Howlings

AVERY HOSPITALIZED

*****UPDATE*****
Here is an update on Sean Avery's medical condition according to the Associated Press:

In a statement Wednesday, the team said the noted agitator was taken to St. Vincent’s Medical Center after New York’s 5-3 loss Tuesday night and was admitted following a CT scan.

Avery, whose spleen was not removed and isn’t expected to need surgery, likely will be hospitalized for a few days, team spokesman John Rosasco said.

Michael Fagan, spokesman for St. Vincent’s Medical Center, said Avery is in “stable” condition.

Rosasco said it’s unclear when Avery was injured, but the forward complained during the game of pain that got worse. Shortly after the game, Avery went in a car from Madison Square Garden to the hospital with team physician Dr. Andrew Feldman.

“He walked into the hospital,” Rosasco said. “He was never in a life-threatening situation.”

**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Sean Avery is in the hospital and is done for the season.

John Dellapina is a tremendously astute and professional reporter with impeccable credibility and sources of equal stature. He initially reported in the NY Daily News that NY Rangers agitator Sean Avery had had some sort of a cardiac arrest episode following Game Three at MSG Tuesday night. That aspect of the report has since been deleted from the story on their website.

Various sources, including the equally adept Sam Weinman in his Journal News blog states that the team is adamantly denying that ASPECT of the report. But that does NOT mean that nothing happened.

The Blueshirts organization has in fact responded saying that the surly left winger has definitely suffered a lacerated spleen as a result of some random incident during the 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh. They also have confirmed that the 5'10," Pickering, Ontario native will be sidelined for the remainder of this season.

Avery is a fan favorite who has proven to be an essential piece of the Rangers puzzle since his arrival in a trade on February 5, 2007. MSG Broadcaster and legendary hockey historian Stan Fischler has on numerous occasions called the pesky forward the Rangers MVP. Avery will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.

Here's the official release from the organization.

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that forward Sean Avery suffered a lacerated spleen in last night’s game, and will be sidelined for the remainder of the season. He was taken to St. Vincent’s hospital after the game, and was admitted following a CT scan. He is expected to make a full recovery during the off-season.

The Rangers return to action tomorrow, May 1, when they face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Four of their Eastern Conference Semifinal match-up at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.).

(Sean Avery photo courtesy of pondsandpucks.com)

FRITZ COMES UP BIG IN MARCH

Besides getting back into the swing of things after spending most of the season injured, Mitch Fritz came up huge all year long on the charitable front and finished the season by helping the Wolf Pack raise $300,000 for March of Dines.

Here's the official release:

WOLF PACK JOINS IN SUCCESSFUL “MARCH FOR BABIES”
* * * *
Premier March of Dimes Event Raises $300,000 to Help Every Baby Be Born Healthy

A team of Hartford Wolf Pack fans and staff, captained by Pack player Mitch Fritz and including Head Coach Ken Gernander, joined more than 1,300 walkers yesterday, Sunday, April 27th, in the March of Dimes’ “March for Babies” (formerly known as WalkAmerica). The event, which kicked off at the XL Center, raised an estimated $300,000 to benefit all babies, those born healthy as well as those who need help to survive and thrive. The Hartford Wolf Pack Community Foundation also lent support to the effort, as sponsor of the event’s “Kids’ Zone”.

The money raised through March for Babies, and other March of Dimes fundraising events, supports lifesaving research, community services, education and advocacy that helps babies get a healthy start.

Fritz, who despite being a premature baby himself now stands 6-8 and weighs 258 pounds, led his team of roughly 30 walkers on a spirited trek of three miles through downtown Hartford. That was the crowning touch for Fritz on a year of outstanding citizenship that saw him recognized as the Wolf Pack’s American Specialty/AHL Man of the Year for community service.

Wolf Pack 2008-09 season tickets are also on sale now. For information on all of the Wolf Pack's ticketing options, including full-season, six, 10 and 20-game packages, coupon books and group discounts, contact the Wolf Pack Ticket Office at (860) 548-2000.

(Mitch Fritz photo courtesy of Chris Rutsch via hartfordwolfpack.com)

AND THE ANSWER IS...HUGH JESSIMAN

In the TV show "Jeopardy" you win by being able to give the question to the answer. In this particular case, the correct question is, "What is one of the Pack's biggest off-season questions?" Well, the contestant who answered it first appears to be Larry Brooks of the NY Post who reported the following on Friday:

Hugh Jessiman, who recorded 42 points (18-24) and 154 PIM this season, is not among the 10 players recalled from Hartford to form an auxiliary playoff squad. That, however, does not mean the Rangers have given up on the winger, who will become a restricted free agent this summer. Jessiman, the 12th-overall selection in the 2003 Entry Draft, is the only first-rounder from that class not to have played in the NHL.

"We're going to sign him," GM Glen Sather told The Post on Friday. "I expect Hugh to compete for a job in training camp next year."

What to make of this? There are those out there that think Jessiman showed marked improvement this season, while others felt that the Rangers organization should admit that thee made a mistake in taking the Darien, Connecticut native and move on.

As far as we're concerned, this decision is a very tough one to make. It depends upon a number of factors.

1) Does the franchise believe that this particular player has even a shot at making it to the next level?
In this case they obviously do if Sather is to be taken at his word. Perhaps they believe that Jessiman is a late bloomer and will improve after another season in Hartford because they certainly can't believe that he has a chance of making it to NY coming into camp.

