BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – With the news that the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL) has signed Sean Avery to a Professional Try-Out (PTO) contract and his subsequent release two days later, it harkens back to his very last game, the now 41-year-old’s last game with the Hartford Wolf Pack over ten years ago.

It was Friday, January 27, 2011. The Wolf Pack played against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and lost 3-2 in overtime. It would be Avery’s seventh and final game on his second tour of duty in Hart City. Avery had already been suspended at one point for threatening one member of the team’s off-ice personnel.

THE INCIDENT THAT ENDED IT

At 3:28 of the second period, the former CT Whale, as they were known for a brief period during the Howard Baldwin Sr./Jr. run days, received a stretch pass from team captain Ryan Bourque that sprung him free. The secondary assist came from the current Rockford Icehogs (AHL) assistant coach Jared Nightingale.

Avery kicked up his right leg and buried his final goal past the Penguins Brad Thiessen. he made a beautiful backhand-to-forehand move for the goal. But as he circled the left-wing boards to celebrate, he inexplicably sucked punched future Wolf Pack Assistant Coach Joe Mormina igniting a line brawl. Mormina is out of pro hockey now but still lives in the area.

When the dust settled, Avery popped up out of the pile and began barking at referee Jean Hebert, who subsequently tossed him from the game, and that would be the last time anyone saw the truculent and oft-troubled Avery in Hartford.

The Wolf Pack coach was their legendary great, Ken Gernander. Cantlon’s Corner asked Gernander in the post-game if he had asked Avery why he engaged in his action?

Gernander dead-panned in his subtly humorous way and sarcastically sneered, “I didn’t bother to ask!”

That other Pack goal on the night came from Jonathan Marchessault, who is now thriving in the NHL with the Vegas Golden Knights.

OTHERS CHIME IN ON COMEBACK

Matthew Barnaby, Sr, and Georges Larocque have said they would sign a deal with teams in their division to get a crack at Avery. He engendered so much hatred during his playing days that even ten years later, there are guys who still want to drop the gloves with him.

Aaron Ward, a regular guest on TSN 690 Montreal weekday afternoons on “The Mitch Melnick Show,” told the audience this week that when he was a member of the Boston Bruins for one game, they had five guys lined up to take him on.

DOG DAY AFTERNOON

In an initial press conference upon his return to Hartford, a staging area was set up for a press conference, and the building was hosting on the same weekend a mini-dog show.

In a scene that you couldn’t have scripted any better, as he began to speak, all the dogs all started barking simultaneously. (True story)

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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The post CANTLON: REMEMBERING SEAN AVERY IN HARTFORD first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The time for looking back on the Hartford Wolf Pack season is over. The time for planning the Hartford Wolf Pack future is well at hand. It’s been a busy time for General Manager, Chris Drury and the entire staff in Hartford.

WOLF PACK PLAYER SIGNINGS

The New York Rangers announced the signing of two Europe-based free agent players. The two are both forwards and the announcement came late last week. it is expected that both will be assigned to Hartford. It seems logical to assume that as a result of the signings the Blueshirts have made to this point that several Wolf Pack forwards will not be returning.

Swedish born Michael Lindqvist, 23, who skated in 33 games with Färjestad BK of the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) this past season, registered 20 goals and 14 assists (34 points), along with a plus-three rating and 22 penalty minutes. He established his SHL career-highs in several categories in 2017-18, including goals, assists, points, and plus/minus rating.

In this past season in the SHL, Lindqvist ranked second in power play goals (10), ranked sixth in points per game (1.03), tied for sixth in goals, and tied for 15th in points. Among players who skated in at least 20 games in 2017-18, Lindqvist ranked first in goals per game (0.61). Among players younger than 24, he ranked second in points per game, tied for third in goals, and tied for fourth in points during this past season.

The team also signed 22-year-old, Finnish-born forward, Ville Meskanen. He skated in 48 games with Ilves Tampere in Finish Elite Liiga (League) (FEL) this past season. He posted an impressive 24 goals and 20 assists (44 points) as well as a plus-three rating and only four penalty minutes. He established Liiga career-highs in several categories including games played, goals, assists, points, and plus/minus rating.

Meskanen has good size. He’s 6’1, 190 lbs. and was the only player in Liiga last season to tally at least 40 points and assessed four or fewer penalty minutes. He ranked third in goals, tied for sixth in power play goals (nine), tied for eighth (minimum 20 games played) in points per game average, and was tied for 15th in the league in points.

In addition, Meskanen ranked first among players 22 or younger in both goals and points. He led Ilves Tampere in goals and shots on goal (253), tied for the team lead in power play goals, ranked third on the team in points, and ranked fourth on the team in assists. Meskanen also posted 13 multi-point games in 2017-18.

Meskanen skated in 141 career games in the Finnish league over parts of four seasons (2014-15 – 2017-18) all with Ilves Tampere. He registered 42 goals and 38 assists (80 points), along with 14 penalty minutes. Over the last four years, Meskanen saw increases in his games played, goals, assists, and point totals in each season. He also skated in 10 playoff contests with Ilves Tampere. In 2016-17 he recorded seven points (four goals, three assists), along with a plus-five rating, in the 10 games.

The Rangers European free agent signings have been very mixed over the past five years or so,

Jesper Fast, Pavel Buchnevich and Lias Andersson (a draft pick) have been good. Conversely, Robin Kovacs, Malte Stromwall, Calle Andersson and Andreas Jamtin were busts.

Look how these guys are doing statistically in January to see how these signings are doing.

PLAYERS  AND COACHES MOVEMENT

Former Quinnipiac Bobcat, Travis St. Denis, has signed a new two-year, two-way (NHL-AHL) deal with the New York Islanders.

Three more AHL’ers have signed deals to head to Europe nest season. They are Sena Acolatse, who goes from the Providence Bruins to EHC Straubing (Germany-DEL), Maxime Fortunas who leaves the Thunderbirds in Springfield to go to Fischtown (Germany-DEL) and Ville Pokka leaves Belleville/Rockford to Avangard Omsk (Russia-KHL).

The total now is nine players making the move overseas from the AHL.

Ex-Pack, Nigel Dawes, leaves Barys Astana (Kazakhstan-KHL) to sign with Avtomobilist Yakaterinburg (Russia-KHL)

Justin Danforth, a former Sacred Heart University (AHA) player who was the ECHL Rookie of the Year with the Cincinnati Cyclones and who played 15 games with the Rochester Americans, has  signed with Lukko Rauma (Finland-FEL).

Another ex-pack, Chris Brown, moves in Germany in the DEL league from Iserlohn to Nuremberg.

Broc Little, the former Yale University Bulldog, goes from HC Davos (Switzerland-LNA) to Linkopings HC (Sweden-SHL).

Two more players leave college after signing NHL deals. Both players are from the University of Nebraska-Omaha and they are defenseman David Pope, who signed with the Detroit Red Wings, and Tyler Vesel, who played 11 games with the Bakersfield Condors who also signed a two-year, two-way deal.

Two more go to Europe in Janik Moser of Ohio State (Big 10) as he returns home to play for Adler Mannheim (Germany-DEL) next year. Also leaving is Elias Ghantous who leaves Robert Morris (AHA) and goes to HC Briancon (France-FREL).

177 Division I players have signed in North America and a total of 181 total have signed professional deals.

Chase Harwell (Southbury/Selects Academy at South Kent Prep) has concluded his four QMJHL junior career when the Victoriaville Tigres were eliminated in semifinals by Blaineville-Boisbrand in six games. Harwell is heading to play Canadian college hockey at Concordia University (OUAA) in Montreal.

Jerry Pollostrone (Salisbury Prep) goes from Vienna (Austria-AEHL) to ESV Villacher (Austria-AEHL).

LIAS ANDERSSON IIHF SUSPENSION

The IIHF suspension of Lias Andersson, while deserved, is an example of how poorly executed things are with large international institutions on the same scale as how bad some our our North American decisions are.

The suspension for his post-game stunt where he tossed his silver medal into the stands in Buffalo in January was announced. It comes just a day before the World Championship tournament was to open in Denmark.

The four games to be served are in next years World Junior tournament.

Only thing is that he just turned 20, so he wouldn’t be eligible to participate.

The suspension announcement comes – almost comically – five months after the incident occurred. It was announced 24 hours later when they realize their goof up. If, as expected, he makes the Rangers and they make the playoffs, or he’s playing in Hartford and either team makes the playoffs, the suspension will never be served.

Why not make the suspension subject to current play so at least the penalty is served, so an example is set that actions like that will not be tolerated without consequence.

MARCHAND ACTIVITY

The Boston Bruins’ Brad Marchand is a talented and gifted player, however his action against ex-Pack, and Ranger captain, Ryan Callahan, were juvenile and quite Sean Avery-like. To date there was no suspension handed down by the NHL, which is hardly surprising.

His actions during the playoffs demeans the sport and Callahan saying it is akin to spitting in someone’s face is accurate.

The NHL, and the NHLPA should have issued immediate condemnation and expressed their displeasure with his conduct. 

AHL CALDER CUP PLAYOFFS

Just call him, “The Lyon King.”

Former Yale goaltender Alex Lyons stopped 94 shots in the longest game in the AHL’s 82 year playoff history. It took five overtime periods for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms (Philadelphia Flyers) to knock off the Charlotte Checkers (Charlotte Hurricanes) 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Ex-Pack Alex Kruselnyski scored the game winner at 6:46 to end the marathon contest.

The game surpassed the previous longest game which was, ironically, between Philadelphia Phantoms and Albany Rivers Rats who were the affiliates of the Flyers and Hurricanes.

