#ChrisMueller

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CANTLON: (TU) PACK END 2019 WITH WIN OVER SOUND TIGERS

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack ended 2019 by holding off a late surge from the visiting Bridgeport Sound Tigers to edge out their in-state and division rivals 3-2 at the XL Center before a crows of 2,617. The first place Wolf Pack's record improves to 19-8-2-5 (45 points). They now have a two point lead over the second place Providence Bruins in the Atlantic Division. The Baby Bruins were idle. Bridgeport's record falls to 13-17-4-1 (31 points). The Sound Tigers are in sixth place in the Atlantic. The Wolf Pack hit the road for a key visit to Providence on Friday and then they head to Utica to face the Comets on Saturday. The Wolf Pack maintained their perfect mark with a lead going into the third period (15-0-1-2) and improve their home record to 14-1-0-2. Their next game at home is on January 10th against the Charlotte Checkers. The last five minutes of the game were played almost exclusively in the Wolf Pack's end of the ice. A brilliant combination of Wolf Pack goalie Igor Shesterkin and the team's defense prevented the Sound Tigers from tying the game and forcing overtime. “We were just sitting back," said the Pack's head coach, Kris Knoblauch. "We had played, especially in the second, just a simple game. Nothing flashy. We got a really good defensive effort, especially at the end with some big blocks for Shesty. We got away from that at the end on their push back, but we prevailed.” The Sound Tigers crept up to within one goal after veteran Andrew Ladd made a perfect redirect while in front of the net on Sebastian Aho’s right point shot at 14:05. After that, the sticks appeared to have gotten gripped a little tighter. “Its always like that with Bridgeport. Nothing is happening, and next thing you know, they're right there. We made some big blocks for Shesty. Anytime we can make a block for him we’ll get one or two back from him. It was a good way to end the year with a win,” Matt Beleskey remarked. D-Man, Darren Raddysh, made one of those key blocks and was able get the puck off the boards out of the zone. Beleskey blocked one as well, taking one off his chest in a mad scramble in the Wolf Pack end of the ice in the final 1:31 after the Sound Tigers had pulled their goaltender, Jakub Skarek, for the extra attacker. To start the second period, Sound Tigers head coach, Brent Thompson, sought to change their fortunes by switching goalies from starter, Jared Coreau to Skarek, a Czech rookie. The Wolf Pack kept the Sound Tigers at bay for most of the game. The Pack's top defensive pairing of Raddysh and Vincent LoVerde were particularly solid against the AHL's hottest goal scorer, Keiffer Bellows. They holding him to just one shot. Bellows is coming off a hat-trick in his last game and has scored a goal in five straight, eight of nine and 12 of his last 13. “They have been our top defensive combination so far this season. It was our whole defense (that quieted Bellows) and the forwards coming back helped in that effort,”said Knoblauch. Raddysh downplayed his efforts including the blocked shots, in shutting Bellows down. “We’ve been trying to get in front of shots and trying to help Shesty out as much as possible. I was lucky enough to get in front of that one. We did a good job getting to the middle of the ice and trying to help him out in any way possible.” The Wolf Pack built a first period lead on two goals in a 31-second span. The first came when Beleskey was in front and was stopped by Coreau on a point blank chance, but he stayed with it and tracked down the loose puck. Beleskey fired the puck below the goal line toward the net looking to connect with Phil Di Giuseppe, but the puck went off Bridgeport's defenseman, Parker Wotherspoon, and into the net at 8:18. It was his ninth goal of the season. “He was out of the net, so I knew if I just threw it in front and hoped for the best and it kinda worked out,” Beleskey said with a sly grin. “Phil made a great pass. It was bouncing around a bit, but I stayed with it and it went in for us.” Raddysh took an errant clearing attempt that went awry off of a one-handed golf-swing at the puck by the Sound Tigers, Arnaud Durandeau. Raddysh retrieved the puck at center ice and put it off the right wing boards past the Sound Tigers. He went and collected his own dump in off the right-wing half-wall inside the Sound Tigers end of the ice. Raddysh skated deep on the to the goal line and fired from the sharpest angle shot imaginable and incredibly beat Coreau to the far side at 8:49. It gave the Pack a 2-0 lead. It was his fourth goal of the season. “I don’t know what I was doing. I kinda blacked out on that one,” Raddysh said with a laugh in talking about his solo effort. ”I was just lucky enough to get it back and get it in.” For Knoblauch the play was a part of Raddysh he saw when he coached him in juniors. “I saw him doing that pretty regularly in Erie, and tonight that goal and his very strong play in his own end was the reason we got the win.” The Wolf Pack used the power play to grab a 3-0 lead late in the first period. All five players touched the puck on the play. Nick Ebert was on the right-wing and found Yegor Rykov at the center point. Rykov fired a solid and low shot to the front of the net. Beleskey was there in front of the goalie and deflected it. Coreau made the save, but Beleskey then found the loose puck and chipped in his second goal of the period at 18:28 for the 3-0 lead. The Sound Tigers broke the shutout just 1:25 later. Ex-Pack captain Ryan Bourque slipped the pick to Otto Koivula in the slot. Despite lots of traffic, Koivula put in his third of season past Shesterkin, who was screened, and placed the puck inside the left-wing post with 16.3 left on the clock. LINES: Nieves - Kravtsov - Di Guiseppe O’Regan - Lettieri - Gettinger Jones - Beleskey - Gropp Zerter-Gossage - Fox - McBride Raddysh - LoVerde Keane - Geersten Rykov - Ebert SCRATCHES: Patrick Newell (upper body, day-to-day) Jeff Taylor (healthy) Lias Andersson (suspension) Gabriel Fontaine (shoulder surgery, season-ending) NOTES: The Wolf Pack close out the 2019 calendar year with attendance that continues to decline. They had a season-best number against the Providence of 5,685, and a poor showing with an early holiday game of 2,617. Presently, the Wolf Pack average just 3,555 a game. That puts them in the 27th spot in the AHL. Right behind them, at 3,222 is Bridgeport, followed by Binghamton, Stockton, and Belleville. The generic TV commercials don't appear to be making any impact. Spectra and the CRDA have to make a more substantial effort to match the team’s success this season. Recycling night, with reusable straws are not exactly a high-end, high-quality promotion. How about bringing back the scarf night? Perhaps with a classy white one this time? How about the plaid-padded ear muffs/snow hat? A fan was spotted wearing one in October at a New York Yankees - Minnesota Twins playoff game. Ex-Pack, Chris Mueller, was involved in an AHL trade. The Syracuse Crunch's parent club, the Tampa Bay Lightning, sent Mueller to the Anaheim Ducks for defenseman Patrick Sieloff. Mueller returns for a second stint with the San Diego Gulls. Ex-Pack, Dan De Salvo, signed a PTO with Cleveland. He was playing with the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL). Ex-CT Whale, Wojtek Wolski, after playing for HC Ambri-Piotta (Switzerland-LNA) in the just-concluded Spengler Cup, signs a deal to play for the rest of the season with HC Ocelari Trinec (Czech Republic-CEL). The team is near the Polish border. Wolski is a Polish native. Wolski started the season with Kunlun (China-KHL). Team Canada won its fourth title in the last five years at the just concluded Spengler Cup for the 16th time breaking a tie for most titles with host HC Davos. In the championship final, the Canadians shutout HC Trinec 4-0 with ex-Sound Tiger, Dustin Jeffrey. scoring twice and was the tournament’s top scorer. The team was led by GM, Sean Burke, the ex-Hartford Whaler, and assistant coach was another ex-Whaler in Paul Coffey. The runner-up, HC Ocelari Trinec, featured ex-Sound Tiger, Tomas Marcinko, and former CT Whale, Tomas Kundratek. At today’s WJC action Sweden shutout Slovakia who is coached by ex-Whaler, Robert Petrovicky. The score was 5-0. Rangers prospect, Karl Henriksson, picked up an assist for the Swedes. With four power play goals in the first period, five for the game, Canada knocked off the host Czech Republic squad, 7-2. Due to an injury to their starting goalie, Lukas Parik, the Czechs used Nick Malik, 17, the youngest player in the tournament. Malik is the youngest son of former Whaler, Ranger, and Beast of New Haven defenseman, Marek Malik. Canada's GM is former Whaler, Mark Hunter. Their goalie coach is all-time Wolf Pack great, Jason LaBarbera. The US squad will play Finland in the quarterfinals of the medal round Thursday at 11:30am EST (NHL Network). UCONN will own the building Friday against Northeastern in a Hockey East meeting. The game is coming off a split at the Ledyard Classic at Dartmouth College. UCONN lost on late goal to Dartmouth 4-3 in the final game despite two goals from Carter Turnbull (Nanaimo, BC). UCONN still has people talking about how they got to the final by tying the game in the waning micro seconds against the St. Lawrence University Saints, tying the game at two and forcing overtime. With their goaltender pulled for an extra attacker, freshmen rearguard, Carter Berger, took a shot from dead center at the blue line. The puck hit off the chest of St. Lawrence's Callum Cusinato and bounced. The puck got whacked toward the net by UCONN sophomore forward, Jonny Evans, and hit the skates of forward, Jachym Kondelik. It spun on its edge and swooped into the net off the open left-wing side. The goal was credited to senior, Sasha Payusov, who registered the goal with .03 seconds left in the game. The other major story coming out of the game was that junior goalie Bradley Stone (London, England) made his first varsity start at the last minute due to the illness to starting UCONN netminder, Tomas Vomacka. Stone made 21 saves in regulation and overtime and then was scintillating in a nine-round shootout. He stopped eight-of-the-nine sent at him. Turnbull ended things in round nine. Read the full article

