FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet 

By Bruce Berlet

HARTFORD, Conn. – The first Connecticut Whale game Saturday night will have a bit of a Hartford Whalers feel.

Former Whalers players Garry Swain, Norm Barnes, Yvon Corriveau, Gerry McDonald, and captain Russ Anderson will be signing autographs in the XL Center atrium from 5:30 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. and then participate in pregame ceremonies that include dropping the ceremonial first puck before the Whale make their debut against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. And Tony Harrington, who sang the national anthem for years before Whalers games, will do the honors Saturday night after the Whale players are introduced in the first of three new uniforms they will wear the rest of the season.

Because Whalers Sports and Entertainment took control of the franchise so late, Reebok, which is contracted to do all AHL uniforms, was unable to produce the jersey in time for the rebranding. So Reebok subcontracted the production to SP Apparel. The two other jerseys, primarily white and blue tops, will be produced by Reebok and should be available in the next few weeks.

“I love the jersey,” said Whalers Sports and Entertainment chairman and CEO Howard Baldwin, who helped design it. “Look, it’s our colors (blue and green). And it’s sort of a new look because it’s a new era. We’ll always tinker with it, I’m not going to kid you. We’ll have a second and a third jersey, but what you see will be with us for a long time.”

The Whale actually will make its first public appearance Friday night when the Festival of Light opens at Constitution Plaza in Hartford. Starting at 5 p.m., Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra, cast members of the Hartford Stage Company’s “A Christmas Carol,” and Sonar, the Wolf Pack’s mascot, will lead a procession to Bushnell Park, passing through State House Square on the way to visitors seeing a giant Christmas tree and sipping free hot chocolate.

During the march, they will be joined by Whale mascot Pucky and Santa, who will be riding a Zamboni ice-grooming machine. The public is invited to walk with the group or cheer them along the route, which includes Asylum and Trumbull streets.

Starting Saturday night, there also will be a new game program entitled BlueLines, and celebrities, scouts and members of the media will give their perspectives on the team during the pregame show on the Jumbotron, replacing “Coaches Corner” with Gernander and assistants J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller. The coaches will continue to give their thoughts on the pregame radio show with announcer Bob Crawford and occasionally participate in the Jumbotron discussions.

The end of what Gov. M. Jodi Rell proclaimed “Connecticut Whale Week” is part of the “Catch the Wave” campaign. The night is presented by Xfinity, and the first 3,000 fans will receive a green Whale T-shirt. As part of the Whale segment of the season, ticket packages are available from $638 ($242 savings) for blue seats to $290 ($110 savings) for kids (any seat except blue) and yellow seats. The offer includes 29 regular-season games, one voucher for Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford on Feb. 11-23 and 20 vouchers for games at the XL Center. For more information, call 860-728-3366 or visit www.ctwhale.com.

Individual game tickets are also on sale at the XL Center ticket office, all Ticketmaster locations and can be charged by phone at 1-800-745-3000 or online at www.ctwhale.com. Tickets start at $7 at the XL Center ticket office on game day. For information on Whale ticket packages, group sales or VIP packages, call 860-728-3366.

Baldwin said he would like to see the first Whale game sell out but set a target of 10,507, the capacity of the original Hartford Civic Center before the roof collapsed on Jan. 18, 1978. Anything approximating that would be a major improvement on the Wolf Pack’s average crowd of 3,466, which ranks 25^th in the 30-team AHL.

Baldwin said fans “will feel like they’re stepping back in time and hear some music that is familiar,” referring to the return of the Whalers’ legendary theme song, “Brass Bonanza.”

“What we want to focus on is the presentation of the product,” Baldwin said. “It’s our team, and we want the people to focus on winning and losing. When the team isn’t doing well, go ahead and get mad at us. And if it’s doing well, I hope the fans will be happy.

“No excuses, but we’re getting into this late. A lot of things that we want to get done will get done over the next five-six months as opposed to this quickly. But I don’t think you’ll be displeased. You’ll be happy.”

WOLF PACK/WHALE LEADS GEICO CONNECTICUT CUP

The Wolf Pack/Whale has won two of the first three games in this year’s 10-game GEICO Connecticut Cup series, including a split in Bridgeport, where they won 2-1 on Oct. 6 and lost 4-1 on Nov. 7. The teams’ third meeting at the Arena at Harbor Yard on Friday night will be historic, so the Sound Tigers are inviting fans to purchase a “Farewell Pack” of four tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas for $79. For more information, call 203-334-4625 or visit www.soundtigers.com.

The Sound Tigers (8-11-1-0) have a new coach, Pat Bingham, since their last meeting with the Wolf Pack/Whale. Bingham replaced Jack Capuano on Nov. 15 when Capuano was promoted to coach of the New York Islanders after Scott Gordon was let go and became an assistant to general manager Garth Snow.

