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CANTLON: HARTFORD WOLF PACK OFF SEASON VOL 8

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT -  The Hartford Wolf Pack and New York Rangers are working hard developing their roster for the 2022-2023 season but joined other teams in congratulating the Colorado Avalanche for gaining the 2021-2022 Lord Stanley Cup. A few local notables got to grip the Cup. They include ex-Bridgeport Sound Tiger Devon Toews, who played at Quinnipiac University. He becomes the first Bobcaever to hold hockey’s golden chalice. He is the third Sound Tiger after Eric Godard (2009 Pittsburgh), who was the first to do it. Carter Verhaeghe (2020 Tampa Bay)s, now with the Florida Panthers, was the second. Ken MacDermid, the son of ex-Hartford Whaler Paul MacDermid, and Bowen Byram, the son of former Springfield Indin, Shawn Byram, also have their name on the Cup. Also as part of the winners is Colorado head coach Jared Bednar. He is a former Springfield Falcons coach. His assistant, Nolan Pratt, is an ex-Beast of New Haven, Hartford Whaler, and Springfield Falcon player and coach. AHL CALDER CUP For the third time in the Chicago Wolves' history, the team captured the AHL title and their fifth minor league title in 25 years (two IHL Turner Cups in 1998 & 2000). The team went 14-4 in the postseason to win the championship in five games over the Springfield Thunderbirds. The Wolves outscored the Thunderbirds 18-4 after losing game one as they plowed through with four straight wins in six days. The championship game was a 4-0 shutout and the first twin shutouts in the finals in 22 years. In the team's championship picture, the AHL suspended Ex-Yale Bulldog Alex Lyon for two games for a two-hand flipping-off of the Springfield crowd, who razzed him all game long. The 29-year-old goalie is a likely Euro candidate. But, should he be signed with another club next year at the beginning of next season, he'll sit out two games after making a Frankie Lessard impression with a two-finger salute done in a late-season game (April 15, 2007) in Portland, Maine, BEFORE the second period started in a scrap with another ex-Pack Trevor Gillies, with then captain Craig Weller at his side. Hartford head coach and GM, the retired Jim Schoenfeld, eventually broke up the battle by wading through a maze of players before a full-scale brawl erupted. MORE ON THE CALDER CUP With 15 goals and 29 points, Josh Leivo won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy playoff MVP with the third highest playoff point total in AHL history. Bill McDougall's unbeatable 52-point performance in 1993 with the Cape Breton Oilers will be forever #1, and Hubie McDonough’s 31 in 1989 with the New Haven Nighthawks, the record McDougall shattered. Jack Drury, son of ex-Hartford Whaler Ted Drury and the nephew of the Rangers President/GM Chris Drury, acquitted himself very well with a 24-point effort (nine goals) in 18 games. The third best on the Wolves team and in the league will get a long look at training camp. Ex-Pack Joey Keane had a good run and deserved a shot up top. Richard Pánik, the ex-Bridgeport Islander, acquired at the trade deadline, got his second Calder Cup (Norfolk 2012) and will likely get another North American offer next year. The Wolves became the third Carolina-affiliated team to capture a Calder Cup. They did it in Charlotte in 2019, as the Whalers affiliate in Springfield, and again in Springfield in 1991, so ironic they won it in Springfield at the Mass Mutual Center, then known as the Springfield Civic Center. This win marked the first Calder Cup awarded in three years because of the pandemic. Former Sacred Heart University player Ryan Warsofsky became the youngest coach to win a Calder Cup. He surpasses Peter Laviolette. It was his second Championship behind the bench. His first came as an assistant in Charlotte. A DEEP TEAM Two players acquired at the trade deadline are both ex-Pack players, Chris Bigras from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Wolf Pack’s Tarmo Reunanen (exchanged for UCONN alum Max Letunov). Unfortunately, he didn’t play one game in the postseason. Reunanen wasted little time after the season ended skedaddling back to Finland to play for Lukko Rauma next year. He played on the third defensive pair in Hartford. Now Bigras will likely be among the next batch to go to Europe. PLAYER MOVES Despite being Florida