[justicesnails]

Fuckin lit night, I think my voice and my face broke. Love you Rae! @africaneuropean

[samuel020117]

Samuel “Closest to Park Jihoon·Ong Seongwoo·Kang Daniel“

Singer Samuel said that he is close to Wanna One’s Park Jihoon, Ong Seongwoo and Kang Daniel. 

Samuel showed his first mini album ‘SIXTEEN’ through a commemorative showcase on the 2nd, in Seoul Gangnam-gu Ilchi Art Hall. 

Samuel said “I’m close with all the Wanna One members, but I’m closest to Park Jihoon, Ong Seongwoo and Kang Daniel hyung. The hyungs have been busy so we haven’t contacted each other since. I’m looking forward to seeing the Wanna One hyungs since we’ll be promoting together.”

He spoke about how he’s different to other singers, explaining “I’m a young 16 year old. Although I’m a normal 16 year old, on stage I can show a professional side of me.”

Samuel added “I like all the nicknames the fans have given me. As I listen to Chris Brown’s songs, I also like the nickname ‘Chrismuel”.”

This album includes the title song ‘Sixteen’, ‘Jewel Box’, ‘I Got It’ etc, totalling 6 songs.  Samuel’s age of ‘16′ inspired the title song ‘Sixteen’, a tropical sounding pop dance song that features rapper Changmo.

Source: http://star.mk.co.kr/new/view.php?mc=ST&year=2017&no=518972 Trans © muel020117@tumblr

[spoohks]

Luftkampf by Chris Mueller Photography on Flickr.

