By Bruce Berlet

The Connecticut Whale enjoyed a rare day off Monday from the most hectic segment of their schedule, after two workmanlike bounce-back wins following a horrid showing in Toronto on Wednesday.

But most players might have been a bit on edge while sharing time with loved ones on Valentine’s Day. The NHL trading deadline was only two weeks away (Feb. 28), and while the Whale was parlaying solid defensive work and goaltending from Dov Grumet-Morris with an effective power play into a 4-1 victory over Providence on Sunday, New York Rangers president and general manager Glen Sather was telling the New York Post’s Larry Brooks that he felt the organization had stockpiled enough assets to make a deal if needed.

“The last few weeks have made it a little more difficult to evaluate because first we had all those injuries and now with the guys coming back we’ve lost our rhythm,” Sather told Brooks after the Rangers rallied to end a season-high, six-game losing streak (0-5-1) with a 5-3 victory over the Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin-less Pittsburgh Penguins.

“I think we have enough depth in the organization where if a move would make sense we would probably do that now. But I’m not going to give up a valuable piece. I don’t think that makes any sense.”

The Rangers, who have had as many as eight Whale players on recall due to injuries in New York, are more than a few pieces away from winning a Stanley Cup, unless Henrik Lundqvist regains his world-class stature and stands on his head in goal for two months. Their No. 1 need is a power-play quarterback since there is no chance they will bring back veteran Wade Redden and his $6.5 million salary. But it’s obvious that Whale graduates such as Marc Staal, Dan Girardi and most recently Michael Del Zotto just aren’t getting the job done to the satisfaction of coach John Tortorella. So the Florida Panthers’ Bryan McCabe, returning from a broken jaw, and Toronto Maple Leafs’ Tomas Kaberle will be investigated, along with a front-line center to try to help revive Marian Gaborik.

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But Sather isn’t interested in parting with top draft picks or young front-liners such as Whale grads Staal, Girardi, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Michael Sauer and Ryan McDonagh. Sather has had his eye on center Brad Richards for months, and the Dallas Stars standout becomes a free agent this summer.

Brooks also mentioned the New Jersey Devils’ Jason Arnott, but Peter Forsberg is now out of the picture after ending his latest comeback try with the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. If Sather doesn’t offer a draft pick, players such young Whale forwards Tim Kennedy, Dale Weise and Evgeny Grachev or defensemen Tomas Kundratek or Pavel Valentenko might be on someone’s radar.

We’ll all know more in the next two weeks. Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

GOALIE OUT OF THE BULLPEN

With goalie Chad Johnson out with a stomach ailment, the Whale was in emergency mode for a backup to Dov Grumet-Morris in Hamilton after a 9-2 drubbing in Toronto.

Fortunately, Brett Leggat, the brother of All-Star right wing Jeremy Williams’ fiancée, was available, so he was signed to a one-day amateur tryout contract and opened and closed the bench door as the Whale won 3-2 on Devin DiDiomete’s goal with 1:13 left. The highest level at which the 30-year Leggat has played was two seasons in the Ontario Hockey Association Senior League.

Leggat’s 15 minutes of fame ended when the Whale took off for a practice in suburban Syracuse, N.Y., on the way home for a pitstop before traveling to Providence for a game Sunday. By then, they had re-signed Pier-Olivier Pelletier to a second professional tryout agreement to back up fellow PTOer Grumet-Morris because Johnson was still ill and Cam Talbot had to miss his 11^th game with a high ankle sprain sustained in a 6-3 victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 16.

Pelletier played 54 minutes in his AHL debut with the Whale, a 7-3 loss to Hamilton on Jan. 21, when he stopped 18 of 22 shots, including a penalty shot. He had been 6-10-4 with a 3.41 goals-against average and .692 save percentage in 22 games with the Laredo Bucks of the Central Hockey League.

Grumet-Morris’ 21 saves and second-period, power-play goals by Brodie Dupont, Kris Newbury and Williams led the Whale (26-22-2-5) to a 4-1 victory over the Bruins in a preview of the Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl portion of the historic 12-day Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 between the two teams Saturday at 7 p.m. at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The Hartford Whalers legends will face the Boston Bruins legends in the opener of Whale Bowl at 4 p.m. Army plays American International College in the day’s first game at 1 p.m.

WHALE BACK ON THE ROAD AGAIN ON FRIDAY NIGHT

After four days off, the Connecticut Whale will make a second trip to Glen Falls, N.Y., and try to complete a four-game sweep of the Adirondack Phantoms on Friday night before a bus ride home for the Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl against the Bruins on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the second outdoor game in AHL history. The Whale will have their one outdoor practice at The Rent on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

The Phantoms (17-30-3-3) have lost 3-0, 4-3 and 6-4 to the Whale but have improved dramatically since a horrific 4-26-1-1 start before their first back-to-back wins Dec. 17-18. They’re led by All-Star defenseman Erik Gustafsson (five goals, 27 assists), veteran left wing Denis Hamel (team-leading 17 goals, 14 assists), defenseman Danny Syvret (6, 17), left wing Michael Ryan (15, 6) and right wing Ben Holmstrom (8, 13). Much of the Phantoms’ improvement can be traced to the arrival of goalie Michael Leighton (4-6-1-1, 2.37 goals-against average, .918 save percentage), who led the Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals against the Chicago Blackhawks in June but was back in the minors after he cleared waivers on Jan. 3 as the parent club went with Brian Boucher. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks didn’t re-sign goalie Antti Niemi because of salary-cap problems. Niemi signed with the San Jose Sharks.

The Whale is 4-2-0-0 against the Bruins (23-27-3-1), who have lost six in a row to fall into sixth place in the Atlantic Division. But they have been bolstered by the return of forwards Zach Hamill and Jordan Caron from the parent Boston Bruins. The P-Bruins’ leading scorers are All-Star center Jamie Arniel (15 goals, 17 assists), Hamill (3, 25), center Joe Colborne (12, 14), right wing Kirk MacDonald (11, 15) and center Maxime Sauve (13, 6), who had two goals in each of the Bruins’ two wins over the Whale. Rugged left wing Lane MacDermid, son of former Hartford Whalers right wing Paul MacDermid, has four goals, seven assists and 117 penalty minutes. Matt Dalton (7-8-0, 2.92 goals-against average, .904 save percentage, two shutouts) is 1-2-0 against the Whale. Veteran Nolan Schaefer is 9-15-1, 3.14, .897 with no shutouts.

The Whale is at Portland on Monday at 1 p.m. and then will play their first two games in Charlotte, N.C., against the Checkers, their former ECHL affiliate, on Feb. 24 and 26. They finally return to the XL Center on March 2 to face Springfield. Their ensuing home game is March 11 against Hershey, ending a brutal stretch of 10 road games in 12.

The Pirates (32-15-4-1) have won four in a row, including a 3-2 victory at the XL Center on Feb. 6 that enabled them to tie the season series at 3 in the teams’ fifth one-goal game. The Pirates are led by right wing Mark Mancari, who leads the AHL in goals (29) and is third in points (55). He’s followed by defenseman Marc-Andre Gragnani (9, 27), left wings Colin Stuart (10, 22) and Derek Whitmore (20, 11) and center Matt Ellis (9, 21). Center Paul Byron (14, 17) is on recall to the parent Buffalo Sabres. David Leggio (14-4-0, 2.64 goals-against average, .915 save percentage) has been a nemesis against the Whale, including his only shutout, 3-0 on Jan. 14. Jhonas Enroth is 18-14-1, 2.83, .910, no shutouts.

The Checkers (30-18-2-4), the new AHL affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes, are on a five-game points streak (4-0-1-0) to move into third place in the East Division. Their leading scorer, All-Star right wing Jerome Samson (26, 28), is on recall to the Hurricanes. The top remaining scorers are left wings Jacob Micflikier (21, 22), Oskar Osala (13, 28) and Chris Terry (20, 20) and center Zach Boychuk (15, 25), who was reassigned to the Checkers on Sunday. The Checkers have gone all season with only two goalies, Mike Murphy (15-9-2, 2.95, .907, no shutouts) and Justin Pogge (15-11-2, 3.04, .908, no shutouts).

WHALE BOWL TO BREAK AHL ATTENDANCE RECORD

More than 22,500 tickets have been sold for Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl, the highlight of the Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 at Rentschler Field, assuring the Whale will break the AHL attendance record. A record 21,508 watched the host Syracuse Crunch beat the Binghamton Senators 2-1 at the New York State Fairgrounds on Feb. 20, 2010.

“It’s a great tribute to the people of the state of Connecticut, but we have to get 38,000 because we want to sell the place out,” said Howard Baldwin Jr., president and COO of Whalers Sports and Entertainment, which runs the Whale’s business operations and is handling the 12-day event. “Everyone else, the NHL, college and AHL, has sold out, and if Connecticut wants to be back on the (hockey) map again, which I know it does, everybody needs to come out and celebrate this.”

Before Whale Bowl is played, “Trinity-Wesleyan Day” is on Tuesday as the schools’ women’s teams play at 4 p.m., their alumni teams at 6:30 p.m. and the men’s teams at 8 p.m. High school and prep school games fill most of the schedule the remainder of the week until the Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl, at which about a dozen celebrities will mix in with the Hartford Whalers legends team and Boston Bruins legends team as they face off at 4 p.m., followed by the Whale-Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. The day’s activities begin with the Army-American International College game at 1 p.m. All tickets for the event are general admission except for Feb. 19.

Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, and Brad Park headline the Bruins legends team. Other commitments are Enfield native Craig Janney, former captain Rick Middleton, Reggie Lemelin, Ken Hodge, Don Marcotte, Rick Smith, Bob Sweeney, Lyndon Byers, Cleon Daskalakis, Jay Miller, Bob Miller (no relation) and Ken “The Rat” Linseman, a member of the Whalers for a few moments as he passed through in a multi-player trade with Philadelphia and Edmonton that included Mark Howe leaving Hartford for the Flyers. Derek Sanderson and Gary Doak will coach the Bruins team.

Commitments for the Whalers team are WHA Hall of Famer Andre Lacroix, John McKenzie, whose No. 19 is retired in the XL Center rafters, Blaine Stoughton, Pat Verbeek, John Anderson, Garry Swain, Bob Crawford, Chris Kotsopoulos, Jim Dorey, Jordy Douglas, Ray Neufeld, Gordie Roberts, Darren Turcotte, Nelson Emerson, Mark Janssens, Bill Bennett, Jeff Brubaker, Fred O’Donnell, Terry Yake, Scott Daniels, Ed Hospodar, Yvon Corriveau and the Babych brothers, Dave and Wayne. Norm Barnes and former captain Russ Anderson will be among the coaches.