2) What other youngsters are coming up behind him in that position with the team?
If the team doesn't feel that there is a viable power forward coming up then by all means if you can get him signed to a reasonable two-way deal and you're not hamstringing the team with a bad contract then it can't hurt...

3) Does he demonstrate the type of character that this franchise wants going forward?
This is where he excels. Hugh is a tremendous person both on and off the ice. According to the team, he is always available when called upon for any team function or charity event. He truly is one of the nicer guys on this team and showed often throughout the season that he was a team player often being the first one in to scrums or to defend his teammates by fighting for them. Jessiman is certainly a crowd favorite at the XL Center. His name can be seen on signs and is often chanted when he's involved in the play. THat has to mean something apart from his marketability, but what we're not quite sure.

4) Is he coach-able?
This is a question that only Ken Gernander can answer. Jessiman made a multitude of dumb plays over the course of the season and often put his team behind the eight ball or caused pucks to wind up in the net. If he is going to be resigned this more than anything else is where the team is going to most closely watch.

5) Is the effort there to make significant enough improvement?
Again, the franchise is a best judge of that. Last off-season Jessiman spent significant time with Brendan Shanahan to work on learning more about the power forward position and then hired a boxing coach to help him with his fighting skills. The problem with Hugh isn't the desire to improve but what he brought to the ice.

Hugh is EXTREMELY inconsistent. When he decides to play, he can be dominant and a force to reckon with. When he's not fully engaged, which has been, to be fair, more often than not, he can vanish for games on end. He was relegated to the extra pair a number of times this past season and the year before spent a significant amount of time in the ECHL. There were a lot of rumors that Jessiman and either Alex Bourret (speaking of enigmatic) or now ex-Pack Al Montoya being shipped to Springfield (Edmonton) for their own headache in the talented but inconsistent Robbie Schremp. The deal never happened supposedly because Edmonton GM, Kevin Lowe, wanted more than that. It does tell you how Jessiman is seen outside the organization.

This is a borderline call no matter how you slice it. For the Wolf Pack, you can only hope that the naysayers are wrong and that Jessiman comes in and surprises. For that to happen, only time will tell.

(Hugh Jessiman photo courtesy of Chris Rutsch via Hartfordwolfpack.com)

TRAFFIC REPORT ON THE GREG MOORE HIGHWAY

Heavy traffic was reportedly seen heading southbound on the "Greg Moore Highway" as a number of Wolf Pack players were recalled by the NY Rangers and were headed for Tarrytown to be a part of the Taxi Squad for the playoffs.

Those recalled include:

Andrew Hutchinson (Defenseman)

Artem Anisimov (Center)

Bobby Sanguinetti (Defenseman)

Brodie Dupont (Left Wing)

Corey Potter (Defenseman)

Dane Byers (Left Wing)

David LeNeveu (Goaltender)

Greg Moore (Center)

Lauri Korpikoski (Left Wing)

Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau (Right Wing)

********

Notable exceptions:

Thomas Pock (Defenseman)

Ivan Baranka (Defenseman)

********

Former First Round picks:

Alex Bourret (Right Wing)

Hugh Jessiman (Right Wing)

And yesterday's signee:

Miika Wiikman (Goaltender)

These call-ups should end all speculation in fan circles and among many of the so-called "prospect experts," including this writer, as to who the team deems ready for a shot at the next level. These are the players, right now anyway, to keep an eye who will be fighting for jobs with the Rangers at next season's training camp.

Who makes the big club and who doesn't is going to depend a lot upon two primary issues.

1) What trades the team makes in the off-season. There have been rumors abounding for quite a while that the Rangers were interested in Toronto's top pair defenseman Tomas Kaberle. If there is truth to that rumor then his services will not come cheaply in terms of what prospect-poor Toronto will be asking for. If something like that were to happen I would expect that Petr Prucha would be included in any deal of that magnitude.

2) What free agents the Rangers organization targets in the off-season. There are a number of interesting names out there both in the restricted (Jay Bouwmeester in particular meets a lot of the Rangers needs and would be this writers first choice to target if you were going to poach from another squad) and unrestricted. Marion Hossa at the top of that list.

And finally,

3) Who of the Rangers free agents the team resigns. The Rangers will have a lot to consider this off-season. Chief among them is Jaromir Jagr. Does he stay or does he go?

Then there is Brendan Shanahan. Does he retire? Does he stay in a lesser role or does he move on?

What about Marty Straka? Rumors have circulated that this is his last season even though the winger has not publicly said anything one way or the other.

Among the top free agents of course is Michal Rozsvial, Paul Mara and everyone's favorite whipping boy, Marek Malik.

These questions and others still resound loudly in Ranger-land and will need to be answered.

Keep your eye out at BlueshirtBulletin.com and right here at Howlings for all the latest information.

Here's the official release:

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has recalled 10 players from the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL); goaltender David LeNeveu, defensemen Andrew Hutchinson, Corey Potter and Bobby Sanguinetti, and forwards Artem Anisimov, Dane Byers, Brodie Dupont, Lauri Korpikoski, Greg Moore and P.A. Parenteau.