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CANTLON'S CORNER: THE POST FREE AGENT FRENZY

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - If Steve Miller wanted to rewrite his masterpiece, "Take the Money and Run" and put a Hartford Wolf Pack spin on it, it might sound something like this. "This a story about Bigras and Gilly, two young hockey players with plenty of skill to show, here’s what they did when they decided to cut loose - Go on take the money and run!" AHL CONTRACTS ON THE RISE Take the Money and Run also defined how the last few days of NHL/AHL moving day or free agents. Jaws were sure to drop upon review of some of the salaries AHL players were handed out this week. It left everyone in the know, in some cases, more than just a little bit astonished. Cantlon's Corner has been reporting on the AHL since the late 1980s. At that time, the average salary was approximately on average, around $40K. A scant few top echelon players made $50K. Since that time, the 100-plus time percent increase is mind-numbing and must leave former AHL vets, shaking their collective heads. In 2019, in professional hockey, everything is about the cap. As of Wednesday, of the 124 total contracts offered, the teams collectively have spent over $707M. Stunning… poverty is certainly not a word one would hear among those in hockey circles. All salary numbers come from capfriendly.com A longtime hockey insider who requested anonymity put it in stark terms. What has driven this hockey salary "arms race?" ”The salary cap is precious gold. Teams protect that at all costs. The one-way money; that’s a real number and affects the cap either negatively or positively. Two-way contracts, which most AHL contracts, are, you see that while the increases are real, it really doesn’t affect the cap because the AAV is based on the overall one-way contract and that’s what matters.” Some players don’t need to head to Europe if they are raking in these type of salaries. Several teams have more lateral ability than others and some current and ex-Wolfpack players are benefiting greatly. Greg McKegg, who split last season between Charlotte and Carolina, inked a one-year, one-way deal for $750K  with the Rangers. That money counts on the cap. It's also a nice hefty increase from his AHL gig last season that paid $70K. Danny O’Regan, Jeff LoVerde, Harry Zolniercycyzk, and Thomas McCollum, are all new Pack signees. Their salaries have yet to be posted. Philadelphia helped out Lehigh Valley with ex-Pack, Chris Bigras, who signed for a $250K-AHL & $700k-NHL deal up from his $70K AHL contract last year. Andy Andreoff from Syracuse got himself a $750K one-way up from his previous $680K deal. Nate Prosser, from Iowa, earned a slight increase at $421.5K-AHL/$700K-NHL for two years up from his $400K/$700K contract. Rochester will get John Gilmour if he doesn’t make the Sabres roster and it will cost them $700K. Arizona helps out Tucson with two players returning from Europe. Andy Miele from Torpedo Novgorod (Russia-KHL) gets a two-year deal paying $275K in the AHL and $725K in the NHL. Beau Bennett from Dynamo Riga (Latvia-KHL) nails down a $200K-AHL and $725K-NHL pact while Aaron Ness, the ex-Sound Tiger, gets a two-year deal at $300K-AHL & $725K-NHL. In Binghamton (New Jersey), Dakota Mermis goes from $100K in Tucson to $200. A few took a pay cut. Ben Street was making $750K in San Diego and slips to $425K while Matt Tennyson from Rochester goes from $659K to $350K. Neither is expected to start clipping coupons. Charlotte (Carolina) sign enigmatic ex-Pack, Brian Gibbons (Salisbury Prep), for $100K-AHL and $725K-NHL after playing for a $1million last year between Anaheim/Ottawa. The Colorado Eagles (Avalanche) handed ex-CT Whale, Jayson Megna, a $350K-AHL and $700K-NHL one-year deal. Dan Renouf, from Charlotte, gets a two-year deal paying $275K in the first year and $350K for the AHL in his second year. He'll earn at the NHL level, $700K for two years. T.J. Tynan gets one-year deal paying him $425K in the AHL and $700K in the NHL. Chicago (Las Vegas) was among the busiest teams. Pat Brown from the Calder Cup champion Charlotte Checkers goes from $100K to $450K in his first year and $700K in his second year. Tyrell Goulbourne, after a nine-goal campaign with Lehigh Valley, goes from $70K to $225K-AHL/$700K-NHL in the first year and $700K second. Jaycob Megna (Jayson’s brother) goes from $260K in San Diego to $400K with the Wolves. Montreal beefed up Laval with Riley Barber ($300K-AHL.$700K-NHL) and Phil Varone ($450K-AHL/$700K-NHL) from Hershey and Lehigh Valley respectively. San Diego, via Anaheim, signs AHL Butterfield trophy winner, Andrew Poturlarksi, from Charlotte to a $350K-AHL/$750-NHL on a one-year deal. In Springfield, Tommy Cross (Simsbury/Westminster Prep) goes from $300K to $325K. Ethan Prow from Wilkes Barre/Scranton is joining him and going from $90K to $700K per for the next two years. Kevin Roy, after just 14 games last year with Anaheim and San Diego, gets a $300K-AHL/$850K-NHL seal for one year. Tampa Bay aids Syracuse with two new goalies veteran Scott Wedgewood and Spencer Martin at $750K one-way each. Ex-Pack, Chris Mueller, migrates to the Syracuse Crunch from the Toronto Marlies where he'll make $700K on a one-way, one-year up from his $650K last season. Danick Martel, despite an injury-shortened season (15 games) is rewarded with a $700K one-way deal after a $65K-AHL deal last year. Daniel Walcott, the ex-Pack, who, after just five games because of shoulder surgery, is given a one-year $125K deal for the AHL and a $700K NHL contract. Stockton gets Bryon Froese next season for $450K-AHL/$700K-NHL after splitting last season with Laval and Lehigh Valley. The Texas Stars got help from parent Dallas when they signed Tanner Kero from Utica. He gets two years at $300K in the AHL in the first year and $350K in the second with $700K & $775K respectively in the NHL. That's for two years and both are “down” from his one-way $800K deal last year. Utica (Vancouver) inked Justin Bailey to a $700K one way for two years. PLAYER AND COACHING MOVEMENT Last season’s Wolf Pack captain Cole Schneider re-signs with Nashville and will play for Milwaukee. No contracts details have been released yet. Six more AHL’ers head overseas for next year with two of them heading to Kunlun (China-KHL). Tyler Wong, from the Chicago Wolves, and ex-Pack, Adam Cracknell, who split last season between San Diego and Toronto. Also heading East is Adam Helewka of Milwaukee/Tucson who signs with Barys Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan Russia-KHL) and the latest Trevor Cheek of the Tucson Roadrunners goes to Esbjerg (Denmark-DHL). Mark McNeil goes from Providence to EHC Linz (Austria-EBEL) and Zack Mitchell leaves the Ontario Reign for Neftekhimik (Russia-KHL). In Mitchell’s case, you think his agent explained to him he was leaving a sunny, warm LA suburb to go to Siberia? Now 52 AHL’ers have signed for Europe next season. Ex-Pack, and one funny guy, Francois Bouchard, makes it back home after playing with Dundee (Scotland-EIHL) to play for St. Jerome (LNAH) next season. Ex-Pack, Tomas Kundratek, leaves HC Davos (Switzerland-LNA) and heads home to HC Ocelari Trinec (Czech Republic-CEL). Brett Magnus of Sacred Heart University (AHA), signs overseas with HUS Hokii (Netherlands BEL-NED HL). That makes 44 collegians to sign for Europe and 221 overall college players signed pro deals. Read the full article

