#BrodieDupont

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CANTLON: HARTFORD WOLF PACK OFFSEASON VOL 4

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The New York Rangers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in a dramatic first-round playoff series and now face an elimination game with the Carolina Hurricanes (nee Hartford Whalers) who lead the series three games to two in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Meanwhile, back in the American Hockey League (AHL), the two teams in the Atlantic Division, the Springfield Thunderbirds and the Charlotte Checkers, are meeting in a 2-3-2 format. Springfield dominated from start to finish in Game 1 on Sunday afternoon at the Mass Mutual Center, crushing the Checkers 6-0. Sam Anas had two goals and an assist, while Joel Hofer, the game's First Star, had a 35-shot shutout. (GAME SHEET) EX- HARTFORD WOLF PACK PLAYERS MOVING Ex-Hartford Wolf Pack forward Brodie Dupont has officially retired and becomes the full-time head coach for the Cardiff Devils (Wales-EIHL). Under Dupont's leadership behind the bench, Cardiff won the EIHL championship. He is the 96th ex-Wolf Pack/CT Whale player to enter coaching. Dupont played as a Wolf Pack and CT Whale member and was weighing an offer to return to Connecticut. Ex-Wolf Pack, Ryan Gropp departs IF Björklöven (Sweden Allvenskan). Another ex-Pack, Nick Ebert, leaves Örebro HK (Sweden-SHL) for HV 71 (Sweden-SHL) next year. In his tenth year of Polish hockey, New Britain's Mike Cichy leaves GKS Tychy (Poland-PZIHL) and signs with Unia Oswiecim. Rayen Petrovicky, the son of former Hartford Whaler Róbert Petrovicky, moves from TUTO (Finland-Mestis) home to HK Dukla Trencin (Slovakia-SLEL). Brooklyn Kalmikov, the son of former Sound Tiger Konstantin Kalmikov, saw his Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) eliminated. So he's now heading from "The Q" and signs with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for next season. MORE MOVES Closer to home, following his sophomore year, Ryan Doolin (Westminster Prep) left Sacred Heart University (AHA) and transferred to D3 Colby College (ME) (NESCAC). Travis Turnbull, the younger cousin of former New Haven Nighthawk Randy Turnbull, heads from Schwenniger (Germany-DEL) to EHC Straubing (German-DEL). Jack Marottollo (North Haven), the son of Sacred Heart University (AHA) head coach C.J. Marottollo, goes from South Shore (NCDC) and enrolls at Wesleyan University (Middletown) (NESCAC) in the fall. THOSE STILL PLAYING MEANINGFUL HOCKEY... In June, the major junior playoffs continue in Canada, leading to a later-than-planned Memorial Cup in an old AHL city, Saint John, New Brunswick. In the WHL, current Ranger's prospect Matt Rempe, who's playing with the Seattle Thunderbirds, has four goals and five points in ten games, won their Game 7 finale against the Portland Winterhawks to advance to the next round. Goalie Dylan Garand, heading to Hartford on his Entry-Level Contract (ELC) in the fall, moves on. Garland's Kamloops Blazers (48-17-3-0) will play against Rempe's Thunderbirds (44-18-4-2) in the WHL Western Conference championship beginning Friday. Garand's 1.51 Goals-Against-Average (GAA) is the WHL's second-best in the post-season. The Red Wing's 6'6 prospect, Sebastian Cossa of the Edmonton Oil Kings, is slightly better at 1.48. Both have three shutouts. OTHER HARTFORD WOLF PACK PROSPECTS Another fall training camp player is winger Ryder Korczak of the Moose Jaw Warriors. Korczak was last week's WHL Player of the Week with ten points in ten games. Unfortunately, the Winnipeg Ice eliminated the Warriors. In the WHL Bantam Draft, Lochlan Tetarenko, the son of Joey Tetarenko (Beast of New Haven), was selected in the third round (62nd overall) by the Saskatoon Blades. In the US Priority portion of the draft, the son of Whaler Grant Jennings, forward Gordon Jennings, was taken in the second round (35th overall) by the Prince Albert Raiders. The Alaskan native played last season for the U-14 Alaska Oilers AA team. California had the most players taken, with 44 drafted at 17, followed by Minnesota with 13 and Texas with nine. WESTERN CONFERENCE Over in the OHL, two top Rangers prospects will compete against one another in the Western Conference Championship. Will Cullye of the Windsor Spitfires has eight points in eleven games. That's good for second-best on the team. Their opponent, Brennan Othmann of the Flint Firebirds, has a team-best 17 points on eight goals in 12 games. Othmann had three assists in a series-clinching Game 5 with a big 7-1 clincher over Sault Ste. Marie. Each of these players is the captain of their respective team. They met in February in a wild 7-6 overtime game, with each recording a hat trick. Cullye wears #13 and Othmann #78. The Spitfires won seven of the eight games in the regular season, and they will play for the Wayne Gretzky Conference trophy. The series started on Saturday in Windsor. Cullye had an assist and game-high eight shots while Othmann went pointless and had one shot. Game two is on Monday. WINDSOR SERIES Listen to the Windsor series on old school over-the-air radio on CKLW-AM 800 (Windsor-Detroit) and online. The Eastern Conference series begins on Friday between Hamilton and North Bay. The game can also be heard on CHML-AM 900 (Hamilton). There were no Ranger prospects in the QMJHL, but former Wolf Pack, Ranger, and Springfield Falcon, and now a head coach, Gordie Dwyer, saw his Saint John Sea Dogs eliminated in the first round of the President Cup playoffs. However, the team does get an automatic Memorial Cup cup berth as the host city. ANOTHER RANGERS SIGNEE Centerman Gustav Ryhahl signed a one-year, one-way, free-agent deal