID restrictions promulgating from the DPH (Department of Public Health). The shortened season has allowed him and Gord Murphy to work on stringer instructional training and the players with a reduced game schedule also get more rest.

“The situation isn’t ideal, but everybody is doing things differently.

“We can do a lot of instructional and Zoom training with players, and now you’re having a game or maybe two, but it’s spread out over a week. Players can get the proper rest they need because some times with a full schedule, that doesn’t always happen, but our staff has done a very good job on this right from the beginning,”

The hope is that they’ll l be ready and rested for Sunday’s test with the Bruins.

BRADEN SCHNEIDER

Braden Schneider, who played two games with the Wolf Pack and with his junior league finally announcing a start date, returned for quarantine reasons. He was named the captain of the Brandon Wheat Kings for the 2020-21 season.

The 19-year-old defenseman becomes the 64th captain in franchise history.

Schneider is entering his fourth season in the Western Hockey League after being drafted 12th overall by the Wheat Kings in the 2016 WHL Draft. A native of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Schneider has played 185 games on Brandon’s blueline and finished the 2019-20 season with a season-high 42 points (7G-35A).

“Braden was a part of our leadership group last year, and he’s a big part of our hockey club,” says Wheat Kings Head Coach Don MacGillivray. “He’s coming back for his fourth year and is a respected leader on the ice and in our dressing room. He’s a player who has always done everything he’s asked, and he was the obvious choice to lead our group this season. He’s a great person to show our players how to play in the Western Hockey League and how to be a Wheat King.”

In October, Schneider was drafted in the 1st Round (19th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft by the New York Rangers.

Schneider also won silver with Team Canada at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship this winter in Edmonton, Alberta.

SCHNEIDER REACTS

“It’s an honor to be part of the leadership group again this season,” says Schneider. “It means a lot to me that our coaching staff has put the trust in me to lead our group. With so much history in this club, it’s a really special honor to be named a captain of the Wheat Kings”.

The WHL’s East Division includes the Wheat Kings, Winnipeg Ice, Regina Pats, Prince Albert Raiders, Saskatoon Blades, Moose Jaw Warriors, and Swift Current Broncos – begin their regular season schedule on March 12th in Regina, Saskatchewan, in a hub city format. All East Division games will be played out of Regina’s Brandt Centre without fans’ attendance due to COVID-19 precautions.

Some of the previous franchise captains have CT ties, including a Rangers player, Bill Fairbairn (1968-1976), one-time New Haven Nighthawks Dan Bonar, and Don Dietrich, who at age 59 passed away from cancer this week. Sadly, he also suffered from MS. A pair of former Hartford Whalers, the late Brad McCrimmon and Terry Yake, former Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Dan Tetrault, and Ryan Pulock, one-time Wolf Pack, Shayne Wiebe, and former Quinnipiac University Bobcat, Peter Quenneville.

NACHBAUR GETS A JOB

Former Whalers and New Haven Nighthawks player Don Nachbaur, who had been coaching SC Bern in Switzerland LNA but stepped down on December 1st, was hired as an associate coach with the Tri-City (WA) Americans (WHL).

Tri-City Americans General Manager, Bob Tory, announced the hiring of Nachbaur. He will join a fellow former NHL’er, Kelly Buchberger, who is in his third season with the Americans.

Nachbaur returns to Tri-City after spending six seasons with the Americans as head coach between 2003 and 2009. During his previous stint in Tri-City, Nachbaur led the Americans to the Scotty Munro Memorial Trophy as the WHL’s regular season champions in 2008 and guided the team to two division championships in 2008 and 2009.

Nachbaur is a WHL coaching veteran; he also spent six years with the Seattle Thunderbirds and seven with the Spokane Chiefs. Nachbaur is third all-time in wins for a WHL coach with 692. He’s also won the WHL’s Dunc McCallum Memorial Trophy as Coach of the Year three times: 1994-95 with Seattle, 2007-08 with Tri-City, and 2010-11 with Spokane.

“I am extremely excited to bring Don back to our organization,” said Tory. “I have worked with him twice, and both times he won WHL Coach of the Year. He brings a wealth of experience both as a player and a coach.”

Nachbaur played in the WHL with the Billings (MT) Bighorns (1977-1979) for two seasons playing 137 games with 67 goals and 146 points and 303 PM and was drafted by the Whalers in the third round 60th overall in the 1979 NHL Draft.

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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The post CANTLON: PACK HOME FOR BATTLE WITH BRUINS first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – There will be a new captain for the Hartford Wolf Pack next season.

Last year’s captain, the 13th in Wolf Pack history, Steven Fogarty, has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Buffalo Sabres paying him $750K for his play in the NHL and $250K if he plays in the AHL.

Fogarty’s numbers while playing in 252 games in Hartford show 50 goals and 80 assists (130 points). Last season, he played in 54 games through injuries and illness potting 13 goals and 37 points. In addition to his five-on-five play, he was also on the first PK unit. Fogarty was seen as a strong captain, and the best since the recently retired, Ryan Bourque, was with the team. He was also the first one not to be traded in five years.

He improved his plus/minus from a garish minus-21 to a plus-two.

He was originally drafted by the New York Rangers in 2011 in the third round (72nd overall) out of Edina (MN) H.S. where he played under the tutelage of former Ranger defenseman, Curt Giles.

Fogarty had a spectacular junior year with the BCHL Penticton Vees (BCHL) where he was part of the team’s winning of the league regular season title, playoff title, and won the Page Cup, the top prize in Canadian junior A hockey.

The team was selected to be part of the 2020 BC Hall of Fame Class, but the ceremony over the summer was canceled.

He had a solid four-year NCAA Division-I career at the University of Notre Dame with 65 points in 150 games. He was the Irish captain in his junior and senior years.

With Fogarty’s signing, Boo Nieves (Group 6 FA), Matt Beleskey (UFA), and J.F. Berube (UFA) are the last three members of last year’s team who have not signed pro deals yet. None of them received a qualifying offer from the Rangers.

Ex-CT Whale, Mike Pelech, after his initial deal with Atlanta (ECHL) was dissolved when the team suspended operations for a year, signs with the Wheeling Nailers (ECHL).

Former Bridgeport Sound Tiger goalie, C.J. Motte, returns from Coventry (England-EIHL) and signs with the Allen Americans (ECHL). Motte has re-signed with the English team, but the EIHL has elected not to play this season. Joining Motte is another ex-Sound Tiger, Dyson Stevenson, who signed a one-year deal.

Yet another former Sound Tiger, Greg Mauldin, has retired from the game he played with Stavanger (Norway-NEL) last year. He accepts an assistant coaching position with the US National Development Team program (USNDTP U-18) that competes in the USHL and also plays an independent schedule. Another AHL’er, Kevin Porter, also retires. He took the voluntary assistant coaching position with the team that will have one-time Yale and Sacred Heart University assistant coach, Dan Muse, as its head coach.

Luke Shiplo, a former QU Bobcat, re-signs with the Jacksonville Icemen (ECHL).

PLAYER MOVEMENT

The AHL to Europe loan train continues.

Phil Varone, who spent time with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Laval Rocket, has signed with Barys Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan-KHL).

Cam Lee, the nephew of former Hartford Whaler and NHL goalie, Jean-Sébastien Giguèrem was scheduled to start his first pro season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL) but was loaned by the Pittsburgh Penguins to HC Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia-SLEL). Giguère’s other nephew, Alexander Fortin, is already playing for the Rockford Ice Hogs (AHL). His 13-year-old son, Maxime, is still at the Bantam level playing for École Lucille-Teasdale (QBAAA).

