#asialeagueicehockey

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HARTFORD WOLF PACK SWEEP SPRINGFIELD THUNDERBIRDS

By: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack vanquished their playoff demons after a 7-1 dismantling of the Springfield Thunderbirds at the XL Center before 5,745, completing the two-game sweep of their I-91 rivals. The Pack received outstanding efforts from Tanner Fritz, Turner Elson, and Anton Blidh in the series-clinching win. The Pack saw seven players score in the first-round sweep and will need to continue to receive that kind of balanced scoring if they are to continue moving forward in the playoffs. "Going into the series, they had won nine of the twelve regular season games, but I felt at five-on-five we had played good hockey against them. The special teams was the difference," remarked Hartford Head Coach Kris Knoblauch. The Wolf Pack move on to challenge the Providence Bruins in a Best-of-Five series beginning Friday, April 28th, and Saturday, April 29th, at the Amica Mutual Pavilion. Both games start at 7:05 PM. As the higher seed, The Bruins will have the home-ice advantage in the Atlantic Division semi-final. After the first two games in Providence, the Pack return home for Game Three on Wednesday, May 3rd, and a potential Game Four on Friday, May 5th. Those two games will have puck drop starting at 7:00 PM. Finally, a potential Game Five would be back in Providence on Sunday, May 7th, with the first puck drop coming at 7:05 PM. The Pack should have a level of confidence in this upcoming series. In ten regular season games against the Baby Bruins, the Wolf Pack went 5-3-1-0. "We have been playing playoff hockey for three or four weeks before this series, so we got into a groove," Knoblauch said. The challenge for Knoblach with the Pack's top four regular season players on recall to New York serving as the Black Aces squad for the Rangers meant the call went out to the roster to come together and find ways to score. "We needed somebody to step up and everybody did so in some way. We had the energy and we knew Springfield had taken us lightly in Game 1, but our guys were prepared for them." THIRD PERIOD In the third period, Springfield trailing 5-1, they pulled their goaltender early. The Wolf Pack capitalized, adding two unassisted empty net goals. The first came shorthanded from Blidh at 13:34, and then Tim Gettinger tallied at 15:02. Pack goaltender Dylan Garand managed the third period well. He made key stops on Martin Frk, Will Bitten, and Nikita Alexandrov to secure the victory over Springfield in a contribution reminiscent of Cam Talbot, who thwarted the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in a short playoff win for CT Whale years ago. "Garand, has been solid all year and we played well defensively in front of him," said Knoblauch. SECOND PERIOD The second period started with the Pack picking up right where they left off in the first frame scoring early and controlling the play. "We got great support from all our lines, and you need that in the playoffs," Knoblauch stated. Adam Edström forced Brady Lyle down and out into a tripping penalty on an early two-on-one. The Pack power play, a work in progress throughout the regular season, paid off in this series. After a successful zone entry, Bobby Trivigno took a short pass from Elson and fired it into the net off the near post at 3:57 for the team's fourth goal. Moving Elson from the fourth to the first line wasn't difficult for Knoblauch. "He got lost in the shuffle, when we had all those trades in the beginning of March. He kept working. We had him when (Ryan) Carpenter was sent down (by the Rangers) in early December and they had good chemistry. So we had to restructure our lines. We put them back together. It was a fairly easy decision for a coach to make," Knoblauch said. Repeating their success from Game One on Wednesday night, the Wolf Pack kept their foot on the gas pedal and continued their exigency. Fine work on the left-wing boards by Will Cullye kept the puck in the zone. He intercepted a Thunderbirds clearing attempt and got it back to Zac Jones. The Pack defenseman wasted little time sending a cross-ice feed to a wide-open Blake Hillman. Hillman moved in with Elson and Carpenter providing traffic in front of Joel Hofer and fired a rocket past the Springfield netminder for a 5-1 lead at 6:30. FIRST PERIOD The Pack struck first. Lauri Pajuniemi received a backhanded pass from Blidh, faded off the left wing, and found Fritz rushing in. Fritz received the puck and deposited the first postseason goal of his career at 8:03. "Fritz was so strong. We played a stretch of four-and-a-half minutes and he was a plus-three. It was easy to give him the tap on the shoulder to go out," an impressed Knoblach stated. With limited playoff experience, Fritz had opined weeks ago about his desire for postseason play. He put action into his words. "I've got what, three games, in like six or seven years. It was something I really wanted to experience," Fritz added, "We got belief in that locker room right now. We're a lot different (team) than Springfield faced before. The crowd has been regularly