Bridgeport's Koivula Earns First NHL Recall

BRIDGEPORT—The New York Islanders announced on Wednesday that forward Otto Koivula has been recalled from the team's American Hockey League affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Koivula, 21, has 48 points (21 goals, 27 assists) in 75 career AHL games. During his rookie campaign last season, Koivula ranked second on the Sound Tigers in goals (21) and points (46). He finished fourth among all AHL rookies in goal-scoring and co-led all Sound Tigers with plus-14 rating. Koivula has two assists through six games this season.

Prior to making his North American debut, the Nokia, Finland native recorded 57 career points (19 goals, 38 assists) in 104 games with Ilves of the Finnish Elite League. He was named the Liiga Rookie of the Year in 2017.  On the international stage, Koivula represented Finland at the 2018 (Buffalo) and 2017 (Montreal/Toronto) World Junior Championships.

The Islanders drafted Koivula in the fourth round (120th overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft. This marks his first NHL call up.

On the Road Again

The Sound Tigers return to the road on Friday for a 7 p.m. puck drop against the Syracuse Crunch in Syracuse, N.Y. It’s Bridgeport’s first game outside of the Atlantic Division this season, which also begins another “3-in-3” weekend series. Fans can follow all of the live action via the Sound Tigers Radio Network and AHLTV, beginning with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m.  The team then returns home for games on Saturday and Sunday at the Webster Bank Arena vs. the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. For tickets, visit the Webster Bank Arena box office, or click HERE.

Sound Tigers season tickets and flex plans are on sale now for the 2019-20 campaign. Twenty- and 10-game plans are currently available, offering exclusive benefits, including the ticket holder exchange policy. For more information, contact Brad Dworin at 203-345-4813 or via email at brad.dworin@harboryardse.com.

Wounded Vets To Be Honored

The Sound Tigers will to host their first-ever Purple Heart Night on Sat., Nov. 9, but the team needs your help in finding these home-grown heroes. Any local fan who has been honored with the Purple Heart Medal is asked to contact Sarah Rodrigues at 203-345-4823 or Sarah.Rodrigues@harboryardse.com. You can also fill out a online form HERE. Along with your name, please include any photographs or written accounts you have of your military service, including information about when and where you served. The Sound Tigers will use this information to create a booklet honoring Purple Heart recipients.

Each Purple Heart recipient will get a free ticket to the Nov. 9 game against the Providence Bruins and families can also purchase discounted seats at nearly 50 percent off. This offer is valid in advance of the game until Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. by contacting Sarah Rodrigues at 203-345-4823.  This offer is not valid at the Webster Bank Arena Click It or Ticket Box Office.

This event will be a key part in the Sound Tigers becoming an official Purple Heart team—the second American Hockey League club to earn the distinction by the Military Order of the Purple Heart. The Sound Tigers will announce an official proclamation for this distinction during their game on Sun., Jan. 12, at 3 p.m. as part of Military Appreciation Weekend.

In becoming a Purple Heart Team, the Sound Tigers continue to acknowledge the bravery and heroism of wounded warriors, and the sacrifices they have made. The Purple Heart Medal was first established as a badge of merit by Gen. George Washington in 1782 and recognizes soldiers who are either killed or wounded in combat.

In addition, the Sound Tigers will designate a specific, labeled parking spot to Purple Heart recipients for the remainder of the 2019-20 season and beyond.

—Staff Reports

#soundtigers / @TheSoundTigers / #AHL / @TheAHL

Huskies Cruise to Exhibition Victory Over St. Michael’s

By Bob Phillips

Alterique Gibert flies for two of his game-high 21 points to lead the
Huskies to a 39-point exhibition victory over St. Michael's.

HARTFORD—The University of Connecticut men’s basketball team put on a clinic and opened the 2019-20 season by overwhelming St. Michael’s College of Colchester, VT, 103-64, in an exhibition contest played before 7,370 fans at the XL Center on Wednesday night. Five Huskies scored in double figures, led by redshirt junior Alterique Gilbert who poured in 21 points while also adding five rebounds and three assists. Senior Christian Vital tallied 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists and six steals, junior Isaiah Whaley added 14 points, six rebounds and five blocks, and sophomore Brendan Adams contributed 14 points, four assists and four steals. Junior Tyler Polley rounded out the quintet with 13 points, five steals and two assists.