LeNeveu, 24, appeared in 34 games with Hartford (AHL) and San Antonio (AHL) during the regular season, posting a 17-10-5 record, along with a 2.33 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Among all AHL goaltenders, he tied for 12th in goals against average (2.33). In the postseason, the 6-1, 187-pound netminder posted a 1-3 record, along with a 2.48 goal against average.

Hutchinson, 28, collected 18 goals and 46 assists for 64 points, along with 66 penalty minutes in 67 games with Hartford (AHL) this season. The 6-2, 200-pound defenseman tied for 10th in the league for assists (46). In five postseason games, Hutchinson recorded two goals and two assists, along with four penalty minutes and a plus-three rating. His four points ranked second on the Wolf Pack in the playoffs.

Potter, 24, recorded five goals and 27 assists for 32 points, along with 102 penalty minutes in 80 games with Hartford (AHL). Potter ranked second in the league with a plus-33 rating. The 6-3, 205 pound defenseman tallied one assist in five postseason games with the Wolf Pack.

Sanguinetti, 20, split the season with Hartford (AHL) and the Brampton Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) this season. In Brampton, he registered 29 goals and 42 assists for 71 points, along with 40 penalty minutes. In six AHL games with the Wolf Pack, he registered one assist. The 6-2, 190-pound defenseman appeared in five postseason games with Hartford.

Anisimov, 19, collected six goals and 27 assists for 43 points, along with 30 penalty minutes and a plus-16 rating in 74 games with Hartford (AHL) this season as a rookie. The 6-3, 190-pound forward ranked fifth on the Wolf Pack with a plus-16 rating, and was seventh on the team in points (47). In the postseason, Anisimov recorded one goal, along with 2 penalty minutes and a plus-two rating in five games.

Byers, 22, appeared in 73 games with Hartford (AHL) this season, registering 23 goals and 23 assists for 46 points, along with 184 penalty minutes and a plus-23 rating. The 6-3, 199-pound forward tied for eighth in the league in plus/minus rating (plus-23), tied for third on the team for goals (23), ranked second on the team for penalty minutes (184), and ranked third on the club in power play goals (ten). In five postseason games, Byers registered two goals and one assist with a plus-one rating. He also skated in one game with the Rangers this season, making his NHL debut on February 5 vs. Los Angeles.

Dupont, 21, skated in 66 games as a rookie with Hartford (AHL) this season, registering nine goals and 13 assists for 22 points, along with 75 penalty minutes. The 6-2, 210-pound forward played in one postseason game.

Korpikoski, 21, appeared in 79 games with Hartford (AHL) this season, registering 23 goals and 27 assists for 50 points, along with 71 penalty minutes. The 6-1, 190-pound forward ranked fourth on the team in points (50), and tied for third in goals (23). In five playoff games, he registered one goal and one assist for two points.

Moore, 24, appeared in 72 games with Hartford (AHL), registering 26 goals and 40 assists for 66 points, along with 31 penalty minutes and a plus-27 rating. He ranked second on the team in goals (26), third in assists (40) and second in points (66). The 6-1, 209-pound forward collected one goal and two assists for three points and a plus-three rating. Moore appeared in six games with the Rangers this season, making his NHL debut on November 21 vs. Tampa Bay.

Parenteau, 25, skated in 75 games with Hartford (AHL) this season, recording 34 goals and 47 assists for 81 points, along with 81 penalty minutes and a plus-15 rating. He ranked among the league leaders in several statistical categories, including sixth in goals (34), ninth in assists (47) and fourth in points (81). The 5-11, 195-pound forward appeared in five playoff games, registering three goals and two assists for a team-leading five points.

(All player photos courtesy of Hartfordwolfpack.com)

ONE QUESTION ANSWERED

The NY Rangers wasted no time today in shoring up either the backup role in NY or the starting job in Hartford signing netminder Miika Wiikman to an NHL contract. Terms were not released.

This is a great move for the club. Not only was Wiikman exceptionally popular in and out of the room, but it was his play that expedited the exit of former 2004 first round pick Al Monotya in a trade in February.

This signing will most certainly have an affect on how the Rangers choose to deal with pending UFA David LeNeveu. The Rangers can now play hardball with the young netminder because the franchise is comfortable with Wiikman minding the cage. Benoit Allaire at a recent Wolf Pack game at the XL Center spoke of Wiikman saying, "He's a good young goaltender with a lot of potential."

Here is the official Announcement from the club.

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with goaltender Miika Wiikman.

Wiikman, 23, appeared in 34 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL) this season, posting a 21-8-3 record, along with a 2.30 goals against average, a .919 save percentage and two shutouts. The AHL rookie ranked 10th in the league in goals against average, and he finished tied for sixth overall in save percentage. Wiikman also led the Wolf Pack in wins and tied for the team lead in shutouts. In addition, he appeared in four regular season games with the Charlotte Checkers of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), registering a 1-1-2 mark, along with a 2.36 goals against average and a .922 save percentage.
The 5-11, 177-pound goaltender has appeared in 75 games with HPK Hameenlinna of the Finnish Elite League (SM-liiga) over three seasons, posting a 38-16-20 record, along with a 2.30 goals against average, a .922 save percentage and five shutouts. In 2005-06, Wiikman established career-highs in games played (34), wins (21), goals against average (2.09), save percentage (.929), and shutouts (three). Additionally, he has appeared in 13 playoff games with HPK Hameenlinna, recording a 9-3 mark with three shutouts, along with a 1.98 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. In 2006, he led Hameenlinna to their only SM-liiga championship in the club’s 62-year history.

