HAWK’S VIEW – MOSES ARRIVES IN THE LAND WITH PROMISE

BY: Bob Crawford, Voice of the CT Whale

Among the three most recent additions to the Whale roster, two, forward Andrew Yogan and defenseman Peter Ceresnak, were both Ranger draft picks and had been on the organization’s radar screen for at least a year.  The other, winger Steve Moses, though, was somewhat of an unknown commodity when he joined the Whale last week.

Early reviews are quite positive, however, for Moses, a Leominster, MA native who suited up for his first two pro games this past Saturday against Providence and Sunday at Bridgeport, after finishing a four-year career at the University of New Hampshire.

WHALE WEEKLY: March 26 – April 1, 2012

BY: Bob Crawford, Voice of the CTWhale

The Whale only managed one point out of three games this past weekend, but maintained a two-point lead over Bridgeport for first place in the Northeast Division.  The Whale fell to Portland, 4-1, on Friday night at home, then dropped a 3-2 decision to the P-Bruins the following night in Hartford. Connecticut gathered one point in a 4-3 overtime road defeat to the Sound Tigers to close out the weekend Sunday.  Kris Newbury and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault led the Whale offense with a goal and two assists each on the weekend.

This week:

• The Whale host three opponents in three days this weekend, starting with a date against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Friday night at the XL Center (7:00 PM faceoff). The next night, the Adirondack Phantoms come to town for their final Northeast Division clash of the season with the Whale (7:00), and the Whale close out the weekend’s action on Sunday with another tilt against the Providence Bruins.  That game faces off at a special time of 2:00 PM.

SPECIAL TEAMS COST WHALE STANDINGS POINT

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(We apologize as we’re unavailable for our normal direct CTWhale coverage for the next couple of games due to scheduling conflicts…)

BY: Brian Ring

The Connecticut Whale were defeated by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 4-3 in overtime, Sunday afternoon at the Webster Bank Arena. Matt Donovan scored the game-winning goal for Bridgeport with two seconds left in overtime with the Sound Tigers on the power-play.

Andre Deveaux, Mike Vernace and Tommy Grant each scored for Connecticut.

“It’s obviously getting a little redundant, pretty frustrating to come in after games and say your margin of error is going to be so slim and they’re going to be one-goal games, you’ve got to do a little better job securing the puck,” said Whale head coach Ken Gernander.

WHALE BRUIN TROUBLE

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(We apologize as we’re unavailable for our normal direct CTWhale coverage for the next couple of games due to scheduling conflicts…)

BY:  Brian Ring

The Connecticut Whale were defeated by the Providence Bruins, 3-2, Saturday night at the XL Center before a crowd of 5,794. Craig Cunningham had a goal and an assist and Josh Hennessy had two assists to lead the Bruins in scoring, with Zach Trotman providing the game-winner.

Jonathan Audy-Marchessault and Kris Newbury both scored and had an assist for Connecticut, which lost its fourth straight game to the Bruins.

REDEMPTION

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(I feel like I need to apologize to the readers of Howlings. I haven’t written my normal stories for the games on Friday and last night. This is as some of you may or may not know, started as a hobby for me but has progressed to the point where it has become a non-paying — and actually I pay quite a bit of money for all of it — part-time job. Well the job that does pay me, my employment agency Crossroads Consulting, has had an explosion of business the past three days and frankly it was difficult to find the time to even get to the games at all. I am also having incredible computer problems that are messing up both “jobs” so I haven’t had the time to dedicate to this as I should. So for that I apologize. We’ll get it right again this coming week…once again, I apologize.)

BY: Bruce Berlet

After being shut out by the Springfield Falcons at home for the first time in 15 seasons on Saturday night, Connecticut Whale coach Ken Gernander almost completely shuffled his deck Sunday afternoon.

Gernander changed all four lines, two of the three defensive pairings and started Cam Talbot in goal for the first time in 11 games since Feb. 19.

THE ROAD AHEAD

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The Connecticut Whale currently sit in the third position in the AHL standings. How they’re doing that is a testament to the character of this team, because based upon the way they played at the XL Center Saturday night in a 3-0 loss to the Springfield Falcons, a team fighting just to make it into the post-season, you’d have thought it was the other way around.

“We didn’t give much, I thought and that’s disappointing.  We never really got anything going,” team captain Wade Redden said in his post game assessment. “We had a couple power plays in the first (period) that we didn’t do anything on, didn’t get a spark.

“You guard against (emotional let downs)…it just seemed like we were flat. We had a big win (Friday) night, we just weren’t making plays. We were just a little slower to pucks than them. They just played harder than us…We just put this behind us and get ready for tomorrow.”

WHALE WEEKLY: March 12 – 18, 2012

BY: Bob Crawford, Voice of the CTWhale

The Whale won two out of three games again this past weekend, starting off with a key 4-3 shootout victory at home Friday over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in Northeast Division action. The Whale would fall to the league-leading Norfolk Admirals Saturday at the XL Center, 3-1, on Connecticut Hockey Hall of Fame night, but would rebound nicely with a 5-3 road win over the Manchester Monarchs on Sunday. Casey Wellman had two goals and an assist in Sunday’s game, and both Jonathan Audy-Marchessault and Kris Newbury cracked the 20-goal mark over the course of the three games. Chad Johnson recorded his 20^th win of the season in goal Sunday, after earning a First-Star nod in Friday’s win over the Sound Tigers.

TWO POINTS ARE TWO POINTS

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The Connecticut Whale should be happy they came away with the two points they got for the 5-3 win Sunday afternoon in Manchester when they faced the Monarchs at the Verizon Wireless Arena, because they certainly weren’t going to be getting any style points – if there was such a thing.

“It’s going to be a grind, with a short night and travel last night,”  Whale head coach Ken Gernander told Brian Ring afterwards. “But the guys stuck with  it, got a big goal by Casey [Wellman], and we were able to get our two points.”

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.”

CLASH OF THE TITANS

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It doesn’t get more exciting than that!

The Connecticut Whale came from behind three separate times capped by Kris Newbury’s goal off a fluke bounce with 4.9 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime and then after a thrilling extended period went three-for-three in the shootout defeating their franchise and intra-state rivals, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in front of a crowd of 3,245 at the XL Center Friday night.

The win also pulled the Whale within one point the Sound Tigers for first place in the division.