Among the celebrities scheduled to play with one of the legends teams are filmmaker Bobby Farrelly, writer/director of such hit films as “Dumb and Dumber”, “There’s Something About Mary”, “Kingpin”, “Me, Myself and Irene”, “Outside Providence”, “The Heartbreak Kid”, “Stuck on You”, and “Shallow Hal”; and actor David Henrie, from “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “That’s So Raven”.

Famed former NHL referee Paul Stewart will officiate the game. Stewart, a Boston native, refereed more than 1,000 NHL games in a 13-year career. On March 15, 2003, he refereed his 1,000^th game, becoming the only American-born official to accomplish the feat. He also officiated during the Canada Cup in 1987 and 1991 after an eight-year playing career with teams in the NAHL, AHL, NEHL, CHL, WHA and NHL.

Tickets ($20 to $85) for the doubleheader can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com and the Bushnell box office in Hartford on Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. or by calling the Whale at 860-728-3366. They also can be purchased online and printed immediately at Ticketmaster.com.

The official charity of the Hockey Fest is “Sam’s Race for a Place,” a fund-raising effort spearheaded by West Hartford resident Samantha Udolf that benefits the Ronald McDonald House. Since Udolf, a successful competitive skier, founded Sam’s Race for a Place in June of 2008, it has generated donations of more than $43,500.

The Ronald McDonald House is a non-profit charity operating since 1991 that helps hundreds of families and children enjoy the comforts of home while they await treatment at area medical facilities. Udolf became familiar with Ronald McDonald House and its good works while volunteering there, and she conceived Sam’s Race for a Place after learning it is independently-funded and depends on grass-roots campaigns for nearly all of its support.

For more information about Sam’s Race for a Place, visit www.samsraceforaplace.com. Donations also can be made through that web address. Besides the games, the Hockey Fest will include “Whale Town” featuring exhibitors, games and the Whalers Mobile Hall of Fame.

A complete schedule of games can be found at www.ctwhale.com. There will be a free public skate on Feb. 22 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to thank the sponsors and fans who supported the event.

THREE WHALE PLAYERS AMONG PROSPECTS TRADING CARDS

Two Whale players, Johnson and Grachev, and former defenseman McDonagh, now on recall to the Rangers, are in the 150-card Heroes and Prospects trading card set by In the Game.

The three have all played with the Rangers, though Johnson’s five-game stint was last season. They are pictured on those cards in the uniform of the Hartford Wolf Pack, who were rebranded as the Connecticut Whale on Nov. 27.

In the Game has been making its Heroes and Prospects hockey set for several years, and it’s become a must-have for many hockey fans. This year’s 150-card set includes seven Hockey Hero cards, three international prospects, 90 Canadian major junior hockey league players and 50 AHL players. Many of the players have already been drafted, while others are expected to be early picks in upcoming NHL drafts.

There are a lot of memorabilia, autograph, jersey, game-used emblem and AHL 75^th Anniversary cards, including the one of AHL Hall of Famer John Paddock, who coached the Wolf Pack to their only Calder Cup title in his first of three seasons, 1999-2000.

Other notable player cards are Logan Couture and Alex Stalock (San Jose-Worcester), P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens-Hamilton Bulldogs), Tyler Ennis (Buffalo Sabres-Portland Pirates), John Carlson (Washington Capitals-Hershey Bears), John Moore (Columbus Blue Jackets-Springfield Falcons), Blake Geoffrion (Nashville Predators-Milwaukee Admirals), Jared Staal (Carolina Hurricanes-Charlotte Checkers) and Linus Omark (Edmonton Oilers-Oklahoma City Barons), as well as Calder Cup champion cards Alexandre Giroux, Chris Bourque, Keith Aucoin, Andrew Gordon and Mathieu Perreault; non-memorabilia insert cards such as Taylor Hall, Cam Fowler and Eric Wellwood; and 75^th Anniversary cards Billy Smith, Brett Hull, Bruce Boudreau, Doug Harvey, Eddie Shore, Emile Francis, Gerry Cheevers, John Slaney, Carey Price, Jason Spezza, Larry Robinson, Les Cunningham, Martin Brodeur, Milt Schmidt, Patrick Roy, Pelle Lindbergh, Terry Sawchuk, Mitch Lamoureux, Willie Marshall and Zdeno Chara.

The card sets cost $94.99 and are available at www.theahl.com. All-Star Game jerseys and merchandise are also available.

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON GOALIE NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins goalie Brad Thiessen has been named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week after allowing only three goals in five starts while going 4-1-0-0 with a 0.60 goals-against average and .971 save percentage (99 of 102) while the Penguins had their top seven scorers on recall to the parent Pittsburgh Penguins.

After missing the previous six games because of injury, Thiessen returned to the lineup last Monday and made 21 saves in a 4-0 victory over Albany in Atlantic City, N.J. He stopped 18 of 19 shots in a 4-1 win over Manitoba on Tuesday and earned his fifth shutout with 22 stops in a 2-0 decision at Bridgeport on Friday. After being on the losing end of a 1-0 score against Adirondack on Saturday, Thiessen wrapped up the week with 21 saves in a 7-1 victory over Hershey on Sunday.

Thiessen, a second-year pro from Aldergrove, British Columbia, ranks among the AHL leaders in wins (second, 22), goals-against average (third, 1.87), save percentage (ninth, .925) and shutouts (tied for second, 5) while posting a 22-5-0 record in 29 appearances.

The Whale nominated Dupont, who had three goals and two assists in three games. Other nominees includes Gustafsson, former Hartford Wolf Pack forward Jeff Taffe (Rockford) and former Rangers draftee Nate Guenin (Syracuse).

By Bruce Berlet

Steve Carlson is part of the answer to one of the great trivia questions in sports history.

Who are the two players to be on the same team as Gordie “Mr. Hockey” Howe and Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky?

Amazingly, both played for the World Hockey Association’s New England Whalers. You have one answer, so what’s the other?

Here’s a hint: He tied for the goal-scoring lead in the first season the Hartford Whalers were in the National Hockey League.

Enough suspense? The answer is Steve Carlson and Blaine Stoughton, another who preferred playing to fighting.

What, a Carlson who didn’t like to drop the gloves and try to beat up what he couldn’t beat?

“I invented ‘turtling,’ ” the quick-witted Carlson said with a chuckle while speaking of the maneuver in which an overmatched “fighter” curls “into a shell” to try to minimize the pain.

That might explain why one of the most (in)famous brother acts in hockey/movie annals could room with Gretzky in Edmonton the season before the former WHA Oilers, Whalers, Quebec Nordiques and Winnipeg Jets joined the NHL.

“He’s one of the greatest players of all time, and I just happened to have the honor to room with him for the one year,” Carlson said. “He was 17 years old, and we just happened to get hooked up by circumstances. But over the years, when we’re in the same arena, we make sure we get to see each other. When he was playing in Los Angeles and was getting traded to St. Louis, we were doing a show in Buffalo and he didn’t play that night, so we sat in the locker room for a couple hours talking. And when he was the coach of the Phoenix Coyotes and we did a couple of shows there, I spent a couple hours with him afterwards.”

Steve said he didn’t see any irony in a Carlson rooming with someone who disliked fighting.

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“I wasn’t shying away from fighting,” Steve said, “but between the three of us Carlson brothers, I was more the skilled one and Jeff and Jack were the enforcers.”

Carlson now owns and operates Steve Carlson Hockey, a power skating school in Sacramento, Calif., where he moved his business from Islip, N.Y.

“They’ve got plenty of ice in Sacramento, but most of it is in a glass,” Carlson said, uttering a one-liner often used but never tired. “I came out here from New York because I tired of shoveling snow.”

Considering the winter in Connecticut, Carlson and brothers Jack and Jeff of Coke-bottle glasses/Hanson brothers fame in “Slap Shot” might be coming to the wrong place to play for the Whalers legends team against the Boston Bruins legends team on Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. in the Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl, the centerpiece of the Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. But the forecast is for a warming trend and ideal conditions for mid-February, so breaking the AHL record crowd of 21,508 in Syracuse last year for the first outdoor game seems quite feasible, especially with the likes of the Carlson/Hanson brothers, who appropriately are being presented by Harvey and Lewis Opticians of Hartford.

“When we decided to move forward with Whalers Hockey Fest, I immediately contacted the Hanson Brothers to secure their participation,” said Mark Willand, Senior Vice President of Whalers Sports and Entertainment, which is hosting the event after taking business control the Connecticut Whale in September. “They are guaranteed to entertain our fans, and it’s a great bonus that Steve and Dave are also Whalers alumni.”

While Steve hasn’t been back to Hartford since he and his brothers did a Budweiser show here 20 years ago, he welcomes a chance to spread his feelings about hockey today and the memories of what is considered one of the great sports films ever and its two offshoots.

Carlson and his wife, Nicki, run the business of the “Hanson Brothers,” the lead characters in the original “Slap Shot,” including negotiations and merchandising that includes bobble heads of the brothers from the movie that help raise money for charity.

Three brothers immortalized for their zany toughness doing charity work?

“We’ve been all around the United States and Canada, along with Germany and London,” Steve said. “We help organizations raise money for things such as children’s hockey, Special Olympics and breast cancer. We’ve raised more than $14 million.”

So the Carlsons aren’t just tough guys who go around beating up on people.

“When we go to banquets and people talk about what we’ve done in life, everyone thinks we were tough guys,” Steve said. “My brothers and Dave Hanson were tough, but I wasn’t that tough at all. I always said, ‘Thank God the movie came out because people thought I was.’ ”

And Steve and Jack Carlson combined with Brad Selwood and Mike Antonovich to form the Whalers’ famed “Coneheads,” who had cones over their stalls in the locker room and were never afraid to offer a jab.

“It’s amazing how things can work out,” Steve said. “Jack, toughest guy in the family, is in Minnesota now with Sports Ministries, and Bill Butters was in Hockey Ministries before.”

Butters is the defenseman who initiated one of the most famous and longest fights in pro hockey history when he sucker-punched Larry Pleau, the first player ever signed by the Whalers, during the 1975 WHA playoffs at the then Hartford Civic Center. It precipitated 32 minutes of non-stop action between the Whalers and appropriately named Minnesota Fighting Saints, starring Jack Carlson and Nick Fotiu, who ended up fighting in the Fighting Saints’ bench. Steve and Jeff Carlson were with the North American Hockey League’s Johnstown Jets at the time.

“I wasn’t there, but I know the whole story because I’ve talked to Jack about it a few times,” Steve said. “It’s probably one of the great bench-clearing brawls of all time.”

Butters, also from Minnesota, was Jack’s roommate with the Fighting Saints and Whalers and played with him on the NHL’s Minnesota North Stars.

That gets us to “Slap Shot,” the 1977 slapstick comedy starring Paul Newman and a hat trick of brothers with black-rimmed glasses, scraggly flowing hair and fists of a heavyweight champion who have done more than just provide laughs and pummel the opposition – for real or on the silver screen.