The native of Mariestad, Sweden signed an AHL contract with the Hartford Wolf Pack prior to the 2007-08 regular season.

Here's Wiikman's career stats: (Double click on picture for easier reading).

(Miika Wiikman photo courtesy of Chris Rutsch via hartfordwolfack.com)

OVER AND OUT

The Wolf Pack were eliminated from the chase for the Calder Cup by the Portland Pirates 3-2 in front of 1,711 at the XL Center in Hartford Tuesday night.

Teams are eliminated in all sports and at all levels all the time and sometimes it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth because of things that could have been or should have been. There is no shame to be had when a team is eliminated by a better team. You be the good sport, shake hands, congratulate your opponent and prepare for the next challenge ahead.

While the Pirates did have the better head-to-head record with the Pack, they didn't finish eleven points behind the Pack over the course of the long 80-game season by accident. But this series was taken away from what arguably was the better team by a group of referees that to be fair missed obvious calls and did not do a good job, but to be more accurate, their work bordered on complete and total incompetence.

In Game Five, Ryan Fraser, the son of often controversial NHL referee Kerry Fraser, was absolutely atrocious. At 5:01 of the third period as play continued in the Pack defensive zone a clearing attempt was hit by an obvious high stick by Bobby Ryan. The young rookie sensation fired on goaltender Miika Wiikman (16 saves) which went up high into the air. Left-wing Michal Birner reached up with his stick over his head and a good two feet over the top of the crossbar and smacked the puck in behind the Pack netminder.

Fraser called over linesman Kevin Redding and Paul Simeon who conferred on the play and determined that Birner did not hit the puck with a high stick. Wiikman became incensed and slammed his stick into the ice and screamed at Fraser. After the game ended, Wiikman had to be restrained by Thomas Pock from going after Fraser.

Portland head coach Kevin Dineen told reporters the expected response that Birner did not even hit the puck in the first place.

To make matters worse, the AHL credited Brett Festerling with the goal. Bruce Berlet in his Hartford Courant column reported that, "Fraser initially had chief off-ice official Bob Girouard change the goal-scorer from Birner to Ryan, but AHL officials later changed it again, giving it to Festerling." Does the phrase, "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing" seem to apply here?

This wasn't the first bad call of this series. Game One of the series had the whistle in the hand of another son of another former NHL veteran referee. Don Koharski's son Jaime incurred Dineen's wrath after Game One when he made no call on former Pirate and current Wolf Pack wing P. A. Parenteau's goal. Dineen felt the goal should have been disallowed as he vigorously complained, and was obviously successful given the turn in the calls in this series, that Parenteau had interfered with Festerling by holding his stick on what proved to be the Pack's only game winner of the series.

In Game Two, the calls started all going against the Pack as Don Koharski's brother Terry called this contest. In this one, Jason King's game winning goal came about when a flagrantly obvious high sticking call to Mike Ouellette was inexcusably either missed or ignored.

Chris Brown who called Game Three was the only referee who called the game pretty much down the middle and had no major incident to speak of.

The fourth in the series was an abominably badly called game. Francois St. Laurent was in WAY over his head. He was completely clueless in this one and made some of the biggest blunders in the way he called this game of any referee the entire season. First he disallowed a goal by Artem Anisimov that would have given the Pack a 2-0 lead when he overruled his linesman and said the play was off-sides. Replays showed that he should have heeded his linesman that were in proper position and saw it better than he did. Later Pack wing Alex Bourret's hit on Joe Callahan resulted in highly suspect five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct. Meanwhile King dropped his gloves and retaliated punching Bourret several times and having to be pulled off of him resulted in NO CALL at all. This took the Pack out of any opportunity to mount a man advantage to try and get a game tying goal.

All of these blunders came in VERY close games. In the Pirates four wins over the Pack they won by a total of...four goals.

The other story of this series was the Pack's inability to score on the man-advantage. The Pack were number two on the power play for the regular season converting 21% of their opportunities (79/376). In this series they could never get it together and were a measly 8% (2/24). On the other hand, the Pirates were just off their regular season success rate at 17.8% (5/28). Over the regular season Maine's finest were ninth in the AHL's at 18.3% (74/405).

The Pack went down 1-0 at 7:20 of the first period when King broke up a pass which sent them out 3-on-2. Miller went around Pock and made a feed to Jay Leach, who beat Alex Bourret and Lauri Korpikoski back and put a backhanded shot into the cage past Wiikman.

The score was tied at 50 seconds of the second when Andrew Hutchinson stole a Leach outlet pass. Hutchinson cut across the blueline and fed Mike Ouellette, who was coming off the bench, on right wing. Ouellette's hard shot rebounded off of Jean-Sebastien Aubin (30 saves) back to Hutchinson in the slot who returned fire quickly for the game knotting goal.

Hartford took the lead at 12:43 after Hugh Jessiman carried the puck into the offensive zone along left-wing and drew all three defenders to him. His drop pass for Lauri Korpikoski was blasted by the 2nd year Finnish veteran low past Aubin's stick.

Andy Schneider evened the score at 16:20 when he one-timed a hard shot off a Andrew Ebbett feed from the left point. Wiikman made the initial stop but the puck squirted threw his pads. It was a weak goal that Wiikman would certainly want back.

