CANTLON: HARTFORD WOLF PACK OFF SEASON VOL 1 

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings

HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack 2021-22 silver jubilee season ended with great disappointment, but seven players were promoted to New York to be Rangers Black Aces for the playoffs.

On Saturday, Rangers President and General Manager Chris Drury announced that the club recalled forwards Tim Gettinger and Lauri Pajuniemi, defensemen Zac Jones, Matthew Robertson, Nils Lundkvist, and Jarred Tinordi, and goaltender Keith Kinkaid from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack.

GETTINGER

Gettinger skated in 45 games with the Wolf Pack during the 2021-22 season, his fourth with the team. He recorded 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) while also leading the club with a plus-nine rating. In addition, Gettinger skated in eight games with the Rangers during the 2021-22 regular season.

Pajuniemi registered 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) in 51 games during his rookie AHL season and had many injuries during the last two months of the 2021-22 campaign. Pajuniemi finished tied for fourth among goal scorers on the club with 13 tallies in his maiden North American pro season.

In his rookie professional season, Jones appeared in 52 games with the Wolf Pack. Jones put up 35 points (9 goals and 26 assists), including his first professional goal, with the Pack in 2021-22. Jones led all Wolf Pack rookies and defensemen in scoring while also finishing tied for 16th in scoring among AHL defensemen. He had been an original recall under the CBA emergency recall provision, so his memory was just altered to reflect the change. He skated in twelve games with two assists for the Rangers.

TINORDI & LUNDKVIST

Tinordi was signed by the Rangers as a free agent last summer. In 2021-22 he appeared in just seven games with the Rangers this season and scored one goal. In 32 games with the Wolf Pack, Tinordi scored five points (1 goal with four assists) over two spans and wore the A by the end of the season.

Lundkvist, like Tinordi, skated in two reassignment periods, was injured (upper body) at the end of the season, and didn’t play the last weekend. He skated in 34 games with the Wolf Pack during his rookie season in North America. Lundkvist tallied 15 points on three goals and 12 assists. All three of his AHL goals during the 2021-22 season stood as game-winning goals.

Lundkvist also skated in 25 games with the Rangers, scoring four points (one goal, three assists). He notched his first career NHL goal on December 8th, 2021, against the Colorado Avalanche at MSG.

ROBERTSON & KINKAID

Robertson played in 65 games with the Wolf Pack during his rookie campaign. He finished with 11 points with just one goal and ten assists. Robertson scored his first professional goal on February 12th, 2022, against the Rochester Americans at the XL Center. However, he only made the Rangers taxi squad this year.

Kinkaid posted a record of 20-14-2 with the Wolf Pack this year. He finished the season with a team-high .904 save percentage and 2.91 goals-against-average in 37 appearances was a rock most of the season; however, the rest of the team faltered in the last 30 games. Kinkaid also notched Hartford’s lone shutout of the 2021-22 season, making 31 saves on January 15th, 2022, against the Laval Rocket.

Kinkaid made one appearance with the Rangers, defeating the Arizona Coyotes on December 15th, 2021.

The Wolf Pack finished just .20 percentage points ahead of Lehigh Valley and last place in the division.

(A Wolf Pack press release was used for information in this segment)

EX-HARTFORD WOLF PACK CHRIS BOURQUE RETIRES

Following a five-year European career, Chris Bourque, the legendary AHL winger, will be a shoo-in for the AHL Hall of Famer when his five-year post-playing time expires in 2027.

Bourque spent most of his 17 pro seasons in the AHL, skating in 794 regular-season games with the Portland Pirates, Hershey Bears, Providence Bruins, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and Hartford.

The elder Bourque played with his brother Ryan four times in Hartford, Providence, Hershey, and Bridgeport.

He ranks 20th all-time in scoring with 746 points; each of the 19 players ahead of him has been elected to the AHL Hall of Fame.

Bourque also sits 12th with 495 assists and tied for 40th with 251 goals.

MORE ON THE SON OF NHL’ER HOF RAY BOURQUE

Bourque, 36, won AHL MVP honors in 2015-16 and captured two scoring titles (2011-12, 2015-16), three Calder Cup championships (2006, 2009, 2010), and one postseason MVP award (2010).

The 2018 U.S. Olympian in Pyeongchang, South Korea, also played in a record-tying six AHL All-Star Classics (2009, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018) and was named a First Team AHL All-Star three times.

