#GarthMurray

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CANTLON: HARTFORD WOLF PACK OFF-SEASON 6

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The New York Rangers season ended in six games to the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning, now seeking a three-peat against the Colorado Avalanche starting on Wednesday. So now, the off-season will be upon us after Monday’s exit interviews and the traditional locker room clean-out. For cap reasons, the lineup will change in New York and Hartford by the fall training camp. In Hartford, the work for the new season begins with the release of five guaranteed home dates, including a late home opener on October 22, of the 72-game universal AHL schedule. Also coming is a 32nd AHL franchise, the Coachella Valley (CA) Firebirds. They will likely play in the Pacific Division and be the farm team of the Seattle Kraken. They will likely play its home games at the newly constructed $250 million Insura Arena in the Southern California desert to be open play in November. The Pack is assiduously working on completing the schedule for next year. Cristiano DiGiacinto was a walk-on training camp invitee from Canadian university hockey. He made the Hartford Wolf Pack team while playing 47 games and was rewarded with a new one-year AHL deal mid-week. Alex Whelan (Quinnipiac University), a training camp invitee two years ago, minted a new one-year AHL contract. Joining him was defenseman Zach Giuttari. They all received deals in the entry-level range of $70-$80K. KRAVTSOV SIGHTING The mercurial former ninth overall selection in the NHL Draft by the Rangers two years ago last season bolted back to Russia rather than playing in Hart City. He amassed 13 points in just 19 KHL regular-season games and another 10 points in 15 playoff games. In an interview with Sports.RU, Traktor Chelyabinsk’s General Director of his KHL team, said he turned down a contract for next season. On Sunday, Kravtsov signed a one-year extension at $875K one-way money NHL/AHL. It looks like Kravtsov wants a North American redux, and that’s where it gets interesting. Before this extension, the Rangers held his NHL rights until July 13 (free agency when he could have become an RFA-restricted free agent), and Traktor holds his KHL rights. It seems highly unlikely that Hart City is in his future. Instead, the Rangers seem likely to tinker with its lineup through the draft. Has Chris Drury decided to still give him a chance in NY or pending trade, and has he found that trading partner? Can he get Kravtsov here, to begin with? Sources have said once the Stanley Cup finals end and the NHL Draft expect a lot of movement. The present global sanctions on Russian human and commercial cargo imposed by the US and Canada and its Western, Central, and Eastern European allies might complicate that effort. Carolina’s legal rep found a loophole to get goalie Pyotr Kochetkov here. He came in the early spring at the end of the regular season, which saw him play late in the season in a relief effort, and even started a playoff game when ex-Ranger Antii Raanta went down with an injury. He is helping Carolina’s farm team, the Chicago Wolves, in the AHL Calder Cup Western Conference final against the Stockton Heat. He couldn’t come directly from Russia to Canada or the United States. So instead, he went to Austria for a month to travel on a third-party country, an Austrian passport, a member of the EU. Will that travel loophole window be closed as sanctions tighten from the Western nations against Russian malign behavior in its invasion of Ukraine? Much of this is unknown to how far the NHL will go in cutting off contact with Russia? The CHL (WHL, OHL, and QMJHL) have banned all Russian and Belarussian players from their CHL Import Draft, which will be held a week after the NHL Draft next month. The NHL has not stated its policy regarding drafting Russian and Belarussian players at the NHL Draft and whether there was a stipulation if they could only be selected if they played junior hockey in Canada or the US last season. ECHL KELLY CUP FINALS It was s a battle between the Florida Everblades and Toledo Walleye but was won by Florida in five. Florida is coached by ex-Springfield Falcon Brad Ralph and had playing is ex-Falcon Alex Aleardi on the roster, but did not play or dress was former UCONN star goalie Tomáš Vomáčka. While Toledo had two ex-Pack players, John Albert and TJ Hensick, who was involved in their only goal of the game and the last one of the seasons scored by Albert, and Henick had the secondary assist, who has played his last pro game, plus they had former Wolf Pack training camp player last year defenseman Blake Hillman, who played in Providence in 2021-22. ARIZONA IS BUILDING A BUILDING The city council of Tempe, AZ, by a 5-2 margin, voted to negotiate with the Arizona Coyotes on a 46-acre parcel of land, almost a $2 billion property west of downtown Tempe, in what’s called the “Tempe Entertainment District,” near the Sky Harbor Airport. There is a proposed 16,000-seat arena. But instead, they will play in a 5,100-seat new college arena at ASU for the next three years that has never sold out at either of the other two arenas they’ve been in. The lease at the Gila River Arena was terminated by the city of Glendale at the end of the season, forcing the ASU situation. In a seven-hour meeting, the proposal plans to build an arena with a proposed promise of hotels, retail space, office buildings, and even 9,800 housing units. The NHL is also seeking a 30-year no-relocation clause. A long-time source opined, “The leaders of the City of Hartford and the State of Connecticut are probably saddened they don’t have an economic driver of an NHL or NBA team because they didn’t build a new arena in downtown to keep the Whalers or put themselves in position when the expansion came around. Now we’re through two (expansion) cycles, and 25 years later, they aren’t even in the discussion about getting