The Carlson/Hanson brothers have become so famous that since March 25, 2002, there has been a Slap Shot display in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. “Slap Shot 3: Junior League” debuted on Nov. 25, 2008, causing the brothers to joke that they each has his own movie. And one fan promised to have a copy of the original “Slap Shot” in an airtight container buried with him, prompting the reply, “It’s great to know that we’ll be going to your grave with you.”

“Slap Shot” remains one of the most famous films in sports history, with the Charlestown Chiefs of the fictional Federal League modeled after the Johnstown Jets, who played in the Eastern Hockey League and North American Hockey League from 1950-51 to 1976-77. Ned Dowd, who played the notorious goon Ogie Ogilthorpe in the movie, sent the Carlsons’ antics to his sister Nancy, a screenwriter who spent a month traveling with the Jets and chronicling their every move. At other times, Ned set up a tape recorder in the locker room and on the bus to capture what life was like for the Jets. She wrote a screenplay and wanted actors to play the Jets in the movie, but they couldn’t skate well enough.

Steve, Jack and Jeff played together on the same line with the Jets, and Dave Hanson shared a house with them for a while. The three Carlson brothers were going to be the Hanson brothers, and Dave Hanson was going to be Dave “Killer” Carlson. But Jack Carlson got called up to the Edmonton Oilers, who wouldn’t let him go to film, so Dave Hanson became Jack Hanson and Jerry Houser became “Killer” Carlson.

In the movie, the Carlsons again played on the same line wearing numbers 16, 17 and 18. The Chiefs were perennial losers in financial trouble because of mill closings in the town. The team is scheduled to be folded at the end of the season, and veteran player-coach Reggie Dunlop, played by the legendary Newman, has no idea who owns the team.

During a hopeless season, the team picks up the violent Hanson brothers, but Dunlop chooses not to play them. But in a moment of desperation, he brings the trio into a game to see what they can do, and their fighting and overly aggressive play excites the Chiefs’ fans. Dunlop, seeing the potential, retools the team in the image of the Hansons, who are accepted by all their new teammates except for Michael Ontkean (Ned Braden), who prefers a clean style of hockey from his college days. Braden’s depressed wife Lily (Lindsay Crouse) had difficulty adjusting and finds a sympathizer in Dunlop’s estranged wife Francine (Jennifer Warren).

To keep them motivated, Dunlop plants a story with sports writer Dickie Dunn (M. Emmet Walsh) that the Chiefs are being sold to a prospective buyer in Florida, who would move the team to sunny climes. As the Chiefs continue winning and gaining fans, Dunlop blackmails the team’s stingy general manager Joe McGrath (Strother Martin) to tell him who the Chiefs’ owner is. It turns out to be a rich widow, Anita McCambridge (Kathryn Walker), who couldn’t care less about hockey. She could easily sell the team now that Reggie has made it a success, but she can do better by folding the franchise and taking a tax write-off.

With one playoff game remaining, Dunlop tells the players he has been conning them, that there is no buyer. This is to be his last game, so he wants to go out with dignity and not like a goon.

All vow to play clean, going out with “old-time hockey.” But their opponents, the Syracuse Bulldogs, have chosen to assemble the most infamous set of enforcers ever to disgrace the game.

They include legendary Federal League brawlers and the dreaded Ogilthorpe.

Playing it straight, the Chiefs are battered in the first period, and in the locker room, a furious McGrath tells the players that there are NHL scouts in the stands, and some could get contracts. Hearing this, the Chiefs return to being goons and the game degenerates into a slugfest. Braden, benched by Dunlop for not wanting to fight, finally snaps and provides the signature moment of the film. He spies his wife, who has undergone a complete makeover by Francine and is wearing a sexy new dress and hairdo and even enjoying the game. Braden skates to center ice and strips off his uniform, prompting the arena’s band to play “The Stripper.” Both teams stop fighting and stare in amazement at Braden’s striptease. Violence doesn’t offend them, but this does.

Syracuse captain Tim “Dr Hook” McCracken (Paul D’Amato) demands the referee stop Braden. When the referee refuses, McCracken sucker-punches him, causing the game to be forfeited and the Chiefs to be declared champions. The team celebrates by parading around the ice with the championship trophy, carried by Braden, who is wearing nothing but skates and a jockstrap. It is revealed during a victory parade in Charlestown the following day that Dunlop has accepted a job as the coach of a new team, the Minnesota Nighthawks, and he intends to bring Chiefs players with him.

Steve’s most memorable movie moments were when the brothers arrived in town and beat up the soda machine at the bus station, and when the trio first got on the ice and showed their coach how to wipe out the other team in about 30 seconds with hits and spears before challenging the bench.

“You look at that film and see the Broad Street Bullies’ intimidation-type hockey players where what they lack in skill they gain in toughness,” Carlson said. “When you walked into the Philadelphia arena, you were down two or three goals because you’re just petrified. You don’t know what the Schultzs, the Saleskis, the Duponts and the Kellys are going to do next.”

The movie had such success that there has been two sequels. “Slap Shot II: Breaking the Ice” starred Gary Busey and Stephen Baldwin, with cast members including former Whalers defenseman Dave Babych, future Hall of Famer Chris Chelios and Barry Melrose, now a hockey analyst on ESPN. The Hanson brothers won the Best Supporting Actors for the DVDs for the movie with a storyline similar to the Harlem Globetrotters playing the Washington Generals.

The storyline and message of the movie is hockey is a really good game so quit changing it so much to make it basically entertainment for the family and turn the NHL into “the glorified ‘No Hit League.’ ”

“That’s fine, but the point was we wanted to keep it a competitive activity,” Carlson said. “They turned it into a WWF or WWE where they faked they hit you or faked they tripped you. They just tried to change the game too much, and that’s exactly what’s happening. The NHL has switched their game from North American hockey, and they’re trying to get the European hockey where it’s pass, skating and shooting. I agree with that 100 percent, no question, but you can’t take out the physical part of the game. You have to keep that in there because hockey is a contact sport, and we believe in ‘old time hockey’ – Eddie Shore, Dit Klapper, Toe Blake – that when someone has the puck, they should be hit.

“In our days, you were allowed to hit someone until the other person touched the puck. When you passed the puck, you could still hit them. Now, when someone passes the puck, if they don’t have it on their stick, you can’t touch them. It’s one of these things where you can’t finish your check. In our days, when someone dumped the puck in your zone, you interfered to help your defensive partner get the puck. Now, you can’t touch anybody. They wanted to open up play to get more goals, but that’s not working. In the clutch-and-grab era of Gretzky and (Mario) Lemieux, Gretzky got more than 90 goals and 200 points (in a season). That’s not going to happen now, but the Europeans were crying because they don’t battle through the checks, so they’re catering to the ‘softer’ players, saying, ‘Come on, let them use their skill.’ I agree with that 100 percent, let them use their skill, but you have to battle a little also. You’ve got to sacrifice yourself to win a hockey game, and there are too many players out there now that won’t sacrifice to win.

“Sometimes it gets very frustrating watching these games where they don’t hit anybody. Hits from behind are bad, but when you get into center ice, how many times would (former New Jersey Devils defenseman) Scott Stevens been suspended? That’s where you learn as a player that when you come across that ice, you better know somebody is coming at you. You better know who’s on the ice because they’re coming at you, and they’re going to come at you hard.”

Carlson said that’s something players in peewee hockey, when checking usually starts in the game, and the first thing you learn is that when you skate across the ice, you better have your head up.

“That’s one of the reasons that (former Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers center) Eric Lindros was hurt all the time getting blindsided,” Carlson said. “He was so big of a man playing in juniors where someone would blindside him but he was so much larger than anyone else that it wouldn’t affect him. But he gets into the National Hockey League and has those tendencies of coming across the blue line with his head down and here comes some boys just as big and just as strong and they unload on him, so that’s where his problem was.

“It’s one of these things where if you want to come across that blue line and watch a pretty pass, go ahead, but here comes a guy coming at you and he’s going to steamroll you right over. That’s the game, but hits from behind like (Pittsburgh Penguins wing) Matt Cooke should be more than a four-game suspension. That’s unacceptable, unacceptable. You can’t do that because you’re putting someone’s career and life in danger, so you have to have a happy medium.”

There’s also the issue of harder elbow and shoulder pads.

“You have to go back to the old elbow pads that just have soft filling,” Carlson said. “Now they’re using those elbow and shoulder pads for weapons. But if you go back to the softer ones, it might cause players to think twice about trying to make such a hard hit. There are many, many times where you throw a hit and it hurts you more than the guy you’re hitting.”

Carlson said much of the “softer” nature of the game can be traced to vastly increased salaries that are now held under control somewhat by a salary cap.

“Instead of giving a player $8 million a year, give them $2 million and add incentives for a certain number of goals or being a plus player,” Carlson said. “Let them work for it, which would make the team more exciting, and now the fans could come to a game and see players going all out instead of going through the motions.”

Steve said Jack was the toughest of the three brothers – and the best player.

“He could play the game, but in that era, he was a monster,” Carlson said. “When you have guys like Dave Keons and the John McKenzies and the Mike Antonovichs that we played for, they weren’t large men, whereas Jack was at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds. He would have been (Boston Bruins 6-9, 250-pound defenseman Zdeno) Chara of that era. But he also was a willing combatant who wanted to fight. He enjoyed it a lot.

“Jack was kind of a scientific fighter who picked his spots. Jeff was more of a brawler. He would take five or six (punches) before he would say, ‘OK, now we’re going.’ I just sat back and watched.”

But “Slap Shot III: Junior League,” released on Nov. 25, 2008, is geared for youngsters. At the end of “Slap Shot II,” the brothers won millions of dollars in a lottery. In “Slap Shot III,” an orphanage is going bankrupt to a real estate agent, who wants to buy the land on which the orphanage is located. The kids are running the orphanage by themselves and go to the Hanson brothers, who are for zenovation, peace and love, instead of violence. The youngsters want the brothers to help their junior team win so they don’t lose the orphanage.

The Hanson brothers teach them how to pass with no hitting, but at a game at which their jerseys are being retired, one of the fans throws a bobble head at Steve because he doesn’t like docile hockey. He wants “old time hockey.” The bobble head hits Steve in the mouth and cuts him, so Steve runs from the ice and over the stands as his brothers pull off their capes and robes and say, “(Bleep) on zenovation.”

The brothers go into the stands, start a huge brawl and then teach the kids how to play “the Hanson brothers style.” The cast includes each child of each Carlson brother, and they’re fighting, spearing and bullying other kids around just like their dads.

“Now our kids are going to take over,” Carlson said with a chuckle.

So is “Slap Shot IV” in the cards?

“When we were doing ‘Slap Shot III,’ we wrote a story that Universal Studios has bought from us because they like the concept,” Carlson said. “Then again, Universal Studios is like the Catholic Church in that it works in 100-year increments. But we’ll be patient with them.”

