With both teams playing their fourth game in five nights, you’d think the Hartford Wolf Pack and Bridgeport Sound Tigers would have wanted to wrap Sunday afternoon’s tilt in Bridgeport up as quickly as possible.  Instead, the clubs took a full 65 minutes plus an extra round in the shootout to decide a winner.  In the end, it was the Sound Tigers that came away with the extra point, after rookie Matt Martin beat Wolf Pack starter Matt Zaba in the sixth round of the skills competition to give his club a 3-2 victory.

It was far from a full sixty five minute effort from the Pack, who were playing without defensemen Brent Henley, Mathieu Dandenault and Nigel Williams, all of whom missed the game due to injury.  Yet despite being outplayed from the start and managing only a single shot through the first nine minutes of play, the visitors found themselves with a 1-0 lead at 9:17 of the first period. Devin DiDiomete earned his first point of the season in his fourth game back from rehabbing a broken arm in Charlotte when he fed Andres Ambuhl as he crashed in from the top of the circles.  The Swiss import scored his third goal of the campaign — and second in three games — with a quick wrist shot that beat Bridgeport netminder Scott Munroe high on the glove side.

The Pack entered the second period with the 1-0 lead despite being out shot 13-7 in the first and it was the third line of DiDiomete, Ambuhl and Paul Crowder that would strike once again early in the frame.  The trio cycled the puck deep in the offensive zone before Ambuhl dropped the puck back to David Urquhart at the left point.  Urquhart dished the puck to Michael Sauer at the opposite point, where the third-year defenseman launched a low wrist shot on goal which Crowder tipped over Munroe’s glove to, giving Hartford a two goal lead at 1:41.

The Sound Tigers cut the lead in half at 13:38 when Trevor Smith — who’d been stoned by Wolf Pack starter Zaba twice in the closing minutes of the first period — one-timed a pass from behind the net over Zaba’s shoulder from point blank range.

The home side knotted the score at two at 1:24 of the third period.  Defenseman Andrew MacDonald, fresh from his latest call-up by the New York Islanders, scored his third goal of the season from the right point with Smith setting the screen on Zaba.

The teams traded power play opportunities midway through the third period, but neither could convert.  In fact, Hartford had just that one chance on the power play in the game, and without Bobby Sanguinetti or P.A. Parenteau, both on recall to the New York Rangers, the unit hardly threatened.

It was the Sound Tigers that had the better of the play through the remainder of regulation, finishing the period with an 11-7 shot advantage.  They had the territorial advantage for the bulk of overtime as well, though the Wolf Pack came on strong at the end to finish the extra frame tied in shots with four.  But neither team was able to light the lamp, sending the game to the shootout.

Former Wolf Pack captain Greg Moore was the first to score in the shootout, beating Zaba high with a quick wrist shot in the second round after Dale Weise, Dane Byers and Smith had each been stopped.  Corey Locke tied things up in the fourth round with a forehand-backhand deke.  Bridgeport forwards Greg Mauldin and Justin DiBenedetto each rang shots off the crossbar, while Munroe stopped both Andres Ambuhl and Jordan Owens.  That left Martin to score the shootout winner in the sixth round with a low shot from the slot, giving the Sound Tigers the extra point and a spit of the two games played in the ten game season series.

It was the second straight post-regulation loss for the Wolf Pack, which finished the weekend in second place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 13-8-1-2.  On the plus side, it was the fourth straight game in which the Pack were able to earn at least a point, and eighth time in their last nine games.

The Wolf Pack has another busy week ahead, with a three-in-three-nights set starting Friday in Manchester against the Monarchs.  Then it’s an overnight trip to the Keystone State, where the Pack will face the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday and the Hershey Bears on Sunday.