Paul Betit was in attendance. Howlings isn't quite sure if he was watching the same game as the rest of us, but his report can be found in the Press Herald at mainetoday.com

Game Stats cane be found at Game Summary and in the Official Scorer's Sheet.

*****NOTES*****
* Pack outshot Portland 32 -19

* Former Hartford Whaler and other NHL teams as well as long time AHL veteran Archie Henderson, was at the game scouting for the Ottawa Senators. His reaction to the game deciding goal..."No Comment!"

* GM Jim Schoenfeld was in attendance for the entire series.

* When it was announced that a "Lucky Row" of fans were being given free Al Montoya Bobble Heads, his name was greeted with a LOUD round of boos.

*****LINES*****
Byers - Moore - Ouellette
Dupont - Anisimov - Parenteau
Owens - Korpikoski - Bourret
Gratton - Pyatt - Jessiman

Potter - Hutchinson
Pock - Taylor
Baranka - Sanguinetti

Wiikman

*****SCRATCHES*****
Zaba - Healthy
Holt - Healthy
Liffiton - Concussion - Season
Sauer - Knee - Season
Brown - Healthy
Lessard - Knee - Season
Fritz - Healthy
Zaborsky - Healthy
Constant - Healthy
Lee - Healthy

*****THREE STARS*****
1. POR - 1 Jean-Sebastien Aubin
2. HFD - 5 Andrew Hutchinson
3. POR - 42 Andy Schneider

*****OFFICIALS*****
Ryan Fraser (14), Referee
Kevin Redding (16), Linesman
Paul Simeon (66), Linesman

(Pack celebratory photo from happier days via Rich Zacher via hartfordwolfpack.com)

IF THIS IS IT...

Tuesday night in Hartford the Wolf Pack face their first of three elimination games against their the Portland Pirates. The Pack trail Portland three-games-to-one in their best-of-seven-divisional semi-final series. One more loss and the season is over.

Like its been most of this season, the Pack are in a a good news/bad news scenario as the yprepare for tonight's game.

On the good news front left wing Brodie Dupont is likely to return to action. After Game Three in reference to his health status, Dupont said, "the headaches are gone." The "headaches" Dupont refers to came as a result of being on the losing end of a fight with Philadelphia's enforcer Josh Bilodeau back on March 21. The mild concussion he sustained caused the Russell, Manitoba native to miss the last 15 games. Dupont is a hard worker on the ice and contributed nine goals and thirteen assists in 66 games before taking to the stands to recover. Dupont will add size, speed and toughness to a Wolf Pack squad that has been pushed around for much of this series by the bigger and stronger Pirates team.

Also back after signing another try-out contract, as reported yesterday is defenseman Brad Brown. Brown played well in his previous stint with the club. Brown adds size, toughness and experience to a young group guarding the blueline. Brown has played in 330 NHL games in 12 seasons, had one assist in 10 games with the Pack before being released. Brown is a former first round draft pick taken 18th overall by Montreal in the 1994 draft. He's played in the NHL for Montreal, Chicago, Minnesota, Buffalo and one season with the Pack's parent club, the NY Rangers where he scored one gaol and had three helpers in 48 games in the 2000-2001 season.

Brown's return is to offset the loss of Michael Sauer who was injured in Game Two of this series. According to Bruce Berlet in the Hartford Courant Sauer "tore an ACL in his right knee" and is most certainly done for the season. Depending upon the severity of the tear, Sauer could need major reconstructive surgery which would cause him to miss a major portion of next season. More definitive word on the severity of the injury will be reported when the team releases that information. However, he is certainly done for this season.

The cliche's are all in play for tonight. The team will need to take it "one shift at a time." They will need to play with composure and be aggressive. The Pack will mos t certainly need to stay out of the penalty box and finish on their opportunities.

To this point in the series, they have not gotten breaks from the officials. Calls have gone against them that shouldn't have been and calls that should have gone against Portland have been ignored. But the players can't concentrate on that. They need to win the individual battles and come out and take this game from the Pirates if they wish to play again Thursday night in Portland, another must win game.

For the Pack to have a chance they will certainly need more help from three of their more highly touted players. Hugh Jessiman and Thomas Pock have been totally invisible and Ivan Baranka has just a single assist.

The former first round pick, number 12 overall in 2003, Jessiman completes his entry level contract and will become a restricted free agent at the end of the season. Given the inconsistent nature of his game this season and the fact that he is the only member of his draft class that has yet to play in a single NHL game his disappearing act in this playoff series couldn't come at a worse time. If he wants to be resigned by the organization, now would be a good time to show them why they should, otherwise the Darien, Connecticut native who grew up a NY Ranger fan will only see the ice surface at Madison Square Garden if he buys a ticket.

Thomas Pock, who has played in 59 NHL contests and was resigned to a two-year contract at the start of this season, has gone without scoring a goal in 33 games dating back to February 1st. Pock will most likely play this one on the fourth line as a forward tonight and continue to man the point on the power play. To be fair, Pock has added 21 assists over the same span, but goals are what the team is looking for from him at this point.

