#ConorAllen

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Never Shout Never - 16032011 by Conor Allen on Flickr.

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CANTLON: (SAT) WOLF PACK PULL AWAY FROM BRUINS, 5-2

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Adam Huska made 34 saves while Steven Fogarty tallied a shorthanded game-winner and Darren Raddysh added two points to pace the Hartford Wolf Pack to a 5-2 regulation win over the Providence Bruins. For a change, there was no overtime and no shootout. With the win, the Pack remain atop the Atlantic Division and the entire AHL with 11-0-1-5 record (26 points) and are off to their best start since 2004-05. The Providence record drops to 9-7-0-2 (20 points). The Wolf Pack will play their next game in their annual 11 am Edu-Skate contest against the Syracuse Crunch on Wednesday. In the third period, the Wolf Pack built a two-goal lead. Phil DiGiuseppe took a rising slapper that went off Providence goalie Kale Keyser’s glove and into the net at 10:09 giving the Pack a 4-2 lead. “Phil has played very well as of late and he's scored big goals in the last three games for us and helped us finish this one out,” Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch said. Danny O’Regan had an empty netter with 2:46 to go to close-out the scoring for the night. The Wolf Pack took the lead on a shorthanded tally returning the favor from the previous night when the Bruins scored a man-down. Fogarty, along with Boo Nieves, outworked two Bruins in the left wing circle and snapped a quick, wrist shot that surprised Keyser, just 16-seconds after a cross-checking penalty call on Mason Geersten. “It was a great effort by Boo to get down there first. I was just able to dig it out and I saw he wasn’t ready for it and had the angle on him and got it by him,” Fogarty said in an ever-so-matter-of-fact-manner of his game-winner. It was the turning point in the game. “We were sitting back too much, letting them take the play, and then on that situation we come out plus one. That was very important for us,” said Knoblauch.

The rest of the second period was, "The Huska Show" where the Pack netminder stopped all 17 Bruins shots earning him his fourth win and the team's championship belt for his sterling game performance (above). Huska did so making saves in almost every conceivable fashion. One shift, Huska stopped the Bruins' Scott Conway three times. Once from the left wing, off the ensuing face-off from dead center and then as Conway was exiting the ice for his shift on a long-range shot with his very active glove hand. Huska denied Robert Lantosi from the right point, and then Peter Cehlarik from the net front on a Bruins power play. Jack Studnicka was stopped on a late two-on-one with Huska's glove as he scooped it and in the same motion pushed it ahead to his defenseman for a breakout. “I saw him coming and I knew he had someone on other wing. I just stayed on him and he took the shot,” said a smiling Huska.