Walker Storey led St. Michael’s with 15 points, while Kasai Brown (13), Jordan Guzman (12) and Jason Heter (11) also scored in double digits for the Purple Knights. Middletown native Thomas Jackson III, who missed all last season with an injury, started and scored four points for St. Michael’s.

The game was close through the first 10 minutes, but a quick burst by the Huskies gave them their first double-digit lead of the ball game. Gilbert drove into the lane, finished through contact and then sunk the free throw to complete a traditional three-point play. The 6-0, 180 lb. redshirt junior from Atlanta followed that up by knocking down a triple on UConn's next possession, giving the Huskies a 23-13 lead and forcing the Purple Knights to call a timeout.

Christian Vital slams down two.

St. Michael’s showed some spark and gained some after cutting the Huskies’ to just eight, 36-28, with less than a minute left until intermission. But the Huskies answered back when Sidney Wilson put back an offensive rebound just before the buzzer to give UConn a 12-point lead, 40-28, at the break.

After hearing it a bit from head coach Dan Hurley during intermission, the Huskies came out of the locker room en fuego and opened the second half on an 18-0 run and took a 58-28 lead. Game, set, match. Say goodnight, Gracie.

For the Huskies, it was a case of offense fueled by aggressive defense—a formula UConn hopes to ride through their last season in the American Athletic Conference before coming home to The Big East for the 2020-21 campaign.

“Definitely, we want to force turnovers, get in the passing lanes,” Gilbert said. “We had a couple of mistakes defensively, which I’m sure we’ll look at, but overall we did great.”

“Thrilled to get out hopefully pretty healthy,” said Hurley. “These exhibition games are what they are—a chance to get some jitters out. Hopefully we got them out in the first half.”

And now it’s on to the regular season, which the Huskies will open on campus when they entertain the Sacred Heart (Fairfield) Pioneers on Fri., Nov. 8. Tip-off at Gampel Pavilion will be at 8 p.m., and the game will be televised live on SNY, streamed on ESPN3, and broadcast on the UConn IMG Radio Network. In addition, all Huskies games are available through the TuneIn app.

THE SKINNY

—Staff Reports

#uconn / #uconnmbb / #uconnhuskies / #huskies / #BleedBlue / #UConnNation

Rocket Jettison Wolf Pack, 4-1

LAVAL, QUEBEC—The Laval Rocket scored three third-period goals to hand the Hartford Wolf Pack its first regulation loss of the season, 4-1, before 4,004 fans at Place Bell on Wednesday night. It was the first of two games this week between the two teams in Laval. The Wolf Pack came into the game with an 8-0-0-1 record, one point shy of the best nine-game start in franchise history.

Hartford outshot Laval 9-4 in the third, and had three power plays in the period, but unassisted goals by Alexandre Alain and Charles Hudon 1:11 broke open a 1-1 tie, and Nikita Jevpalovs iced the game with an empty-net goal.

“It was a little disappointing in the third period,” Wolf Pack head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We had an opportunity to win, and a couple of turnovers, and when the puck was on our stick, just not executing. Overall, maybe it was one that we didn’t deserve to win, but we had every opportunity to win it and just didn’t get it done.”

The Rocket scored the only goal of the first period, on a power play that resulted from a slashing penalty against Ty Ronning at 9:37. Michael McCarron clicked on a rebound at 10:31, pushing the puck underneath the pads of Wolf Pack goaltender Igor Shesterkin (20 saves) after he had stopped a shot from the slot by Phil Varone.

That lead lasted until the 16:16 mark of the second frame, when Hartford’s Tim Gettinger scored his second of the season to knot the score at 1-1. After Ville Meskanen dumped the puck in for Hartford, a Gustav Olofsson pass missed Ryan Poehling along the end boards, and that allowed Steven Fogarty to grab the puck. He slid it to the front of the net, and Gettinger quickly banged it past Rocket goaltender Charlie Lindgren (22 saves) from close range.

The Wolf Pack carried that momentum over into the third period, drawing penalties against Otto Leskinen for interference at 3:23 and Hudon for tripping at 8:01, but they could not score against the Rocket’s league-leading penalty kill.

Just 53 seconds after Hudon got out of the penalty box, Alain scored what turned out to be the game-winner. The Wolf Pack’s Sean Day fanned on a pass attempt high in the Hartford zone, and Alain stole the puck away. He broke in on Shesterkin and was able to force the puck through the goaltender’s legs at 10:54. Then, at 12:05, Hudon blasted a shot from the left-wing side over Shesterkin’s catching glove, after a Darren Raddysh pass had gone off of Patrick Newell in the neutral zone.

