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mitchbeck · 4 years

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CANTLON: (WED) PACK KNOCK OFF SPRINGFIELD IN HISTORIC WIN

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack got two goals each from Patrick Newell and Vinni Lettieri and outlasted the Springfield Thunderbirds, 7-4, for the team's 27th win of the season and the 500th in franchise history. The game featured five lead changes and 64 shots. The game-winner came as a result of hard work and a little bit of luck as Newell easily deposited his sixth of the season and second of the game into an open net. While on a shift change, Newell found himself on the receiving of a Nick Jones pass from the left-wing circle “I got a fortunate change on that second one. I was (lucky) to be on the ice with (Jones). The puck was just sitting there for me, and I was able to put in,” Newell, in a laconic, low-key, So-Cal speaking style said of the goal that gave him his first professional multiple-goal game. The first place Wolf Pack has a record of 27-11-4-5 (63 points) and pulled ahead of the idle Hershey Bears by two points. The team continues its red-hot home record of 20-1-0-2. They have won 12 straight. The team's record when leading after two periods remains unblemished at 19-0-1-2. “We didn’t talk about too much before the game actually. Just a couple of items. We're much better on those (than Saturday) in Springfield. Our D corps played so very well and our scoring did so well. It's because of our D corps.” The Wolf Pack had 11 different players pick up points. “We do so much better when we have four lines contributing like they did tonight. Everybody had a hand in it tonight. We just gotta keep it rolling into the weekend,” remarked Tim Gettinger, one of the 11 previously mentioned. In the third period, the Pack was able to pull away on a right-wing rush by Vitali Kravtsov, who put a smooth pass beyond the reach of two Springfield d-men, Tommy Cross and Brady Keeper. Lettieri with a wide-open net didn’t miss and tallied his second of the night and 21st of the season. Jones had another quite effective night and made himself the fourth Wolf Pack player to have multiple points in the game with an empty netter with 17.4 seconds left. Adam Huska earned his first pro point with an assist to close out the Thunderbirds at 7-4. “We rely on him for his defensive play a lot, winning key faceoffs, penalty kill work. It’s really nice to see guys like that get rewarded. They deserve it because they’re playing the right way. Jones played an excellent game tonight,” said Pack head coach, Kris Knoblauch. Huska (26 saves) was not perfect, but in the third period, he made terrific saves that kept Springfield from tying the game. “Credit to Huska in the third period. We needed him, and he stood strong making big saves and playing the puck strongly.” Knoblauch said. In the second period, the Thunderbirds head coach, Geordie Kinnear, switched goalies bringing in Philippe Desrosiers for Ryan Bednard. The two teams managed just five shots in the list 7:40 missing the net several times as well. Springfield managed to tie the game at three. Daniel Audette collected his second goal of the night taking a short pass from Jack Rodewald. He moved in the slot put the puck through Gettinger's legs and under his stick. Audette collected the puck and lifted a backhander and deposited it on the top shelf at 10:42. At 12:13 the Pack answered back to restore the lead at 4-3. After missing the net seconds earlier, Steven Fogarty didn’t miss the second time. Fogarty got a perfect short pass from Kravtsov and got inside position on the Thunderbirds' Rodrigo Abols and lifted his 12th goal of the season with the backhand past Desrosiers. The goal and the captain scoring it was big for the Wolf Pack. “Fogarty is a big part of why we have success. He pushes everyone to do well and leads by example,” Lettieri said in speaking of the team captain. Ethan Prow got the puck off the right-wing boards on a cross-ice pass on a break-in as the Thunderbirds Jonathan Ang took Libor Hajek out, leaving a wide-open lane. Prow’s shot cleanly beat Huska to the far side for his sixth goal matching his jersey number. The Wolf Pack struck first in this game. Danny O’Regan won a faceoff from Springfield’s Alexei Saarela and Newell, his new, old linemate, picked up the puck and circled around the linesman using him as a pick then fired off wing a high-shot. The puck hit Bednard in the arm and went over the goal line for Newell's fourth goal of the season at 2:35. “I was happy for Newy he played well and didn’t surprise us that’s what we expect of him. He and Danny have a thing together back in November