Great weekend for this man! (Photo: Chris Rutsch/flickr)

Whale goaltender Jason Missiaen comes up huge in the St. Patrick’s weekend, where the Whale played back to back games on Saturday and Sunday. Missiaen was given the go ahead nod after securing a win last week in Providence. It should not be over looked that Brandon Segal has not slowed down since his short lived stint with the New York Rangers in their first few games. Another player who has stepped up his game tremendously since being sent to Hartford, is Chris Kreider. Kreider was told to get to CT, and toughen up his game, and that’s exactly what he has been doing.

» Continue reading “Missiaen Accomplished.Whale Heating Up”

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”

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”

Photo: William Rogers

The Whale came, saw, and conquered with a Sweep of St. Johns Ice Caps in Newfoundland. The CT Whale took off to our neighbors to the north just in time to avoid the blizzard that currently has the home state buried. The Whale had back to back games Saturday and Sunday facing off against the IceCaps in Mile 1 Centre. In Game one, the Whale toughed it out and played a full 60 minutes of defense, with some great offensive opportunities.

This first night resulted in the first win CT ever had against the Ice Caps. The impressive line of tough guy Michael Haley, opportunistic Christian Thomas, and forechecking maniac Kelsey Tessier combined for a total of 6 points. The first goal of the night was by Kelsey Tessier in the lines first shift after Thomas fed it from the corner and Tess beat Pasquale, making it 1-0 early. Less than 2 minutes later, on the same lines next shift, Thomas knocked a Caps puck handler off his feet, and Haley took control netting the games second goal. Ice Caps knocked one in a few minutes later, making it appear that the game was far from over. The line of Newbury, Mashinter, and Vernace scored after Newbs sent one down to Mash who deflected the puck to Vernace who got another goal past Pasquale making it 3-1. Throughout the rest of the period, and entire length of the 2nd period and just about all of the third, defense.

The Whale did what they have failed to do even with big leads, and that is secure the lead, stopping their opponent. In the third period, a variety of opportunities came, and went. Talbot was standing on his head stopping 37 of 38 shots (16 in the 3rd). The only other goal came at the end when the Ice Caps pulled Pasqaule and Thomas buried a high empty netter from the blue line. 2 points, Whale win, 4-1!

» Continue reading “Whale Sweep Ice Caps In Mile 1 Centre”

This past weekend, there was a whole lot of this going on and not enough put pucks in the net. (Photo: Chris Rutsch/flickr)

Not a busy week for the Whale as only two games on the schedule this past week due to the All-Star Break. Speaking of the All-Star game, J.T. Miller was kept off the scoresheet and only had one official shot on net.

As for the Whale, one roster move this week as they signed forward Andrew Carroll to a PTO on Wednesday. Carroll was in the ECHL this season playing for the Idaho Steelheads where in 36 games he had 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points. Not bad if he can keep that up at the AHL level. My guess is he was brought in to replace Ferriero who appears to be staying in New York for the time being. (I didn’t realize it last week but the Whale played their game against the Falcons on Saturday with only 17 skaters, 11 forwards and 6 defensemen.)

» Continue reading “Whale Weekly: Blown Leads + Sloppy Play = Bad Weekend”

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”

The guy in blue is in the AHL right now. Being that he was going against the Rangers top defense pair last year, something tells me he shouldn’t be. Him scoring two goals in the first 7 minutes of the game tonight confirms that thought. (Photo: Robert Kowal/flickr)

Tonight the Whale were in Bridgeport for a Wednesday night game against the Sound Tigers. Unfortunately their best Wednesday night scorer the past few weeks is in Ufa, Russia at the moment. Looks like they needed him.

Couple of roster changes as Jason Missiaen returned from Greenville to backup Cam Talbot with Bryan Hince heading back down without playing a single minute. On defense, Mike Vernace replaced Logan Pyett. The forward lines remained the same.

As for the game itself, the Sound Tigers were wearing their jerseys dedicated to the victims of the Sandy Hook shooting. You can see pictures here. The Whale will be wearing these patches on their jerseys for the remainder of the season. To say this game had a little more meaning would be an understatement.

» Continue reading “Third Period Comeback Falls Short”