NO REST FOR THE WEARY

VS

It's the second of two consecutive Sunday trips to Maine for the Wolf Pack (10-6-0-1) today when, fresh off a win last night in Lowell, the Pack take on the Portland Pirates. Both teams will be finishing a rough stretch of 4 games in 5 nights. The Pack will look to avenge last weekend's 2-1 loss as they take to the Portland Ice at the Cumberland County Civic Center. They'll face a Pirate team (9-5-1-1) who've won 2 in a row including last night's 5-3 win in Worcester and who trail the second place Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division by a single point but have a game in hand. The first place Providence Bruins, (11-1-1-0) lead the Pack by 2 points but have 4, that 's right 4 games in hand due to the scheduling and huge renovation at the Dunkin Donuts Center.

The Wolf Pack will be dealing with a number of injury concerns as both Dane Byers and Francis Lessard were injured in their 3rd consecutive win of this 4 in 5 stretch. Ken Gernander will put a team that has a lot of injuries right now. Dave Liffiton has been struggling to recover from a concussion. Alex Bourret is also dealing with post concussion issues and Tommy Pyatt is nursing a high ankle sprain. Mitch Fritz is still a long way off from coming back from shoulder surgery and there is still a concern about goalie, Al Montoya's back injury from the kick he took from Toronto's David Ling looking over him. Byers may have also sustained a concussion but that will be determined later today. The good news there is that last night Byers told the Hartford Courant's Bruce Berlet after the game that he was feeling, "better" but would wait to see what the Doctors told him after his examination. Lessard will be out for a while as he sustained a sprained knee. If Ryan Callahan's injury in NY is a measuring stick we may not see the tough French Canadian for about a month. With his two goals the other night, Lessard now has a matching career high 4 goals on the season.The interesting question becomes who steps up to protect the players if Byers, Lessard and Fritz are out of action for any kind of extended period of time. The only other "fighter" the Pack have right now is Jake Taylor and given his facial injuries the past couple of seasons it would be unwise of him to go down that route. If Byers has to be out, I would expect that a call to Charlotte will go out for either
Blake Bellefeuille, a 30 year old Center (5'10" / 210 pounds) with 3 goals and 8 assists over 10 games or maybe

24 year old, 6'4" 215 pound Left Wing Lee Falardeau, who has 4G + 4A in 8 games or even

26 year old, 6'2" 195 pound Left Wing, Dusty Jamieson who has 5+2 in 10 games or if you really want to stretch it,

21 year old, 6'3" 212 pound Center Joe Barnes, who along with Andrew Hutchinson was part of the Carolina, New York trade for veteran Center Matt Cullen.

Then there are the Pirates. Jonas Hiller is no longer a concern as he and his skilled goaltending are now in Anaheim with the Ducks. The team is led up front by Center, Andrew Ebbett who has 4 G and 15 assists for 19 points in 16 games, Center Jason King and his * goals and 7 assists in 13 games and former American Junior Team stand-out, Right Wing Bobby Ryan who has 5 goals and 9 assists for 14 points in 15 games played.

This game is going to be a war of attrition as both teams enter the game tired. The Pack more likely more so since they have been traveling far more and have had more injuries to contend with. Ken Gernander is not likely to fall back on excuses and will expect his healthy bodies to give 110% on each shift regardless of the health situation. Expect Thomas Pock to move back to the front and Ryan Constant to get back in at Pock's spot on the rearguard. Who will play between the pipes is anyone's guess. It's a very tough call because Montoya has been superb but has to be tired and Chris Holt has been good more often than not and should get the start especially given the travel to get to Portland.

You can catch Bob Crawford's call of the game on ESPN 1410 AM beginning at 3:30 with the Pre-game show or you can catch the game for $6 on B2 Live TV. This should be a good one...

***In a side note, as Laurie aptly pointed out, if you keep track of these kinds of things, you will need to change the scoring on the Hamilton game as Brodie Dupont was NOT given credit for the deflection of Andrew Hutchinson's point shot. Hutch was given the goal and the assists were reissued to Pock and Parenteau.***

Check back after the game for a full wrap up of the game here at Howlings.net.

(Puck photo's courtesy of TheAHL.com, Blake Bellefeuille, Lee Falardeau, Dusty Jamieson photos courtesy of CharlotteCheckers.com and Joe Barnes picture courtesy of hockeysfuture.com)

Comments

[elsie]

Well my hope is for the call-up to be a Ranger property - Rick Kozak.
As soon as I read about Byers and Lessard, that's who I thought of.

He's 22 yr old big, a physical winger, he's having a good season for CHL River Kings
2007-08 Mississippi River Kings CHL 12 6 3 9 60

he has had injuries and recklessness problems in the past, but now he's a 3d year pro, with more maturity, and his career on the line. The coaches ought to be able to leverage his game.

Let's not give up on a kid who just turned 22.

What's really odd is the discrepencies on the 'Net re is height and weight - he's most often listed as 6'3", 225# but the Rangers' and River Kings' sites list him smaller. (see below)

I'd recall Kozak and Barnes and play Pock on D.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=71940
Height 6.03 -- Weight 225 -- Shoots R

http://www.riverkings.com/team/roster/index.html?player_id=31
Height: 6' 2" Weight: 190 lbs Shoots: R

http://www.nyrangers.com/team/playerinfo.asp?playerid=296
Height 6.02 -- Weight 210 -- Shoots R

http://www.pointstreak.com/stats/pro/playerpage.html?playerid=1561235&seasonid=2103
Height: 6-3 Weight: 225

[laurie]

I guess the Pack didn't like any of the options available in Charlotte, because according to the AHL Transactions page, they've signed former Monarch Ryan Murphy to a PTO: http://stats.theahl.com/hm/transactions.php?f_season_id=12&f_team_id=307

[Mitch Beck]

Elsie,

Kozak isn't even on the radar. He's playing in a league below the ECHL.

Laurie,

Ryan Murphy played with the Pack in the Pre-season and looked very impressive at times. He's been playing in Charlotte. Let's see what he can do at this level... he'll be number 10 on your score card...