and December when we had them together so we reunited them and they played well together. Ski’s (Matt Beleskey) complimented them well. O’Regan's veteran value was shown on that play before it started. “Not only is Danny a good faceoff guy, but he's a good coach. Before they went out on the ice, Danny told Newell what they were doing and they got the goal. Maybe we'll have Danny call up more plays,” Knoblauch jokingly said of his “new” would-be assistant coach. The Thunderbirds tied the game at one converting an offensive zone turnover into a scoring play. Fogarty had a left-wing shot stopped and Lettieri retrieved the loose puck. Fogarty cut to the middle and Lettieri’s pass went the other way. Tommy Cross (Simsbury/Westminster Prep) got the puck put a quick pass on Saarela's stick, the former Rangers draft pick came across the Wolf Pack blue line at full speed. Saarela made a nice move on Vincent LoVerde at the blue line and had two wingers open on the left side. He hit Danielle Audette, the son of former NHL’er Donald Audette with a perfect cross-ice pass. Audette wasted little time putting his 11th of the season into the back of the net at 10:05. The Wolf Pack answered back 2:42 later. Gettinger got to a loose puck and snapped a hard wrister from 35 feet out that cleanly went between Bednard's left arm to regain the lead at 2-1. Springfield answered back in kind to tie the game at two. Henrik Bogstrom won a one-on-one battle along the right-wing boards and shuffled the puck to Matt Mangene at the right point. He sent a shot that kept rising and eluded Huska at 13:01. It was Mangene’s first of the season. The Wolf Pack came back yet again as Lettieri pocketed his 20th of the season at 16:27 to make it 3-2. Jeff Taylor at the left point took Joey Keane’s pass put a short pass on Lettieri's stick blade as he cut to the middle the lane was blocked. Lettieri curled back into the left-wing circle and then with Fogarty at the net he used Springfield defenseman Thomas Schmetisch as a screen and fired the shot that Bednard never saw beating him short-side. Lettieri’s goal made it 23 straight seasons the Wolf Pack have had at least one 20 goal scorer. “Taylor had the patience of a kindergarten teacher waiting to find me,” joked Lettieri with a wry smile. “He made a great pass.” Now it's on to Charlotte for a pair of weekend games. Gettinger, with his hoody shading his eyes, set the tone for the weekend as the team seeks redemption for a lost weekend in December with two tough losses. “We're going down determined on Friday, we know what happened last time down there. We have some unfinished business." LINES: Fogarty-Kravtsov-Lettieri O’Regan-Newell-Beleskey Jones-Gropp-Gettinger McBride-Dmowski-Zerter-Gossage Hajek-Raddysh Keane-Geersten Taylor-LoVerde SCRATCHES: Nick Ebert (Lower-body, still day-to-day) Boo Nieves (Flu, day-to-day) Yegor Rykov (Healthy) Ty Ronning (Healthy) Gabriel Fontaine (Shoulder-surgery, Season-ending) NOTES: During an ice cleaning timeout, Jared Doyon of Meriden who handles a lot of game night operation duties, including as a fill-in PA announcer, slipped and fell on the ice. He suffered a concussion but seemed to be OK giving the thumbs-up sign to the crowd while being wheeled off on a stretcher. 1,807 was the announced attendance, though it appeared to be quite smaller based upon observation. It was the 24th worst-attended crowd in Wolf Pack history. 28 of the 39 times the crowd has been under 2,000 for Wolf Pack games have come on Wednesday nights. Next Wolf Pack home next Wednesday against the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins. Lias Andersson was scoreless in his debut with HV71 (Sweden-SHL). Ex-Pack, Akim Aliu, has a goal and an assist for HC Litvinov (Czech Republic-CEL) in four games. Logan Roe (Kent Prep) of the Florida Everblades (ECHL) was named ECHL Player of the Month. He was loaned to the Syracuse Crunch (AHL) and signed a PTO deal. Ex-Pack goalie, Brandon Halverson, was suspended and taken off the roster of the Norfolk Admirals (ECHL). This season he was a weekend emergency recall backup for Providence and had a poor two-game recall to the Tucson Roadrunners (AHL) posting two losses and a 7.90 GAA. The Sound Tigers lose forward, Kieffer Bellows, to recall but get back defenseman, Sebastien Aho. Ex-Sound Tiger goalie, Kevin Poulin, was released from his PTO deal with the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL). Ulf Samuelsson, a former Whaler great, Rangers player, and assistant coach, as well as a Wolf Pack assistant coach and Avon Old Farms assistant, has taken the head coaching job with Leksands IF (Sweden-SHL). His eldest son, Philip, and ex-Pack, Marek Hrivik, are currently playing