By Brian Ring

Providence, RI, December 11, 2011 – The Connecticut Whale were defeated by the Providence Bruins, 3-2, Sunday afternoon at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, RI. The Whale trailed 3-0, but two goals by Kelsey Tessier helped Connecticut to climb to within a goal by the third period. Craig Cunningham had the game-winning goal and an assist for Providence, who scored all of their goals before the game was even three minutes into the second period.

“[Tessier] played a strong game, I think everyone pulled their weight,” said Whale coach Ken Gernander.

The Bruins opened up a 1-0 lead over the Whale at 3:49 of the first period, as Kyle MacKinnon stuffed a rebound past Connecticut starting goaltender Cam Talbot (10 saves), who had shut out Providence Saturday night in Hartford. MacKinnon’s second of the season was assisted by Kirk MacDonald.

Providence scored again to push the lead to 2-0 at 11:59, when Carter Camper capitalized on the power-play. Camper’s goal was assisted on by Josh Hennessy and Jamie Tardif, Providence’s only conversion in five first period power-play opportunities. The Whale and Bruins combined for 70 penalty minutes in a scrappy opening frame. The Whale lost the services of first-line center Kris Newbury just 5:40 into the game, as he took a third-man-in penalty resulting in a game misconduct.

Cunningham extended the Bruins lead to 3-0 at 2:49 on a wrist shot from the slot, his goal sending Talbot to the bench in favor of Chad Johnson (15 saves).Tardif notched his second assist of the night on the goal.

The Whale broke through on a bad angle shot from Kelsey Tessier, whose shot from the far boards managed to sneak past Providence goaltender Anton Khudobin. Blake Parlett recorded the lone assist on the Connecticut score, which came at 10:49 of the second.

Andreas Thuresson appeared to get another for the Whale near the middle of the second, but the goal was waved off due to goaltender interference.

“To have that called back was unfortunate, and that may be the difference in a close game,” said Gernander.

The teams finished two periods of play nearly even in shots, with the Whale outshooting Providence, 22-21.

Tessier struck again for his second goal of the night at 1:17 of the third period, cutting across Khudobin’s crease and putting his fourth goal of the season past the Providence goaltender. Stu Bickel and Tim Erixon both assisted on the tally, which drew the Whale to within 3-2.

The Whale, however, could not complete their comeback attempt, despite being afforded three power-play opportunities in the final frame. The loss was the first in four games this season for the Whale against Providence.

The Whale will be back in home action twice next weekend, as they play host to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in GEICO Connecticut Cup action on Friday night (7:00), before facing the Providence Bruins yet again on Saturday (7:00).

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Connecticut Whale 2 at Providence Bruins 3
Sunday, December 11, 2011 – Dunkin’ Donuts Center

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

1st Period-1, Providence, MacKinnon 2 (Cunningham, Ridderwall), 3:49. 2, Providence, Camper 6 (Hennessy, Tardif), 11:59 (PP). Penalties-McKelvie Pro (tripping), 1:27; Voros Ct (fighting), 5:32; MacDermid Pro (fighting), 5:32; McKelvie Ct (roughing), 5:40; Newbury Ct (game misconduct – third man in), 5:40; Valentenko Ct (fighting), 5:40; MacDonald Pro (roughing, roughing, fighting), 5:40; Deveaux Ct (high-sticking), 9:27; McKelvie Ct (interference), 11:44; Bickel Ct (roughing, roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 12:10; Miller Pro (roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 12:10; Bell Ct (cross-checking), 13:04; Valentenko Ct (high-sticking), 13:58.

2nd Period-3, Providence, Cunningham 4 (Tardif), 2:49. 4, Connecticut, Tessier 3 (Parlett), 10:49. Penalties-McKelvie Pro (cross-checking), 8:13; Thuresson Ct (goaltender interference), 15:08; Camper Pro (holding), 16:21.

3rd Period-5, Connecticut, Tessier 4 (Bickel, Erixon), 1:17. Penalties-MacDonald Pro (holding), 5:13; Arniel Pro (roughing), 11:18; Hamill Pro (holding), 14:56; Audy-Marchessault Ct (tripping), 19:37.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 11-11-9-31. Providence 11-10-7-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 0 / 7; Providence 1 / 7.
Goalies-Connecticut, Talbot 7-5-0 (13 shots-10 saves); Johnson 8-4-2 (15 shots-15 saves). Providence, Khudobin 8-11-2 (31 shots-29 saves).
A-5,220
Referees-Jon McIsaac (39).
Linesmen-Matt MacPherson (83), Ed Boyle (81).

