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CRAWFORD: (WED) PACK LOSE IN OT IN UTICA

Utica Comets 6, Hartford Wolf Pack 5 (OT) BY: Bob Crawford, Hartford Wolf Pack Utica, NY, January 15, 2020 – The Hartford Wolf Pack stormed back from a 5-0 first-period deficit Wednesday night at the Adirondack Bank Center at the Utica Memorial Auditorium, only to fall 6-5 in overtime to the Utica Comets, in the first of a pair of games between the two teams this week in Utica. Lukas Jasek won the game for the Comets with 36 seconds left in OT after Vinni Lettieri’s second goal of the game had capped the Wolf Pack comeback with 14.8 seconds remaining in regulation, and goaltender Tom McCollum on the bench for an extra attacker. On the winner, the Comets’ Brogan Rafferty stickhandled towards the goal line on the right side, before flipping a shot at the net.  The bid handcuffed McCollum, who had the puck go off the top of his right pad and drop behind him.  Jasek then knocked it into the net from the goal crease. That was the only goal allowed by McCollum on the 15 shots he faced in relief of starter Adam Huska. Lettieri, the Wolf Pack’s leading scorer, forced overtime with a one-timer from the slot, his 17th goal of the season, after Patrick Newell hooked the puck out of a scrum in the right-wing corner. Simply getting the game to overtime was a major accomplishment for the Wolf Pack, after the Comets swamped them with five goals in the first period, three of them by Justin Bailey. Utica opened the scoring on a power play only 1:42 in after Darren Raddysh was called for hooking at 1:19. Nikolay Goldobin played the puck from the top of the left circle to Rafferty at the center point, and he sent a snapshot towards the net that Bailey deflected past Huska. Bailey clicked again exactly three minutes later, as he ended up with a breakaway after a shot by Yegor Rykov from the slot in the Utica end hit a Comet defender, and Wolf Pack blueliner Nick Ebert lost his footing high in the slot while going after the loose puck.  Bailey moved in alone on Huska and beat him with a deke to the forehand. Goldobin then upped the lead to 3-0 at 9:03. A pass attempt by Rykov out of his own end was intercepted in center ice by Reid Boucher, who broke into the Wolf Pack end on a 2-on-1 with Goldobin.  Boucher held the puck on the left side until Rykov slid down on to the ice, and the passed it around him to Goldobin, who put a backhander high into the net behind Huska. Bailey completed his hat trick with another Utica power-play goal at 15:14, with Joey Keane off for hooking.  Goldobin fed the puck out of the left-wing corner to Rafferty at the point.  He unloaded a slap shot, and Bailey’s re-direction eluded Huska. Rafferty scored a shorthanded goal at 18:18 to make it a 5-0 Comet advantage after Guillaume Brisebois had been sent off for tripping at 17:28.  Rafferty got past Keane in the slot in the Wolf Pack zone with a move to the inside, and then put a forehand shot over Huska’s catching glove. The Wolf Pack changed goaltenders to start the second period, replacing Huska (eight saves) with McCollum, and he would face only one shot in the period, as the second was almost a mirror image of the first. The Wolf Pack started to turn the momentum almost immediately, as Vitali Kravtsov got Hartford on the board only ten seconds after the opening puck-drop of the second period.  Steven Fogarty carried the puck into the Comet zone on the left side and dropped it to Kravtsov, and he fired a snapshot that hit the underside of Utica goaltender Michael DiPietro’s catching glove and went into the net. The Wolf Pack then cut the margin all the way down to two goals, with a pair of strikes in a span of 26 seconds. Lettieri shaved the lead to 5-2 at 6:24, with his first of the game, exchanging the puck with Boo Nieves.  