The Wolf Pack got Shesterkin to the bench for an extra attacker with 4:23 left after Olofsson was called for tripping at 14:25, but could not solve Lindgren. After Laval’s fourth successful penalty kill of the night, Jevpalovs hit the empty net from the Wolf Pack blue line at 18:13.

The Wolf Pack and Rocket tangle again at Place Bell Friday night, with faceoff at 7:30 p.m. All of the action can be heard live on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com, and video streaming is available at AHL Live.

The Wolf Pack’s next home game is next Fri., Nov. 8, when they host the Hershey Bears at the XL Center. Faceoff is 7:15, and once again this season, all Friday night Wolf Pack home games feature $1 hot dogs and $2 beers through the start of the second period, presented by Nomads Adventure Quest.

Tickets for all 2019-20 Wolf Pack home games are on sale now at the Sunwave Gas & Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, on-line at http://www.hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (877) 522-8499. Tickets purchased in advance for kids 12 or younger start at $10, and all tickets will have a $3 day-of-game increase.

To speak with a Wolf Pack representative about season or group tickets, or any of the Wolf Pack’s ticketing options, call (860) 722-9425, or click HEREto request more info. To visit the Wolf Pack on line, go to www.hartfordwolfpack.com.

—Staff Reports

Wolf Pack Weekly, Oct. 28-Nov. 3

HARTFORD—The Wolf Pack (8-0-0-1, 17 pts.) are one point short of the best nine-game start in franchise history, after sweeping their first three-game weekend of the season. On Friday night at the XL Center, the Wolf Pack trailed the Laval Rocket 1-0 going into the final two minutes of regulation time, before Nick Ebert’s first Wolf Pack goal tied the game with 1:37 left and goaltender Igor Shesterkin headed to the bench for an extra attacker.  Then, Danny O’Regan scored his first goal in a Wolf Pack uniform with 41.4 seconds left in overtime, for a 2-1 win.

On Saturday night the Wolf Pack finished a season-opening stretch of seven out of eight games at home with a 4-1 win over Bridgeport, scoring the last four goals of the game, including three in a span of 2:36 in the second period, after the Sound Tigers had struck first. O’Regan again led the way, with a goal and an assist.

The Wolf Pack prevailed over their in-state rivals again on Sunday in Bridgeport, in the second half of a home-and-home, with their fourth overtime win of the season, a 2-1 triumph. Darren Raddysh’s first goal of the season was the winner, at 2:25 of OT.

This Week:

The Wolf Pack head out on their only Canadian road trip of the season, continuing a run of four straight and six out of eight on the road. The Laval (Quebec) Rocket will host the Wolf Pack at Place Bell for games tonight (7 p.m.) and Friday (7:30 p.m.), and then it’s on to Belleville, Ont., for a 7 p.m. date with the Senators on Saturday night.

Wed., Oct. 30, at the Laval Rocket (Montreal) at Place Bell, 7 p.m.

This is the second of four games on the year between the Wolf Pack and the Rocket, and the sixth all-time meeting between the two teams in the Rocket’s three-year history. After Friday night’s overtime win in Hartford, the Wolf Pack are 2-2-0-1 all time against Laval, and they have lost both of their previous visits to Place Bell.

Rookie forward Ryan Poehling scored the Rocket’s only goal, a second-period power-play tally, in Friday night’s contest at the XL Center. He is tied for second on the Laval club in goals, with 3-2-5 in ten games.

After Friday’s overtime defeat, the Rocket snapped an 0-2-1-0 drought with a 3-2 shootout win at Providence on Saturday night, improving to 4-5-1-0 for nine points.

Broadcast – live with Bob Crawford on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com.  Video streaming at www.ahllive.com.

Fri., Nov. 1, at the Laval Rocket (Montreal) at Place Bell, 7:30 p.m.

The Rocket are 2-3-0-0 through their first five home games on the year, and the Wolf Pack have two overtime wins to show for their two away outings thus far.

Broadcast – live with Bob Crawford on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com.  Video streaming at www.ahllive.com.

Sat., Nov. 2 at the Belleville Senators (Ottawa) at CAA Arena, 7 p.m.