Longest games, Calder Cup Playoffs (by OT played)
1. May 9, 2018 – Lehigh Valley 2 at Charlotte 1 – 86:48
2. Apr. 24, 2008 – Philadelphia 3 at Albany 2 – 82:58
3. May 30, 2003 – Houston 1 at Hamilton 2 – 74:56
4. Apr. 10, 1982 – Rochester 2 at New Haven 3 – 74:08*
5. Apr. 4, 1938 – Syracuse 3 at Cleveland 2 – 62:42

• The game at the New Haven Coliseum ended just before 2 am and the goal was scored by the Nighthawks Warren Holmes.

AHL DIVISIONAL ALIGNMENT

As Cantlon’s Corner reported two months ago, the AHL announced its divisional realignment for next season. The changes do not affect the Wolf Pack or any team in the Atlantic Division.

The North Division will receive the Cleveland Monsters which may turn out to be a new Pack opponent.

Texas and San Antonio migrate back to the Central Division and the brand new 31^st AHL team, the Colorado Eagles, who will be the top affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche, will go to the Pacific Division.

There likely won’t be any other league changes until Seattle ifs officially granted their NHL expansion franchise as the NHL’s 32^nd team, which is a mere formality at this point.

Once that happens, which is likely to be announced in Dallas at the NHL Draft, as well as either announcing an initial Hockey Ops staff such as President and or GM, the ball then starts rolling on a 32^nd AHL team. Likely targets for a team in Washington State include Tacoma and Spokane.

Tacoma is getting a $20 million dollar face lift. Spokane is getting a new facility. Spokane is also home to the WHL Spokane Chiefs who have been in the market for years.

Eventually, Vancouver will leave Utica, despite all the good work done there with the Comets. They’re likely to head back to Abbotsford at some point which makes logical sense. A good lease will need to be written for the building for the AHL team after the ill fated deal with Calgary.

ECHL PLAYOFFS

The Florida Everblades eliminated the Orlando Solar Bears in five games.

In the deciding fifth game Orlando pulled former Pack netminder, Mackenzie Skapski, in the first period when the team was down 3-1.

Skapski’s career nosedive is still shocking. His total loss of confidence and puck stopping ability for the redhead is stunning as he’s a shell of his former self.

In an interview during his time in Hartford, one-time Pack star Chris Bourque once compared Skapski to Braden Holtby.

MAJOR JUNIOR PLAYOFFS

In the OHL Robertson Cup finals, the series is tied at one between Sault Ste. Marie and the Hamilton  Bulldogs.

Sault Ste. Marie is coached by ex-Pack, Drew Bannister. One of the assistant coaches is former Ranger, Joe Cirella.

The team features Ranger prospect, Tim Gettinger. It also features Hayden Verbeek, the nephew of former Whaler great and Ranger, Pat Verbeek.

In the QMJHL, the President Cup finals, the series also knotted at one apiece.

The Blaineville-Boisbrand Armada, led by Ex-Pack and Sound Tiger Owner/GM/Head coach, Joel Bouchard, is battling the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, led by their GM, Sylvain Couturier, a former New Haven Nighthawk and whose son, Sean Couturier, plays for the Flyers.

In the WHL championship, the Swift Current Broncos and Everett Silvertips also are all even at one.

MEMORIAL CUP

The championship tourney to decide Canadian major junior hockey supremacy will be in Regina, Saskatchewan this year. The Regina Pats and their head coach, ex-Pack great, John Paddock, is the host team. They were eliminated in the WHL playoffs first round in early April by the Swift Current Broncos.

USHL CLARK CUP FINALS

The top US Junior hockey championship final will feature the Fargo (ND) Force battle the Youngstown (OH) Phantoms starting on Friday. The Phantoms feature in their lineup Eric Esposito (West Haven/Loomis Chaffe-Windsor) on the roster.

USHL DRAFT

Took place earlier this week and here are the results.

Phase 1 took place on Monday.

Ryan Kirwan from Avon Old Farms was taken in the 1^st round, 14^th overall by the Madison Capitols

Nick Desantis, of Selects Academy at South Kent Prep went in the 2^nd round, 29^th overall, to Sioux Falls

Charles DesRoches, a Selects Academy at South Kent Prep player, was selected in the 3^rd round, 37th overall, by Cedar Rapids.

Jack Williams, from Selects Academy at South Kent Prep heard his name called in the 3^rd round, 42^nd overall, by Muskegon.

Matt Samoskewich of Sandy Hook, CT was selected by Chicago from Shattuck’s St. Mary’s (MNPREP) program in the 4^th round, 63^rd overall.

Austin Cook, also of Selects Academy at South Kent Prep, went in the 6^th round, 85th overall by Cedar Rapids.

Jason Marcella, (Greenwich) was selected in the 6^th round, 87^th overall by Chicago.

Ryan McGuire (New Canaan) was chosen in the 8^th round, 115^th overall by Madison.

Victor Czemeckianain of Southington and the Selects Academy at South Kent Prep went 118^th in the 8^th round by Tri-City.

Matt Deboer of Salisbury Prep got called in the 8^TH round, 121^st overall by Green Bay.

Timur Alishlalov, of the CT Jr. Rangers (Stamford) went in the 8^TH round, 124^TH overall by Youngstown.

A name of note is Jackson Niewendyk, who was selected by Central Illinois in the 5^th round, 65^th overall. Jackson is the son of former NHL playing great Joe Niewendyk.

Phase II was done on Tuesday

Kyle Haskins, from Selects Academy at South Kent Prep went in the 1^st round, 16^th overall by Waterloo.

Ryan Sullivan heard his name called out in the 2^nd round, 29^th overall, out of the Selects Academy at South Kent Prep by Sioux Falls.

Matt Barnaby Jr., formerly of Avon Old Farms, the son of former NY Ranger Matthew Barnaby, Sr., went in the 3^rd round 39^th overall from Pembroke (CCHL) by Chicago.

Alex Mella, of Stamford was selected in the 4^th round, 51^st overall by Madison. He currently plays for the Austin (MN) Bruins (NAHL).

Cam Boudreau, a QU commit 2019-20 went in the 4^th round, 55^th overall by Chicago.

Ethan Manderville, was taken in the 5^th round, 72^nd overall from Ottawa (CCHL) by Chicago. He is the son of former Whaler, Kent Manderville.

Ryan Coughlin, another player from Selects Academy at South Kent Prep, went in the 8^th round, 126^th overall by Muskegon.

Ryan Doolin, from Westminster Prep (Simsbury, CT), was picked in the 8^th round, 128^th overall by Youngstown.

Jack Robilotti, another Selects Academy at South Kent Prep, went in the 9th round, 138^th overall by Muskegon.

Cam Cokinos, a Taft Prep (Watertown) player, was chosen in the 10^TH round, 150^TH overall by Des Moines.

Matt Stienburg, was picked in the 10^th round, 152^nd overall by Sioux City. He is from St. Andrews College (CSIAA) and the son of former Nighthawk, Trevor Stienburg. He is a Cornell commit for 2020-21.

Matt Holmes, of Salisbury Prep went in the 11th round, 170^th overall by Tri-City.

WHL DRAFT

Took place last weekend in Red Deere, AB a total of 223 players were taken.

Cole Sillinger, the son of ex-Sound Tiger Mike Sillinger, was taken in the 1^st round, 11^th overall, by Medicine Hat. Gabe Klassen, the younger brother of ex-Pack/CT Whale, Sam Klassen – who recently retired – was taken in the 1^st round, 19th over all by the Portland Winter Hawks.

A few other notable names are Ty Nash, the son of former NHL’er, Tyson Nash ,was selected the Lethbridge Hurricanes 9^th round, 183^rd overall.

The biggest surprise was the selection of Easton Armstrong, the youngest son of former Wolf Pack great, Derek Armstrong. He went in the 10^th round, 214^th overall, by the Regina Pats. The coach and GM is Army’s former Wolf Pack   bench boss, John Paddock.

When reached by text, Armstrong the elder, stated that his young son is considering the junior route, but not closing any doors while looking at all options. Armstrong’s oldest son, Dawson, wants to go the college route. He plays hockey and lacrosse and no decision has been made there either. Both the Armstrong boys play on the Los Angeles Kings U-18 team that plays in the TIEHL.

Derek works for the Kings as the Director of Satellite programming an outreach entity of the Kings getting young people involved in hockey.

IN MEMORIAM

The passing of Bill Torrey is a big one for the hockey world.

Torrey held a sort of “E.F. Hutton” role in hockey. When he spoke everybody listened. He was considered a very bright sports industry legal mind as it evolved from expansion in the late 1960’s and the 1970’s. He helped navigate the NHL through the tough waters of the NHL-WHA war. He also helped end it with the eventual merger and then the advent of cable television in the 1980’s.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers mere existence today is owed to Torrey. He was brought in by AHL CEO/ President, Dave Andrews, to help mediate his one-time partner with the New York Islanders, the late Roy Boe after he stopped paying bills to the Islanders, creditors, vendors and employees.

When he came into the room things got done and the franchise was saved or would have folded three years into its existence.

The post CANTLON’S CORNER: WOLF PACK OFF-SEASON WEEK THREE first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Bruce Berlet

It’s official.

Sid “The Kid” Crosby will be returning AGAIN in the world’s biggest media center.

Crosby, who has been battling the effects of post-concussion syndrome for more than 14 months, will be back in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ lineup Thursday night when they visit Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers, whom they’re frantically pursuing for the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference titles.

Crosby, who has two goals and 10 assists while playing in only eight games this season, revealed he would be returning after a Tuesday practice in which he was on the third line with rugged wings Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy. Coach Dan Bylsma kept together his top lines of Chris Kunitz-Evgeni Malkin-James Neal and Steve Sullivan-Jordan Staal-Pascal Dupuis.