The Penguins assigned goalie, Emil Larmi, who split last season between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL)/Wheeling (ECHL) to HPK Hameenlina (Finland-FEL).

Kristian Vesalainen of the Manitoba Moose is loaned by the Winnipeg Jets to HPK Hameenlina (Finland-FEL).

Ivan Chekhovich of the San Jose Barracuda goes to Torpedo Novgorod (Russia-KHL) while Artem Zagidulin heads from the Stockton Heat to Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Russia-KHL).

Rudolf Balcers leaves the Belleville Senators for a deal with the Stavanger Oilers (Norway-NEL) was officially announced. He had been talking with Dynamo Riga (Latvia-KHL) making 162 AHL players who have been loaned or signed to European teams from last year’s AHL rosters. 30 of the league’s 31 teams have lost at least one player. Only the Chicago Wolves have gone without a player being lost. The Wolves were the Vegas Golden Knights affiliate last season, but are now affiliated with the Carolina Hurricanes.

Shane Starrett (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep) heads from the Bakersfield Condors to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for next season.

Another available free agent, AHL goalie, Antoine Bibeau, goes from the Colorado Eagles to the Chicago Wolves.

After three seasons at the Hershey Bears, Connor Hobbs goes back to a Canadian university and will skate for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies (CWUAA).

Carson Meyer, of Ohio State (Big 10), signs with the Cleveland Barons (AHL) while his collegiate teammate, Matt Miller, has signed with Wheeling (ECHL).

Mitchel Slattery from Northern Michigan University (WCHA) has signed with Knoxville (SPHL) making 180 players from Division I colleges who have signed North American pro deals. 313 players Division-I, and Division-III combined have signed pro deals in North America and Europe.

The conference breakdown is; Hockey East 35, NCHC 33, Big 10 has 30, WCHA and ECACHL has 29, AHA has 22, and Division-I independent Arizona State has four.

Eight more collegiate transfers as Matt Cairns (no relation to ex-Pack, Eric Cairns) leaves Cornell University (ECACHL) to head to the University of Minnesota-Duluth (NCHC).

Two players are heading to Lake Superior State (WCHA). Freshmen Brandon Puricelli, from the University of Minnesota-Duluth (NCHC), and sophomore, Jack Jeffers, from the University of Alabama-Huntsville (WCHA).

Cale List of UMASS-Lowell (HE) heads to Division-III Norwich (VT) University (NEHC). Norwich also receives Drennan Atherton from Sacred Heart University (AHA) and an inter-conference transfer in Michael Green from the University of Southern Maine (NEHC).

Andrew Froese goes from Finlandia (OH) University (NCHA) to Saint Mary’s University (MIAC), and Andrew Frojelin departs from Nazareth (PA) College (UCHC) to go to Marian (OH) University (NCHA) making for 43 transfers of Division-I and Division-III players for the college season.

Stephen John of Saint Mary’s (MIAC) signed with the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL) making 60 Division-III players signing North American pro deals.

Connor Hannon departs Finlandia University (NCHA) and signs with Leipzig (Germany Division-3) making 80 college players who put their names on deals in Europe from Division-I and Division-III.

Former New Haven Senator, Kevin Patrick, goes from the University of Vermont (HE) as an assistant coach to sign As Head Coach with Culver Military Academy, an Indiana prep school. His assistant coach is former New Haven Nighthawk, Rene Chapdelaine.

HOCKEY NEWS

The World Junior Championship (WJC) released the tournament schedule that will be played in Edmonton, and like the NHL Playoffs, also held in Edmonton, will be in a “Bubble-City” format. The City of Red Deer was to be the second site for hosting games this year. All the games will be shown on the NHL Network starting Christmas Day as the NHL Network will pick up the feed from Canada’s TSN Network. The US kicks off the tournament against the Russians at 9:30 pm Christmas night.

The following day in Canada is Boxing Day, the usual traditional starting day for the tournament. The US plays Austria at 6:30 pm.

On December 29th, the US will play the Czech Republic at 2:00 pm and then conclude the preliminary round on New Year’s Eve against Sweden at 9:30 pm.

The US and Canada, who always have great games and ratings, and who have often played on New Year’s Eve, won’t this time around. They might not meet until the medal round should both get there.

The NCHC conference announced late last week that it has finalized its plans for the 2020-21 season. The 26-game conference schedule and two-part format, which includes utilizing a centralized location. All NCHC games are to start their seasons on December 1st in Omaha, NE. It was unanimously approved by the NCHC’s Board of Directors on October 15.

The NCHC elected to have the teams divided into two divisions based on geography for 2020-21 scheduling purposes with an East and West division.

The East Division consists of Miami of Ohio, Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, and Western Michigan. The West Division will have Colorado College, Denver University, North Dakota, and Omaha.

Teams will play each of their divisional opponents six times (18 games total) and each cross-division opponent twice (eight games total), with all cross-division games taking place in the central location to alleviate travel.

The second portion of the season will then take place between January and March, with all divisional teams playing each other at home and on the road.

On December 1, Omaha’s Baxter Arena will host all eight NCHC teams. Competition in Omaha will include ten games per team (40 games total) and run through the first three weeks of December with games held throughout each week. In addition, to the cross-division games at Baxter Arena, each team will also play two games against one divisional team in the central location.

These games will all occur with schools not being in session. There seems to be one national rule collegiately that has been agreed upon, that after Thanksgiving breaks, schools will not be in session until mid-to-late January or until February 1st.

The second portion of the conference schedule will begin in the New Year and take place in all home NCHC home venues and will follow their state protocols for indoor capacity.

Following a break after the central location, all eight teams will resume playing the first weekend in January with weekend series through the conclusion of the scheduled regular season on March 5-6.

NCHC teams will play 16 games during the second part of the season, all against their divisional opponents, with eight games at home and eight games on the road. In addition, teams will have multiple and consistent bye weekends during the travel portion of the season to allow for flexibility in the schedule depending on COVID conditions.

The complete NCHC conference schedules, including matchups, game dates, and bye weekends for each of the teams, along with the NCHC’s return to play protocol, and overall COVID-19 testing plans, will be released in the coming weeks.

At this time, no changes are planned for the 2021 NCHC tournament. Any decision on possible non-conference games will be made at a later date.

The North American Hockey League season is now underway.

The Tier-II junior-level, NAHL, started its 2020-21 season this week with 23 teams aligned in a five-team Midwest Divisions and three six-team Central, East, and South divisions. The league had 26 teams last season, but like everywhere else they lost some. The Jamestown (NY) Rebels, Springfield (IL) Junior Blues, Corpus Christi (TX) IceRays, and Topeka (KS) Pilots did not return.

Next season the teams will be back and will add the Wichita Falls (TX), Warriors.

The NAHL has had other changes including the St. Cloud (MN) Blizzard being renamed the St. Cloud Norsemen and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (PA) Knights were relocated and become the Danbury (CT) Junior Hat Tricks.

Due to coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions in Alaska, the league’s two Alaska-based teams have been forced to play their early-season home games in Minnesota with the Fairbanks Ice Dogs and will be based in Marshall, MN and the Kenai River (Soldotna, AK) Brown Bears will skate in Breezy Point, MN until at least mid-January 2021.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League has gotten off to the wrong skate for their 2020-21 season.

Due to restrictions from the coronavirus (COVID-19), the 18-team QMJHL has suspended play until October 28th for teams in the six-team East and six-team West divisions that have teams based in the province of Quebec.

In the six-team Maritimes Division, all teams will continue playing except the Moncton Wildcats.

The Western Hockey League has changed the opening date for the start of the season. The 22-team major-junior WHL will commence on January 8th, 2021 with all regular season games to be played within each team’s division.

