CANTLON’S CORNER: WOLF PACK OFF SEASON VOLUME 12 

Wolf Pack Off Season Volume 12

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – Another busy off-season week.

OLYMPIC TEAMS

The first country to get started on the Olympics, sans NHL participation for the first time in the last five Olympiads, has begun.  Team Canada named its management and coaching staff and a preliminary roster.

The GM who will guide and put the pieces of the puzzle together, is former Hartford Whaler, Sean Burke. A pro scout with the Montreal Canadiens, Burke was named last Tuesday to begin the process of putting a team together in six months for the Pyeongchang, South Korean Games which will run from February 9-25.

The first roster that’s been released has a few familiar names. They will have two squads with few different players on each to play in the Sochi Tournament on August 6-9 and the Tournament Victor Puchkov from August 14-17.

For the Sochi tourney, ex-Pack, Daniel Paille, will be playing and for the Puchkov tourney with ex-Pack and ex Bridgeport Sound Tiger, Taylor Beck. In both games, ex-Sound Tigers’ goalie Kevin Poulin will dress for the Canada.

Willie Desjardins will coach the team. Desjardins was relieved of his duties by the Vancouver Canucks at the end of last season and won an AHL Calder Cup with the Texas Stars. His assistants include former long-time Syracuse Crunch (AHL) player, Scott Walker, along with Craig Woodcroft and the widely experienced face of Team Canada, and one-time Olympic head coach, Dave King.

Burke’s assistant GM is another goalie and one of the all-time greats, Martin Brodeur, the Assistant GM for the St. Louis Blues.

AHL ALL STAR GAME

One of the casualties of the Olympic conundrum for the AHL is the inability to plan an All-Star game.

The date chosen for the game is the last weekend of January, but a venue and format are still to be determined.

“There are so many moving pieces to this because its something we haven’t dealt with since the 1990’s, not having NHL players involved,” AHL VP of Communications, Jason Chaimovitch said. “We have scheduled in Olympic years around the NHL (Olympic) break. Now we can only control players who are on AHL contracts who can be released for the Olympics. We really are at the beginning of the process in how the US and Canada (and the other countries) will proceed with preparations as far as forming a team and games they’ll play.

“We really can’t go to a host city to have the All-Star game, because we have an unknown about players and really what type of format it will be played with. Clearly, this will be worked out over the next several months with (AHL President) Dave (Andrews) and the AHL Board of Governors and the respective national teams.”

Andrews will have to deal with many unintended consequences seemingly whichever direction he goes. For example, a team’s third string goalie is playing for say, Finland. An injury to a player occurs and there’s a need for say a backup netminder on the team’s depth chart, but relief is a 14-hour flight away in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

How is that going to b e handled?

The NHL has transfer agreements with all of the major European countries except Russia. Certianly looks like there could be a clash of priorities in the making here. How this is handled will be critical to the AHL having a successful season and All-Star game while affording players the vast honor of representing their country at the Olympics.

WJC SUMMER SHOWCASE

In what is either an excellent sneak preview or overkill, in conjunction with the refurbishing of their hockey arena, USA Hockey is launching “The USA Hockey Arena” they purchased from the now defunct Plymouth Whalers (OHL). There will be a four team preview of the Christmas time World Junior tournament dubbed the WJC Summer Showcase from July 28^th until August 5th.

The four countries involved are the US, Canada, Sweden, and Finland. The final three days of games will be shown on The NHL Network.

The US will have split squads for the tournament. Team White will have Pat Harper (New Canaan / AOF / BU / Nashville draft pick), Jack Badini (Old Greenwich / Harvard / Anaheim), Phil Kemp (Greenwich / Brunswick Prep / Yale / Edmonton). The squad features three sons of former CT pro players.

Logan Brown, the son of former Whaler, Jeff Brown is one. Max Jones, the son of former New Haven Nighthawk, Brad Jones is another and goalie Dylan St. Cyr, the son of former New Haven Senator, Gerry St. Cyr are the others.

The team’s assistant coach is Dan Muse (Yale University/Sacred Heart University), who was just hired as an assistant coach with Nashville.