But Carlson promised there would be no “foiling” as they did in Johnstown. To prepare for the almost nightly fights, they taped their hands like boxers, a practice that was soon outlawed. But to try to beat the system, the Carlsons would dampen leather golf gloves to harden them up, scuff them up and put them on their radiators. Then on the first shift, before they started sweating and softening up the gloves, they would drop their gloves and have the hardened leather on their hands to inflict punishment.

“That would cut people up pretty good,” Carlson said. “In the movie we never ‘foiled up,’ but they went over the top with shiny aluminum foil on your knuckles. They just overemphasized stuff on your hands.”

The Carlsons – Jeff was the oldest, then Jack and Steve – began their climb to prominence in Virginia, Minn., population, 12,000, where they learned to play on a hockey rink that their father, Jack, who worked for J&L Mines, and two friends built about a block from their house. The rink had lights donated by the mining company, and their father made his own Zamboni.

“On Saturday night, we’d get 10 guys and sweep the rink with push brooms,” Carlson remembered. “My father went to the water and light department and filled up a big tank with hot water that pulled around with his car. We’d have perfect ice for a Sunday afternoon game.”

When the hockey season ended, the brothers played baseball, usually shifting between pitcher, shortstop and leftfield.

“We were the pitching staff of our high school team,” Carlson said. “I had an offer to play at the University of Minnesota, and had three or four pro teams watch me in high school as a pitcher.”

The trio played hockey and baseball through high school, then there was only one real choice.

“We knew what we wanted to go,” Carlson said. “You’re from Minnesota, where you get nine months of winter and three months of summer and where we always played hockey, so that was our love and passion.”

When Steve was a senior, Jeff and Jack played for the Minneapolis Junior Bruins and Dave Hanson played for the St. Paul Vulcans. Once Steve graduated in 1974, they all went to the Fighting Saints’ training camp in Johnstown, which was their farm team. As in the original “Slap Shot,” they wore numbers 16, 17 and 18, reflecting their ages of 19, 20 and 21.

The Jets won the NAHL title in the Carlsons’ first season in Johnstown, but Jack was called up by the Fighting Saints after getting 27 goals, 22 assists and 246 penalty minutes in 50 games. He had five goals, five assists and 85 penalty minutes in 32 games with the Fighting Saints, capped by the bench-clearing donnybrook in the first round of the playoffs that they won in six games from the Whalers.

“We were the main farm team for the WHA, and the American Hockey League was the main farm team for the NHL,” Carlson said.

Jack never returned to the minors in an 11-year pro career that ended in 1987 (he didn’t play in 1984-85 and 1985-86), while Steve bounced around the NAHL, WHA, NHL, AHL and CHL with 10 teams for 12 seasons before retiring in 1987. Jeff, the only right-handed shooter in the family, had one assist in his only seven games with the Fighting Saints in 1975-76, spending his time in the NAHL, Southern Hockey League, Professional Hockey League and International Hockey League for nine seasons before retiring after five games with Muskegon in 1983.

The Hanson Brothers were the cover boys on July 2, 2007 edition of Sports Illustrated, commemorating the 30^th anniversary of “Slap Shot.” Just four weeks earlier, as the final seconds ticked off the clock, Anaheim Ducks general manager Brian Burke, former GM of the Whalers, stood in the tunnel at the Honda Center in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, ready to race onto the ice to celebrate winning the Stanley Cup. Burke soon was cracking up as the team’s video coordinator, Joe Trotta, decided to play Jim Carr, the toupee-sporting play-by-play announcer from “Slap Shot” shouting, “The Chiefs have won the championship of the Federal League.”

The Ducks were about to reach the pinnacle of their sport with a 6-2 rout of the Senators, but here was Trotta paying homage to the movie that still bonds – and aptly wraps in foil – hockey players and fans worldwide.

The Carlson Brothers were also on a Hockey News cover as part of a story on “The Lighter Side of Hockey” and were No. 2 to Eddie Shack in the Top 50 Characters in Hockey.

“I was actually surprised because I thought it would be the Hanson Brothers, but it wasn’t,” said Steve, who coached several junior teams and did commentary for the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. “They knew who we were, but they could have said the Hanson Brothers. But they said the three Carlson brothers, which I was very proud of.”

Steve did ask for a re-vote when “Slap Shot” was named the fifth-best sports movie by a guy in Indianapolis, but he didn’t have to make such a request after Maxim magazine chose the film as “The Best Guy Movie of All Time” in 1998.

When the Carlsons won the Best Supporting Actor Award in 2003, they wore white tuxedos to the awards ceremony.

“We were styling,” Steve said with a chuckle.

But the Carlsons actually received the award after Universal Studios had called asking them to present the award. When they said they weren’t interested, Universal called back the next day and said they misunderstood the situation, that the Carlsons had been nominated and were expected to win.

The Carlsons hopped on a plane to Hollywood and got to walk down a red carpet to the ceremony hosted by Ben Stein.

“That was pretty cool,” Carlson said, harking back to his frozen-tundra days in Virginia, Minn. “And it was really cool when the presenter, who read off five titles, said, ‘Slap Shot,’ and the whole place erupted.”

But Jeff Carlson was in the men’s room when “Slap Shot” was announced as the winner, so Steve and Dave went on stage alone. Dave told the audience that they were there for two reasons: to accept the award and locate their father. With Stein’s nose and glasses, they said they thought it was him, so they got Stein back on stage. Steve took a picture of Stein and Dave until Jeff came running up on to the stage.

The brothers received their award, but in typical Carlson fashion, they couldn’t resist another prank. After returning to their table with the award, Steve said, “Is this like the Stanley Cup where I get it for a week and then have to send it to you.”

But as the brothers were leaving the dinner, they noticed five extra un-inscribed trophies on the stage, Quentin Tarantino, a big-time producer, director and actor and a big fan of the Hanson Brothers, began talking to the Carlsons, so Dave returned to the stage and took two more trophies so each would have his own. The brothers actually were supposed to return the trophy to have it engraved and would have received three trophies, but they had already made sure they wouldn’t be shortchanged.

And the tales don’t end there. During the third period of Syracuse Crunch games, if an opposing player was going to the penalty box, one of two men or a woman dressed as the Hanson brothers would run from behind the bench to the box and slam into the glass. That’s because when the Chiefs played the Hyannisport Presidents on the road in the movie, they filmed it in the Onondaga County War Memorial in Syracuse. The Crunch also honored the No. 7 worn by Newman’s character for the 2008-09 season a few weeks after his death. A banner was raised with his name and number, which is not retired and could be used by a future Crunch player after the 2008-09 season.

The AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters have The Mullet Brothers, a trio of long-haired, horn-rimmed-glasses-wearing guys who do “ice maintenance” during timeouts at home games and are patterned after the Hanson Brothers.

Northern Michigan University, located in Marquette, Mich., where Steve and Jeff started their hockey careers, has a tradition based on “Slap Shot.” Toward the end of the third period, the marching band plays “The Stripper” as a fan takes off his shirt and pounds the glass behind the visiting goaltender.

And the film holds cult status in the province of Quebec because the French version released there was dubbed in joual, the province’s working-class slang. The fact that local actors Yvan Ponton and Yvon Barrette co-star alongside world-famous movie stars such as Newman has contributed to its special status in the province.

Finally, in 2010, Wiley Publishing released “The Making of Slap Shot: Behind the Scenes of the Greatest Hockey Movie Ever Made” by Jonathon Jackson.

Yes, the Carlsons/Hansons and “old-time hockey” hold a special space in sports annals. If you want to find out even more about the fun-loving clan, visit www.hansonbrothers.com or www.stevecarlson.com.

Photo credit: World Hockey

With over 22,500 tickets sold and a crowd of 30,000 expected for 2011 Whale Bowl on Saturday at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT. According to my father who has been there just about every day with my uncle to watch the games, the lower bowl is just about empty.

A full list of the rest of the games for the Harvest-Properties.com 2011 Whalers Hockey Fest can be found over at CTWhale.com. Tickets ($20 to $85) for the doubleheader on Saturday (Legends Game and CT Whale vs Providence Bruins) can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com and the Bushnell box office in Hartford on Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. or by calling the Whale at 860-728-3366. They also can be purchased online and printed immediately at Ticketmaster.com.

Video credit: Ladd B.

By Bruce Berlet

WHALE BACK IN ACTION FRIDAY NIGHT IN ADIRONDACK

After four days off, the Whale will make a second trip to Glen Falls, N.Y., and try to complete a four-game sweep of the Adirondack Phantoms on Friday night before a bus ride home for the Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl against the Bruins on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Rentschler Field in East Hartford in the second outdoor game in AHL history.

The Phantoms (17-30-3-3), a 4-3 overtime loser to Binghamton on Sunday, have lost 3-0, 4-3 and 6-4 to the Whale but have improved dramatically since a horrific 4-26-1-1 start before their first back-to-back wins Dec. 17-18. They’re led by All-Star defenseman Erik Gustafsson (five goals, 27 assists), veteran left wing Denis Hamel (team-leading 17 goals, 14 assists), defenseman Danny Syvret (6, 17), left wing Michael Ryan (15, 6) and right wing Ben Holmstrom (8, 13). Much of the Phantoms’ improvement can be traced to the arrival of goalie Michael Leighton (4-6-1-1, 2.37 goals-against average, .918 save percentage), who led the parent Philadelphia Flyers to the Stanley Cup finals in June but was back in the minors after he cleared waivers on Jan. 3, as the Flyers went with Brian Boucher. Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks didn’t re-sign goalie Antti Niemi because of salary-cap problems. Niemi signed with the San Jose Sharks.

The Whale is at Portland on Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. and then will play their first two games in Charlotte, N.C., against the Checkers, their former ECHL affiliate, on Feb. 24 and 26. They finally return to the XL Center on March 2 to face Springfield. Their ensuing home game is March 11 against Hershey, ending a brutal stretch of 10 road games in 12. … Free agent forward Jason Williams, released from his professional tryout contract with the Whale on Friday, signed a two-way contract with the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. Williams, 30, had four goals and five assists and was a team-worst minus-13 in 17 games with Whale while still recovering from offseason groin and abdominal surgeries. Williams, part of a Stanley Cup championship with Detroit in 2002, played 44 games for the Red Wings last season. His contract is for $500,000 in the NHL and $105,000 in the minors. He made his Stars debut Sunday in a 2-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Williams has 91 goals and 129 assists in 420 NHL games.

“Jason Williams has won a Stanley Cup and brings veteran experience to our club,” Stars general manager Joe Nieuwendyk said. “He has the versatility to play any forward position and gives us another right-handed shot. We’re pleased that we could add him to our team.”

