By Wil Goldsholl

Hartford, CT, December 9, 2012 – After suffering a 9-2 loss at the hands of the Manchester Monarchs the night before, the Connecticut Whale sought to turn things around against the division rival Albany Devils in Hartford on Sunday afternoon. Despite a slew of quality scoring chances and near-misses, the Whale fell, 1-0.

Keith Kinkaid stopped all 30 Whale shots to get the shutout win, and Joe Whitney’s second-period goal was the only scoring.  Cam Talbot made 26 saves in the Whale net.

Kris Newbury found his way to the box early when he bumped Kinkaid in his own crease 53 seconds in. Newbury’s deliberateness was unclear, but if he was looking to rattle Kinkaid early, the goaltender was unaffected in the first period. He stopped all 12 shots he faced in the first 20 minutes.

Connecticut occupied the Albany zone for minutes at a time, seeing both earned and unearned opportunities to beat Kinkaid. Newbury redirected a puck handily that was kicked away. Christian Thomas was denied when he nearly scored by simply allowing the puck to hit his body and Kyle Jean also hit a post.

Albany had scattered chances on Talbot, including a three-on-one and a wrister that hit the stick side post in the last minute of the period.

Whitney scored the game’s lone goal 6:48 in to the second period with a stick side laser. The left-hander scooped the puck up on his own blueline and tore through the neutral zone before firing a snap shot from the right dot and past Talbot.

J.T. Miller, who had his first pro two-goal game last week against Bridgeport, nearly tied it up several minutes later. Miller came from underneath the goal line and stole the puck from a breaking Albany defenseman. He made a cross-crease move with Kinkaid sprawled and did not score, but drew a tripping minor on Eric Gelinas.

The early going of the third period rolled by uneventfully. Mike Sislo was called for holding early but the Whale power play struggled. Chris Kreider was sent off for hooking at 11:05, but Connecticut, who has the league’s 29^th ranked penalty kill, managed to keep it a one-goal game.

Jean did everything but score in the later parts of the period. The rookie drew a roughing call on Tim Sestito in the offensive corner with 6:14 to go. He nearly tipped one in on Kinkaid just as that penalty was expiring when Michael Haley won a faceoff cleanly. Blake Parlett snapped the puck from the point and Kinkaid turned him away yet again. Jean would see yet another opportunity with 1:45 to play when he let a one-timer go from the slot, but Albany’s defense blocked it on the way to the net.

The Whale put up a fight with the sixth attacker on the ice and the net empty. Kreider got in on a rebound with 35 seconds to play but Kinkaid was able to smother it, making his thirtieth save and earning his second shutout of the year.

The loss dropped the Whale to 10-11-2-0 on the year, while Albany moved to 7-8-0-5.

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Albany Devils 1 at Connecticut Whale 0
Sunday, December 9, 2012 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Albany 0 1 0 – 1
Connecticut 0 0 0 – 0

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Newbury Ct (goaltender interference), 0:53; Pesonen Alb (tripping), 16:43.

2nd Period-1, Albany, Whitney 4 (Butler), 6:48. Penalties-Corrente Alb (fighting), 8:06; Haley Ct (fighting), 8:06; Gelinas Alb (tripping), 9:44; Miller Ct (holding), 18:03.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Sislo Alb (holding), 2:33; Kreider Ct (hooking), 11:05; Sestito Alb (roughing), 13:46.

Shots on Goal-Albany 6-15-6-27. Connecticut 12-6-12-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Albany 0 / 3; Connecticut 0 / 4.
Goalies-Albany, Kinkaid 4-5-3 (30 shots-30 saves). Connecticut, Talbot 8-8-0 (27 shots-26 saves).
A-2,692
Referees-Ryan Fraser (14).
Linesmen-Jim Briggs (83), Derek Wahl (46).

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Manchester, NH, December 8, 2012 – Brandon Kozun had two goals and an assist, Linden Vey scored twice, and Andrei Loktionov added a goal and two assists, to lead the Manchester Monarchs to a 9-2 blowout of the Connecticut Whale Saturday night at Verizon Wireless Arena.

Andrew Bodnarchuk, Richard Clune, Jordan Nolan and Slava Voynov had a goal and an assist each for the Monarchs, and Peter Mannino made 23 saves.  Christian Thomas and Kelsey Tessier scored for the Whale and Tommy Grant assisted on both scores.

Connecticut spotted Manchester a 3-0 lead in a first period in which the Monarchs had a 15-5 shots on goal advantage.

Nolan, one of three players on the Manchester roster who played key roles in the parent Los Angeles Kings’ 2012 Stanley Cup win, scored his second goal in nine AHL games to open the scoring at 5:34.

Nolan took a pass from Clune, made a slick move to get around the Whale’s Sam Klassen and broke in alone on Connecticut starting goaltender Cam Talbot, whom he beat through the five-hole.

Bodnarchuk made it 2-0 only 1:47 later at 7:21, on a shot from the top of the circles, after an Andy Andreoff pass missed two other teammates’ sticks.

Clune poked the puck past Talbot at 12:06 for a 3-0 Manchester lead.  Nolan played the puck toward the front of the net from the right-wing corner off of Talbot, and Clune found the loose puck at Talbot’s left.

After Whale coach Ken Gernander called a timeout, Thomas got Connecticut on the board with 2:01 remaining in the period, with his sixth goal of the year.  J.T. Miller blocked an Andrew Campbell pass near the blue line and fed Grant.  Mannino stopped Grant’s try, but the rebound came to an unguarded Thomas at the right side of the goalmouth.

That momentum was squandered, though, only 47 seconds into the second period, when Kozun scored to make it 4-1 Monarchs.  After the Whale failed to break out of their zone cleanly, Talbot stopped Voynov’s shot from the right point but could not control the rebound, and Kozun poked it in.