there. He coached Philip when he was Charlotte’s head coach. The team is in dead last place in the SHL with an 11-24-3 record. He started his pro career with the team (1981-1984) and was granted permission by Seattle, and long-time friend, and another Whaler great, Seattle GM, Ron Francis. In addition, he is still being paid by the Blackhawks and had to seek permission from them as well. Samuelsson was just named a pro scout for expansion NHL Seattle team just a few months ago. Jordan Samuel-Thomas (Quinnipiac University/Canterbury Prep/Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack/West Hartford) leaves Worcester (ECHL) where he had 29 points in 33 games and was a minus-21 for Heilbronner (Germany DEL-2) for the remainder of the year. Ex-Pack, Kale Kerbashian, goes from HK Nitra (Slovakia-SLEL) to Lausitzer (Germany DEL-2) for the rest of the season. Two ex-Packers switched places. Casey Wellman has left SC Rapperswil-Jona (Switzerland-LNA) and signs with SC Bern (Switzerland-LNA) for the rest of the season. Tom Pyatt has taken his spot with Rapperswil after leaving Skellftea AIK (Sweden-SHL). Ex-Pack, Malte Stromwall, had 19 goals in 44 games, the highest-scoring Swede that was selected to the KHL All-Star Game. He's representing HK Sochi, but due to his illness, he was unable to play in the game. Stromwell is a prime example of how some Europeans are unable to make the adjustment to the North American game/rinks, but that still thrives playing in Europe. In ex-Pack news here is an article on Marek Mazanec. Read it HERE. Wonder what former goalie Mackenzie Skapski is doing showing off his hockey den. Read about it HERE. Wolf Pack fan jersey of the night: #3 that was worn by both Terry Virtue and later, Pat Aufiero, who wore it for 35 games after Virtue left to return to Worcester. #25 Mathieu Dandenault who played his last 19 pro games in Hartford. The all-time classic #20 P.J. Stock. Of the four, only two are still involved in hockey. Stock is an assistant coach for Lac-St. Louis Warriors, a local girls program in Quebec. Virtue is the head coach for Shrewsbury High Colonials, a Massachusetts Division I MIAA public school program. One of his two assistants is former UCONN Husky (last two Division III teams and first two AHA teams), Marc Busenburg. He played for Springfield and Worcester in the AHL in his pro career. Read the full article

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mitchbeck · 5 years

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CANTLON: (SUN) CHECKERS STIFLE WOLF PACK, 5-2

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Charlotte Checkers extended the Hartford Wolf Pack losing streak to five games with a solid performance in a 5-2 win as both teams head into the brief AHL All-Star break. The Checkers remain the AHL's best team with a record of 31-11-4-0 (66 points). The Wolf Pack record drops below the .500 mark at 19-21-3-2 (43 points). The 23-point differential was aptly demonstrated by the Checkers. For two periods, the Checkers looked like the rebirth of the Soviet Red Army teams with their puck possession and offensive zone pressure that put a stranglehold on the Wolf Pack, who were held to just eight shots on goal. “It wasn’t a good game. We can’t come into a game and think that you'll have a remote chance of success against the number one team in the league if our game was not where it needed to be at all.” The Wolf Pack played some desperate hockey in the third and scored a goal to cut the lead to two. The team had chances in the third, but hockey is a 60-minute game, not 20. The Checkers owned the first 40. “They're number one for a reason. They have plenty of skill, size, and weight. To them, it’s the reason they are sitting in the standings where they are.” In the third period, the Wolf Pack did manage to put 12 shots on net and earned one goal off a set play. Gabriel Fontaine won the faceoff back to John Gilmour, who fired his 14th of the year. Nothing though could satisfy Gilmour who is on his way tomorrow to his second consecutive AHL All-Star game. “It was great to have the turnout that we had tonight (a season-best 7,167). We came out flat. The first two periods we weren’t happy with it. We picked up a little in third it wasn’t nearly enough against the best team in the league.” The Pack have had five divisional games in their last six and have only managed to get two points. They know the needs of obtaining those points in a very tight Atlantic Division. “We're in one of those divisions where its so tight, but we don’t want to fall out of the mix here. We really got to pick it up or we're going to be on the outside looking in at the end of the year. We know how important these points