New York Rangers 2008 fifth round pick Chris Doyle has been charged with assault in his hometown of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.  The forward, who’s played the the past three years for the PEI Rocket of the Quebec Major Junior League, allegedly assaulted one woman and damaged the laptop computer of another woman last Friday and is now facing charges of “assault causing bodily harm” and “willfully damaging property”.

Doyle was released after spending the night in jail and will continue practicing and playing with the team while he awaits his October 22 court date.  For more see The Guardian and CBC.

The 19-year old found himself in trouble on the ice earlier this month when he was suspended for four games for deliberately colliding with an official.

UPDATE 10/01/09 11:08 PM - Here’s some additional information from the CBC, which reveals that Doyle is accused of breaking a 21-year old woman’s nose and causing two lacerations requiring stitches.

Doyle doesn’t necessarily fall under my Wolf Pack- and Russian-centric sphere of influence, but I posted the CBC link above via Twitter last night and Newsday’s Steve Zipay mentioned it as a Beyond the Blueshirts story on his blog this morning, so I wanted to make sure people could find the info if they came looking.

The Hartford Wolf Pack made their final training camp cuts on Monday, trimming their roster to 23 players by reassigning or releasing six players.

Up front, New York Rangers draft picks Ryan Hillier and Tomas Zaborsky were reassigned by the Rangers to the Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL.

A season ago, Zaborsky struggled in Charlotte under head coach Derek Wilkinson, putting up only 12 points in 28 games before asking for a change and being loaned to the Daynton Bombers, also of the ECHL. Once there, he broke out for 10 goals and 6 assists in 19 games and earned himself a recall to Hartford.  Major shoulder surgery ended his stint in Connecticut’s capital — and his season — after only 8 games.  Whether he stays in Charlotte this season or once again asks to be moved elsewhere will likely depend on how prominent a role he earns with the club and how much ice time Wilkinson is willing to give him — and whether injuries in on the Wolf Pack create a need for him in Hartford early in the season.

Joining Hillier and Zaborsky in Charlotte will be defensemen Trevor Glass and Jared Nightingale.  There was simply not enough room for either player on an already-stacked blueline which features 4-5 blueliners with serious NHL potential.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, the Wolf Pack cut only one goaltender, 24-year old former Los Angeles Kings prospect Ryan Munce.  That leaves the team with three netminders on the roster — unusual, but not at all unheard of in the AHL, where there are no limits on roster size until after the AHL’s “Clear Day” in March.

The decision to keep all three was most likely influenced by a combination of Matt Zaba’s preseason struggles and Chad Johnson’s strong showing both at the Traverse City Prospects Tournament and in Rangers’ camp. Miika Wiikman, who looked shaky in his only preseason playing time for the Rangers, remains in the mix despite not seeing any preseason action with the Wolf Pack.  The Swedish-born Finn will be looking to rebound from a difficult sophomore season, but there has also been speculation that the soon-to-be 25-year old could be moved to make way for Johnson.

UPDATE 10:06PM: Leslie Treff, who spent the weekend covering the Wolf Pack for Hockey’s Future NY Rangers Blog, revealed today that Wiikman’s lack of playing time in the preseason was due to injury. She didn’t specify the nature of the injury, but said he was considered day-to-day.

Finally, the Wolf Pack released their preseason scoring leader, Derek Couture.  The 25-year old former Calgary Flames draft pick put up good numbers during the preseason in an effort to earn a contract, but with the Wolf Pack already stocked with forwards who have NHL deals, the cards were stacked against him from the start.

Today’s cuts, plus the addition of Evgeny Grachev, who was assigned to Hartford by the Rangers last night, leave 23 players on the roster as the team prepares for Saturday’s season opener in Binghamton.

Goal (3): Chad Johnson, Miika Wiikman, Matt Zaba

Defense (7): Ilkka Heikkinen, Brent Henley, Corey Potter, Bobby Sanguinetti, Michael Sauer, David Urquhart, Nigel Williams

Forwards (13): Andres Ambühl, Tyler Arnason, Dane Byers, Paul Crowder, Devin DiDiomete, Brodie Dupont, Evgeny Grachev, Corey Locke, Jordan Owens, P.A. Parenteau, Patrick Rissmiller, Justin Soryal, Dale Weise

Players cut by the Wolf Pack on September 28th:

Reassigned by NY Rangers from Wolf Pack to Charlotte (ECHL):
Forwards (2): Ryan Hillier, Tomas Zaborsky

Loaned by Wolf Pack to Charlotte (ECHL):
Defensemen (2): Trevor Glass, Jared Nightingale
Goaltenders (1): Ryan Munce

Released by Wolf Pack:
Forwards (1): Derek Couture

It seems like just yesterday that goaltender Matt Zaba was getting lit up for five goals in a single period during last spring’s series-turning game four 6-0 shutout loss to the Worcester Sharks. The third year pro must have been experiencing déjà vu this afternoon, as he gave up five goals on 13 first period Sharks shots. Chad Johnson didn’t fare too much better, giving up five more on 27 shots through the final two periods of the game. Tomas Zaborsky, Justin Soryla and Dale Weise had the Hartford goals, while Andres Ambuhl picked up two assists. Former Pack forward Dwight Helminen picked up a goal and two assists for Worcester. This is one I’m very happy to have missed — here’s the game recap from the Wolf Pack.

