#EamonMacAdam

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CANTLON: WOLF PACK BACK IN ACTION AGAINST BRIDGEPORT

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT- The Christmas break has come and gone and that means that AHL action will resume on Friday night for the Hartford Wolf Pack as they travel in state to Bridgeport to take on the Sound Tigers. The Wolf Pack record sits at 17-7-2-5 (41 points) good for first place in the Atlantic Division. They are .40 percentage points ahead of the Providence Bruins as the midway point of the season approaches in just over ten days. The Baby-Bruins mix it up with the Pack on Saturday night at the XL Center. Hartford made two post-roster freeze movements yesterday. They recalled Shawn McBride for the second time from the Norfolk Admirals (ECHL) to replace Phil Di Giuseppe, who is on recall with the New York Rangers. The second move was to move goalie, Thomas McCollum, who signed an off-season, AHL free-agent deal with Hartford, from their ECHL affiliates, the Maine Mariners, where he's been since the start of the year, and loaned him to the Florida Everblades (ECHL). He replaces ex-Pack goalie, Chris Nell, who was traded to his fourth ECHL team of the year, the Atlanta Gladiators. Lias Andersson remains suspended by the team since leaving last Friday following a trade request. Given the rest that comes with the Christmas break, expect Igor Shesterkin to start in net in Bridgeport. Shesterkin put in a superb effort in recording his third shutout of the season against Providence in his last start just before the break. Adam Huska would then start Saturday night at the XL Center. The final home game of 2019 will be on New Year’s Eve at 5 PM against Bridgeport. NOTES: Former Sound Tiger goalie, Kevin Poulin, has signed an AHL PTO deal with Grand Rapids Griffins. Ex-Pack goalie, and currently with the Norfolk Admirals (ECHL), Brandon Halverson, received his second AHL recall this season. This recall is with the Tucson Roadrunners. Ex-Pack, Steven Kampfer, was recalled from Providence by Boston. Ex-Sound Tiger, Kevin Cuczman, was recalled from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins by the parent Pittsburgh Penguins. Ex-Sound Tiger goalie, Eamon MacAdam was returned to the Adirondack Thunder (ECHL) by the Binghamton Devils. Forward Max Jones, the son of ex-New Haven Nighthawk and Senator, Brad Jones, was sent to the San Diego Gulls by the Anaheim Ducks. Goalie, Callum Booth, (Salisbury Prep) was sent from the Charlotte Checkers (AHL) to the Atlanta Gladiators (ECHL). Ex-CT Whale, and Ranger, Wojtek Wolski, leaves Kunlun (China-KHL) for the second time. He signs deal for at least the Spengler Cup with HC Ambri-Piotta (Switzerland-LNA). WJC TOURNAMENT The WJC tournament is underway and the first day got off to a wild and exciting start. The host nation, the Czech Republic, knocked off the Russian team 4-3. The Czechs are very passionate about their hockey and even more passionate about beating the Russians. The US and their traditional rival, Canada, kicked off the tournament with a wild game. Canada came away with a 6-4 win in a game that featured six lead changes. Alexis Lafreniere, the likely #1 overall pick in next summer’s draft in Montreal, was among the two Canadians stars with two goals. He had the game-winner and two gorgeous assists. The game-winner came just six seconds after the US overcame a two-goal deficit to tie the game at four. Lafreniere intercepted an ill-timed backhanded-pass in his own zone by US defenseman K’Andre Miller, a Rangers first round pick (22nd overall) from 2018. The right-handed shooting Lafreniere, picked the pass out of mid-air, moved in and then slipped a backhander just past the outstretched right leg of US goalie, Spencer Knight (Darien/Boston College-HE). The US took a 2-0 first period lead both power play goals. On the second, which came off the stick of Victor Kaliev, was started by a former Avon Old Farms player, Trevor Zegras. Captain Barrett Hayton of Canada, and the son of former New Haven Nighthawk, Brian Hayton, scored the first goal off a perfect redirect of a Lafreniere slap-shot. They made it a 3-2 lead on Hayton’s second goal after Lafreniere quickly cut to the middle of the ice and passed right to the stick of Hayton who wired it past Knight. The US' Shane Pinto (US Selects Academy at South Kent Prep/North Dakota-NCHC/Ottawa) scored twice including the power-play tally that evened the game at four. He had another called back at the end