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CANTLON'S CORNER: WOLF PACK OFF-SEASON VOLUME 4

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Calder Cup playoffs have their final four teams set to battle to for an opportunity to win the 2018-19 AHL Championship. On Friday, the Charlotte Checkers and Toronto Marlies will do battle in the East while out West, the San Diego Gulls and Chicago Wolves will each meet in a 2-3-2 format. Charlotte hosts Games One and Two against Toronto on Friday and Saturday before the series switches over the Canadian border to Toronto on Tuesday. Charlotte, the AHL's regular-season best team, winners of seven of their eight postseason matchups face the Toronto Marlies, who are a perfect 7-0 since the season ended. Toronto features ex-Pack, Chris Mueller, who has nine points in seven playoff games. Mason Marchment, the son of ex-Hartford Whaler Bryan Marchment, and ex-Sound Tiger, Steve Olesky, and former New York Ranger, Josh Jooris. Charlotte features a pair of ex-Pack members from different era’s in Bobby Sanguinetti, who has seven points in six games, and goaltender, Dustin Tokarski. Chicago hosts the Gulls before they head out West from the Windy City for Game 3 on Wednesday. San Diego has former Wolf Pack center, Adam Cracknell, who's third in AHL post-season scoring race with 12 points in nine games. He's having a strong playoff as is Max Jones, the son of former Nighthawk, Brad Jones. Behind the bench is former Beast of New Haven alumni, Dallas Eakins. He's the head man and his assistants are ex-Wolf Pack players in Sylvain Lefebvre and David Urquhart. The Chicago Wolves have defenseman ex-Sound Tiger, Griffin Reinhart, and Jake Leschyshyn, the son of ex-Whaler, Curtis Leschyshyn. ECHL MONARCHS FOLD Sad hockey new to report the ECHL Manchester Monarchs are no more after 18 years in New Hampshire. The team announced Wednesday there ceasing operations after four years at the ECHL level after the NHL LA Kings moved their AHL affiliate to Ontario, CA to help build the new AHL West Coast-based Pacific Division and flip-flopped the teams and leagues. There many great Wolf Pack-Manchester meetings over the years and the SNHU Arena (formerly Verizon Wireless Arena) was sterling hit with many a packed house, but the drop down in league levels met with a corresponding reduction in attendance and Kings sold the team to a private group in Boston three years ago. Read it HERE MEMORIAL CUP The quartet is all set as the Prince Albert Raiders scoring late in the first overtime edged the Vancouver Giants 3-2 to advance to the championship tournament for the first time since 1985. They will kick off the Memorial Cup playing the host team the Halifax Mooseheads on Friday night (8 pm NHL Network). The other teams are the OHL champion Guelph Storm and the QMJHL postseason champs, the Rouyn Noranda Huskies. Guelph features two assistant coaches with CT connections. Ex-Pack Chad Wiseman and ex-New Haven Senator Jake Grimes and the Huskies have former New Haven Senator teammate of Grimes in Claude Savoie on their scouting staff. The Raiders feature two former Springfield players as coaches in Marc Habscheid (Springfield Indians) and Jeff Truitt (head coach with the Springfield Falcons) and have former Whaler, Dallas Guame as one of the senior scouts. NEWEST CT JUNIOR HOCKEY TEAM The Danbury Ice Arena added a second hockey tenant within two days. The Danbury Colonials announced their birth as the 31st team in the Tier 3 NA3HL that spreads across the US from Wyoming to Maine. The team’s managing partner is none other than former Ranger and NHL enforcer, Colton Orr. He is a part of the ownership for both squads. Orr played 13 NHL season with 477 games with 12 goals and 24 points and 1,186 well-earned PM and was one of the fiercest fighters in NHL history. His total career including the AHL and junior WHL career is 817 games with 34 goals and 31 assists and 2,364 in the penalty box. The FHL announced a third return to Danbury with Danbury Hat Tricks for 2019-20 earlier in the week.   PLAYER MOVEMENTS -Ex-Wolf Pack and CT Whale Jordan Owens who played with the Sheffield Steelers (England-EIHL) this season signs for some summer hockey with the Melbourne Ice (Australia-AIHL). Ex-Pack Caleb Herbert signs with HC Innsbruck (Austria-EBEL). -Some AHL players to Europe has begun to pick up the latest is Bridgeport Connor Jones is joining his twin brother Kellen as both have signed with HC Thurgau (Switzerland-LNB) for next season. Kellen played on Sweden last year leading Vasterviks VIK (Sweden-Allsvenskan) in scoring. Connor played 300 AHL games all with Bridgeport. Both played for the Quinnipiac University Bobcats (ECACHL). The two are grandsons of former New Haven Blades player, Terry Jones. Jens Looke heads from Tucson to Timra IK (Sweden-SHL), goalie Anthony Peters from Wilkes Barre/Scranton to Iserlohn (Germany-DEL) and Springfield’s Vincent Praplan currently playing for the Swiss World Hockey championship team will stay in is Switzerland and play for NLA league SC Bern squad next season. Adam Ollas Mattsson of Stockton is in talks with Malmo IF (Sweden-SHL) a city on the Norway-Sweden border to return home to play according to Swedish Hockey News.se As we reported last month is now official Ludwig Bystrom is leaving Springfield for Karpat Oulu (Finland-FEL). That makes now 16 AHL’ers to sign for Europe. -Three more college players have signed North American pro deals Jack Ramsay from the University of Minnesota (Big 10) who played a few games for Indy (ECHL) at the end of the regular season signs with the Rockford for 2019-20. Joining him in Rockford is Liam Coughlin from the University of Vermont (HE). Kasper Bjorkqvist, Providence College (HE) signs with the Pittsburgh Penguins. -The first player to go from college to Canadian major junior has happened as Sean Comrie leaves University Denver (NCHC) to the Kelowna Rockets (WHL). -The college players to Europe has picked up as UCONN Husky rearguard Philip Nyberg 22, heads home after his junior season to play for Mora IK (Sweden-Allsvenskan) which is the second highest league in Sweden. -The college players heading to France continues at Division 1 level as Michael Babcock son of the Maple Leafs head coach Mike completed his four years at Merrimack (HE) and has signed with Amiens (France–FREL) and Michael Floodstrand Harvard University (ECACHL) to Marseille (France Division-1). Then two players from Division III Hobart College Tanner Shaw and Matt Pizzo signed with Strasbourg (France Division-1) and Alex Corvi Nazareth College (UCHC) signs with HC Brest (France Division-1). That makes it 171 Division I players that have and a total of 204 collegians who have signed North American and European pro deals. -Several prep school players are off to the Canadian Junior A ranks in Moe Acee from Avon Old Farms to Alberni Valley (BCHL) and Noah de la Durantaye from Deerfield Academy to Coquitlam (BCHL). -Chase Stillman, grandson of ex-Nighthawk Bud Stefanski who was drafted by the Sudbury Wolves in the 2nd round in last month’s OHL’s Priority Draft. His father Cory is the head coach and grandfather is the assistant coach of the team has signed a commitment letter with the Wolves. That also makes him ineligible to play NCAA hockey and he gave a verbal commit Providence College (HE) for 2022-23. -Dan Petric makes a commit to Sacred Heart University (AHA) from Madison (USHL) for the upcoming season. Read the full article

