WOLVES WIN! WOLVES WIN

WOLVES WIN; WOLVES WIN!

The Chicago Wolves defeated the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 5-2 Tuesday at the Allstate Arena, securing the 2008 American Hockey League Calder Cup Championship. Jason Krog, who was awarded the Jack A Butterfield Trophy as the post-season Most Valuable Player, had a hat trick and an assist, leading the Wolves to their victory.

The Wolves entered the game with a 3-2 series lead. A three game away stand in Wilkes-Barre had been split 2-1, with the Penguins getting the better end of the deal. The presence of veteran enforcer Dennis Bonvie on the ice, starting in game four, was credited with knocking the Wolves off-balance. The Chicago affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers, which had played a disciplined game in the Toronto series and in the first three games of the Wilkes-Barre series, began to sputter under the weight of lack of discipline and also poor officiating.

Things reached a fever point after one of the away games when Wolves Coach John Anderson said the Wolves couldn’t cover the best Penguin on the ice, and referred to the number worn by Dean Morton, 36. But Morton’s calls were not an issue on Tuesday. He only made six penalty calls and awarded just four power plays in the game.

In fact, during the first of these special team advantages, due to a call on Bonvie, John Curry made a remarkable play that could have gotten into the Wolves head if it had been quickly followed by a goal. During the PK, the Penguin goaltender lost his stick. When he was handed a stick by one of the Penguin blue liners he decided he would prefer to play without it and flung it away, defending against the Chicago attack with his mitts only.

The Chicago power play rode along the edges of the PK unit, taking sniper shots at Curry, but without being able to put one past him. Finally, one of the WBS defenders was able to put a stick on the puck and send it clear of the zone, allowing Curry to retrieve his stick.

Chicago kept the momentum going throughout the first frame, taking the lead in shots 13 to 9 and finally, on a goal by Nathan Oystrick, going ahead at the 17:39 mark of the period 1-0. Early in the second frame, at the 2:05 mark, Krog made his first goal. The Penguins then shut down the crowd, battling back with a goal by Luca Caputi and then after being unable to convert a 5:3 advantage, getting a goal a second after the 5:4 advantage started, to make the game 2-2 going into the locker room for the break.

In the final period of play, Krog scored again at the 4:44 mark and then after a spirited WBS assault, again at 15:23. This last goal was a beautiful play, with Krog firing into the open side of the net while prone on the ice. With the game now 4-2, WBS played desperately to regain a final shot at the Calder Cup, but a goal by Brett Sterling at the 17:42 mark put the game out of reach.

The Penguin bench seemed to concede the inevitable as it allowed the face of the franchise for so many years, Bonvie, to play through the end of the game. Bonvie was the last player in the traditional handshake line and the last Penguin off the ice as numerous Pennsylvania television stations interviewed him on his way to the locker room. It was the final turn on the ice for the veteran who had announced his retirement from hockey at the end of the season. Bonvie, in all of his years, had never raised either a Calder or a Stanley Cup. For many players, he was the heart of the team and added reason for winning this championship.

But it was Chicago’s night, not Wilkes-Barre. Ondrej Pavelec, the rookie goaltender, is only the third goaltender in AHL history to have won 16 post season games. He is also the second rookie goalie in a row to win the trophy, following Hamilton Bulldog Carey Price last year. An informal on-line poll of a Wolves’ fan chat site, Wolfkeeper.org, indicated fans thought Pavelec should win the MVP, followed by vet Steve Martins.

Darren Haydar, the Wolves captain, has now won two Calder Cups, the previous cup being hoisted for the Milwaukee Admirals when Haydar captained their team successfully in 2004. The team the Admirals defeated that year was also the Wilkes-Barre Penguins.

Krog has also made two visits to Chicago for a Calder Cup championship. He was on the losing 2002 Calder Cup finalist, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, when they lost to Chicago that year. He went on to play in the Stanley Cup finals with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 2003. Krog was named the 2008 AHL Regular season MVP in addition to his post season MVP.