an NHL team. They have to be kicking themselves. If they didn’t agree to build them a new building at whatever price tag, it was ($170 million) than at today’s going rate (of $1 billion).” Another long-time source who was in private meetings when the Whalers exited told us many years ago that a plan to start a seed fund on a new building was talked about then by private business and state officials. Too bad nothing was done at that time. The CRDA now waits on a last-ditch proposal by new building management company OVG to bail them out and invest the necessary capital in renovating the arena to modernize the XL Center to 21st century standards knowing they have a zero chance of attracting the NHL or NBA to the Connecticut capital. Look north at Quebec City, with a rabid, passionate fan base, built a brand-new 18,000-plus building to NHL specs. The NHL still has not said yes, five years since they filled out the expansion application or even now with MLB flirting with Montreal. UCONN UCONN Head Coach Mike Cavanaugh signed a new contract retroactive to May. Cavanaugh will lead the men’s hockey program for $3.58 million over the next six years. Cavanaugh listened to the initial post-season interest from Boston College when their head coach, Jerry York, stepped down. Cavanaugh doesn’t wish to rehash it, but like Quinnipiac’s Rand Pecknold, who dangled himself leaving for UMASS five years ago to get another five-year deal with the Bobcats. UMASS got Greg Carvel instead and a national title. What Cavanaugh was coy about was specifics about the meeting between the two sides. Howlings learned from several sources that they couldn’t agree on the terms of the deal, neither the length nor the dollars, and he pulled himself from consideration. He lost his nine-year assistant Joe Peirara recently to BU. He added two new assistants in West Haven’s Mike Peirara, Joe Peirara’s younger brother from Avon Old Farms. He played and coached there. He also added one-time player Joe Ferriss who is in his second go-round (first time in four years) as an assistant coach after being an assistant coach last year at D-3 Wesleyan University (Middletown) (NESCAC). This offseason, Cavanaugh lost 14 players from his roster. Nine went to graduation, one left early to go pro, and four have transferred out. PLAYER MOVEMENT Two Wolf Pack players from last year’s team who had minor roles have left for Slovakia on different teams. Abbott Girduckis wore #17, a number that should have been retired long ago. Girduckis is a Belleville, Ontario native who got to play one of his six games in his hometown but spent most of his year in Jacksonville (ECHL) has signed with HC Presov (SLEL). Liam Pecararo was a mid-season call-up on an emergency basis for five games when the NHL taxi squad was reformed. He was with the Greenville Swamp Rabbits (ECHL) and was loaned briefly to the Charlotte Checkers. He signed a deal with HC Slovan Bratislava and MODO (Sweden-Allsvenskan). Two ex-Bridgeport Sound Tigers goalies are heading to new locations. Mikko Koskinen departs the Edmonton Oilers for HC Lugano (Switzerland-LNA). At the same time, Kristers Gudlevskis leaves Brynas IF (Sweden-SHL), and the former Latvian Olympian signs with the famed program at MODO (Sweden-Allsvenskan). Former Hartford Whaler, New York Ranger, Hartford Wolf Pack, and Avon Old Farms assistant coach Ulf Samuelsson was relieved of his duties by the Florida Panthers. Five more AHL players head to Europe. First, Otto Sompii of the Syracuse Crunch returns to Finland. Next, Luko Rauma (FEL) and Tyler Lewington of the Providence Bruins sign deals with EC Salzburg (Austria-IceHL). Next, Josef Korenar of the Tucson Roadrunners heads back home to the Czech Republic (Czechia) and HC Sparta Prague (CEL). Finally, Dmitri Zavgorodny heads from the Stockton Heat to HK Sochi (Russia-KHL) and Artem Servikov of the Chicago Wolves to Spartak Moscow (Russia-KHL). A total of just 14 players have signed deals so far. MORE PLAYER MOVEMENT Ex-Sound Tiger Troy Vogelhuber is named the new head coach of the Cleveland Monsters. It bumps him up from assistant coach. Brandon DeFazio, a former Sound Tiger and the son ex-New Haven Nighthawk Dean DeFazio continues his career in Germany, going from ERC Ingolstadt to Schwenniger (DEL) next year. Ex-Pack/Ranger Oscar Lindberg heads from Dynamo Moscow (Russia-KHL) to SC Bern (Switzerland-NLA) another Ukrainian war defection. from the KHL. Brady Shaw, the son of former Whaler Brad Shaw, who’s interviewing for the Vancouver job, changes European teams from Fehérvár AV19 (Hungary-IceHL) to HC Innsbruck (Austria-IceHL). Max Gavin, the son of former Whaler Stew Gavin, departs the University of Vermont Catamounts (HE) as Director of Hockey Operations and takes the assistant coaching job for the varsity women’s team at Dartmouth College (ECACHL-W). Ex-Wolf Pack Garth Murray, the current head coach of Norway’s Aalborg Pirates, won the national league title, The Canadian U-17 camp has selected its 100 players to participate in their camp, including Ryder Ritchie, the son of ex-Beast of New Haven Byron Ritchie, who’s the property of the Prince Albert Raiders (WHL). The camp takes place July 10-16, and Ritchie will be at the Markin MacPhail Centre at WinSports at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. The U-17 2022 World Challenge tourney will be held in Delta and Langley, BC from November 5-12. After the week-long camp, sixty-six players will be selected to go to their final three evaluation camps in the Canadian region. The expansion Savannah (GA) Ghost Pirates announced they would be affiliated with the NHL Vegas Golden Knights/AHL Henderson Silver Knights next year. In addition, they named former Ranger and Springfield Indian Ric Bennett, formerly of Union College (ECACHL) as it first-ever head coach. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

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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