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CANTLON'S CORNER: OFF-SEASON NEWS AND NOTES - VOLUME II

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Much has gone on in the hockey world. In the AHL Calder Cup Playoffs, the best-of-five first-round series have mostly ended and there are a few surprises. The Bridgeport Sound Tigers won Game 4 in overtime 3-2 in Hershey to extend the series to a deciding Game 5 on Saturday night at the Webster Bank Arena. That game went to the Bears who advanced to the second round with a 3-2 OT win on a Brian Pinho goal. In game four, Oliver Wahlstrom scored his first pro goal at 1:13 of the third period to tie the game at two and Matt Lorito scored at 1:13 of overtime to claim the win offsetting ex-Pack Jayson Megna’s second period unassisted shorthanded goal and the first Hershey goal was scored by ex-pack Ryan Sproul. Kyle Burroughs paced the offense with two assists. Hershey will take on the Charlotte Checkers in a best of seven series starting Friday night. One series that didn’t last long, was the only sweep of the first-round as the Toronto Marlies continued its strong second half by eliminating the Rochester Americans. Ex-Pack, Chris Mueller led the way with five points. The Marlies will play the Cleveland Monsters who knocked off the Syracuse Crunch in four games with a 3-0 shutout on Thursday. The Monsters feature Simsbury native and Westminster Prep grad, Tommy Cross, and ex-Pack, Dan DeSalvo. San Diego eliminated the San Jose Barracuda in four games. The first game of the series that kicked off the Calder Cup playoffs was a wild 6-5 OT win for the Gulls in one of the craziest first periods you’ll ever see with six goals scored in 10 minutes and both starting goalies were pulled. Ex-Pack TJ Hensick scored the first goal of the AHL postseason and added an assist on the third goal as the Barracuda had a 3-0 lead after just 6:15 of play. The Gulls starter Kevin Boyle was pulled after just six shots on goal. The Gulls roared back to tie the game at three in a span of 3:08 forcing San Jose’s Antoine Bibeau to an early shower after just eight shots on goal. Former Beast of New Haven, Dallas Eakins, is the head coach with a pair of ex-Pack players from different era’s, David Urquhart and Sylvain Lefebvre are the assistant coaches and a third ex-Pack, J.F. Labbe is the Gulls goalie coach. Ironically, Bibeau was recalled the next day by the parent San Jose Sharks. The Gulls will play the Bakersfield Condors, winners over the Colorado Eagles in four games. The Iowa Wild defeated the Milwaukee Admirals in Five games defeating ex-Pack captain, Cole Schneider, and another ex-Pack, Vince Pedrie, also on the Milwaukee roster. The last game of the opening round was played Sunday between the Chicago Wolves and the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Red Wings top farm team features ex-Pack’s Dylan McIlrath, Matt Puempel, Matt Ford, Wade Megan (Salisbury Prep) and Dominic Turgeon, the nephew of former Whaler Sylvain Turgeon. PLAYER MOVES Ex-Pack Desmond Bergin signs with his fourth AHL team this year with the Cleveland Monsters. He spent most of the year with Adirondack (ECHL). His other AHL stops were; Providence, Milwaukee, Binghamton. The last player to wear a New Haven pro hockey jersey playing in an active top level league has retired. Ex-New Haven Knights (UHL) Hungarian forward, Arpad Mihaly, announced his retirement after playing for ASC Corona Brasov (Romania-MOL) after five years with the team. Nathan Lutz, a defenseman who played two playoff games for the Knights and who skated in the Canadian senior hockey league this year with the Porcupine Plains Blues (Saskatchewan) of the Wheatland Senior Hockey League (WSHL) (names not made up) is the last one who remains playing. It will be unknown until November when Canadian senior hockey regular season play commences, if Lutz, 41, will share the honor with Mihaly or become the last one. The last Nighthawk to play was Steve Moria at 50 in England and the last Beast of New Haven players to skate were Bryon Ritchie in Sweden and Herbert Vasiljves in Germany. Ex-Pack Chad Nehring leaves Fischtown (Germany-DEL) to Dusseldorfer EG (Germany-DEL) next season. Ex-Pack Tomas Zaborsky leaves Tappara (Finland-FEL) for SaiPa (Finland-FEL) next season. Travis Turnbull, the cousin of former Nighthawk, Randy Turnbull, goes from Iserlohn (Germany-DEL) to EHC Straubing (Germany-DEL). Ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger and New York Ranger, David Desharnais, goes from Avangard Omsk (Russia-KHL) to HC Fribourg-Gotteron (Switzerland-LNA). Two former Sound Tigers have hung up the skates, Peter MacArthur Adirondack (ECHL) and Tyler Barnes Worcester (ECHL). Francis Drolet (Salisbury Prep) played with HC Briancon (France Division-1) signs for summer hockey with Newcastle (Australia-AIHL) whose regular season begins next weekend. Cheshire’s Rob Malloy, the team captain, of Newcastle returns for his seventh AIHL campaign. Ex-CT Whale, Andreas Thuresson, signs with ERC Schwenniger (Germany-DEL) joining ex-Pack, Matt Carey, as an offseason signing for the 2019-20 season. IIHF World U-18 tournament is underway in Sweden as the US romped over Latvia 7-1 and in the quarterfinals shutout Finland 6-0 on Thursday. The US lost to the Russians on Saturday in one semifinal and in the other semi, Canada lost to Sweden. The United States won the Bronze medal after defeating Canada 5-2. The US team features goalie Spencer Knight (Darien), who picked up 21 saves in his first shutout. A former Avon Old Farms player committed to play at Boston College (HE) in the fall and will likely be selected in the first three rounds of the NHL Draft in Vancouver in June. His fellow Winged Beaver teammate, Trevor Zegras, BU bound in the fall helped set up a hat trick for the likely number one overall pick by New Jersey in Vancouver Jack Hughes in the win. Latvia’s assistant coach is the aforementioned former Beast of New Haven forward, Herbert Vasiljves. Latvia features Raimonds Vitolins, the youngest son of former New Haven Senator, Harijs Vitolins. Canada has Samuel Poulin, the son of former Hartford Whaler, Patrick Poulin, who skates for Val D’Or (QMJHL). In men’s action, the IIHF Division II Group B World Championship playing in Mexico City, Mexico one of the six teams, is Israel. Their head coach is former Whaler and Ranger, Robert (Bobby) Holik. Holik also coached their Division 2 Group B World Junior and the U-18 team this season as well. The countries in their pool were Iceland, the nation of Georgia (great logo), New Zealand and North Korea. The IIHF Division III tournament is in Sofia, Bulgaria has Turkmenistan, Luxembourg, Turkey, host Bulgaria, Taiwan (Chinese Tapei), and South Africa who features Charl Pretorius who was the first South African to play in the US minor leagues with Elmira (FHL) after finishing collegiate hockey at Division III  Nazareth College (UCHC). The IIHF Division III Qualifying tourney was held in Dubai and host UAE (United Arab Emirates) was the winner beating out teams from Hong Kong, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kuwait, Thailand, and Kyrgyzstan. The US has named some of the first players for the red, white and blue squad that will play in Kosice, Slovakia at the World Championships in two weeks. The group included current Ranger, ex-CT Whale, Chris Kreider, and current Ranger and ex-Pack, Brady Skjei. Current Hartford GM and Rangers Assistant GM and Trumbull native, Chris Drury was named GM for the team. The US Advisory committee features current Rangers GM, Jeff Gorton, former Nighthawk, Don Waddell (Carolina), Paul Fenton (Minnesota) and former Ranger goalie great, John Vanbiesbrouck (US National program). Hockey titles in Austria in the EBEL elite league was decided as  KAC Klagenfurt knocked off the Vienna Capitals in six games winning the title-clinching game 3-2 in OT. Vienna featured former CT Whale Kelsey Tessier. The VHL (Vyasa Hockey League) the AHL to Russia’s KHL league saw Sary Arka Karaganda (Kazakhstan) knocked off Rubin Tyumen in a four-game sweep. NCAA RECRUITING CHANGE A long overdue change in the NCAA recruiting process for hockey was finally passed and becomes effective May 1st. The recruiting period for high school sophomores is limited until after January 1st allowing for phone calls, e-mails, texts, unofficial school visits, and camp and clinic conversations only. Then a window starting August 1st of their junior year when a scholarship offers can be made verbally by the school, official visits can be made and off-campus visits can be done. Not perfect, but a start to the present system that is wide open, with no structures and kids as young as 14-years-old were making oral commitments to schools. Conferring adulthood, so early has been the sin of the college recruiting process in part to counteract the Canadian major junior leagues ability to offer more inducements to young hockey players to go that route. Presently, a hockey player can play Canadian Junior A hockey which is a step below major junior in leagues like the BCHL or AJHL and still retain their NCAA eligibility, but if they play a minute of hockey with a major junior team, pre-season or regular season, they are ineligible to play collegiate hockey. This is the first step to curb the insanity and bring some normalcy to the process and a perfect example of this is 15-year-old Max Namestnikov, the son of former Wolf Pack Evgeni "John" Namestnikov, and the brother of current Ranger, Vladislav Namestnikov, just made an oral commit to Michigan State (Big 10) for 2023-24 ! The pyramid for a young US born hockey player who wants to gain a scholarship is first public school, then prep school, then the US junior or Canadian junior A and then college. Read more HERE. Read the full article

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CANTLON: (FRI) ROCKET CRASHES IN HARTFORD