John Anderson has led the Wolves to all of their championships: 1998 and 2000 in the International Hockey League for the Turner Cup and in 2002 in the AHL for the Calder Cup. He is the 12th AHL head coach to win more than one Calder Cup Championship.

The Wolves win capped a season in which they won the AHL West Division with 111 points. The Wolves defeated the Milwaukee Admirals 4-2 in the first post-season bracket, the Rockford IceHogs 4-3 in the second bracket, and the Toronto Marlies 4-1 in the semifinals. It was the third visit to the Calder Cup finals for the Wolves since the team joined the AHL in 2002.

Pens big win 5-1; make series 3-2

The Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins face the Chicago Wolves in a surprise game six at the Allstate Arena Tuesday following a 5-1 victory at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza Saturday night. The Wolves, who lead the American Hockey League championship series 3-2, were unable to put the Penguins down in two tries and must now face them at home.

The Wolves attacked the Penguins goalie John Curry determined to end the series Saturday night. Yet Curry was able to turn the Wolves shots back with astounding ability. It was another night of Penguins defense breaking down, Wolves attacking and Curry being the hero. Curry, who gave up a beautiful goal by the Wolves about mid-way through the first period, held them scoreless for the remainder of the game. Momentum definitively shifted in the third period when only the second Penguin penalty kill of the game failed to gather a Wolves goal. The 5:4 turned into a big Wolves advantage as the two wingers on ice for the Pens broke their sticks, leaving the Wolves facing just Curry and two blue liners.

But Curry was able to stop the Wolves long enough for play to be whistled dead. After that, the flow of the game was all Penguin.

By that time, the game had already been lost in points, although if the Wolves had been able to score, they would have been within two and might have come back.

Following the first goal of the game, a lovely shot by Bryan Little that went in the back door, the Pens responded, putting two in the net within less than three minutes. Wolves Coach John Anderson told Jonathan Bomboulie of the Citizens Voice, Gove’s goal “was a 3-on-3 and we went to pick up the trailer and went to the wrong guy and they banged it in. Great play. Then Connor James comes down about 2,000 mph, made a beautiful shot top shelf and changed the whole complexion.”

Wolves’ goalie Ondrej Pavelec was beaten by going down early on several goals. In the third goal, in particular, Luca Caputi was on a near side breakaway. He was challenged behind by Brian Sipotz. Pavelec not only went down early, he also went to the back of the crease instead of cutting down the angle.

It takes nothing from this big Pens win to note that again on-ice officiating was questionable. Either the Wolves discipline has broken down in the last two games or the referee is just not paying attention to the action in white. Last night saw nine calls against the Wolves and three in their favor.

The win was the first in AHL history; no team has ever been down 3-0 before and forced a game six. No team has ever been down 3-0 and won the championship. However, these Penguins have a history of coming from behind to win. As noted earlier in the series, they do not generally quit when they are down.

The Wolves too, of course, have a come from behind thing going. This is the first time the Wolves have played at home in a championship game that could award the cup since the Calder Cup victory against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in 2002. The Cup has been at the games since Friday, ready to be awarded. The Tuesday night game at the Allstate is at 7 P.M. NHL Network and Comcast Cable Sports Network will be broadcasting the game live.

Pens win 3-2; Wolves lead series 3-1

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins won their first playoff game against the Chicago Wolves in the Calder Cup Championship, 3-2. The game at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Center was a nightmare of poor officiating marked by the Penguins being able to keep the Wolves off their game.

Dennis Bonvie, in a huge play, checked Boris Valabik on one end of the ice in the first period, cruised across the ice to smash Brett Sterling from behind. They were both clean hits and huge body crushing hits worthy of a man of Bonvie’s reputation. The Wolves immediately took two penalties giving the Pens a 5:3 power play. As the Wolves defended their goal Colin Stuart broke his stick. Only a miracle could have prevented the first goal, and the Pens didn’t allow the Wolves a miracle at this point, Chris Minard potted a beauty against Ondrej Pavelec.