The five-team British Columbia Division and the five-team U.S. Division, which has teams in Washington (Everett, Seattle, Spokane, Tri-City) and Portland (OR), will remain the same. However, the US-Canada border, being still closed, issues regarding the scheduling inclusion or matrix still need to be resolved.

The six-team Central Division will now consist of the five Alberta-based teams, the Swift Current Broncos (Saskatchewan) move to the East Division, which will now have five teams from Saskatchewan and two teams from Manitoba.

The United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL), an independent Tier-II junior-level, recently started its 2020-21 season earlier this month.

The Premier Division has grown from 52 to 62 teams in nine regional divisions with the addition of ten teams from the Western States Hockey League who opted to go to the USPHL. Included are the Utah Outliers, who have Dawson Armstrong on their roster. He is the son of Hartford Wolf Pack great, Derek Armstrong.

The WSHL has suspended operations for 2020-21.

The USPHL has added new teams called the Elmira (NY) Junior Enforcers, Boston Advantage, Metro Jets (Fraser, MI), and the Wooster (OH) Oilers, which sat out last season.

Not returning are the Rochester (NY) Monarchs, Connecticut (Simsbury) Nighthawks, Lansing (MI) Wolves, and Jersey Shore (Middletown) Whalers, which dropped early last season.

The Boston Bandits relocated under new ownership to become the Bridgewater (NJ) Bandits. The USPHL Elite Division also has started play with 19 affiliates of Premier League teams and they have been aligned in four regional divisions for the 2020-21 season.

The post CANTLON: HOCKEY OFF-SEASON NEWS & NOTES – VOL 32 first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Stanley Cup finals are completed and attention has shifted to who will be the next superstar and who will be the steal of the draft as teams have come together via video to make their NHL Entry Draft for 2020.

The NHL Draft’s second through seventh rounds will begin at 11:30am on the NHL Network.

By 5pm Wednesday, offer sheets to team’s restricted free agents must be formally submitted,

Come Friday, the 2020-21 season officially begins at Noon when the free agency frenzy officially begins. Expect the rosters of every roster in the NHL and AHL to be very radically different by next Monday.

Any RFA’s who receive qualifying offers will be able to sign those offers when the new league year begins on Friday, October 9.

Offers will expire on Sunday, October 18 at 5:00 PM EST.  If a player does not sign the QO (qualifying offer), the issuing team will maintain the player’s rights simply by making the offer. A restricted free agent can only be signed to a new team by way of an offer sheet.

Any RFA’s who does not receive a qualifying offer becomes an unrestricted free agent and can join the open market on October 9th.

The Hartford Wolf Pack have four “Group 6” free agents.

Nick Ebert already departed Hartford and signed with Orebro HK (Sweden-SHL). Their season has already started.

The Pack’s leading scorer from last season, Vinni Lettieri, and teammate, Danny O’Regan, were having discussions with teams in Switzerland and Germany respectively, but nothing so far has materialized.

Pack center, Boo Nieves,’ future with the organization is unknown. He comes off a season that was cut short by migraine headaches. Before the COVID-19 pandemic would wipe out the season, he was playing his best hockey registering 12 points in last 10 games before the season was lost.

There has been silence about his status and he wasn’t even invited to the Rangers try-out camp before for the qualifying round.

The Wolf Pack have three unrestricted free agents; forward, Matt Beleskey, and goalie, J.F. Berube, will not get another look, but captain Steven Fogarty is also a UFA.

Fogarty is at a crossroads in the organization. He is very well-liked and was a strong captain last year, but hasn’t cracked the bottom six yet. He’ll be the most interesting case to watch come Friday to see if he gets does a better offer with a chance to play elsewhere.

Restricted free agents (RFA) include forward Gabriel Fontaine, who comes off a season where he had season-ending shoulder surgery in December. He will likely get one more chance. Ryan Gropp has yet to blossom.

On the backline, right-handed shooting, Darren Raddysh had a strong season. Then there’s the already-signed, Vincent LoVerde, who together, were the team’s number one defensive pair for about three months last season. Brandon Crawley was recalled from the ECHL Maine Mariners and was invited to the New York Rangers qualifying round training camp is still on the team’s radar.

Forward Dawson Leedahl has fallen into a unique status. He hasn’t played enough NHL games, and was an undrafted free-agent signee. He is now 25 with three years of professional experience all in the AHL and ECHL, so he does not qualify for Group 2 status making him unable to be classified as such so he can’t get an offer sheet and is in the RFA category. This falls under provision 10.2 section C in the CBA Agreement.

EURO UPDATE

Lias Andersson is off to a strong start for HV 71 of the Swedish Hockey League. He has four points in his first four games. Vitali Kravtsov had six goals and 12 points in his first 14 games with Traktor Chelyabinsk in the KHL.

PLAYER MOVEMENT

Tage Thompson (Orange/UCONN) signs a new three-year deal with the Buffalo Sabres for $1.4 million per year. He had season ending shoulder surgery in December after suffering the injury late in a game in Chicago while playing in his first game after his recall from the Rochester Americans. Thompson scored a shootout game-winner against Hartford on October 13 last season over his college Huskies teammate, Adam Huska, in a 3-2 come-from-behind win.

Kristians Rubins, of the Toronto Marlins, become the second AHL’er loaned to a Danish team with Frederikshavn White Hawks (Denmark-DHL).

Marko Dano, of the Cleveland Monsters, had his loan deal publicly announced with HK Dukla Trencin (Slovakia-SLEL), while his teammate, Kole Sherwood, was loaned to Kunlun (China-KHL). Sherwood’s brother, Kiefer, split last year between the San Diego Gulls and the Anaheim Ducks.

Joe Veleno, who split last season between the Grand Rapids Griffins and the Detroit Red WIngs, has been loaned to Malmo IF RedHawks (Sweden-SHL). He has been initially talking to HC Trinec in the Czech Republic, but the team in Sweden was settled on, which is close to the Finnish border.

167 AHL’ers have been loaned or signed in Europe.

Ryan Donato, the son of ex-Wolf Pack/Bridgeport Sound Tiger, and current Harvard head coach, Ted Donato, was traded to his third NHL team, the San Jose Sharks. The Minnesota Wild brought back a third round pick in 2021 that was originally the Penguins pick.

Ben Smith (Avon/Westminster Prep) is being loaned by Adler Mannheim (Germany-DEL) to Rogle BK (Sweden-SHL) because of an injury to ex-Pack, Adam Tambellini, who had six points in hist first three games of the SHL season, but will now miss the next seven weeks of play

Joe Widmar (CT Oilers) heads from Nice (France-FREL) and signs with Cracow (Poland-PZIHL).

Drew Elser of (Selects Academy at South Kent Prep/Avon Old Farms) is traded from Penticton (BCHL) to Trail (BCHL). He is a 2021-22 UCONN (HE) commit.

In a stunning move, 15-year-old, Connor Bedard, was granted the rare exceptional player status in Canadian junior hockey with the Regina Pats (WHL) for this season. Bedard is in camp with HV71 J-20 Super Elite League team.  His uncle is Jim Bedard, the former NHL goalie with the Washington Capitals in the mid-1970s and who had a strong European career in Finland.

Nolan Stevens, the son of ex-Hartford Whaler, John Stevens, Jr., who is an Assistant Coach with the Dallas Stars, has re-signed on a one-year, two-way deal with the St. Louis Blues paying $725K for play in the NHL and $85K should he play in the AHL. His brother, John Jr., split last year with Bridgeport and the Utica Comets. The two both played at Northeastern (HE). He would likely have been in Springfield this year, where his father played, when the team was called the Indians and for the Springfield Falcons.