Lettieri sent Nieves over the Comet blue line with a backhanded pass, and Nieves spun at the right side of the net, before sending a pass back across the middle to Lettieri.  DiPietro (34 saves) had no chance on Lettieri’s quick shot from the left side of the slot. Then, at 6:50, Raddysh made it a 5-3 game.  Newell knocked the puck loose in the right-wing corner of the Utica end, and it went off of a Comet stick to Nieves in the slot.  His hard drive was denied by DiPietro, but the rebound went right to Raddysh in the left circle, and he fired it over the sprawling netminder and high into the cage. Shots on goal were 16-1 in favor of the Wolf Pack in the middle frame, and the Wolf Pack continued the comeback only 2:25 into the third period, as Danny O’Regan made it a one-goal game with his ninth goal of the season. Vincent LoVerde worked the puck down the left-wing wall to Fogarty along the end boards, and he sent a pass to O’Regan at the left side of the goalmouth.  He fired a quick shot past DiPietro’s glove side. The Wolf Pack and Comets will tangle again Friday night at the Adirondack Bank Center, with faceoff at 7:00.  The next home game for the Wolf Pack is next Friday, January 24 vs. the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, with faceoff at 7:15.  That is “Pucks and Paws Night” at the XL Center, and all Friday-night Wolf Pack home games feature $1 hot dogs and $2 beers through the start of the second period, presented by Nomads Adventure Quest. 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 5 at Utica Comets 6 (OT) Wednesday, January 15, 2020 - Adirondack Bank Center Hartford 0 3 2 0 - 5 Utica       5 0 0 1 - 6 1st Period-1, Utica, Bailey 17 (Rafferty, Goldobin), 1:42 (PP). 2, Utica, Bailey 18 (Brisebois), 4:42. 3, Utica, Goldobin 13 (Boucher), 9:03. 4, Utica, Bailey 19 (Lind, Rafferty), 15:15 (PP). 5, Utica, Rafferty 6 (Juolevi), 18:18 (SH). Penalties-Raddysh Hfd (hooking), 1:19; Stevens Uti (hooking), 5:41; Brisebois Uti (high-sticking), 7:01; Fogarty Hfd (slashing), 10:52; Keane Hfd (hooking), 14:07; Brisebois Uti (tripping), 17:28. 2nd Period-6, Hartford, Kravtsov 3 (Fogarty, LoVerde), 0:10. 7, Hartford, Lettieri 16 (Nieves), 6:24. 8, Hartford, Raddysh 5 (Nieves), 6:50. Penalties-Stevens Uti (hooking), 1:26. 3rd Period-9, Hartford, O'Regan 9 (Fogarty, LoVerde), 2:25. 10, Hartford, Lettieri 17 (Gropp, Jones), 19:45. Penalties-Geertsen Hfd (slashing), 11:11. OT Period-11, Utica, Jasek 10 (Rafferty, Boucher), 4:24. Penalties-No Penalties Shots on Goal-Hartford 9-16-11-3-39. Utica 13-1-10-4-28. Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 0 / 4; Utica 2 / 4. Goalies-Hartford, Huska 8-4-4 (13 shots-8 saves); McCollum 0-1-1 (15 shots-14 saves). Utica, DiPietro 11-5-1 (39 shots-34 saves). A-3,935 Referees-Corey Syvret (42), Reid Anderson (49). Linesmen-Matt Brady (86), Adam Wood (23). Read the full article

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#lukasjasek #hokej #hockey #telh #icehockey #bilitygri #hockeyplayer #bilitygriliberec #liberec #sports #homecreditarena #lednihokej #LIBvOLO #extraliga #sport #sportsphoto #libereckykraj #liberecky_kraj #czechrepublic #igerslbc #iglifecz #loves_czech #canonphotography #canoncz #editorial #pressphoto #azfotky #fotozbranek (v místě Tipsport Arena)

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CANTLON: (SAT) TWO EX-PACK LEAD COMETS TO VICTORY IN HARTFORD

