CLEAR DAY LIST IS PUBLIC

Here is your CTWhale clear day list.

This is the team that the Whale management gives them the best chance to win the rest of the way and to compete in the Calder Cup playoffs.

No real surprises but one question answered and that is that Sean Avery will NOT be playing for the Whale for the rest of the season. For whatever reason, and neither he nor the team have gone public with the reason why, but Avery has just not availed himself to be a part of this group and therefore won’t be playing with the Whale.

The interesting question that DOES come of this, is surrounding Avery’s future, as in, “Does he even have one in the NHL going forward?” That question will get answered this coming summer when Avery becomes an unrestricted free agent.

SPOTLIGHT: AHL ALL-STAR GAME

BY: Bruce Berlet

The Eastern Conference lost a four-goal lead and a shootout in the AHL All-Star Game on Monday night that had a definite Connecticut Whale flavor.

Rookie Jonathan Audy-Marchessault scored on his first shift of the game and had a goal and two assists in the first period with teammate and linemate Mats Zuccarello before the Western Conference rallied for an 8-7 victory before 6,113 at historic Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

Audy-Marchessault, one of the few undrafted players among the AHL’s elite, scored only 2:06 into the game and set up Zuccarello for a breakaway goal late in the first period as the Eastern Conference took a 6-2 lead after 20 minutes.

SPOTLIGHT: HOLIDAY CHEER

BY: Bruce Berlet

The Connecticut Whale family is happy on many fronts this holiday season, starting with good health for most and a spot atop the Northeast Division as the first full season for the renamed franchise nears the two-fifths pole.

The strong guidance of coach Ken Gernander and assistants J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller has enabled the Whale to survive major injuries to standouts such veteran defenseman Wade Redden and skilled wings Mats Zuccarello and Chad Kolarik and the recalls of centers Kris Newbury and John Mitchell, speedy rookie wing Carl Hagelin, rugged right wing Andre Deveaux and defensemen Tim Erixon and Stu Bickel.

ALL-STAR CAPTAINS INCLUDE EX-WOLFPACK

BY: Jason Chaimovitch, AHL VP of Communications

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … American Hockey League President and CEO David Andrews announced today that (Ex-Hartford Wolf Pack) Boyd Kane of the Hershey Bears and Darren Haydar of the Chicago Wolves will serve as playing captains for the 2012 AHL All-Star Classic, to be held January 29-30 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J.

Captains for the American Hockey League All-Star teams are selected by the league president in recognition of their outstanding service and leadership to the AHL.

SPOTLIGHT: KEVIN DINEEN

BY: Bruce Berlet

Former Hartford Whalers star right wing and captain Kevin Dineen is certainly in the running for NHL Coach of the Year, after what he has done with the Florida Panthers in his first season behind an NHL bench.

Well, Dineen earned more kudos from his upstart team on Saturday, when he decided to have his South Division-leading Panthers practice outdoors in Central Park as a treat after earning three of four points with a shutout win in Boston on Thursday night and overtime loss in Buffalo on Friday night, before facing the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night.

SPOTLIGHT: NHL REALIGNMENT

BY: Bruce Berlet

The New York Rangers could be seeing even more of the arch-rival Islanders if a realignment plan approved by the NHL Board of Governors on Monday night is implemented.

At the BOG meetings in Pebble Beach, Calif., the board approved a plan that eliminates the current two-conference, six-division setup in favor of a configuration that features four conferences based primarily on geography. Two conferences will have eight teams, the other two will have seven teams.

SPOTLIGHT: FRANCOIS BOUCHARD

BY: Bruce Berlet

A lot of players might not be enamored with having to travel 12-15 hours round-trip to play their first few games with a new team.

Not right wing Francois Bouchard, whom the New York Rangers acquired from the Washington Capitals on Tuesday for Connecticut Whale defenseman Tomas Kundratek.

Bouchard arrived from Hershey, Pa., around 1 p.m. Wednesday, and met his new teammates and practiced with the Whale for the first time Thursday, before the team bussed to Boston for a flight to Toronto and then on to St. John’s, Newfoundland, for games Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

NEW “HALL” MONITORS

AHL ANNOUNCES 2012 INDUCTEES INTO AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE HALL OF FAME

---

BY: Jason Chaimovitch, AHL VP of Communications

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. … The American Hockey League today announced the four people selected for induction into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame as the Class of 2012.

Honored by the AHL Hall of Fame Selection Committee as the seventh group of enshrinees are Joe Crozier, Jack Gordon, John Stevens and Zellio Toppazzini.

FROM THE CREASE with BRUCE BERLET

BY: Bruce Berlet

Who knows, maybe the New York Islanders will be moving to Hartford in four years?

That could be one of the possibilities after residents of Nassau County on Long Island voted down a $400 million referendum in a special election Monday that could have led to the construction of a new home for the Islanders. It failed by a 33,526 to 24,553 vote in what elections officials said was a very low turnout for the unusual midsummer election.

GET YOUR SCHEDULE INTRODUCTIONS HERE

WHALE ANNOUNCES 2011-12 SCHEDULE FORMAT

*           *           *           *

I-91 Rivals Springfield and Bridgeport will be Most Familiar Adversaries

HARTFORD, July 14 2011:  The Connecticut Whale today announced its schedule format for the upcoming 2011-12 American Hockey League season.