He was aided by good defensive work from veteran Vincent LoVerde with a PK blocked shot of a slap-shot that earned him the team's hard hat award. (Left) The P-Bruins jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period, but this Wolf Pack roster has shown an early penchant for not being deterred by adversity. 37 seconds in, off a neutral zone turnover by Providence, developed into a quick forming three-on-two. Brendan Gaunce, a lefty shot who was on the right-wing, zipped a pass across the box to the hard-charging Ryan Fitzgerald, who buried his fifth goal in the open stick-side. Then the Bruins capitalized off a scramble on the power play. Fitzgerald fed Studnicka, who was open on the right wing side and from the face-off circle deposited his sixth goal. “We have found a way this year to respond when we're down. We got it back to 2-2 and in third, again we responded,” remarked Fogarty. The Wolf Pack got back into the game with two goals of their own to tie the game at two. Raddysh came off the right-wing boards with the Bruins Wiley Sherman (Greenwich/Hotchkiss Prep) trying to catch him. He circled the net, turned and fired a wraparound on the Bruins' goalie. DiGuiseppe was alone at the right post, but the first shot was stopped by Keyser. “I saw the opening, so I went and got it. I figured I would try the wraparound and was lucky it worked,” Raddysh said of his third goal of the season. Taking the initiative at a critical point in the game, Raddysh was another crucial part in helping launch five consecutive goals by the Wolf Pack. “The short time I’ve been in Hartford, I have seen him as a defensive defenseman. Pass first, get the puck out, not often out of position. The Darren I saw in juniors (Knoblauch coached him at Erie in the OHL) was very offensive and scoring a lot of points and saw it quite regularly. We got a bit of that tonight.” The Wolf Pack tied things on the power play at two. Danny O’Regan was on the right point and sent the puck to his power play defense partner, Vinni Lettieri who unloaded a rocket from fifty-feet and just below the left point, high to the short-side on the blocker side. Keyser had no chance on the Aaron Judgian velocity shot. It was Lettieri’s sixth of the season, and the third power play goal for the team’s leading scorer (15 points). The Wolf Pack had a glorious extended five-on-three power play to grab the lead, but couldn’t turn the red light on with Patrick Newell and Nick Ebert having the best chances. With 1:32 left in the period, Newell feed from behind the net to Ty Ronning and O’Regan sent one from the front that didn’t connect. Then the P-Bruins Jeremy Lauzon hit iron with 50.9 seconds left before the first period intermission. LINES: Nieves-Meskanen-Gettinger O’Regan-Lettieri-Newell Fogarty-DiGuiseppe-Elmer Ronning-Dmowski-Zerter-Gossage LoVerde-Raddyash Day-Ebert Geersten-Keane SCRATCHES: Matt Beleskey (upper body - Should be back for Wednesday) Gabriel Fontaine (upper body - Is not looking good. Looks like a long term injury) Nick Jones (lower body-skate cut) is day to day Jeff Taylor (healthy) NOTES: Laval shutout Bridgeport 3-0 in an afternoon AHL affair at Place Bell before the parent team, the Montreal Canadiens hosted New Jersey at the Bell Centre. Likewise at the Coca Cola Coliseum, another matinee game in Toronto saw the Marlies win a wild high-scoring affair, 8-4, over Texas with former Yale Bulldog Kenny Agostino registering a hat trick. He now has eight goals and Jeremy Bracco with three more assists. Ex-Pack goalie, Chris Nell, was released after three games in Greenville (ECHL) and 5.72 GAA. Wolf Pack fan jersey of the night a plethora and variety. Starting with #10 Garth Murray (currently Assistant Coach of the Aalborg Pirates Norway-NEL) and then a pair of 18’s Benoit Dusablon (retired) and the Patrick Rissmiller (a development coach with New Jersey). A #22 Ryan Potulny (the Assistant Coach at the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers Big 10). Then #32 goalie David LeNeveau (Co-Owner/President/Goalie coach) Nanaimo Clippers (BCHL) #44 Mike Ouelette (retired). The very forgettable number 96 Robin Kovacs (Lulea HF Sweden-SHL) has a big cult following there might be leaving for Orebro HK next season according to Swedish hockey reports. Honorable mentions, a number 3 Calgary Flames Dion Phanuef, the first Kappo Kakko Rangers #45 jersey sighting and always a winner #99 Wayne Gretzky Rangers jersey. -Ex-Pack Conor Allen switches team in the Czech Republic going from HK Hradec Kralove to HK Ceske Budejovice. Read the full article

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CANTLON'S CORNER: FOGARTY NAMED 12TH WOLF PACK CAPTAIN AND HE'S READY TO LEAD