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Two ex-Hartford Wolf Pack players lead the Utica Comets to a 4-0 shutout victory over their former team before an announced crowd of 3,980 at the XL Center on Saturday night. Tom Pyatt paced the win with a goal and an assist ex-Pack goalie Marek Mazanec recording his first shutout of the season in his eighth game for Utica. It was also the fourth time the Wolf Pack have been held scoreless this season and the Comets scored via even strength, powerplay, and a shorthanded goal. The Comets outplayed, a clearly youthful, professionally inexperienced Wolf Pack squad with half their forwards lacing their skates up with less than four games under their belt Saturday night at the XL Center. “We didn’t have the puck very much tonight. I think they had a majority of the play the first half of the game. Tough to play when you're down 3-0. We worked and got a better slice of the game in the third, but we weren’t able to play a 200-foot game most of the night,” remarked Pack head coach, Keith McCambridge. For Utica, the win snapped a four-game losing streak and was just their second win in eleven games. The win boosted their record to the .500 mark at 32-32-6-2 (72 points) and seventh place in the North Division. The Comets play in Providence against the Bruins tomorrow afternoon. The Wolf Pack record falls to 28-34-7-3 (65 points) for eighth place in the Atlantic division and have lost five-in-a-row with four games left in the season, one of which comes Sunday afternoon against the Binghamton Devils at 3 pm. The Comets were launching shots like a meteor shower throughout the first period in which they outshot the Wolf Pack, 17-8. Utica scored early. Jonah Gajdovich had inside position on the Wolf Pack defenseman. Gajdovich took a cross-ice feed from Lukas Jasek that was tipped in the air. The Czech finished for the third time of the season at 2:15. The entire scoring sequence came about as the Comets Brendan Gaunce was at the left point and got a wraparound cleared by Josh Wesley and sent it back to Jasek at the goal line on the left wing side. Wesley peeled back chased him up the right wing boards creating the mismatch that Gajdovitch took advantage of. “We just didn’t get another good start and you fall behind it's not easy to fight back from. We battled back in spurts, but we just didn’t do enough to win the game,” remarked Ryan Gropp. The Pack, as they did early in the week against Springfield, surrendered another shorthanded goal. Matt Register got knocked off the puck and lost his stick in the process. Reid Boucher created the turnover along the lower right wing boards and then sent a crisp short pass to Pyatt, who wasted little time and snapped his fifth goal past Pack starter Adam Huska at 9:16. “It felt really good. I haven’t scored one in a while,“ Pyatt said. "Credit to Reid. He did all the work on that play to get the puck first and made a perfect pass.” Pyatt played for the Wolf Pack ten years ago. The Wolf Pack’s best chance of the period came late with 3:05 remaining. The Pack had just four shots but just two quality shots. One of those quality shots came from rookie Patrick Newall, who got a good lead pass from Gropp, his linemate, with a clean chance on the right wing and Mazanec, made a glove save, his toughest save of the entire game. “You can see the skill set he has, the vision, the speed, and with time and more play his play will evolve and surely get better. We just need more of that from all parts of the lineup, “ said McCambridge. Gropp was duly impressed with his play. “Newsy certainly has a shot and really good speed and if we get more time he will do pretty good here.” The Comets tallied their third goal in the second period again courtesy of sloppy play in their own end of the ice by Hartford. Pyatt fired the pass to Zach MacEwan who put a one-timer on net that Huska stopped, but the rebound was in the crease area and Cam Darcy got his stick on it before a Wolf Pack defenseman and swept his tenth of the season into the back of the net at 10:02. Huska made a great breakaway stop on MacEwan with 38.4 seconds left the second period MacEwan closed out the scoring with an empty-netter with 52.3 seconds left in