exciting. We fed off that." The Pack made it 2-0 with Fritz and Blidh factoring in again. Fritz got the puck to Wyatt Kalynuk on the left point. Kalynuk sent a perfect drive to the net with Blidh with the Hofer screen at 10:48 for what would prove to be the game-winning goal. The Pack made it 3-0 with Fritz and Blidh factoring in on the tally again. Fritz was on the left side. He and Jones played a quick pass and catch before finding Ty Emberson open on the right point. Emberson sent a low shot on the net with Blidh and Springfield defenseman Tyler Tucker tied up in front of Hofer, who never saw the puck. Blidh will try to torture his ex-teammates in Providence in the next series. With his team reeling early, former Wolf Pack and now Springfield Head Coach Drew Bannister was forced to use his timeout early to settle his rattled Thunderbirds down, much to the delight of the exuberant XL Center crowd. The crowd started early, chanting, "We want pizza." The chant was about a team promotion with a local eatery providing free slices to ticketed fans whenever the Pack scored four goals. Adam Clendening laid a perfectly clean shoulder check and ran over Quinnipiac grad Matt Peca when he tried to cut across the ice on his zone entry in a one-on-four situation. SPRINGFIELD'S ONLY TALLY Springfield scored in the last minute of the first period on the power play. A Bitten cross-ice, across-the-goal crease pass went off Alexandrov's stick right back to Bitten. He put a shot on the net that went off the inside of Garand's stick and pad while sliding over to make the save with 27.8 left in the period. The Pack never wavered or gave Springfield a chance. LINES: Cullye-Carpenter-Elson Fritz-Pajuniemi-Blidh Gettinger-Edström-Lockwood Henriksson-Sýkora-Trivigno Jones-Emberson Hillman-Scanlin Clendening-Kalynuk Garand Gahagen #35 SCRATCHES: Talyn Boyko #40 Matt Rempe (upper body, day-to-day) Louie Roehl #4 (healthy) Bryce McConnell-Barker #8 (healthy) Brett Berard #27 (healthy) Cooper Zech #37 (healthy) Matt Robertson (upper body, may return in the later half of the next round of the playoffs) Patrick Khordorenko (season-ending shoulder surgery). C.J. Smith (hip area surgery done for the season) NOTES: Near the end of the second period, the XL Center scoreboard malfunctioned and went out. Only the video portion came back. The issue forced the XL Center PA announcer to announce the time left when the play stopped. This continued until just 7:46 remained in the third period when only a small video was shown for the rest of the game. The last playoff series win for the Wolf Pack came in a six-game quarterfinal series victory over the Hershey Bears in 2015. Two of the team's home games were forced to be played in Worcester, MA, at the DCU Center. The now-shuttered Ringling Brothers Circus was at the XL Center. Worcester was still in the AHL before becoming an ECHL city. Simsbury native Tommy Cross (Westminster), injured for half the season, dressed and served as a captain for an elimination game for Springfield. Fritz's three assists on Wednesday allowed him to become the 21st Wolf Pack to accomplish that in the playoffs. Chris Bourque was the last player to do so on May 15th, 2015. That was the last time the Wolf Pack had won a playoff game. The Wolf Pack had three playoff series in the early years against the Springfield Falcons. They came in 1999, 2000, and 2003. Eleven Pack players made their playoff debuts for Hartford on Wednesday night. The AHL media voted Calgary Wrangler's Dustin Wolf the league's regular season Les Cunningham MVP. He becomes just the eighth goalie in league history to accomplish that honor. Wolf is the first netminder since the Wolf Pack's Jason LaBarbera won the award in 2004. LaBarbera is presently the Calgary Flames goalie coach. Another ex-Pack, MacKenzie Skapski, is the Wranglers' goalie coach. The Jacksonville Icemen, the Wolf Pack Double AA affiliate, began its seven-game ECHL South semi-final series against the Rangers' former ECHL affiliate, the Greenville (SC) Swamp Rabbits. Greenville took Game 1 4-1, with former UCONN forward Ben Freeman registering one of the goals, and former Thunderbird Ryan Bednard was in the net for the Swamp Rabbits. Former Quinnipiac Bobcat Craig Martin had Jacksonville's only goal. In the net for Jacksonville was a former Wolf Pack emergency goalie, Charles Williams. He made 27 saves in the loss. Gettinger played his junior career under Bannister for three seasons with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL). The Greyhounds was the landing spot for Wolf Packm assistant coach Jamie Tardif before coming to Hartford. Bannister was a member of the 2000 Wolf Pack Calder Cup championship team celebrated here two weeks ago. The Springfield Thunderbirds went to the Calder Cup Final against the Chicago Wolves last year and didn't face an elimination game until the Conference Final against the Laval Rocket. Then, they staved off elimination against the Kevin Dineen-coached Utica Comets. Speaking of Dineen, congrats to his son William. As a freshman at Yale, he won the William Chace Sportsmanship and Dedication Award at the Ivy League School. Chris Harpur, the younger brother of current Ranger, and former Wolf Pack, Ben Harpur, was recalled from the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL) by the Syracuse Crunch. After five years of NCAA hockey, Erik Gotz, the nephew of Wolf Pack great Ken Gernander, heads to Europe and signs with the Krefeld Penguins (Germany-DEL). He played a fifth year at the alma mater of two of his other uncles, the Gernander twins, Jim and Jerry, who were graduates of the Vermont Catamounts (HE) program. He played a Wolf Pack exhibition game with their brother many years ago. Twelve players are now off to Europe. 