The Senators (3-5-0-0, 6 pts.) have won two of their last three games, after losses in four of their first five. Drake Batherson, an AHL All-Rookie selection last season who led the Senators in points and assists (22-40-62 in 59 GP) in 2018-19, is back atop the team points list this year, with 3-7-10 in seven games.

This is the first of two meetings this season between the Wolf Pack and Senators, and the Wolf Pack’s only visit of the year to Belleville.  In 2018-19 the Wolf Pack were 1-0-1-0 in two games vs. the Senators, including a 4-3 win October 19 in their one trip to the CAA Arena.

Broadcast – live with Bob Crawford on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com.  Video streaming at www.ahllive.com.

Wolf Pack Community Appearances:

The Wolf Pack have the following appearance scheduled this week. For further information on these, or any other Wolf Pack community initiatives, contact Wolf Pack community relations manager Frank Berrian, at (860) 541-4728:

Thur. Oct. 31, 11:15 a.m., Travelers Insurance Co., 1 Tower Square, Hartford:  Sonar suits up in his werewolf costume and joins Travelers for a Halloween fundraiser on behalf of United Way.

Recent Transactions:

Ty Ronning—Reassigned to the Wolf Pack by the New York Rangers from Maine (ECHL) Oct. 24.

Vitali Kravtsov—Reassigned from the Wolf Pack by the New York Rangers to Traktor Chelyabinsk (KHL) October 27.

Pack Tracks:

The next home game for the Wolf Pack is Fri., Nov. 8, when they entertain the Hershey Bears. Faceoff at the XL Center is at 7:15 p.m. Every Friday home date, $1 hot dogs, and $2 draft beers and fountain sodas are available through the start of the second period, presented by Nomads Adventure Quest.

The Wolf Pack’s next home game will be on Sat., Nov. 9, when the Belleville Senators visit the XL Center for a 7:30 PM faceoff, will feature the Wolf Pack’s annual “Teddy Bear Toss”.  Fans are invited to bring soft toys to the game, and fling them on to the ice when the Wolf Pack score their first goal.  All the toys collected will be donated to Operation ELF and Toys for Tots. 

“Hockey Fights Cancer Night” will take place on Sat., Nov. 16, when Wolf Pack host the Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. at the XL Center. The Wolf Pack will be teaming up with Hockey Fights Cancer to support those who are battling cancer, and their families. In addition, the first 2,000 fans will receive a free Wolf Pack lanyard, courtesy of CM Concessions.

The Wolf Pack’s annual “Sonar’s Edu-skate” school-day game is coming up Wed., Nov. 20, vs. the Syracuse Crunch, with face-off at 11 a.m.  Lots of educational fun will be on tap throughout the day, and for information on bringing a school group to the Edu-Skate game, contact the Wolf Pack ticket office at (860) 722-9426.

Each of the Wolf Pack’s Sunday and Wednesday home games will feature the Wolf Pack’s “Click It or Ticket Hat Trick Pack,” which includes two tickets, two sodas and a large popcorn, for $40.  The next Hat Trick Pack game is the “Sonar’s Edu-skate” school-day game Wed., Nov. 20 vs. the Syracuse Crunch, with face-off at 11 a.m.

In partnership with the Hartford Chamber of Commerce, the Wolf Pack this year will be offering “Suit to Sweater Wednesdays,” to wash away the mid-week work blues. Any fan showing a company ID at the Sunwave Gas & Power Ticket office can purchase Blue-Level tickets to Wolf Pack Wednesday home games for $15 each (limit two tickets per ID). The Wolf Pack’s first Wednesday home date is Nov. 20, the 11 a.m. “Sonar’s Edu-skate” school-day game vs. the Syracuse Crunch.

Wolf Pack home game tickets can be purchased at the Sunwave Gas & Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com and by phone at (877) 522-8499. Tickets purchased in advance for kids 12 or younger start at $10 each, and all tickets will have a $3 day-of-game increase. To speak with a Wolf Pack representative about season or group tickets, or any of the Wolf Pack’s ticketing options, call (860) 722-9425, or click here to request more info. To visit the Wolf Pack on line, go to www.hartfordwolfpack.com.

—Staff Reports

#hartfordwolfpack / @WolfPackAHL / #AHL / @TheAHL / @hartford_wolfpack / #hartford / #wolfpack / #wolfpackhockey /#hartford-wolf-pack /@nyrangers