with the Rangers paying him $750K in the NHL and AHL. Rydahl, 27, is a 6'3 and 201-pounds physical player from the LeMat Trophy Swedish Hockey League champs Färjestad BK (Sweden-SHL), where he amassed 30 points in 44 games. In the Clark Cup (USHL) best-of-five series final, the Sioux City Musketeers are tied at one game apiece with the Madison (WI) Capitols. A few CT names dot the rosters of both teams. Jake Percival (Avon) plays for Sioux City and is a UCONN recruit for the fall. Madison has Ohio State (Big 10), Richard (DJ) Hart (Stamford), and Westport's and QU-bound in the fall Matt McGroarty (Brunswick School). Hart, who played at UCONN in Hartford twice this year, is a fall commit. COLLEGE HOCKEY The changes at Storrs keep coming. According to sources heading to Boston University will be UCONN's associate head coach West Haven's Joe Pereira, an ex-Sound Tiger, also formerly of South Kent Prep. He played as an undergraduate for 139 games. He was a  captain his senior season, as one of the new assistant coaches for Jay Pandolfo's staff after his nine-year run as an assistant to the Huskies Mike Cavanaugh. He began his college coaching career at Sacred Heart University (ACHA Division-2) as the head coach of their D2 club team, winning the Northeast Collegiate Hockey League championship in 2012-13. As a player, he spent two years as a minor league professional. Augustana (SD) University Vikings, the 62nd and newest NCAA D1 program, has been accepted as a new conference member for the CCHA, bringing the league to eight teams. TRANSFERS ACCEPTED One way for a team to improve its roster is to dip into the transfer portal. NCAA D1 Independent, the Long Island University Sharks, announced seven transfers on Thursday. The transfers are of all types, undergraduate, grad, inter-conference, non-conference, several Division-3s to Division-1, and even several cross-continent moves. As of this week, the total jumps to a staggering 157, comprised of 88 grad transfers and 69 school transfers. The Sacred Heart Pioneers (AHA) gets Julian Kislin from Northeastern (HE). The Quinnipiac Bobcats lose sophomore winger Ty Smilanic to Wisconsin (Big 10). Smilanic's NHL rights were traded from Minnesota to Arizona. Meanwhile, the Bobcats received three grad transfers. Over at Yale, they saw a grad transfer in goalie Justin Pearson who heads to UCONN (HE) next year. UCONN's Cassidy Bowes has yet to declare his next destination. Still, according to several sources, he's likely to play Canadian college hockey out in Western Canada, which is closer to his home in either the CWUAA, ACAC, or the BCIHL. MORE MOVES Rangers prospect Simon Kjellberg has left RPI (ECACHL) for the greener pastures of Northern Michigan (CCHA). A laundry list of players remains uncommitted, including Kyle Johnson of Yale and John Fusco of Harvard. Eric Gotz, the nephew of former Hartford Wolf Pack player and Head Coach Ken Gernander, heads from Michigan Tech (CCHA) to Vermont (HE), where his twin uncles matriculated as young men, Jim and Jerry Gernander. John Emmons Jr. commits to Miami (OH) (NCHC) from the Oakland (MI) Grizzlies (HPHL). IIHF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS US had a close call winning 3-2 in OT over defensive-minded Austria. Ex-Sound Tiger Kieffer Bellows scored in the game. Unfortunately, the US dropped their second game 4-1 to Finland. Next was a battle with Great Britain, which had Jackson Whistle in the net. He is the nephew of former New Haven Nighthawk Rob Whistle. Bellows scored twice in a 3-0 win. The US knocked off Sweden on Adam Gaudette's hat trick as ex-Springfield Falcon TJ Tynan, the two-time reigning AHL MVP, set him up with his second helper of the game. Canada saw Pierre-Luc Dubois score twice in an opening 5-1 win. In other games, the Czechs fell to Sweden 4-3 as ex-Pack Tomáš Kundrátek, and ex-UCONN recruit Matej Blümel scored in a comeback bid, but a 5-3 loss and then lost to Austria in their second game. Michael Spacek scored in a 5-1 win over Latvia. HUSKA Current Wolf Pack Adam Húska was in net for Slovakia's 5-1 loss to Canada and 5-3 loss to Switzerland. Huska gave up a goal to ex-Springfield Falcon Denis Malgin (one of five ex-Falcons playing in the tourney). Even though he made some acrobatic diving saves, the lack of goal support followed him to Finland from Hartford. The Slovaks did make the quarterfinals with a 4-3 win over Kazakhstan. Húska faced little work (11 shots), and all three goals resulted from direct rebounds. Huska picked up a secondary assist on the third goal. The Slovak team capitalized with three power play goals on Pavel Akolzin's ill-advised major for charging in center ice right in front of the Kazakhstan bench. The Slovaks secured their chance to continue to play by beating Italy 5-2, with Húska manning the cage. Surefire top draft pick in July, Jaroslav Slafkovky, scored again. Ex-Pack Andres Ambühl was the hero setting up the game-winning goal with 4:21 left for Switzerland in a 3-2 win over Kazakhstan. Sweden has played ex-Pack Magnus Hellberg in the net for three of their four games. One of them was winning a championship-level-like final, a 3-2 shootout win over Finland. Former QU Bobcat Latvian Kārlis Čukste earned the secondary assist on the game-winner with 6:19 left to play as Latvia rallied for a late 4-3 win over the British. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

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CANTLON: WOLF PACK OFF-SEASON - Volume 9