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack scored two early goals and utilized a stingy defense along with solid goaltending from Tom McCollum and upended the visiting Laval Rocket, 3-1, before 4,089 on Friday night at the XL Center. The Wolf Pack improved their record to 28-13-5-5 (66 points). Their home record elevates to 21-2-0-2 while their record when leading after two periods remains perfect at 20-0-1-2. The Pack now trails the Hershey Bears by two points who lost in overtime to the Binghamton Devils, 4-3. The Wolf Pack takes on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms Saturday at the PPL Center and seeks to improve their woeful play and record on the road. Laval's record falls to 23-22-5-2 (53 points). They are in sixth place in the North Division and play in Providence against the Bruins on Sunday. Laval made the game close forcing the Wolf Pack to sweat it out in the third period as two-thirds of the scoring came from players who have hurt the Wolf Pack in the past. Phil Varone got a pass from defenseman, Gustav Olofsson, in the left-wing circle. His shot was perfectly kicked out by McCollum’s right pad. Unfortunately for the Pack, the rebound went right to Riley Barber who had position on Mason Geersten and was easily able to pot his 13th of the season into the net. The Wolf Pack’s Tim Gettinger scored his 12th goal of the season depositing the puck into an empty net with 14.6 seconds remaining sealing the Hartford victory. Laval came out with a bit more fire in the second frame and started taking the body. McCollum played a well-structured first period but had to do some diving and acrobatics to keep the Rocket off the scoreboard. He stopped Quinnipiac graduate, Matt Peca, at 6:18. Barber was denied from off the left-wing and leading Laval’s leading scorer, Philippe Hudon, from in the right-wing circle all-alone and Olofsson who was pinching off the left-point with just about 7:50 to go in the second period. “I felt really good tonight," remarked McCollum. "I think a lot of it really boils down to a total team effort. The guys in front of me did a really good job. They were blocking a lot of shots and giving me clean lanes to see pucks. Our forwards were doing a good job to create backpressure, which helped our defense." His secondary skillset as a good puck handler made a tremendous difference in the game’s outcome for head coach Kris Knoblauch. “He did well for us. His passing skills alleviate a lot of pressure. Making saves is really important, but not letting them establish a forecheck (equally important). I know our defense appreciate that.” The Wolf Pack grabbed a quick 2-0 lead early in the first period. The breakout was made possible by Mason Geersten who won a one-on-one battle along the right-wing boards getting the shot/pass to Kravtsov and the scoring sequence began. At 5:28, Vincent Loverde came across the Laval blueline and sent a short pass to Vitali Kravtsov, who did the same for Danny O’Regan in front of the net. O'Regan was all-alone and went backhand-to-forehand, slipping the puck past Cayden Primeau, the son of former Hartford Whaler, Keith Primeau, for his tenth of the season. “Our D played awesome tonight. Those small places like that made a difference whether up along the wall or from behind the net makes a big difference,” said O’Regan. The move in front of the net on the 6’4 Primeau came about as a result of a veteran's patience with the pay off being a goal. “Instinct just took over there. I was able to pull it around him and get in the harder work was done by everyone else,” remarked O’Regan while complimenting his teammates. O’Regan has quietly gone about being a stabilizing force down the middle. “Danny has been very important to us throughout the year, and that was maybe his best game," Knoblauch. stated. "I thought he won a lot of key faceoffs. The majority of his shifts were against their top line, which is pretty dangerous. So, not only was he providing offense, but he did a lot of defensive responsibilities. I thought his game was really good.” Then at 8:55, Nick Ebert skated backward to the blue line and took a pass from Matt Beleskey, who let a hard wrist shot that was blocked and the puck went right to Vinni Lettieri. Lettieri took a shot that was blocked by Laval defenseman, Josh Brook, and the came right back to him. Lettieri skated back to the blue line and sent a low wrist-shot through a Beleskey/Brook screen. Primeau never saw Lettieri’s shot, which would become his 22nd goal, go past him, “I don’t think we could have played any better in the first period. Laval got better as the game went along. We had to defend a lot more. It was a pretty good overall effort from everybody,” Knoblauch stated. Across the ice, a deeply frustrated Laval head coach, Joel Bouchard, whose Rocket squad is 0-3-1-0 in their last four, and 2-6-2-0 in their last 11, has had some tough times with recalls because of injuries in Montreal. The Laval lineup that has undergone major changes in the past two months. Bouchard and his staff are working to keep their players as upbeat as possible. “Every goal seems to weigh on us. We just sag down. We worked hard tonight, but right now we have no chemistry. We have three-or-four guys who were in the NHL most of the year and are adjusting here. Some of our veterans are not playing well. They're good guys. We just don’t have it right now. They're a good team (Hartford) and they got out quickly on us." LINES: O’Regan-Kravtsov-Fogarty Jones-Lettieri-Gettinger Newell-Beleskey-Elmer McBride-Dmowski-Ronning Hajek-Raddysh LoVerde-Geersten Crawley-Ebert SCRATCHES: Boo Nieves - (Upper-Body, Out Indefinitely) Nieves skated in practice the last few days for the first time in more than a week. Yegor Rykov - (Upper-Body) For the fourth time in the last five games is just about ready to return to action. Ryan Gropp - (Healthy) Gabriel Fontaine - (Shoulder-Surgery, Season-ending) NOTES: Pack defenseman Joey Keane was recalled to New York because Rangers rearguard, Tony DeAngelo, suffered an upper-body injury late in the Rangers 5-4 come from behind shootout victory. Keane did not make his NHL debut in Columbus as Marc Staal played despite having had the flu. Sadly, it was the last game for Minnesota head coach, Bruce “Gabby” Boudreau. He was relieved by the Minnesota Wild early Friday. The interim head coach is former Whaler, Dean Evason. Bouchard is an ex-Pack and Sound Tiger. Rocket, Hayden Verbeek, is the nephew of former Whaler great and Detroit assistant GM, Pat Verbeek, who was scratched. The AHL in a late afternoon press release announced the successor to retiring AHL President and CEO Dave Andrews on July 1st. Scott Howson, the current VP Hockey Operations, and Player Development in Edmonton. He has a relationship from their Canadian Maritime days when Andrews was the GM and Director of Hockey Operations in Cape Breton. Howson was his assistant GM and took over the reins when Andrews succeeded Jack Butterfield in 1994-95 as AHL President and CEO. According to a hockey executive who went to apply, they were told the process was being handled by Andrews himself. The fact Andrews knows Howson, he is with a Western NHL team and the league shift and focus is now more a Central and Western US-based league with the recent announcement of Las Vegas purchasing San Antonio and moving them to Nevada, the Palm Springs, CA expansion team that will begin play by the fall of 2022. WOLF PACK FAN JERSEY OF THE NIGHT: #19 Chris Mueller, #22 Tomas Kloucek and a #22 Thomas Pock whose name is really spelled Poeck. Barrett Hayton, the son of former New Haven Nighthawk, Brian Hayton, was recalled from his conditioning stint in Tucson by the parent Arizona Coyotes. Anton Sundin, the son of ex-Pack, Ronnie Sundin, heads from Hanhals IF (Sweden Division-1) to Karlskrona HK (Sweden-SHL) for the rest of the year. UCONN defeated the University of Maine in the first of two critical weekend games 3-2 handing the Black Bears their first home loss of the season. Benjamin Freeman, the Maine native scored the game-winner at of the third period. Carter Turnbull returned to the lineup with three primary assists and Freeman three points and a goal and assists from Sasha Payusov they combined for all eight UCONN points on the night. The two team splay again tomorrow at 7:30 pm (NESN). The Walter Brown Award is awarded to the top New England Division I collegiate player the award started in 1953. Of the 23 players submitted for consideration a few CT connections. The group includes two from Sacred Heart University (AHA) in Mike Lee (Hamden/Gunnery Prep) and Pioneer teammate Jason Cotton. Cotton’s brother, David of Boston College was nominated as well making them just the third brother combo nominated since the award’s inception. Billy and Bob Cleary and former Whaler Scott Fusco and Whaler draft pick Mark Fusco were the others all four attended Harvard. Jack Drury, the son of ex-Whaler, Ted Drury, and the nephew to current Wolf Pack GM, Chris Drury, who both grew up in Trumbull. Uncle Chris won the award twice while at BU. Five other players have won it twice including Ranger and ex-Pack Mike Mottau former New England and Hartford Whaler, Tim Sheehy, and former Ranger, Jimmy Vesey. Boston College’s Spencer Knight (Darien/Avon Old Farms) and Tyce Thompson from Providence College son of ex-Pack and current Sound Tigers head coach, Brent Thompson are under consideration. The winner will be announced at the end of the regular season and before the NCAA tourney begins and the winner will be presented the award on May 3rd at a banquet in Saugus, MA. Several former Wolf Pack players besides Mottau have won it. Matt Gilroy, Dov-Grumet Morris, Bobby Butler, and Ty Conklin. Rangers who have won it include current Blueshirt Adam Fox, Mottau and Brian Leetch (Cheshire). Several others with CT connections were awarded the honor, the late New England and Hartford Whaler, John Cunniff, Scott Harlow (New Haven Nighthawks) and John Curry (Taft Prep-Watertown). Keeping up with Gernander’s wonderful piece on their son, Micah, and being a part of the tradition of Greenway H.S. hockey in Minnesota. Read it HERE. Another superb piece on Brady Tomlak, son of ex-Whaler Mike Tomlak and his play the Air Force Academy. Read that HERE. Dean Bachiero (Southington/Salisbury Prep) commits to Brown University (ECACHL) for 2021-22 and the 6’3 forward is NHL Draft eligible this year. Ex-Pack, Jarko Immonen, signs a one-year extension with JYP Jyvaskyla (Finland-FEL). Ex-Pack, Marek Hrivik, is rumored to be moved from Leksands IF (Sweden-SHL) to Malmo IF (Sweden-SHL) next season. Ex-Wolf Pack, Josh Gratton, continues his career in Canadian senior league hockey with the Hamilton Steelhawks (ACH) joining another ex-Pack, Kris Newbury. A pair of former Wolf Pack players and defense tandem Dale “Diesel” Purinton and Marvin Degon are the latest pro athletes that have entered into the CBD ag-health business like retired Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski. Read the full article