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The Manitoba Moose retired former captain Mike Keane’s No. 12 in a ceremony before they beat the San Antonio Rampage 5-0 on Saturday night. In five seasons with the Moose, the native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, had 36 goals and 78 assists in 365 games. He also had eight goals and 12 assists in 59 Calder Cup playoff games.

In 2007, Keane was the recipient of the AHL’s Fred T. Hunt Award for sportsmanship, determination and dedication to the game of hockey. Keane was also selected the captain of the Canadian team at the 2007 Reebok Hockey AHL All-Star Classic in Toronto and helped the Moose reach the Calder Cup finals in 2009.

In his previous 22 seasons of pro hockey, Keane won three Stanley Cups (Montreal 1993, Colorado 1996, Dallas 1999) and had 168 goals and 470 points in 1,161 NHL games with Montreal, Colorado, Dallas, the New York Rangers, St. Louis and Vancouver.

Keane also received the Order of the Buffalo Hunt from the Province of Manitoba, the highest honor the province can bestow on an individual who has demonstrated outstanding skills in the area of leadership, service and community commitment. He also received a commissioned, one-of-a-kind graphic painting, illustrated by sports artist Steve Dittberner, from True North Sports & Entertainment, as well as a trip for two to Los Angeles, airfare included, and a pair of rounds at Pebble Beach golf course from the Manitoba Moose players.

WHALE BOWL TO BREAK AHL ATTENDANCE RECORD

More than 22,500 tickets have been sold for Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl, the highlight of the Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 at Rentschler Field, assuring the Whale will break the AHL attendance record. A record 21,508 watched the host Syracuse Crunch beat the Binghamton Senators 2-1 at the New York State Fairgrounds on Feb. 20, 2010.

“It’s a great tribute to the people of the state of Connecticut, but we have to get 38,000 because we want to sell the place out,” said Howard Baldwin Jr., president and COO of Whalers Sports and Entertainment, which runs the Whale’s business operations and is handling the 12-day event. “Everyone else, the NHL, college and AHL, has sold out, and if Connecticut wants to be back on the (hockey) map again, which I know it does, everybody needs to come out and celebrate this.”

Before Whale Bowl is played, “Trinity-Wesleyan Day” is on Tuesday as the schools’ women’s teams play at 4 p.m., their alumni teams at 6:30 p.m. and the men’s teams at 8 p.m. High school and prep school games fill most of the schedule the remainder of the week until the Whale Bowl, at which about a dozen celebrities will mix in with the Hartford Whalers legends team and Boston Bruins legends team as they face off at 4 p.m., followed by the Whale-Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. The day’s activities begin with the Army-American International College game at 1 p.m. All tickets for the event are general admission except for Feb. 19.

Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, and Brad Park headline the Bruins legends team. Other commitments are Enfield native Craig Janney, former captain Rick Middleton, Reggie Lemelin, Ken Hodge, Don Marcotte, Rick Smith, Bob Sweeney, Lyndon Byers, Cleon Daskalakis, Jay Miller, Bob Miller (no relation) and Ken “The Rat” Linseman, a member of the Whalers for a few moments as he passed through in a multi-player trade with Philadelphia and Edmonton that included Mark Howe leaving Hartford for the Flyers. Derek Sanderson and Gary Doak will coach the Bruins team.

Commitments for the Whalers team are WHA Hall of Famer Andre Lacroix, John McKenzie, whose No. 19 is retired in the XL Center rafters, Blaine Stoughton, Pat Verbeek, John Anderson, Garry Swain, Bob Crawford, Chris Kotsopoulos, Jim Dorey, Jordy Douglas, Ray Neufeld, Gordie Roberts, Darren Turcotte, Nelson Emerson, Mark Janssens, Bill Bennett, Jeff Brubaker, Fred O’Donnell, Terry Yake, Scott Daniels, Ed Hospodar, Yvon Corriveau and the Babych brothers, Dave and Wayne.  Norm Barnes and former captain Russ Anderson will be among the coaches.

Among the celebrities scheduled to play with one of the legends teams are filmmaker Bobby Farrelly, writer/director of such hit films as “Dumb and Dumber”, “There’s Something About Mary”, “Kingpin”, “Me, Myself and Irene”, “Outside Providence”, “The Heartbreak Kid”, “Stuck on You”, and “Shallow Hal”; and actor David Henrie, from “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “That’s So Raven”.

Famed former NHL referee Paul Stewart will officiate the game. Stewart, a Boston native, refereed more than 1,000 NHL games in a 13-year career. On March 15, 2003, he refereed his 1,000^th game, becoming the only American-born official to accomplish the feat. He also officiated during the Canada Cup in 1987 and 1991 after an eight-year playing career with teams in the NAHL, AHL, NEHL, CHL, WHA and NHL.

Tickets ($20 to $85) for the doubleheader can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com and the Bushnell box office in Hartford on Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. or by calling the Whale at 860-728-3366. They also can be purchased online and printed immediately at Ticketmaster.com.

The official charity of the Hockey Fest is “Sam’s Race for a Place,” a fund-raising effort spearheaded by West Hartford resident Samantha Udolf that benefits the Ronald McDonald House. Since Udolf, a successful competitive skier, founded Sam’s Race for a Place in June of 2008, it has generated donations of more than $43,500.

The Ronald McDonald House is a non-profit charity operating since 1991 that helps hundreds of families and children enjoy the comforts of home while they await treatment at area medical facilities. Udolf became familiar with Ronald McDonald House and its good works while volunteering there, and she conceived Sam’s Race for a Place after learning it is independently-funded and depends on grass-roots campaigns for nearly all of its support.

For more information about Sam’s Race for a Place, visit www.samsraceforaplace.com. Donations also can be made through that web address. Besides the games, the Hockey Fest will include “Whale Town” featuring exhibitors, games and the Whalers Mobile Hall of Fame.

A complete schedule of games can be found at www.ctwhale.com. There will be a free public skate on Feb. 22 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to thank the sponsors and fans who supported the event.

THREE WHALE PLAYERS AMONG PROSPECTS TRADING CARDS

Two Whale players, goalie Chad Johnson and forward Evgeny Grachev, and former Whale defenseman Ryan McDonagh, now on recall to the Rangers, are in the 150-card Heroes and Prospects trading card set by In the Game.

The three have all played with the Rangers, though Johnson’s five-game stint was last season. They are pictured on those cards in the uniform of the Hartford Wolf Pack, who were rebranded as the Connecticut Whale on Nov. 27.

In the Game has been making its Heroes and Prospects hockey set for several years, and it’s become a must-have for many hockey fans. This year’s 150-card set includes seven Hockey Hero cards, three international prospects, 90 Canadian major junior hockey league players and 50 AHL players. Many of the players have already been drafted, while others are expected to be early picks in upcoming NHL drafts.

There are a lot of memorabilia, autograph, jersey, game-used emblem and AHL 75^th Anniversary cards, including the one of AHL Hall of Famer John Paddock, who coached the Wolf Pack to their only Calder Cup title in his first of three seasons, 1999-2000.

Other notable player cards are Logan Couture and Alex Stalock (San Jose-Worcester), P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens-Hamilton Bulldogs), Tyler Ennis (Buffalo Sabres-Portland Pirates), John Carlson (Washington Capitals-Hershey Bears), John Moore (Columbus Blue Jackets-Springfield Falcons), Blake Geoffrion (Nashville Predators-Milwaukee Admirals), Jared Staal (Carolina Hurricanes-Charlotte Checkers) and Linus Omark (Edmonton Oilers-Oklahoma City Barons), as well as Calder Cup champion cards Alexandre Giroux, Chris Bourque, Keith Aucoin, Andrew Gordon and Mathieu Perreault; non-memorabilia insert cards such as Taylor Hall, Cam Fowler and Eric Wellwood; and 75^th Anniversary cards Billy Smith, Brett Hull, Bruce Boudreau, Doug Harvey, Eddie Shore, Emile Francis, Gerry Cheevers, John Slaney, Carey Price, Jason Spezza, Larry Robinson, Les Cunningham, Martin Brodeur, Milt Schmidt, Patrick Roy, Pelle Lindbergh, Terry Sawchuk, Mitch Lamoureux, Willie Marshall and Zdeno Chara.

The card sets cost $94.99 and are available at www.theahl.com. All-Star Game jerseys and merchandise are also available.

Providence, RI, February 13, 2011 – Special teams made the difference for the Connecticut Whale Sunday at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center Providence, as three second-period power-play goals carried the Whale to a 4-1 win over the Providence Bruins.

The game was a preview of the Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl, which matches the same two teams this Saturday, February 19, outdoors at Rentschler Field at 7:00 PM.

The Whale, helped by 21 saves from Dov Grumet-Morris, were five for five on the penalty kill in winning their second straight since a 9-2 pounding they absorbed Wednesday in Toronto.

Brodie Dupont, Kris Newbury and Jeremy Williams had a goal and an assist each in the win, and Wade Redden also scored.  The only one of 22 Bruin shots to beat Grumet-Morris was a late first-period penalty shot by Brian McGrattan.

With the win, the Whale (26-22-2-5, 59 pts.) moved past the idle Worcester Sharks and into third place in the Atlantic Division.  The victory was the Whale’s fourth in their last five road games, and handed the Bruins their sixth straight loss.

After the Whale killed a double-minor assessed to Ryan Garlock at 3:29 of the first period, Garlock came out of the penalty box and joined Kris Newbury on a two-on-one.  Garlock was able to find Newbury at the left side of the slot for a finish past the catching glove of Matt Dalton at 7:39.

That lead lasted until the 17:28 mark, when Jared Nightingale hooked McGrattan off the puck on a breakaway, causing McGrattan to be awarded a penalty shot.  McGrattan was able to convert, snapping a shot past Grumet-Morris’ glove side, for only McGrattan’s fourth goal in 35 AHL games on the year.

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The Whale power play took over in the second period though, scoring three times on four opportunities.

Dupont gave the Whale the lead for good with his 11^th goal of the year, and second in as many games, at 3:15.  Dale Weise worked the puck out of the left-wing corner to Newbury on the right-wing boards.  Newbury whipped a hard pass toward the slot and Dupont, headed hard toward the net, deflected it past Dalton.

Then Connecticut would get a pair of goals 2:39 apart in the last 4:10 of the period.

Redden made it 3-1 at 15:50, with Matt Bartkowski in the penalty box for hooking.  Redden’s shot from the top of the left circle hit a Providence defender and deflected past Dalton.  And at 18:29, Williams increased his team-leading goal total to 24 on another Whale power play.  Chad Kolarik fed the puck from the right- wing boards to Williams at the top of the circles.  Sliding to his left, the right-handed-shooting Williams one-timed a hard drive that overpowered Dalton (four goals-against on 16 shots), who was replaced after that goal by Nolan Schaefer, who stopped all eight shots he faced.

Grumet-Morris (3-2-0) then fended off a pair of Providence power plays in the third period, which was scoreless, notching his second consecutive win and his third in his last four starts.