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - In spite of the fact that the prevailing news of the day centers on the precipice of a new era for the New York Rangers, as the 2019 NHL Entry Draft is about to occur in Vancouver, more news is going in professional hockey. PACK NEWS Clearly, the NHL Draft tomorrow in Vancouver (NBCSN Round 1 at 8 pm. Saturday Rounds 2-7 NHL Network 1 pm) will be important to the Wolf Pack roster for this and next year. The Rangers have nine picks second only to host Vancouver with 10 picks in the seven rounds. The Rangers had two in the first the second overall pick in which either they get Kappo Kakko or Jack Hughes they had a second one at 20th slot from Winnipeg from the Kevin Hayes deal which they dealt back to the Jets Monday night in the Jacob Trouba deal for ex-Pack Neal Pionk. Trouba, a right-handed shot like Pionk is a big sturdy two-way defenseman who will command serious playing time at age 25 is an RFA (restricted free agent). Part of the Trouba Factor is that his wife is studying to become a doctor and clearly wants to do so in the US rather than Canada so a long term deal is in the offing. The deal will be dependent on the salary cap for next year (no final figure yet) and future contracts that will expire for the Rangers, especially the slew of ELC deals they have signed the last two-three years and future ones coming after tomorrow’s draft and the unknown of a new CBA structure. GM Jeff Gorton told the media in a conference call Monday that he has a deal number in mind for Trouba which means one or two of the other four defensemen in New York making $4 million plus Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal, Brady Skeij or Brenden Smith will either be traded, brought out or buried in Hartford next season. Some of the first roster shoes dropped late Thursday night with the announcement that defenseman’s Frederick Claesson of the Rangers and the Wolf Pack’s Chris Bigras’s were not given qualifying offers to make them UFA’s. Claesson, despite his role as the seventh defenseman in NY, was very good, the current roster didn’t give him a spot, Bigras was a slight surprise he played well for most of the year and was one of the last cuts at Rangers training camp plus was Libor Hajek's primary defense partner through the 25 games or so, but had his season cut short with a severe high ankle sprain. Julius Bergman, acquired from Columbus is a UFA has already signed a two year deal with the defending Swedish Hockey League champion Frolunda HC. That leaves two other defensemen, John Gilmour and assistant captain Rob O’ Gara as Group 6 UFA’s on July 1st who will be clearly getting new addresses. Goalie Dustin Tokarski is also a UFA was reassigned to Charlotte on February 28th where he never lost a game and they captured the Calder Cup title. Tokarski won’t be offered a deal and is likely to be playing in Sweden next year. To nobody’s surprise goalie Brandon Halverson was not given a qualifying offer either. Just two Wolf Pack roster players left as RFA’s are winger Vinni Lettieri and the organization’s last goalie Chris Nell their status has not been announced yet. The rest of the draft selections look like this; in the second round, the Rangers have two picks 49th from Dallas and 59th from Tampa Bay via the Mats Zuccarello and Ryan McDonagh/JT Miller trade respectively. They have as of now then one selection in each of the remaining five rounds. In the third round 68th overall, in the 4th round they go 112th from Columbus, in the 5th round 130th, the 6th round they select 161st and in the 7th and last round 205th from Columbus. CALLAHAN TO RETIRE  In some sad and late-breaking news, last night on the Tampa Bay Lightning website former Ranger and ex-Pack Ryan Callahan announced his NHL career has come to a screeching and sudden end and is being placed on their LTI (Long Term Injury) list protecting Tampa Bay on the salary cap. He has been diagnosed with a degenerative disc disease in his back that has limited him the past three NHL seasons and now forces him to leave the game he played with so much passion. He was limited to just 52 games last season with seven goals and 17 points His trade over five years ago from the Rangers after eight years on Broadway assuming the captaincy after Chris Drury’s retirement to Tampa Bay and Martin St. Louis, was highly unpopular at the time but saw him compete in one Stanley Cup Final. His NHL career spanned 757 games with 186 goals, 200 assists, and 386 points. He was originally selected by the Rangers in the 4th round in 2004 NHL Draft (124th overall). He came off a strong four-year junior career with the Guelph Storm 249 games with 130 goals and 237 points leading them in scoring his last two seasons play under former Hartford Whaler, Dave Barr. He was named as OHL Overage Player (Leo Lalonde Trophy) of the year in his fourth and last season and won an OHL championship in 2003-04. He played for two US Olympic Teams getting the silver medal in 2010 in Vancouver. He was a member of the Wolf Pack for just 71 games scoring 42 goals and adding 28 assists for 70 points. He was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team and played in the AHL All-Star Star Game. In his last Wolf Pack game on February 1, 2008, he scored one of the prettiest breakaway goals in Wolf Pack history against the then Springfield Falcons in a 6-2 romp. He left Devan Dubnyk’s goalie equipment still hanging from the ceiling of the XL Center. PLAYERS & COACHING MOVEMENT Ex-CT Whale and Ranger, Carl Hagelin signed a four year deal with Washington. Former Beast of New Haven Dallas Eakins was hired as the new head coach for Anaheim elevating him from San Diego (AHL). Former UCONN Husky (Division II era), New Haven Nighthawk and Hartford Whaler, Todd Krygier, keeps climbing another rung of the coaching ladder. After three years with Western Michigan Broncos (NCHC), three with Muskegon (USHL), and seven with Novi HS (MIPUB), he was hired by the Detroit Red Wings to be an assistant coach in Grand Rapids (AHL) starting in the fall. Columbus made Chris Clark (South Windsor) the new GM for the Cleveland Monsters plus Director of Player Development for the Blue Jackets. Clark played 175 AHL games. He won a Calder Cup with the Saint John Flames (2001) and 607 NHL games with Calgary, Washington, and Columbus.  