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CRAWFORD: PACK CRUNCHED BY SYRACUSE

Syracuse Crunch 6, Hartford Wolf Pack 3 BY: Bob Crawford, Hartford Wolf Pack Syracuse, NY, November 23, 2019 – The Syracuse Crunch completed a sweep of a pair of games against the Hartford Wolf Pack this week Saturday night at the War Memorial Arena, doubling up the Wolf Pack by a score of 6-3. The Crunch had defeated the Wolf Pack 3-1 in Hartford on Wednesday, in the Wolf Pack’s “Sonar’s Edu-skate” school-day game. Joey Keane, Lias Andersson, and Steven Fogarty scored for the Wolf Pack, but former Wolf Pack Chris Mueller had two goals for Syracuse, and Dennis Yan, Mitchell Stephens, and Ross Colton had a goal and an assist each. The Wolf Pack were outshot 11-4 in the first period, but the two teams came out of the frame tied at one. The Crunch struck first, at 15:51, on a goal by Yan with one second left in an interference penalty to Hartford’s Phil DiGiuseppe.  Colton, while being knocked down to the right of Wolf Pack goaltender Adam Huska (24 saves), swept the puck to Yan at the left side of the slot.  His shot got past Huska on the glove side. Keane tied the score for the Wolf Pack with 1:05 remaining in the period, with his team-leading seventh goal of the season.  Vinni Lettieri knocked the puck away from Syracuse defenseman Ben Thomas in the Crunch zone and worked it to Keane.  He uncorked a drive from the right point that beat Syracuse goaltender Scott Wedgewood (22 saves), who was screened by Matt Beleskey. The Crunch regained the lead at 4:51 of the second period, with Mueller scoring his sixth of the season.  A shot from the left point by Dominik Masin caromed off the end boards, and the puck hit the side of the net and deflected to the left side of the slot.  Mueller jumped on it there and rapped it into the net. The Wolf Pack equalized again at 16:52, on Lias Andersson’s second goal in three games since being assigned to the Wolf Pack by the parent New York Rangers.  Wedgewood stopped Darren Raddysh’s shot from the right side with his stick and denied an initial rebound try by Andersson as well.  Andersson poked at the puck again, though, from below the goal line to Wedgewood’s left, and that try hit Wedgewood and found its way between the netminder and the goal post. A shorthanded penalty-shot goal just 58 seconds later, at 17:50, however, put Syracuse ahead to stay.  With Masin in the penalty box for tripping, Stephens poked the puck past Sean Day at the Syracuse blue line and would have had a breakaway if it were not for Lettieri slashing Stephens’ stick out of his hands. Stephens was awarded a penalty shot, and he converted with a forehand shot through Huska’s skates, sending the Crunch into the third period with a 3-2 lead. Syracuse came out firing in the third, widening the margin with a pair of goals in a span of 31 seconds in the first two minutes of the period. The Crunch tallied its second power-play goal of the game at 1:29, with Andersson serving a roughing penalty that carried over from the second period.  Taylor Raddysh moved the puck from the right point to Otto Somppi at the side of the net.  He chopped it across the goalmouth, and Colton knocked it out of the air and in behind Huska. Then, at the two-minute mark, Danick Martel increased the Syracuse lead to 5-2.  A pass by Stephens found Martel along the goal line on the right side, and he spun towards the middle and flicked the puck past Huska. Fogarty got that one back for the Wolf Pack with a shorthanded goal at 16:03.  He stickhandled in over the Syracuse blue line and made a beautiful inside-outside move on Crunch defenseman Cal Foote.  Wedgewood poked the puck away with his goal stick, but it went off of a backchecking Yan and into the net. The Wolf Pack got a power play with 2:34 left when Daniel Walcott was called for tripping, and Huska was pulled for a 6-on-4 advantage.  Mueller though, put any further Wolf Pack comeback hopes to rest with an empty-net goal at 18:41. The Wolf Pack continues playing a stretch of five straight road games in their next action next Saturday night, visiting the Lehigh Valley Phantoms for a 7:05 PM game. The next home game for the Wolf Pack is Saturday, December 7, when the Binghamton Devils visit the XL Center for a 7:30 game.  That is “Star Wars Night”, as fans can rub shoulders with their favorite Star Wars characters, and win some awesome Star Wars prizes, and the first 2,000 fans will receive a free Wolf Pack 2020 calendar, presented by Hartford Distributors. Tickets for all 2019-20 Wolf Pack home games are on sale now at the Sunwave Gas & Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, on-line at hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (877) 522-8499.  Tickets purchased in advance for kids 12 or younger start at just $10 each, and all tickets will have a $3 day-of-game increase. To speak with a Wolf Pack representative about season or group tickets, or any of the Wolf Pack’s many ticketing options, call (860) 722-9425, or click here to request more info.  To visit the Wolf Pack online, go to hartfordwolfpack.com. Hartford Wolf Pack 3 at Syracuse Crunch 6 Saturday, November 23, 2019 - Onondaga County War Memorial Arena Hartford 1 1 1 - 3 Syracuse 1 2 3 - 6 1st Period-1, Syracuse, Yan 5 (Colton, Raddysh), 15:51 (PP). 2, Hartford, Keane 7 (Lettieri, O'Regan), 18:55. Penalties-Lettieri Hfd (slashing), 7:36; Masin Syr (slashing), 10:13; Di Giuseppe Hfd (interference), 13:52; Geertsen Hfd (roughing), 20:00; Walcott Syr (roughing), 20:00. 2nd Period-3, Syracuse, Mueller 6 (Masin, Yan), 4:51. 4, Hartford, Andersson 2 (Raddysh), 16:52. 5, Syracuse, Stephens 4   17:50 (SH PS). Penalties-Masin Syr (interference), 17:11; Andersson Hfd (roughing), 19:53. 3rd Period-6, Syracuse, Colton 2 (Somppi, Raddysh), 1:29 (PP). 7, Syracuse, Martel 7 (Stephens, Masin), 2:00. 8, Hartford, Fogarty 5 (Taylor, Nieves), 16:03 (SH). 9, Syracuse, Mueller 7 (Barre-Boulet), 18:41 (SH EN). Penalties-Smith Syr (hooking), 6:51; Geertsen Hfd (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:21; Walcott Syr (tripping), 17:26. Shots on Goal-Hartford 4-10-11-25. Syracuse 11-12-7-30. Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 0 / 4; Syracuse 2 / 4. Goalies-Hartford, Huska 4-1-3 (29 shots-24 saves). Syracuse, Wedgewood 6-2-1 (25 shots-22 saves). A-5,633 Referees-Jesse Gour (25), Patrick Hanrahan (52). Linesmen-Neil Frederickson (68), Tory Carissimo (54). Read the full article