Bonvie, who took a penalty apparently during the checks, finally took to the sin bin, but the damage was done. A second 5:3 followed in the second period, and the Pens scored again. The second unanswered goal came after the first power play expired. Again Stuart broke his stick. Then a shot from near the blue line was redirected off of Valabik’s foot and in.

The Wolves put two goals on the board, both power plays by Darren Haydar, before the end of the second period, tying the game at 2-2 at the end of the second frame. Seconds after Haydar was tripped, he was called himself for tripping, no there was no penalty for what happened to him. The resulting power play put the game winner in the net off of the foot of Wolves blue liner Brian Sipotz.

Although the Wolves pressured the Pens, no further goals could be scored. Steve Martins and Brett Sterling were both scratches. The next game in the best of seven series is in WBS on Saturday at 6:35 PM. The game is being broadcast on both the NHL Network and Comcast Sports Cable.

Wolves one win from Cup

The Chicago Wolves are one game away from winning the American Hockey League championship, the Calder Cup, following a romp, 6-1, over the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Center in Wilkes-Barre tonight. Jesse Schultz potted two goals and rookie Matt Anderson potted one of the Chicago goals in a game that marked the first Chicago victory ever in Wilkes-Barre.

Ondrej Pavelec let just one goal in, in fact the first goal of the game. He stopped 11 shots in the first game, telling Comcast that the Wolves were lucky to not be further down in the first period. Three regular players were scratched for the game, including Steve Martins, Brett Sterling and Joe Motzko. They were replaced by Matt Anderson, Guillaume Desbiens and Mike Hamilton. Those Black Aces stepped up in the game, each earning at least a point, with two goals between them.

On the Wilkes-Barre side, vet winger Dennis Bonvie played what may be his final professional game. Bonvie, known and respected as an enforcer, had no penalties, shots on goal or significant action with Wolves players. Rookie Alex Goligoski was sent down from the Stanley Cup contending Pittsburgh Penguins; he had an assist in the game. He now leads all AHL defensemen in points scored during the post season, at 27. He is just one point from tying a record for rookie points, 28, set by Mike Sillinger of the Adirondack Red Wings in 1992. (At posting time, the result of the Detroit v Pittsburgh game was not known.)

WBS went ahead in the first period, and was able to hold the Wolves off the board in the period, dominating the Wolves, who had only five shots on goal for the first frame. However in the second frame, the Wolves launched a blistering rain of shots on goal, 19, recording five goals. For once, the Wolves power play unit was shut down, but it didn’t matter as a well rounded Wolves beat on John Curry, driving him from the net.

Only four penalties were charged in the game. A shell shocked Penguin team put minimum resistance up in the third frame as the Wolves scored a sixth and final goal. Only two teams have been able to come back from a 3-0 deficit, according to the AHL. This is the second series in this campaign that the Wolves have had a 3-0 advantage over their opponents. The Wolves and the Penguins face off again Friday. The game, played again at the Wachovia Arena, is being televised on Comcast and also by the NHL network, starting at 6:30 P.M. A game five, if necessary, is scheduled for Saturday at 6:30 P.M.

Wolves 2 wins from championship; Haydar gets another crown

The Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins lost their second game at the Allstate Arena Sunday, putting them behind 2-0 in the seven game Calder Cup Championship series versus the Chicago Wolves. Darren Haydar put two goals in during the first frame. He is now the most prolific goal scorer in American Hockey League post season play, surpassing Jody Gage’s 51 playoff goals and Willie Marshall’s 119 post season points in the same game (53 goals and 121 points).

The physical game was scarred by an ugly Slap Shot style hit on Wolves player Andre Deveaux. He was checked into the Penguins bench during play, and Pens captain Nathan Smith apparently stuck his stick into Deveaux’s neck. Deveaux left the ice, returning later. Smith, on his next shift, was checking Nathan Oystrick into the far boards. Oystrick came up saying something to Smith and the two immediately dropped their gloves.

Several other Wolves also were taken down in a game that was spinning out of the control of referee Dean Morton. Especially of concern was Steve Martins, who went down behind the far net and didn’t move for about a minute following a hit from Ryan Stone.