The Whale finished three for five on the power play and are now 12/28 in the season series against Providence.  Connecticut had lost the previous two games of the season series with the Bruins, after winning the first three, and are now 3-0-0 in Providence on the year, having outscored the Bruins by a total margin of 10-2 in those three games.

Connecticut Whale 4 at Providence Bruins 1
Sunday, February 13, 2011 – Dunkin’ Donuts Center

Connecticut 1 3 0 – 4
Providence 1 0 0 – 1

1st Period-1, Connecticut, Newbury 8 (Garlock, Dupont), 7:39. 2, Providence, McGrattan 4   17:28 (TXT_PS). Penalties-Garlock Ct (double minor – high-sticking), 3:29; Williams Ct (slashing), 10:05; McIver Pro (slashing), 10:05; Newbury Ct (fighting), 16:16; Cohen Pro (fighting), 16:16; Kolarik Ct (hooking), 19:06.

2nd Period-3, Connecticut, Dupont 11 (Newbury, Weise), 3:15 (PP). 4, Connecticut, Redden 4 (Williams), 15:50 (PP). 5, Connecticut, Williams 24 (Kolarik, Kundratek), 18:29 (PP). Penalties-Alexandrov Pro (high-sticking), 1:53; Bickel Ct (fighting), 3:40; LaVallee-Smotherman Pro (roughing, fighting), 3:40; Soryal Ct (fighting), 9:07; McIver Pro (fighting), 9:07; DiDiomete Ct (fighting), 14:54; Bartkowski Pro (hooking), 14:54; LaVallee-Smotherman Pro (fighting), 14:54; Ling Pro (tripping), 17:27.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Kennedy Ct (hooking), 4:47; Kolarik Ct (slashing), 6:51; Bodnarchuk Pro (interference), 12:58; DiDiomete Ct (fighting), 16:01; Roussel Pro (fighting), 16:01.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 4-14-6-24. Providence 8-6-8-22.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 3 / 5; Providence 0 / 5.
Goalies-Connecticut, Grumet-Morris 2-2-0 (22 shots-21 saves). Providence, Dalton 7-7-0 (16 shots-12 saves); Schaefer 9-15-1 (8 shots-8 saves).
A-8,470
Referees-Terry Koharski (10), Chris Brown (86).
Linesmen-Todd Whittemore (70), Bob Paquette (18).

HARTFORD, February 13, 2011: Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the Whale has signed goaltender Pier-Olivier Pelletier to a Professional Tryout (PTO) agreement.

This will by the second stint of the season with the Whale for Pelletier, who comes to Connecticut from the Laredo Bucks of the Central Hockey League. In an earlier turn with the Whale, Pelletier played 54 minutes of one game, his AHL debut, with the Whale. That was a 7-3 loss to the Hamilton Bulldogs January 21, in which Pelletier stopped 18 of the 22 shots he faced, including a penalty shot save.

In 22 CHL games with the Bucks, Pelletier, a 6-2, 200-pound second-year pro, carries a record of 6-10-4, with a 3.41 goals-against average, an 89.2% save percentage and one shutout.

A 23-year-old native of St-Louis-du-Ha!Ha!, Quebec, Pelletier was a second-round pick by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The Whale defeated the Providence Bruins 4-1 in Providence today, in a preview of the historic Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl outdoor game between the two teams this Saturday, February 19 at Rentschler Field.

Tickets for that game are on sale now at www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets for the AHL game, which begins at 7:00 PM at Rentschler Field, also include the Hartford Whalers legends vs. Boston Bruins legends game at 4:00 PM that day. The February 19 Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl is the featured event of the two-week outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 spectacular that also showcases numerous collegiate, high school, prep school and youth hockey games. A full Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 schedule can be found at www.ctwhale.com. Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl ticket prices range from $20 to $85 and tickets can be purchased on-line via Ticketmaster, at the Bushnell box office from Monday through Friday, 12 noon-5:00 PM., or by calling the Connecticut Whale at 860-728-3366. Tickets purchased on-line can be printed immediately (via Ticketmaster).

Hartford, CT … Whalers Sports and Entertainment announced today that “The Hanson Brothers” will bring their distinctive brand of hockey entertainment to the outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl February 19 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. Their appearance is presented by Harvey and Lewis Opticians of Hartford.

In addition to spreading laughs with their trademark comic zaniness, the Hansons will skate on the Whalers legends team in the Whalers legends vs. Boston Bruins legends game at the Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl.

The Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl is the featured event of the two-week outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 spectacular at Rentschler Field that includes numerous collegiate, high school, prep school and youth hockey games. The legends game will face off at 4:00 PM on February 19 and will be followed by the outdoor AHL game between the Connecticut Whale and the Providence Bruins at 7:00 PM.

“When we created the concept for Whalers Hockey Fest a year ago, I immediately reached out to secure the Hanson brothers,” said WSE vice-president of business operations Mark Willand. “They are a prefect addition to our Legends game and they have a lot of surprises in store for Hartford hockey fans.”

The Hanson Brothers, Steve, Jeff and Dave, achieved legendary status as a result of the iconic 1977 film “Slap Shot”, of which their brawling, bespectacled characters were the comedic linchpins. The real-life hockey players behind the caricatures are brothers Steve and Jeff Carlson, and Dave Hanson.

Both Steve Carlson and Hanson spent time in Hartford with the WHA’s New England Whalers during their playing careers.

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Carlson played a total of 69 games with the Whalers between the 1976-77 and ’77-’78 seasons, scoring 10 goals and adding 16 assists for 26 points and registering 51 penalty minutes. The highlight of Carlson’s 11-year pro career was 52 NHL games with the Los Angeles Kings in 1979-80, and the Virginia, MN native also logged 173 total WHA games with the Whalers, Minnesota Fighting Saints and Edmonton Oilers.

Hanson, meanwhile, played one regular-season game and one playoff game for the 1976-77 Whalers, one of three WHA stops in a ten-year pro tenure. A native of Cumberland, WI, Hanson played 33 total NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings and Minnesota North Stars, and got into 103 WHA contests with the Whalers, Fighting Saints and Birmingham Bulls.

Jeff Carlson, Steve’s older sibling by two years, played nine years of pro hockey, mostly in the North American and International Hockey Leagues. Jeff did join Steve for seven games on the 1975-76 Fighting Saints squad.

Since going on the road and reprising the Hanson Brothers characters in 1994, the two Carlsons and Hanson have entertained millions of fans across North America, and generated over $12 million for various charities.

Tickets for the February 19 Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl, which include admission to both the AHL game and the legends game, are on sale now at Ticketmaster.com, as well as at the Bushnell box office from Monday through Friday, 12 noon-5:00 PM. Ticket prices range from $20 to $85 and can also be purchased by calling the Connecticut Whale at 860-728-3366. Tickets purchased online can be printed immediately (via Ticketmaster).

By Bruce Berlet

After the forgettable performance/effort in the opener of their only venture into Canada this season, the Connecticut Whale needed a serious gut check Friday night.

They got it from start to finish, scoring on their first two shots and then winning with 1:13 left on a goal by one of their major grinders.

Devin DiDiomete, elevated in the pecking order with Jason Williams being released from his professional tryout contract earlier in the day, scored the winner when Tim Kennedy’s shot went in off his skate to give the Whale a 3-2 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs.

“Obviously when you have a game like we did Wednesday, you try to forget about that and turn things into positives,” said DiDiomete, the AHL’s penalty-minutes leader (206), who outmuscled Dany Masse in front to get in position for the winner. “And I think we did a good job of realizing that we weren’t there mentally on Wednesday, and we came out with a quick start and just kind of got the ball rolling a little bit for us and got two really big points against a really good team.”

DiDiomete’s first career AHL winner enabled Dov Grumet-Morris (29 saves) to win his second game since signing another PTO on Feb. 4 after being recalled from Greenville of the ECHL. The gritty win came two days after a 9-2 loss to the Toronto Marlies that tied franchise records for most goals allowed and largest margin of defeat in their 14-year history.

Whale coach Ken Gernander said he had the team focus on fundamentals.

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“We got away from some things (Wednesday),” Gernander said. “We made some sloppy plays or lazy plays at times, where we weren’t paying the price, so just getting back to basics was probably the most important thing.”

Gernander now hopes the Whale (25-22-2-5) can put together a winning streak, starting Sunday at 4:05 p.m. at Providence, to secure a playoff spot in the tightly bunched Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference.

“(Bouncing back) is all well and good,” Gernander said. “You assume that after a game like (Wednesday) where you weren’t your best, if you’re a prideful person it’s going to be really easy for you to rebound and have a big effort the following game. Now the task at hand is to continue that, to extend that so we can start to string together some wins and gain some ground in the standings.”

Kennedy, one of the hottest Whale players of late, started the winning play in the defensive zone, taking the puck from Andrew Conboy to break up a Bulldogs rush. Kennedy moved the puck to Chad Kolarik, who carried it into the Hamilton zone on right wing before returning it to Kennedy in the slot. Kennedy jammed the puck toward the net, and the deflection off DiDiomete’s skate went in under veteran goalie Curtis Sanford (26 saves) for his sixth goal, two more than in his first two pro seasons combined. Sanford entered the game 19-11-1 with a 1.81 goals-against average and .935 save percentage, both second in the league, and five shutouts, tied for the AHL lead with Hershey’s Braden Holtby.

“It was a pretty good feeling, especially being in Hamilton,” DiDiomete said of his first AHL winner. “I had a ton of family and friends at the game, so it was really good not only to have the opportunity to be on the ice with about a minute left but to get that game-winning goal, too.

“There was nothing fancy about it, that’s for sure. CK (Kolarik) picked it up there and kind of had a 2-on-1 and fed it to TK (Kennedy), and I went to the net and stopped at the far post and I think it hit my shin pad and went in. So I’ll take it!”

Gernander said fortuitous goals aren’t merely luck.

“They’re not always pretty,” Gernander said. “But when you break things down, a lot of times it always starts with good defensive play, the simple plays, guys driving the net, creating some traffic there, they put the puck to the net. I think it went off Dids’ skate, but it isn’t always lucky.

“If you’re willing to do that time and again, you watch highlights every night, there seems to be a handful of goals that go in that way. So it’s not necessarily lucky.”

DiDiomete’s winner came after the Bulldogs tied it at 2 at 4:43 of the third period on a goal by center Ryan Russell, the Rangers’ seventh-round pick in 2005 who never played for the organization before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens. The Whale scored on their first two shots by Dale Weise and Brodie Dupont, who each had a goal and an assist in the opening 3:22. Weise scored for the second consecutive game after missing three games with shingles.