228 Division I and III college players have signed pro deals in North America and Europe. The USA U-18 Team is about to embark on the World U-18 championships in Basel, and Ajoie, Switzerland. They'll play April 20-23. They named their roster. The team is coached by former Yale assistant Dan Muse and one of his assistants is ex-Pack, Chad Kolarik. Their players include two former Mid-Fairfield U-16 members, Sal Guzzo and Ryan Fine, who played together at Don Bosco Prep (NJPREP). The Canadian U-18 squad coaches are ex-Springfield Falcon coach Jeff Truitt (Prince Albert-WHL), with one of his assistants being ex-Danbury Trasher, Bruce Richardson (Blaineville-Boisbrand-QMJHL). Ex-Pack John Gilmour officially signed with Adler Mannheim (Germany-DEL). Cheshire native and former Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack, Robert "Bert" Malloy, now a dual citizen, has been playing for the Australian National team this week in Madrid, Spain. It hasn't gone well. They dropped their first three games to Croatia, Spain, and Iceland in Division II Group A. They won a 7-1 rout of the Israel National Team. Malloy collected the last two goals of the game. He had three shots and was a plus-three. The team plays tomorrow against the nation of Georgia at the Pista del Hielo Arena. Some European titles have been decided. But, amazingly, in the middle of everything going on in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Hockey League (UHL) has crowned MHK Sokil as their champion. SG Cortina (Italy) has won the Alps Hockey League (AlpsHL). Anyang Halla (South Korea) won the first Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH) title in three years because of the pandemic. The team's head coach is former AHL'er Jim Paek, with one-time Providence Bruin Matt Dalton, a South Korean citizen, in the net. The XL Center honored their late colleague Pat Rudolph-Anderson by having her family drop the ceremonial first puck after a moment of silence. In addition, all monies raised from the 50/50 raffle, Chuck-A-Puck, and jersey auction were donated to the family. The other tribute came behind the goal on each end of the ice as the name "Pat" was etched onto the ice surface by 40-year-plus XL veteran Ice Crew Chief Therell Wayne Knight in a thoughtful homage. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

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昨年 🇨🇳DragonでTrainerだった洋次朗と久しぶりに会いました。 観光で来たのに鍼治療してくれてありがとう🙏（笑） 彼のような🇯🇵Trainerは絶対 世界でも活躍出来ると私は思います。 ・ #repost @yojiro0826 ・ Great to see you again!! Dragon boys are playing hard🇰🇷🇯🇵🇺🇸 Keep going😉 . #korea #dayoff #travel #offtokorea #icehockey #anyanghalla #asialeagueicehockey #chinadragon #아이스하키 #안양한라 (Anyang, Kyonggi-Do, Korea)

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CANTLON: CT HOCKEY OFF SEASON VOL 10 PT 2

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The chase for a championship at all levels of hockey starts with roster selection. The number of signings this week picks up to a breakneck pace. Ex-Hartford Wolf Pack, Greg Chase, the nephew of former Hartford Whaler, Kelly Chase, signs with the Maine Mariners (ECHL). Ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger, Yannick Turcotte, signs a one-year, two-way (AHL-ECHL) deal with the Hershey Bears. Charles Curti (Yale University) departs the Rapid City Rush (ECHL) to sign back with the Adirondack Thunder (ECHL). AHL TO EUROPE SIGNINGS Eight more AHL players sign in Europe this week. Gregor MacLeod leaves the Grand Rapids  Griffins for Nuremberg (Germany-DEL). Tyler Groavac leaves the Manitoba Moose for Dynamo Minsk (Belarus-KHL), becoming the 17th player heading to the KHL. Then Veini Vehviläinen leaves the Toronto Marlies for Brynas IF (Sweden-SHL). This signing makes seven players going to Sweden. Jalen Smercek of the Tucson Roadrunners heads to Donbas Donets’k (Ukraine-UHL). He's the first AHL’er to head to Ukraine. Defenseman Reece Willcox departs the Hershey Bears for HC Val Pusteria (Italy-IceHL), becoming the first player to head to Italy. Chase Berger of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins signs with HC Banska Bystrica (Slovakia-SLEL). Nicholas Welsh leaves the Rochester Americans and signs with Nuremberg (Germany-DEL). Jeremy Roy of the San Diego Gulls signs with HKM Zvolen (Slovakia-SLEL). 