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.”

IT STARTS IN THE NET

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It’s one of the oldest cliché’s in hockey, “You build your team from the net out.” The emergence of the New York Rangers certainly starts with Henrik Lundqvist between the pipes. For the Connecticut Whale, their resurgence from a horrendous January where they didn’t win a game (0-6-3-2), certainly starts and ends with the performance of Chad Johnson.

There’s no other way to describe it; Johnson is on a tear. After leading his team to a 2-1 shootout victory in a Tuesday morning matinee at the XL Center over the Worcester Sharks, the Calgary, Alberta native has posted a sparkling 7-1-1 record with a 1.49 goals-against average and an eye-popping .952 save percentage stopping 276 of the 290 shots he faced.

WOLSKI FOR VERNACE AND A THIRD ROUNDER

The New York Rangers shed some salary cap issues and a player that really wasn’t going to play for them again in sending Wojtek Wolski to Florida in exchange for career minor-leaguer, Michael Vernace. The 25-year old defenseman is not exactly a game changer, but he will provide Ken Gernander with more depth on the blueline.

Here’s the official release:

THE PLAN IS COMING TOGETHER.

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Winning is contagious.

Much like Ronald Reagan’s trickle down economics, the same seems to be the case with the Connecticut Whale. After a horrendous January where they were winless, going 0-6-3-2, the Whale benefitted from the conditioning stints of Wojtek Wolski and Jeff Woywitka and won five of their first six games in the month of February before dropping a 2-1  loss to Bridgeport last Sunday.

SPOTLIGHT: WADE REDDEN

BY: Bruce Berlet

In 13 seasons in the NHL, Wade Redden never missed more than 18 games. In fact, in 10 of those seasons, the defenseman played at least 75 of 82 games.

So the 22 games that Redden has had to sit out since he was injured in the Connecticut Whale’s 2-1 shootout loss to the Providence Bruins on Dec. 17 have been uncharted territory. Not to mention being rather agonizing and a bit boring at times, though it did provide more time at home with wife Danica and 17-month-old daughter Leni.

WOLSKI, WOYWITKA, GOING, GOING, GONE…

WOLSKI, WOYWITKA RECALLED FROM WHALE

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Had been on Two-week Conditioning Stints

Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the parent New York Rangers have recalled forward Wojtek Wolski and defenseman Jeff Woywitka from their conditioning loans to the Whale.

SPOTLIGHT: BRENT THOMPSON

BY: Bruce Berlet

Brent Thompson could be in line for a Coach of the Year daily double.

The former Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman was named ECHL Coach of the Year last season after leading the Alaska Aces to the regular season and playoff titles. Now Thompson is a leading contender for AHL Coach of the Year after guiding the Bridgeport Sound Tigers from seeming oblivion to challenging the Connecticut Whale for the Northeast Division lead.

SPOTLIGHT: WOLSKI AND WOYWITKA

BY: Bruce Berlet

Mission accomplished.

That’s the consensus of left wing Wojtek Wolski and defenseman Jeff Woywitka after playing six games in 10 days with the Connecticut Whale in two-week conditioning assignments from the New York Rangers. The stints don’t officially end until Wednesday, but the Whale don’t play again until Friday night at home against the Springfield Falcons.

11-OF-12: AND IT DIDN’T SEEM LIKE ENOUGH

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“All good things must come to an end,” goes the old English proverb. For the Connecticut Whale their five-game winning streak ended in a 2-1 overtime loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers before 7,693 at the Webster Bank Arena Sunday afternoon.

David Ullstrom used defenseman Tim Erixon as a screen just 37 seconds into overtime and fired it over the glove of Chad Johnson (15-10-5, 40 saves) to finish off a game that had both teams digging and clawing to get any traction at all through the game’s first 60 minutes.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO CRUSH A MONARCHY?

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The Connecticut Whale struck three times in a span of just 1:31 in the second period and then rode solid goaltending by Chad Johnson to win their fifth straight game 4-1 at the Verizon Wireless Center in Manchester over the Monarchs Saturday night.

In the second period, newcomer Casey Wellman and Jonathan Audy- Marchessault  set each other up for goals just nine seconds apart at 12:01 and 12:10 respectively and Kris Newbury scored on the power play 1:22 later to break the game open for the visiting Whale. The two goals by Wellman and Audy-Marchessault were just one second off the team record that came against the former Albany River Rats on January 5, 2002. Both goals in the record eight seconds came off the stick of then Hartford Wolf Pack centerman Benoit Dusablon.