“I feel good, and the plan is to play Thursday,” Crosby told the Pittsburgh media.

Crosby also worked at the point during power plays drills in which Kris Letang, the standout defenseman who has also missed five games with concussion-like symptoms, manned the other point. Crosby previously played mostly on the same half-wall position where Malkin, the NHL’s leading scorer, has been playing this season.

This will be Crosby’s second comeback of the season and comes in one of the NHL’s biggest games of the season. The Penguins have won nine in a row to close to within four points of the Rangers, who hosted the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.

After missing the final 41 games of last season and the Stanley Cup playoffs with a concussion that developed after he was hit hard in successive games in January 2011, Crosby sat out the first 20 games of this season. He made a memorable return against the New York Islanders on Nov. 21, scoring twice and setting up two more goals in a 5-1 victory. He had eight assists, but no more goals, in the next seven games before the concussion symptoms returned, and he has not played since.

Crosby was cleared for contact a week ago and returned to practice, but he didn’t think he had absorbed enough contact in drills to play Sunday against the Bruins. Now, he’s ready to go again, and adding the former Art Ross and Hart Award winner to what already is the NHL’s hottest team makes the Penguins one of the Stanley Cup favorites. They have not advanced past the Eastern Conference semifinals since winning the cup in 2009.

If Crosby can play the rest of the Penguins’ games, he will get in 14 games before the playoffs, including six against the Rangers, Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins have three games left against the Flyers.

AVERY RETIRED?

While Crosby is on his way back, Sean Avery’s career is apparently done.

The fiery left wing told a live viewing audience during the online “After Show” segment of Bravo TV’s “Watch What Happens Live” that he was calling it quits. His announcement came after the show’s host, Andy Cohen, asked a viewer question about his future.

“Sean, what are your thoughts about your hockey future?” Cohen said.

The 31-year-old Avery lounged back in his chair and said: “I am officially retired; I threw my skates in the Hudson [River].”

Avery did not dispute what he told Cohen to Andrew Gross of The Record and Herald News in New Jersey via text message Tuesday. But Avery added he would/could not make an official announcement until his four-year, $15.5 million deal expires April 15. As Avery told Gross, he does “still have a job” even if he wasn’t on the Whale’s “Clear Day” list announced last Tuesday, making him ineligible for the rest of the season or playoffs, and has been told by the Rangers not to bother to report to the Whale. Avery obviously wants to still get his paychecks for what will be his final NHL contract and has not filed any retirement papers with the NHL. Avery has numerous interests outside of hockey and is exploring possible post-hockey business opportunities.

This ends a tumultuous final season with the Rangers and Whale. After being waived by the Rangers early in the season, Avery was assigned to the Whale before re-joining New York on Nov. 5. In 15 games with the Rangers, he had three goals and 21 penalty minutes. In seven games during two stints with the Whale, he had two goals, one assist and 39 PIMs but had been a healthy scratch for 18 consecutive games since Jan. 27.

In 580 games in 10 seasons with Rangers, Dallas Stars, Los Angeles Kings and Detroit Red Wings, Avery has 90 goals, 157 assists and 1,533 PIMs. His most productive season was 2006-07, when he had 18 goals, 30 assists and 174 PIM in 84 games with the Kings and Rangers.

WHALE, SOUND TIGERS RESUME RIVALRY FRIDAY NIGHT

The Whale and Bridgeport Sound Tigers, tied for the Northeast Division lead, renew their spirited rivalry Friday night at the XL Center in the start of the Whale’s five-game homestand, tying a season high.

It will be the ninth of 10 meetings in the GEICO Connecticut Cup series in which the Sound Tigers are 5-1-1-1, though three of their wins have come in overtime or a shootout.

The Sound Tigers (32-20-3-5) were in the division cellar after a 2-10-0-1 slide from Thanksgiving to the end of 2011, but a staggering 20-2-0-2 run vaulted them into first place before they lost three straight last weekend for the first time this season, the first two via shootouts, starting against the Whale.

The Whale (31-20-5-5) had a six-point division lead entering 2012 before an 11-game winless streak (0-6-3-2) in January dropped them behind the Sound Tigers. But the Whale has rallied with a 12-4-1-0 record to tie the Sound Tigers, who have a game in hand and own the first tie-breaker, which is most non-shootout wins (28-25).

The closeness of the two teams doesn’t end there either as the Sound Tigers have scored only three more goals than the Whale (185-182) while allowing only four more (173-169). And each team has a goalie named Reebok/AHL Goaltender of the Month, the Whale’s Chad Johnson in October and the Sound Tigers’ Anders Nilsson in February. Johnson was called up by the Rangers on Tuesday to back up Martin Biron because Henrik Lundqvist has the flu.

The Whale is 3-0-0-1 in four home games against the Sound Tigers, including last Friday night, when Kris Newbury scored a sixth-attacker goal with 4.9 seconds left in regulation before Johnson stopped three shots in a shootout while All-Star Mats Zuccarello, Casey Wellman and Brendan Bell were scoring for the Whale for a 4-3 win.

But after playing with as many eight players on professional tryout contracts because of injuries and call-ups, the Sound Tigers are nearly whole as Nilsson and rugged wing Michael Haley were reassigned by the parent New York Islanders on Monday and captain Jeremy Colliton could return from an injury. The only players on the Sound Tigers’ “Clear Day” list still with the Islanders are All-Star wing David Ullstrom and center Casey Cizikas.

The Whale could be without Zuccarello, who was called up by the Rangers on Sunday morning while eating breakfast in Manchester, N.H., and had an assist and helped set up Marian Gaborik’s winner in a 4-3 overtime victory over the Islanders. Gaborik’s goal was the Rangers’ third on the power play, which was helped immensely by the return of Zuccarello, who played more than six of his 101/2 minutes on the power play while filling in for former Wolf Pack wing and captain Ryan Callahan, sidelined by a sore foot after being hit by a shot.

“I thought he brought something we know he has, the creativity of the game,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said of Zuccarello. “He’s very well liked in the locker room, very well respected in our locker room. He brings a creativity. He sees the ice. It’s a gift that he has.”

Tortorella said he would try to play Zuccarello more at even strength after pointing out last season that Zuccarello made plays others on the team wouldn’t think about.

“Skill and work ethic are two things that Zuccarello has, and they are the key parts of his game,” Tortorella said. “I was hearing from a lot of people saying that John Tortorella ‘hated’ him and didn’t want him on the team, and I think that’s the complete opposite. Until Ryan Callahan got hurt, no one in the top six had missed any significant time and there wasn’t really a need for Zucc. The GAS line (Gaborik-Artem Anisimov-Derek Stepan) was carrying the offense, and the Rangers had four lines that all had roles and were performing them. Now with the team in a little rut, couple with the injury to Cally, Zucc gets his chance. As long as he is making things happen on the ice, he will have a spot in the lineup.”

Cizikas (15 goals, 29 assists, plus-25 in 51 games) is the Sound Tigers’ leading scorer, followed by defenseman Matt Donovan (7, 28), right wing Rhett Rakhshani (13, 21 in only 35 games with a six-game point streak), left wing Justin DiBenedetto (17, 12), Colliton (11, 16) and Ullstrom (19, 4). Nilsson (15-6-2, 2.32 goals-against average, .925 save percentage, one shutout) and Kevin Poulin (17-15-3, 2.94, .903, two shutouts) are the goalies.

Newbury (21, 32) is the Whale’s leading scorer, followed by All-Star rookie forward Jonathan Audy-Marchessault (20, 31), Wellman (20, 17, including six goals and six assists in 12 games with the Whale), right wing Andre Deveaux (19, 18), Zuccarello (12, 24) and defensemen Tim Erixon (2, 30) and Bell (7, 23). Audy-Marchessault leads the Whale in scoring against the Sound Tigers with six goals and four assists. Johnson (20-13-5, 2.36, .922, one shutout) has started the last eight games and 15 of the last 17 while Cam Talbot (11-12-0, 2.92, .904, two shutouts) has backed up.

Five-thousand fans will receive the third and final set of Whale trading cards, sponsored by Webster Bank, of Deveaux, Wellman, Erixon, Scott Tanski, Pavel Valentenko and coach Ken Gernander on a Hartford Wolf Pack card. Valentenko could return after missing two games with an injury sustained last Friday night.

Despite the importance of Friday’s game, the Whale also has key conference games against Springfield on Saturday night and Portland on Sunday afternoon. The Whale had won seven in a row at home before a 3-1 loss Saturday night to the Norfolk Admirals, who went to Bridgeport the next afternoon and beat the Sound Tigers, 6-3. Despite the loss to the Admirals, the Whale still has the AHL’s best home winning percentage at .714 (17-5-2-4).

Entering the 12^th and final meeting with their I-91 rival, the Whale is 7-3-0-1 against the Falcons (28-28-3-3), including 3-1-0-1 at the XL Center. But Springfield won the last meeting 2-0 on Feb. 25 at the MassMutual Center behind 30 saves by former UMass standout Paul Dainton, the Falcons’ only shutout this season and the first time the Whale had been blanked since the second game of the season

The Falcons have lost five of six (1-3-1-1) and play Portland and Providence before visiting the Whale. They have struggled since All-Star wing Cam Atkinson, a Greenwich native and former standout at Avon Old Farms and Boston College, was called up by the parent Columbus Blue Jackets on Feb. 27, and former Wolf Pack captain Dane Byers was recalled on Saturday.

