#DanCatenacci

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: WOLF PACK WIN IN OT OVER SOUND TIGERS

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Sean Day’s rising wrist shot eluded the glove of Bridgeport Sound Tigers goalie Christopher Gibson at 2:28 of overtime giving the Hartford Wolf Pack a 4-3 win to complete their first weekend of the season on a positive note before an announced crowd of 1,751. Day took a pass from Phil Di Giuseppe and curled back off the right-wing, found an open seam and let his shot rip. The puck caught the top, left-hand corner, for the victory. “Once the guy backed off, I was able to go down the middle and that’s an easy shot in this league. I thought I was aiming top shelf,” Day said with a laugh and a sheepish grin. "It was a pretty tight shot. I thought we played the game really well and to come out with a win, was huge.” For Day, it was a game of celebration playing his first two games and was his first actual contact hockey so far. He was a red (no-contact) jersey in training camp as he recovered from the off-season surgery to his left hip. “It's even better than last year because I started off getting sent down (to Maine). I’m starting to build up my confidence, that helps, and I’m finding a role.  I’m not fighting for (ice) time as many younger players do and the coaches have put a lot of trust in me and playing with more confidence because of that. Get a couple of points with these wins and a goal helps me a lot.” After a wild first period with five goals between the two teams, it was a defensive battle the rest of the way. The Sound Tigers capitalized on the only glitch for Hartford in the third period off a broken play in their own zone. Wethersfield native Colin McDonald captured the biscuit on a turnover and put the puck out front for ex-Pack captain Ryan Bourque who snapped the bouncing puck and found then back of the net for his first of the season. His enthusiasm for the goal was obvious as he pumped his fist as he likes scoring against Hartford. The goal tied the score at three. Adam Huska had two quality saves late in the second. The first came on Bourque’s right-wing shot as he got the puck with a right skate and a proper kick to the corner, but the Sound Tigers Cole Bardreau snared the rebound fired it right back. Huska made the save to keep the lead for Hartford. “We were outstanding taking the puck away, keeping the neutral zone and not allowing them to freewheel. When they did a get a chance Adam was right there to make the saves,” commented head coach Kris Knoblauch of his Slovak rookie netminder. The only other action of the period of significance was the regular season’s first fight as Tanner Fritz went after Mason Geersten after a clean hit. Geersten earned a clear decision in that scrap. The second period was a tight, defensive affair as both coaches figured five goals a period might not be the best idea and both clamped down their defense. “I like to play these games when it's close checking. They like to chip pucks in and bang bodies, and so I thought we did a good job on them. I thought we played well both nights. We have good skill, good goaltending, and we worked hard against them. Day made such a good play, it was a fun weekend,” remarked defenseman Ryan Lindgren. Lots of scoring broke out from the mid-point of the first period. At 4:20 