WHALE WEEKLY: October 24-30, 2011

BY: Bob Crawford, voice of the CT Whale

The Whale swept the season’s first stretch of three games in three nights this past weekend, defeating the Manchester Monarchs, 5-0, on Friday before a home-and-home set with the Springfield Falcons. Connecticut rallied to defeat the Falcons in their first meeting of the season, 2-1, Saturday in Springfield. The two teams met again Sunday at the XL Center, where the Whale handled their opponent with a 4-1 victory. Jonathan Audy-Marchessault put together his best weekend as a pro, netting two goals and two assists in the last two games, including his first AHL score. Connecticut’s three straight victories tied them with the Adirondack Phantoms with ten points at the top of the AHL’s Northeast Division.

A NEW KID IN TOWN AND OTHER AHL NEWS

We don’t know anything about Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, but if he can put the kind of numbers up in the American League as he did in the QMJHL, then he’ll be  lethal addition to the offense.

Question is though, hasn’t the organization already been down the smaller guy / scorer, trip a ton of times already? The Whale need more size. GM Jim Schoenfeld certainly knows that and those signings are likely still to come.

WHALE WEEKLY: March 14-20, 2011

The Whale (33-26-2-6, 74 pts.) split four games over the past week, beginning with a 5-2 road win over the league-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Tuesday. Connecticut then returned to the XL Center for a pair of games, as they were narrowly edged by the Hershey Bears, 2-1, on Friday, before defeating the Worcester Sharks, 4-2, on Saturday. The Whale wrapped up their weekend with their final game of the regular season against the Sharks at the DCU Center in Worcester on Sunday, falling by a 5-4 final.  Whale team scoring leader Kris Newbury (14-38-52 in 57 GP) paced the club in scoring during the week, with a total of four goals and three assists for seven points in the three games.

THE BEST OF 13

VERSUS 

The Connecticut Whale travelled to the DCU Center in Worcester Sunday afternoon with a five-game winning streak against and a two point lead on their Atlantic Division opponents. Their mission: Grab two points; Come out of the game healthy and finally a little more distance between themselves and the Sharks to secure a hold on third place which would guarantee them a spot in the playoffs.

The good news, they came out of the game no worse physically than they did when they entered it. The bad news, the same old story, an inconsistent performance and lack of a sixty minute effort  led to them handing two points to the Sharks and fell back into a tie with Worcester for third place when they dropped a 5-4 decision in front of 4,247 Sunday afternoon.

WHALE WEEKLY: March 7-13, 2011

The Whale (31-24-2-6, 70 pts.) finished an important three-game stretch with playoff implications with a perfect 3-0-0-0 record last week, posting two wins over Springfield and one over Worcester. The Whale started their week with a last-second, 3-2, come-from-behind victory over the Falcons at home on Wednesday, before knocking off Springfield again Saturday, 2-1 in overtime in Springfield. Coming into Sunday’s contest with Worcester tied for third place in the Atlantic Division, the Whale made a statement in beating the Sharks, 7-2. Brodie Dupont had four assists in the tilt, which put Connecticut a season-high seven games over the .500-mark.

WHALE GOES MOBY DICK ON SHARKS

VERSUS

So much for trouble scoring goals.

First, the goal-challenged New York Rangers scored seven goals for the third time this season and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, a division rival, 7-0 Sunday afternoon. Then their AHL affiliate, the equally goal- challenged Connecticut Whale,  followed suit a couple of hours later, also scoring seven times, but for just the second time this season, and they too defeated a division rival, beating the Worcester Sharks on the road by a 7-2 score in front of 3730 at the DCU Center.

SHARKS BITE CHECKERS IN 2

VERSUS

SHARKS DEFENSE STYMIES CHECKERS IN 2-0 WIN Machesney makes 34 saves to earn second shutout in five games

WORCESTER, MA. – Led by a 34-save shutout from Daren Machesney and two unanswered goals, the Worcester Sharks defeated the Charlotte Checkers, 2-0, at DCU Center on Saturday evening.

FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet

By Bruce Berlet

After debuting their new blue road jerseys in the end of a four-game trip Friday night in Portland, Maine, the Connecticut Whale return to the XL Center Saturday at 7 p.m. to face the Providence Bruins in the start of a three-game homestand.