56 AHL’ers to date have signed overseas. Additionally, 25 of 31 AHL teams have lost at least one player. MORE MOVES Ex-Wolf Pack, Travis Oleksuk, splits from EC Graz (Austria-IceHL) and signs with the Sheffield Steelers (England-EIHL). Ex-Sound Tiger, Ty Wishart, departs from HC Cszilkscereda (Romania-MOL) and arrives at Unia Oswiecim (Poland-PZIHL) for the 2021-22 season is taking the import spot on the team from another ex-Sound Tiger, Victor Bartley. Former Yale Bulldog, Denny Keaney, switches French teams from Grenoble to HC Cergy-Pontoise (France-FREL). Another ex-Sound Tiger, Darren Nowick, who played with Skellefteå AIK (Sweden-SHL), announces his retirement. Riese Zmolek, the son of former NHL’er Doug Zmolek, finishes at Minnesota State-Mankato (NCHC) signs with the Iowa Wild (AHL). Brandon Schultz of Northern Michigan (WCHA) signs with the Toledo Walleye (ECHL), making 80 Division-I players signing in North America and 113 total college players (Division-I and Division-III) signing pro deals. The conference breakdown is as follows; Hockey Eart 25, Big 10 has 21, NCHC 15, AHA seven, ECACHL has six, the WCHA now CCHA has four and two from NCAA Division I independent Arizona State. In NCAA Division III, just three players thus far and 30 skaters have signed in Europe. EVEN MORE MOVES Aidan Metcalfe, a defenseman with the NAHL Robertson Cup champion Shreveport (La) Mudbugs, has committed to UCONN (HE) for the fall, the last for the Huskies. Christian Yersich transfers back home from Colorado College Tigers (NCHC) to the brand-new University of St. Thomas Tommies (CCHA) program. Zach Pellegrino (Gunnery Prep-Washington) leaves Bentley University (AHA) and transfers to Division-III independent Albertus Magnus College in New Haven who start play this fall, making 66 in-school transfers and 51 grad transfers for 116 college players to move this off season. A FIRST In a historic first, the NCAA has granted a major junior player the right to play in the NCAA. Austen Swankler commits to the Bowling Green University Falcons (CCHA). He played for the Erie Otters (OHL) for two years and didn’t play anywhere last year. He played US junior hockey for the Waterloo Black Hawks (USHL) three years ago. In a release, it was stated Swankler petitioned the NCAA directly before making his commit. Usually, one second of play in a major junior regular season game wiped out any chance of playing NCAA hockey. The NCAA has historically considered major junior as a professional league. This crack in the door likely means petitions will be handled on a case-by-case basis and not lead to a flood of applications. BACK TO TRANSACTIONS Sam Anderson of the Philadelphia Hockey Team (NCDC) and the Tim Manning Valley Jr. Warriors (EHL) commits to the Albertus Magnus (New Haven) College Falcons. After five seasons at Lake Superior State (CCHA), ex-Hartford Wolf Pack and New York Ranger Michael York signs a multi-year extension along with fellow assistant Zack Cisek. Both were given promotions of the title Associate Head Coach. The Holy Cross Invitational tournament scheduled for October 8-9 to kick off the college hockey season in the Northeast has been moved to the DCU Center in Worcester, MA, from the 1,600-seat renovated Hart Center Arena on the campus of Holy Cross. The Crusaders, the Northeastern Huskies, the Quinnipiac University Bobcats, and Boston College Eagles are slated to participate. The 56th annual Christmas Holiday Great Lakes tournament between Michigan, Michigan Tech, Michigan State, and Western Michigan will be held at the campus arenas of Michigan (Yost Arena) and Michigan St. (Munn Arena) on December 29-30. The Yost Arena will likely undergo a name change in the fall after an internal review found legendary football coach Ned Yost conducted unfair conduct against black athletes during his tenure as AD. Munn Arena just received a $1.5 million donation for arena upgrades. BLANCHETTE RETURNS Adam Blanchette (Berlin/CT Clippers-MetJHL/Danbury Whalers-FPHL) returns from overseas to become the new assistant coach with the Danbury Hat Tricks (FPHL). Blanchette spent four years in New Zealand playing and then coaching the Sky City (Queenstown) Stampede (formerly Southern Stampede) of the New Zealand Ice Hockey League (NZIHL). The team won three consecutive Birgel Cup titles (2015-2017) in the short-season league. He was also an assistant coach for the New Zealand National Team that took home silver at the IIHF Division 2 Group B Championships held in Grenada, Spain, in 2017. He also played two years in the Netherlands, a year in Australia, four years in the defunct Central Hockey League with the Rio Grande Valley (TX) Killer Bees, Tulsa Oilers, and New Mexico Scorpions. He also played major junior hockey for the Quebec Remparts, Moncton Wildcats and Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL. CONNECTICUT CONNECTED PLAYERS Matt Graham, a former Danbury Titans (FPHL) player, was named the new Head Coach/GM of the Port Huron (MI) Prowlers (FPHL) and had been a playing assistant coach the last three seasons. Former New Haven Senators Harijs Vitolins was named by the Latvia Hockey Federation (LHF) as the Head Coach for the Latvian National Team a month before their IIHF Group E Olympic qualifying tournament games at the Arena Riga August 27-29. The teams in that group vying to get an invite to the Beijing Games in February 2022 are France, Italy, Hungary, and Latvia. Latvia