Vinni Lettieri bagged his second goal of the campaign after receiving a pass from Steven Fogarty along the goal line and at the right side of the net. He got two whacks at the puck with the second going over the glove of Sound Tiger starting goalie Christopher Gibson. Then things got fun. The Sound Tigers tied the game at one on a penalty shot. Matt Loritio had a break-in and was harassed by Lindgren. The call was maybe a minor penalty for a slash, but a penalty shot? It seemed like a weak case for that. Lorito got the chances and got Huska down and lifted the puck past him for his second of the season at 11:41. The Wolf Pack regained the lead 2:07 later. Oliver Wahlstrom took Kieffer Bellows nifty short pass from center ice at the Wolf Pack blue line, burst down the left-wing side and sent a backhanded shot off the near post and it went in off the far post at 13:46. The Wolf Pack tied the game at two as Joey Keane scored his second goal of the young season deep in the right-wing corner and put a sharp angle shot on net that looked like Patrick Newell had deflected it, but it got past goalie Christopher Gibson at 15:30. A 16:29, Lindgren made a beautiful solo dash and got past Wahlstrom’s stick check at the blue line. Kindgren then made a good move on Sound Tigers defenseman Kyle Burroughs and went backhand to forehand and put it past Gibson to restore a 3-2 Wolf lead. “I didn’t know Lindy had it in him,“ Knoblauch said with a laugh. Lindgren earned the team heavyweight belt for that goal and another tough shot blocking man-on-man defensive play. “That was nice.“ Lindgren said, seemingly surprised at his own play. “It was nice to have that space and just took it to the net, so that felt pretty good.” The defenseman clearly have the green light to pursue offense. “We have a lot of guys who can jump up into the play and are very skilled on the backend. So you gotta find the right time to do it and that was a good time for me to jump up.” NOTES: The actual fans in the seats were no more than 300, and for a second night in a row, there was no heat on in the building. They should rename the building the icebox on Asylum Street. The announced 1,751 was the 14th worst crowd in Wolf Pack history. A very poor opening for attendance to start the season in Hartford. Wolf Pack Scratches: It comes as no surprise that Vitali Kravtsov was given the game off after being benched last night. Ville Meskanen was in for him. The other three scratches were the same as last night defenseman Jeff Taylor and Brandon Crawley and the other forward, Ryan Gropp. Sound Tiger Scratches: The team had 12 of them include Josh Ho-Sang, Steve Bernier, Ben Thomson. Erik Brown injured in the pre-season game at Trinity College against Hartford is still out with a left leg injury. Scott Eansor at age 23 retired from pro hockey earlier in the week playing his last game in the exhibition finale in at Webster Bank Arena. LINES: Steven Fogarty-Vinni Lettieri-Phil Di Giuseppe Danny O’Regan-Boo Nieves-Matt Beleskey Gabrial Fontaine-Filip Chytil-Patrick Newell Tim Gettinger-Nick Jones-Ville Meskanen Ryan Lindgren-Jeff LoVerde Sean Day-Darren Raddysh Joey Keane-Mason Geersten As a team, the Wolf Pack have taken 53 penalty shots in team history. The last one to score was Dan Catenacci on April 14, 2017. Their opponents have had 39 chances. Read the full article