property, last season, Springfield’s captain, Simsbury resident Tommy Cross (Westminster Prep), was signed by St. Louis the day after the season ended. Despite being just 25 miles from Hartford has never been signed by the Wolf Pack or offered a contract. All his past and present teammates have raved about his leadership skills. He’s been out of the New England area just three times in his playing career as a youth with the Ohio Jr. Blue Jackets (USHL); in his first pro year, he played half a season with South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) and one season with the Cleveland Monsters (Columbus) as an AHL free agent. He has been a New England regional fixture playing at BC in college and Providence in his early AHL years. MEMORIAL CUP The Saint John (NB) Sea Dogs, the Memorial Cup host team, and a long shot at upending the Hamilton Bulldogs, did so in a 5-3 win. Future Bridgeport Islander William Dufour won the Memorial Cup Stafford Smythe MVP with a goal and an assist in the championship win. 39 days after firing head coach former Pack, Ranger, and Springfield Falcon Gordie Dwyer and his entire staff, including his assistant ex-New Haven Nighthawk Paul Boutilier, after a first-round QMJHL President Cup playoff first-round loss exit to Rimouski, they’re crowned champions. They won with an interim head coach in UNB’s Gardiner MacDougall. He had won the Canadian University championship a few months ago, and he acidly replied after the win, while being interviewed by TSN, "I’m glad I picked up the phone.” The Sea Dogs advanced with an improbable semifinal win against the QMJHL Shawinigan Cataractes. They built a first-period 3-0 lead. Dufour then showed why he was the QMJHL scoring champ firing off a natural hat trick and four total in the first ten minutes of the second period to secure a 5-3 come-from-behind win. Dufour already has signed his three-year entry-level contract (ELC) and will likely start next year in BridgeportHowever, heHe is still WJC eligible and was a finalist for the CHL David Branch Player of the Year Award. Hamilton upended Shawinigan 4-3 in overtime in the semifinal’s victory. He snatched what seemed to be a narrow win by Shawinigan, who scored late before Jan Mysak (Montreal) ended their dreams. Saint John, the host city, was the home crowd favorite. They became the first QMJHL team since Saint John in 2011 to win the championship in thy last hockey game in North America this season. AND MORE Ex-UCONN defenseman Yan Kuznetsov (Calgary), who missed a wide-open net late in the second, a year removed from Storrs, and undrafted captain Vincent Sévigny, the son of ex-Pack Pierre Sévigny, played his very last junior game both got to hoist the Cup and he scored in the first two minutes of the game. At the QMJHL annual holiday mid-season trading deadline, Victoriaville acquired Sévigny. One other CT connection was winger Cameron MacDonald, a Nova Scotia native from the Selects Academy at South Kent Prep U-15 team, and one game with the CT Jr. Rangers (NCDC) scored in the contest. There were several finalists for Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Awards. Incoming Wolf Pack Dylan Garand (Kamloops-WHL) for Goalie of Year won the award. Coach of the Year honors went to former Springfield King Brian Kilrea Award, a legendary OHL coach, one of the finalists was former Ranger/Whaler James Patrick of the WHL Winnipeg Ice. CHL IMPORT DRAFT Before CHL Draft occurred before the NHL made their selections, only 27 players were chosen out of the 120 slots. One move made before the draft was the rights of Brad Lambert, nephew of former Nighthawks player and Sound Tiger head coach and now the Islanders head coach Lane Lambert was traded by the Saskatoon Blades, who took him in the 2020 Import DraftThen, they were traded to the Seattle (WA) Thunderbirds. He is eligible for next week’s 2022 NHL Draft and is likely to be taken in the top ten picks. Next year is his last junior-eligible season for the Finnish forward. His cousin Jimmy is signed to start next year in Bridgeport. PLAYER AND COACHING MOVEMENT The Florida Panthers signed former Whaler head coach Paul Maurice. The Pack’s Anthony Greco signed with Frölunda HC (Sweden-SHL) for next year. Bridgeport Islander Aatu Räty finished the year in Park City with a solid eight-game audition (two regular season and six playoff games). This follows a stellar Finnish season between