is seeking its sixth Olympic appearance. They took part in the 1936 Games and were then annexed by Nazi Germany and then by the Soviet Union. They made it in their first year back as an independent nation in 2002 and then in 2006, 2010, and 2014. They missed out on the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Vitolins replaces former NHL coach Bob Hartley, who was with the team for the last five years. He is now the head coach of the defending KHL Gagarin Cup champs Avangard Omsk team. In addition, Vitolins has been an assistant coach with Spartak Moscow (Russia-KHL) for the last two years. PACIFIC RIM The ALIH (Asia League Ice Hockey), because of the COVID-19 outbreak over in the Pacific Rim region to decide to move the start of their 2021-22 season to December from September. NHL HOME Read the full article

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CANTLON: PACK LAST FULL HOME WEEKEND OF PLAY

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack have a pair of weekend games in which they seek to snap a five-game losing streak against the Utica Comets Saturday night and the Binghamton Devils Sunday afternoon. The task got a bit harder on Thursday when defenseman Ryan Lindgren was recalled for a second time likely to play in either one or both of the Rangers last two regular season games against Columbus and Pittsburgh. You can just call them the Hartford Junior Wolf Pack for the final two weekends of play. In addition to Lindgren’s recall, the Rangers announced the signing of two more collegians and recent junior hockey signing to ATO deals and sent two players back to Maine. Pack added collegiate forward in Harvard’s Lewis Zerter-Gossage. A Montreal area native, Gossage completed his four-years at Harvard after playing two years of prep hockey at Kent School. Current New York Rangers head coach David Quinn and player Boo Nieve also attended the western Connecticut private school. Hartford signed a local Springfield college product, Shawn McBride, the captain of American International College (AIC) from the AHA conference. He will likely play this weekend as will Gossage. AIC knocked off St. Cloud State in their first-ever NCAA Division 1 tourney game in one of the biggest upsets in college hockey history. He is the second McBride to play for the Wolf Pack in team history. Brock McBride played eight games in the 2008-09 season but is no relation. He is presently an assistant coach with the Cornwall Colts (CCHL) one of the 10 Junior A leagues in Canada. The junior player is Jake Elmer of the Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL). He was signed last month and arrives here after Lethbridge dropped a seven-game first round series to the Calgary Hitmen, four games to three. They lost Game 7, 4-2. Elmer had a goal and six points in that first-round matchup. Through 68 regular-season games, Elmer was third in team scoring with 81 points with a team-leading 39 goals. The Hurricanes finished second in the WHL Central Division with a record of 40-18-5-5 and second highest offensive output in the WHL with 268 goals. One of his junior teammates, Jake Lechyshyn, a Las Vegas draftee, is the son of former Hartford Whaler, Curt Lechyshyn, who tallied ten points in the series tops in the WHL. One of his opponents for Calgary the son of Ed Kastelic, another Whaler, in Mark Kastelic. Two players were returned to the Maine Mariners. Ty Ronning had four goals and five points in 23 games, and Terrence Wallin, who was returned for the third time this season, has just one assist in 23 games. The Wolf Pack have an influx of junior and college players. One of them has a Connecticut address, Ryan Dmowski. The East Lyme born forward, a veteran of four games, Dmowski played at UMASS–Lowell, but his hockey GPS has landed in various parts of New England. Dmowski played against UCONN at the XL Center back on November 16th tallying two goals in a 5-2 win over the Huskies. Dmowski garnered the game’s First Star and was on the ice for the opening shift. “I had about 40 friends and family in the stands that night. It was a good game and I liked playing here when I was with UMASS (Lowell). I loved the atmosphere, and so far, the crowd has been awesome to me and I am very happy to be here.” Finding his way to Hartford was something special. “It’s been amazing; a dream come true to go pro, and even more special being here in Hartford. (I'm) just thrilled to get the opportunity. To be honest, I never thought I would be back here to start my career in Connecticut. (It's) kinda crazy how it works.” He talked with Providence and a few other AHL teams, but the best opportunity came from the Rangers. His hockey road map started in Rhode Island at age seven. After school, his grandfather would take him to North Smithfield, Rhode Island. It's an hour away each time to begin his first skate lengths of hockey. “I would get out of school, and my grandfather picked me up or my dad (Dave). All the dedication we both put in was incredible, and all worth it so far,” Dmowski said with a smile. When he finished Bantam-level play, he headed in the opposite direction and played for the Springfield Junior Falcons