of the second because time had expired. Pinto, is part of several Connecticut connections on the US WJC team. The list starts with just the newly-anointed team captain, Mattias Samuelsson (Western Michigan - NCHC/Buffalo), who's the son of former New Haven Nighthawk, and Ranger, Kjell Samuelsson. Jack Drury (Harvard - ECACHL/Carolina), is the eldest son of former Whaler, Ted Drury and is also the nephew of current Wolf Pack GM Chris Drury. Both are the pride of Trumbull, CT and the Fairfield Prep hockey program. The US team will be playing in Group B in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Team Sweden has two Ranger prospects in defenseman Nils Lundkvist, and centerman, Karl Henriksson. They escaped their Scandinavian rival, Finland, in yesterday's 3-2 overtime win. Lundkvist played 23:18 and recorded a lone shot on goal. Some other familiar names are at the tournament include former Whaler, Robert Petrovicky, the head coach of Team Slovakia, ex-Ranger and New Haven Nighthawk, Raimo Helminen, is the head coach of Team Finland. Nick Malik is one of the three Czech Republic goalies. He is the son of ex-Whaler, Ranger, and Beast of New Haven defenseman, Marek Malik. UCONN BACK IN ACTION The Huskies (7-6-3 overall) were riding a wave of having played their best hockey at the Christmas and exam break after sweeping Vermont at the XL Center, lace them up in New Hampshire at the 31st annual Ledyard Classic in the non-conference tourney in Hanover, NH. The first game is against struggling St. Lawrence University (3-12-2) at Thompson Arena at Dartmouth College. The game will air live on NESN at 4 PM. On Sunday, UConn will play host Dartmouth College Big Green (4-4-2 overall) at 4 PM (ESPN Plus). The Huskies played St. Lawrence in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena, which is the home of the NHL's Las Vegas Golden Knights, in a 6-3 win. Kale Howarth paced the effort with a goal and an assist. The Huskies last played Dartmouth on November 2, 2010 at the Thompson Arena and came away with a 1-0 win. The lone goal was scored by then freshmen, Jordan Sims, the son of former Hartford Whaler, and New Haven Nighthawk, Al Sims. The younger Sims skates presently with the Wichita Wind (ECHL). The Huskies are on a roll, winning four straight. They are on a 5-1-2 over their last eight games. Jonny Evans returned from a broken finger and jump started the Huskies offense with a hat trick against Vermont, their last game, a 7-4 win. It was the first UConn hat trick since Alexander Payusov registered one against AIC in October of 2017. Jachym Kondelik, the sophomore from the Czech Republic, has a five-game scoring streak (2-5-7). He's the leading scorer for the Huskies with 13 points. Ben Freeman has a team-best six-game point streak going (3-5-8) and is right behind Kondelik with 12 points. Kondelik’s fellow Czech, and Nashville Predator draft pick, and his roommate, goalie Tomas Vomacka, has started every game this season. UConn entered the break above. 500 for the first time since their inception into Hockey East. It's UCONN's best  break since Mike Cavanuagh’s first year at the helm in their AHA years in 2013-14 then at 6-5-2. The Huskies start Hockey East action again in the New Year on January 3rd. They will host Northeastern at the XL Center at 7 PM followed by Merrimack on January 7th in Hartford. The Huskies are not in the Top 20 in individual scoring in Hockey East stats, but defenseman Wyatt Newpower is in a four-way tie for third for the most blocked shots (17) and Adam Karashik (Ridgefield) is right behind him in a five-way tie with 16. Ruslan Iskhakov is tops in conference face-off percentage at a 71.4% clip. Read the full article

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CANTLON'S CORNER: PACK PREPARE FOR ANOTHER PAIR OF GAMES

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Another pair of weekend home games await the Hartford Wolf Pack. One is a divisional opponent who has owned them the past three years, the Springfield Thunderbirds. The others are non-divisional opponents who they've struggled with, the Rochester Americans, who they will play on Sunday afternoon. For Pack Head Coach, Kris Knoblauch, he's worried more about where his club is at this point in terms of their development than his opponent to some degree to this point in the season. While he was happy last weekend, he wasn’t satisfied with their team game last week. “You like the four points, but we easily could have lost both those games. The