Penalties Kill Pack

Published on October 10, 2010 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Connecticut Whale News Release


HARTFORD, Conn. - Hartford Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander has harped on cutting down penalties for two seasons.

Some veteran members of the 2010-11 Wolf Pack apparently haven't got the message yet.

The Wolf Pack escaped some ill-advised transgressions Saturday night in a season-opening victory over the Charlotte Checkers, but four early bad penalties by veterans led to two Worcester Sharks power-play goals by Benn Ferriero and a 4-3 victory before 2,912 at the XL Center on Sunday.

"I didn't appreciate that at all, and it all starts between your ears," Wolf Pack coach Ken Gernander said. "It's something you don't do. To get to this level, you've played hockey and understand what a penalty is. I couldn't have said it enough times that anytime you're backchecking it's not just a 10-foot, all-or-nothing thing where you reach out, get him on the pants or the yellow pads, especially in the neutral zone. If it's to take away a scoring chance, that's another thing. But you've still got another 85 feet to catch that guy."

The penalties led to the Sharks having as many goals (three) as the Wolf Pack had shots in the first period. Though the Wolf Pack outshot the Sharks 30-13 the rest of the way, including 19-4 in the third period, the early mental breakdowns proved decisive.

"We got into early penalty trouble because we were a little slow in the head to start the game for whatever reason," said Wolf Pack captain Dane Byers, who assisted on goals by Evgeny Grachev and the first of rookie Kelsey Tessier's two goals. "That's unacceptable because you get down three (goals) in this league and it's tough to come back. They're calling it pretty tight because they want to make it as close to the NHL as possible, so when guys do get called up, they playing the same rules.

"When we got that first goal (by Grachev), we got some life. But that's the game of hockey. You want to get some momentum, but it was too late. But we can't panic over it. It's early in the year, but we have to learn from it quick. We have (four days) of practice to work on correcting our mistakes."

The Wolf Pack made plenty faux pas at the outset, as Jeremy Williams reached out in center ice and committed a hooking penalty 2:25 into the game that led to Ferriero converting Nick Schaus' rebound 62 seconds later.

The Sharks scored their only even-strength goal at 11:27 as Jonathan Cheechoo got inside position on Wolf Pack rookie defenseman Ryan McDonagh and deflected Justin Braun's shot past Chad Johnson (20 saves). Cheechoo is trying to play his way back into the NHL, where he scored 170 goals in seven seasons, including 56 in 2005-06 for the San Jose Sharks.

Brodie Dupont was called for slashing at 13:39, and Kris Newbury whistled for high-sticking 1:28 later. The Wolf Pack killed off the 5-on-3 for 32 seconds, but before Newbury left the penalty box, Ferriero banged in his own rebound off Cheechoo's shot with 4:26 left in the first period.

The Wolf Pack finally showed some life midway through the second period, and Grachev ended a 29-game goalless streak since Feb. 12 when he jammed in Tessier's shot that had ricocheted off the plexiglass behind the net and into the crease with 3:31 left.

Then 2:54 into the third period, Tessier jammed in Byers' backhand centering pass from the right wing for his first pro goal.

But McDonagh was called for hooking after being beaten wide, and James Marcou got the winner, deflecting in Cheechoo's centering pass high to Johnson's glove side at 6:47.

During a late Wolf Pack power play, Dale Weise failed to tuck a pass from Brandon Wong into an open net and Byers couldn't jam in a loose puck in the crease. After Johnson was pulled for a sixth attacker, Tessier scored his second goal with 4.6 seconds left off a scramble after Newbury won a faceoff to Wade Redden. The veteran defenseman has three assists in his first two minor-league games after playing 994 NHL games with the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers.

But that merely made the final score respectable after the Wolf Pack's sluggish start.

"It was one of those nights where they didn't have a lot of shots (24), but they were pretty good quality," Johnson said. "We'd make a little mistake, and then all of a sudden they'd get a scoring chance. We kind of turned it up the last five minutes of the second period, and the third period we really took it to them for the most part.

"But you can't wait until the last 10 minutes to try to get things going. It takes the whole 60 minutes to win. And it's hard to get rhythm and momentum when you do something good and then get a penalty.

We couldn't get anything going in the first, and it definitely cost us. We were playing catch-up the whole game, and it's tough. I don't know what the reason was. There's really no excuse to come out flat. Maybe it was being overconfident after winning last night (4-2 over the Charlotte Checkers).