Mike Corbett, the former University Alabama-Huntsville head coach, lands as an assistant coach with the Robert Morris University Colonials (AHA) program.

Kamil Vavra, the Czech Republic-born, and former Danbury Whaler, is starting his fourth season as a playing assistant coach or head coach for the Kuwaiti Falcons (KIHL) of the Kuwaiti Ice Hockey League, a six team short season league in the Arabian peninsula. Kuwait has Iraq to its north, Iran to its northeast and Saudi Arabia that borders the southern portion of the country with Persian Gulf waters to its East. He also is the head coach for the Kuwaiti women’s national team and helps the men’s nation as a player coach. The men and women are classified in IIHF Division 3 status.

WOLF PACK

Ex-Wolf Pack/CT Whale, Andrew Yogan, leaves Alba Valon (Hungary-IceHL) for Dornbirner EC (Austria-IceHL).

HOCKEY NEWS

The NAHL’s Danbury Junior Hat Tricks will kick off its maiden season on Friday and Saturday at the Danbury Ice Arena against the New Jersey Titans.

The National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC), which is an independent United States Premier Hockey League’s Tier-II junior-level, recently started its 2020-21 season that will run through late March 2021. The NCDC again will skate with 13 teams for the season, but they are now aligned in a six-team South and a seven-team North division. The Rochester (NY) Monarchs did not return this season, but the NCDC added the new Boston Advantage franchise. Also, the Boston Bandits were sold and relocated to become the Philadelphia Hockey Club based in Sewell (NJ) located in Southern New Jersey.

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), one of the three Canadian major-junior leagues, will start its 2020-21 season later this week with the same 18 teams. They are now split from four into three divisions. The six-team Maritimes Division stayed the same, but last season’s four-team East, West, and Central divisions have been combined into a six-team East and West division. Teams will play 60 games within their divisions to minimize travel and overnight stays. On Monday, two teams in the league could have their schedules already altered as the Quebec Remparts and the Blainville/Boisbrand Armada had more restrictive COVID-19 restrictions put in place because of a rise in case numbers.

IN MEMORIAM

Former NHL center, Bob Miller, who played with the Boston Bruins, Colorado Rockies, and Los Angeles Kings, and who was a star with the University of New Hampshire in the early to mid-1970s has passed away at the age of 64.

He had some AHL success in Rochester and Springfield plus one season in the old Central Hockey League. At the end of his playing career, he was in Europe with clubs in Finland, and Switzerland. He also coached for two seasons.

He played for three USA World Championship teams and the 1976 US Olympic team in Innsbruck, Austria.

The post CANTLON’S CORNER: NHL DRAFT & FREE AGENCY first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – In an expected move, the New York Rangers have placed defenseman Sean Day on unconditional waivers Saturday with the purpose of terminating the last year of his entry-level contract ($725K-NHL/$70K-AHL).

The 22-year-old defender was selected 81st overall in the third round of the 2016 NHL draft, which was the Rangers’ first pick that year. His brief Wolf Pack career totals were just 62 games with four goals and 18 total points with 21 PIM and glaring minus-24.

In Maine, with the Rangers’ ECHL Affiliates, The Mariners, in 55 contests, Day had nine goals and 35 points with 33 PIM and was a plus-16. While playing in Maine, for about two months, Day was on the top defensive pairing with Brandon Crawley before Crawley’s recall.

Day is famous for having been granted exceptional status in the OHL back in 2013 to play at age 15. At the time, he was only the fourth player ever to receive that status. Three other players have been granted that status since.

This year’s OHL Rookie-Of-The-Year, Shane Wright (Kingston Frontenacs), and Connor Bedard, who will start his first major junior season in the fall with the Regina Pats, are two of them. Bedard, the number one overall in pick in April’s WHL Bantam Draft, is the first WHL player to be granted that status.

Others who’ve been given that status include, John Tavares (2005), Aaron Eklad (2011), Connor McDavid (2012), and Joe Veleno (2015), who was the first QMJHL player to be given the early status.

Day simply never developed into the player the Rangers expected and with 19 signed organizational depth at defense, the move clears a roster spot for the organization to use whenever the AHL season starts again.

Day’s highwater mark in Hartford was toward the end of the 2018-2019 season. The Wolf Pack had already been virtually eliminated from playoff contention tallying just 13 points in 23 games, and Day ran the powerplay after John Gilmour was recalled to the Rangers. He struggled mightily to build off that moderate success this season, and despite his size and excellent skating skills, it was his decision-making away from the puck that left him vulnerable defensively too many times.

Day registered just three points through 16 games. He suffered through his share of defensive lapses and turnovers led to his demotion in December demotion to Maine in favor of Yegor Rykov, who was coming off an early training camp injury in Traverse City, MI at the Prospects Tourney.

Rykov’s (pronounced Ree-kov) star waned considerably at the end of the season as well. He was a healthy scratch in nine of the last ten games prior to the season being suspended and ultimately canceled.

Rykov has one year left on his entry-level deal. He could be on the move as well when all is said and done.

The Rangers have six defensemen with Jacob Trouba, Marc Staal, Brendan Smith, Tony D’Angelo, Adam Fox, and Ryan Lindgren. ON the blueline, the Wolf Pack has eleven including Vincent LoVerde, and Mason Geersten, who are both under contract on AHL deals for this upcoming season. Libor Hajek and upcoming RFA, Darren Raddysh, are among them.

Group 6 free-agent, Nick Ebert is already exploring European options in Sweden in the Swedish Hockey League and Russia with the KHL.

Nils Lundqkvist is another defenseman expected to come over from Sweden (Lulea HF) after having a solid SHL season and WJC tournament, but with COVID-19 issues he may have to spend another year in Sweden.

Defenseman Matt Robertson (Edmonton Oil Kings-WHL), and Tarmo Reunanen (Lukko Rauma Finland-FEL), have played off the first year of their three-year entry-level deals and should be in camp along with K’Andre Miller, who signed his ELC several days before the suspension of the season.

Swedish goalie prospect, and a second-round pick in 2018, and not under currently under contract, Olof Lindbom is also weighing offers from Swedish and Finnish teams for next season.

The Wolf Pack has two other Group 6 free agents in Vinni Lettieri and Danny O’Regan. They also have two UFA’s in team captain and forward, Steven Fogarty, and Matt Beleskey, both of whom have their contracts expire in June.

It’s a possibility that O’Regan would be the only one in that quartet back next season.

The Rangers have three UFA’s, Jesper Fast, Greg McKegg, and former Wolf Pack/CT Whale, and Sound Tiger, Micheal Haley. Fast would be the obvious choice to be signed by the Rangers.

The post CANTLON: DAY PLACED ON UNCONDITIONAL WAIVERS first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – With the 2019-20 AHL and Hartford Wolf Pack season officially canceled, talk changes from what could have been, to what awaits at the next training camp that should start at some point in the final months of 2020.

For the New York Rangers, their off-season decisions are many and plentiful.

The NHL’s proposed salary cap which was projected to be between $84 and $88 million two weeks before the pandemic outbreak is out the window as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Roster decisions will now be even harder for every team’s management to handle once that actual number is decided upon.

The Rangers have an excess of defensemen as they did last year.

There are 19 defensemen in the system and only 12 can dress between the AHL and NHL. Some are heading elsewhere.

In New York, Jacob Trouba, Marc Staal, Ryan Lindgren, Brendan Smith, Adam Fox and Tony D’Angelo have the top spots.

Staal and Smith each have one year remaining before they reach UFA status. D’Angelo is now an RFA coming off a solid potentially shortened season. Lindgren will be an RFA after next season.

In Hartford, there’s Libor Hajek, Yegor Rykov, and Sean Day, who are all entering the last year of their entry-level deals.