He has been a scout and the last seven years as a development coach for Columbus and Cleveland. Cleveland also hired a very experienced new head coach in Mike Eaves 63, to guide them next season. Eaves was the head coach at Division III St. Olaf College (MIAC) the last three years after spending 14 years at his alma mater University of Wisconsin (Big 10) where he helped the Badgers to seven NCAA tournament and one national championship in 2006. He had prior AHL experience with Hershey for three years (1990-1993) and was an assistant coach for three NHL teams Calgary, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. His other coaching stints included Division III Wisconsin-Eau Claire (WIAC), Shattuck’s St. Mary’s (MNPREP), two years with the US National Development Team (USNDTP) and a season with HIFK Helsinki (Finland--FEL). He helped coach the 2004 US WJC team to a gold medal. He played eight years in the NHL with Minnesota and Calgary and while at Wisconsin won the NCAA title in 1977 making him one of the few players to coach and play to win an NCAA title. His brother Murray was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame last year. -Bridgeport’s John Stevens Jr. was the only New York Islander, or Bridgeport Sound Tiger not given a qualifying offer. That makes him a UFA as of July 1st. He is the son of former Whaler and NHL head coach, John Stevens, Sr. -Ex-Sound Tiger Andrew MacDonald has been placed on unconditional waivers by the Flyers with the intention of buying him out the last year of his contract. -Brett Sutter winner of the AHL Fred T. Hunt Award this year has re-signed for another season with Ontario. -The Wolf Pack’s second affiliate, the Maine Mariners (ECHL) signed five players for the upcoming season and two of them have CT ties. Terrence Wallin (Gunnery Prep) has 30 points in 41 games with the Mariners, but just one assist in 23 games in Hartford. Defenseman Derek Pratt, a former UCONN Husky captain, had a solid first pro season with 63 games and finished with a plus-eight and 16 assists and 18 points signed a one year deal. He got in his first AHL game with Utica on the last weekend of the regular season and was recalled to Hartford, but never played. -AHL to Europe list adds Brooks Macek leaves Chicago to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (Russia-KHL) making it 43 AHL’ers that have signed in Europe so far. -Ex-Pack captain Mat Bodie leaves Torpedo Novgorod (Russia-KHL) to Vaxjo HC (Sweden-SEL). =Former Wolf pack Brodie Dupont goes from Dornbirner EC (Austria-ECEL) to the Herning Blue Fox (Denmark-DHL) -Ex-Sound Tiger Mark Flood leaves Ilves Tampere (Finland-FEL) to play for Vienna (Austria-EBEL). -Former Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) goalie Michael Garteig fresh off an ECHL Kelly Cup championship with the Newfoundland Growler’s has signed with Tappara (Finland-FEL) for next season. -Former New Haven Nighthawk and 1980 Rangers 4th round draft pick, Kurt Kleinendorst signs to be the head coach of Nuremberg (Germany-DEL) next year. His brother Scot was drafted by the Rangers in the 5th round that year played 53 games in New York and then five years for the Whalers before ending his career in Washington. -The two-time defending national champion University Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs (NCHC) rewarded head coach Scott Sandelin with a four-year contract extension. -Goalie Max Prawdzik is a graduate transfer from Boston University (HE) to Arizona State Sun Devils (NCAA Division-1 Independent) -Five more collegians head overseas, led by former UCONN (HE) player Max Kalter who signed with HC Cergy (France Division-1), University of Nebraska-Omaha (NCHC) goalie Matej Tomek leaves and heads back to his homeland and play for HK Dukla Trencin (Slovakia-SLEL). Lucas Benedet from Division III Northland College (NCHA) signs with HC Meudon (France Division-2) and Ryker Leer from the University Alaska-Fairbanks (WCHA) signs with Visby/Roma (Sweden Division-I). The latest is Thomas Stahlhuth goes from Colby College (NESCAC) to Melbourne (Australia-AIHL). That makes 41 collegians have signed in Europe and a total of 243 have signed pro deals in North America and Europe. -Jay O’ Brien, Providence College (HE) will play at Penticton (BCHL) this year to preserve his NCAA eligibility and transferring to another school seems a strong likelihood for the Flyers draft pick. -College hockey at the University of Illinois is closer to becoming a reality and joining the Big 10, but a few issues need to get resolved before making a formal announcement. See it HERE -Zach Malik, son of ex-Whaler, Ranger, and Beast of New Haven defenseman, Marek Malik, has left North Bay (OHL) where he was traded to last year from Sudbury. He has joined HC Plzen (Pilsener) (Czech Republic-CEL) during summer offseason workouts on a tryout basis but has not yet signed a playing deal. He was drafted by Muskegon (USHL) in April along with younger brother Nick. He is draft eligible for this week’s NHL draft in Vancouver which may determine where he plays in 2019-20 in either the OHL, USHL or CEL. SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE HOCKEY While hockey in North America is put to bed shots, saves and slapshots are in full swing in Australia and New Zealand. In the Land Down