By Wil Goldsholl

Hartford, CT, December 22, 2012 – Chris Bourque’s third-period goal was the difference Saturday night at the XL Center, as the Providence Bruins, Boston’s top affiliate, came to Hartford for Military Appreciation Night and tipped the Connecticut Whale 3-1, advancing to 15-10-0-2 and moving ahead of the Worcester Sharks for second place in the Atlantic Division.

In the opening minutes of the game, Providence and Connecticut were testing the water. Neither squad came on too aggressively and as a result the chances were few and far between. The first quality opportunity of the game went to the Whale on a Kris Newbury saucer pass directed for Marek Hrivik; the chance would go by the boards.

Chris Kreider drew interference on Lane MacDermid at 4:19 behind Providence goaltender Michael Hutchinson’s net, and a power play ensued. Connecticut again came close, but failed to hit the net when Matt Gilroy let a one-timer fly into traffic in the slot. The puck would flutter towards the net but just over the crossbar.

Connecticut received another opportunity a second before MacDermid’s penalty expired. Matt Bartkowski flipped the puck over the glass in the Providence defensive end for delay of game at 6:18. Hrivik found himself in the right place at the right time but could not convert the only Whale shot of the power play. Connecticut would finish 0 for 5 in man-up situations on the night.

Cam Talbot, who, in Coach Ken Gernander’s words was “enormous” in Manchester on Friday, did not see any rubber for nearly nine minutes until Jamie Tardif opened up in the high slot.

The play came to the other end and Shayne Wiebe was called for goaltender interference near the midway mark of the period. That Bruin power play would produce one redirected chance, and a rebound try by Bourque, but still no goals.

Newbury had a look at Chad Kolarik on a two on one moments after the penalty to Wiebe expired, but once again the pass was mishandled.

Micheal Haley dropped the gloves with MacDermid with three and half minutes left in the period and Kreider drew another penalty, this time Jordan Caron for hooking with 1:41 on the clock. Tommy Cross and Christian Hanson nearly connected for a shorthanded goal before the period ended scoreless.

Connecticut drew first blood 4:44 in to the second. Logan Pyett fed the puck across the blueline to newcomer Steven Delisle. Delisle slid it down the wall for Newbury to sling it right to the net from the half boards. Hrivik tipped the puck on net and Kolarik collected the rebound for his tenth of the season. Following the goal, the ice at the XL Center was covered in donated teddy bears, which will be donated to the children of Newtown, CT, in the Whale’s annual “Teddy Bear Toss”.

Sam Klassen was sent off for holding, and Providence would knot the game up. Carter Camper sent a back-door pass to Kyle MacKinnon. Talbot made the initial save but Tardif was there to finish the rebound on the backhand.

Brandon Segal, in reply, poked the puck free on the following play. Tommy Grant broke in alone, and Hutchinson came up with a timely stop on the five-hole attempt.

Talbot opened the third period with a stretching kick save on a wraparound effort. The teams exchanged power play opportunities but neither 5-on-4 unit could produce another scoring effort.

After a rebound on a Hrivik chance with Blake Parlett and Kolarik in front didn’t find its way across the goal line, Bourque scored the game winning goal with 6:02 to play. Taking advantage of some contact with Talbot in the crease, Bourque was able to turn on a loose puck and fire one top-shelf. His fifth of the year was assisted by Zach Trotman and MacKinnon.

The Whale came close in the closing minutes; Segal sailed one over the top on a rebound chance with 3:30 left, and the Newbury-Hrivik-Kolarik line was trigger happy during their 60-second shift with three minutes remaining.

Talbot was lifted from the net with just over a minute to play, but Christian Hanson would seal the game with an empty netter. Talbot came up with 20 saves in the loss, while Hutchinson stopped 24 of the 25 he faced.

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Providence Bruins 3 at Connecticut Whale 1
Saturday, December 22, 2012 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Providence 0 1 2 – 3
Connecticut 0 1 0 – 1

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-MacDermid Pro (interference), 4:19; Bartkowski Pro (delay of game), 6:18; Wiebe Ct (goaltender interference), 10:26; MacDermid Pro (fighting), 16:27; Haley Ct (fighting), 16:27; Caron Pro (hooking), 18:19.