WBS fan board predicted the Wolves will pay as the gritty Eastern Conference team becomes increasingly physical. However, it was discipline that marked the play of the Wolves, who held back their anger and the roar of the Allstate crowd, using the power play opportunities presented by the Penguins to gain the upper hand.

Like the first game, the Pens phoned in the first period of play, putting them behind the Wolves 2-0 at the start of the second frame. A third goal finally led to a goal spark, as the Pens regained two goals from the Wolves in less than 33 seconds. The power play goals started by a 5:3 Pens advantage.

Joel Kwiatkowski was able to scoop up a rebound, late in the period, and put it in for a fourth insurance goal. Despite pulling the goalie, the Pens were unable to gain any friction to threaten the Chicago position again.

The next three games move to the Wachovia Arena in Casey Plaza of Wilkes-Barre. The NHL network has been carrying the finals, as broadcast by the home team. Game time is 6:30 PM Wednesday.

Goligoski assigned to Pitts Pens

The fans of the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins have been hoping the NHL Pittsburgh Penguins finish their season soon, the idea being that several of the NHL Penguins could be reassigned to the WBS Baby Pens in their Calder Cup run.

Things can go the other way, however, and did. Jonathan Bombulie, a beat writer on the Baby Pens for the Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice reports that rookie standout Alex Goligoski has been recalled to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rob Scuderi, a blue liner, has a “lower body” injury and Kris Letang will be taking the next game off for the funeral of Manitoba Moose Luc Bourdon.

Goligoski, who played three NHL games, is having a great post season, registering 25 points in 19 games. He could return to the Baby Pens if the Pittsburgh Pens lose to Detroit before the end of the Calder Cup season, and if he is no longer needed. Any win by the Detroit Red Wings will send the blue liner back to Wilkes-Barre. (At post time, the Detroit Red Wings lead the game by a goal with about five minutes remaining).

Wolves win 1st game of finals 5-4

Chicago’s power play again dominated a game to allow the Chicago Wolves a 5-4 win against the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins at the Allstate Arena Thursday night. Three unanswered first period goals by the Wolves and a penalty kill of a 5:3 power play led to the team being wildly applauded as they exited the ice at the end of the first frame. However, the baby Pens came back in the second period, scoring early in the period, with just a minute, 15 seconds between the first and second goals.

The second and third goals of the Pens effort seemed to be set plays, almost identical, even to the lines, although the credits for the goals were awarded to different players. Off the face-off, the Pens brought the puck back to the right side blue line, then passed cross ice where the puck was teed up and fired through traffic for the goal.

After being taken advantage of twice by the play, the Wolves didn’t allow it to happen again. Goals by Joel Kwiatkowski and Bryan Little kept the Pens at a distance. But a third period goal by the Pens brought them within one of the Wolves. Then a sloppy penalty by Kwiatkowski with less than two minutes to go, gave the Pens a final chance at the power play.

The WBS goalie, John Curry was pulled, allowing the Pens to put a 6:4 advantage against the Wolves. Still, it was a near thing, as the Wolves almost put a loose puck into the empty Pens’ net.

Once again, the heart of the team was team vet Steve Martins. Martins was awarded a penalty shot during the closing seconds of the first period when a turnover during the power play had to be stopped by Wilkes-Barre. Ondrej Pavelec had 30 saves for the win. Penguins rookie Alex Goligoski, who has had an outstanding post-season, had a goal and three assists in the game.

Seventh man advantage favors baby Pens

The Chicago Wolves v Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins final of the Calder Cup Championship starts tonight. Chicago fans haven’t seen the Penguins play since last season when the team made a West Division swing. That’s prehistory in hockey. So much changes, especially in minor league play.

Although the home advantage has been huge in the playoffs, and that goes to the Wolves, I think that the seventh man advantage is strongly in the Penguins favor. The Wachovia building that the Penguins play in is routinely sold out. The Penguins have one of the strongest fan bases seen in the American Hockey League. The white out seen in Mellon Arena when the Detroit Red Wings played game three? The same advantage is going to be on the Baby Pens favor too.

