This doesn’t look pretty. Neither was this weekend for the Whale. (Photo: Chris Rutsch/flickr)

The Connecticut Whale lost 2 out of 3 on the road. The games were not pretty, but as far as March road games go, they could have done much worse. The first game was out in Binghamton, and the Whale were shutout 3-0. That game was not an easy win, as Binghamton scored two of their three goals later in the game. The Whale managed to keep them close, but the game got away from them.

» Continue reading “Whale Drop 2 Of 3 On Road”

The Connecticut Whale squared off against the Portland Pirates this week, and although it was a hard fought game, they could not find 2 points. The Whale did however come up with 1 point, as a late goal forced overtime, and eventually an even more dramatic than usual shoot out.

The first goal of the game came on a Portland power play when Brandon Gormley knocked one past Cam Talbot 20 seconds into the man advantage putting Portland up 1-0. Halfway through the period, Portland up on another power play, Chris Brown beat Cam Talbot like his name was Rihanna, putting Portland up 2-0.

Shortly after the second goal, Andrew Carroll and Boris Valabik went at it, dropping gloves, and woke up the sleeping Whale. Chris Kreider centered himself in front of the net and pushed a beauty from Logan Pyatt passed former Whale goalie Chad Johnson. At the end of the first, Sam Klassen took a high sticking penalty, and Portland’s Chris Conner hit the Pirates 3rd goal of the period with .9 seconds to go, putting the Pirates up 3-1. » Continue reading “Whale Find 1 Point & Kreider Is On Fire”

This weekend was an important one for the Connecticut Whale. The Rangers have sent Brandon Mashinter, Christian Thomas and Chris Kreider back to Connecticut. Mike Vernace and Benn Ferriero are both back from injuries. The Whale team, much like the parent club, the New York Rangers, are looking whole again. » Continue reading “Whale Win Both Against Bridgeport”

One of two new additions to the Whale this week had quite a good start to his Whale career. (Photo: Chris Rutsch/flickr)

After splitting their games last week, the Whale looked to get back on track with three home games this week. Looks like it worked as the Whale went three for three, earning all six points available to them.

Wednesday night was a crazy one as the Whale and Adirondack Phantoms combined for 11 goals and 30 penalty minutes in a game that needed over 64 minutes to complete.

» Continue reading “Whale Weekly: Homestand Just What Doctor Ordered”

Not a bad week for the Whale but not a good one either. (Photo: Doug Kerr/flickr)

Some nights during the past week, the Whale looked like a team that was ready to move into playoff contention in the Eastern conference standings. Other nights, they showed why they are where they currently are (12th place).

Over the past seven days, the boys had four games and managed to get four out of the possible eight points available.

Tuesday night was a good night for the boys as they headed to Portland for a game against the Pirates, a team they hadn’t beaten yet this season in three previous tries. Kelsey Tessier opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 13:57 of the first period. Blake Parlett, who apparently wasn’t suspended for his boarding penalty last weekend, got the lone assist.

» Continue reading “Whale Weekly: Mixed Bag Over Past Week”

This mans’ days with the Rangers are officially over. (Photo: CS Smith/flickr)

You know how we know the NHL season has official begun? The waiver wires are spitting out names by the dozen.

Yesterday, the Rangers placed Sean Collins, Michael Haley, Chad Kolarik, Kris Newbury, Logan Pyett, Brendon Segal, Mike Vernace, and Tommy Grant on waivers. Why, you might ask, did they put half of their AHL team on waivers? Because of a stupid little rule that said they had to.

All eight of those guys are actually on NHL contracts meaning at the start of the season, they need to be placed on waivers to be sent down to the AHL. Usually this happens in October and no one even notices. Unfortunately this year the season is starting in January meaning they technically need to be “sent” to the Whale in order to continue to play there after Friday. So basically this was a formality.

The good news is no one claimed them so the Whale roster will stay intact. The even better news is the new CBA abolished re-entry waivers which means any of these guys can still easily be called up at any time. (I’m not sure if they will have to go through waivers to be sent back down again, though.)

*UPDATE: It looks like one of those guys is leaving the Whale as according to the AHL transaction page, Brandon Segal has been recalled by the Rangers. No confirmation from either team but if he is indeed headed to NY, the recall is much deserved as he has been one of the best players for the Whale recently. (And before anyone worries what this means for the Rangers roster, they are shorthanded at forward to begin with. I wouldn’t read too much into it at the moment.)