Baranka is still considered a relatively high prospect for the Rangers organization. However, injuries, and there have been a lot of them, have greatly impacted the Slovakian defenseman's development. While he did get a one game call up to the Rangers earlier this season where he added an assist in his first NHL contest, Baranka has yet to play a complete season. He's played in 59, 54 and 61 this season. In the playoffs he's a minus-1 and has been almost totally invisible except for a secondary on P.A. Parenteau's Game Four power play goal. He needs to be solid the rest of the way.

If the Pack are going to climb back into this series they'll have to do it tonight. The crowds have been small, just 1,498 and 1,622 respectively in the first two games at the XL Center. Due to the nature of the playoff scheduling the Pack will only get one weekend game, Saturday night should they win tonight and Thursday in Portland, for Game Seven. The team will hope to see more fans in the XL Center tonight for support.

The AHL also has a preview of Tuesday's action in the AHL Notebook.

Wolf Pack Calder Cup Playoff tickets are available at the XL Center box office and all Ticketmaster locations. Tickets may also be charged by phone at (860) 525-4500, (203) 744-8100, (203) 624-0033 or (413) 733-2500, and on-line at Hartfordwolfpack.com. First-round home playoff tickets for adults are priced at $20 for blue-level seats, $24 for red-level seats and $28 for grey-level seats. All first-round playoff seats for kids 16 or younger are $11.

WOLF PACK WEEKLY

WOLF PACK WEEKLY: April 21-27, 2008

The Wolf Pack’s Atlantic Division Semifinal series with the Portland Pirates got off to a busy start last week, with four games in five nights, and it was the Pirates who took advantage of the tight schedule to get on a good roll. The first two games were at the XL Center, and the Wolf Pack captured Wednesday night’s Game One, 3-1. The Pirates broke back the next night in Game Two though, winning a double-overtime thriller by a score of 3-2. The series then switched to Portland for Games Three and Four, and the Pirates would eke out another pair of one-goal wins to take a three-games-to-one lead. Saturday night’s Game-Three final was 3-2, and Portland prevailed by a 4-3 score in Game Four Sunday. P.A. Parenteau leads the Wolf Pack in scoring in the series, and is tied with Portland’s Geoff Platt for the overall series points lead, with 3-2-5.

This week:
The Wolf Pack now need to win the final three games of the series to keep their season alive, and their quest starts in Game Five at the XL Center this Tuesday night, April 22nd (7:00 faceoff). If the Pack win that, then Game Six is in Portland on Thursday, April 24th (7:05), and if the Wolf Pack can force a Game Seven, then that would be back at the XL Center this Saturday night, April 26th, with faceoff again at 7:00.

Game One Wed., Apr. 16 Portland 1 at Wolf Pack 3
Game Two Thu., Apr. 17 Portland 3 at Wolf Pack 2 (2 OT)
Game Three Sat., Apr. 19 Wolf Pack 2 at Portland 3
Game Four Sun., Apr. 20 Wolf Pack 3 at Portland 4
(Portland leads series, three games to one)
Game Five Tue., Apr. 22 XL Center 7:00
Game Six (if necessary) Thu., Apr. 24 Cumberland Cty. Civic Center 7:05
Game Seven (if necessary) Sat., Apr. 26 XL Center 7:00

Wolf Pack Calder Cup Playoff tickets are available at the XL Center box office and all Ticketmaster locations, including Macy’s at the Buckland Hills Mall and at the Westfarms Mall. Tickets may also be charged by phone at (860) 525-4500, (203) 744-8100, (203) 624-0033 or (413) 733-2500, and on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com. First-round home playoff tickets for adults are priced at $20 for blue-level seats, $24 for red-level seats and $28 for grey-level seats. All first-round playoff seats for kids 16 or younger are $11.

Tuesday, April 22nd, Game Five vs. Portland at the XL Center, 7:00 p.m.
• The Wolf Pack are 12-9 in their playoff history when facing elimination.
• The Pack have come back once before to win a best-of-seven series in which they lost three of the first four games. That was the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals, in which the Wolf Pack eliminated the defending-champion Providence Bruins on their way to a Calder Cup title.
• Geoff Platt, Portland’s regular season goals leader (32), has 2-3-5 in the last three games of the series to tie the Wolf Pack’s P.A. Parenteau for the series point leadership, after being held to two assists in his previous 10 games.
• Jason King, with 3-1-4, is tied with Parenteau for the most goals in the series.
• Broadcast - live with Bob Crawford at www.hartfordwolfpack.com, or watch on B2 Networks! Go to www.hartfordwolfpack.com for details.

Thursday, April 24th, Game Six (if necessary) at Portland (Cumberland County Civic Center), 7:05 p.m.
• Between this series and the regular season, the Wolf Pack are 1-5-0-0 in six visits to Portland. Prior to this year, the Pack had lost in regulation only six times in 30 trips to the Cumberland County Civic Center (18(w)-6(l)-4(t)-2(otl)).
• Broadcast - live with Bob Crawford at www.hartfordwolfpack.com, or watch on B2 Networks! Go to www.hartfordwolfpack.com for details.

Saturday, April 26th, Game Seven (if necessary) at the XL Center, 7:00 p.m.
• If it is necessary, this would be the sixth Game Seven in Wolf Pack history. The Pack are 3-2 in previous Game Sevens.
• Radio – live with Bob Crawford on ESPN Radio 1410, and on the web at: www.hartfordwolfpack.com, or watch on B2 Networks! Go to www.harfordwolfpack.com for details.