[samisalo]

shutthefuckupanddropthepuck answered your question: sos? sort of?

In my searches I discovered you doN’T HAVE AEROS?? You’ve been deprived. Maybe it’s - long shot here - Crispy Crunch?

Haha, no, we don't have Aeros. I vaguely remember having them before, but I can't really remember. I don't think that's it though... Maybe. I know wasn't a Crispy Crunch.

wreck-this-season answered your question: sos? sort of?

did it taste minty? maybe it was a pep bar? or maybe even glosette raisins (chocolate covered raisins)?

It definitely wasn't minty, because I'm allergic to mint. I'm not sure what a pep bar is, but the wrapper on google looked minty! And I don't think it had anything in it. It was just plain chocolate, I'm almost 100% sure.

dancatenacci answered your question: sos? sort of?

Kit Kat? Reese’s? Oh Henry?

Babe... we do have Kit Kats and Reese's and Oh Henrys. We're not in Narnia.

[pizzakitchensubban]

christina now knows exactly who I'm talking about all the time

[byallmeens]

christina

i must leave

my planet is calling me

but srsly

i might be back later or not

but i must leave

bai!

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: PACK DROP 4-2 PRESEASON GAME TO THUNDERBIRDS

Wolf Pack Drop Preseason Opener Against Springfield BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings DANBURY, CT - A strong second period by the Springfield Thunderbirds allowed them to spoil the Hartford Wolf Pack's preseason opener by a 4-2 margin at the Danbury Ice Arena on Wednesday night as both teams kicked off their AHL preseason play. “I liked a lot of the guys,” Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “A lot of the guys that we’ve been watching, and who have been trying to make this team, played well. They separated themselves from other guys. Sure you want to win, but we had to look at the whole lineup knowing we'll have some different pieces soon.” Knoblauch said. With the score 3-2 and 36 seconds remaining, the Pack had a glorious chance to tie it. With goalie Francois Brassard pulled for an extra attacker, Lewis Zerter-Gossagae corralled a loose puck twenty feet out and sent a well-placed blind backhanded pass to a wide-open, Tim Gettinger on the right-wing. Gettinger's point-blank shot was stifled by Thunderbirds' goalie Ryan Bednard to preserve the win. Blaine Byron sealed the victory with eight seconds left in regulation after outmuscling Ryan Gropp for a loose puck at the left point. Byron got inside position heading toward the open cage and slipped in a backhander for the fourth Springfield goal. The Wolf Pack had a great chance to tie things at 3:20 of the third when Jake Elmer was on a clean breakaway on Bednard. Elmer went for a shake-and-bake backhander but was denied. The Wolf Pack was able to take advantage of a Thunderbirds miscue and were able to score their second goal. Defenseman Jeff Taylor corralled a dump-in attempt but fell down allowing Taylor to start the rush. On a three-on-two, Taylor, like Gropp, didn’t look to pass at all and beat Bernard high to the short-side at 9:06. Springfield answered right back a minute-and-a-half later as Rodrigo Abols came off the left-wing wall, dipsy-doodled on Darren Raddysh, who ate a lot of glass and then wired a hard wrist-shot that eluded Pack goalie, Tomas McCollum through the wickets at 11:12. The Wolf Pack faced a serious push back as Thunderbirds were able to maintain puck possession and stopped former QU Bobcat, Liam Porcaro, and Matt Marcinew to keep the game tied. Then, as was the case last season, the Thunderbirds scored a late goal with 1:06 left in the second period. Jonathan Ang fired a shot to the top shelf over the left shoulder of Brassard for a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish. The Wolf Pack scored the game's first goal on a two-on-one break. Gropp took a lead pass from Elmer, and with linemate, Greg Chase bore down on the lone Springfield defender. At the right-wing circle, Gropp snapped a hard, low wrist shot to the far side under Bednard’s stick at 1:56. “It was a good play and shot by Gropp, but what we liked on that play, was what he did in the defensive zone before the rush. That caught the entire staff’s attention,” remarked Knoblauch. The Wolf Pack showed solid forechecking, puck possession and offensive zone time which last season against Springfield was in short supply. Raddysh, Terrence Wallin, and Taylor all had good open shots on Bernard. The Pack went with a more veteran-filled lineup and McCollum, one of the five offseason