"We're young, and it's a long season, but it's important to win these games. They're just as important as the ones at the end of the year regardless of who you're playing against. They were the better hockey TEAM. They've lost a lot of their go-to guys, but it doesn't matter if you play well as a team, work hard, cycle pucks low and draw penalties. It's early in the year so we have to learn quickly that we can't take anyone lightly."

The Wolf Pack learned all about needing to play as a team and every game being important last season when they missed the playoffs for the first time in 14 seasons by only three points, and much of that could be traced to bad penalties. After an off day Monday, they'll have four days of practice that are certain to contain yet another lecture on avoiding such acts.

One player who earned Gernander's plaudits was Tessier, who went to the Rangers' prospects tournament in early September as a free-agent invitee, earned an AHL contract through his tenacity in the preseason and has been the Wolf Pack's best player through two regular-season games.

"When we shifted lines (in the second period) to try to spice things up, he was given more responsibility and obviously made the most of it," Gernander said. "I think he has been a positive and excelled everywhere we've put him. He's not treading water and biding time, he's actually playing and performing wherever he has been placed."

Gernander can only hope some other players do the same when the Wolf Pack embark on their first three games-in-three nights stint this weekend, playing at Albany on Friday night, at Bridgeport on Saturday night and at Providence on Sunday afternoon. Their next home game is Oct. 22 against Norfolk, and that starts a five-game run at the XL Center, tying the longest of the season.

Lee Baldwin Replaces Nightingale

The Wolf Pack scratched defensemen Jared Nightingale (foot) and Jyri Niemi and left wing Devin DiDiomete, who will be sidelined until at least early November after extensive offseason hip surgery. Lee Baldwin replaced Nightingale. ... The Sharks were 3-for-7 on the power play to the Wolf Pack's 0-for-3 and a collective minus-10 to the Wolf Pack's plus-11. Tessier, Grachev and rookie defenseman Pavel Valentenko each were plus-3, and Byers and Baldwin were plus-2. But such positive numbers mean nothing if the end result is negative. ... Two-time AHL All-Star and former Wolf Pack defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti was among three players assigned to the Checkers after the Carolina Hurricanes returned from beating the Minnesota Wild twice in Finland to start the NHL season. Sanguinetti played two full seasons with the Wolf Pack and Rangers, who selected him in the first round (21st overall) in 2006. On June 26, he was traded to Carolina for a sixth-round pick this year and a second-round selection in 2011. The others assigned by the Hurricanes were goalie Justin Pogge and defenseman Brett Carson. Sanguinetti had an assist as the Checkers beat the Springfield Falcons 4-1 Sunday. Pogge backed up Mike Murphy, who lost to the Wolf Pack on Saturday night.

Howard Baldwin Plenty Visible

Howard Baldwin has certainly been visible - in the stands and locker room - in the Wolf Pack's first two games. Baldwin and his wife, Karen, walked the concourse corridors during both games and visited the Wolf Pack locker room after Saturday night's game. He had a previous engagement after Sunday's game.

Baldwin and his Whalers Sports and Entertainment group has taken over control of the Wolf Pack's business operations. Baldwin said he plans to be in the public and players' eyes without resembling an overly on-hands boss like Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

"I just went around (the locker room) to thank them, and I'll do that whenever I can, win or lose," said Baldwin, who did likewise when he was owner and managing general partner of the New England and Hartford Whalers. "They're our team, and I feel it's always important to go down (to the locker room). And I really wanted to do it here because I want these guys to feel like they're a part of this, that people care, and that I appreciate it when they go out and do what they do. And I want to keep hammering home to them to be patient because we only took this thing over (three) weeks ago."

Baldwin said he plans to invite the players, coaches and their wives, girlfriends and significant others to a dinner. He also said he wasn't upset with crowds of 7,013 on opening night and the 2,912 Sunday.

"I don't think people understand enough how this (hockey) market has been damaged," said Baldwin, who is trying to revitalize hockey in the area, rename and rebrand the team the Connecticut Whale around Thanksgiving and bring another NHL team to Hartford. "So it's important to get the message out. We're going to be doing some announcements this week, and I guarantee when we do the renaming that we'll have some really good crowds."

"Something has to build," Baldwin said. "But I'm not down at all. I knew this wasn't going to be an easy thing. I guess we'll see."

Correction

After Game 1, Baldwin said he will get a Mohawk haircut if the Wolf Pack gets a sellout, not a shutout, as erroneously reported by this reporter. Don't know if Howard was hedging his bets (wink, wink), but a sellout is a lot longer odds. In their 14 seasons, the Wolf Pack has 79 shutouts, 46 at home, and no sellouts.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 10, 2010


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