Recent Transactions:
Matt Zaba – Reassigned by the New York Rangers to the Wolf Pack from Idaho (ECHL) April 16th.
Brad Brown – Signed by the Wolf Pack to a Professional Tryout (PTO) agreement April 21st.

Pack Tracks:
The March of Dimes’ “March for Babies” is this Sunday, April 27th, and it starts at the XL Center. Sonar, the Wolf Pack’s lovable mascot, will be attending, as registration kicks off at 9:00 AM and the walk starts at 10:00 AM.

96.5 TIC’s Acoustic Café Volume 7, the proceeds from which benefit the Hartford Wolf Pack Community Foundation, is on sale now at the Wolf Pack store at Hartford 21, Strawberries and FYE stores and on-line at www.965tic.com. Acoustic Café Volume 7 features exclusive performances by Daughtry, KT Tunstall, Lifehouse, Avril Lavigne, Mat Kearney, Bowling for Soup, The Fray, Collective Soul and Mandy Moore. The CD costs only $9.65.

Wolf Pack 2008-09 season tickets are on sale now. For information on all of the Wolf Pack's ticketing options, including full-season, six, 10 and 20-game packages, coupon books and group discounts, contact the Wolf Pack Ticket Office at (860) 548-2000.

BRAD BROWN BACK IN THE PACK

Hartford Wolf Pack general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the Wolf Pack have signed defenseman Brad Brown to a Professional Tryout (PTO) agreement.

This is the second Wolf Pack PTO this season for Brown, a 12th-year pro who has logged 330 career NHL games with the New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild and Buffalo Sabres. He played 10 games with the Wolf Pack after signing his original PTO March 11th, registering one assist, five penalty minutes and a +4 rating.

After being released by the Wolf Pack April 6th, the 6-3, 221-pound Brown returned to the Florida Everblades of the ECHL, for whom he played 26 games, chipping in two goals and an assist for three points, along with 68 penalty minutes. Brown, a 32-year-old native of Baie Verte, Newfoundland, was scoreless in two playoff games for the Everblades.

The Wolf Pack will look to keep their Calder Cup playoff run alive tomorrow night, Tuesday, April 22nd, at the XL Center in Game Five of their first-round series against the Portland Pirates. Faceoff is 7:00. If the Wolf Pack can win the next two games of the series, the decisive Game Seven would also be at the XL Center, this Saturday night, April 26th, also at 7:00.

(Brad Brown picture courtesy of wildenforcers.com)

PACK NEED THREE-IN-A-ROW

Too many penalties, not enough power-plays and a late Stephen Dixon goal not to mention some of the worst refereeing work yet this season, lifted the Portland Pirates to a 4-3 win and a commanding three-games-to-one lead in the best-of-seven series over the visiting Hartford Wolf Pack before 3,263 witnesses at the Cumberland County Civic Center Sunday evening.

With on 4:20 remaining, and the Pirates pressing, Geoff Platt fed the puck to the recently returned from the NHL, rookie Bobby Ryan who fired a shot on goal. The puck rebounded off Pack netminder David LeNeveu (24 saves) to the right side. The puck found the stick of Dixon who crossed right-to-left through the slot, as Platt danced in the crease in front of LeNeveu's face a la Sean Avery. Nothing was called and Dixon's shot beat LeNeveu for what turned out to be the game deciding goal.

It's always an adventure when Referee Francois St. Laurent calls a game. Not only didn't he call obvious calls against Portland, but called not double, but triple the amount of calls against the Wolf Pack. Then there was the little matter of him taking a goal away from the Pack. Midway through the first period, Artem Anisimov and P.A. Parenteau came in on a 2-on-1 breakaway. Anisimov came in, faked a pass and beat Jean-Sebastien Aubin. All the players on the ice played it at full speed. As the players celebrated, St. Laurent came skating in and claimed the whistle had blown the play dead for offsides negating the goal. The replay did not confirm St. Laurent's claim. But in his case, it seldom does.

The primary factor in the story of this series is the Pack's total failure of their special teams play. The Hartford team that played so well all season long has vanished and been replaced with a group that acts like they just met on their way to the arena. There is no cohesiveness or any of the sound passing and movement that made them so formidable during the regular season. The Pack converted 21% of their man advantage opportunities over the 80-game regular season. However, through four games in this series, the Pack are an embarrassing 2-for-21 or just 9.5%. Meanwhile their opponents from the northernmost Atlantic Division city had an 18.3% regular season conversion rate and in the playoffs are 5-for-26 or 19.2%.

In contrast, during the regular season the Pack penalty kill, admittedly not one of their strong suits but successful 313 of 374 shorthanded occasions or 83.7%, are 21 of 26 or 80.7%. For the Pirates, They were 83.4% on the regular season, 312 for 374 and in this series are at 90.5% (21 of 25).

If the Pack are to avoid elimination Tuesday night in Game Five at the XL Center, Head Coach Ken Gernander is going to need to rediscover the game that got his team 50 wins (tied for the team's best) and 110 points (set the team record) with combinations that will work together effectively at even strength and that can get the job done on both sides of the special teams play or they will be run right out of this series.