the contest for his 21st goal, a minute after the Wolf Pack took a timeout to try to ruin Mazanec’s bid for a shutout to no avail. “It would have been better if we kept things simpler, got more bodies at the net, but we shied away from that too much and we just were never able to generate enough offense,” said Gropp. NOTES: Huska played his first back-to-back pair of games in his brief pro career. Brandon Halverson will start tomorrow against Binghamton Bobby Butler and Brandon Crawley wore A’s for the first time. Stratford native, and former Fairfield Prep and Salisbury Prep high school player, Jamie Sifers was in the starting lineup for Utica. Rangers won their regular season finale 4-3 in overtime over Pittsburgh. Ryan Lindgren played, but John Gilmour and Vinni Lettieri did not. There was no word if any of three will be reassigned to Hartford for tomorrow’s game. Wolf Pack fan jersey of the night: #39 Nik Latta playing hockey in the German DEL league and a real golden oldie #2 Burke Henry now retired working in real estate in Florida. SCRATCHES: Dawson Leedal (Upper Body) Shawn O’Donnell (Healthy) Matt Beleskey (Lower Body, likely out for the rest of the season) Rob O’Gara (Lower Body, out for tomorrow) Shawn St. Amant (Healthy) Chris Bigras (Ankle, done for the season) LINES: Fogarty-Gropp-Newell Fontaine-Meskanen-Gettinger Butler-Dmowski-Shawn McBride Jones-Jake Elmer-Lewis Zerter-Gossage Day-Raddysh Wesley-Crawley Bergman-Register Read the full article

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CRAWFORD: (SAT) HUSKA GETS FIRST AHL WIN OVER COMETS

  BY: Bob Crawford, Hartford Wolf Pack Utica, NY, March 16, 2019 – Ryan Gropp scored twice, and Adam Huska made 25 saves for his first professional win Saturday night at the Adirondack Bank Center, as the Hartford Wolf Pack defeated the Utica Comets, 5-3. Ville Meskanen had the game-winning goal and an assist, and Sean Day had two assists.  Jesse Graham had a goal and an assist for the Comets. “I liked our game, the response coming off of last night (a 3-2 loss at Syracuse), as a group us understanding that wasn’t our best,” Wolf Pack head coach Keith McCambridge said.  “Nice to see Ryan Gropp continue to have success and put the puck in the net, and for Adam, getting his first pro win.  I thought he was really solid for us back there.” The Comets outshot the Wolf Pack 11-5 in the first period, but the teams came out of the first 20 minutes tied at one. Both clubs scored on a Comet power play after Brandon Crawley was assessed a major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct for a hit on Lukas Jasek at 9:54. Only five seconds thereafter, at 9:59, Tanner Kero opened the scoring for Utica with his 22nd goal of the season.  Cam Darcy passed from the left-wing circle, just past the stick of Hartford defenseman Ryan Lindgren, to Kero in the slot, and he lifted the puck past the stick side of Huska. Bobby Butler evened things up at 12:36, with the Wolf Pack’s 11th shorthanded goal of the season.  After a Zack MacEwen pass went off of Jesse Graham’s stick, Butler broke out on a 2-on-1 with Tim Gettinger.  Butler kept the puck and wired a shot from the left-wing side, his off wing, past Utica starting netminder Marek Mazanec to his left. “I thought we did a good job,” McCambridge said.  “Having to kill the five-minute penalty was tough, but it was nice that it got evened up, and that was a huge goal by Bobby Butler. The Wolf Pack would strike for three goals in the second period, including two in the first 3:35. Shawn St. Amant gave Hartford its first lead of the game at the 1:54 mark.  Sent in alone by a pass from the right-wing side by Terrence Wallin, St. Amant beat Mazanec with a shot to the glove side. The Wolf Pack then chased their ex-teammate Mazanec from the game with a power-play goal 1:41 later, at 3:35.  