That favors a long series, with the Wolves taking the Chicago games and the Pens taking the Pennsylvania games. I don’t see Chicago having an easy time, even if they take a lead in the Pens home.

The Pens on the other hand, have come to Chicago and won. Okay, I said that is prehistory. But it’s happened. I’m predicting the Wolves have tough wins at home, but drop one home game, and lose each of the games in Pennsylvania. The series goes six or seven. The series ends in Chicago.

Now, that’s what I think is going to happen. Chicago plays a disciplined game, plays its game, not WBS’, and finally, is able to take the oxygen out of the Wachovia building with early goals in games three and four, that will change things. That is how the Wolves can win this thing. That’s what I want to happen.

Penguins previewed

I reviewed all of the Wilkes- Barre/ Scranton Penguins video available on line. It really doesn’t tell much, as it consists of lots of fight highlights and very short clips of the Penguins goals against various opponents.

If you insist on showing, as a highlight, the final seconds of a goal and focus on the celebration, it is difficult for anyone to analyze what happened. Jane Rickard, whose blog Powderhornhockey, watched the clips with me and commented that the Penguins seemed, at one point, to be celebrating all of the high sticking penalties missed by the refs.

The coming series isn’t likely to see the Penguins taking a lot of penalties, illegal, or otherwise. I won’t argue that the Penguins aren’t a physical team, but in the post-season, the Chicago Wolves have averaged about 23 penalty minutes per game. Only the Syracuse Crunch have averaged more penalty minutes per game, in the post season, than the Wolves. The Penguins, despite the videos of fights and hits and high sticking, have averaged just 12 minutes in penalties per game.

The Wolves have done well in the post season against undisciplined opponents, notably against the Toronto Marlies. The Rockford IceHogs, who faced the Wolves in a very emotional series that proved to be a physical and emotional high for the season so far, were able to defuse the Chicago special teams, even taking advantage of the man advantages to beat the Chicago PK unit.

So, the first thing I expect, in this series, is that we’ll see fewer opportunities for the Chicago PP unit to score against a more disciplined team than they have faced before.

At the same time, the Penguins are accustomed to a physical form of hockey in the form of the Hershey Bears and the Philadelphia Phantoms. These two teams were unable to shock the Penguins. I don’t think Chicago physical play is going to be able to be used as an advantage against the Penguins.

Now there are two other things I saw in the videos. First, the practice video showed a play that we saw bits and pieces of in the highlights. The puck was taken across the blue line close to the left center of the ice. A cross-ice pass to the far right was immediately dumped down the right boards. The lively boards in Chicago are likely to let the puck leak into the left corner, although the video indicates the Penguins want to play the puck in the right corner.

The Wolves have fought very well in the corners and against the boards. Boris Valabik, in particular, can create plays behind the net that confound the opposition. The other thing I’m thinking about this play, it can be easily thwarted with defense in the neutral zone. It can be forced further to the point and cross ice presence can make it difficult to complete.

The other interesting feature of the video is a short piece, posted by the Penguins on YouTube of a recent practice. Is it for real or is it disinformation? Time will tell, but it shows the players practicing shots high, especially to the right side of the goalie.

I don’t recall any weakness by Ondrej Pavelec on the right side, but months ago he had a tendency to go down early. Looking at highlights from January is like examining fossils. Maybe it has some interest to the current situation. Maybe not. The Rockford IceHogs publicly said they planned to challenge Pavelec by shooting high, after drawing him to drop.

That didn’t work.

Now, the AHL will require the two teams to name 17 players. Here is a list of the players expected to play, based on the stats. I don’t believe any are currently injured.