Hajek is at a crossroads.

After making the Rangers out of camp last year, he missed 20 games with an injury was supposed to be in Hartford on injury rehab, but never made it back to Broadway.

Day started the year in Hartford, then was sent to the team’s ECHL affiliates, the Maine Mariners for the remainder of the season in favor of Rykov, who was a upcoming player.

Rykov’s stock fell precipitously at the end of the year. He was a healthy scratch in nine of the last 10 games including the last game the Pack played on March 11th against the Providence Bruins. The team elected to play a freshly signed rookie, Zach Guitarri, from Brown University (ECACHL) instead.

Rykov could be dealt this summer if the right offer comes along. Rykov was unhappy about how things were progressing with the knock-on him, according to several sources, was his skating. It’s not out of the question that Hajek could also potentially be involved in a package deal.

Darren Raddysh and Brandon Crawley are both RFA’s this summer. Both Vincent LoVerde and Mason Geersten were already locked up when they signed one-year AHL deals a short time ago.

Raddysh played well on both sides of the puck, as did Loverde. They were the number one shutdown tandem for two months. He would appear to have earned himself another one-year deal.

After a good training camp, Crawley spent the majority of the season in Maine.

LoVerde was very well-respected in the locker room as well as with the coaches. In fact, he played with every defenseman the Wolf Pack had on their roster this season.

Geersten proved to be worth his weight in gold and earned a contract coming in as a non-roster invitee. He was the best body-checker on the team and a true heavyweight who took care of the “physical” business and was another solid veteran signee that stabilized the locker room.

Both players earned deals with Geersten seeming to deserve a one-way, NHL money deal.

The Rangers signed K’Andre Miller to a three-year, entry-level deal just before the season was suspended.

Tarmo Reunanen, who was signed last year but played in Finland, enters year two of his three-year deal.

In the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), Nils Lundkvist is coming off a strong year and at the WJC. There’s also the aforementioned Guitarri.

The problem for Reunanen and Lundkvist coming to North America is that in Europe, COVID-19 hit very hard and the question is where or not they will be able to come across the Big Pond because of possible visa issues.

Earlier this week, the EU (European Union) discussed an immunity visa that could be issued and there is a whole panoply of security and civil liberties issues that could potentially follow that.

It’s a total unknown and it’s highly possible both could stay in Europe for another year.

Defenseman Matt Robertson, from Edmonton (WHL), will likely be signed to a standard three-year, entry-level deal very soon.

Among the defenseman only Nick Ebert is the only UFA-Group 6 free agent. It’s not likely that Ebert will be re-signed. He could end up elsewhere in the AHL or Europe.

In the forward category, there are significant players who are Group 6 UFA’s. the Pack’s leading scorer, Vinni Lettieri, and Danny O’Regan.

Team captain, Steven Fogarty, is a UFA.

Despite possessing a cannon of a slapshot, Lettieri could sign elsewhere. His stock fell in the Rangers’ eye over the last year-and-a-half.

O’Regan, an old friend of Rangers head coach David Quinn from their BU days, was highly regarded by the Wolf Pack coaching staff. He will likely get a one-or-two year AHL deal in the neighborhood of $300,000K.

Then there’s Fogarty.

He was a solid captain who played through illness and injury. Near the end of the season, he wasn’t putting up with some of the lethargic play that crept back into the lineup and called out his teammates. He could receive another one year, one-way NHL deal, but he will likely test the market. He will get offers and will likely head elsewhere.

There are four RFA’s on the roster. They are Boo Nieves, Ryan Gropp, Dawson Leedahl, and Gabriel Fontaine.

Gropp, a former second-round pick, after being assigned to ain’t took a three-week sabbatical early in the season. He returned to Maine and worked his way back up to the Pack lineup. He played well, but didn’t produce enough points, He could be departing as well.

Leedahl spent most of the season in Maine and likely will not be back.

Coming off of season-ending, left shoulder surgery, Fontaine will likely get a one-year AHL deal.

Nieves is a tough call. He played very well, tallying 12 points in 10 games before suffering from severe migraines. He played just one game the remainder of the year. He was a last-minute scratch in what was to be his second consecutive game. Nieves is a tantalizing talent, but the Rangers pigeonholed him as a defensive center, which didn’t work. He’s now 27 and on a one-way, one-year, $700K NHL deal. It isn’t likely he will be offered another deal. A really solid player and person, he will likely migrate elsewhere.

Entering, the last year of their deals, are the most improved player last season in Tim Gettinger, as well as Ty Ronning, Patrick Newell, Nick Jones, and the wildest of wild cards, a former first-round pick, Lias Andersson.

Andersson’s unexpected departure back to Sweden on November 18th, not surprisingly, earned him organizational scorn, however, some are said to be still willing to give him another chance.

Andersson wasn’t a malcontent but made a rash, impulsive, and immature decision that put him in a box.

Inside sources indicate he had a bit of an emotional breakdown two weeks before bolting. The self-imposed stress of having to live up to his being the number seven overall draft pick and producing very little results weighed heavily on him. Unless a larger trade deal is constructed that he’s a part of, or he has some huge reversal in his behavior, he’ll likely spend the final year of his original deal skating on the bigger surfaces in Sweden.

The other first-round pick returning for year two is Vitali Kravtsov, who had a difficult first-year. He went back to Russia after just five games, came back, and showed only glimpses of his skill that made him a seventh overall draft selection as well. He was too inconsistent and did not get enough puck time and his willingness to take a hit to get the puck or to take a shot.

Nick Jones, a free agent signee did everything he was asked to do and did a lot of good things on both sides of the faceoff circle. He helped set players up and was very strong on the PK. A looming minus-14 needs to be improved upon. Jones’ Achilles Heel was being unable to finish on his scoring chances. He was reminiscent of a young Jed Ortmeyer. He has likely earned a one-year, two-way AHL deal.

Ryan Dmowski and Shawn McBride were the heart of the fourth line. The team relied on them before play was suspended. Both were both on AHL deals and looks like they’ve earned another one-year, AHL deal. Numbers plus analytics will ultimately determine if they do get offers.

Returnee Jake Elmer has two years remaining on his deal. He spent more time in Maine than in Hartford.

There’s a batch of new signees for the Pack.

The 6’7, Austin Rueschhoff, as well as Patrick Khodorenko, Patrick Whelan, Michael O’Leary, and Justin Richards will be in what should be a very competitive training camp whenever that camp actually opens though is anyone’s guess.

The only UFA on the Pack roster is veteran, Matt Beleskey. He and his $825K NHL cap hit and overall $1.9 million are over. He will end up either with an AHL veteran’s deal somewhere else or will take a deal to play in Europe.

At the start of the season, the Rangers’ not even inviting Beleskey to their NHL training camp was one of the very few questionable moves. He would still be a locker room bonus and gave it his all for the team. Late in the season, he was involved in the line brawl in Springfield in the second to last game of the year that earned him a three-game suspension.

Late in the year, the departure of Ville Meskanen was obviously the other “questionable” decision by the team’s management.

The Wolf Pack could have used him, especially when the team hit the skids during a five game losing streak and a 2-7-1 mark in their final 10 games.

Meskanen could have easily made a difference in the team’s slide rather than having to rely on signing guys, like Connor Bleackly, to PTO’s and ATO’s to fill in the gaps.

Goaltending is a major hot button issue for the Rangers. There are presently seven in the organization.

A bit of a soap opera will play out until the situation with future Hall-of-Famer, Henrik Lundquist, is resolved. He is entering the last year of his $8.5 million per year deal. Alexander Georgiev becomes an RFA, and Igor Shesterkin enters year two of his two-year deal.