Gropp and Day exchanged the puck on the right-wing side, and Gropp moved into the circle before firing a shot into the net, again past Mazanec’s catching glove. Mazanec was replaced at that point by Michael Leighton, and Meskanen put the puck past him at 14:01 to make it a 4-1 Wolf Pack lead.  Matt Beleskey passed the puck out of the left-wing corner to Mazanec at the left side of the slot, and his shot to the glove side went off the post and in behind Leighton. Gropp scored his second of the game at 6:14 of the third period to make it 5-1, set up by a beautiful pass from Steven Fogarty.  Vinni Lettieri cleared the puck off the glass on the right side, and Fogarty moved into the Utica end and spun near the goal line, threading a feed through two Utica defenders to Gropp at the left side of the goal mouth. The Comets stopped a run of five straight Wolf Pack goals with a marker by Graham at 13:28.  He had an initial shot blocked but got the puck back, and snapped a shot from the right point that deflected past Huska. Carter Bancks then cut the margin to two at 16:45, with a shorthanded goal.  With Brendan Woods in the box for slashing, Stefan LeBlanc sent a pass to Bancks in the slot, and he lifted a backhander past Huska’s catching glove. Utica could get no closer though, and the Wolf Pack came away with their fifth win in the last seven games, and the third in their last four on the road. “I thought there were some really nice plays made, and some well-executed a-to-b passes, enabling us to get it into the back of the net,” said McCambridge. “Top to bottom, I thought we had contributions from all four lines, whether it was offensive production or playing a solid 200-foot game.” The next action for the Wolf Pack is next Saturday night, March 23, the first of back-to-back games in Charlotte, NC against the Checkers.  Faceoff is 6:00 PM and all of the action can be heard live on News Radio 1410 AM, and 100.9 FM, WPOP, and online at newsradio1410.com and iHeartRadio.  Video streaming is available at theahl.com/AHLTV. The Wolf Pack’s next home game is Friday, March 29, also against the Checkers, a 7:15 PM faceoff.  As at all Friday-night Wolf Pack home games, fans can enjoy $1 hot dogs, and $2 beers and fountain sodas, through the start of the second period, presented by Nomads Adventure Quest. 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 5 at Utica Comets 3  Saturday, March 16, 2019 - Adirondack Bank Center Hartford   1 3 1 - 5 Utica         1 0 2 - 3 1st Period-1, Utica, Kero 22 (Darcy, Graham), 9:59 (PP). 2, Hartford, Butler 8   12:36 (SH). Penalties-Lind Uti (tripping), 1:29; O'Donnell Hfd (fighting), 4:17; Stevenson Uti (fighting), 4:17; Crawley Hfd (major - checking from behind, game misconduct), 9:54; Lind Uti (high-sticking), 13:06. 2nd Period-3, Hartford, St. Amant 2 (Wallin, Day), 1:54. 4, Hartford, Gropp 9 (Day, Meskanen), 3:35 (PP). 5, Hartford, Meskanen 11 (Beleskey), 14:01. Penalties-LeBlanc Uti (high-sticking), 2:18; Beleskey Hfd (delay of game), 6:33; Arseneau Uti (boarding), 10:08. 3rd Period-6, Hartford, Gropp 10 (Fogarty, Lettieri), 6:14. 7, Utica, Graham 4 (Anselmini, Darcy), 13:28. 8, Utica, Bancks 4 (LeBlanc, Gaunce), 16:45 (SH). Penalties-Chase Hfd (roughing), 8:33; LeBlanc Uti (cross-checking, unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:33; Woods Uti (slashing), 16:21; Jasek Uti (interference), 19:09; MacEwen Uti (cross-checking), 19:48. Shots on Goal-Hartford 5-9-6-20. Utica 11-8-9-28. Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 1 / 8; Utica 1 / 3. Goalies-Hartford, Huska 1-1-0 (28 shots-25 saves). Utica, Mazanec 7-11-4 (8 shots-5 saves); Leighton 8-7-1 (12 shots-10 saves). A-3,917 Referees-Mitch Dunning (43), Mathieu Menniti (30). Linesmen-Neil Frederickson (68), Tory Carissimo (54). Read the full article