free-agent signings, didn’t have much work early on. The Wolf Pack had the games' first powerplay and like the parent Rangers, there was plenty of quick one-time passing and shots, but were unable to add a second Wolf pack tally. The Thunderbirds capitalized on the lone Wolf Pack breakdown. Marcinew was on the right-wing and spotted Jake Massie streaking in off the left side and got him the puck. Massie snapped a one-timer past McCollum at 13:50 to even things at one goal per team. The Wolf Pack kept the pressure going in the later stages of the period and Matt Beleskey had a superb redirect of Bryan Lerg’s shot while on the left-wing, it rang off the post. NOTES: The Wolf Pack received two players from New York. They received AHL free agent signing Phil DiGiuseppe, and goaltender Adam Huska, a former UCONN Husky. Not yet announced, Danny O’Regan, a major AHL offseason signing, has been assigned but has to clear waivers first on Thursday before being officially assigned. Finnish defenseman Tarmo Reunanen is also going to be assigned to complete his North American training camp. By assigning him here is also a contractual matter, so that he can play here at the end of the year as he is being loaned to his Finnish team Lukko Rauma (Finland-FEL) where he will play the 2019-20 regular season. The Rangers signed him to a standard entry-level deal early in the spring. Defenseman Matt Robertson was sent back to his junior team, the Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL). In turn, the Wolf Pack released four players from their camp who are heading to their ECHL teams. Taylor Cammarata Maine (ECHL), a pair of defensemen, Cody Donaghey to Orlando (ECHL), and Jordan Klimek to South Carolina (ECHL) while goalie, Jake Kumsky, continues the pursuit of his career with the Ft. Wayne Komets (ECHL). After the game, Knoblauch hinted the lineup will be altered by tomorrow. “I’m pretty sure three players will be reassigned and we're not sure which players from New York will be here, but there is gonna be some changes and some very tough decisions will be made before we play Friday.” The Wolf Pack will play Bridgeport on Friday at 1 pm at the Koeppel Community Center on the campus of Trinity College. PACK LINES: Bryan Lerg-Tim Gettinger-Lewis Zerter-Gossage Gabriel Fontaine-Matt Beleskey-Ty Ronning Ryan Gropp-Greg Chase-Jake Elmer Terrence Wallin-Alex Kile-Patrick Newell Defense: Brandon Crawley-Darren Raddysh Joey Keane-Mason Geertsen Jeff Taylor- Zach Tolkinen Tomas McCollum Wolf Pack Scratches: Forwards - Connor Brickley, Ryan Dmowski, Ville Meskanen, Shawn McBride, Dawson Leedahl, DiGiuseppe, and Nick Jones. Defenseman: Jeff LoVerde, Sean Day (injury), and Johnny Coughlin. Springfield has former Yale Bulldog Adam Larkin in camp, and former Thunderbird, Cam Brown, a University of Maine grad. Florida assigned three players to Springfield who all must clear waivers including major Pack-killer from last season, Anthony Greco, as well as Ian McCoshen and Ethan Prow. Matt Mangene signed a contract extension yesterday. The Sound Tigers had seven players assigned including, Kieffer Bellows, Scott Eastnor, and Otto Koivula. Former Thunderbird, Harry Zolniercyzk, who signed a deal with Hartford over the summer elected to retire and that’s why Bryan Lerg is in camp looking to fill one of the veteran slots. A Wolf Pack player pre-game soccer and training took place adjacent to the parking garage at the arena. It was tight quarters. Hartford GM Chris Drury, Director of Pro Scouting, Kevin Maxwell, new development scout, Tanner Glass, and former Pack goalie and Yale grad Jeff Malcolm, now a scout for the team, were all in attendance. Wolf Pack fan jerseys of the night: Dan Cloutier 39, Dan Catenacci 43, and a Filip Chytil 72. The bromance continues between former Hartford Whaler, Ron Francis, who's the new GM of the Seattle expansion team, and his first two pro scouts that he hired. To no surprise, he hired his old Whalers teammate, plus a former Rangers and Wolf Pack assistant coach, Ulf Samuelsson. Samuelsson was relieved of his duties, along with the other three Whaler amigos, Joel Quenneville, and Kevin Dineen, from the Chicago Blackhawks last November. Quenneville is the new head man of the Florida Panthers, the parent team of Springfield. Dineen, who interviewed for the Wolf Pack job, is the head coach in San Diego. The other scout was long-time NHL’er, Stu Barnes, who played 1,136 games for Winnipeg (original Jets), Pittsburgh, Florida, Buffalo, and Dallas. Read the full article