Charlotte game we left too many open areas, too many great chances and thankfully Shesty (goalie Igor Shestyorkin) played so well. We have a long way to go. Right now, I’m focused on our team and getting guys into our systems. We're adjusting to our team at this point and working on our identity.” The addition of Nick Ebert, who came to Hartford in the Vladimir Namestnikov deal, was a surprise in that the New York Rangers added yet another defenseman to an already deep organizational chart. Ebert has had only moderate success as a pro and spent some time in Europe. He a known quantity to Knoblauch. “We have tough decisions to make, and we liked how our defense played for the most part over the weekend. We're always looking to improve our team. He brings experience, is a good skater, moves the puck well and has a good shot. I’ll be honest, I’m surprised he hasn’t scored as much at the American (Hockey) League level. I coached against him in juniors. He was a very strong offensive player. It seems last year he has gotten his offensive game back,” said Knoblauch. Ebert played with Orebro HK (Sweden-SHL). His addition to the roster forced the team to move Brandon Crawley to their ECHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners. “We want Brandon to get playing time, and right now we are filled up on defense, and he’ll be a part of our recalls.” Knoblauch is getting an early tutorial on fluidity of AHL rosters. “I’m really learning it now about how much things can change. We want to win every night, but we are a development league. You have to learn to balance those things appropriately.” Ebert wasn’t the only new defenseman that Knoblauch had out on the ice. Yegor Rykov (pronounced Ree-kov) has been sent down and skated for the first time on Thursday since suffering an ankle injury in the Traverse City tournament. He isn’t likely to see game action for likely two more weeks, which will likely necessitate another reassignment to Maine. “He has started first with drills. He's getting back on the ice, and today was his first full (team) practice. It’s gonna be a few more weeks before he is game ready. I saw him in Traverse City (before the injury), and we were very pleased with what we saw. Now it's about getting that timing back.” The lineup will likely see a new, familiar face in Ryan Gropp. He was scratched last weekend and Knoblauch is eager to have him in the lineup. “We really liked him in the pre-season. He showed a very good shot and I really want to get him in the mix. I haven’t worked out my (lineup) details yet, but we'll be seeing him.” Vitali Kravtsov will be in the lineup, and the coach thinks the student understands things better. ‘We showed him some video. He’s aware he didn’t play well. We had a very hard team practice Tuesday and he was very competitive." Saturday’s game is a part of hockey doubleheader with UCONN and RPI starting at 3:30 pm and a 7:30 pm faceoff time with the Springfield Thunderbirds. NOTES: The Thunderbirds will be minus forward Paul Thompson, who was handed a two-game suspension for a blindside hit on Bridgeport’s Thomas Hickey last Friday in the regular-season opener. Sunday’s opponent, the Rochester Americans, will have a very familiar face in their lineup. Tage Thompson (Orange/UCONN), who scored two goals last weekend including an OT game-winner. Ex-Pack, Matt Register, starts the season with the Iowa Wild. The ECHL season starts this weekend with some players of note with ties to Connecticut. Adirondack: Eamon MacAdam (BST), Charles Curti (Yale), Craig Martin (QU) and Hayden Verbeek (the nephew of ex-Hartford Whaler, Pat Verbeek) Allen: Shawn O’Donnell, and Justin Salvaggio (HWP), Brampton: Miles Gendron (UCONN), Cincinnati: Justin Vaive (HWP/BST), Ft. Wayne: Shawn St. Amant (HWP), Florida: Logan Roe (Kent Prep), Greenville: Chris Nell (HWP), and Callum Booth (Salisbury Prep), plus Mike Pelech (HWP), Indy: Alex Krushelnyski (HWP), Charles Williams (HWP), and Karl El-Mir (UCONN), Kansas City: Derek Pratt (UCONN), Idaho: Spencer Naas (UCONN), and Kyle Schempp (BST). Jacksonville: Mitch Jones (the son of ex-New Haven Nighthawk, Brad Jones), and John Albert (HWP). Kalamazoo: Mitch Eliot (the son of Nighthawk, Daren Eliot), Norfolk: Brandon Halverson (HWP), Ben and Josh Holmstrom (BST), Orlando: Jake Marchment (the son of Whaler, Bryan Marchment), Rapid City: Chris Izmirlian (Yale), Reading: Frankie DiChara (Yale), David Drake (UCONN), Matt Gaudreau (BST), and Trevor Yates (the son of ex-Whaler, Ross Yates). South