Former All-Star center Martin St. Pierre (10, 46) leads the Falcons in scoring, followed by former Wolf Pack wing Alexandre Giroux (23, 25), Atkinson (29, 15), Byers (14, 16), center Matt Calvert (13, 13), defenseman Brent Regner (2, 23) and center Nick Drazenovic (6, 18 in only 28 games). Drazenovic is one of numerous players the Falcons have been without for long stretches because of injuries or call-ups. Audy-Marchessault has a stunning six goals and 13 assists in 11 games the Falcons, while Giroux leads the active Falcons in scoring against the Whale with six goals and three assists. Dainton (10-8-1, 2.90, .896, one shutout) and 39-year-old Manny Legace (11-17-1, 2.83, .903), the Hartford Whalers’ eighth-round pick in 1993, have handled most of the goaltending.

Five-thousand fans will receive green Whale koozies, courtesy of Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.

Entering the sixth of eight meetings with Portland, the Whale is 2-2-1 against the Pirates, winning in overtime and regulation at the XL Center. The Pirates (28-27-3-3), who are fourth in the Atlantic Division and two points out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot, are led by All-Star left wing Brett Sterling, who has 24 goals and 27 assists, including two goals and one assist in four games with Portland after the St. Louis Blues loaned him from the Peoria Rivermen for former All-Star wing Patrick Sullivan. At the same time, goalie Peter Mannino and forward Kenndal McArdle were loaned to Portland from St. John’s for All-Star center Brock Trotter, the Pirates’ leading scorer who was injured and has yet to play. Sterling is followed in scoring by rookie center Andy Miele (11, 32), the Hobey Baker Award winner last year at Miami of Ohio, right wing Brett MacLean (18, 17), defenseman Nathan Oystrick (10, 21) and right wings Matt Watkins (9, 21) and Ryan Duncan (14, 15). Erixon leads the Whale in scoring against the Pirates with five assists, while Miele has seven assists against the Whale. Mannino (5-6-0, 2.99, .909, one shutout) and Justin Pogge (13-13-3, 3.25, .883) are the Pirates’ goalies after Curtis McIlhinney was injured and traded to Columbus as part of the trade that sent veteran center Antoine Vermette to Phoenix.

Fans are encouraged to bring their skates for a postgame skate.

ADMIRALS’ JOHNSON NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Admirals center Tyler Johnson was named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week on Monday after getting four goals and four assists in three wins that extended their winning streak to 15 games, two shy of the AHL record.

Johnson was especially important in games against Connecticut’s two AHL entries, assisting on the winning goal by Mike Kostka and scoring into empty net in the win over the Whale before getting a goal and three assists to extend his personal scoring streak to seven games (six goals, nine assists) against the Sound Tigers.

Johnson, a 21-year-old native of Spokane, Wash., has 24 goals and 28 assists in 62 games, ranking third among AHL rookies. He was signed as a free agent by the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 7, 2011 after playing four season with Spokane in the Western Hockey League, winning a Memorial Cup in 2008, and helping the United States capture a gold medal in the 2010 World Junior Championships.

The Admirals’ 15-game winning streak is the third longest in the AHL since the Admirals joined the league in 2000-01. It’s the longest winning streak in the AHL since the Syracuse Crunch won an AHL-record 18 straight regular-season games from March 9 to Oct. 17, 2008. During the Crunch’s streak, they won 15 games to end the 2007-08 regular season and three games to begin the 2008-09 season. The longest AHL winning streak in a season was the 17 in a row the Philadelphia Phantoms won from Oct. 22 to Nov. 27, 2004.

The Admirals have set a franchise record with eight consecutive road victories, passing the previous mark of seven from Dec. 29, 2002 to Feb. 7, 2003. Their last loss was 4-2 at Springfield on Feb. 5.

Former Hartford Wolf Pack left wing/enforcer Steve MacIntyre was suspended for four games Tuesday for his actions in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s 4-3 shootout victory at Springfield on Sunday. Late in the second period, MacIntyre precipitated and continued a melee, including attacking Dainton, and received a two-minute minor for cross-checking, five-minute major for elbowing and 10-minute match penalty for attempt to deliberately injure.

The 6-foot-5, 250-pound MacIntyre will miss games Wednesday at Norfolk and Saturday, Sunday and March 23 at home against Worcester, Binghamton and Adirondack. He has no points and 55 penalty minutes in 18 games with the Penguins and is scoreless with four PIMs in 11 NHL games with Pittsburgh this season.

ODDS AND ENDBOARDS

College students can get discounted Whale tickets to weekday games with a “Ditch the Dorms” deal. For Monday through Friday games, students who show a valid student ID at the Public Power Ticket office can get $2 off upper-level tickets and $5 off lower-level seats.

Fans can bid on AHL All-Star Classic jerseys, helmets, gloves and pucks at www.theahl.com. Zuccarello, Audy-Marchessault and Atkinson were on the Eastern Conference team, which was captained by former Wolf Pack left wing Boyd Kane, captain of the Hershey Bears.

The post SPOTLIGHT: COMINGS AND GOINGS first appeared on Howlings.

BY: Adam Gavriel

It appears that the Sean Avery saga is finally coming to an end with the Rangers…again. Though this time it seems to be for good and not just with the Rangers, but with the NHL, KHL, SEL, AHL, or any hockey league you can think of.

Last night on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live, Sean Avery proclaimed that he was retiring from hockey and that he, “…Threw his skates into the Hudson.” Many had speculated that the end of Avery’s career was right around the corner, that he had, between his actions and words, burned too many bridges in the NHL and its affiliates to have a legitimate shot at being put on re-entry waivers this season by the Rangers. Turns out, those speculations may have been correct.

The Ontario native remained in the AHL on the CT Whale roster through the NHL trading deadline. A few weeks later, Avery was left off of the Whale’s Clear Day roster leaving him ineligible for the rest of the regular season’s games as well as the AHL playoffs. To make their point more emphatically, the Rangers told their winger that his services were no longer wanted and that he didn’t need to report to practices anymore. Or to put it another way, the Rangers invoked Donald Trump’s words and told Avery, “You’re Fired.”

On Twitter Tuesday morning thing turned into a, “He said/They said” speculation fest until the always reliable (especially concerning all things Sean Avery) The New York Post’s Larry Brooks reported that for Avery, this was for real; that his skates were indeed at the bottom of the Hudson and that he will no longer pursue a career in hockey; that his focus will now be on his post-hockey career. In the Post, Brooks reports that Avery will join an undisclosed advertising firm with a specialization in venture capitalism where eleven years of building connections in the fashion business has paid a dividend for Avery.

As a never-ending supporter of “The Abrasive One,” I will remember Avery most for his first tenure with the Rangers on Tom Renney’s watch. At that time, Avery was a central character in the Rangers winning their only two playoff series victories since the lockout. Who will ever forget how the super-pest distinguished with the title of “evil-genius” by ESPN & forced the NHL to implement a whole new rule for play in the middle of the playoffs no less, when he faced Martin Brodeur and waving his stick in his face leading to what’s commonly known now as, “The Avery Rule” prohibiting such behavior?

Avery was always the x-factor who could take over a game at any given moment, turn all the attention onto himself, and then just as easily give all that momentum over to the opponent and motivate them and handing away two points.

It’s probably safe to say that that’s likely to be the way many New York Ranger fans will think of him, because it certainly won’t be from his second tenure with the team under John Tortorella.

After the infamous, “sloppy seconds” comment/debacle would be a difficult one for Avery before it even began.

Tortorella and Avery were at odds before the agitator even came to New York. Before being hired as the Rangers head coach during his tenure as a TSN commentator, Tortorella had said that it was time for the league to get rid of Avery. He said that he felt that there was no spot in the sport for behavior like Sean’s. Sather believed that Tortorella would learn to love Avery as the rest of New York had, but as it turned out, it wasn’t meant to be.

Overall, Avery finishes his Rangers’ career having played 264 games netting 45 goals and accumulating 78 assists for 123 points and 601 PIMs.

Now with his hockey playing days over, Avery will hope to build upon his “genius” by not announcing his retirement officially until the end of the season, in order to drain all the money from the $15.5 million contract he signed with Dallas four years ago and that is now being split with the Rangers.

So now the search begins over the entire NHL, for a player to step up that will try and take that “Super-Pest” title away from the league’s anger magnet. Teams and their fans will now be on the “Look-out” for a new player that everyone’ll loves to hate, and the NHL will have to move on to their next villain.

Hockey is all about entertainment as a fan. And as a fan, the league has permanently lost one of its all-time entertainers.

Best of luck to Sean Avery in his career post-hockey.

(photo courtesy of thehockeyguys.com)

The post FAN-FARE: THE AVERY LEGACY first appeared on Howlings.

Here is your CTWhale clear day list.

This is the team that the Whale management gives them the best chance to win the rest of the way and to compete in the Calder Cup playoffs.

No real surprises but one question answered and that is that Sean Avery will NOT be playing for the Whale for the rest of the season. For whatever reason, and neither he nor the team have gone public with the reason why, but Avery has just not availed himself to be a part of this group and therefore won’t be playing with the Whale.

The interesting question that DOES come of this, is surrounding Avery’s future, as in, “Does he even have one in the NHL going forward?” That question will get answered this coming summer when Avery becomes an unrestricted free agent.

SOME THOUGHTS

Chris McKelvie heading to the ECHL to play with Greenville is disappointing. He’s a good, hard-working, versatile player that just doesn’t have a spot right now.

Defenseman Blake Parlett did make the list so if he’s needed, he can and will be recalled from Greenville of the ECHL, where he’s playing now.

Congratulations to Jeff Prough, who after spending much of the season in Greenville will be here the rest of the way.