In addition, to his regular-season scoring, Bourque is the AHL’s all-time leader in playoff assists (82) and ranks fourth in points (117) and second in games played (133) in Calder Cup Playoff history.

The ex-Pack joined brother Ryan in the retired category and was originally a second-round draft choice by Washington in 2004.

(An AHL news story was used as part of this segment)

RANGERS IN JUNIORS

Likely future Rangers will be playing for their league titles and a chance to get to the Memorial Cup in Saint John, New Brunswick.

In the OHL, team captain, ex-Pack, and likely one again in the fall, Will Cullye and his Windsor Spitfire teammates battled the Sarnia Sting in their first round. He had an excellent backhander for a shorthanded tally in a 3-2 OT loss in Game 5 and a two-goal effort in Game 2 in a 4-1 win, and on Sunday, he scored an empty netter in a 3-1 win to win and close out the series in six games. They will play the winner of the London-Kitchener series in Round 2 to start on Friday.

Brennan Othman, last year’s first-round pick captain of the Firebirds, is doing battle with the Owen Sound Attach coached by ex-Sound Tigers Alan Letang, had a goal and assist in the 6-3 Game 2 win in the best-of-seven series. He notched an assist in Sunday’s 5-1, forcing a Game 6 on Tuesday night.

Evan Vierling from the Barrie Colts was eliminated in six by the Mississaugua Icedogs. He has 47 points in 55 games during the season.

MEANWHILE, OVER IN THE WHL

Over in the WHL, goalie Dylan Garand, already under contract with a three-year ELC deal starting next year, backstopped his Kamloops Blazers team to a sweep over the Spokane (WA) Chiefs has the second-best league GAA at 2.16 in the regular and best so far in the postseason at 0.75!

They will play the Portland (OR) Winter Hawks, who swept the first-round series with Prince George (BC) Cougars.

Jayden Grubbe scored the triple OT winner as the Red Deer (AB) Rebels advanced in six over the Brandon (MB) Wheat Kings.

Ryder Korczak of the Moose Jaw (SK) Warriors has five points in five games, won five games over the Saskatoon (SK) Blades, and headed to the second round to play the Winnipeg Ice, winners in five games as well.

With four points in four games, Matt Rempe helped his Seattle Thunderbirds team advance in five games over the Kelowna Rockets to play the Edmonton (AB) Oil Kings.

The loss sent Talen Boyko home of two 6’8 goalie prospects; he was 1-6-1 with Kelowna and was traded, finishing with a 28-12-4 in 46 games with a 2.79 GAA in the regular season.

UCONN SCHEDULE

The non-conference portion of next year’s schedule is close to completion and will feature two independent NCAA Division I squads.

They will face the Long Island University Sharks (LIU) and the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Nanooks (14-18-2).

Alaska used to have two programs at Fairbanks and Anchorage. Unfortunately, the Anchorage Seawolves program was axed due to severe state budget cuts. However, a save the Seawolves effort was undertaken, as they raised the necessary funds to revive the program in two years.

That left Fairbanks as the only major collegiate program in the 49th state that is not operating in a conference after the WCHA went bust two years ago when seven schools went to the CCHA and two programs at Alabama-Huntsville and Anchorage before they were both revived with outside campaigns were ended.

The team will also take on Union College of Schenectady, NY coming off a record of 14-19-4 and replacing long-time coach ex-Ranger Rick Bennett who got in trouble for his previous practice habits.

They’ll hit MSG, complete their NYC metro arena troika, and play the Cornell Big Red (18-10-4) for the first time, led by Halifax, Canada native, and Colorado Avalanche draft pick Matt Steinburg’s son of former Nighthawk Trevor.

NON-CONFERENCE GAMES

The other non-conference opponents will be two of the three in-state teams they play at the annual CT Ice Festival Sacred Heart University (AHA), Yale University (ECACHL), or Quinnipiac University (ECACHL) site, and the team schedule is still being worked on and formulated.

The last non-conference opponent is Ohio State (NCHC) (22-13-2), who will come to CT this year as part of a reciprocal agreement.

UCONN is losing 14 players from last year’s team; nine have graduated, one left early (Vladislav Firstov to Minnesota), and four have transferred to new schools.