Kärpät Oulu and Jukerit. He is one of four Islander Finnish prospects invited to the Finnish camp to try to be on the WJC team for the redux event scheduled for August 9-20. The four include Räty, Eetu Liukas, Matias Rajaniemi and a long shot is Aleksei Malinen. The Rangers have forward Kalle Väisänen from TPS Turku. The US will open up against Germany on August 9th. Latvia was added to the tournament to replace a banned Russian team because of the invasion of Ukraine. All players eligible for WJC in December can play even if they have turned 21 in the eight months preceding the tournament. All games will be played at Rogers Place in Edmonton, and the WJC 2023 tourney will be played in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Moncton, New Brunswick, next year. All WJC Games will be on the NHL Network. MORE MOVES Ex-Pack Darren Raddysh signs a two-year, two-way contract extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning paying $750K-$775K-NHL/$250K-AHL. Current teammate and another ex-Pack, Sean Day, gets a one-year extension in Syracuse and a nice raise to a two-way deal for $750K-NHL/$200K-AHL. Mathieu Olivier, the son of former New Haven Knights Simon Olivier, was traded from the Nashville Predators to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fourth-round draft pick. Former Avon Old Farms Winged Beaver, Nick Hutchison, who wandered the hockey map last year with Adirondack (ECHL) and after a brief stay with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and half of a year with the Manitoba Moose and former UCONN Husky and fellow Adirondack Thunder (ECHL) himself, Jarrod Gourley both sign one-year AHL deals with Utica. Ex-Pack Patrick Newell departs Sterjen (Norway-NEL) for Fehérvár AV19 (Hungary-IceHL) next season. Ex-Pack Shawn “Odie” O’Donnell heads from Dornbirner EC (Austria-IceHL) to EHC Freiburg (Germany DEL-2). Ex-Pack Danny Kristo heads from Västerviks IK (Sweden Allsvenskan to HK Dukla Michalovce (Slovakia-SLEL). He started last year at HC Kladno (Czech Republic-CEL) (Czechia), the Jaromir Jagr owned team he still plays for. Another ex-Pack, Simon Denis, comes back to North America from the Tokohu Free Blades (Japan-ALIH) and signs with Toledo (ECHL). EVEN MORE MOVES Patrick Harper (New Canaan/Avon Old Farms) heads from HPK Hameelina (Finland-FEL) to Mora IK (Sweden-SHL). He started last year in Milwaukee. Phillip Samuelsson, the eldest son of former Whaler/Ranger and assistant coach at Avon Old Farms and the Wolf Pack, leaves Oskarshamn IK (Sweden-SHL) and skates over to Fischtown (Germany-DEL). Ex-Pack/Sound Tiger Joe Whitney, who had the shortest reign as a Pack team captain (two days faster than Cole Schneider) for half a season, hangs them up after a four-year career in Europe with the Iserlohn Roosters (Germany-DEL) after starting in Finland. Ex-Sound Tiger Matt Donovan leaves for Europe again after departing Milwaukee for Adler Mannheim (Germany-DEL) next year. Ex-Sound Tiger Josh Winquist, who split last year between Reading (ECHL) and Allen (ECHL), departs from the Allen (TX) Americans for HC Dukla Michalovce (Slovakia-SLEL). Reunanen joins 33 AHL’ers that have signed in Europe and the first American or AHL’er to sign in Russia defenseman Randy Murphy from Grand Rapids. STILL MORE D3 college commits Kevin MacKay from Aberdeen (NAHL) commits to Trinity College (NESCAC) of Hartford, and Bailey Irwin of Stouffville and Burlington (OJHL) heads to Albertus Magnus (NCAA I independent) in New Haven. One of the state's most prestigious public high school programs has a new coach. Hamden hired just their sixth bench boss in school history in just retired former West  Haven special education school teacher Bill Reynolds. Reynolds, 70, is a former two-time champion at the school in his youth, and his brothers both played there. He coached at the Division II level at Cheshire and Guilford. He has ALWAYS wanted to coach Hamden and is fulfilling à lifelong goal and dream. He wanted the job when Bill Veneris got the job over thirty years ago. He replaces ex-Pack Todd Hall, who stepped down after twenty years back in April. A usually plumb job in high school circles both in Hamden and West Haven, but both schools are experiencing dwindling player numbers, and both could shockingly become co-op programs in a few years. HARTFORD WOLF PACK HOME Read the full article

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