Disappointed to see that Francois Bouchard did not make the list and that his wrist injury has effectively ended his season.

In looking down the various rosters, no real surprises jumped out.

To see the entire list of all thirty teams, visit TheAHL.com.

So now with the Clear Day list behind, it’s on to watching where this all goes for the New York Rangers‘ top affiliate the Connecticut Whale.

Here’s the official release:

WHALE ANNOUNCE “CLEAR DAY” PLAYOFF ROSTER
* * * *
Chris McKelvie Loaned to ECHL Greenville

Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today the team’s 22-man “Clear Day” playoff list, and that forward Chris McKelvie has been loaned to the Whale’s ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Road Warriors.

Per AHL by-laws, only the 20 skaters and two goaltenders on the Clear Day roster are eligible to suit up for the Whale for the remainder of the AHL regular season and the Calder Cup playoffs, unless emergency conditions result from recalls, injuries or suspensions.

Signed Junior players, or players who join the team on amateur tryout agreements after their Junior or college seasons are complete, are also allowed to see action for AHL teams during this period, regardless of whether or not emergency conditions exist.

Following is the Whale’s Clear Day list:

Goaltenders (2): Chad Johnson, Cameron Talbot

Defensemen (8): Brendan Bell, Tim Erixon, Sam Klassen, Jared Nightingale, Blake Parlett, Wade Redden, Pavel Valentenko, Mike Vernace

Forwards (12): Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Ryan Bourque, Andre Deveaux, Tommy Grant, Kris Newbury, Jordan Owens, Jeff Prough, Scott Tanski, Kelsey Tessier, Andreas Thuresson, Casey Wellman, Mats Zuccarello

McKelvie has skated in 38 games with the Whale this year, and the second-year pro out of Bemidji State University has scored two goals and added three assists for five points, while serving 42 minutes in penalties.

The Whale’s next action is this Friday night, March 9 at the XL Center, a GEICO Connecticut Cup game vs. the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. That game faces off at 7:00 PM, and fans can take advantage of a special food combo at every remaining Whale Friday home game, as a hot dog and a 12-ounce soda is only $5.

Then this Saturday night, February 10, when the Norfolk Admirals visit the XL Center for a 7:00 game, is CT Hockey Hall of Fame Night. The night marks the enshrinement of a new class of 2012 inductees into the CT Hockey Hall of Fame, which has adopted eight members from the storied Hartford Whalers Hall of Fame. The new inductees are: Connecticut-bred Hockey Hall of Famer Brian Leetch, ex-Hartford Whalers 56-goal scorer Blaine Stoughton, former Whalers goaltender Mike Liut, former Whalers captain Pat Verbeek, Connecticut Whale/Hartford Wolf Pack franchise icon, long-time captain and current head coach Ken Gernander, three-time Olympic medalist for Team USA and all-time NCAA women’s leading scorer Julie Chu, and one of the founders of the New England Whalers, William E. Barnes. There will be an induction ceremony during the game, and fans can take home a special souvenir, as 5,000 Hall of Fame posters will be given away, courtesy of SuperCuts.

Tickets to all 2011-12 Whale home games are on sale now at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, as well as on-line at www.ctwhale.com and through TicketMaster Charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Save on your tickets, and get the best seats, with a ticket plan for the Whale’s 2011-12 AHL campaign, which are on sale now. For information on season seats and mini plans, visit www.ctwhale.com, or call the CT Whale ticket office at (860) 728-3366 to talk with an account executive today.

The AHL’s Connecticut Whale is operated by Whalers Sports and Entertainment, a Hartford-based sports marketing and event firm founded by Howard Baldwin and Howard Baldwin, Jr.. The team is the top player-development affiliate of the NHL’s New York Rangers.

Since 1972, the CT Lottery has generated nearly $21.4 billion in sales and has transferred more than $7.2 billion to the state’s General Fund. Prizes have exceeded $12.3 billion. Purchasers must be 18 years or older. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-346-6238. For more information about the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, visit ctlottery.org.

The post CLEAR DAY LIST IS PUBLIC first appeared on Howlings.

Only the players listed on a team’s Clear Day roster are allowed to play in whatever games that team has over the rest of the AHL regular season and in the 2012 Calder Cup Playoffs. Players can be added on if emergency conditions come about due to recall, injury or suspension.

What surprises await on the list to be released later today?

Hard to say.

Sean Avery fans are certain to wonder if he will be on the list?” The Answer, probably not.

However, will say Lee Baldwin or Blake Parlett be on the list? Maybe one or maybe even both.

What about Jeff Prough or perhaps another forward from Greenville? Perhaps.

One name the team was hoping they could put on the list, forward Chad Kolarik who has missed this entire season to this point with a knee injury, won’t be. Kolarik announced the following on his twitter account, “Cleared for contact, but because I was not on the AHL roster on Feb 27 I cannot play this year. Next goal is to be ready for camp.”

One name fans are hoping to see, but almost certainly won’t be on it, at least for now, is New York Rangers franchise crown jewel, Chris Kreider. He has not signed yet with the Blueshirts, nor has he signed a Professional Try-Out (PTO) with the Whale. But don’t be alarmed. When his college season is over, and it’s not yet, that could easily change as those players, along with their counter-parts in Canadian juniors are allowed to be added without an issue.

In terms of the coming Calder Cup playoffs, the American League this season adopted the same format as the NHL for their rankings. The top three division leaders will rank 1,2,3 and then the other five will be seeded accordingly. As you can see below, the Connecticut Whale currently sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference despite being tied in points with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Whale have played two more games than their intra-state rivals. The two proud franchises mix it up again just three more times this season, all this month. They meet both this and next Friday at the XL Center (7pm starts) and then on Sunday, March 25th (3pm) at the Webster Bank Arena.

Keep checking back to Howlings.net and watch our Twitter (@HowlingsToday) account for updates.

(Standings provided by theahl.com)

The post ON A CLEAR DAY – YOU CAN SEE A LIST first appeared on Howlings.

Wellman is 6′, 173 pounds and has 2g, 5a in 14 games for Minnesota this season and contributed 4g, 9a in 41 games over the three seasons he’s spent with the Wild.

Christensen, meanwhile had not played for the Rangers since Dec. 17 and has just 5pts (1g, 4a) in 20 games this year. The very soft spoken center-man has played in 132 games with the Rangers and put 58pts on his ledger (20g, 38a) as a Blueshirt.

John Tortorella was never really much of a fan of Christensen, an Edmonton native.  Yes, Christensen is lights out in the shootout, but he has not been able to show any sort of consistency at any other part of his game. Perhaps in Minnesota he will find his game.

The Whale also released Aaron Voros from his Professional Try-Out contract this week. Arriving in Hartford for two week conditioning stints, for the time being anyhow, is Wojtek Wolski and Jeff Woywitka and gone is recent signee Randy McNaught who was sent to Greenville of the ECHL.

Think it’s safe to say that the Rangers organization is fully aware of the needs of the team both in New York and in Hartford?

If the Rangers do make a move for an impact top six forward at the trade deadline, given how things have played out this year, and given the fact that nobody is giving away impact players like that for a draft pick and a dinner at Nobu, the players that make the most obvious sense to move, apart from Wolski and Woywitka – who won’t get you anything – are Brandon Dubinsky and/or Artem Anisimov. They are the only two expendable pieces that would draw any interest at all.

It will be interesting to see what Glen Sather, Jim Schoenfeld and the executive team decide to do.

By the way, in terms of interesting, the biggest question mark in the entire organization is what do they do with Sean Avery? He isn’t in the New York plan and Avery is a MAJOR distraction and a problem in Hartford. How the Avery situation is handled still looms on the horizon.

The post CLEANING UP THE ROSTER first appeared on Howlings.

VERSUS     

The late, great Gilda Radner’s character, “Roseanne Rosannadannna” used to say to great laughs, “If it’s not one thing, it’s another…” Those words rang very true Saturday night for the Connecticut Whale, but nobody was laughing as the New York Rangers’ top farm team dropped a 2-1 decision and lost their eleventh straight (0-6-3-2) to the Springfield Falcons before the season’s second largest crowd of 11,181.

After struggling to maintain discipline by taking foolish and avoidable penalties the night before against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton that left them shorthanded seven times, they played more cautiously Saturday and were only shorthanded twice.  But somehow along with the penalties went the passion as they played very uninspired hockey for two periods before finding the right balance between aggressive and overly aggressive with a strong sense of urgency in their play for the third period. As it turned out though, it was a matter of, “too little, too late” mixed with a a costly mistake and finished off by a generous portion of excellent goaltending  by the Falcons’ Paul Dainton (4-2-0, 24 saves) that would do them in.

Scott Tanski turned the puck over on a drop pass in the offensive zone that was picked up by center Martin St. Pierre. The veteran made a quick outlet pass to Cam Atkinson who streaked up the right wing. The Whale defense came charging back but Atkinson’s pass found the stick of Maxim Mayorov, who’d gotten in front of Jared Nightingale and flipped it past the  blocker of Cam Talbot (9-11-0, 27 saves) for what would prove to be the game winner.

“We made a mistake there late and gave them an odd man rush and we paid the price for it,” Head Coach Ken Gernander said afterwards. “Right now our margin of error isn’t one where we can make a lot of mistakes.”

The Whale do have some injury concerns that they are dealing with and they miss Kris Newbury most of all. Newbury is their top face-off center as well as the de facto leader of the team’s energy and intensity. While Kelsey Tessier took many of the games key face-offs, and did okay with it, they certainly missed Newbury who, while they don’t track face-off wins and losses in the AHL, certainly wins on observation somewhere in the 80-90% of them. That presence was most costly on the first Falcons goal.