The most surprising is Artem Schlaine (New Jersey) heading to Northern Michigan (CCHA), also heading west is defenseman Carter Berger, who ended the season as the seventh rearguard falling out of the defensive rotation. Finally, Gavin Puskar (Hotchkiss School) does a rarity leaving for an Ivy League school in Brown University (ECACHL) in Providence, RI didn’t get in a game in his sophomore year.

The last transferee is Cassidy Bowes, whose new school he has yet to announce.

NEW NCAA RULES

Over the weekend in Naples, Florida, new rules for NCAA hockey were being voted on and written as they promulgate a new era. The rules are game-changing and will alter the college hockey landscape.

The new ideas likely to become new features are previously unpaid volunteer assistants; all will now be paid. Presently, just two assistants can be paid while other assistants are designated as unpaid and volunteer assistant coaches.

The elimination of transfer rules altogether. Before player was required to sit out a year before playing for their new school.

Then giving more latitude to referee crews to call just major penalties eliminating the game misconduct assignment for some calls and after 2026 scrapping the NCAA regionals for on-campus venues instead.

This comes out of the Allston case in which the Supreme Court struck down many of the previous provisions regarding the long-held college-level rules.

CT HIGH SCHOOL HOCKEY

Big off-season new as two pillars of the public-school game have hung up their skates as head coaches.

Ex-Pack Todd Hall, after 20 years as an assistant and head coach called it quits for the Hamden High Green Dragons getting bounced in the quarterfinals this year 9-1 by Xavier of Middletown, and only got close to the title in 2016 losing in the semifinals to Fairfield Prep. Now the program will be searching for just the sixth head coach ever in school history,

“My daughters (12 and 10) are getting older and involved in their sports and getting to that age. I have to use all my vacation time (as a firemen) to coach and its a major time commitment. I’ve invested 25 years of my life at Hamden, I’m pushing 50.  Its time. I’ll cherish every moment I’ve ever had, Hamden has been very good to me,” remarked Hall.

He was preceded by Don McNeil, Lou Astorino, Dick Gagliardi and Billy Veneris.

Then two days later, Fairfield Prep’s Matt Sather after 22 years, who played at the private, parochial school and skated as captain his senior season as did Hall at Hamden stepped down after 24 years total where he still teaches English.

He won eight state titles, two more as an assistant, and played twice for the state title. The first, was a monumental upset of an unbeaten and untied Hall-led Hamden team in the final in 1991 and again the following season losing to Greenwich and had a spectacular record of 359-133-22. Four titles came from 2015-to-2019 and a chance at a three-peat to equal a school record was interrupted by COVID in 2020.

He was an assistant his first two years with the Jesuits program, they will be looking for the fifth coach in school history lost this year in the quarterfinals to New Canaan 3-2.

The others were the legendary Marty Roos that started the program in the mid-1970s, Peter LaVigne, Adolph Brink, and of course Sather.

WORLD U-18 DIVISION I GROUP A

The tournament doesn’t involve any of the major hockey powers, but this year’s entries with Ukraine in the tourney as one of the six teams and the awful events that have surrounded their nation under attack, by Russia have seen the world hockey community spring into action to lend a helping hand with the tourney being held in Tychy, Poland.

Hungary, a playing participant in Division I Group A lent a helping hand with practice facilities in Miskolci, and equipment. They helped raise funds for Ukraine’s U-18 squad that won bronze. They hear Estonia 8-0 and Serbia 7-0, but lost a heartbreaker 3-2 in a shoot-out against host Poland who won gold and had a bad game against Japan.

Don MacAdam, former New Haven Senators head coach and now current Director of Player Development for Hungary’s national hockey federation for its junior and senior programs relayed the great efforts made on their behalf.

“We have hosted the Ukrainian national team for the past five weeks, paying all their expenses. We also have approximately 100 Ukrainian youth teams here being hosted by Hungarian clubs; this was an initiative of our federation,” said MacAdam who held the same position with Ferencvárosi TC U21 for four years before going with the national program this year.

The deprivation was clear to see arriving daily at the bus and railway stations in Budapest.

“We see the mothers and. children in the streets. Most have been well taken care of.

It’s awful what Putin is doing,” remarked MacAdam via Instant Messenger.

Give Hungarian hockey the primary assist.

HARTFORD WOLF PACK

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