[samisalo]

Just spent 3 hours Skyping with the sister. Best.

[byallmeens]

Where da fuq is your ask box yo.

wait

wat

how are you talking me to me??? is this telepathic?? because i'm pretty sure it's at the top of my blog lol

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: PACK VANQUISH DEVILS IN OT

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - John Gilmour’s overtime breakaway goal, his second of the game, allowed the Hartford Wolf Pack to escape with a 4-3 victory over the Binghampton Devils at the XL Center Wednesday night. The Devils' Josh Jacobs lost control of the puck at the right point. Gilmour was right there to collect the loose puck and, while playing three-on-three, and with room to operate, and with his tremendous speed, nobody was going to catch Gilmour. Gilmour charged in on Cam Johnson and slipped his 20th of the season through the five-hole. He is the third Wolf Pack player this season to hit the 20-goal mark. The goal came at the 2:20 mark of overtime and gave Hartford the win and two points. “Certainly, we would like to close these games out a little earlier, so we went to overtime, but as long as we're getting the results (a win) we're a happy bunch," Gilmour said. Gilmour wasn’t going to mess with success. He went with the breakaway move he's most comfortable with and that's helped him tally his fifth game-winner,l tops on the team. “That was a bit of a gift and I had some space and went with the move I’ve been using,” Gilmour remarked with a laugh. "I had that all planned out once I touched the puck,”. For the Pack's head coach, Keith McCambridge, Gilmour is the go-to guy right now. “He has the ability to pull away from his checks when he has that much room to skate and he can finish for us. He’s playing great hockey for us right now. When trailing from behind, John is the guy you want hopping over the boards for you. He can score a goal and the trust is there for him defensively." Gilmour has 12 points in his last six games and is the leading point-getter for all AHL defenseman with 51. The Wolf Pack record improves to 27-28-6-3 (63 points) and has them in eighth place in the Atlantic Division. They trail the Springfield Thunderbirds by one point and are nine behind the fourth place Providence Bruins. Binghamton sees their record drop to 24-34-6-0 (54 points). They sit in eighth place in the North Division six points behind the Laval Rocket. The Wolf Pack used the powerplay to perfection in tying the game at three just past the midway point of the third period. While in a four-on-three situation, McCambridge wisely took their timeout. Off the ensuing face-off, the Wolf Pack were able to light the lamp in just seven seconds. “Crucial moment in the game," McCambridge said. "We had the chance to calm things down. We got the chance to do what we wanted to on that powerplay, and Vinni (Lettieri), of course, is a big piece of our powerplay. He can shot that puck. It was quite evident there.” Tim Gettinger won the draw and got the puck back to Gilmour at the right point. Gilmour, in turn, hit the ever-dangerous Lettieri with a diagonal pass. Lettieri then wired his patented shot from the left wing circle for his team-leading 22nd goal at 11:17. The Pack seems to never take the easy path as evident in parts of the third period. Goaltender Brendan Halverson had to make several key saves to prevent Binghamton from establishing a two-goal lead. He also took his high wire act early when he handled the puck and it nearly went in the back of the net. Once again, a Wolf Pack opponent scored early in the second period and gained the momentum and had traction after a well-played first period. Ex-Pack, Alex Krushelnyski, tallied his first of the season. Nick Sorkin was on the left wing side behind the net. He took a pass from Sam Kurker and reversed direction on Pack defenseman Julius Bergman. Brendon Crawley then left his spot to go play him and fell down. Sorkin sent a pass to Krushelnyski, who wasn’t picked up by Gabriel Fontaine and zipped his first AHL goal of the season low to the stick-side to tie the game at one. “We got a little too happy and comfortable there (early in the second period). You can’t take your foot off the gas pedal in this league. You saw that (early) in the second and part of third as well," McCambridge said. The Devils made it 2-1 as they used their second powerplay to take the lead. Ryan Schmelzer was deep in the right-wing corner and got Ryan Lindgren to come to him. That left Nick Saracino alone in front. Schmelzer had the time to take the pass, turn to face Halverson. His first attempt was stopped, but he got to the rebound and jammed it in for his fourth goal of the season. “We got away from what we were doing in the first, cheating and cutting corners, but over a matter of time, we got back to what we do best and came out on top,” said Steven Fogarty. The Wolf Pack used their second powerplay to tie it but did their damnedest not to. The first 1:30 of the man advantage was simply atrocious until McCambridge put out his top PP unit and competency set in. Ryan Gropp did a good job gaining the offensive zone with a strong rush down the right. He then passed to Fogarty, who made a quick snapshot/pass. With Gettinger setup in front, the puck went off his stick blade, deflected off his stick shaft and then