With exactly three minutes left in the first period, Tim Spencer scored off a clean faceoff win as Wade MacLeod won a faceoff cleanly from Jordan Owens in the Whale zone. The puck came right to Theo Ruth at the right point and he fired it in on net. Spencer got in front of the Whale defender and redirected it past Talbot for his second of the season and a 1-0 lead.

The Whale had their chances in the first period.

Just 62 seconds into the contest, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault had a breakaway that Dainton repelled. Andre Deveaux was right there to play the rebound by Dainton stood tall against the Whales’ big right winger.

Time was running dry in the first when Mats Zuccarello, playing in his second game back from injury after missing seventeen of the previous eighteen with a high ankle sprain, made a magnificent toe-drag move and fired a shot that hit Dainton’s shoulder and rebounded out of harm’s way.

What was most disturbing in the first period was that of their three power play chances, one at 1:04 on a Patrick Cullity slashing call, the second on a Matt Calvert high stick and the third when Dainton put the puck into the stands for a Delay of Game call, of the three man-advantage opportunities, the Whale were unable to muster a single shot on goal.

The Whale were just not getting shots on goal. Through the first 10:46 of the second period, the team was not challenging Dainton at all as they went without a shot.

At 13:10, it looked like the Whale might have broken through when Tanski’s rebound attempt of a Tessier shot looked like it went in, but it was Francis Charron’s decision that the puck never crossed the line, and on went the contest.

Finally the Whale broke through with 1:52 left in the second when a puck went into the Whale zone on the left side. Blake Parlett went and retrieved it, but Theo Ruth pinched in to challenge him and the Whale defenseman was able to chip it out of the zone and into a couple of opposing players between the penalty boxes. Audy-Marchessault and Cullity went for it at the center redline, but Zuccarello picked up the loose biscuit and broke in along the left wing side. Atkinson gave chase to “The Norwegian Hobbit” but could not catch him. Zuccarello went with a fake, got Dainton to open his legs and deposited the puck in the back of the net with a backhander through the five-hole to tie the score.

After Mayorov scored his fourth of the season with what would prove to be the game-winner, the Whale had their sixth and final power play opportunity when Nick Drazenovic was sent off the ice for a hit to the head giving the Whale their sixth power play. When it ended, the Whale had gone, not only 0-for-six on the man-advantage, but they were only able to take a single shot on goal through all of them.

The Whale also played this contest a defenseman short as Pavel Valentenko was injured by a boarding major from ex-Hartford Wolf Pack forward Steve MacIntyre the night before. The rotation of defensemen gave off the appearance that the Whale defense looked out of step all night.

“We’re going to have to find ways to win games, whatever the case may be,” Gernander said. “Whether it’s secondary scoring, special teams, big defensive effort, individual efforts, we’re going to have to find a way to get it done.

“It would have been nice to go out (for the four-day All-Star break) on a positive note so guys could be feeling good about themselves when they left and little bit refreshed, but there’s a lot of season left to get it turned around. We’re within striking distance and showed improvement in some areas tonight and now we have to tweak a few others.”

Nightingale put it all in perspective from the players point of view. “We haven’t had any puck luck and it’s a game of inches,” He said. “It seems right now that bounces aren’t going our way, but there’s not a sense of panic. You can’t put a price on these experiences. At the end of the year, I think we’ll look back and look at it as a positive. It’s good to get away for a (four-day) break even if we were on a 10-game winning streak. Hockey is a grind, and heading into the home stretch, it’s good timing with the way things have been going lately. It’s a good time to regroup, relax and reenergize yourself. We’ll take advantage of the break and come back (determined). I don’t think anybody in this locker room doubts that we can turn this thing around right away.”

Fran Sypek 0f The Republican takes you inside the Springfield locker-room MassLive.com.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

VIDEO:

SOUNDS OF THE GAME:

Ken Gernander: 

Jared Nightingale: 

STANDINGS:

(Standings provided by TheAHL.com)

NOTES:

* Ironically enough, the last CTWhale win came against the Springfield Falcons on Dec. 31 2011.

* Just sayin’ – In the eleven games since Sean Avery arrived for the second time from New York, the Whale have not won a game and started this eleven game skid (0-6-3-2). To be fair, Avery did play in two Whale wins earlier in the season – 10/28’s win against Adirondack and 10/29’s win vs. Worcester – before his first and only recall. However, in games without Avery at all, the Whale are 17-10-1-3 (.629 hockey winning percentage) 17-14 in terms of just wins vs. losses (.548 overall).

Meanwhile Avery’s friend, veteran Aaron Voros, who joined the Whale on a Professional Try-Out (PTO) contract back on Nov. 18th, the Whale have an overall record of 12-12-3-3, (hockey’s equivalent of .500) or in just wins vs. losses, 12-18 (realistic winning percentage of .400). Contrast that with the team’s record prior to his arrival. the Whale were 7-4-1-2 (hockey .636) or 7-7 (realistic .500). Again, the point is NOT to point fingers..it’s just kind of interesting…

LINES:

Bouchard – Owens – Thuresson

Zuccarello – Audy-Marchessault – Deveaux
Grant – Tessier – Tanski
Bourque – McKelvie – McNaught

Bell – Klassen
Erixon – Nightingale
Parlett

Talbot
Johnson

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Wade Redden – Lower Body – Three to Four Weeks
Chad Kolarik – Knee – Six to Eight Weeks
Pavel Valentenko – Undisclosed – Indefinite
Sean Avery – Healthy Scratch
Aaron Voros – Healthy Scratch

THREE STARS:

1. SPR – M. Mayorov
2. SPR – P. Dainton
3. CT – M. Zuccarello

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Francis Charron (46)

Linesmen:
Luke Galvin (2)
Jim Briggs (83)

NEXT GAME:

The Whale are now off for the All-Star break. According to Gernander, they are not permitted to be officially together to skate again until Thursday morning. They finish their five game homestand on Friday night when the Albany Devils come to town. Bob Crawford will be on the air with the pre-game show at 6:50 with the puck dropping at 7pm. The game can be heard on WCCC.com.

To watch the game live, you can purchased it for $6.99 at AHL-live.

For Ticket information for all home games, call (860) 548-2000.

Too far away or can’t make it? Listen live at WCCC.com or from your cell phone or computer you can get all the live action via our Twitter page: @HowlingsToday for all games both home and away.

SCORE-SHEET:

Springfield Falcons 2 at Connecticut Whale 1 – Status: Final
Saturday, January 28, 2012 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Springfield     1 0 1 – 2
Connecticut  0 1 0 – 1

1st Period-1, Springfield, Spencer 2 (Ruth, MacLeod), 17:00. Penalties-Cullity Spr (slashing), 1:04; Thuresson Ct (delay of game), 8:52; Calvert Spr (high-sticking), 9:08; Dainton Spr (delay of game), 12:00.

2nd Period-2, Connecticut, Zuccarello 9 (Audy-Marchessault, Parlett), 18:08. Penalties-Audy-Marchessault Ct (tripping), 5:19; Garlock Spr (hooking), 8:22; Prout Spr (delay of game), 14:08; Calvert Spr (roughing), 20:00; Erixon Ct (roughing), 20:00.

3rd Period-3, Springfield, Mayorov 4 (Atkinson, St. Pierre), 6:03. Penalties-Drazenovic Spr (checking to the head), 7:25.

Shots on Goal-Springfield 8-9-12-29. Connecticut 7-4-14-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Springfield 0 / 2; Connecticut 0 / 6.
Goalies-Springfield, Dainton 4-2-0 (25 shots-24 saves). Connecticut, Talbot 9-11-0 (29 shots-27 saves).
A-11,181
Referees-Francis Charron (46).
Linesmen-Luke Galvin (2), Jim Briggs (83).

The post GIMME A BREAK – AN ALL-STAR BREAK first appeared on Howlings.

 VERSUS     

Well there that wasn’t so hard now was it?

The newly remodeled Connecticut Whale fell behind early but stuck to their game plan and scored two power play goal en route to a 3-2 win over the Albany Devils Friday night in front of 4,028 at the XL Center.

With Aaron Voros released from his PTO and Randy McNaught having been sent to Greenville to join the Road Warriors in the ECHL and the input of Rangers vets Wojtek Wolski and Jeff Woywitka added for a two-week conditioning stint, the Whale had an entirely different feel both in terms of the level of talent on the ice and the way they played the game.

“Obviously the two points were big,” a noticeably relieved Head Coach Ken Gernander said afterwards. “(It) probably could have been a little tighter down the stretch there; it got a little bit hairy, but we got our two points tonight, (s0) we can put January (where the team went winless with a 0-6-3-2 record) behind us.”

Gernander was able to construct an NHL caliber line of NHL veterans Kris Newbury centering Wolski on the left and AHL All-Star Mats Zuccarello on the right. With that much skill and grit up front, it was no surprise to anyone that they were dominant every shift they were on the ice.  On the defense, Gernander paired Woywitka with Blake Parlett. The forwards were on the ice for two goals for the Whale.

“(Wolski and Woywitka) are pretty good caliber players to have injected into your lineup. Wolski gave us a boost there with a big goal (the game winner) and had another chance there in the second. You can see he’s a skilled offensive guy and Jeff shores up the defense there and he’s a big body that can log a lot of minutes for us so, like I said they’re a good addition for our lineup tonight.”

Newbury agreed with his coach’s assessment. “Wolski is great with the puck. He’s got great vision and great hands,” Newbury said. “So when you get it into his hand’s or Zuccarello’s hands, they both make good plays. “I think as time goes by here and he gets into a little bit better game shape, he’ll be even more of him.”