An option for the Rangers is to buy-out Lundqvist. Trading Georgiev is another option.

Meanwhile, in Hartford, Adam Huska (UCONN) is in his second year. J.F. Berube is there and is a UFA. Tyler Wall was just signed out of UMASS-Lowell (HE) and makes for a very congested organizational goalie crease area.

Toss in the drafted, but unsigned, Olof Lindbom, who is coming off an injury sustained while playing with Mora IK (Sweden-Allsvenskan), and his hopes for a bounce back season in Sweden in the SHL possibly with Farjestad BK, where he played one game with last year. He is also WJC eligible.

Lots to ponder about the 24th edition of the Wolf Pack coming out of this pandemic.

Stay safe.

The post CANTLON’S CORNER: WOLF PACK 2020-21 SEASON first appeared on Howlings.

The post CANTLON: PACK UPENDED BY BRUINS first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Micah Collins, Hartford Wolf Pack

Hartford, CT, March 8, 2020 – Paul Carey scored twice, and Jakub Zboril had a goal and an assist, Wednesday night at the XL Center, as the Providence Bruins extended a winning streak to 12 games with a 3-1 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack.

Vitali Kravtsov scored the only goal for the Wolf Pack, who fell to 31-20-6-5 (73 pts.) on the season.  Providence improved to 38-18-3-3 for 82 points and moved past idle Hershey and into first place in the Atlantic Division.

The Wolf Pack, who were missing regulars, Vinni Lettieri, Matt Beleskey, and Mason Geertsen due to AHL suspensions, Boo Nieves and Tim Gettinger due to injury and captain Steven Fogarty to recall to the parent New York Rangers, outshot the Bruins 20-15 in the first two periods but were held to one shot on goal in the third.

“Providence is the hottest team in the league, to go in shorthanded wasn’t ideal, but our veterans put in the efforts, and our new guys showed some promise,” said Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch.  “There’s room to grow, but definitely a good start for them.”

Carey scored first for Providence, netting his twenty-first goal of the year 15:34 into the first period off a point shot that just snuck past J-F Berube (21 saves). Steven Kampfer had the lone assist on the tally, and the goal would give Providence the lead into the first intermission.

Just 3:56 into the second, the Wolf Pack tied the game when Kravtsov deflected the puck into the net for his sixth goal of the year. Ryan Gropp and Danny O’Regan had the assists.

“That was a great play by Gropp and Vitali,” said O’Regan of the goal, “I think (Nick) Ebert also made a good pinch to make that play possible, and then Vitali had a great finish.”

Providence was able to regain the lead with 9:25 left in the middle frame. Zboril scored his third goal of the season, with assists from Peter Cehlarik and Ryan Fitzgerald.

The Bruins added to the lead near the end of the period, with Carey tipping in his second goal of the game with 2:08 left. Zach Senyshyn assisted on the goal.

Providence protected goaltender Dan Vladar (20 saves) well in a scoreless third period, outshooting the Wolf Pack 9-1.

“We’ve had success against them in the past,” O’Regan said of the streaking Bruins.  “We just have to get some chemistry going and get back to doing what we were doing when we were winning.”

Knoblauch added, “Some practice will help the guys get more familiar with each other. It was a good game considering the circumstances.”

The Wolf Pack’s next game is this Friday night, March 13, a 7:05 visit to Springfield to take on the Thunderbirds.  All of the action can be heard live on-line at hartfordwolfpack.com.  Video streaming is available at theahl.com/AHLTV.

The next home action for the Wolf Pack is also against Springfield, next Wednesday night, March 18 at 7:00.  That is another chance to take advantage of the Wolf Pack’s “Click It or Ticket Hat Trick Pack”.  The Hat Trick Pack includes two tickets, two sodas, and one large popcorn, all for just $40.

Tickets for all 2019-20 Wolf Pack home games are on sale now at the Sunwave Gas & Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, on-line at hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (860) 722-9425.  Tickets purchased in advance for kids 12 or younger start at just $10 each, and all tickets will have a $3 day-of-game increase.

To speak with a Wolf Pack representative about season or group tickets, or any of the Wolf Pack’s many ticketing options, call (860) 722-9425, or click here to request more info.  To visit the Wolf Pack online, go to hartfordwolfpack.com.

Providence Bruins 3 at Hartford Wolf Pack 1
Wednesday, March 11, 2020 – XL Center

Providence 1 2 0 – 3
Hartford     0 1 0 – 1

1st Period-1, Providence, Carey 21 (Kampfer), 15:34. Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period-2, Hartford, Kravtsov 6 (Gropp, O’Regan), 3:56. 3, Providence, Zboril 3 (Cehlarik, Fitzgerald), 10:35. 4, Providence, Carey 22 (Senyshyn, Zboril), 17:52. Penalties-Crawley Hfd (interference), 5:36.

3rd Period- No Scoring.  Penalties-Bleackley Hfd (elbowing), 7:25; Petrovic Pro (high-sticking), 10:08; Gaunce Pro (hooking), 19:15.

Shots on Goal-Providence 8-7-9-24. Hartford 10-10-1-21.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 0 / 2; Hartford 0 / 2.
Goalies-Providence, Vladar 14-7-1 (21 shots-20 saves). Hartford, Berube 13-17-4 (24 shots-21 saves).
A-2,594
Referees-Mitch Dunning (43), Dan Kelly (45).
Linesmen-Kyle Richetelle (47), Robert St. Lawrence (10).

The post COLLINS: P-BRUINS DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM PACK IN 3-1 WIN first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Hartford Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch’s worst fear has come true.

The New York Rangers used one of their two emergency recalls Wednesday morning as Pack captain Steven Fogarty was summoned for the Blueshirts game in Denver against the Colorado Avalanche.

The move was made because forward Filip Chytil suffered a lower-body injury in Tuesday night’s win against the Dallas Stars in the first period and never returned to the game.

Tonight, the Wolf Pack host the red hot, second-place, Providence Bruins who have won their tenth straight, all in regulation, are they’re unbeaten in eleven games and have not lost a regulation game since January 31st (to Binghamton 3-1).

Fogarty on recall joins three players, Vinni Lettieri, Mason Geersten, and Matt Beleskey, who are each serving their first of a three-game, AHL-issued suspension resulting from Sunday’s first-period melee at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, This puts a huge strain on the Wolf Pack roster.

Expect at least two-of-the-three collegiate players, forward Michael O’Leary and Patrick Khordorenko to be in the lineup as well as newcomer, Connor Bleackley, from the Maine Mariners (ECHL) who signed a PTO today.

Bleackley has ten points in fifteen games with the Mariners including his ninth last night in a 3-2 home loss to the Norfolk Admirals.

He started the year with the Texas Stars playing ten games with five points and scoring twice in their opening game against Manitoba before being released on November 10th from his PTO deal.

He was then sent to Idaho Steelheads (ECHL) with 13 points in 18 games before being acquired by Maine in a three-way ECHL deal including Orlando on January 14th.

He arrived along with goalie Adam Huska, who was in net Tuesday night making 32 saves for the Mariners in the game and was formerly reassigned back to the Wolf Pack today and goalie Francois Brassard sent back to Maine.

The Wolf Pack have lost four straight and are in third place in the AHL Atlantic Division.

The post CANTLON: FOGARTY, AN EMERGENCY RECALL, BY THE NEW YORK RANGERS first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howling

SPRINGFIELD, MA – The Hartford Wolf Pack’s weekend of hope turned into a sea of problems as they dropped their fourth straight game, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon to the Springfield Thunderbirds.

The win snapped a four-game skid for the T-Birds.

Springfield tallied two late goals to pull away in a tight game. Hartford played two-men short for a majority of the game and lost steam in the engine at the end of the game.