The Whale won for the first time at the Copps Coliseum since Jan. 21, 2000, when they were the Hartford Wolf Pack. It also avenged a 7-3 loss to the Bulldogs on Jan. 21 in Hartford in the second stop of their toughest stretch of the season, 10 of 12 games on the road. They will finish the first three-game road stretch against Providence, which lost 4-3 to defending Calder Cup champion Hershey on Friday night, as former Wolf Pack wing Boyd Kane scored the Bears’ first goal while ending the Bruins’ five-game home winning streak.

Entering a game at Springfield on Saturday night, the Bruins (23-25-3-1) had lost four in a row and were tied for fifth in the Atlantic Division with the Falcons, seven points behind the Whale. The Bruins won the last two games with the Whale at the XL Center after Cam Talbot, now out with a high ankle sprain, backstopped three consecutive wins, including his first pro shutout, 3-0 on Oct. 17. Maxime Sauve had two goals in each of the last two games against the Whale, while none of his teammates have scored more than once.

All-Star center Jamie Arniel (14, 17) leads the Bruins in scoring, followed by center Zach Hamill (3, 25), who is on recall to the Boston Bruins, center Joe Colborne (12, 14), right wing Kirk MacDonald (11, 15) and Sauve (13, 6). Rugged left wing Lane MacDermid, son of former Hartford Whalers right wing Paul MacDermid, has four goals, seven assists and 107 penalty minutes. Matt Dalton (7-6-0, 2.51 GAA, .918 save percentage, two shutouts) is 1-1-0 against the Whale. Veteran Nolan Schaefer is 9-15-1, 3.10, .899, no shutouts.

After four days off after Sunday, the Whale will make a second trip to Glen Falls, N.Y., to face the Adirondack Red Wings (16-30-2-3) on Friday before a quick bus ride home for the Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl against the Bruins on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, in the second AHL outdoor game in history. The Whale is at Portland on Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. and then will play their first two games in Charlotte, N.C., against the Checkers, their former ECHL affiliate, on Feb. 24 and 26. They finally return to the XL Center on March 2 to face Springfield. Their ensuing home game is March 11 against Hershey, ending the brutal stretch of 10 road games in 12.

‘UCONN DAY’ AT RENTSCHLER FIELD SUNDAY

“UConn Day” at the Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 at Rentschler Field is Sunday, when the alumni plays at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s team facing Sacred Heart at 1 p.m. and the women meeting Providence at 4 p.m. Two days later, Feb. 15, is “Trinity-Wesleyan Day” as the schools’ women’s teams play at 4 p.m., their alumni teams at 6:30 p.m. and the men’s teams at 8 p.m.

High school and prep school games fill most of the schedule the remainder of the week until the Whale Bowl on Saturday, when about 20 celebrities will mix in with the Hartford Whalers legends team and Boston Bruins legends team as they face off at 4 p.m., followed by the second AHL outdoor game in history between the Whale and Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. The day’s activities begin with the Army-American International College game at 1 p.m. All tickets for the event are general admission except for Feb. 19.

Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, and Brad Park headline the Bruins legends team. Other commitments are Enfield native Craig Janney, former captain Rick Middleton, Reggie Lemelin, Ken Hodge, Don Marcotte, Rick Smith, Bob Sweeney, Lyndon Byers, Cleon Daskalakis, Jay Miller, Bob Miller (no relation) and Ken “The Rat” Linseman, a member of the Whalers for a few moments as he passed through in a multi-player trade with Philadelphia and Edmonton that included Mark Howe leaving Hartford for the Flyers. Derek Sanderson and Gary Doak will coach the Bruins team.

Commitments for the Whalers team are WHA Hall of Famer Andre Lacroix, John McKenzie, whose No. 19 is retired in the XL Center rafters, Blaine Stoughton, Pat Verbeek, John Anderson, Garry Swain, Bob Crawford, Chris Kotsopoulos, Jim Dorey, Jordy Douglas, Ray Neufeld, Gordie Roberts, Darren Turcotte, Nelson Emerson, Mark Janssens, Bill Bennett, Jeff Brubaker, Fred O’Donnell, Terry Yake, Scott Daniels, Ed Hospodar, Yvon Corriveau and the Babych brothers, Dave and Wayne. Norm Barnes and former captain Russ Anderson will be among the coaches.

Among the celebrities scheduled to play with one of the legends teams are filmmaker Bobby Farrelly, writer/director of such hit films as “Dumb and Dumber”, “There’s Something About Mary”, “Kingpin”, “Me, Myself and Irene”, “Outside Providence”, “The Heartbreak Kid”, “Stuck on You”, and “Shallow Hal”; and actor David Henrie, from “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “That’s So Raven”.

Famed former NHL referee Paul Stewart will officiate the game. Stewart, a Boston native, refereed more than 1,000 NHL games in a 13-year career. On March 15, 2003, he refereed his 1,000^th game, becoming the only American-born official to accomplish the feat. He also officiated during the Canada Cup in 1987 and 1991 after an eight-year playing career with teams in the NAHL, AHL, NEHL, CHL, WHA and NHL.

Tickets ($20 to $85) for the doubleheader can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com and the Bushnell box office in Hartford on Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. or by calling the Whale at 860-728-3366. They also can be purchased online and printed immediately at Ticketmaster.com.

The official charity of the Hockey Fest is “Sam’s Race for a Place,” a fund-raising effort spearheaded by West Hartford resident Samantha Udolf that benefits the Ronald McDonald House. Since Udolf, a successful competitive skier, founded Sam’s Race for a Place in June of 2008, it has generated donations of more than $43,500.

The Ronald McDonald House is a non-profit charity operating since 1991 that helps hundreds of families and children enjoy the comforts of home while they await treatment at area medical facilities. Udolf became familiar with Ronald McDonald House and its good works while volunteering there, and she conceived Sam’s Race for a Place after learning it is independently-funded and depends on grass-roots campaigns for nearly all of its support.

For more information about Sam’s Race for a Place, visit www.samsraceforaplace.com. Donations also can be made through that web address. Besides the games, the Hockey Fest will include “Whale Town” featuring exhibitors, games and the Whalers Mobile Hall of Fame.

A complete schedule of games can be found at www.ctwhale.com. There will be a free public skate on Feb. 22 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. to thank the sponsors and fans who supported the event.

MARLIES’ GUSTAVSSON HAS HEART SURGERY

The Marlies’ rout of the Whale was tempered by goalie Jonas Gustavsson having to be pulled after the first period because of an elevated heart rate caused by an abnormal rhythm.

Gustavsson, 26, underwent minor heart surgery on Friday in London, Ontario, Canada, by the same medical specialists who treated him last season, when he was first diagnosed. He had since had two surgeries to treat the condition and should be cleared to practice in about a week.

Gustavsson was making his second start since being assigned to the Marlies by the parent Toronto Maple Leafs for a two-week conditioning stint. He was 6-13-2 in 23 games with the Maple Leafs.

THREE WHALE PLAYERS AMONG PROSPECTS TRADING CARDS

Two Whale players, goalie Chad Johnson and forward Evgeny Grachev, and former Whale defenseman Ryan McDonagh, now on recall to the Rangers, are in the 150-card Heroes and Prospects trading card set by In the Game.

The three have all played with the Rangers, though Johnson’s five-game stint was last season. They are pictured on those cards in the uniform of the Hartford Wolf Pack, who were rebranded as the Connecticut Whale on Nov. 27.

In the Game has been making its Heroes and Prospects hockey set for several years, and it’s become a must-have for many hockey fans. This year’s 150-card set includes seven Hockey Hero cards, three international prospects, 90 Canadian major junior hockey league players and 50 AHL players. Many of the players have already been drafted, while others are expected to be early picks in upcoming NHL drafts.

There are a lot of memorabilia, autograph, jersey, game-used emblem and AHL 75^th Anniversary cards, including the one of AHL Hall of Famer John Paddock, who coached the Wolf Pack to their only Calder Cup title in his first of three seasons, 1999-2000.

Other notable player cards are Logan Couture and Alex Stalock (San Jose-Worcester), P.K. Subban (Montreal Canadiens-Hamilton Bulldogs), Tyler Ennis (Buffalo Sabres-Portland Pirates), John Carlson (Washington Capitals-Hershey Bears), John Moore (Columbus Blue Jackets-Springfield Falcons), Blake Geoffrion (Nashville Predators-Milwaukee Admirals), Jared Staal (Carolina Hurricanes-Charlotte Checkers) and Linus Omark (Edmonton Oilers-Oklahoma City Barons), as well as Calder Cup champion cards Alexandre Giroux, Chris Bourque, Keith Aucoin, Andrew Gordon and Mathieu Perreault; non-memorabilia insert cards such as Taylor Hall, Cam Fowler and Eric Wellwood; and 75^th Anniversary cards Billy Smith, Brett Hull, Bruce Boudreau, Doug Harvey, Eddie Shore, Emile Francis, Gerry Cheevers, John Slaney, Carey Price, Jason Spezza, Larry Robinson, Les Cunningham, Martin Brodeur, Milt Schmidt, Patrick Roy, Pelle Lindbergh, Terry Sawchuk, Mitch Lamoureux, Willie Marshall and Zdeno Chara.

The card sets cost $94.99 and are available at www.theahl.com. All-Star Game jerseys and merchandise are also available.

ISLANDERS GET MAJOR REVENGE AGAINST PENGUINS

The New York Islanders avenged a knockout of No. 1 goalie Rick DiPietro Friday night with a decisive knockout of the injury-depleted Pittsburgh Penguins.

John Tavares, Matt Moulson and rookie Michael Grabner each scored his 20th goal of the season as the Islanders got revenge with their sticks and fists in a fight-filled 9-3 victory.

The teams combined for 65 penalties totaling 346 minutes and including 10 ejections. There were 15 fighting majors and 20 misconducts, setting records for both teams for most combined penalty minutes and leaving few players around at the finish.

Things were so heated that a fence between the two dressing rooms was shut during a hallway lockdown. NHL suspensions likely will result.

“It was a pretty entertaining affair, and we’ll take the two points,” Tavares said. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. It just wouldn’t stop. But it just shows that we’ll do anything for each other.”

Nine days after Penguins goalie Brent Johnson beat New York 3-0 and knocked out Rick DiPietro in a one-punch fight that left their franchise goalie with broken bones in his face, the Islanders responded with four goals in the first period and four more in the second – with a brawl between the offensive outbursts.

But that was just a warm-up for a third-period donnybrook in which Johnson fought again and caused a 15-minute delay. With multiple ejections, both benches had only a handful of players for the final 12-plus minutes.

The Islanders chased Johnson 3:46 into the second period when enforcer Micheal Haley, called up earlier in the day from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, made it 6-0 on the Islanders’ 16th shot. As Johnson skated to the backup goalie seat in the tunnel leading to the Penguins’ dressing room, he was showered with boos from the unusually large crowd that clearly remembered what he did to DiPietro.

But Johnson’s night wasn’t over. He returned at the start of the third period and got bowled over 1:19 in when Grabner was knocked into him by a hard hit from the Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik.