Under, the Newcastle Northstars and CBR (Canberra) Brave are battling the top of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) through its first 12 games tied at 33 points and identical 11-1 records and will meet in a big clash Saturday in Newcastle at the Hunter Ice Skating Stadium (5:00pm Australian local time). The Northstars second-leading scorer (4th overall in the AIHL) is Francis Drolet (Salisbury Prep) with 11 goals and 25 points in 12 games and its captain Robert “Bert” Malloy (Cheshire/Hartford Jr. Wolf Pack) is off to a strong start in 10 games 11 assists and 15 points in his ninth AIHL campaign and fourth straight as Newcastle’s captain. The Sydney Ice Dogs second-leading scorer (6th overall in the league) is ex-Pack Paul Crowder with nine goals, 18 assists and 23 points in nine games and their goaltender is former UCONN goalie Garrett Bartus is struggling with a 2-5 record and a 4.32 GAA and .889 save percentage. The Melbourne Ice leading scorer is another ex-UCONN Husky in Jesse Schwartz with 12 points in 10 games. Last weekend the AIHL All-Star Game was held in Sydney at the International Convention Centre and Malloy’s Team North triumphed over Team South 11-9. His North teammates included Drolet, Crowder (and his brother Tim) and Schwartz. As part of the two-day event, they held a skills competition on Friday evening. Over in New Zealand, the five-team short season NZIHL (New Zealand Ice Hockey League) is underway and one US player of note is Corey Morgan (Avon Old Farms) fresh from Skidmore College (NEHC) is playing for the Botany Swarm with three goals, five points, and a plus-five in the first four games. 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CANTLON'S CORNER: HOCKEY NEWS AND NOTES OFF SEASON VOLUME 20

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The NHL "playoffs" are officially underway and the news is coming fast and furious. The AHL has set a date for their return to play. On Thursday, the league's "Return to Play Committee" announced when the start of the 2020-21 season would begin. “At the recommendation of the AHL’s Return to Play" task force, the Board of Governors has approved moving the anticipated start of the 2020-21 regular season to (Friday) December 4, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis. The AHL will continue to work with its member clubs to monitor developments and local guidelines in all 31 league cities,” newly-minted, AHL CEO and President, Scott Howson, stated in a league press release. Whether that is the start of play or more likely the start of training camp, is still undecided. It will help the team's depleted sales staff, when they are eventually re-hired, to be able to generate sales with a date for prospective sponsors and season ticket holders. “We just wanted a target date and this gives us some clarity. It will still come down to the Governor's office, in the end, I think by September we'll hopefully, have a clearer direction,” said the lone Wolf Pack current office employee, Erik Hansen, who's the VP of Business Operations. It looks more like an aspirational date since there remain so many unknowns and variables involved. Read the full article

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CANTLON: (SUN) PACK CLIP LAVAL IN SUNDAY MATINEE

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Terrific goaltending from the Hartford Wolf Pack's Dustin Tokarski backed up with timely scoring allowed the New York Rangers' AHL affiliates to edge out the visiting Laval Rocket 3-1 on Sunday afternoon, completing an opening weekend sweep of the team's first two games. Learning to play with the lead is one of early lesson plans that Pack head coach Keith McCambridge is working with his new crew. “It’s something we talked about that we wanted to do better at this season; learning to do (play with leads) and so far we’ve done that. Remember it's just two games so far." After being held to just one shot on goal for 13 minutes, the Pack exploded for three goals in a span of 1:27 and four on the night came in just 2:34. The Rocket took their only lead of the contest when Alexandre Grenier was at the top of the circle and took a pass off the right wing wall from Cale Fleury. Grenier beat Tokarski high to the glove side at 15:29. Tokarski misplayed the puck behind the net to start the whole scoring sequence, his lone error of the evening. The Wolf Pack responded 52 seconds later when the team's newly-named captain, Cole Schneider, picked off Fleury's cross-ice pass and fed a wide-open Swedish rookie, Mikael Lindqvist, whose shot went off the inside of Charlie Lindgren’s right pad and trickled over the goal line for his first pro goal. 35 seconds later, Finnish forward, Ville Meskanen, scored his first AHL goal. Steven Fogarty dished out the assist at 16:56. Getting the two young European rookies involved in the scoring was important. “It's nice to see them score early in the season and build some confidence,” McCambridge said about giving the two more ice time in game two. Just 1:12 later, Bobby Butler made a cross-ice pass from the right wing that deflected off a stick and found John Gilmour, flying as if in fifth gear of a Mazzerati and in one motion beat Lindgren to the far side for his first of the season at 18:08. “He was the fastest skater at the AHL All-Star game last year and you saw it there and anytime he gets the puck its fun to watch,” McCambridge said with a smile. The Rocket came in off a night game the previous night in Providence and had some jump on the rested Wolf Pack. “They came out with a real heavy forecheck on us, and the first 10 minutes it was tough. After that, we were able to do a better job coming out of our zone and started to