Hartford’s record drops to 31-19-6-5 (73 points) while Springfield keeps its playoff flame alive 31-27-3-0 (65 points).

On the bad side, the Hershey Bears lost 3-2 in a shootout. They have 81 points while the second-place Providence Bruins have 80. The Charlotte Checkers were idle and remain four points behind the Wolf Pack.

“We’re going through some adversity right now. We’ll get out of it. We’re relying on our guys and sticking with them. It’s the team we have,” said Pack head coach, Kris Knoblauch.

The offensive production has been an issue tallying just four goals in the last four games. The Pack is talking to themselves.

“We haven’t faced this type of adversity all year and every team goes through it. We’re going through it now. It’s not the time you want it, but we can flip this back with three wins next weekend,” remarked veteran forward Matt Beleskey.

It was old-time hockey at Mass Mutual Center with the first period taking close to an hour to play out.

At 6:50 on Sunday afternoon, three-in-three erupted into a line brawl that resulted in 67 minutes worth of penalties that included three game misconducts.

It all started with a seemingly minor push-and-shove in the right-wing corner of the Wolf Pack zone. Nothing out of the ordinary as things were starting to cool down.

Mason Geersten and Springfield’s Brady Keeper, who each are their respective team’s policeman, were doing some pushing-and-jawing when Danick Martel swung at Greg Chase that prolonged the event. The Pack’s Darren Raddysh was in there and it seemingly was all under wraps as Geersten was being escorted off to the penalty box by the linesman.

Behind the play, things got ugly rapidly and turned into a wild scene.

Keeper not being held by the linesman inexplicably somehow wound up with Vinni Lettieri at the Springfield blue line in front of the Thunderbirds bench.

Keeper let loose with a gloved left hook to the head of Lettieri and the fuse was lit. Matt Beleskey came to his aid and had a spirited fight in front of the Springfield bench with Keeper.

“I know they’re trying to do their best job out there (refs and linesman) it’s hard in a situation like that when you have guys everywhere. I just wish they had gotten him (Keeper) off the ice. When a guy sucker-punches Vinni like that. It’s not right,” said Beleskey who has had three fighting majors in the last two games.

Lettieri ended-up grappling with the Thunderbirds, Ryan Haggerty, an ex-Pack player, who was deep in the Springfield-end of the ice.

Both players kept throwing punches, While Lettieri was on his back on the ice and eventually a referee had to get involved to separate them.

Several other fights almost started. Martel and Chase looked like they were ready to drop them before order was eventually restored.

Lettieri was tagged with a game misconduct for leaving the bench while Geersten was tagged with a game misconduct for leaving the penalty box. Keeper was hit with a game misconduct for abuse of officials.

Knoblauch said Lettieri was on a line change as they were anticipating getting a power play.

Ironically, after the melee, they were shorthanded and lost two players.

“I couldn’t tell if he (Lettieri) was out there before or after. He was out at that end of the ice because we were going to get a power play.“

The team will look to challenge the game misconduct to Lettieri. “Yes. We’re going to look at everything,” said Knoblauch.

Incredibly, neither Lettieri or Haggerty got fighting majors though they could have.

Geersten left the box when he saw Keeper’s cheap shot to Lettieri, one he wouldn’t be penalized for. He earned the game misconduct trying to wrestle away from the linesman to get at Geersten, who was standing at center ice but did not get physically involved.

This kind of moment was out of character for this team. “We’re the least penalized team in the league. You’re not gonna see that too often from us,” Knoblauch stated.

Hockey play was resumed and the Thunderbirds got the only goal of the period as Joel Lowry in front took Rodrigo Abols pass in the chest at 6:13 and smacked it past Adam Huska for his eighth of the season.

Huska would face several quality chances especially stopping Jack Rodewald on a shorthanded breakaway at 12:40.

Daniel Audette followed with back-to-back chances and the Pack countered with Libor Hajek and Raddysh.

“I was pleased with Adam and other players stepped up Chase played well. Gropp played our so-called fourth line, played a lot of minutes and helped out with a goal.”

After a strong mid-ice hit on Lowry, Beleskey nailed him behind the Thunderbirds net.

Beleskey was given a major for boarding Lowry with 1:55 left in the period.

Pack captain, Steven Fogarty, had a shorthanded bid from off the left-wing stopped. His second whack at the puck drew a crowd led by Martel with 14.6 seconds to go.

The Pack had 35 shots for the game and tallied just two goals in nine periods and game up empty in the win column.

“The old adage of gripping your stick too tight, worrying too much just try to relax and enjoy playing hockey,” said Knoblauch.

Down two players, the Wolf Pack battled back in the second period, just 48 seconds after Belesky’s major expired, the Wolf Pack struck for their first goal.

Nick Ebert with a good short pass to Ty Ronning as they broke across the Springfield blue line. Then Ronning put a short pass in the middle from the left-wing past Springfield’s Chase Priskie. Ryan Dmowski stepped into the shot and beat the Thunderbirds Philip Desrosiers at 3:53 for his fourth of the season tied the game at one.

“Ronning made a nice play there and so did Ebert. They create scoring chances by working hard it allows them to force turnovers and strike quick like they did.”

Ice time was aplenty and the Wolf Pack kept working to keep themselves in the game.

Then the best chance of the period came as Chase, off of a perfect stretch pass sent by Beleskey, was on a breakaway, but missed the net.

Desrosiers stopped Fogarty, with a game-high seven shots, twice, Ronning’s backhand wraparound attempt and Nick Jones on a bang-bang play.

Huska was a rock in net stopping Ethan Prow on successive chances and Rodrigo Abols late in the period and Haggerty as well.

“He was outstanding. It was Huska’s best game of the season. He made huge saves for us and kept us in this game to have a chance,” remarked Beleskey.

Desrosiers denied Nick Jones on the right-wing rush with 2:03 left in the period.

In the third period, the toll of skating two men down on the third day of a three in three gave way as the Thunderbirds scored three times in the third period the last two 1:11 apart.

The game-winner for Springfield came off the stick of former QU Bobcat Chase Priskie just acquired from Charlotte in the last two weeks.

As he took Audette’s pass on the right-wing and fired it top shelf right side high for his eighth of the season.

Then like a fighter in the 11th round, the Thunderbirds went up 3-1 as Abols was coming hard on the left-wing whistled off where the post and crossbar meet and that popped in the air hit Ebert and went into the net at 18:15.

Then the sniper Martel bagged his 20th of the season on the backhand in front of the net off a pass from the net by Haggerty to close out the scoring at 4-1.

“We’re down a goal we’re trying to cheat a little bit late in the game you have to. If your cheating and your tired it’s a tough combo to handle,” noted Knoblauch.

LINES:

Fogarty-Lettieri-Dmowski
O’Regan-Newell-Kravtsov
Beleskey-Jones-Gropp
McBride-Ronning-Chase

LoVerde-Hajek
Ebert-Geersten
Raddysh-Crawley

SCRATCHES:

Tim Gettinger – Upper-body – Day-To-Day
Boo Nieves – Upper-body – Day-To-Day
Yegor Rykov – Healthy
Gabriel Fontaine – Shoulder Surgery – Season-Ending

NOTES:

Yale University won its ECACHL quarterfinal meeting at Ingalls Rink as Graham Lillibridge scored at 3:10 of double overtime eliminating Union College. Next week the Bulldogs travel seven miles down Whitney Avenue to meet Quinnipiac University.

In the NEPSAC hockey championships held at Trinity College (Hartford) at Koeppel Community Center saw Salisbury Prep with a 4-0 shutout over Dexter Academy captured the Open Division title.