over the shoulder of Devils' goalie, Cam Johnson. The goal was his 13th of the year and came at 13:14 with just two seconds remaining on the powerplay. “I saw him and I tried a fake pass/shot kinda thing, and fortunately he got his stick on it for a good tip,” said Fogarty. The Devils though ended the period with a goal. The Pack's defense got all tangled up allowing Egor Sharangovich to get behind Darren Raddysh who pulled him down as they crashed into Halverson. The ref immediately signaled for a penalty shot, but they reviewed the play first to see if the puck crossed the goal line before the net was dislodged and it hadn't. Sharangovich remedied it on the ensuing penalty shot. He slowed down and went to his backhand, shooting from the right wing side beating Halverson for his ninth goal of the season with just 4.7 seconds left in the period. It gave Binghamton a 3-2 lead. “That was tough to get a goal in the last minute, let along the last seconds, but we rebounded well and got the tying goal in the third,” said McCambridge. The Wolf Pack first goal was a record setter. The Wolf Pack’s top line got the offense generated. Lettieri pushed the puck up to Fogarty who was coming in off the left wing. Fogarty used Devils' defenseman Tariq Hammond as a screen and zipped a shot on Johnson. He made a left pad save, but the rebound went right to the hard-charging Gilmour who buried his 19th of the season at 12:07. The goal broke the team record for goals scored in a season by a defenseman. It's a record that stood for eleven years and was held by Andrew Hutchison who went on to win the AHL’s Eddie Shore Trophy that season. With the goal, Gilmour took over the scoring lead among AHL defenseman from Zach Redmond of the Rochester Americans. “(Scoring the record-setting goal is) very special obviously, and nice to get a pat on the back, but we have ten games left here. We still have points to get here,” Gilmour said. McCambridge started the game by changing all his defense combinations and shook up his bottom two lines from the previous game. He changed the lines again in the second period even a bit more when the team did not come up with much of a jump as they did in the first period. SCRATCHES: Dawson Leedahl (upper body, week-to-week) Rob O’Gara (lower body, week-to-week) Sean Day (lower body, day-to-day) Shawn O'Donnell (healthy) Chris Bigras (ankle, out for the season) If Day isn’t ready for the weekend another body will be added for the backline. LINES: Fogarty-Lettieri-Gropp Fontaine-Beleskey-Meskanen Butler-St. Amant-Wallin Greg Chase-Ronning-Gettinger Gilmour-Wesley Raddysh-Lindgren Bergman-Crawley NOTES: Wolf Pack recall Libor Hajak will likely not return this season after suffering a shoulder injury in New York. Thankfully, the injury is not as serious as first thought, but with the Rangers and Wolf Pack not making the post-season, they opted to not take an unnecessary risk and shut him down for the rest of the season. The penalty shot was the 38th against the Wolf Pack in their 22-year history of the franchise. It was the third that Halverson has faced. Te most by a goalie was Chad Johnson, who faced six. The last Wolf Pack successful penalty shot was taken by Dan Catenacci on April 14, 2017, against Utica. Attendance was announced at 1,775 making it the 18th worst home crowd in Wolf Pack history. In reality, there were only maybe 500 fans in the building. 26 of the 39 least attended games in team history have come under the Global/Spectra umbrella. The top day is Wednesday with 27 games, 5 on Tuesday and 2 on Thursday. Paul Carey (Salisbury Prep) and Connor Clifton (Quinnipiac University) were recalled by Boston from Providence. Congrats to now two former UCONN seniors for signing their first pro contracts. Captain Miles Gendron signed two contracts, one deal for the rest of the season with Ottawa’s Double-A affiliate, the Brampton Beast (ECHL), and a one year deal for next season to play for Belleville (AHL). He could make his pro debut for Brampton on Saturday against Ft. Wayne. Karl El-Mir signed an ATO deal with Providence (AHL). Other collegiate signees today include; Canisius College (AHA) saw three of their players sign. Ian Edmondson with the Wichita Thunder (ECHL), and Jimmy Mazza to the Reading Royals (ECHL) and Dylan McLaughlin to the Rockford Ice Hogs (AHL). Hans Gorowsky went from the University of Alabama-Huntsville to Adirondack Thunder (ECHL), while Jay Dickman of Bemidji St. State (WCHA) signs with the Florida Everblades (ECHL). The first player to go to Europe after this past season is Jacob Ratcliffe, from Division III's Westfield St. (MASAC). The first New Zealander (Canterbury, NZ) male player to play US college hockey at any level, will play with the Sydney Bears (Australia-AIHL) this summer. Goalie Grace Harrison plays varsity for St. Lawrence University (ECACHL) and is the only other Division I New Zealander in Kiwi hockey history to date. Pack jersey of the night: #5 Tommy Hughes, #46 Jordan Owens and a very unique defunct Lewiston Maineiacs QMJHL jersey. Howlings has learned former Ranger Colton Orr who resides in Southwest Connecticut is part of a consortium that has purchased the Danbury Ice Arena. No word if they will pursue a low-level minor league team, junior level or collegiate team to be the main tenant. Read the full article