The Blue squad has two players of note. Sean Day, the New York Rangers third round pick from 2015, who is expected to be in Hartford in September at Wolf Pack training camp and Ridgefield’s Chad Krys (BU / CT Oilers / Chicago).

Two other players of note are Canada’s Pierre-Luc Dubois, a third overall selection of Columbus two years ago and a one-time linemate of the Wolf Pack’s Michael Joly, who is the son of former New Haven Nighthawk, Eric Dubois.

Lias Andersson, the Rangers number one pick and 7^th overall selection in last month’s NHL Draft is on Sweden’s roster. On its coaching staff, Finland has former NHL defenseman, Sami Salo who played over 800 games with Vancouver and Tampa Bay.

Note that the arena will likely bear the name of someone who gave a lot to USA Hockey. Tim Taylor and Bob Johnson are possibilities. (Editor’s note: Herb Brooks perhaps?)

PLAYER MOVEMENT

The latest signing for the Wolf Pack is a veteran in left-winger, Eric Selleck. The 6’2, 200-pounder is a crash-and-bang forward who isn’t afraid to drop the mitts. The Wolf Pack are Selleck’s seventh AHL team. He was a Division III collegian who played two years at SUNY Oswego (SUNYAC).

Last season, Selleck played 46 games in Tucson with the Roadrunners scoring five goals and tallying four helpers and 103 PM. He played in Springfield two years ago with the Falcons.

He has 438 AHL games under his belt and has amassed 44 goals, 107 points, and 1,187 PM.

He has three NHL games to his credit logging one assist and 17 PM.

Ex-Pack TJ Hensick re-signs another one-year AHL deal with the Ontario Reign (AHL). One-time Springfield Falcon, David Bell, was named their new assistant coach. He was a head coach with Niagara (OHL) last year.

Former Quinnipiac Bobcat and South Windsor native, Jordan Samuels-Thomas, has signed a two-year AHL deal with San Diego.  Ex-Sound Tiger Scooter Vaughan signs with the Chicago Wolves (AHL).

Bridgeport re-signs Connor Jones, the former Quinnipiac Bobcat and grandson to former New Haven Blade, Terry Jones, Sr., to a one-year, two-way deal ($650K-NHL/$80K-AHL).

Junior goalie Collin Delia leaves Merrimack (HE) early, and signs with the Chicago Blackhawks. He will likely start the year in Rockford.

Delia’s signing makes 40 underclassmen who have left US colleges to ink North American pro contracts. In total, 181 players have signed deals since school ended. That number includes Division III players. Another 38 have signed to play in Europe which includes six who played a few games in the AHL/ECHL at the end of last season.

Former Beast of New Haven Ryan Johnson adds Utica Comets GM to his job portfolio. He’s already Vancouver’s Director of Player Development. As part of the overall organizational shakeup, Gary Agnew was named associate coach. Agnew has six years of prior AHL experience as a head coach in Syracuse at the start of the century.

Johnson replaces former New Haven Nighthawk and Ranger, Pat Conacher, who will remain as Utica’s Director of Hockey Operations. Former Ranger, Todd Harvey, is a new amateur scout. Lucien DeBlois, a former Nighthawk, and New York Ranger was among the three scouts let go as part of the staff shuffle by the Canucks.

The complete Arizona house cleaning extended to their AHL team in Tucson with three new names added to the coaching staff.

Mike Van Ryan was named head coach. His assistants are AHL Hall of Famer John Slaney, and former AHL player, Steve Potvin. Van Ryan was the head coach with Kitchener (OHL) last year.

Former Pack, Brendon Nash, goes from EC Graz (Austria-AEHL) to Rongstad (Denmark-DHL).

Ex-Pack, Alexandre Giroux, goes from Medvescak Zagreb (Croatia-KHL) to Grenoble (France-FREL).

Another defenseman who played briefly for the Wolf Pack, David Stich, goes from BK Mlada Boleslav (Czech Republic-CEL)/HC Benatsky (Czech Republic Division-2) to HC Kladno (Czech Republic Division-2).

Ex-Pack Zdenek Bahensky re-signs with SSI Vitipeno (Italy-AlpsHL).