Worcester Sharks 10, Hartford Wolf Pack 3

Simsbury, CT, September 27, 2009 - Defenseman Michael Wilson had two goals and an assist, Brandon Mashinter scored a pair of goals, Dwight Helminen had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Vesce had four assists, as the Worcester Sharks handed the Hartford Wolf Pack a 10-3 defeat Sunday at the the International Skating Center of Connecticut, in the Wolf Pack’s final 2009 AHL preseason contest.

Dan DaSilva and T.J. Trevelyan added a goal and an assist each for the Sharks, who were 4/4 on the power play.  Wolf Pack goals were scored by Tomas Zaborsky, Justin Soryal and Dale Weise.  Andres Ambuhl had two assists for Hartford.

The Wolf Pack finished the preseason 2-2-0 in four games.

The Sharks stormed the Pack in the first period, scoring five times against Hartford starter Matt Zaba and building a 5-1 lead.

The onslaught started 1:13 into the game, when Will Colbert beat Zaba from the right-wing side of the crease, after breaking two-on-one with Vesce, who was +5 in the game.  Logan Couture made it a 2-0 lead on a power play at 10:07, before ex-Wolf Pack Helminen forced Soryal into a turnover and fed Mashinter at the left-wing side of the goal mouth at 13:23, to up the advantage to 3-0.

Tomas Zaborsky got the Wolf Pack on the scoreboard on a power play at 16:57, taking a pass from Ambuhl and snapping a shot past the glove of Shark goaltender Ryan Nie.  Worcester answered just 41 seconds later, though, as Wilson’s slapshot snuck just under the crossbar behind Zaba at 17:38.

The Sharks widened it to a 5-1 margin at 19:33 on a power-play tip-in, as Helminen deflected in a shot from the left point by Nick Petrecki.

It took Worcester only 1:10 of the second period to make it 6-1, as Trevelyan greeted relief goaltender Chad Johnson with a jam-in from the right-wing side of the crease.

Soryal got that back for the Wolf pack at 17:29, walking around a Shark defender just inside the blue line and beating Nie with a deke.  The Sharks again got a goal in the final minute of the period, though, as DaSilva scored at 19:03 on a breakaway opportunity.

Worcester started fast again in the third period, as Mashinter netted his second of the game at 1:32.  Trevelyan set Mashinter up with a cross-slot pass from right to left.  Wilson’s second of the contest made it 9-2 at 7:53, and the Sharks hit double-digits on a goal by Tom Morrow at 12:02.

The Wolf Pack power play clicked for a second time in five chances at 13:46 for the final margin, with Weise deflecting in a shot by Dave Urquhart.

Worcester outshot the Pack 40-33 in the game, and Nie made 30 saves to get the win.  Zaba took the loss for Hartford with five goals-against on 13 shots, and Johnson allowed five on 27 shots.

The Wolf Pack’s 2009-10 regular-season home schedule kicks off Saturday, October 10 at the XL Center against the Springfield Falcons (7:00).  Once again this season, tickets to the home opener are only $10 each.

Worcester Sharks 10 at Hartford Wolf Pack 3
Sep 27, 2009 - International Skating Center

Worcester 5 2 3 - 10
Hartford 1 1 1 - 3

1st Period-1, Worcester, Colbert 1 (Vesce), 1:13. 2, Worcester, Couture 1 (Helminen), 10:07 (pp). 3, Worcester, Mashinter 1 (Helminen), 13:23. 4, Hartford, Zaborsky 1 (Ambuhl), 16:57 (pp). 5, Worcester, Wilson 2 (Zalewski, Liotti), 17:38. 6, Worcester, Helminen 1 (Petrecki, Zalewski), 19:33 (pp). Penalties-Helminen Wor (interference), 5:53; Henley Hfd (cross-checking), 8:42; Wilson Wor (interference), 15:12; Locke Hfd (hooking), 18:57.

2nd Period-7, Worcester, Trevelyan 1 (Vesce), 1:10. 8, Hartford, Soryal 1 (Ambuhl), 17:29. 9, Worcester, DaSilva 1 (Vesce, Nie), 19:02. Penalties-Jones Wor (fighting), 1:32; DiDiomete Hfd (fighting), 1:32; Jones Wor (hooking), 2:55.

3rd Period-10, Worcester, Mashinter 2 (Trevelyan), 1:32. 11, Worcester, Wilson 3 (DaSilva, Vesce), 7:53 (pp). 12, Worcester, Morrow 1 (McCarthy, Wilson), 12:02 (pp). 13, Hartford, Weise 1 (Urquhart, Heikkinen), 13:46 (pp). Penalties-Wilson Wor (holding), 2:19; Sanguinetti Hfd (roughing), 7:03; Couture Hfd (holding), 10:05; DaSilva Wor (interference), 12:23.

Shots on Goal: Worcester 13-14-13-40. Hartford 11-15-7-33.
Power Play Opportunities: Worcester 4 of 4; Hartford 2 of 5.
Goalies: Worcester, Nie 1-1-0 (33 shots-30 saves). Hartford, Zaba 0-2-0 (13 shots-8 saves); Johnson 1-0-0 (27 shots-22 saves).
Referee: Francis Charron (46).
Linesmen: David Spannaus (8), Paul Simeon (66).