2nd Period-1, Connecticut, Kolarik 10 (Hrivik, Newbury), 4:44. 2, Providence, Tardif 15 (MacKinnon, Camper), 12:06 (PP). Penalties-Klassen Ct (holding), 10:25; MacDermid Pro (kneeing), 15:33.

3rd Period-3, Providence, Bourque 5 (Trotman, MacKinnon), 13:58. 4, Providence, Hanson 4 (Trotman), 19:15 (EN). Penalties-Delisle Ct (interference), 2:56; Warsofsky Pro (tripping), 7:42.

Shots on Goal-Providence 6-8-9-23. Connecticut 9-7-9-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Providence 1 / 3; Connecticut 0 / 5.
Goalies-Providence, Hutchinson 4-5-1 (25 shots-24 saves). Connecticut, Talbot 10-11-0 (22 shots-20 saves).
A-5,626
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41).
Linesmen-Mike Baker (11), Paul Simeon (66).

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Manchester, NH, December 21, 2012 – Kris Newbury scored two goals and added an assist, Marek Hrivik had a goal and an assist, and Cam Talbot made 39 saves, as the Connecticut Whale defeated the Manchester Monarchs by a score of 5-2 Friday night at Verizon Wireless Arena.

The Whale also got two assists from Steven Delisle, his first career AHL points after joining the team earlier in the week from Greenville of the ECHL, and two helpers from Chad Kolarik.  Marc-Andre Cliché scored both Manchester goals.

The Whale won despite being outshot 41-29 in the game.

The Whale, who had absorbed a 9-2 pounding from the Monarchs less than two weeks before, December 8 in Manchester, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Hrivik and Newbury.

Hrivik opened the scoring with his third of the season at 7:54, set up by a Newbury centering pass out of the left-wing corner.  The Monarchs left Hrivik alone in front of the goal, and he waited for Manchester starting goaltender Martin Jones to commit before flipping the puck past him on the stick side.  Delisle, playing his first game in a Whale uniform, started the play by dumping the puck into the corner and picked up the other assist.

Newbury scored on a power play at 12:40 for a 2-0 lead, getting his ninth of the year.  Kolarik tipped the puck to Newbury at the right side of the slot and Newbury’s slap shot overpowered Jones, trickling over the goal line just before Hrivik got to it.

The Whale were outshot 15-8 in the first, but Talbot stopped all 15 shots in the Whale goal.

The Monarchs would have a 20-13 shots advantage in the second period, but the Whale nursed their 2-0 lead until the 13:18 mark, before Cliché scored twice in 46 seconds to tie it quickly for Manchester.

Cliché’s first goal came on a power play at 13:18, on a deflection of a Jake Muzzin shot from the top of the left circle, after Andrei Loktionov won a faceoff.  Cliché then scored off a rush at 14:04, after Stefan Legein centered the puck off left wing.  Talbot stopped Cliché’s initial try, but Cliché got two more whacks at the puck and poked it in on the second one.

The Whale then regained the lead with just 24 seconds left in the period, when Kelsey Tessier scored off of a Ryan Bourque feed.  Bourque carried the puck into the offensive zone on right wing and spun back, before playing the puck in front to Tessier, whose high shot cleanly beat Jones.

Chris Kreider increased the margin to two goals at 4:46 of the third period, scoring his fifth goal of the season.  Kyle Jean carried the puck across the slot before handing the puck to Kreider at the top of the right circle, and Kreider’s snapshot found the net behind Jones (19 saves), who was then lifted from the game in favor of Peter Mannino, who would go on to stop all five shots that he faced.

Newbury created the final margin with an empty-net goal with 45.8 seconds remaining, his team-leading 10^th goal on the year.

The win stopped a two-game Whale losing streak and improved Connecticut’s record to 12-13-2-0 for 26 points.