By Brian Ring

Hartford, CT, December 10, 2011 – The Connecticut Whale defeated the Providence Bruins, 3-0, Saturday night before a crowd of 5,598 at the XL Center in Hartford. Whale goaltender Cam Talbot (27 saves) recorded his second shutout of the season with 27 saves on the Bruins, while Chris McKelvie scored the game-winning goal, to help the Whale stop a two-game slide and improve to a perfect 3-0 against Providence this season.

Stu Bickel and Francois Bouchard also each scored once for the Whale in a three-goal third period.

“We’re thankful for a goal like [McKelvie’s],” said Whale head coach Ken Gernander. “He’s a character kid and a hard-working kid and we’re all happy for him.”

“It was a good team win,” said Talbot, who earned his seventh win of the season. “Tonight everyone was going, everyone was focused…it really helped us out tonight.”

The Whale and Bruins had played a scoreless first period, despite each team being afforded several quality opportunities. Providence netminder Michael Hutchinson (25 saves) made numerous quality saves, including a sprawling effort on Whale wing Tommy Grant. Connecticut was awarded the only power-play of the period, with the Whale’s Kris Newbury barely missing on a chance that would have given the home team a 1-0 lead.

Neither team would break through in the second frame either, despite the Whale outshooting their guests 14-9. The best chance of the period again came off the stick of Newbury, whose one-time bid found the post of the Providence net. The Whale outshot the Bruins, 22-18, after two periods of play, but both Hutchinson and Talbot remained perfect throughout.

McKelvie gave the Whale a 1-0 lead and the eventual game-winning tally at 5:08 of the third period, his deflection of Wade Redden’s shot trickling through the legs of Hutchinson. The goal was the second of the season for McKelvie, who found himself pitted against his twin, Zach, of Providence for the time in the professional ranks.

“I just kind of swung my stick…[Hutchinson] had trouble handling it and thankfully it went in,” said Chris McKelvie of his goal.

“It was fun to play against [Zach]. We were looking forward to it, I love playing against him,” he added, describing what he felt playing his brother for the first time since he played college hockey at Bemidji State. “We’ve got a kind of mutual respect for each other and just go hard against each other.”

The Whale extended their lead to 2-0 on Bickel’s first goal of the season at 10:29. Bickel’s slap shot from the point deflected off of the stick of a Providence defender to the left of Hutchinson, and ricocheted past the Bruins’ goaltender and into the cage. Tim Erixon and Andre Deveaux both assisted on the goal, and it was the third assist of the weekend for both Erixon and Deveaux, after each registered a pair of helpers in Friday’s 5-3 loss to Hershey.

Francois Bouchard iced the 3-0 victory with a half-ice empty net goal, his second goal of the campaign. Aaron Voros and Talbot were each credited with an assist on the goal.

The Whale are in action again in the back-end of this home-and-home set with the Bruins Sunday afternoon in Providence (4:05). Connecticut will return home Friday, when they play host to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in GEICO Connecticut Cup action at the XL Center (7:00).

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Providence Bruins 0 at Connecticut Whale 3 –
Saturday, December 10, 2011 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Providence 0 0 0 – 0
Connecticut 0 0 3 – 3

1st Period- No Scoring. Penalties-MacKinnon Pro (unsportsmanlike conduct), 4:43; Bartkowski Pro (boarding), 7:12; Grant Ct (roughing), 7:12.

2nd Period- No Scoring. Penalties-Bodnarchuk Pro (hooking), 3:27; Redden Ct (tripping), 19:48.

3rd Period-1, Connecticut, McKelvie 2 (Redden, Owens), 5:08. 2, Connecticut, Bickel 1 (Erixon, Deveaux), 10:29. 3, Connecticut, Bouchard2 (Voros, Talbot), 18:11 (EN). Penalties-Hamill Pro (roughing, roughing), 5:22; MacDermid Pro (roughing, misconduct – continuing altercation), 5:22; Miller Pro (fighting), 5:22; McKelvie Ct (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct – continuing altercation), 5:22; Owens Ct (fighting), 5:22.

Shots on Goal-Providence 9-9-9-27. Connecticut 8-14-12-34.

Power Play Opportunities-Providence 0 / 1; Connecticut 0 / 3.

Goalies-Providence, Hutchinson 1-5-0 (33 shots-31 saves). Connecticut, Talbot 7-4-0 (27 shots-27 saves).

A-5,598

Referees-Graham Skilliter (48).

Linesmen-Jim Briggs (83), Mike Baker (11)

By Brian Ring

Hartford, CT, December 9, 2011 – Ryan Potulny scored two goals and added an assist, and Chris Bourque added a goal and an assist, to lead the Hershey Bears to a 5-3 victory over Connecticut Whale Friday night at the XL Center in Hartford.