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In other waiver news, Wade Redden was placed on waivers today in order to be bought out. After the Rangers stated that they planned to pay Redden to sit at home and the Canadiens decided to do the same thing with Scott Gomez, the NHL and NHLPA got together and worked out an agreement to allow teams to use one of their two compliance buyouts before the season begins. Originally those buyouts were only supposed to be used either this summer or next summer.

The new provision states that teams can only use one and the player it is to be used on has to be making more than $3 million a season as well as agree to the buyout. Honestly, I think the new edition to the rule should be called the “Fix Glen Sather Mistake” provision, especially since it’s only expected to be used on those two players.

To make a long story short, Redden will be bought out tomorrow after he clears waives and be allowed to sign with any team he wants. He will still get the remaining salary owed to him and the Rangers will be on the hook for his full cap for this season only. The cap isn’t an issue since the Rangers would’ve had to deal with that if he sat home so I’m glad he’s getting the chance to play.

And since I’m not sure if I’ve ever written it on here, here’s my take on Redden:

He never asked for any of this. Yes he signed the contract but if someone offered you that money, what would you do? The exact same thing he did. It didn’t work out here and for that I feel bad for him. It wasn’t that he was a horrible player. He just wasn’t a $6 million a year player. He has been amazing in Hartford the past two seasons so I really hope he gets another chance with another team and is able to end his career on a high note. I know I’ll be rooting for him.

I think the guys ate too much chocolate this weekend. Pucky, can you talk to them please? (Photo: Doug Kerr/flickr)

Welcome to our new feature that will run on Mondays through the remainder of the season. So what exactly is Whale Weekly? Well, it’s a weekly update of what has happened with the Whale the past week. Pretty self-explanatory. Obviously any big news will get a separate post but game updates can be found here.

So let’s get to it!

» Continue reading “Whale Weekly: Not A Sweet Weekend”

OT loss + Shutout Win = 3 out of 4 points and a deserving stick salute! (Photo: @kaboom23/twitter)

Yes the NHL lockout is over. That doesn’t mean we are going to stop talking about the Whale. It just means our recaps may become more weekly rather than daily. (Side note: If anyone is interested in covering the Whale full-time for the site, by all means contact me.)

Speaking of the Whale, it was a pretty good weekend for the boys as they grabbed five out of a possible six points. It started on Friday as they shutout the Adirondack Phantoms at home. You can read about that game here.

Saturday nights’ rematch against the Phantoms in Adirondack didn’t go as well as but it wasn’t a total loss. Lineup for the Whale remained the same with Cam Talbot back in net. The teams combined for 42 penalty minutes, which included two fights, so it was your typical Rangers-Flyers game.

» Continue reading “Whale Gain Points In Weekend Games”

Ugh. Another one who has to bite his old team. Can the Whale stop losing players who have the ability to come back and haunt them? (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

The Whale hoped to end 2012 on the right foot by finally beating the Portland Pirates on their third try. They were well on their way to doing so when disaster struck and to that this Whale fan has one thing to say – Good riddance 2012! Hopefully 2013 will be a better year for you boys!

As for the game, no lineup changes for the Whale…but that is probably because they have no extra players to switch out as the only player on the roster not playing at the moment is Dylan McIlrath, who is serving the second game of his two-game suspension.

The Whale got the first power play of the game a little over five minutes in and while they got a few chances, they weren’t able to get one past Chad Johnson. (Yes, the same Chad Johnson who manned the Whale net last season.) Six and a half minutes later, the Whale took their first penalty. Thirty seconds later, the Pirates went back to the box leading to a minute and a half of 4-on-4 hockey.

» Continue reading “Whale Fans: Good Riddance 2012!”

Someone finally decided to burn their ex-team rather than allowing the Falcons to do it to the Whale. (Photo: Bridget Samuels/flickr)

Tonight was a big game for the Whale as they might have figured out the way to beat Springfield this season – keep their ex-teammates off the scoreboard. It only took five games for them to realize that would help.

Here’s a stat to keep in mind for tonight’s tilt against the Falcons – in four games this season, the Falcons have outscored the Whale 19-5. Yes you read that correctly and no I have no intention of mentioning how many points Jonathan Audy-Marchessault and Tim Erixon have in the series. (Just assume it’s a lot and you would be correct.) Now we can make that 21-9 in five games.

» Continue reading “Whale Win By Doubling Up Falcons”