The Sound Tigers are 2-2-1-0 under Bingham after a 2-1 loss to the Providence Bruins on Wednesday night on Jamie Arniel’s goal at 3:06 of overtime. That came after a 3-0 victory over the Atlantic Division-leading Portland Pirates on Sunday as rookie goalie Kevin Poulin made 29 saves for his first pro shutout. Poulin also had 28 saves in the Sound Tigers’ only victory over the Wolf Pack/Whale this season, 4-1 in Bridgeport on Nov. 6. He is 5-2-1 with a 2.23 goals-against average and .929 save percentage.

The Sound Tigers were bolstered Wednesday when the Islanders loaned forward Josh Bailey to their AHL affiliate. Bailey, 21, the Islanders’ first-round pick (ninth overall) in 2008, and NHL veteran Jon Sim assisted on the Sound Tigers’ only goal by Jon Landry on a power play. Bailey had three goals and three assists in 18 games with the Islanders, running his career totals to 26 goals and 40 assists in 159 games.

“Demoting Bailey is a wakeup call to the rest of the team,” former Islanders center Butch Goring said Wednesday night while a TV analyst as the Islanders lost 3-2 to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jakub Voracek’s goal at 2:31 of overtime, extending their losing streak to 14 games (0-11-2-1) since a 3-2 overtime victory over Tampa Bay on Oct. 21. “He’s a good, young part of the Islanders, and he’s not the only one who could have been sent down.”

The Islanders have struggled so badly that defenseman James Wisniewski leads the team in scoring with two goals and 11 assists in 19 games but is minus-17, worst in the NHL. Matt Moulson and John Tavares lead the Islanders in goals with eight, while former Wolf Pack right wing P.A. Parenteau has four goals, seven assists and is minus-6 in 20 games. Former Wolf Pack and Rangers defenseman Mike Mottau, in his first season with the Islanders, has three assists and is minus-12, tied for third worst in the NHL, in 20 games. Mottau is out 4-to-6 weeks with a right eye injury sustained when struck with a shot in an overtime loss at Atlanta on Sunday. He stayed in an Atlanta-area hospital for two days because of hyphema, which is blood in the eye.

Snow said he hopes Bailey regains his confidence with the Sound Tigers.

“We’re looking for Josh to go to Bridgeport and play 20-plus minutes a game in different situations,” Snow said. “We’ve had a lot of success in the past with players coming through Bridgeport and gaining the confidence and experience to come to the Islanders and be a difference maker. It’s a young, very competitive team in Bridgeport, and it’s an opportunity for Josh to play in a lot of different situations rather than maybe not get certain types of minutes (with the Islanders).” … The Wolf Pack/Whale has acquired AHL-contracted forward Oren Eizenman from the Syracuse Crunch for future considerations. The 6-foot, 190-pound fourth-year pro had been on loan from the Crunch to the ECHL’s Elmira Jackals, where he had five goals and 12 assists and was plus-10 in 12 games. Eizenman, 25, was scoreless in three games with the Crunch. He has two goals and seven assists in 49 career AHL games with five teams. … Former Quinnipiac University standout Brandon Wong, who didn’t have a point in six games with the Wolf Pack/Whale before being sent to the ECHL’s Greenville Road Warriors on Nov. 9, had a goal and an assist in a 5-4 victory over the Wheeling Nailers on Wednesday night. Wong has two goals and seven assists in eight games with Greenville.

PACIORETTY HAS BIRTHDAY TO REMEMBER

Hamilton Bulldogs forward Max Pacioretty, who played at New Canaan High and Taft School-Watertown, had a 22^nd birthday to remember on Saturday.

The Montreal Canadiens’ first-round pick (22^nd overall) in 2007 had three goals and scored in a shootout, but it wasn’t enough as the Bulldogs lost 4-3 to the rival Toronto Marlies.

“It was a good feeling to finally score some goals and even more special that it came on my birthday,” Pacioretty said. “It might have been the first hat trick of my life.”

Pacioretty nearly duplicated the feat Wednesday night when he scored twice in a 3-2 victory over the Adirondack Phantoms, giving him six goals and one assist in his last three games. He has 10 goals and 13 assists in 19 games this season after getting six goals and 19 assists in 86 games with the Canadiens since signing a three-year contract in 2008. … The Portland Pirates, coached by former Whalers captain Kevin Dineen, are 9-0-1-0 at home, matching a 17-year-old franchise record for longest points streak at the Cumberland County Civic Center. The 1993-94 Pirates began the season with nine wins and a tie and ended the campaign winning the Calder Cup title. The Pirates are 4-4-0-0 on road and have a one-point lead over the Monarchs in the Atlantic Division. They host Springfield on Friday night looking to break their record. … The Chicago Wolves didn’t score more than two goals in a game during a seven-game losing streak and then posted back-to-back 5-2 victories over Houston and Lake Erie last weekend. Then they scored six times in a 6-3 victory over Lake Erie on Tuesday night as former Wolf Pack wing Nigel Dawes had two goals and an assist. … After going 2-5-1-1 in October, the Providence Bruins are 7-1-1-0 in November and have earned a point in each of their last seven road games (6-0-1-0). … Hershey, which had only four regulation losses at home last season (34-4-0-2), has already surpassed that number this season (5-5-0-0) after a 3-2 loss to Worcester on Wednesday night despite outshooting the Sharks 43-21.