Notes:

• The Wolf Pack re-called defenseman Jared Nightingale and Mike Berube from Charlotte prior to the game to fill in for Dandenault and Williams, who were both injured in Saturday night’s 3-2 overtime loss to Providence.
• According to the ECHL Transactions page, Miika Wiikman was also recalled from Charlotte on November 26th, though the Wolf Pack haven’t confirmed the call-up and he wasn’t with the team for the weekend’s games.  Unless its an error on the ECHL site, it was seem the third-year goaltender has been recalled in order to be loaned to another club, either in the AHL or Europe.
• Apologies for the lack of coverage this week.  I missed Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Lowell and though I saw most of both Friday’s 4-3 overtime thriller against Portland and Saturday’s game against Providence, some emergency work at my paying job has prevented me from spending the time required to write about either… and taken a significant bite out of my so-called holiday weekend.
• You might also have noticed that this web site was down frequently over the weekend.  That was the result of my web host shutting it down — on two separate occasions –  for “abusing” their server resources.  Last night, when the server crashed completely while my site was still disabled, they finally realized it has nothing to do with this little blog and its minimal traffic and everything to do with their crappy server.  Obviously, it’s back up and running now, but if it goes down again, please have patience.

Scoring:
1. Ambuhl, (3) (DiDiomete), 9:17
2. Crowder, (6) (Sauer, Urquhart), 1:41
2. Smith, (8) (Sixsmith, Marcinko), 13:38
3. MacDonald, (2) (Kohn, Smith), 1:24

Hartford Shootout:
Dale Weise    No Goal
Dane Byers    No Goal
Paul Crowder    No Goal
Corey Locke    Goal
Andres Ambuhl    No Goal
Jordan Owens    No Goal

Bridgeport Shootout:
Trevor Smith    No Goal
Greg Moore    Goal
Greg Mauldin    No Goal
Justin DiBenedetto    No Goal
Andrew MacDonald    No Goal
Matt Martin    Goal

Lines:
Byers – Dupont – Weise
Grachev – Locke – Owens
Couture – Garlock – Soryal
DiDiomete – Crowder – Ambuhl

Potter – Berube
Urquhart – Sauer
Heikkinen – Nightengale

Zaba / Johnson

Three Stars:
1. Matt Martin
2. Trevor Smith
3. Andrew MacDonald

The Hartford Wolf Pack made their first ever trip to the Glens Falls Civic Center on Friday and came away with their third straight loss, falling 3-2 to the Adirondack Phantoms.  That puts their record at 2-5-0-0 for the season, just one point ahead of the last place Chicago Wolves.  I only saw the first and parts of the second and third periods of the game — not enough to write a full game wrap — so I’ll leave you with the Wolf Pack’s recap from Bob Crawford and a few random notes.

Notes:

• With the reassignment of Patrick Rissmiller to Grand Rapids, Brody Dupont centered the third line.  Dupont was drafted as a center, but has played exclusively on left wing with the Pack prior to this season.
• Dane Byers finally got on the scoreboard with his first goal of the season, a typical Byers special on a rebound right in front of the net.
• Justin Soryal finally found someone who would drop the mitts with him, and what a fight it was between “Scaryal” and and 6-5, 235-pound Garrett Klotz.  The two traded haymakers for a good 60 seconds, with each connecting with more than their fair share.  If pushed, I might say Soryal had a slight edge, but it was a pretty even and very entertaining scrap.
• Down in Charlotte, both goaltender Ryan Munce and defenseman Trevor Glass have been placed on 21-day injured reserve.  Munce apparently suffered a shoulder injury in the third period of Charlotte’s season opener.

Lines:

Byers – Crowder – Parenteau
Grachev – Locke – Weise
Hillier – Dupont – Owens
Soryal – Arnason – Ambuhl

Sanguinetti – Heikkinen
Henley – Potter
Urquhart – Sauer

Johnson / Wiikman

Adirondack Phantoms 3, Hartford Wolf Pack 2

Glens Falls, NY, October 23, 2009 – David Laliberte had a goal and two assists, and Jon Matsumoto added a goal and an assist, as the Adirondack Phantoms handed the Hartford Wolf Pack their third straigt loss, 3-2, Friday night at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

It was the first-ever meeting between the Wolf Pack and Phantoms in Glens Falls.  P.A. Parenteau and Dane Byers scored power-play goals for the Wolf Pack, and Corey Locke had two assists.

The Phantoms jumped on top only 1:20 into the game, taking advantage of a Wolf Pack defensive breakdown.  Patrick Maroon circled the Hartford net and centered to Laliberte, who was wide-open in front of the net and easily beat Wolf Pack goaltender Chad Johnson.

Hartford replied on a power play only 4:07 later, at 5:27, on a power play.  Locke found Parenteau in the left-wing circle with a pass from behind the net, and Parenteau snapped a shot past Phantom netminder Johan Backlund on the short side.  It was Parenteau’s fifth goal of the season, tying him with Locke for the team lead.