get some scoring chances,” McCambridge commented. From the other side, ex-Wolf Pack, Ranger, and Bridgeport Sound Tiger, and now Laval’s first-year head coach, Joel Bouchard, was philosophical. “We came out the box good, after a quick turnaround (from last night’s game in Providence), I told them its gonna be a mental war today. We let it get away from us for those five minutes and we really didn’t get it back. We lost our momentum, but we battled hard and their goalie made some big saves and we hit three posts.” The second period was much like the first, there was a lot of play going on along the wall, and few offensive chances until the second half of the period. The Pack’s best chance came from Lias Andersson with an interception in the Rocket zone and swooped in, but Lindgren made a good glove save. On his next shift, he got into a tussle with the Rocket's 6‘6 center, Michael McCarron, and wisely chose not to start throwing punches with the giant-sized forward. Tokarski made his Wolf Pack debut and the former Montreal goalie stopped Brett Kulak’s bid with 1:40 left in the period from the right wing circle. Then Tokarski stoned Michael Chaput’s bid as he cut across the middle, slipped the puck past rookie Libor Hajak, but the Pack netminder read the move and dove across to make the save. “The biggest thing is we got the two points. Guys battled hard. We held on to the lead and it was a lot of fun,” Tokarski, who played in Hartford as an opponent with St. John’s and Norfolk. Both cities are now in the ECHL. McCambridge was happy as the second half of his veteran goaltending tandem provided the netminding they are going to need. “(Tokarski) played excellent. He was so calm back there. He reacted well, even when pucks were tipped. The team played well in front of him.” NOTES: The Wolf Pack are in Binghamton on Wednesday and then back home to play Providence on Friday. The announced crowd of 1,834 was the 17th lowest crowd in Wolf Pack history and there were well less than a 1,000 bodies in the building. Pack scratches for the game (for the time being) will always include two defensemen as there are eight on the roster. The two out in this one were Brendan Crawley, who's day-to-day while recovering from a training camp injury suffered in the Rangers camp in Bridgeport. Also scratched was Vince Pedrie. Ty Ronning was the forward scratch. PACK LINES: Andersson-Gropp-Butler Holland-Schneider- Lindqvist Fogarty-Gettinger-Meskanen Fontaine-O’ Donnell-St. Amant Gilmour-Lindgren Day-O’ Gara Bigras-Hajak   LAVAL LINES: McCarron-Froese-Shinkaruk Grenier-Chaput-Kenny Agostino Vejdemo-Jevpalovs-Alain David Skelinicka-Brett Lernout Brett Kulak-Cale Fluery Adam Plant-Michael Moravcik Laval features several recognizable names starting with ex-Wolf Pack, and Sound Tiger head coach Joel Bouchard, and players Kenny Agostino (Yale University) as well as, Hayden Verbeek, who was scratched. He is the nephew of former Hartford Whaler and New York Ranger great, Pat Verbeek, who is also the assistant GM/Director of Player Development. Finally, ex-Springfield Falcon, Michael Chaput one of the last cuts in Montreal. The Rocket were victorious 3-2 in their season debut in Providence with a third-period rally as Brett Kulak got the game-winner with 35 seconds left in regulation. The third-year pro, Michael McCarron had two assists. Laval opens in the second season at the Place Bell Centre next weekend against. They are the second Canadiens farm team to be in the city the Montreal Voyageurs played at the fabled Montreal Forum on Atwater and St. Catherine for two years before moving to Nova Scotia where they became an AHL powerhouse in the early to mid-1970’s mirroring Montreal success in those years. The first official farm team outside of Quebec was in Omaha, NE in 1963-64 in the original Central Hockey League. Ex-Pack Eric Selleck signs with HC Banska Bystrica (Slovakia-SLEL) after being the last cut in the Toronto Marlies camp Not so good debuts for two ex-Wolf Pack players. Ryan Graves finished minus-three, and Scott Kosmachuk was a minus-four as the Colorado Eagles first home AHL game was spoiled by the Chicago Wolves 5-1. Former UCONN Husky, Max Letunov, has two goals in two games for San Jose Wolf Pack jerseys of the night a #9 Brodie Dupont, #39 Ryan Haggerty and well-timed a #6 Joel Bouchard. The most unique was a Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (QMJHL) jersey of Nikita Jevpalovs, the team Bouchard still owns, but was their GM/Head coach and likely their Zamboni driver too. From a Swedish hockey blog, ex-Pack, Danny Kristo, might be on the move from Brynas IF. The stated reason is not a lot of enthusiastic play. Read the full article

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CANTLON'S CORNER: WOLF PACK OFF-SEASON VOLUME 12

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings.net HARTFORD, CT - Professional teams at all levels, all-around hockey had best hope they run short of pens, because this was a week that saw a great deal of movement. It starts in Hartford where the Wolf Pack had another busy week. WOLF PACK The Wolf Pack will have Boo Nieves back at center this coming season. Nieves accepted the qualifying offer he received form the New York Rangers that has him on a one-year, two-way deal paying him $700K at the NHL and $70K while playing in the AHL. His contract is the same one Steven Fogarty accepted from the organization two weeks ago. Nieves signing leaves just three Restricted Free Agents (RFA) from last year’s team who remain unsigned. Chris Bigras, who was acquired from San Antonio for Ryan Graves and who played well in the 18 games he played in Hartford, is the first of the three who are unsigned. The second