The AHL-To-Euro list saw Tyler Morley of San Diego head to a newly restructured Medvescak Zagreb (Croatia-AEHL). Medvescak Zagreb switched leagues after failing out of the KHL last year with serious financial difficulties.

Jaedon Deschenes who split last season with Bakersfield/Norfolk (ECHL) signs with HC Thurgau (Switzerland-LNB) for next year.

The AHL to Euro list now stands at 60 players making the move.  26 of the 30 AHL teams have lost at least one player.

Enfield’s Robbie Baillargeon, who played three years at BU and ended his NCAA Division I career at Arizona State (NCAA Independent), signs with South Carolina (ECHL). Danny Federico, a former Quinnipiac Bobcat, signs another one year deal with the Stingrays.

Ex-Sound Tiger Cam Reid goes from Utah (ECHL) to Indy (ECHL).

Former Whaler, Peter Sidorliewicz, gets reunited with an old coaching partner in former New Haven Nighthawk player and coach, plus Ranger player, Robbie Ftorek. The duo will be with Norfolk (ECHL) next season. The two coached for four years with Erie (OHL), pre-Connor McDavid days, where he was a head or assistant coach for 13 years later before retiring.

Sidorkiewicz was an assistant coach the last three years with Dornbirner EC (Austria-AEHL). Known as, “El Sid,” in his days in Hartford. He played 246 NHL games of which 178 were in Hartford during a five year run from 1987-1992.

Sidorkiewicz is just one of five Polish born players in NHL history. The first was with the Rangers, Joe Jerva (1930’-31). Jerva played with the Bruins and New York Americans. The second was with Chicago. Eddie Leier played just 16 games (1949-1951). Mariusz Czerkawski skated 745 games and had 435 points with the Islanders, Bruins, and Edmonton. The other is a former Wolf Pack and NHL heavyweight, Krzysztof Oliwa, who took part in 410 games registering 45 points and 1,447 PM. He had 876 PM in 103 AHL games and 57 points.

Jake Grimes, former New Haven Senator leaves as an assistant coach with Peterborough (OHL) to become the associate head coach with Guelph (OHL).

Former Wolf Pack and Ranger, Mike York, who retired from pro hockey two years ago, took the assistant coaching job with Lake Superior State (NCHC) in Sault Ste. Marie Michigan. Last year, York returned to Michigan State to finish his college degree and was the student assistant coach for the Spartans. While a player there, York recorded 201 points in 158 games and was a CCHA First and Second Team All Star, Playoff MVP, All Rookie team and Hobey Baker finalist in his four years from 1994 to 1997.

York played 579 NHL games with the Rangers, Edmonton, Islander, Flyers, Columbus, and Phoenix (nee Arizona) and recorded 322 points. He played his last five years of his career (six in total) with Iserlohn (Germany-DEL) logging 278 points in 287 games and had his number 78 taken out of use. It will be retired at a future date.

York had 103 points in 123 AHL games with the Wolf Pack, Syracuse, and Rochester.

Internationally, he played for two US WJC teams leading the tourney in scoring in 1996-97. He won a Silver medal in the 2002 Olympic Games for the US Team and played in a World Championship tournament.

York’s consistency throughout his entire hockey career will likely land him in the US Hockey Hall of Fame sometime in the future.

The late Wolf Pack coach EJ Maguire used to rave about York’s skills in the faceoff circle. He’d say he was better than when he arrived from the Michigan State Spartans and that he would be the NHL a long time. Macguire was right on the money.

York now makes 74 ex-Wolf Pack players coaching now at some level of hockey in North America and Europe. He was the last active player who played from the very first Wolf Pack team.

A few former players are coaching in the Canadian junior B ranks. Among them are ex-Pack, Mark Bell, who’s an assistant coach with St. Mary’s (GOJHL). Ex-Pack and Danbury Trasher defenseman, Rumun Ndur, is an assistant coach with London (GOJHL). Former Whaler goalie Frank Pietrangelo is the owner and head coach/GM for Niagara Falls Canucks (GOJHL) and added his son Dylan as his goalie coach after graduating college at Southern Maine (NEHC).

Former New Haven Nighthawk Brian Dobbin is the head coach for Komoka (GOJHL).

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