A second brawl broke out at 4:47, and Haley had two fights – with Max Talbot and then Johnson after the goalie skated toward the blue line. Haley charged after him, and both players dropped their gloves and started punching. Eric Godard was also involved, trying to protect Johnson.

Haley became an instant favorite among the 12,888 fans, most of whom likely never heard of him before Friday. But they chanted his name every time there was another dustup.

The second major uprising was sparked by Islanders and former Wolf Pack enforcer Trevor Gillies’ elbow that left Eric Tangradi prone on the ice. Tangradi was recalled on Friday from Wilkes- Barre/Scranton of the AHL. Godard and Haley both were ejected with double game misconducts.

Gillies and the Penguins’ Craig Adams were also ejected. Johnson was forced to remain in the net and heard boos and derisive chants in the final minutes.

Travis Hamonic, Jesse Joensuu and former Wolf Pack wing P.A. Parenteau added goals for the Islanders, who earned their second win in two days after beating Montreal on the road in a shootout on Thursday night. Mikko Koskinen earned both wins, his first two in the NHL.

Moulson and Grabner each added second goals to give them a team-leading 21 as the Islanders broke out with their highest-scoring game of the season. Grabner provided the final punch with a short-handed breakaway goal with 2:09 left as the Penguins allowed nine goals for the first time since a 9-0 loss at Tampa Bay on Nov. 8, 2003.

Kris Letang, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy scored power-play goals for the Penguins, who won at home in overtime against Los Angeles on Thursday and will play at the Rangers on Sunday afternoon. It hardly mattered that the Penguins were again without All-Stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

The melee in the second period occurred after Matt Martin jumped Talbot in the neutral zone. The Islanders had made Talbot a target because of his hit on Blake Comeau in the previous game that left the Islanders forward sidelined with a concussion. Martin’s actions sparked fights between unlikely brawlers Josh Bailey of the Islanders and the Penguins’ Pascal Dupuis, Hamonic and Penguins forward Mike Rupp, and another matchup of Martin and Deryk Engelland.

Bailey was ejected after his first NHL fight along with Martin, Hamonic, Engelland, Rupp and Dupuis. Martin was also hit with an instigator penalty and a separate 10-minute misconduct.

All-Star Marc-Andre Fleury allowed two goals on nine shots in 16:14 in the second period. Johnson then returned for his rough third period and was slow in getting back to his skates after being down in a snow-angel position for a few moments after being hit by Grabner.

Former Wolf Pack goalie Al Montoya, the Rangers’ first-round pick (sixth overall) in 2004, was the Islanders’ backup goalie after being acquired from the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday for a sixth-round pick in June. He was one of only five Islanders extras at the end of the game, which was three more than the Penguins had.

By Brian Ring

East Hartford, Conn. — The Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 opened its second day of action on Friday with a pair of Cushing Academy varsity teams, the girls’ team taking on the Hotchkiss School and the boys’ squad facing Canterbury School.

The Cushing and Hotchkiss girls skated to a 3-3 tie in the first game of the day and the first prep action at Hockey Fest. Freshman goaltender Valerie Dayton made 24 saves on a night that saw the Penguins outshot by Hotchkiss, 27-16.

The Cushing girls (8-13-2) took the first lead of the game at 7:17 of the first period, as Freshman Caitlin Connor put a deflection past Hotchkiss goaltender Kelsie Fralick (13 saves). Erin Joyce and Co-Captain Justina Germano both assisted on the goal.

Hotchkiss (6-6-3) broke through against Dayton midway through the second period, as Kaylen Van Wagner scored from the slot off of a feed from Sarah Wilczynski and Ianthe Lekometros. Hotchkiss outshot the Penguins 17-7 through two periods of play, with Dayton keeping the game close for Cushing.

The Bearcats extended their lead to 2-1 just 17 seconds into the third period of play, when Sophomore Carly Bennett scored. Stephanie Mock and Catherine Fowler tallied assists on the goal. Britani Dunbar, however, fired a laser glove-side high past Fralick to knot the score at 2-2 for Cushing just moments later, with assists going to Morgan Reed and Meghan O’Donnell.

Lekometros then gave Hotchkiss the 3-2 advantage at 4:11 of the third, after taking passes from Bennett and Michaela Murdock. Hotchkiss appeared to have the game in hand, but a late goal with just under a minute remaining enabled Cushing to again tie the game, when Joyce scored during a scrum in front of Fralick, forcing what would be a scoreless overtime.  Reed and Germano both recorded their second assists of the game on the play.

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The Cushing boys’ team (21-4-0) then rolled to a 6-2 victory over Canterbury in Friday’s prep nightcap. Enfield native Robbie Baillargeon scored twice and added two assists in Cushing’s fifth straight victory.

Cushing had jumped out to a quick lead, scoring twice in the first 12 minutes of the opening frame.

Garrett Hehir opened the scoring with a shot from the slot, taking a pass from the corner from Baillargeon. Cushing opened up a 2-0 lead 1:20 later, as Fabio Cuetara used a deke to beat Canterbury’s first-period goaltender Chris Staronka.

Cushing went on to score three more times in the second period against Canterbury’s second goaltender of the night, Scott Steele. Mike Walker also scored for Cushing and Sam Kane added two assists in the game. Cushing netminders Chad Hardy, Mike Dion and Liam Moorfield-Yee combined for 30 saves on the night in goal.

Andrew Nolan and Kyle Garvin accounted for Canterbury’s pair of goals.

Day Three of the Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 will feature four more select prep and junior games, with Kingswood-Oxford facing Vermont Academy (10:00 AM) and both the boys’ and girls’ Westminster teams facing their Choate counterparts (4:00 PM girls, 6:00 PM boys). The Junior B Connecticut Wolf Pack will then meet Suffolk PAL to conclude the day’s action (8:30 PM). The day will also include a youth game featuring Central Connecticut’s Squirt A team against Avon’s Squirt A (8:30 AM), as well as a Sacred Heart Alumni game (12:30).

Hamilton, Ontario, February 11, 2011 – Devin DiDiomete’s goal with 1:13 remaining in the third period, his first career AHL game-winner, gave the Connecticut Whale a 3-2 win over the Hamilton Bulldogs Friday night at Copps Coliseum.

The win represented a strong rebound by the Whale from their previous game, a 9-2 loss Wednesday in Toronto to the Marlies that tied franchise records for most goals-against and largest margin of defeat.

Tim Kennedy started the winning play for the Whale in the defensive zone, taking the puck away from Tim Conboy to break up a Hamilton rush.  Kennedy moved the puck to Chad Kolarik, who carried it into the Bulldog zone on right wing before returning it to Kennedy in the slot.  Kennedy jammed it toward the net, and it went off of DiDiomete’s skate at the left side of the crease and underneath Hamilton goaltender Curtis Sanford.  The goal was DiDiomete’s sixth of the season.

That came after the Bulldogs had tied the game at two at 4:43 of the third, on a goal by Ryan Russell.

Dale Weise and Brodie Dupont had a goal and an assist each for the Whale, and Dov Grumet-Morris made 29 saves to get the win and improve to 2-2-0 with Connecticut.  Frederic St. Denis scored the other Hamilton goal, and Sanford made 26 saves.

The win improved the Whale’s record to 25-22-2-5 for 57 points on the year, but remained one point behind the third-place Worcester Sharks in the Atlantic Division, after Worcester beat Springfield 5-0 in Springfield.

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Hamilton outshot the Whale 19-9 in the first period, but it was Connecticut that came out of the session with a 2-1 lead.  That was a stark contrast to Wednesday’s loss, in which the Whale trailed 5-0 after one.

All the offense in the first came in the opening 3:22, and the Whale scored on the very first shift, almost right off the opening faceoff.  After Hamilton won the opening draw, Dupont knocked the puck away from Conboy and fed Weise, who worked his way up the slot and ripped a shot past Sanford’s catching glove.

Hamilton tied it only 1:23 later, in a delayed penalty situation.  Brett Festerling handed the puck to St. Denis at the right point, and with Dustin Boyd screening, St. Denis’ one-timer got past Grumet-Morris.  The goal was only St. Denis’ second in 50 games on the year.

The Whale responded to that at 3:22, just seven seconds into the game’s first power play.  Weise stole the puck from Festerling in the left-wing corner and found Kris Newbury in the slot.  Instead of shooting, Newbury passed to Dupont at the left-wing side of the crease, and Dupont had an empty net in which to deposit his 10^th goal of the season.

After that early burst, the scoring calmed down quickly, and there wouldn’t be another goal scored for a full two periods, until Russell’s goal at 4:43 of the third, after the Whale had failed to take advantage of 1:03 of five-on-three power play earlier in the period.  Russell blocked a shot attempt from the right point by Jared Nightingale and took off with the loose puck on a breakaway.  Russell cut across from left to right and got a backhander past Grumet-Morris’ left pad.

The win stopped a run of five straight losses in the all-time series with Hamilton for the Whale, which had been 0-4-0-1 against the Bulldogs since a 3-2 win November 16, 2007 in Hartford.  It was also only the second-ever win for the franchise in Hamilton, upping the all-time record at Copps Coliseum to 2-2-1-1 in six visits.

The Whale continue their current stretch of seven out of eight games, and 10 out of 12, on the road Sunday at 4:05 PM in Providence (WTIC HD-2, www.ctwhale.com, www.wtic.com), in a preview of the Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl outdoor game at Rentschler Field February 19.

Connecticut Whale 3 at Hamilton Bulldogs 2
Friday, February 11, 2011 – Copps Coliseum

Connecticut 2 0 1 – 3
Hamilton 1 0 1 – 2

1st Period-1, Connecticut, Weise 12 (Dupont), 0:10. 2, Hamilton, St. Denis 2 (Festerling, Palushaj), 1:33. 3, Connecticut, Dupont 10 (Newbury, Weise), 3:22 (PP). Penalties-Carle Ham (slashing), 3:15; Kundratek Ct (interference), 6:45.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Weise Ct (kneeing), 3:15; Russell Ham (hooking), 13:03; Nightingale Ct (roughing), 17:18; Bonneau Ham (roughing), 17:18; Palushaj Ham (boarding), 19:27.

3rd Period-4, Hamilton, Russell 8   4:43. 5, Connecticut, DiDiomete 6 (Kennedy, Kolarik), 18:47. Penalties-Festerling Ham (delay of game), 0:24; Wyman Ham (tripping), 9:12.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 9-10-10-29. Hamilton 19-6-6-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 1 / 5; Hamilton 0 / 2.
Goalies-Connecticut, Grumet-Morris 2-2-0 (31 shots-29 saves). Hamilton, Sanford 19-12-1 (29 shots-26 saves).
A-2,849
Referees-Chris Ciamaga (41).
Linesmen-Jesse Wilmot (19), Matt Traub (88).