The Whale return to the XL Center Saturday night for their last game before the Christmas holiday, a 7:00 PM date with the Providence Bruins. That is “Military Appreciation Night”, with a jersey auction in the second intermission to benefit the VFW of Connecticut, and that game also features the Whale’s annual “Teddy Bear Toss”.  Fans are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped soft toys to the game and, when the Whale scores its first goal, heave them on to the ice to be donated to the children of Newtown, CT.  Also, teddy bears will be for sale in the XL Center atrium, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Tickets for all Whale regular season home games at the XL Center are on sale now 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 5 at Manchester Monarchs 2
Friday, December 21, 2012 – Verizon Wireless Arena

Connecticut 2 1 2 – 5
Manchester 0 2 0 – 2

1st Period-1, Connecticut, Hrivik 3 (Newbury, Delisle), 7:54. 2, Connecticut, Newbury 9 (Kolarik, Gilroy), 12:40 (PP). Penalties-Newbury Ct (fighting), 0:15; Clune Mch (fighting), 0:15; Pyett Ct (hooking), 2:41; Legein Mch (holding), 11:43; Haley Ct (fighting), 19:45; Deslauriers Mch (fighting), 19:45.

2nd Period-3, Manchester, Cliche 4 (Muzzin, Loktionov), 13:18 (PP). 4, Manchester, Cliche 5 (Legein, Clune), 14:04. 5, Connecticut, Tessier 3 (Bourque, Delisle), 19:36. Penalties-Delisle Ct (unsportsmanlike conduct), 0:14; Clune Mch (unsportsmanlike conduct), 0:14; Kreider Ct (hooking), 1:19; Segal Ct (tripping), 7:31; Delisle Ct (interference), 13:06.

3rd Period-6, Connecticut, Kreider 5 (Jean, Parlett), 4:46. 7, Connecticut, Newbury 10 (Kolarik, Hrivik), 19:14 (EN). Penalties-Pearson Mch (high-sticking), 5:09; Bodnarchuk Mch (delay of game), 5:17; Jean Ct (tripping), 9:59.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 8-13-8-29. Manchester 15-20-6-41.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 1 / 3; Manchester 1 / 5.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 10-10-0 (41 shots-39 saves). Manchester, Jones 7-12-2 (23 shots-19 saves); Mannino 5-2-0 (5 shots-5 saves).
A-3,906
Referees-Ryan Hersey (8).
Linesmen-Jeremy Lovett (78), Bill McGoldrick (94).

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HARTFORD, December 20, 2012:  Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that forward J.T. Miller has been reassigned from the Whale to the U.S. National Junior Team and is participating in its training camp for the World Junior Championship Tournament.

Miller, a 19-year-old native of East Palestine, Ohio, has suited up for all 26 of the Whale’s games this year and has scored five goals and added nine assists for 14 points, while serving 25 minutes in penalties.  A first-round pick (15^th overall) by the parent New York Rangers in the 2011 NHL draft, Miller went to the World Junior Championship with Team USA last year, scoring two goals and adding two assists for four points in six games.

This year’s IIHF World Junior Championship takes place from December 26 through January 5 in Ufa, Russia.

The Whale’s next action is this Friday night, December 21, when they travel to Manchester to take on the Monarchs in a 7:00 game (“Beethoven Radio” AM 1290, www.ctwhale.com, video streaming at www.ahllive.com).  The next home game for the Whale is this Saturday night, December 22 vs. the Providence Bruins at 7:00, and that is “Military Appreciation Night”.  There will be a jersey auction in the second intermission to benefit the VFW of Connecticut, and that game also features the Whale’s annual “Teddy Bear Toss”.  Fans are encouraged to bring new, unwrapped soft toys to the game and, when the Whale scores its first goal, heave them on to the ice to be donated to the children of Newtown, CT.  Also, teddy bears will be for sale in the XL Center atrium, with a portion of the proceeds benefitting St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Tickets for all Whale regular season home games at the XL Center, are on sale now 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.

Season tickets for the Whale’s 2012-13 AHL season are also available. For information on season seats, and all of the Whale’s many ticketing options, visit www.ctwhale.com, or call the CT Whale ticket office at (860) 548-2000 to talk with an account executive today.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.