By Wil Goldsholl

Hartford, CT, January 6, 2013 – After watching Cam Talbot pick up his first shutout of the season in Hartford on Friday, Jason Missiaen decided he wanted one too. Supported by two goals from Kyle Jean, the Connecticut Whale skated to a 2-0 victory over the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, despite being outshot by a margin of 35-18. The Whale earned five points over a three-game weekend, to gain ground in the Northeast Division standings.

Brandon Segal set the tone in the first 90 seconds when he delivered a hard check to Dominik Uher behind the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goal. Christian Thomas followed suit and dumped Bobby Farnham on the way to the net minutes later.

In his eighth start of the year, Missiaen was tested early and often. Shots from Paul Thompson, Philippe Dupuis, and Warren Peters were all turned aside in the first five minutes.

Although Missiaen saw most of the rubber early on, the Whale put together some quality plays. Kris Newbury pulled a solid one-timer following a smooth and crafty break-in with linemate Chad Kolarik around the 13-minute mark. A short-side play from Tommy Grant to Kelsey Tessier near the midway point of the period was also cut off just before Grant shoved the puck through the goal mouth yet again.

Notable in the first period was Newbury’s play beneath the goal line. He put in the work underneath and drew the first penalty of the game to Dylan Reese for high-sticking at 11:41. This would prove to be a turning point when, 43 seconds later, Jean accepted a pass from Logan Pyett and shot from the left circle. Penguin backstop Brad Thiessen was heavily screened and the attempt found its way over his stick side shoulder. Jean’s first of the day came at 12:24.

Missiaen made his 10^th save of the period after the next draw as Warren Peters attempted to walk in from a dead angle. At the other end, Thiessen made a big save on Newbury after Kolarik and Segal again demonstrated good chemistry with the Brampton, Ontario native. The first period concluded with Connecticut leading 1-0.

Blake Parlett was whistled for holding in the corner1:42 in to the second period. Missiaen came in to the spotlight on the ensuing penalty kill, first stopping a one-time effort, then staring down a Joe Morrow snap shot from close range. After an offs-peed puck made its way to his crease, Missiaen came up with a tremendous save on the rebound driven by Peters seconds after the penalty expired.

Next, Missiaen made a save for the highlight reel as, again, a puck was redirected right on top of his crease. Farnham was on the doorstep to close but was robbed by the extended right leg of the six-foot eight-inch netminder.

Jean netted his second midway through regulation time when Thiessen mishandled the puck behind his own goal. Micheal Haley was buzzing in to the zone and anticipated Thiessen pushing the puck down the wall. Haley spun the puck in front where it banked off Shayne Wiebe, and Jean was there to sweep in his seventh of the year at 9:29.

Head coach Ken Gernander spoke on Jean, Missiaen, and the team’s performance after the game, “[Jean] started the season real strong for us and then hit a dry spell. We need offense.” Prior to Sunday, Jean had played 23 games without finding the twine.  Gernander also spoke highly of Missiaen, who recently spent some time with the team’s ECHL affiliate in Greenville, South Carolina, “Thirty-five saves. Some were really late there. I was thrilled with his performance.”

Several minutes later, Missiaen made a timely save on Uher again when a similar puckhandling flub occurred.

Pyett was handed a interference minor at 13:52 in the third, and the Penguins’ Brian Gibbons was sent off for hooking shortly after Pyett was released. Ryan Bourque hauled down Jason Megna at 14:52 and sat two minutes for tripping.

In the closing minute, Missiaen was still tested. He preserved his shutout, his first in the AHL  and fourth as a pro, with a big point-blank save on Trevor Smith with under ten seconds to hang on for the win. Missiaen finished with 35 stops on the night, while Thiessen turned away 16 of the 18 he faced.

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Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 0 at Connecticut Whale 2
Sunday, January 6, 2013 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

W-B/Scranton 0 0 0 – 0
Connecticut 1 1 0 – 2

1st Period-1, Connecticut, Jean 6 (Pyett, Parlett), 12:24 (PP). Penalties-Reese Wbs (high-sticking), 11:41.

2nd Period-2, Connecticut, Jean 7 (Wiebe, Haley), 9:29. Penalties-Parlett Ct (holding), 1:42; Pyett Ct (interference), 13:52.

3rd Period- No Scoring. Penalties-Gibbons Wbs (hooking), 1:32; Bourque Ct (tripping), 14:52.

Shots on Goal-W-B/Scranton 11-13-11-35. Connecticut 9-6-3-18.
Power Play Opportunities-W-B/Scranton 0 / 3; Connecticut 1 / 2.
Goalies-W-B/Scranton, Thiessen 4-7-1 (18 shots-16 saves). Connecticut, Missiaen 3-3-0 (35 shots-35 saves).
A-4,347
Referees-Jarrod Ragusin (54).
Linesmen-Jim Briggs (83), Derek Wahl (46).