Tim Brent C
Ryan Stone C
Kurtis McLean C
Nathan Smith C
Connor James C
Dave Grove C
Dustin Jeffrey C
Mark Letestu C
Now, that is 8 centers. I am mystified. Why does this team have so many centers? They must be playing wing.
Here’s a list of their wings, as you might expect, it is a light list, as there are so many centers.
Chris Minard LW
Tim Wallace LW
Luca Caputi LW

Finally, on the blue line:
Alex Goligoski D
Mark Ardelan D
Ben Lovejoy D
Alain Nasreddine D
Ryan Lannon D
Deryk Engelland D

And in net, John Curry.

Goligoski has had a great post season. He is a rookie and is averaging, as a blue liner, two points per game; He only averaged about half point per game in the regular season. Missing is Dennis Bonvie. He has appeared in five of the post season games.

Wolves v Rampage; Hogs v MAds

The Houston Aeros, in fourth place in the West Division of the American Hockey League, are in a tight race with four teams fighting for the last two play-off spots, one in the West and one in the North Division.

They were helped by Wednesday’s win by the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins over the fourth place North Division team, the Syracuse Crunch. And, they were helped by their own efforts too, a win Wednesday night, 1-0 over the North Division Lake Erie Monsters of Cleveland.

Although I’d earlier forecast that Syracuse was out of the hunt for the post season, due to it being so far behind the four West Division teams fighting for fourth and fifth place, there is another possibility for the team, it could catch the third place Manitoba Moose or even the second place Hamilton Bulldogs. The Bulldogs, the Calder Cup winner last season, have 67 points in 58 games. The Moose have chalked up 66 points in 59 games and the fourth place Crunch have 61 points in 60 games.

So it is tight for the Crunch. They are in a hard spot. But it will be easier to beat two teams than to go on a run that beats four.

The Milwaukee Admirals, in fifth place in the West, beat the Rockford IceHogs 4-3. The IceHogs have been on a ride to nowhere lately, with only four points in ten games. Milwaukee, on the other hand has 13 points in ten games. The MAds are one of four teams in the West Division in a race for the two playoff spots, one in the West and one in the North, that seem up for grabs. The MAds are trailing the San Antonio Rampage in the standings by five points with the SAR having five games in hand.

The MAds have always been a hard-hitting team. But, I think they’ve met their match with the IceHogs, a physical team that is finishing its checks this year. The violence in hockey is usually confined to the ice surface and usually to the game. When it explodes outside of those limits, you have a problem defined outside the code. It would be fair to call it a personal problem.

The Hogs and the MAds had such a fight on Wednesday. Troy Brouwer, Colin Fraser, Kelsey Wilson and Alex Henry received a variety of penalties after the match. The two teams meet again on Saturday, March 8th at the Bradley Center. There should be fireworks.

I’m not a person to scream “fight, fight, fight” at games. But the Hogs need a boost. They need to regain their spirit. And a good scrum might help.

The Rampage hosted the Chicago Wolves for the first time this season. The Wolves, the number two team in the league, treated their hosts poorly, going ahead 5-0 at the end of the second period. But after putting 18 shots on the San Antonio goal in the first period, the Wolves seemed to relax: just 10 shots on goal for the remainder of the game.

San Antonio, on the other hand, put 40 shots on Ondrej Pavelec in the second and third frames. One of the things to look at in a team is the shots on goal. I remember games during the lockout when Kari Lehtonen was in net. The Wolves would typically give up 40, 50 and once I remember 60 shots on goal.

That’s poor defense. Have you ever heard people say it is hard to measure defense? There is a great measure of a team’s defense. I’ll put it this way: 40 shots on goal in two periods is equivalent to 60 shots on goal for 60 minutes. It is poor defense.

Visitors would complain that Kari’s numbers were inflated by off-ice officials in Chicago who favored him having a high save percentage. “They’ll give him a SOG for looking at a puck in the corner,” they said. Another way to look at it is that Lehtonen had a poor defense in front of him.

Forty shots on goal in two periods? Terrible defense. The Wolves are holding on by the grace of Pavelec. The Wolves are a good team and should be using this period leading up to the playoffs, not to rest, but to totally discourage every other team in this league. The defense needs to shut down the opposing offense. It can do it, the penalty kill numbers demonstrate it. Not only the penalty kill numbers, but in the one period the Wolves didn’t phone it in, SAR only had four shots on goal.