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - For Steven Fogarty, being named the team captain for the Hartford Wolf Pack was a very high honor that left him both humbled and a bit surprised. “I didn’t expect it really. I've been here for four years and I’ve seen the ups and downs. I’m just being one of the older guys, I have always taken pride in being a leader.  We have a fresh new group here, and I’m very excited. I’m not the most vocal guy. I will say something when it needs to be said. I met with Boo (Nieves) and Lindy (Ryan Lindgren) (who were both named assistant captains). I think we're gonna have a very strong leadership group here,” Fogarty said. Lindgren is quite the loquacious player. If Fogarty isn't going to be vocal it's a pretty good bet that Lindgren will. “He’s got a pretty good set of pipes,” Fogarty said with a laugh. However, for the Wolf Pack, over the past few years, being named the captain has been a kiss of death. The preceding four were all traded during the season, something Fogarty is fully aware of. “Well, it was in the back of my mind,“ Fogarty smiled and chuckled acknowledging the obvious, “No, I’m not worried about that.” The Rangers have addressed a multitude of changes all throughout the first training camp of the "John Davidson Era," was kicked off. “We met with the coaches and asked everyone to embrace the change. It’s a whole new staff and a lot of other changes. We're starting over. I really got to see that in camp.” The offensive depth is palpable with the team. ‘We have some tremendous depth up-front and a lot of pieces from veterans like Danny (O’Regan) and Phil (Di Giuseppe), younger players with strong credentials; it’s the best depth we have had here. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Fogarty said. He signed a one year deal last spring. The new Wolf Pack head coach, Kris Knoblauch, was effusive in his praise of Fogarty and spoke of the collective organizational input on the selection process. “I knew some things about Steven, but Jeff (Gorton), Chris (Drury) and Jed (Ortmeyer) and others filled me in about Steven, and what David (Quinn) saw of him in Rangers camp. For me, my interactions have been solid and matched up with everything that I heard that there was no better qualified to handle the captaincy.” Having a new staff takes some adjustment for everybody. “All of them have different levels of experience, but at the end of the day, you have to execute the systems in place. They’re to help us play the right way. The more eyes and expertise you can bring the better we can be. They brought in a lot more people to the organization to try to make us successful and hold us accountable. Players have to take advantage of it.” The recent cycle for Wolf Pack Nation over the past five years hasn’t been very good. Fogarty recognizes that and has an antidote for it. ‘Winning can take care of a lot things and solves a lot of issues. It boosts confidence. You're excited to come to the rink. It helps everything. It’s our main goal to play the right way. Everything will take care of itself. A winning culture takes care of a lot of problems." KRAVTSOV AFFAIR There's an early piece of drama for the Wolf Pack. It was astonishing that Vitali Kravtsov was benched. Maybe at game 10, 20, or in game 30, it could be understood, but game one, in the second period was extraordinarily unusual. He earned the benching and might be embarrassed , but that's the intention of a benching. The new head coach has 19 other players he has to handle and on the first night of game-play, he has to show he's in control of the team. It’s clear that with Drury present, he was given full discretion to do this. This was about more than just his indifferent play at the end of camp, but also in the pre-season game in Bridgeport and the first period against Charlotte. What is possibly fueling this during the negotiations between the New York Rangers and his agents were the promises made for him to come to North America. Clearly, he was hoping he would be playing in the NHL in New York, but he demoted and assigned here. This will require getting things smoothed out. While Kravtsov signed a standard NHL entry-level deal, he does have a European out-clause that could allow him to return to the KHL in Russia and Traktor Chelyabinsk who still hold his rights. When that clause can be activated and what conditions allow it to be invoked specifically are unknown. In addition, he is still WJC eligible. It would seem likely that he would be allowed to play for Russia at the WJC in December in the Czech Republic. The NHL and Russian Ice Hockey Federation do not have a formal transfer agreement. There was one piece of news that could be an inducement for Kravtsov to stay was the trade of Vladimir Namestnikov to the Ottawa Stars for New Jersey-born defenseman, Nick Ebert, who played one game in Belleville and has been assigned to Hartford. There could be a roster slot open in New York for a revitalized Kravtsov with some strong AHL play, possibly over the next couple of weeks. In a worst-case scenario, if he did go back, a la Ilya Kovalchuk when he left the Devils for the KHL, the NHL teams holds his rights until the end of his initially signed contract. Those rights could be traded. Kovalchuk was different because he turned 35 and was a free-agent who eventually signed with LA. Also, another possibility is that he could come back after the season in the KHL was over. It is likely to be worked out the Rangers who drafted him. Obviously he is very highly regarded and an important asset in bringing a competitive team to Broadway that can compete for the Stanley Cup, and that is the number one priority. The story of Ryan Poehling, now in Laval, should be conveyed to him. Poehling had a great WJC tournament last year and had a dream NHL first game on the last night of last year’s regular season against Toronto. Poehling had a hat trick, and five points including scoring the game-winning shootout goal. He had a strong camp for the Montreal Canadiens. Poehling is in Laval working on his craft and will be at the Bell Centre in the very near future. If Kravtsov lights things up in Hartford, he too will be at MSG among the bright lights soon enough. The Ebert addition to the Hartford d-corps forced the reassignment of Brandon Crawley, who was scratched along with Jeff Taylor last weekend for both games, to the Maine Mariners. The Rangers are already planning the Wolf Pack's 2020-21 roster. They signed defenseman Matthew Robinson to a three-year entry level deal. He had a strong training camp before being reassigned back to his junior team, the Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL). Ex-Pack, Conor Allen, has signed with HK Hradec Kravlove (Czech Republic-CEL) for the year. Ex-Pack, Corey Locke, who retired after the pre-season with HC Dynamo Pardubice (Czech Republic-CEL), has been named an assistant coach with Guelph (OHL) whose associate head coach is ex-Pack, Chad Wiseman. Locke becomes the 88th former Wolf Pack player to be involved in hockey as a coach, GM, or as a scout. Three former coaches are still behind the bench while three others are scouts. Read the full article

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Never Shout Never - 16032011 by Conor Allen on Flickr.