SPOTLIGHT: TOMMY GRANT

BY: Bruce Berlet

Large green letters on a bed sheet at the XL Center on Sunday read: Tommy 10 Terrific.

Terrific, indeed.

For most of the season, Tommy Grant, who wears No. 10, has been part of the Connecticut Whale’s “energy line” with another second-year pro, center Kelsey Tessier, and rookie wing Scott Tanski. Whenever the Whale needed a lift, coach Ken Gernander didn’t hesitate to send out the gritty, inexperienced trio, as they’re all mature beyond their years.

SHORT ON THE MEASURING STICK

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On Friday night the theme approaching Saturday night’s battle with the AHL leading Norfolk Admirals was that the game would be a measuring stick as to where the team was in facing the best. After a 3-1 loss that was an exceptionally tight game right through to the end when an empty net goal sealed the win for the visitors, the answer was a resounding, not too far off.

“I think in general we stacked up pretty well. It was a close game.” Head Coach Ken Gernander said. “It was a close game. But when things are going to be that tight and decided by small margins you have to be that much more diligent. I think we made a couple of mistakes and obviously it cost us.”

REDDEN TO WEAR THE C

In a move that is long overdue, veteran defenseman Wade Redden has been named the sixth captain in the history of the New York Rangers Hartford affiliation, first with the Wolf Pack and now with the Whale.

Head Coach Ken Gernander was the teams first captain for the Wolf Pack’s first eight seasons in existence, He was succeeded after he retired and became a coach by Craig Weller. Weller was followed Andrew Hutchinson, then  Greg Moore and the last captain was Dane Byers. The hasn’t had a captain since Byers was traded by the parent New York Rangers to the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 10, 2010 for Chad Kolarik.

WHALE FRUSTRATED IN SPRINGFIELD

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There are a multitude of ways to lose in any sporting event, and the Connecticut Whale have certainly explored many of them this season, but Saturday night’s 2-0 loss to the Springfield Falcons at the MassMutual Center in front of 5,003 was in no small part due to some of the most bizarre officiating certainly of the season and possibly longer than that.

NOW THAT’S MORE LIKE IT

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Amazing what the changing of the calendar and some personnel changes can do for a team. After the Connecticut Whale spent the month of January making up for being so good from mid-November to mid-December by not winning a game, the team has found their footing again and won their third straight 3-1 over the visiting Syracuse Crunch Tuesday night.

“It wasn’t a great start. Fortunately we picked it up toward the end there and got some big goals on special teams that helped and we were able to get our two points tonight,” Said a much more relaxed Whale head coach Ken Gernander. (Chad Johnson) was real strong again in net (Tuesday) and made some big saves.”

GIMME A BREAK – AN ALL-STAR BREAK

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The late, great Gilda Radner’s character, “Roseanne Rosannadannna” used to say to great laughs, “If it’s not one thing, it’s another…” Those words rang very true Saturday night for the Connecticut Whale, but nobody was laughing as the New York Rangers’ top farm team dropped a 2-1 decision and lost their eleventh straight (0-6-3-2) to the Springfield Falcons before the season’s second largest crowd of 11,181.

After struggling to maintain discipline by taking foolish and avoidable penalties the night before against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton that left them shorthanded seven times, they played more cautiously Saturday and were only shorthanded twice.  But somehow along with the penalties went the passion as they played very uninspired hockey for two periods before finding the right balance between aggressive and overly aggressive with a strong sense of urgency in their play for the third period. As it turned out though, it was a matter of, “too little, too late” mixed with a a costly mistake and finished off by a generous portion of excellent goaltending  by the Falcons’ Paul Dainton (4-2-0, 24 saves) that would do them in.

IS THIS ROCK BOTTOM?

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Throughout the 2011-2012 season the Whale have had two glaring problems: allowing quick back-to-back goals and not holding third period leads. Both of those Achilles Heel issues haunted the Whale Saturday night as they dropped a 5-4 decision, their ninth straight in a ten round shootout to the visiting Norfolk Admirals in front of a lively crowd of 5,557 on Wade Redden Bobblehead night at the XL Center.

Scott Tanski had a very strong game for the Whale with his first multi-goal game punching two into the Norfolk net while Kelsey Tessier added two assists.

WHALE DROWN IN COLD PORTLAND WATERS

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BY: Bob Crawford, Voice of the Connecticut Whale

The Connecticut Whale’s losing streak stretched to seven games Wednesday night, as they lost a 4-2 decision to the Portland Pirates at the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Connecticut (19-15-2-4, 44 pts.) did maintain first place in the Northeast Division despite the loss, remaining two points ahead of the Albany Devils, who lost 5-4 at home to the Norfolk Admirals.

Four different Pirates scored in the victory for Portland, Andy Miele had two assists, and Justin Pogge Pogge (7-5-3) made 22 saves.  Erik Christensen and Scott Tanski scored the Whale goals, and Kris Newbury assisted on both.

SPOTLIGHT: SCOTT TANSKI

BY: Bruce Berlet

When Scott Tanski roofed a shot under the crossbar to win his second practice-ending shootout in three days last week, he was mobbed by virtually all of his Connecticut Whale teammates, many of whom leaped into the plexi-glass to try to get at the personable curly-haired redhead.

“It might have been my new stick,” a smiling Tanski said of his latest skills competition victory. “I like to keep it light in practice, and I know the guys knew I hadn’t had a goal yet, so when I win the shootout, it’s pretty special. We’d won a few games, and I just go to practice and try to have fun and work on a lot of things, though a shootout isn’t my specialty. I’ll leave that to Newbs (Kris Newbury) and Zucc (Mats Zuccarello) because they have some pretty moves. I don’t think too much, just think, ‘Shoot the puck,’ and I was lucky to squeeze a few in there. It must be some confidence with that new stick.”

ANOTHER CHARACTER WIN FOR WHALE

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Say what you will about the 2011-2012 version of the Connecticut Whale, but this is a team of character. They find ways to win late; they find ways to win games early, they can win games ugly and they can win games like they did Friday night when they visited the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island and in front of a good crowd of 7,352 just beat up the last place Bruins 4-1 with a total team effort from the net on out.

Chad Johnson, (28 saves, 7-3-2) was the games first star making several strong stops and only a shot that he had no chance on, a short-handed Zach Hamill third period goal was able to get by him.