Keith Aucoin recorded three assists for Hershey, which had to hold off a furious third-period rally by the Whale, who received a goal and an assist from Mats Zuccarello.

“We hit some (goal) posts, we had some good chances early,” said Whale head coach Ken Gernander. “Of course we made a mistake or two that led to goals…but they stayed with it until the end of the game.”

The Whale and the Bears had played a scoreless first period, despite Connecticut being afforded three power-play opportunities. The Whale allowed the Bears’ league-leading power-play one chance, in a frame that saw Hershey outshoot the Whale by an 8-4 margin.

Former Whale Tomas Kundratek opened the scoring, giving the Bears a 1-0 lead at 13:52 of the second period. Kundratek beat Connecticut goaltender Chad Johnson (22 saves) with a high snap shot for his second goal of the season, assisted by Jacob Micflikier and Potulny.

Hershey took a 2-0 lead with their dangerous power-play at 16:22 of the second, when Potulny slapped a shot past Johnson’s glove side. Aucoin and Bourque, the AHL’s top two leading scorers, both assisted on the goal. Bourque’s pass across the slot to Potulny in the right circle left little chance for Johnson.

The Bears capitalized again on the power-play to put Hershey up 3-0 at 9:40, as Bourque’s slap shot from between the hash marks went between the pads of Johnson. Aucoin received his second assist of the game on the goal, with Patrick McNeill also earning a helper.

Matt Pope scored for Hershey just 32 seconds later to up the Bears’ lead to 4-0. Former Wolf Pack Matthew Ford and Christian Hanson each assisted on the goal.

The Whale finally broke through at 11:36 of the period to begin a third period comeback attempt, as Kelsey Tessier tipped Tim Erixon’s shot past Hershey goaltender Dany Sabourin (21 saves).

Kris Newbury got Connecticut to within 4-2 at 12:49, stuffing a loose puck underneath the pads of Sabourin, with Mats Zuccarello and Andre Deveaux getting the assists.

The Whale found themselves within a goal with just over three minutes to play in the final period, when Zuccarello tipped another Erixon shot up and over Sabourin. Deveaux recorded his second assist of the night on the tally.

The Bears, however, withstood the Whale comeback attempt and iced the 5-3 win with an empty-net goal by Potulny with less than a second remaining.

“That [third period rally] was our best ten minutes of the game,” said Gernander. “We put the number one power-play out on the ice too many times tonight, and that’s costly in itself.”

The Whale will be in home action again Saturday night, when they play host to the rival Providence Bruins for the first time this season (7:00). The game will be the first of five games to be televised live this season on WCCT-TV.

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Hershey Bears 5 at Connecticut Whale 3
Friday, December 9, 2011 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Hershey 0 2 3 – 5
Connecticut 0 0 3 – 3

1st Period- No Scoring. Penalties-Ford Her (hooking), 1:56; Newbury Ct (high-sticking), 5:31; Lacroix Her (high-sticking), 8:24; McNeill Her (closing hand on puck), 14:56.

2nd Period-1, Hershey, Kundratek 2 (Micflikier, Potulny), 13:02. 2, Hershey, Potulny 5 (Bourque, Aucoin), 16:22 (PP). Penalties-Erixon Ct (hooking), 4:16; Valentenko Ct (holding), 6:54; Parlett Ct (tripping), 14:56; Sabourin Her (tripping), 19:32.

3rd Period-3, Hershey, Bourque 12 (Aucoin, McNeill), 9:40 (PP). 4, Hershey, Pope 3 (Ford, Hanson), 10:12. 5, Connecticut, Tessier 2 (Erixon, Redden), 11:36. 6, Connecticut, Newbury 8 (Zuccarello, Deveaux), 12:49. 7, Connecticut, Zuccarello 8 (Erixon, Deveaux), 16:59 (PP). 8, Hershey, Potulny 6 (Aucoin, Kane), 19:59 (EN). Penalties-Brouillette Her (hooking), 0:25; McNeill Her (delay of game), 3:22; Newbury Ct (goaltender interference), 8:38; Wellar Her (roughing), 12:49; Deveaux Ct (roughing), 12:49; Hanson Her (high-sticking), 16:44; Bell Ct (hooking), 17:10.

Shots on Goal-Hershey 8-9-10-27. Connecticut 4-10-10-24.
Power Play Opportunities-Hershey 2 / 6; Connecticut 1 / 7.
Goalies-Hershey, Sabourin 6-4-1 (24 shots-21 saves). Connecticut, Johnson 8-4-2 (26 shots-22 saves).
A-3,027
Referees-Mark Lemelin (41).
Linesmen-Kevin Redding (16), Paul Simeon (66).