program when after his freshmen high school year, he put a new address in the GPS for Gunnery prep school in Washington, CT closer to New York state than Connecticut. “To be honest, I had no idea there was a Washington, Connecticut until I went there,” Dmowski said with a laugh, who had a fellow Highlander (Gunnery’s nickname) Terrence Wallin, older by three years, just sent back to Maine on the Wolf Pack roster, “(It's) kinda weird we took about the same hockey path and wound up here.” He went to a few P-Bruins and Wolf Pack games as a kid, but he spent more time honing his craft and schoolwork. His adjustment to the Wolf Pack has been a stretch playing with a new line almost every game. “It's been a bit stressful, but part of being a pro, and I’ve been doing a pretty good job getting to know everybody and a new line this week too.” Pack head coach, Keith McCambridge had Dmowski with Bobby Butler, the vet, and newcomer Shawn McBride. Butler, Dmowski, and McBridge…sounds like a law firm. “It’s so different here. The speed is so much different just getting used to that now. I’m just trying to get the puck in and not rushing myself and taking my time and learning to keep my feet moving and developing that confidence I’m gonna be good to go.” McCambridge likes what he's seen so far. “He carries himself well. He is a big body, has played well with the puck, and he's handled several different situations well.” It's audition time for the 2019-20 Wolf Pack roster for Dmowksi and his GPS will be putting in another address for the summer. ‘My girlfriend is going to graduate school at Sacred Heart University (Bridgeport) so we're looking for a place between Hartford and Bridgeport now.” The pro hockey map Dmowski has just begun. NOTES: A story has been was broken by the Rangers long-time beat writer Larry Brooks of the New York Post on Thursday that Glen Sather’s stepping down as Rangers President. Sather's retirement makes an already complicated offseason going to be a palace of intrigue as to where the deck chairs will fall. With Sather’s departure, expect Jim Schoenfeld, who held the post as Hartford GM for 10 years and was a head coach for one and who has been Sather’s right-hand man, will likely also get a golden parachute by either retirement or might find another new gig. The question now is who will be promoted or hired to take the upper echelon reigns? Jeff Gorton, Sather's hand-picked successor, is the present GM. Will he make the move upstairs or add this role to his portfolio? Chris Drury, the present assistant GM, and Hartford GM, could he be promoted? Will there be an overhaul of the entire Rangers scouting staff, professional North America, Europe, and amateur by a new team President? How will the Wolf Pack be affected? They're on the verge of a potential sub-par, below .500 season. What will happen with its coaching staff? How will a future team President feel about Hartford and the unresolved XL Center business? The Rangers also have serious player-personnel decisions to make in New York and Hartford in relation to next year’s cap space and with a looming potential labor stoppage in two years, and yes, the expansion draft in three years when Seattle enters the NHL family. Many questions to be answered over the next three and half months in preparation for the NHL Draft in Vancouver on the organization direction under a new regime. Read more HERE NEWS & NOTES This next story is without a doubt the best hockey story of the year. Former AHL player and now Pro Scout for the Arizona Coyotes, Craig Cunningham, who nearly died two years before an AHL game in Tucson, and by the true Grace of God is still among us, released a video showing him skating with his prosthetic leg at the San Diego Gulls practice facility. It was simply amazing, spectacular great news for a young man who suffered so much and has triumphed in the most outstanding way. Hope he gets some shifts in a game in a league where there isn’t as much hitting or contact-like in the Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH) or in Australia (AIHL) and New Zealand (NZIHL) to end his career as a player, not as a heart attack victim. Read more HERE Despite having the same last name, the reporter in that story is of no relation. With the arrival of McBride, and Zerter-Gossage, plus Quinnipiac’s Brandon Fortunato signing with Nashville (NHL), the number of Division I players that have signed is up to 150 and that the total number of college players that have signed over the past month is 168. The first college coach signing as Chris Bergeron after nine season leaves the Bowling Green Falcons (WCHA) to take the reigns of his alma mater Miami (OH) RedHawks (NCHC). Bergeron, graduated in 1993 when the school won its first conference title (CCHA at that time) and made their first NCAA tournament appearance. The NCAA announced the three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award that will be given out in Buffalo next weekend at the site of the NCAA’s Frozen Four. It's a hat trick of finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. All three finalists are defensemen. Senior Jordan Schuldt, St. Cloud State Huskies (NCHC) who just signed an NHL free agent deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. The second is junior Adam Fox of Harvard who is a Carolina Hurricanes draft pick who is weighing whether to sign or wait another year and go the free agent route. Then there's UMASS-Amherst Minutemen sophomore Cale Makar, a Colorado Avalanche draft pick who is likely to go pro after next weekend. A unique college commit right from a CT prep school in Cooper Moore (Cos Cob) Brunswick School (Greenwich) with North Dakota (NCHC). Overseas we see former Whaler great Sami Kapanen retains his franchise owner and Chairman of the Board title with KalPa Kuopio (Finland-FEL) but relinquished his head coaching duties to take the job as head coach with HC Lugano (Switzerland-LNA) in the fall. His son Kasperi skated with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ex-Sound Tiger goalie, C.J. Motte, who has played most of the season with Allen (ECHL) and some games with Iowa signs with HC Innsbruck (Austria-EBEL) for next season. Philippe Hudon, who played prep school hockey at Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford) after finishing his Canadian collegiate career with the Concordia Stingers (Montreal) (OUAA0 played 14 games with seven points for Florida (ECHL) was loaned to Laval (AHL). Read the full article

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CANTLON'S CORNER: WOLF PACK OFF SEASON VOLUME 17

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The summer months are winding down and teams are finalizing their rosters for their respective training camps in North America. Around the world, however, some seasons have already begun. It was another busy week in the hockey world. PLAYER & COACHING MOVEMENT Ex-CT Whale/Wolf Pack Kris Newbury signs with the Brampton Beast (ECHL), the ECHL affiliate of the Montreal Canadiens after a year in Europe. Ex-Pack, Alexandre Giroux, 37, signs with the Thetford Mines (LNAH) for next season as he winds down his playing career. Ex-Pack, Devin DiDiomete, has gone from SHC Fassa (Italy-AlpsHL) to SG Cortina (Italy-AlpsHL) for next season. Ex-Pack goalie, Miika Wiikman, stays in England, shifting from Milton Keynes Lightning to the Coventry Blaze (England-EIHL). Now an ex-Pack defenseman, Brendan Kotyk, who played seven games last year in Hartford, has signed a deal with Toledo (ECHL). Hershey signed ex-CT Whale defenseman, Logan Pyett to a one-year AHL deal. Pyett was out of hockey for a year batting sarcoma cancer, a bone cancer in his upper thigh. Pyett beat that strain of cancer and has been working his himself back into game shape. The 30-year-old defenseman played last year with the Tokohu Free Blades in Japan in the Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH) as part of his game training. In 26 games, Pyett scored four goals and 15 points and 49 PIM. Pyett borrowed some playbooks from the Lehigh Valley Phantoms head coach, Scott Gordon, to aid his rehab training. He was supposed to play with the Phantoms two years ago when the cancer was discovered. Should Pyett have a full and successful AHL season next year, he would certainly be a frontrunner for the AHL Hunt Trophy. AHL’ers moving to Europe continues. Zach Sill of the Hershey Bears heads over to play with HC Sparta Prague (Czech Republic-CEL). Paul Postma of the Providence Bruins heads to AK Bars Kazan (Russia-KHL) and Lance Bouma Rockford goes to HC-Geneva Servette (Switzerland-LNA). Yaroslav Dyblenko has already switched teams after leaving Binghamton his contract was traded from St. Petersburg to Spartak Moscow (Russia-KHL) in training camp. The AHL to Euro list stands at 72 players from 26 teams. Three AHL free agent signings. Wayne Simpson goes from Hershey to the Rochester Americans while Chase Balisy, who bedeviled the Wolf Pack the last two years in Springfield with the Thunderbirds signs a one-year, two-way deal with the Ottawa/Belleville Senators for $650K-NHL/$135K–AHL. Six more collegians sign North American pro deals. Brady Tkachuk leaves BU after just one year and signs an NHL entry-level with Ottawa. He can be assigned to Belleville (AHL). He was drafted fourth overall in June’s NHL Draft. Former Terrier teammate, Nikolas Olsson, signs with Adirondack Thunder (ECHL). Jordan Klimek goes from Northern Michigan University (NCHC) to Kansas City Mavericks (ECHL). Joining him in Kansas City will be Brett Beauvais from Robert Morris (AHC), Tim Shoup heads from Dartmouth College (ECACHL) to Orlando (ECHL) and Dexter Dancs goes from the University Michigan (Big 10) to Idaho Steelheads (ECHL). Three more college players are off to Europe in Tanner Jaillet who had the nation’s best GAA at 1.89 with Denver University (NCHC) signs with EHC Wolfsburg (Germany-DEL), Dan Kelly goes from Tufts University (NESCAC) in Boston to Toulouse BHC (France Division-2) and Kevin Loppatto Manhattanville College (UCHC) to Vannas HC (Sweden Division-1) . That makes 30 college players from all divisions to sign in Europe, 178 Division I players have signed North American deals and 235 total who have signed North American and European pro deals. Former Nighthawk, Bud Stefanski, is stepping back behind