Alex Bourret got the Pack the lead at 11:03 of the first period when a puck off the stick of Greg Moore slid off of Tyler Bouck's skate into the crease of the offensive zone. Bourret slammed the loose puck from the right side of the slot and beat Aubin (23 saves) high to the stick side.

Portland tied the score seven minutes later on the power play. With Andrew Hutchinson in the penalty box on a cross checking call, Jason King got his third goal in four games when he put the puck behind LeNeveu with a low hard shot from just inside the left face-off circle on a feed from Andrew Ebbett via Brian Salcido.

The Wolf Pack ended the first period on a high note when they regained the lead off an absolute missile of a shot from Hutchinson. The Pack got the puck into the Portland zone with under ten seconds remaining in the period. Parenteau slid the puck from the right half-boards across ice to Hutchinson who was all alone at the left point. Hutchinson closed in on Aubin. When he got to the face off circle, the hero of Game Three, Michal Birner vacated to give Aubin a clear look at the puck. All he accomplished with that move was give him a clearer view of the puck blasting past him as Hutchinson laser was right on target over the stick side and into the corner of the net at 19:56.

Corey Potter took the first of his three penalties at 1:10 of the second. 1:41 into the power play, after two clearing attempts, one by Thomas Pock and the other by Tom Pyatt, failed to get the puck out of the zone, Platt fed Joe Callahan who sent a hard low shot on goal from the right point that was deflected past LeNeveu by Dixon for the first of his two goals on the night.

Portland took the lead for the first time five minutes later when they scored and miraculously it was at even strength. Of the eleven goals that Portland has scored in the four games of this series, five have come on the power play. Birner gave the puck to Brad Festerling who sent a deliberate shot wide of the net. The puck rebounded right in front of LeNeveu and Mike Hoffman slammed it home.

The Pack would tie the game a final time with just 3:03 left in the second period on the power play. Parenteau positioned himself in the slot. Ivan Baranka fed a pass to Lauri Korpikoski on the right half boards. Korpikoski made a great hard pass to the slot which Parenteau brilliantly redirected and beat Aubin for the Pack's final time of the contest.

Bourret was called for hitting Callahan at 16:02. He received a five-minute major boarding call and a game misconduct. The call was another in a long series of blunders by St. Laurent who apparently is still earning the rules. Callahan turned his back to Bourret and Bourret came in with his back. The play was unavoidable and Callahan put himself in that vulnerable spot by turning into the boards.

The call left the Pack shorthanded when they so desperately needed to get an extra skater on the ice for a chance to tie the game. What made the call even worse was St. Laurent's refusal to call a penalty on King who ran over to Bourret, threw down his gloves and began hitting the French Canadian winger. At very least King should have received an instigator and a roughing call if not a fighting major.

With 1:31 left, Parenteau had one last chance to tie the score when he had a shorthanded breakaway chance that was snuffed out by A mix of Aubin and a slashing penalty by Bruno St. Jacques. But even with LeNeveu pulled the Pack were not able to mount much of an attack on the Pirate goaltender.

Bruce Berlet has GM Jim Schoenfeld's reaction as well as other locker room assessments in the Hartford Courant. To no surprise, Paul Betit makes no mention of either the goal being taken away or the bad call on Bourret at the end in his recap that has the Portland perspective in the Portland Press Herald as those calls benefited the Pirates so why make an issue of them.

For stats there is the Game Summary and the Official Scorer's Sheet.

*****NOTES*****
* Bourret's goal in the first period was the first time in the series that the Pack scored the first goal.

* Portland thug, D-Man Daryl Bootland may think twice before challenging Pack enforcer Josh Gratton again. At 16:06 of the first Bootland challenged Gratton. He got a couple of shots in early, but Gratton smoked his fellow heavyweight when a right hand to the side of the head sent Bootland to the ice. It was a clean TKO for Gratton.

* The Pack were out shot 28 - 26 for the game.

* Despite giving up four goals, LeNeveu was solid throughout and was not the reason this team lost the game. In the second period LeNeveu stoned Ebbett on his goal bid after he had inside-outed rookie Bobby Sanguinetti. He also stopped a Simon Ferguson partial breakaway in the third period when he took the puck from Parenteau who fell down.

* The third penalty call against Potter was simply ridiculous. He was dumping the puck into the zone and as he lifted the puck his stick ON THE UPSWING hit a Portland player's stick smashing it.

* This third consecutive loss was only the second time this season that the team has lost that many in a row.

*The Pack have not lost four in-a-row all season.

*****LINES*****
Byers - Korpikoski - Parenteau
Jessiman - Moore - Bourret
Gratton - Anisimov - Ouellette
Lee - Pyatt - Owens

Pock - Taylor
Potter - Hutchinson
Baranka - Sanguinetti

LeNeveu

*****SCRATCHES*****
Liffiton - Concussion - Season
Sauer - Knee - Indefinite
Lessard - Knee - Season
Holt - Healthy
Zaba - Healthy
Fritz - Healthy
Dupont - Concussion - Day-to-Day
Zaborsky - Healthy
Constant - Healthy

*****THREE STARS*****
1. POR - 10 Stephen Dixon
2. POR - 33 Brett Festerling
3. HFD - 15 Greg Moore

*****OFFICIALS*****
Francois St. Laurent (38), Referee
Joe Andrews (32), Linesman
Brian MacDonald (13), Linesman

(Photos courtesy of Fred Field via pressherald.mainetoday.com)