Loktionov increased the lead to 5-1 at 7:08, after the Whale did not get the puck deep at the offensive blue line.  Mike Vernace blocked a pass to deny an initial Manchester rush, but the Monarchs got the puck right back and Loktionov fired it in from the left side of the slot.

That goal chased Talbot (17 saves) from the game and brought on Jason Missiaen, who would finish with four goals-against on 16 shots.

Tessier cut the margin to 5-2 at 2:57 of the third, jamming the puck past Mannino after Vernace slid it toward the net from the left point.  The goal was Tessier’s second in as many games, after he went his first 16 games without scoring.

Manchester would explode for four more, however, in the final 8:32 of the third.

Voynov buried a Kozun pass from the right side of the slot at 11:28, and then Kozun and Vey clicked 16 seconds apart starting at 14:12.

Vey finished the scoring with 2:09 left, converting a pass from Tanner Pearson, who also set up Vey’s first goal.

The nine goals-scored were a Monarch single-game record.

The Whale return to the XL Center Sunday afternoon for a 3:00 PM game against the Albany Devils.  As at all Whale Sunday home games, fans can take advantage of the Whale’s “Click It or Ticket Sunday Family Value Packs”.  Those include a ticket, a hot dog or a slice of pizza and a soda, all for only $18.

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 2 at Manchester Monarchs 9
Saturday, December 8, 2012 – Verizon Wireless Arena

Connecticut 1 0 1 – 2
Manchester 3 2 4 – 9

1st Period-1, Manchester, Nolan 2 (Clune, Weal), 5:34. 2, Manchester, Bodnarchuk 3 (Legein, Andreoff), 7:21. 3, Manchester, Clune 2 (Nolan, Bodnarchuk), 12:06. 4, Connecticut, Thomas 6 (Grant, Miller), 17:59. Penalties-Kolarik Ct (cross-checking), 0:06; Nolan Mch (slashing), 2:29.

2nd Period-5, Manchester, Kozun 6 (Voynov, Loktionov), 0:47. 6, Manchester, Loktionov 5 (Toffoli, Muzzin), 7:08. Penalties-Weal Mch (hooking), 16:18.

3rd Period-7, Connecticut, Tessier 2 (Vernace, Grant), 2:57. 8, Manchester, Voynov 5 (Kozun, King), 11:28. 9, Manchester, Kozun 7 (King, Loktionov), 14:12. 10, Manchester, Vey 5 (Pearson), 14:28. 11, Manchester, Vey 6 (Pearson), 17:51. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 6-15-4-25. Manchester 15-12-11-38.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 2; Manchester 0 / 1.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 8-7-0 (22 shots-17 saves); Missiaen 2-3-0 (16 shots-12 saves). Manchester, Mannino 4-1-0 (25 shots-23 saves).
A-5,245
Referees-Darcy Burchell (42), Jean Hebert (43).
Linesmen-Joe Andrews (32), Landon Bathe (80).

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HARTFORD, CT, December 10, 2012 – Cigna and the Connecticut Whale are continuing their partnership to bring hockey to boys and girls ages 6 to 12 years in the Greater Hartford area.

The Cigna Hockey in the Streets program starts its second year with a series of one-hour clinics, beginning at six p.m., Monday, December 10, at The Wilson-Gray YMCA Youth and Family Center on 444 Albany Ave., Hartford. This program is available to groups and venues throughout the region.

Chuck Steedman, AEG Connecticut Senior Vice President & General Manager said, “AEG Connecticut is excited to carry on this tremendous program that significantly impacts the community. We strongly believe these type of programs are key to injecting excitement and energy into young hockey fans across the state. The Cigna Hockey in the Streets program had a very successful first year and we are eager to grow it in 2013. We are grateful to have committed partners in Cigna and The YMCA of Greater Hartford to help make this program a reality.”

“Both I and our players really enjoyed the Hockey in the Streets program last year,” said Whale head coach Ken Gernander. “The chance to go out and meet so many local kids, and to introduce the great game of hockey to many who had never played it before, was a great experience, and we feel like the youngsters and the players all got a lot out of it.  We are very much looking forward to doing it again.”

Cigna, a global health service company headquartered in Bloomfield, Conn., is a proud sponsor of the Connecticut Whale. Cigna is also a primary supporter of the YMCA of Greater Hartford, and its programs to develop the health and fitness of local youths.

"Part of what we do as a company is to help people in our communities improve their health and well-being. Teaming up with The Whale to bring hockey to children who may not otherwise learn the sport is a great way to help them develop lifelong healthy habits," said Mark Boxer, Cigna's Executive Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer. "With professional athletes teaching them, the children will learn not just the game, but teamwork, leadership, and the determination needed to achieve their dreams. We're excited to continue our support of the Cigna Hockey in the Streets program and look forward to seeing the children shoot for the net."

“The YMCA of Greater Hartford is delighted to once again collaborate with CIGNA and the Connecticut Whale.  When community organizations work together, the opportunities for the development of our youth are endless,” said James Morton, President and Chief Executive Officer of the YMCA of Greater Hartford. “The Hockey in the Streets program not only teaches our kids the fundamentals of hockey, but emphasizes life skills such as team-building, leadership, personal responsibility, healthy living and the importance of giving back.”

In addition to fun and healthy competition, the Cigna Hockey in the Streets will offer greater Hartford kids a Healthy Hat Trick of goals:

1. Live Healthy. Eat right, stay active, and avoid dangerous activity.

2. Be Me. Study hard, respect yourself, and do everything you can to achieve your personal best.

3. Help Others. Spread your healthy outlook to your family, friends, and your community.

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