Chad Johnson (11-9-5, 20 saves) had an overall solid performance between the pipes, but gave up an early goal just 1:39 into the game.

Eric Gelinas took a shot from the right point that beat Johnson to the glove side. “(Tim) Erixon was passing in front of me just as (Gelinas) was shooting and I couldn’t see him for just a split second and it went by me,” Johnson said.

1:18 later, the Whale responded decisively as Brendan Bell’s shot  swept around the end boards into the right circle where Zuccarello was waiting. “The Norwegian Hobbit” made a great pass/shot to the front of the net where Newbury got in front of  defenseman Mike Banwell and redirected the pass by starter Keith Kinkaid (11-12-1, 21 saves) for his sixteenth of the season.

Rather than letting up, which has been a problem for this team for the last month, instead, the Whale elevated their attack and took it to the Devils.

At 8:59, Andreas Thuresson broke in past defenseman Dan Kelly and had a great scoring chance that was stopped by Kinkaid. The Albany netminder left some loose change in front of the net, but a streaking Ryan Bourque, who had perhaps his strongest overall game for the Whale, just missed the rebound as he was streaking up the middle. before Kinkaid was able to cover it up.

At 15:05 Erixon was called for hooking, but it almost seemed like the shorthanded Whale were on the power play as they held the puck for about 2/3 of the penalty in the Albany zone. At 16:57 after a Devils clear, Newbury had a breakaway opportunity off a Zuccarello feed by Kinkaid rose up and denied the Whale center of his second of the period.

But the Whale continued to apply pressure as all four lines just took control of the game.

At 17:24 Nick Palmieri was whistled for an Interference call giving the Whale their second Power Play of the period and with Gernander able to send out Wolski, Newbury, Zuccarello up front and Erixon and Brendan Bell on the points, it wasn’t a matter of if they were going to score but when.

This particular power play they didn’t, but after a partial line change, Andre Deveaux sent a pass to the left point to Bell. The Whale defenseman  rifled the pass down to the left goal line to the Whale’s other entrant in the AHL All-Star game, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault. The rookie forward whipped a shot that hit Kinkaid’s pad and ricocheted into the net for his sixteenth of the season to tie him with Newbury for the team lead at 18:30 and a 2-1 lead.

The Whale entered the second period unlike other games they had during this dry spell where they’d fall back more than attack. And brother did they attack. Kinkaid was forced to make a sliding save coming from the left to right post to stop a Newbury try just 31 seconds into the second and then at 57 seconds Wolski came in all alone on a breakaway and while putting a fake on Kinkaid lost the puck in front and the Albany goalie was able to cover up the puck. While killing a Bell holding call at 1:24, Jordan Owens got a great scoring chance but his shot hit the left post at 2:29. The hustle had made the point that this team was not going to sit back and give up.

It seemed that the entire period, which included very few stoppages, was played in the Albany zone and while the Devils bent, they didn’t break.

Until…

With Steve Zalewski in the box for a high-sticking call to Zuccarello at 14:29, the Whale were relentless in their attack on their man-advantage. The Whale struggled at first to set up, but once they got set, they moved the puck almost effortlessly with the top team on the ice. With just 16 seconds left, off a Newbury faceoff win, the puck got moved about until it went around the boards to the left side where a pinching Woywitka sent back around to Zuccarello low on the right side.  Zuccarello then sent the puck along the half-boards to Wolski just outside the right circle. Wolski moved in to the dot with the Kelly backed in. Wolski sent it back down to the corner to Zuccarello and went to the net. Zuccarello then fed Wolski who snapped the shot over Kinkaid’s blocker for what proved to be the game-winner at 16:13.

“Playing with Newbs and Zucc is great,” Wolski said. “They’re both very smart players and makes (playing) a lot easier.” Speaking of his first goal in his first game with the Whale, the 25 year old Zabrze, Poland native said,  “Zucc has always got his head up and he knows where the puck needs to be and I just got it off as quickly as possible.”

In the third, the Whale weren’t quite as sharp as they were in the first two periods and the game got a bit closer than it needed to be. Darcy Zajac, brother of the New Jersey Devils Travis Zajac, shot the puck at Johnson from the right side. “I didn’t know where the puck was,” Johnson said. “I thought I had it between the pads but I wasn’t sure. (Joe Whitney) took a whack at it and I tried to cover it, but I guess my leg must have hit into the net behind me.”

Whitney was credited with his first goal of the season to make what would prove to be the final score of the contest. Although The Devils didn’t make it easy on their hosts, especially in the last ninety seconds where they got a number of good scoring chances all were turned aside by Johnson for his first win in his last eight starts (1-4-1-2).

“It was closer to a complete gam,” Gernander said. “We didn’t get the start we wanted. We got behind the eight-ball early and then I thought had to kind of hang to win. We probably could have managed our game a little bit better, the last couple of minutes in the game but we did get our win and that’s pretty important right now.”

Newbury, “thought we had a good start, even though they scored first on a lucky bounce off a shin pad, but the guys didn’t panic,” The Toronto native said. “We came right back, put the pressure on and held on the last minute-and-a-half. It’s a good feeling, guys are happy, and the good news is we get right back at it in Hershey (Saturday night) and try to have a good weekend.”

“During that (losing streak) there were times where we showed good progression, back slid a little, sometimes it’s one step forward, two steps back. But I think things are going in the right direction right now,” Gernander said. “We’re trending up. Now we just have to continue to push and get better, clean up certain areas, but tonight obviously was a step in the right direction.”

Pete Dougherty of the Timesunion.com has the game story from the Albany perspective.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

SOUNDS OF THE GAME:

Ken Gernander:

Kris Newbury:

Jeff Woywitka:

Wojtek Wolski:

STANDINGS:

(Standings provided by TheAHL.com)

NOTES:

* The Whale are still two points behind the Atlantic Division-leading Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who are red hot in 2012. They were winners again this time knocking off Portland on the road 6-2 and are now 11-0-0-1 in 2012.

* Dov Grumet-Morris, the Whale’s MVP last season finally lost a game after winning seven straight. Former NHL’er Yann Danis of the Oklahoma City Barons knocked off Grumet-Morris and the San Antonio Rampage 3-0. Grumet-Morris, perhaps the most underrated goaltender in the AHL, set a franchise record for consecutive wins and is 13-6-2 with a 2.05 GAA after starting the season playing in Norway.

LINES:

Wolski – Newbury – Zuccarello
Bouchard – Audy-Marchessault – Deveaux 
Bourque – Tessier – Thuresson
Grant – Owens – Tanski

Woywitka – Parlett 
Bell – Klassen
Erixon – Nightingale

Johnson 
Talbot

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Wade Redden – Lower Body – Three to Four Weeks
Chad Kolarik – Knee – Six to Eight Weeks
Aaron Voros – Healthy Scratch
Casey Wellman – (Not really a scratch…wasn’t there yet)

Chris McKelvie – Healthy Scratch

Sean Avery – Healthy Scratch

THREE STARS:

1. CT – K. Newbury
2. CT – M. Zuccarello
3. CT – W. Wolski

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Ryan Hersey (46)

Linesmen:
Luke Galvin (2)
Jim Briggs (83)

NEXT GAME:

After breaking the losing streak, the Whale got into the bus for a 4+ hour drive to Hershey, PA for a game tomorrow night with the Bears. Bob Crawford will be on the air live with the pre-game show at 6:50. The game can be heard on WCCC.com.

To watch the game live, you can purchased it for $6.99 at AHL-live.

For Ticket information for all home games, call (860) 548-2000.

Too far away or can’t make it? Listen live at WCCC.com or from your cell phone or computer you can get all the live action via our Twitter page: @HowlingsToday for all games both home and away.

SCORE-SHEET:

Albany Devils 2 at Connecticut Whale 3 – Status: Final
Friday, February 3, 2012 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Albany                1 0 1 – 2
Connecticut   2 1 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Albany, Gelinas 8 (Veilleux, Zajac), 1:39. 2, Connecticut, Newbury 16 (Zuccarello, Bell), 2:57. 3, Connecticut, Audy-Marchessault 16 (Bell, Deveaux), 18:30 (PP). Penalties-Tedenby Alb (interference), 9:46; Erixon Ct (hooking), 15:03; Palmieri Alb (interference), 17:24.

2nd Period-4, Connecticut, Wolski 1 (Zuccarello, Woywitka), 16:13 (PP). Penalties-Bell Ct (holding), 1:24; Zalewski Alb (high-sticking), 14:29; Parlett Ct (cross-checking), 16:37.

3rd Period-5, Albany, Whitney 12 (Zajac, Veilleux), 5:21. Penalties-Bouchard Ct (high-sticking), 17:40.

Shots on Goal-Albany 5-6-11-22. Connecticut 9-11-4-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Albany 0 / 4; Connecticut 2 / 3.
Goalies-Albany, Kinkaid 11-12-1 (24 shots-21 saves). Connecticut, Johnson 11-9-5 (22 shots-20 saves).
A-4,028
Referees-Ryan Hersey (46).
Linesmen-Luke Galvin (2), Jim Briggs (83).

The post LOSING…THE LOSING first appeared on Howlings.

Much as the Peanuts character Pigpen seems to always have a cloud of dirty following him wherever he goes, the same can be said for former New York Rangers’ forward Sean Avery.

Saturday night in Norfolk, Virginia the Connecticut Whale played the back-end of a pair of games with the Admirals at The Scope and lost 4-2 in front of 7,227.

The first 30 minutes of the contest saw the Whale dig themselves a 2-0 hole with both goals coming via the stick of the game’s First Star, Richard Panik.

But the Whale battled back scoring twice in under a minute in the second period.