Carolina: Dan DeSalvo (HWP), Tommy Hughes (HWP), Parker Milner (BST/Avon Old Farms), Scott Davidson (QU), Toledo: Ryan Verbeek (the nephew of ex-Whaler, Pat Verbeek), Brendan Kotyk (HWP), T.J. Hensick (HWP), and Josh Winquist (BST), Tulsa: Josh Wesley (HWP), and Mike McKee (Kent Prep), Utah: Cole Cassels (the son of ex-Whaler, Andrew Cassels), Wichita: Jason Sims (UCONN, and the son of former Whaler/Nighthawk, Al Sims), Worcester: Jordan Samuels-Thomas (West Hartford/QU), Connor Doherty (SHU), Nic Pierog (Canterbury Prep), and Henrik Samuelsson (the son of ex-Whaler, Ulf Samuelsson). Former Wolf Pack, Dean Melanson, was the last cut by the Reading Royals. Ex-Pack, Adam Tambellini, was the last cut from the Bakersfield Condors training camp signs with MODO (Sweden-SHL) for the season. He is the second Tambellini to play there. Ex-Sound Tiger, his brother Jeff, played there and is presently a head coach/GM of the Junior A Trail Smoke Eaters (BCHL). Landon Ferraro, the son of former Whaler, Ray Ferraro, who was with Iowa last year signs with Eisbaren Berlin (Germany-DEL). The two are the 71st and 72nd AHL’ers from last season to sign in Europe. Brandon Whistle, the nephew of former New Haven Nighthawk, Rob Whistle, goes from Sheffield (England-EIHL) and signs with Telford (England-NIHL). Mark Arcobello (Milford/Fairfield Prep/Salisbury Prep/Yale University) is playing with SC Bern (SwItzerland-LNA) with 10 points in 10 games. He signs a deal to play for HC Lugano (Switzerland-LNA) next season 2020-21. Philippe Hudon (Choate Prep) goes from Allen (ECHL) to Norfolk (ECHL). Congrats to former New Haven Nighthawks player and head coach, Robbie Ftorek, who was among the four new inductees to the AHL Hall of Fame on Thursday. Joining him are Darren Haydar, Denis Hamel, and Fred Thurler. The ceremony will take place in Ontario, CA site of the AHL All Star Classic the first to be held at a Pacific Division city. Ftorek ended his NHL career with the Rangers. He started out as a child prodigy in the Bobby Orr era at Needham High (MA). Played two years for the Red Wings affiliate Tidewater Wings before he left for the WHA and the Phoenix Roadrunners and Cincinnati Stingers (one of the best logos ever). He was the first and only American captain in the history of the Quebec Nordiques WHA or NHL. Ftorek played with New Haven accumulating 16 points in 17 games in New Haven in 1984-85. His last active game as a player was in New Haven the following season. Ftorek, who was a Guilford resident when he was in New Haven and was the head coach there for two-and-a-half seasons before getting the call to Los Angeles, but stayed there just a year-and-a-half. He had other AHL coaching stints in Halifax with the Citadels and the Utica Devils before he had a strong three-year stint with the highly successful Albany River Rats, before having a four-year coaching tenure in New Jersey. Ftorek returned to his roots spending two years with the Boston Bruins before heading back for a second stint in Albany where he had another strong three year period of winning and development. Ftorek also went the junior route spending six years as the head coach with the Erie (Otters (OHL) before a year as an assistant with Abbotsford. He concluded his coaching career with Norfolk (ECHL). UCONN hockey has its first two home games this weekend Friday night at 7 pm against the Army Black Knights (AHA). Saturday, in another non-conference matchup, with the RPI Engineers (ECACHL) at 3:30 pm. The school’s 2000 MAAC championship team will be honored throughout the day. The championship trophy will be on display on the concourse The Huskies earned a 3-3 tie with Sacred Heart University in their opener in Bridgeport, last week who they have yet to beat since going Division I. The Huskies Jachym Kondelik scored. Fellow Nashville Predator draftee, Tomas Vomacka, was sensational in net making 45 saves despite the hat trick by the Pioneers, Matt Tugnutt, icing his game-tying goal with three seconds left in regulation forcing overtime. Earlier in the week, SNY announced the time and dates for the first-ever Connecticut Ice Festival tournament in Bridgeport at the Webster Bank Arena in late January. The Huskies will kick-off the collegiate tournament against the Quinnipiac University Bobcats at 4 pm on Saturday, January 25th followed by Sacred Heart University playing the Yale University Bulldogs. All four games including the consolation and championship final will air live in the SNY. Read the full article