SIGNINGS IN HARTFORD 

WHALE SIGN FORWARDS ANDREW YOGAN AND SHAYNE WIEBE TO ATOs

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HARTFORD, CT: Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the team has signed forwards Andrew Yogan and Shayne Wiebe to Amateur Tryout (ATO) agreements.

Yogan, a fourth-round pick (100^th overall) by the parent New York Rangers in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft comes to the Whale from the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL).  The 6-3, 203-pound native of Coral Springs, FL was limited by injury this year to 10 games-played, in which he had three goals and one assist for four points, along with six penalty minutes.  All three of Yogan’s goals came in one game, a hat trick performance vs. Kitchener March 12, in a 5-4 shootout win for the Otters.  In three postseason games with Erie, the 19-year-old Yogan had two assists and four penalty minutes.

Last season with the Otters, Yogan totaled 25 goals and 30 assists for 55 points, plus a team-leading 97 PIM, in 63 games.  Those numbers were good for fourth on the Erie club in assists and fifth in points and goals.  In 174 career OHL games over four seasons with the Otters and the Windsor Spitfires, Yogan has registered 55 goals and 53 assists for 108 points, along with 191 PIM.

Wiebe, 21, just finished a season with the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings that saw him score a team-high 44 goals, and add 21 assists for 65 points, in 72 games.  Wiebe’s 65 points ranked third on the Wheat Kings’ squad, and he also had 60 PIM.  A 6-0, 190-pound Brandon native, Wiebe tied for the Wheat King team lead in postseason goals with four, and tied for third on the club in playoff points with eight, in six playoff contests.

Wiebe went all the way to the championship game of the 2010 Memorial Cup with the Wheat Kings, who lost that final game to the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires.  Wiebe totaled 23 goals and 27 assists for 50 points in 65 games in 2009-10, between Brandon and the Kamloops Blazers.  In 15 WHL playoff games with the Wheat Kings, he notched two goals and nine assists for 11 points.  Wiebe’s WHL career totals with Kamloops and Brandon over five seasons include: 276 games-played, 108 goals, 89 assists, 197 points and 287 PIM.

The Whale are next in action tomorrow night, Friday, April 8, at Bridgeport, as they take on the Sound Tigers in a GEICO Connecticut Cup game (7:00 faceoff, WTIC HD 2, www.ctwhale.com, www.wtic.com).  That is the front half of a home-and-home set between the two Nutmeg-State rivals, who will face off at the XL Center on Saturday night in a 7:00 contest.  Free Whale travel mugs will be given away to 3,000 fans that night, courtesy of CT DOT, and there will be a Connecticut Whale Auction and Sale, starting at 5:00 PM in the XL Center atrium.  Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl game-used Whalers and Bruins jerseys, as well as Whale Bowl sticks, will be up for bid, and CT Whale used sticks and game equipment will be available for sale at great prices.

Tickets for all 2010-11 Whale home games are available now at the XL Center box office, through Ticketmaster Charge-by-Phone at 1-800-745-3000 and on-line at www.ctwhale.com.  Tickets start at $7 each at the XL Center ticket office on game day.

For information on Whale ticket packages, group sales and VIP packages, call (860) 728-3366.

The AHL’s CT Whale is operated by Whalers Sports and Entertainment, a Hartford-based sports marketing and event firm founded by Howard Baldwin.  The team is the top player-development affiliate of the NHL’s New York Rangers.

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(Stats provided by hockeydb.com)