is centerman, Peter Holland, who was acquired from Laval for Adam Cracknell. Holland was solid in keeping the Wolf Pack afloat at the mid-season for 16 games. He was recalled by the Rangers and never came back. Montreal signed Holland for $700K on a one-way deal for this upcoming season. The last player was a trade deadline pickup, Matt Beleskey. He didn't produce much in his 14 games, but he still has three years left on the deal he signed with Boston at $1.9 million per year. He's listed on the Rangers' roster and could be a buyout candidate. The Rangers currently have 51 organizational contracts, which is one above the 50 number permitted under the CBA. They are a shade under $23 million beneath the salary cap according to capfriendly.com. The Wolf Pack's current roster has 23 players and the Rangers have 24 with some arbitration hearings and RFA deadlines still to occur. It's inevitable that The Rangers are clearly going to be shifting players in one manner or another. The cap number that's been established for 2018-19 is $79.5 million with the 5% escalator that the NHLPA likely to exercise as they've done every year under the present agreement. The Pack made a small signing in Connor Lacouvee. It should make training camp for the Wolf Pack, which should be the most competitive in recent memory, especially among the goaltenders. Brandon Halverson, who's entering the final season under his entry level deal, and Chris Nell, in the second last year of his contract after playing with three teams last year including Hartford, Adirondack, and Kansas City in the ECHL, will compete with Marek Mazanec for the number two goalie slot behind the presumptive number one, Alexander Georgiev, assuming he isn't the number two in New York behind Henrik Lundqvist. Coming off a strong senior season with the University of Minnesota-Mankato, Lacouvee was signed to an ECHL deal with the Rangers new Double AA affiliate, the Maine Mariners. Lacouvee went 23-6-1 posting a 1.80 GAA and a .914% save percentage. LaCouvee transferred out of Boston University where he played under new Ranger head coach David Quinn. The Mavericks were eliminated in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament by the eventual national champion, University Minnesota-Duluth. PLAYERS & COACHING MOVEMENT On Saturday, The Rangers announced the signing of former Yale Bulldog defenseman, Rob O'Gara who accepted his qualifying offer of a one-year, two-way deal paying $874,105K in the NHL and $70K for his play in the AHL. O'Gara was obtained from Boston for defenseman Nick Holden at the trade deadline. RW Kevin Morris, the son of former Nighthawk, Mark Morris, has gone from the Manchester Monarchs (ECHL) to the Coventry Blaze (England-EIHL) for next season. The AHL first released the home openers of all 31 teams. The Wolf Pack play host to the Providence Bruins on October 5th at 7 pm. On Wednesday, the AHL released the entire AHL team-by-team schedule for the 2018-19 season. The Pack's second home game is Sunday October 7th at 3 pm against the Laval Rocket. The top minor league affiliate of the Rangers have just five home games in the first seven weeks of the season. They will have two road trips of four and five games during that time span. Read the story HERE. The Sound Tigers signed 10 players for the upcoming season including the Bourque brothers, Ryan and Chris. Chris, 33, signed a one-year deal while Ryan signed an extension. This will be the third team where the pair will play for professionally, the first time was in Hartford, then Hershey and now BrIdgeport. Tigers team captain, Ben Holmstrom, his brother Josh, and Connor Jones have also signed extensions. Jones, of course, along with his twin brother Kellen, are the grandsons of former New Haven Blades player Terry Jones and both attended Quinnipiac University (ECACHL). Kellen is heading overseas to play next year for Vastervik IK (Sweden-Allsvenskan) after playing in Worcester (ECHL) last season. Goalie Jeremy Smith signed a one-year free agent deal with the Sound Tigers after playing last year in Charlotte and Jeff Kubiak, Matt Gaudreau (Johnny Gaudreau’s younger brother), Mike Cornell and Tyler Mueller. Ex-Pack, Ryan Haggerty, (Stamford/Trinity Catholic) re-signs with Wilkes Barre/Scranton. Former Yale goalie, Alex Lyon, signed a two-year extension with Philadelphia. His first season is $750K for the NHL and $250K for the AHL. His second year is a $750K one-way deal. Lyon’s former college teammate with the Bulldogs, Adam Larkin, has signed with Reading (ECHL) for the upcoming season. Ex-Pack, Michael Joly, signed a one-year AHL deal with the AHL newest team, the Colorado Eagles. Last season, his second as a pro, Joly helped lead the Eagles to their second consecutive ECHL Kelly Cup title leading the league in the regular season with 41 goals in 52 games for 67 points. Joly was named playoff MVP with his 29 points in 24 post-season games. He played 19 games with three goals and seven points while on recall with San Antonio. Joly will have a brand new bench boss in one-time Sound Tiger head coach Greg Cronin. He was named as the Eagles first AHL head coach. Cronin was the second head coach in Bridgeport history. He was there for two years (2003-2005). Cronin was in his second tour as an assistant with the Islanders and has coached for over 30 years. He was an assistant coach at Colorado College for three years in the early 1990’s. Cronin’s assistants will be the Eagles ECHL head coach Aaron Schneekloth and former Wolf Pack, Ryan Tobler. His post game rants were usually amusing, very colorful and often unprintable. Tucson inks the Klima twins, Kelly and Kevin from Chicoutimi (QMJHL), They are the sons of former NHL’er, Petr