Loomis Chaffe (Windsor) won Large Division also in shutout fashion 2-0 over Cushing Academy.

In the Small Division, Gunnery (Washington) outlasted Pomfret 5-3.

The CT public school playoffs start on Wednesday.

The post CANTLON: PACK DROP FOURTH IN 4-1 LOSS IN SPRINGFIELD first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – A strong three-goal second period allowed the Hershey Bears to seize control of the game and skate away with a 4-1 win Saturday night at the XL Center.

The two-game battle between these two division rivals left the Bears in a much stronger position now seven points ahead of the third-place Wolf Pack.

Providence with a win over Springfield 4-2 are now five ahead of them and Charlotte got a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to Utica narrowing the lead between them to four points.

“We played according to plan in the first we played really well. (We) almost had a goal on the powerplay, and had some other good opportunities. J-F came up with some huge saves in the first, its what we expected.

Then in the second period, we let that first goal affect us and took a lot of momentum away from us,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch.

The Pack concludes the weekend play in Springfield tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM.

The Bears scored the game’s first goal in the first minute of the second period took control of the game.

Brian Pinho at the right point let one go Berube made the save, but he could not control the rebound and cover it the Bears Matt Moulson with his long stick got one crack at it and the second sent the puck into the net for his 21st goal of the regular season at 52 seconds.

“Last night we played well and we started out pretty well, but once they got the first one we just kinda combusted. We just kinda gave up,” said an annoyed captain Steven Fogarty “just playing hard and doing the right things and the only we can control is our attitude and effort and they just weren’t there we could see it and feel it on the bench.”

The Bears in short order took a 2-0 lead scoring 11 seconds into a powerplay just their second of the game.

Daniel Sprong at the right point took a Bobby Nardella pass and quickly fired a good hard low shot that Philippe Maillet free from his check and the Quebec native with a perfect tip scored on his mon-ami monsieur Berube depositing his 16th of the season far side.

“We gave up just one goal and changed our entire game the way we played our structure the things that have helped us gain success so far this year.

It’s a mindset thing you can’t change things the effort wasn’t there. We had a little push there in the third, but obviously not enough.”

The Wolf Pack playing way too passive in a five on five situation, playing like a PK. Matt Beleskey sought to change the direction got into a scrap unfortunately it was Hershey who kept the momentum.

“That’s the type of guy Beleskey is he saw what was going on the bench tried to get us going and it worked, but we went ahead and combusted like that (again),” said Fogarty.

Once again Bobby Nardella got the scoring sequence started receiving the pass from Eric Burgdorfer a the right point getting the puck to Brian Pinho as he came off the right-wing half wall.

Then just before he was going to get nailed by Mason Geersten he snapped a 35 footer top shelf over Berube’s left shoulder to make it 3-0 silencing a hearty crowd of 4,814.

“They’re a good team there gonna get their chances, but we allowed too many,” said Knoblauch.

His captain put it more straight forward.

“They going to have their puck possession and get their chances,

We have to play down in their end, and we did not do enough of that.”

That was all for Berube facing 18 shots and in came Adam Huska.

“I did that because we needed to try to change things at that point,” said Knoblauch.

The current offense output is not enough to get back into first place.

“One goal in five (periods) just isn’t enough in this league there a good team, but so are we. Were not just not getting enough second chances, not getting guys to the net.

We weren’t generating enough off the rush and we have proven all year long we can score goals. We gotta get back to playing the right way defensively and we can get guys going to the net better.”

All too often Hershey had the puck the Wolf Pack didn’t. The Bears were able to secure the puck and make rushes up ice and gain easy entry into the Pack end of the ice.

As one fan acidly texted me during the game “why don’t (they) let them stroll into the offensive zone !!

Well put and wells aid.

The Bears continued the quality chances as Bobby Nardella, Mike Sgarbossa and Shane Gemish had point-blank shots.

In the third period, that Wolf Pack broke Vitek Vanecek’s bid for a second straight shutout at 12:03.

After botching a three on one break, Nick Jones with his shot missing the net, the puck remained in the Hershey zone.

Patrick Newell got the puck from Greg Chase and in the right-wing faceoff circle sent a smooth backhand pass to Jones who one-timed his ninth past the Bears netminder at 12:03.

It was Chase’s first ever Wolf Pack point.

Hershey’s Tyler Lewington’s empty netter with a second to go closed out scoring for the night.

The first period was much like last night’s tight-checking and opportunities that came via turnovers.

Hershey got an early break at 1:22 off a turnover and Daniel Sprong who has played very well since being acquired from San Diego last week was stoned by Berube.

The loss of Tim Gettinger and Boo Nieves forced some interesting line combos as Ryan Dmowski was with Steven Fogarty and Vinni Lettieri to start the game. Dmowski had the first shot and the first hit of the game.

Beck Malenstyn had another chance for Hershey and Sean McBride on the left-wing answered back with one at 7:04.

At 12:58 another gift turnover went to Hershey’s Shane Gersich and he went in all alone, but Berube made a gorgeous butterfly glove save to keep the game scoreless.

The Wolf Pack powerplay continues its struggles doing well on the first half of the first chance, but didn’t sustain the same puck movement in the second half of it.

As part of the Wolf Pack’s Military Appreciation weekend, the Wolf Pack wore their camouflage-style jerseys for the game.

In the first intermission, a new class for the Army, Marines and Coast Guard took oaths to begin their training. Congrats to all!

LINES:

Fogarty-Lettieri-Dmowski
O’Regan-Newell-Kravtsov
Beleskey-Jones-Gropp
McBride-Ronning-Chase

LoVerde-Hajek
Ebert-Geersten
Raddysh-Crawley

SCRATCHES:

Tim Gettinger – Upper-Body – Day-To-Day
Boo Nieves – Upper-Body – Day-To-Day
Yegor Rykov – Healthy
Gabriel Fontaine – Shoulder Surgery – Season-Ending

NOTES:

Nieves was a last-minute scratch forcing Knoblauch to do some serious line juggling and when Beleskey was tossed early in the third for his second fight of the game they were down a forward for the rest of the third period.

Gettinger looks doubtful for tomorrow and might not be available till next weekend.

UCONN hockey will travel to Orono, Maine to play the Hockey East quarterfinals next weekend as the fifth seed to play the number four Black Bears.

Providence’s Dan Vladar finally surpassed Igor Shesterkin in best GAA at 1.83 and Igor still has second-best save percentage at .934

The Wolf Pack record since his recall January 7th is 10-10-5 (W-L-OTL).

Among the best plus-minus in the AHL two ex-Pack players ay the fourth and fifth spots Hubert Labrie (Belleville) plus 25 and Cole Schneider (Milwaukee) plus 23.

Wolf Pack fan Jersey of the night: #27 Ryan Graves (Colorado), #5 CT Whale Blake Parlett (EHC Munich Germany-DEL), #42 Jeff State, #43 Dan Catenacci (HC Bolzano Italy-EBEL), and #6 Joel Bouchard (Head coach AHL Laval Rocket).

NEPSAC prep school playoffs all finals will be Sunday at Trinity College at the Koppel Community Center.

In a big upset, Salisbury Prep knocked off Avon Old Farms 4-3 in overtime at Jennings-Fairchild Rink. They will play Dexter School who knocked off Berkshire Scholl 3-0 at 5 PM.

In the Large Division, Loomis Chaffe (Windsor) knocked Brunswick School (Greenwich) 5-2 and will play Cushing Academy 4-2 winners over St. Sebastian’s 4-2 at 2:30 PM for the title.

In the Small School division Pomfret shutout Groton 4-0 and will play Gunnery (Washington) 5-2 winners over The Rivers School at 12:30 PM

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