We are going to open this edition of Ice Chips by telling you to check out the news coming from the CT Whale/Hartford Wolfpack.
First we have a piece on the former Hartford players who are now in the big time spotlight of Broadway playing for the Rangers. It also contains some news on Michael Nylander, a former Whaler.
While Jeremy Williams is preaching patience, former Ranger captain Mark Messier visited a Hartford practice.
Hartford goaltender Dov Grumet-Morris, was a nominee for Reebok/AHL rookie of the week last week.
Individual tickets for Wolf Pack/Whale home games are on sale now at the XL Center Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations. Tickets may also be charged by phone at 1-800-745-3000 or online at www.hartfordwolfpack.com.
The Wolfpack/Whale started a five game home stand last Wednesday and 2,317 saw them get beat pretty badly by the Norfolk Admirals, 5-1 as five different visitors notched goals. Then the weekend wasn't much better as they got shutout 1-0 at home by the Binghamton Senators Friday night in front of 3,017 at the XL Center. Erik Condra netted the games lone goal with just 3:10 remaining in regulation time to give Binghampton the win.
Then on Saturday Hartford dropped a 2-1 shootout loss to the Syracuse Crunch as 4,022 watched at the XL Center in Hartford. Once again all the scoring came late as Jeremy Williams got his 4th goal of the season with just 11:36 to play in the game to give the Wolfpack/Whale a 1-0 lead. But Syracuse's Kyle Palmieri broke the twine with just :24 seconds remaining in the game to force an extra period. Then just :45 seconds into the OT Josh Green scored for the Crunch to send them home winners. After 2 and half periods of shutout hockey Hartford allowed 2 goals in 1:09 for a tough loss.
Keep reading by hitting the read more button below.
After two heartbreaking home losses the team now is in 4th place in the Atlantic Division with 8 points and a 3-3-1-1 record and it's back on as the Wolfpack/Whale hit the ice tonight as they play the 4th game of a five game home stand with the Albany Devils at 7 p.m. It's your last chance to see Albany in the regular season. The team wraps up the weekend with a home and away series with the Springfield Falcons on Friday and Saturday evenings. All the games including the roadie in Springfield start at 7 p.m.
Now I want to help everyone get in the Whale state of mind so lets say we take a quick look at some of the Whalers past. The first player is former goaltender Frank Pietrangelo he wore #40 and played 54 regular season and 7 playoff games as a Hartford Whaler. Acquired from Pittsburgh Penguins for 1994 third and seventh round picks on March 10, 1992 he left two years later when he was signed by New York Islanders as a free agent in August 1994. His claim to fame is having the longest losing streak among Whalers goaltenders with 7 and overall his record in Hartford was 12-27-1. He was the goalie in the heartbreaking 1992 Game 7 playoff loss to Montreal. He only played in that series because of an injury to starter Peter Sidorkiewicz.
And the second player we bring you today is John French, who played LW and wore #11 in the early New England Whalers days. French who was signed as a free agent in February 1972 played in 226 games and had 60 goals and 124 assists. He also had 8 goals and 15 assists in 26 playoff games and was a member of the AVCO Cup Championship team in 1973. French, who was traded to the San Diego Mariners in October 1975 for a draft pick, scored the first ever Whalers OT goal, and held Whalers WHA records for most goals in a game (4) and most assists in a game (5).
You can follow Steve on Twitter @djstevem
Photo credits: whalershockey.com
Original Story:
http://soxanddawgs.com/hockey/ct-whal...
