BLANKED – AGAIN

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(We return with our regular coverage starting tonight)

BY: Brian Ring

Hartford, CT, March 30, 2012 – The Connecticut Whale were defeated by the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, 3-0, Friday night at the XL Center.  Penguins goaltender Scott Munroe blanked the Whale with a 32-save performance, the fourth-straight defeat for the Whale (0-3-1-0).

The Penguins would strike fast and furious in the first period, tallying three goals in a span of 2:12 to get the jump on the Whale for good.

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.

DESPERATE PIRATES FILET WHALE

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BY: Bruce Berlet

The Portland Pirates, involved in a wild, multi-team chase for the final Eastern Conference playoff spots, parlayed goals from four different players and 29 saves from Peter Mannino into a 4-1 victory Friday over the Whale at the XL Center.

“If there was a loose-puck race, more times than not, they came up with it,” Whale head coach Ken Gernander said. “I thought we had some poor decisions where we turned pucks over and paid the price. A couple of times we go to check, they move the puck and we don’t maintain our defensive position and allow them to get the rebound.”

The victory moved the Pirates (30-28-3-4) into a tie for 10^th place with Worcester and Albany with 67 points, one behind Syracuse and Springfield, which each won Friday night and share the eighth and final playoff berth. Meanwhile, the Whale (33-22-5-5) saw their lead in the Northeast Division sliced to three points over the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who lost 3-2 in a shootout at Springfield. The Whale had been 14-5-1-0 in their previous 20 games and were an AHL-best 19-6-2-4 at home, including the three wins over the Pirates.

MOSES PARTING THE ICE IN HARTFORD

BY: Bob Crawford, Voice of the CTWhale

Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the Whale has signed forward Steve Moses to an Amateur Tryout (ATO) agreement.

Moses, a 5-9, 170-pound native of Leominster, MA, just completed a four-year Hockey East career at the University of New Hampshire.  The 22-year-old Moses led the Wildcats in goals, and tied for second among Hockey East skaters, this season with 22, and also added 13 assists for 35 points, good for a tie for the Wildcats’ team leadership in that department.  He also served 16 minutes in penalties.  Over his four seasons in a UNH uniform, Moses totaled 47 goals and 51 assists for 98 points, along with 65 PIM, in 148 games.

HOWARD BALDWIN SPEAKS OUT ABOUT WHALE

The Jeff Jacobs column that recently appeared in the Hartford Courant was an accurate representation of the significant financial and business challenges that Whalers Sports & Entertainment faces in operating the Connecticut Whale under the current XL Center lease terms.  Some clarification needs to be added on our part, however, in terms of characterizing the working relationship between WSE and the AEG management of the XL Center.

One thing that we did not do sufficiently in the course of our conversation with Jeff Jacobs was to emphasize that, while the financial terms of the XL Center lease agreement have been a significant burden to our business, the AEG staff have been excellent operational partners to work with.  Everyone responsible for assisting us in putting on the Whale games has been consistently responsive to our day-to-day needs and has given a top-notch effort in helping us to ensure that our games remain the best in local sports entertainment, and that the fan experience at Whale home games is unmatched.

RANGERS DRAFT PICKS SIGN WITH WHALE

WHALE SIGN PAIR OF RANGER DRAFT PICKS TO ATOs

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Forward Andrew Yogan, Defenseman Peter Ceresnak Added from OHL Peterborough

Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the team has signed forward Andrew Yogan and defenseman Peter Ceresnak to Amateur Tryout (ATO) agreements.

“WHALE TV” CHANGES COURSE

WHALE ANNOUNCES “WHALE TV” SCHEDULE CHANGES

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Three Live Telecasts to Air on CPTV Sports

Whalers Sports & Entertainment (WSE) announced today a revised “Whale TV” telecast schedule for the Connecticut Whale.

The dates of the three remaining live games on the five-game Whale television schedule, which is presented by Webster Bank, have been changed, and the telecasts have been moved to CPTV Sports.