the bench. Stefanski joins the OHL Sudbury Wolves with his son-in-law, former NHL’er Riley Stillman, as an assistant coach. Stefanski’s grandson, and Stillman’s son, Riley, will be with the Springfield Thunderbirds in the fall. After 12 years in Peterborough, the last six as head coach, ex-Hartford Whaler and New York Ranger, Jody Hull, was named the new associate head coach of the Niagara Ice Dogs (OHL) for next season. Hul played in 831 NHL games over a 16 season career, including 118 with the Whalers and 50 with the Rangers. Former Whaler, Mark Hunter, left the Toronto Maple Leafs to return as the GM of the London Knights (OHL) coached by his brother, Dale. In a very surprising move, Austin Mikesch, the eldest child of former Beast of New Haven forward Pat Mikesch, played with the Nipawin Hawks (SJHL), the team the Humboldt Broncos (SJHL) were heading to play on that fateful day last April. Mikesch has decided to join the Broncos this season. Pat Mikesch is the head coach/GM of the Green Bay Gamblers (USHL). Hlinka-Gretzky Cup results The Canadians captured gold in the five-day Hlinka-Gretzky Cup tournament held in Edmonton and Red Deer, Alberta this year. The Canadian team defeated Sweden 6-2 in Edmonton last Sunday. The tourney was held in Canada for the first time since 1986. Former Wolf Pack goaltending great, Jason LaBarbera, was part of the gold medal squad as a goaltending consultant. Alexis Lafreniere from Rimouski (QMJHL) scored twice. He will clearly be a top five draft pick next summer. Canada has secured gold 22 times in 28 years in this summer hockey tourney honoring the memory of great Czech great, Ivan Hlinka. The US lost to Russia in the bronze medal game 5-4. Vasili Podkolzin had a hat-trick with two-of-the-three-goals coming on spectacular shots. He led the tournament with eight goals and clearly increased his draft stock for next year. The US's Connor Hughes was a standout and earned a top five-star rating toward the draft as well. Russia's Ilya Nikolayev may have scored an even better goal then Podkozin and Hughes. He first went with a backhand spin-a-rama and the shot got blocked, then he got the puck back and scored to the short-side displaying tremendous agility. ECHL AFFILIATIONS MAP Lots of movements in the Double AA affiliate map for the AHL as the leagues try to sync up with a 31-NHL, 31-AHL, and 31-ECHL pyramid structure being the desired goal. The ECHL is always will be difficult because they fall outside of the current CBA agreement with the NHL and the AHL CBA agreement. The ECHL has its own player agreement. The switches have been numerous with Toronto leaving Orlando and going to St. John’s (Newfoundland Growlers). Orlando then hooks up with Syracuse (Tampa Bay). Meanwhile, the Rangers departed from Greenville to go to Maine (Portland). The Minnesota Wild makes a change too after the Quad City Mallards dropped to the SPHL. They now have a new agreement with the  Allen Americans in Allen, TX. The St. Louis Blues, now in San Antonio, hooks up with the Tulsa Oilers after the Winnipeg Jets left there. The Jets, in turn, hooked up with Jacksonville, FL while Arizona/Tucson is now in Norfolk. Then there's the Colorado Avalanche who have a new AHL affiliate in the Colorado Eagles (Loveland) who now have Utah, who split from Anaheim. Three ECHL teams are without NHL/AHL affiliates. That makes five NHL organizations without a Double AA affiliate. The ECHL cities are Ft. Wayne, Greenville, and Rapid City. The NHL teams without an ECHL affiliation are San Jose, Columbus, Florida, Las Vegas and Anaheim. SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE HOCKEY In Australia, the nation’s capital city team, the Canberra (CBR) Brave, sit atop the short, thirty-game season AIHL as their season comes toward the end. They will then start their Goodall Cup playoffs. Canberra is 20-4-0-0 (W-OTW-OTL-L) for 60 points. The team's leading scorer also tops the AIHL. He is former UCONN Husky, Trevor Gerling. His 18 goals and a league-best 38 assists (56 points), is one better than Perth Thunder’s, Pierre-Luc Grandmaison, as of the start of the weekend action starts. Cheshire native, Rob Malloy, and his Newcastle Northstars teammates are batting his former team, the Sydney Ice Dogs for the fourth and last playoff spot. Newcastle and Sydney ice Dogs are tied at 35 points as the Northstars have a record of 8-9-0-3-4. Malloy in his sixth AIHL season has 21 points in 21 games played with five goals and 16 assists. In New Zealand, the Southern (Queenstown) Stampede, the defending Birgel Cup champions, will seek their fourth straight title next Friday against the winner of this Friday’s semifinal meeting between the West Auckland Admirals and the Dunedin Thunder. The Stampede still has its player-assistant coach in Adam Blanchette (Berlin/Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack). The Stampede topped the Admirals in the short season regular season finishing first with one more win with a 13-0-0-3 record and topped the five-team league with 110 goals for and the best defense surrendering just 44 goals. Read the full article

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