[byallmeens]

  dancatenacci replied to your post: #Si prega di dare calci agli asini ragazzi così si...

It means that he should kick the boys’ asses so that they wake up.

sounds much cooler in Italian I bet.

[mitchbeck]

CANTLON: BEARS CLIP WOLF PACK 4-1

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - A strong three-goal second period allowed the Hershey Bears to seize control of the game and skate away with a 4-1 win Saturday night at the XL Center. The two-game battle between these two division rivals left the Bears in a much stronger position now seven points ahead of the third-place Wolf Pack. Providence with a win over Springfield 4-2 are now five ahead of them and Charlotte got a point in a 3-2 overtime loss to Utica narrowing the lead between them to four points. “We played according to plan in the first we played really well. (We) almost had a goal on the powerplay, and had some other good opportunities. J-F came up with some huge saves in the first, its what we expected. Then in the second period, we let that first goal affect us and took a lot of momentum away from us,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. The Pack concludes the weekend play in Springfield tomorrow afternoon at 3 PM. The Bears scored the game’s first goal in the first minute of the second period took control of the game. Brian Pinho at the right point let one go Berube made the save, but he could not control the rebound and cover it the Bears Matt Moulson with his long stick got one crack at it and the second sent the puck into the net for his 21st goal of the regular season at 52 seconds. “Last night we played well and we started out pretty well, but once they got the first one we just kinda combusted. We just kinda gave up,” said an annoyed captain Steven Fogarty “just playing hard and doing the right things and the only we can control is our attitude and effort and they just weren’t there we could see it and feel it on the bench.” The Bears in short order took a 2-0 lead scoring 11 seconds into a powerplay just their second of the game. Daniel Sprong at the right point took a Bobby Nardella pass and quickly fired a good hard low shot that Philippe Maillet free from his check and the Quebec native with a perfect tip scored on his mon-ami monsieur Berube depositing his 16th of the season far side. “We gave up just one goal and changed our entire game the way we played our structure the things that have helped us gain success so far this year. It’s a mindset thing you can’t change things the effort wasn’t there. We had a little push there in the third, but obviously not enough.” The Wolf Pack playing way too passive in a five on five situation, playing like a PK. Matt Beleskey sought to change the direction got into a scrap unfortunately it was Hershey who kept the momentum. “That’s the type of guy Beleskey is he saw what was going on the bench tried to get us going and it worked, but we went ahead and combusted like that (again),” said Fogarty. Once again Bobby Nardella got the scoring sequence started receiving the pass from Eric Burgdorfer a the right point getting the puck to Brian Pinho as he came off the right-wing half wall. Then just before he was going to get nailed by Mason Geersten he snapped a 35 footer top shelf over Berube’s left shoulder to make it 3-0 silencing a hearty crowd of 4,814. “They're a good team there gonna get their chances, but we allowed too many,” said Knoblauch. His captain put it more straight forward. “They going to have their puck possession and get their chances, We have to play down in their end, and we did not do enough of that.” That was all for Berube facing 18 shots and in came Adam Huska. “I did that because we needed to try to change things at that point,” said Knoblauch. The current offense output is not enough to get back into first place. “One goal in five (periods) just isn’t enough in this league there a good team, but so are we. Were not just not getting enough second chances, not getting guys to the net. We weren’t generating enough off the rush and we have proven all year long we can score goals. We gotta get back to playing the right way defensively and we can