Kelsey Tessier made a nice play at the Whale blueline and got past Alexandre Picard and broke in two-on-one with Aaron Voros. Radko Gudas tried diving across the ice to get the puck just as Tessier shot it from inside the right faceoff circle. Dustin Tokarski (16-9-0, 24 saves) lost sight of it and the puck slid right through his five-hole and into the back of the net at 15:32.

49 seconds later off an offensive zone faceoff in the left circle, Avery won the faceoff to the back of the circle. Voros swooped in on the puck, turned and fired a strike beating Tokarski low to the blocker side to knot the game up.

Avery has having issues with the referee and the linesmen all game long. Earlier in the first period, even after the linesman had kicked the Norfolk center out of the circle, Avery continued to complain and actually left the circle to argue with the referee. Shortly after a questionable Kris Newbury holding penalty was called by referee Graham Skilliter, Picard took a roughing call on Avery and then the Whale forward retaliated right in front of Skilliter with an obvious slash. In fact if Avery could connect with a swing like that with a baseball, he could leave hockey and play for the New York Mets.

So after the Whale goal at 16:21 off the ensuing faceoff, Avery continued to be all over the linesman. When Skilliter had heard enough, he called a ten-minute misconduct on the veteran forward. It was the last ice that Avery would see in the game as Head Coach Ken Gernander benched him for the remainder of the contest.

Since being sent to the Whale from the Rangers the team has suspended him for one-game for “disciplinary actions” and in his first game back gets an Abuse of Officials Misconduct. Not the way to endear yourself to a disciplinarian like Gernander. It also doesn’t exactly tell other NHL teams that they should take a chance on the Controversy Magnet.

Since arriving from New York, with Avery in the lineup, the Whale are now 0-4-1-1 and it doesn’t take Scotty Bowman to see that his presence is affecting the chemistry of this team. Avery is obviously extremely unhappy and has unequivocally proven to be a detriment to the continued development of this team. For his sake, and for the team’s sake, Glen Sather and the New York Rangers hierarchy need to send the forward elsewhere one way or the other.

Over the course of this now six game losing streak, (0-4-1-1) the team has taken a giant step backwards and are playing as they did when they struggled to find their identity at the start of the season. Saturday’s third period was a capsulation of all of that.

Erik Christensen, playing in his second game with the Whale on a two-week conditioning assignment from the Rangers, took a high sticking call with 45.8 seconds left in the second period.

The Whale managed to kill off the remaining 1:15 of Christensen’s penalty to start the third period, but at 4:14 their lack of intensity in the defensive zone led to what proved to be the game winner.

The AHL’s leading scorer amongst rookies, Cory Conacher blew past Tim Erixon, who had probably his worst game of the season, and dumped the puck in the right corner. Mike Kostka, the game’s Third Star, chased the puck into the corner. Christensen abandoned the middle of the ice and chased after the Admirals pinching defenseman. Kostka got off a terrific centering pass that got by Christensen and the game’s Second Star went in completely untouched to redirect the puck past Cam Talbot (9-9-0, 34 saves).

With 2:39 to go, the Admirals added an insurance goal as Blake Parlett lost the puck along the right wing half-boards in the defensive zone to Mark Barberio. The Admirals defenseman found Mike Angelidis all alone in the slot and put the puck right on the blade of his stick. Angelidis ripped a hard wrister from in the circle over Talbot’s stick side shoulder.

Panik scored his first of two goals on the night at 13:45 of the first period as Jonathan Audy-Marchessault allowed the right winger free passage up the slot while the team’s were playing four-on-four, the result of Avery’s slash following a rough by Alexandre Picard in the offensive zone at 12:14. Evan Oberg made a great pass fro the left side wall that caught up with Panik perfectly. A wrister from 15′ feet away and it was 1-0.

In the second period, Audy-Marchessault’s clearing pass was intercepted by Panik just outside the Whale blueline. Panik drove hard along the left wing boards and simply blew right past Erixon. As he charged to the net, Jared Nightingale came to intercept him, but Ondrej Palat picked him off allowing Panik to go unimpeded past Talbot. When he got to Talbot’s right, he fired it into the net to Talbot’s stick side.

As frustrated as the Whale may have been on the ice with the refereeing, Gernander preaches keeping emotions in check. For Kris Newbury, a player who plays on the edge with a lot of emotion, that is always a tightrope walk. Saturday night, apparently he lost control as well as he was ejected from the game with 10:47 left and the Whale down a goal as he was jawing at one of the officials and Skilliter sent him to the showers early.

It would be exceptionally unfair in this game to look to Talbot for blame. Talbot, on this scorecard anyway, was one of the best placers on the ice all game long. Not a single one of the goals came on his lack of anything. He had no help on the ice.

There are definitely some serious chemistry issues for Gernander to deal with in the days ahead to right this ship.

Since joining the Whale, the teams’ record with Voros is 10-10-1-2. Christensen’s record with the Whale is 0-2-0-0. With Mats Zuccarello, who missed the game after appearing to reinjure his leg in Friday night’s contest, the Whale record is 11-7-1-0.

Simply put, there is no chemistry because the players right now and they need to find it…and fast.

While the offense was very poor, it was defensive breakdowns that ultimately cost the Whale two points that they think they  should have. Gernander told The Whale’s Brian Ring, “A coverage mistake, a turnover where we didn’t support anyone on the rink, all leaving the zone… (There were) some big penalties to some key people really took the flow out of things.

“We’ll get a little bit of rest for our guys that logged big minutes, and then hopefully Tuesday prepare for a big game in Portland,”

The question is, come Wednesday will “The Avery Affect” still be in effect?

Jim Hodges is the beat writer for the Admirals for the Virginian-Pilot.

GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET

STANDINGS:

(Standings provided by TheAHL.com)

NOTES:

* From the You-Can’t-Make-This-Stuff-Up-Department”: Ex-Hartford Wolf Pack forward Billy Tibbets is playing in the FHL with the Cape Cod Bluefins. His team was leading 7-1 on the road over the Akwesasne Warriors in the third period. With 3:57 remaining in the game a tripping major penalty and a Game Misconduct was given to the Warriors’ Paul Shantz.  The Cape Cod bench emptied and a Pier Six Brawl broke out resulting in referee Derek Wasiak calling the game a forfeit (Slap Shot style) and gave the victory to the Warriors.

LINES:

Bourque – Christensen –  Thuresson
Audy-Marchessault – Newbury – Bouchard
Voros – Avery – Tessier
Grant – Owens – Tanski

Erixon – Nightingale
Bell – Klassen
Valentenko – Parlett

Talbot
Johnson

(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)

SCRATCHES:

Wade Redden – Lower Body – Indefinite
Andre Deveaux – Suspension – Second of Three Game Suspension
Mats Zuccarello – Lower Body Injury – Day-to-Day
Lee Baldwin – Healthy Scratch

Chris McKelvie – Healthy Scratch

THREE STARS:

1. NOR – R. Panik
2. NOR – M. Fornataro
3. NOR – M. Kostka

ON ICE OFFICIALS:

Referee:
Graham Skilliter (48)

Linesmen:
Brian Oliver (80)
Scott Pomento (25)

NEXT GAME:

The Whale have a long nine hour ride back to Hartford and will likely have Sunday off and then back to work trying to figure this all out on Monday or Tuesday. They return to action on Wednesday after another long bus ride up to Portland, Maine for a battle with the Pirates. Bob Crawford goes on the air with the pre-game show on at 6:20 with game time at 6:30. The game can be heard on WCCC.com.

To watch the game live, you can purchased it for $6.99 at AHL-live.

For Ticket information for all home games, call (860) 548-2000.

Too far away or can’t make it? Listen live at WCCC.com or from your cell phone or computer you can get all the live action via our Twitter page: @HowlingsToday for all games both home and away.

SCORE-SHEET:

Connecticut Whale 2 at Norfolk Admirals 4 – Status: Final
Saturday, January 14, 2012 – Norfolk Scope

Connecticut  0 2 0 – 2
Norfolk         1 1 2 – 4

1st Period-1, Norfolk, Panik 7 (Oberg, Johnson), 13:45. Penalties-Newbury Ct (holding), 8:08; Avery Ct (slashing), 12:14; Picard Nor (roughing), 12:14; Kostka Nor (interference), 18:52.

2nd Period-2, Norfolk, Panik 8   10:20. 3, Connecticut, Tessier 7 (Klassen), 15:32. 4, Connecticut, Voros 4 (Avery), 16:21. Penalties-Oberg Nor (hooking), 3:59; Klassen Ct (interference), 7:58; Avery Ct (misconduct – abuse of officials), 16:28; Christensen Ct (high-sticking), 19:14; Parlett Ct (fighting), 19:14; Ashton Nor (fighting), 19:14.

3rd Period-5, Norfolk, Fornataro 5 (Kostka, Conacher), 4:14. 6, Norfolk, Angelidis 7 (Picard), 17:21. Penalties-Newbury Ct (game misconduct – abuse of officials), 9:13; Nightingale Ct (roughing), 13:09; Voros Ct (roughing), 13:09; Conacher Nor (unsportsmanlike conduct), 13:09; Oberg Nor (hooking), 18:46; Bouchard Ct (boarding), 19:52.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 12-9-5-26. Norfolk 15-12-11-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 3; Norfolk 0 / 4.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 9-9-0 (38 shots-34 saves). Norfolk, Tokarski 16-9-0 (26 shots-24 saves).
A-7,227
Referees-Graham Skilliter (48).
Linesmen-Brian Oliver (80), Scott Pomento (25).

The post THE AVERY AFFECT first appeared on Howlings.