The Wolf Pack gave up an early goal again in the second period, with Matsumoto socring on a partial breakaway at 2:26 on a shot past Johnson’s catching glove.  The Phantoms then made it a 3-1 lead at 11:13 on a power-play, as Oskars Bartulis blasted in a slapshot through a screen from the left point.

Hartford got that back on a power play of their own just 1:01 later, as Byers notched his first goal of the season.  Stationed right in front of Backlund, Byers jammed in a rebound off of assists from Locke and Ilkka Heikkinen.

The Wolf Pack dominated the third period, outshooting the Phantoms 11-5, but could never manage an equalizer against Backlund, who finished the game with 26 saves.  Johnson made 24 stops in the Wolf Pack net.

The loss dropped the Wolf Pack to 2-5-0-0 on the season, headed into a home game Saturday night at the XL Center vs. Lowell (7:00 faceoff).

Hartford Wolf Pack 2 At Adirondack Phantoms 3
Oct 23, 2009 – Glens Falls Civic Center

Hartford 1 1 0 – 2
Adirondack 1 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Adirondack, Laliberte 1 (Maroon, Matsumoto), 1:20. 2, Hartford, Parenteau 5 (Locke, Sanguinetti), 5:27 (pp). Penalties-Soryal Hfd (fighting), 3:35; Klotz Adk (fighting), 3:35; Clackson Adk (holding), 3:56; served by Hillier Hfd (bench minor – too many men), 10:24; Hillier Hfd (tripping), 12:41; Laliberte Adk (hooking), 14:14; Kolanos Adk (cross-checking), 19:59.

2nd Period-3, Adirondack, Matsumoto 2 (Laliberte, Maroon), 2:36. 4, Adirondack, Bartulis 2 (Bourdon, Laliberte), 11:13 (pp). 5, Hartford, Byers 1 (Heikkinen, Locke), 13:14 (pp). Penalties-Urquhart Hfd (roughing), 4:49; Marshall Adk (roughing), 4:49; Mormina Adk (roughing), 4:49; Parenteau Hfd (tripping), 9:44; Bartulis Adk (interference), 13:05; Locke Hfd (roughing), 19:20.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Curry Adk (hooking), 5:22; Lehtivuori Adk (interference), 13:13; Byers Hfd (hooking), 17:16.

Shots on Goal-Hartford 10-7-11-28. Adirondack 13-9-5-27.
Power Play Opportunities-Hartford 2 of 6; Adirondack 1 of 5.
Goalies-Hartford, Johnson 2-3-0 (27 shots-24 saves). Adirondack, Backlund 3-2-0 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-4,062
Referees-Francis Charron (46).
Linesmen-Chris Low (88), Rich Patry (52).

In writing about the fourth and final game between the US and Russian under-20 squads in Lake Placid on Sunday, I commented on the quality of the officiating and mentioned Russian goaltender Alexei Trifonov’s trip to the penalty box. At the time, I assumed that Trifonov had skated into the box on his own, in protest against the latest in a game’s worth of questionable penalty calls against his team. As it turns out, Trifonov’s presence in the penalty box wasn’t an act of civil disobedience by a frustrated goaltender — it was ordered by one of the referees.

Russian under-20 coach Vladimir Plyushchev spoke to Sport-Express about his team’s trip to Lake Placid — and the referees — upon his return to Moscow on Monday.

We put up four good fights, and everything would have been fine, if not for the referees. Of course we expected such a thing, but not to this extent. In the last game of the series it got to the point that the referees planted our goaltender on the [penalty] bench, and forward [Anton] Lazarev got ready to stand in goal. We didn’t have a second goaltender — [Dmitry] Shikin was injured the night before. But then someone let the referees know that in hockey goaltenders do not get sent to the penalty box. If next season a similar trip is offered to us, we will seriously think: do we need this?

Had I not seen the game with my own eyes, I probably would have dismissed Pluschev’s complaints as those of a bitter coach looking to make excuses for his team’s poor performance. But the officiating on Saturday was truly atrocious. Granted, this wasn’t the first, nor will it be the last international hockey game that was marred by sub-par officiating.  But it begs the question: does either side really benefit when an exhibition game that’s meant to allow a coach to evaluate his young players gets officiated so poorly?