get guys going to the net better.” All too often Hershey had the puck the Wolf Pack didn’t. The Bears were able to secure the puck and make rushes up ice and gain easy entry into the Pack end of the ice. As one fan acidly texted me during the game “why don’t (they) let them stroll into the offensive zone !! Well put and wells aid. The Bears continued the quality chances as Bobby Nardella, Mike Sgarbossa and Shane Gemish had point-blank shots. In the third period, that Wolf Pack broke Vitek Vanecek's bid for a second straight shutout at 12:03. After botching a three on one break, Nick Jones with his shot missing the net, the puck remained in the Hershey zone. Patrick Newell got the puck from Greg Chase and in the right-wing faceoff circle sent a smooth backhand pass to Jones who one-timed his ninth past the Bears netminder at 12:03. It was Chase’s first ever Wolf Pack point. Hershey’s Tyler Lewington’s empty netter with a second to go closed out scoring for the night. The first period was much like last night’s tight-checking and opportunities that came via turnovers. Hershey got an early break at 1:22 off a turnover and Daniel Sprong who has played very well since being acquired from San Diego last week was stoned by Berube. The loss of Tim Gettinger and Boo Nieves forced some interesting line combos as Ryan Dmowski was with Steven Fogarty and Vinni Lettieri to start the game. Dmowski had the first shot and the first hit of the game. Beck Malenstyn had another chance for Hershey and Sean McBride on the left-wing answered back with one at 7:04. At 12:58 another gift turnover went to Hershey’s Shane Gersich and he went in all alone, but Berube made a gorgeous butterfly glove save to keep the game scoreless. The Wolf Pack powerplay continues its struggles doing well on the first half of the first chance, but didn’t sustain the same puck movement in the second half of it. As part of the Wolf Pack’s Military Appreciation weekend, the Wolf Pack wore their camouflage-style jerseys for the game. In the first intermission, a new class for the Army, Marines and Coast Guard took oaths to begin their training. Congrats to all! LINES: Fogarty-Lettieri-Dmowski O’Regan-Newell-Kravtsov Beleskey-Jones-Gropp McBride-Ronning-Chase LoVerde-Hajek Ebert-Geersten Raddysh-Crawley SCRATCHES: Tim Gettinger - Upper-Body - Day-To-Day Boo Nieves - Upper-Body - Day-To-Day Yegor Rykov - Healthy Gabriel Fontaine - Shoulder Surgery - Season-Ending NOTES: Nieves was a last-minute scratch forcing Knoblauch to do some serious line juggling and when Beleskey was tossed early in the third for his second fight of the game they were down a forward for the rest of the third period. Gettinger looks doubtful for tomorrow and might not be available till next weekend. UCONN hockey will travel to Orono, Maine to play the Hockey East quarterfinals next weekend as the fifth seed to play the number four Black Bears. Providence’s Dan Vladar finally surpassed Igor Shesterkin in best GAA at 1.83 and Igor still has second-best save percentage at .934 The Wolf Pack record since his recall January 7th is 10-10-5 (W-L-OTL). Among the best plus-minus in the AHL two ex-Pack players ay the fourth and fifth spots Hubert Labrie (Belleville) plus 25 and Cole Schneider (Milwaukee) plus 23. Wolf Pack fan Jersey of the night: #27 Ryan Graves (Colorado), #5 CT Whale Blake Parlett (EHC Munich Germany-DEL), #42 Jeff State, #43 Dan Catenacci (HC Bolzano Italy-EBEL), and #6 Joel Bouchard (Head coach AHL Laval Rocket). NEPSAC prep school playoffs all finals will be Sunday at Trinity College at the Koppel Community Center. In a big upset, Salisbury Prep knocked off Avon Old Farms 4-3 in overtime at Jennings-Fairchild Rink. They will play Dexter School who knocked off Berkshire Scholl 3-0 at 5 PM. In the Large Division, Loomis Chaffe (Windsor) knocked Brunswick School (Greenwich) 5-2 and will play Cushing Academy 4-2 winners over St. Sebastian’s 4-2 at 2:30 PM for the title. In the Small School division Pomfret shutout Groton 4-0 and will play Gunnery (Washington) 5-2 winners over The Rivers School at 12:30 PM Read the full article

[samisalo]

Christina, Christina, Adrienne, I hate you all.