Klima. The Roadrunners also signed one-time Ranger draft pick, and an ex-Sound Tiger, Daniel Maggio, who signed a one-year AHL contract. Maggio spent most of last year with Ft. Wayne (ECHL) and a 13-game recall time with Tucson. Ex-Sound Tiger, Harry Zolnierczyk, signs with Springfield, his seventh AHL team. Adam Erne (North Branford) inks a one-year, one-way ($800K) deal with Tampa Bay. The Lightning also added Iowa head coach Derek Lalonde as a new assistant coach. Ex-CT Whale, Christian Thomas, departs from Wilkes Barre/Scranton and heads to Rogle BK (Sweden-SHL). Former Wolf Pack captain, and Sound Tiger player, Joe Whitney, and who's about to become a father for a second time, has signed a Euro deal with HC Linkopings (Sweden-SHL). Also joining him on the AHL-To-Euro list is Patrick Wiercioch of the Utica Comets who hooks up with Dynamo Minsk (Belarus-KHL). Ex-Sound Tiger, Darren Nowick, who split last season with Stockton and Kansas City (ECHL), signs with Vasterik IK (Sweden-Allsvenskan). Dustin Gazley departs Hershey for EC Salzburg (Austria-AEHL). That makes 48 players plus a coach who have signed to go overseas. 23 teams have lost at least one player. Greg Rallo, after 615 AHL games and over 700 pro-and-minor pro games, retires from Texas to become an assistant coach with Milwaukee. He replaces former New Haven Nighthawk, Stan Drulia, who was made a Pro Scout by Nashville after eight years as an assistant coach. Former Beast of New Haven and NHL enforcer, Peter Worrell, was signed as an assistant coach with the Fayetteville Marksmen (SPHL). Worrell’s coaching career began after his 2010 retirement. He was the head coach at the collegiate club hockey level with the Florida Atlantic University Owls (ACHA Division-3) and North Broward County Prep School over the last seven years. The Owls made it to the regional finals this year before losing 2-1 to the University of Central Florida Knights in double overtime. Ex-Pack, Pascal Rheaume, was named head coach for the Val D’Or Foreurs (QMJHL) and his assistant coach is ex-Sound Tiger super pest, Pascal Morency. Ex-Pack, Brodie Dupont, signs with Dornbirner EC (Austria-AEHL). Ex-CT Whale, Andreas Thuresson, has signed with HV-71 (Sweden-SHL) after splitting last year with Kunlun Red Star (China-KHL) and SC Langnau Tigers (Switzerland-LNA) in the second half. Ex-Pack, Layne Ulmer, re-signs with defending EIHL champion Cardiff Devils (Wales-EIHL). Ex-Pack, Jordan Owens, goes from the Fischtown Penguins (Germany-DEL-2) to Sheffield Steelers (England-EIHL). Alex Barron, the former QU Bobcat, moves from Coventry (England-EIHL) to EHC Freiburg (Germany-DEL-2). Mark Naclerio (Milford/Avon Old Farms) goes from Reading (ECHL)/EHC Linz (Austria-AEHL) to Asiago AS (Italy-AlpsHL). One time Wolf Pack, Brandon Alderson, goes from Heilbronner (Germany DEL-2) to Villacher SV (Austria-AEHL) Cederic Lacroix from University of Maine (HE) signs with Wheeling (ECHL). That makes 161 Division I players to sign a North American pro deal and 213 total college players to sign North American or European deals. A third US collegian transfers to Canadian college hockey. Freshmen Owen Stout of RPI (ECACHL) goes to Queens University (OUAA). After all the tragedy, the Humboldt Broncos are putting back together a hockey team. The team has named a new head coach and GM in former AHL’er, Nathan Oystrick. A Saskatchewan native, Oystrick retired two years ago was an assistant with Atlanta (ECHL) for one-year and was the head coach at Colorado Academy High School last year. The Broncos assistant coach, Chris Beaudry, who didn’t ride on the team bus that day, not surprisingly has taken another assistant coaching job with the Melville Millionaires (SJHL). The team is interviewing presently for his replacement. In conjunction with the North Peace Navigators of the Junior B level NWJHL (North West Junior Hockey League), located in Peace River, AB, the Broncos late coach Darcy Haugan, a native started out as a coach, they will host the first games the Broncos play this season, a two-game exhibition on September 1st and 2nd against the Whitecourt Wolverines (AJHL) and Grand Prairie Storm (AJHL). The team’s regular season and home opener will be against the Nipawin Hawks, the team there were going to play that fateful day in game 5 of their SJHL playoff series. The game is on September 12 will be carried live on the NHL Network at 9:00pm EST via TSN of Canada and CTV Saskatchewan. XL CENTER UPDATE The RFP process is now closed and just one bidder submitted a bid to buy the XL Center. That organization is the Oak Street Real Estate Capital, LLC of Chicago. Clearly, the CRDA had hoped for a few more bids to sift through over the summer, but given the buildings dire financial picture and the complicated ownership arrangement that may lie ahead IF an agreement in principal is reached. Whatever occurs this will be a very complicated negotiation if one is ever started. The Chairman of Northland Corporation the enigmatic Larry Gottesdiener who owns the much needed and debated XL Center Atrium gave a lengthy and broad ranging interview with the Hartford Business Journal. Clearly, he is staking a out a position that he is going to hold out on the XL Center atrium in the hope they he will be able to obtain the building if it were closed. By being a title holder of the portion of the property could buy it conceivably for what Oak Street said it would pay for the building $50 million and then rebuild the whole Trumbull Block as it is known. When Northland Corporation teamed up with AEG to run the XL Center that is what one AEG official said then was the primary long term objective of Northland. Read the complete story HERE. Read the full article