are and we have to come with an A effort. This was unacceptable.” The Checkers continues to play keep it away not allowing the Wolf Pack a chance to get any offense to be generated. Gabriel Fontaine had a good rush and came in, fired his shot and it went wide. Morgan Geekie retrieved for the Checkers and hit Alexei Saarela with the pass. Off he went. Saarela, a one-time Ranger draft pick, raced down the left-wing staying wide of the Pack’s Ryan Lindgren and ripped one short side high stick side on Georgiev for their12th goal at 13:26 and a 4-1 Charlotte lead. That was enough for head coach Keith McCambridge. He pulled Georgiev and replaced him with Marek Mazanec. “I wasn’t happy with either of those goals (he gave up),” McCambridge said with a clear grimace of displeasure. Across the way, Charlotte head coach Mike Vellucci was happy with, not only the puck control but with the shot selection. “We had good transition as shown on that play. Hey, they might have pulled him, but those were really quality shots. Alexsei, Fleury and Beaner’s were all good shots.” After the goal, next shift down in the Pack zone Ryan Lindgren and Clark Bishop got into a wrestling match with Bishop earning the extra two for crosschecking and Matt Beleskey inexplicably was given a 10-minute misconduct. The Pack did get a powerplay and the only quality chance went wide as Vinni Lettieri was deep in the left wing corner along the goal line, not the high percentage shooting area, but the Checkers forced players as far as away, for the goalie, Alex Nedejklovic. Yet after two periods Lettieri’s four shots were half of the Wolf Pack shot output The Charlotte Checkers extended their lead to two goals and Haydn Fleury was able to maneuver in the offensive zone going from the center of the ice down the right wing nary a check and then rifled one short side high on Alex Georgiev at 1:11 of the second. Rangers goalie coach Benoit Allaire was in the house likely had something to say after the game about that one. “I was happy with our ability to get the puck back when we lost it we gave up just one chance in the first two in the second. We controlled the game for the most part till the third when we got sloppy and stop competing,” remarked Vellucci. The Wolf pack having to play close to the vest against the league’s top team and with strong puck possession skills did well for the first five minutes till the Checkers scored the gamers first tally. The Pack were able to get the equalizer after Steven Fogarty’s backhand pass off a rush into the Charlotte wildly missed its mark,but Lias Andersson did a strong job tracking the puck down and put it back to Libor Hajak at the left point and he let a hard shot go and Fogarty in front made perfect redirect for his 10th goal that Alex Nedejlkovic had no chance on for at 11:22 of the first and not till the third period was there any Wolf Pack offense. Playing the best road game a home team can play Charlotte’s was limited to few real quality shots eight minutes or so despite being able to maintain puck possession in the offensive zone. Then after Martin Necas drive was rejected by Wolf Pack starter Alex Georgiev the Checkers found a way to go in the locker room at the intermission with the lead with 10 seconds remaining. Jake Bean at the left point got Matt Beleskey’s clearing pass via the stick of his teammate Zach Natasiuk who knocked it down and Bean retrieved it and wired his ninth off the far post of a screened Georgiev for the 2-1 lead. “Natasiuk not only the stick on that he set up the screen up top that helped a lot,”. The only other happiness for Wolf Pack fans just past midway in the third was Lettieri knocking down Nedejlkovic down and starting a mini-scrum wit Marek Mazanec going as far as his blue line with Nedejlkovic throwing catching glove shots in the pile and doing the wave. SCRATCHES: Shawn O’ Donnell (upper body, expected return after the All-Star break) Brandon Crawley (healthy) Shawn St. Amant (healthy) LINES: Holland-Beleskey-Meskanen Nieves-Lettieri-Brickley Fogarty-Andersson-Gropp Fontaine-Butler-Leedahl Gilmour-Lindgren Bigras-Hajak O’Gara-Day NOTES: Last night in Binghamton, McCambridge, the Pack's bench boss, coached his 500th AHL game. The AHL All-Star game in Springfield can be seen tomorrow (Skills competition) and Monday (All-Star Game) on the NHL Network and various regional sports outlets such as NESN and MSG consult your systems for channel listings and times. Fans jersey of the night: Two German fans in Springfield for business wore the jerseys of their home team EHC Dresden (Germany DEL-2). There was a #22 Tommy Grant CT Whale jersey sighting. Read the full article

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