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CRAWFORD: (SAT) PACK END ROAD CANADIAN ROAD TRIP WITH 3-2 LOSS

      VERSUS     

BY: Bob Crawford, Hartford Wolf Pack Toronto, Ontario, October 20, 2018 – The Hartford Wolf Pack wrapped up a three-game Canadian road trip Saturday at Coca-Cola Coliseum and were unable to overcome an early deficit in a 3-2 loss to the defending AHL-champion Toronto Marlies. Trevor Moore scored twice inside the first eight minutes of the game for the Marlies, and Carl Grundstrom’s second-period power-play goal was the game-winner.  Cole Schneider scored a power-play tally for the Wolf Pack, and Rob O’Gara had a late shorthanded marker. “I thought they did a really good job putting us on our heels, and we had to spend too much time defending,” Wolf Pack head coach Keith McCambridge said.  “Obviously when you come into this building, against the defending Calder Cup champions, to go down 1-0, and shooting ourselves in the foot for the first two goals, doesn’t give you a recipe for success.” Moore gave Toronto the jump only 55 seconds in, on the game’s first shot.  Grundstrom’s feed went off of Josh Jooris and came to Moore between the hash marks, and he turned to his forehand and snapped a shot into the top corner on the stick side of Wolf Pack goaltender Alexandar Georgiev (32 saves). Moore struck again at 7:31 after Mason Marchment knocked the puck away from Wolf Pack defenseman Libor Hajek at the center red line and moved into the Hartford zone on the right side.  Marchment then fed over on the opposite wing to Moore, whose high shot beat a helpless Georgiev. The Wolf Pack got an opportunity to get back into the game when the Marlies’ Griffen Molino was called for tripping at 17:59, and Calle Rosen for cross-checking 54 seconds later. On the ensuing 5-on-3, Schneider got the Wolf Pack on the board with 45.9 seconds left in the period, snapping the puck up under the crossbar behind Marlie netminder Jeff Glass (22 saves), after he had stopped a Peter Holland bid. The only goal of the second period came ten seconds into Toronto’s first power play of the game after Hajek was called for tripping at 6:04.  Chris Mueller worked the puck from the top of the right circle to Grundstrom at the side of the goal mouth, and he tried to pass to the front of the goal.  O’Gara, attempting to block the feed, had it go off of his skate and into the net. That goal turned out to be the difference, as O’Gara brought the Wolf Pack back to within one with 2:45 left in the third, scoring his first Wolf Pack goal shorthanded.  With Vince Pedrie in the penalty box for tripping, Lias Andersson stickhandled into the Toronto zone on right wing and ended up dropping the puck off for O’Gara, who was trailing the play.  O’Gara made a move past the Marlies’ Jeremy Bracco and then beat Glass with a high blast to the stick side. The Wolf Pack were unable to use that momentum to get the equalizer, though, and fell to 4-3-1-0 on the season. The Wolf Pack are back on home ice at the XL Center this Wednesday, October 24, for a 7:00 PM contest vs. the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.  That is another opportunity to take advantage of the Wolf Pack’s “Click It or Ticket Family Value Pack”, which includes two tickets, two sodas, and two hot dogs, all for just $40. Tickets for all 2018-19 Wolf Pack home games are on sale now at the Agera Energy Ticket Office at the XL Center, online at hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (877) 522-8499.  Tickets purchased in advance for kids 12 or younger start at just $13 each, and all tickets will have a $3 day-of-game increase. Season ticket information for the Wolf Pack’s 2018-19 AHL season can be found online at hartfordwolfpack.com.  To speak with a representative about all of the Wolf Pack’s many attractive ticketing options, call (855) 762-6451, or click here to request more info. Hartford Wolf Pack 2 at Toronto Marlies 3 Saturday, October 20, 2018 - Coca-Cola Coliseum Hartford  1 0 1 - 2 Toronto   2 1 0 - 3 1st Period-1, Toronto, Moore 5 (Grundstrom, Jooris), 0:55. 2, Toronto, Moore 6 (Marchment), 7:31. 3, Hartford, Schneider 3 (Holland, Bigras), 19:14 (PP). Penalties-Molino Tor (tripping), 17:59; Rosen Tor (cross-checking), 18:53. 2nd Period-4, Toronto, Grundstrom 3 (Mueller, Liljegren), 6:14 (PP). Penalties-Hajek Hfd (tripping), 6:04; Crawley Hfd (roughing, roughing), 10:01; Jardine Tor (roughing), 10:01. 3rd Period-5, Hartford, O'Gara 1 (Andersson), 17:15 (SH). Penalties-Bigras Hfd (hooking), 6:27; Cracknell Tor (slashing), 11:34; Pedrie Hfd (tripping), 16:34. Shots on Goal-Hartford 11-7-6-24. Toronto 14-13-8-35. Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 1 / 3; Toronto 1 / 4. Goalies-Hartford, Georgiev 1-1-0 (35 shots-32 saves). Toronto, Glass 1-2-1 (24 shots-22 saves). A-4,233 Referees-Jesse Gour (25), Corey Syvret (42). Linesmen-Tyson Baker (88), Kyle Flemington (3). Read the full article