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.

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.

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.