There’s another example of defense. Except this time it was clicking. Four shots on goal in 20 minutes of play.

These two teams meet again on Friday. Expect some fireworks. Whether true or not, a person purporting to be a former Wolves player went on a message board after the game to issue a challenge to the Wolves.

Grant Lewis auditioning for the Bachelor

Ben Lovejoy, a blueliner with the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins, says Grant Lewis is auditioning for a role on the Bachelor. Here’s the important stats on Grant Lewis, ladies: 23 y.o. drafted 2nd round, 40th overall in 2004. Plays defence. +-= 7. 6’ 2” 199 # 26 games played, 29 shots on goal, 9 points 32 PiM. More information HERE.

Good luck.

Penguins 1 Wolves 0

The Wolves slump continued last night as the WBS Penguins blanked them in one of the best hockey games I've seen all year. I believe part of the offensive problem is turnovers. I kept track in the first period, the Wolves used dump and chase almost as much as they brought the puck into the offensive zone. However, the Pens and other teams have lately appeared to be very prepared for this style of Wolves play. Either a blue liner is waiting, often on the opposite board, or the goalie (who had an excellent game) will just go behind the net to play the puck. Either way, the Wolves end up turning over the puck. There is almost a one-for-one relationship between dump and chase and turnovers.

This isn't to say that you should never dump and chase, nor that every dump and chase causes a turnover, but the use of it is excessive on the Wolves. It happened, at least seven times in the first period.

Watching Atlanta play on TV I also counted the dump and chase against the Canadiens. I believe they used it six times in the whole game. Why are we using a technique that is taught to mites so they can penetrate the blue line? Are the offensive players so ill-equipped to be challenged that this is the best they've got? It has clearly become a dominant style for the Wolves as opponents are now anticipating its use.

SHOTS ON GOAL
The almost useless Braydon Colburn, number one draft pick and current Atlanta Thrasher said "let's go" to New Jersey Devil Mike Rupp. He sustained cuts to his face and did not return. In a related matter, Wolves blue liner Mark Popovic was seen taking a limo to O'Hare after the game. So long Braydon?

The MetroCentre and the ownership of the Rockford IceHogs are close to a deal, according to the Rock River Times. The deal would allow current ownership to continue with a 25 percent stake in the team, the other part owner would be the MetroCentre. Team owner Dr. Kris Tumilowicz asked Winnebago County Board members Thursday night to reverse an earlier decision to block the MetroCentre from owning an AHL team saying a deal would be announced before the next board meeting January 27.

The thought occurrs to me, as this deal is now approaching reality, what will happen next season as the fanatical Rockford UHL fans invade the Bradley Center and the Allstate. I'm of the opinion that the Bradley Center will be a tough place as there will be almost as many Rockford fans as Mads fans. And, there will be bad blood due to the broken relationship between the two teams. On the other hand, coming to Chicago, the IceHogs fans may pickup some Blackhawk fans. The Wolves larger fan base will be able to absorb the influx of IceHog fans, but there is no love lost between Blackhawk fans and Wolves fans. As a season ticket holder for all three teams, yes I'm nuts, welcome hogs fans. I need to get myself an IceHogs sweater before it is too late.

By now most Wolves fans are aware that Jason Krog, the Wolves scorer who led a line until December with Darren Haydar and Brent Sterling, has been claimed off of waivers. Krog, who did not play against the Canadiens earlier this week, will play for the New York Rangers. Go Krog! If Atlanta turns to the Wolves for more offensive power, the Wolves would probably lose Darek MacKenzie, Darren Haydar and Brent Sterling, in that order.

The Wilkes-Barre Scranton fan club and the Wolfpack had a joint function after the game last night. Great fans. Whatever happens in Pittsburgh, these fans have earned a team in the AHL with almost 100 percent sell-outs and consistent post-season play. The fans tell me they are guaranteed a team in WBS until at least 2010.