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Glens Falls, NY, January 5, 2013 – Sean Couturier’s power-play goal at 3:08 of overtime gave the Adirondack Phantoms a 2-1 win over the Connecticut Whale Saturday night at the Glens Falls Civic Center.

Just 11 seconds after Micheal Haley was called for slashing, Danny Syvret fed the puck from the middle of the blue line to Couturier, and his shot from the right circle cleanly beat Whale goaltender Cam Talbot.

Chad Kolarik scored the only Whale goal, and Tye McGinn had the other Phantom tally.  Cal Heeter made 30 saves in the Adirondack net to get the win, and Talbot stopped 34 out of 36 for Connecticut.

“They (the Phantoms) carried the play for pretty good stretches of the first (period),” Whale head coach Ken Gernander said.  “It took us a little while to get our feet under us, to get things going, and I thought it was a fairly evenly-played game after that.”

After Talbot had shut the Phantoms out in a 3-0 Whale win Friday night at the XL Center in Hartford, in the front end of the teams’ home-and-home series, McGinn put the Phantoms on the board only 2:57 into Saturday’s game.

McGinn fired a sharp-angle shot past Talbot’s catching-glove side, after Talbot initially appeared ready to cover a loose puck but instead played it up ice to his left.  The Whale were never able to clear, and Rob Bordson found McGinn for the goal.

The Whale were outshot 16-9 in the second period, but would score the only goal of the session to emerge tied at one.

After Heeter had stopped Tommy Grant on a breakaway chance a little over a minute before, Kolarik, the Whale’s goal-scoring leader, scored his 14^th of the season, and fourth in the last four games, at 16:25.  Kolarik tracked the puck down in the left-wing corner and banged a shot off of Heeter’s skates.  Kolarik headed toward the goal and was able to shove the rebound just past Heeter.  Referee Darcy Burchell conducted a video review before confirming that it was a good goal.

The Whale outshot the Phantoms 11-8 in the third, and had some good chances early on in overtime, but could not get anything else past Heeter before Couturier’s power-play winner.

Saturday’s game was the seventh straight that the Whale played without forward J.T. Miller, who helped the U.S. National Junior Team to a 3-1 win over Sweden Saturday morning in the gold medal game of the World Junior Championship in Ufa, Russia.  Miller had an assist on a game-clinching empty-net goal by Vince Trocheck, giving Miller seven helpers in seven games in the tournament, tops on the USA squad and good for a tie for second overall among WJC skaters.  Miller’s nine points in the tournament (2-7-9) tied him for the U.S. team lead and for fifth overall in the tournament.

The Whale finish off their weekend Sunday at home, hosting the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 3:00 PM game at the XL Center.  At every Sunday Whale home game this year, fans can take advantage of the Whale’s “Click It or Ticket Sunday Family Value Packs”, which include a ticket, a hot dog or a pizza slice and a soda, all for only $18.

Whale tickets start as low as $10 each ($12 each when purchased on the day of the game) and are available at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, through TicketMaster Charge-by-Phone at 1-800-745-3000 and on-line at www.ticketmaster.com.

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Connecticut Whale 1 at Adirondack Phantoms 2 (OT)
Saturday, January 5, 2013 – Glens Falls Civic Center

Connecticut 0 1 0 0 – 1
Adirondack 1 0 0 1 – 2

1st Period-1, Adirondack, McGinn 9 (Bordson), 2:57. Penalties-McIlrath Ct (fighting), 2:59; Lauridsen Adk (fighting), 2:59; Kolarik Ct (cross-checking), 3:46; Ford Adk (interference), 8:53; Parlett Ct (roughing), 19:02; Bordson Adk (roughing), 19:02.

2nd Period-2, Connecticut, Kolarik 14 (Segal, Newbury), 16:25. Penalties-Haley Ct (fighting), 8:06; FitzGerald Adk (fighting), 8:06; Zolnierczyk Adk (slashing), 9:17; Segal Ct (slashing), 9:20; Pyett Ct (interference), 10:56; Collins Ct (tripping), 17:58.

3rd Period- No Scoring. Penalties-Jean Ct (roughing), 11:04; Lauridsen Adk (roughing), 11:04.

OT Period-3, Adirondack, Couturier 10 (Syvret, Schenn), 3:08 (PP). Penalties-Haley Ct (slashing), 2:57.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 9-9-11-2-31. Adirondack 10-16-8-2-36.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 2; Adirondack 1 / 5.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 12-15-0 (36 shots-34 saves). Adirondack, Heeter 5-10-1 (31 shots-30 saves).
A-4,634
Referees-Darcy Burchell (42).
Linesmen-Mike Emanatian (69), Steeve Lemay (64).

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