By Bruce Berlet

After 15 years playing and coaching in the University of Connecticut’s antiquated rink covered by an open dome, Bruce Marshall thought he was finished with outdoor hockey.

“Coaching outdoors wasn’t high on my list to do,” Marshall, a 1985 UConn graduate in his 23^rd season as head coach, said with a chuckle. “I’d already checked that off my bucket list. But I’m used to at least a roof (over a rink), so we’ll see what it’s like without a roof.”

Marshall was instrumental in helping the hockey Huskies open a new indoor rink for the 1998-99 season and replace a former UConn faculty dining hall that served as a Quonset warming hut.

“The shutters on the dining hall had SAC on it for Storrs Agricultural College,” Marshall said, chuckling again. “So we’ve made great strides.”

Now the Huskies will take another giant step forward on Feb. 13 when they host Atlantic Hockey Association foe Sacred Heart University of Fairfield as part of “UConn Day” in the “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest” at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

The UConn football team plays at Rentschler Field in the fall, but the field has been transformed into a man-made, regulation-size rink to be used for more than 30 youth, high school, prep school and pro games from Feb. 11-23.

“We’re excited to be playing outdoors,” said Marshall, only the school’s third coach who earned his 300^th career win in the 2009-10 regular-season finale, a 3-2 overtime victory over Mercyhurst. “The kids think it’s great, and it’s a great opportunity for us to play in front of more people than we normally have, at least in our state. So it’s all a good thing, and we’re appreciative of the Whalers group to want to include us in this event.”

In May, Whalers Sports and Entertainment, which is overseeing the event, approached Marshall about playing in the first outdoor tournament in the state. The Huskies beat Sacred Heart 9-3 in their first meeting Dec. 10, and this is UConn’s home game.

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“Home games are precious, so I was kind of wondering if I should give it up,” Marshall said with a sigh. “I called C.J. (Marottolo, Sacred Heart coach) and said, ‘Why don’t we keep our home game and make this your home game outdoors?’ I couldn’t pull that one off, so we decided we wanted it for our event.

“It’s great for recruiting reasons, and the parents and kids in the program are excited and the alumni are excited and we’re going to have buses available to get the students there from Storrs. The students have been great about going out to the football games and enjoying themselves, so we’re hoping this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing for them to do that they’ll jump on as well.”

“UConn Day” will start with an alumni game at 9-10:15 a.m., followed by a family skating session from 10:15-11 and then lunch in the club room in the stadium suites.

“All the guys who played in the outdoor rink with me and that I coached are going to be able to tell their kids, ‘Yes, I used to play outdoors all the time,’ ” Marshall said.

UConn plays Sacred Heart at 1 p.m., and the UConn women meet Providence in a Hockey East game at 4 p.m. Last season, Sacred Heart advanced to the league championship game, losing to Rochester Institute of Technology to finish at 21-13-4 in Marottolo’s first season. But both UConn and Sacred Heart have struggled this season, especially lately.

A 0-7-1 slide has dropped the Huskies to 7-15-4 overall and 7-10-2 in the AHA. The team has six freshmen and four sophomores, including No. 1 goalie Garrett Bartus, among the 21 regulars who play every game. Forwards Cole Schneider (seven goals, 15 assists) and Billy Latta (7, 12) are No. 1 and 3 in the league in scoring among freshmen and a major reason the Huskies have improved from last in the nation in scoring last season (1.59 goals per game) to 29^th this season (2.88). Other leading scorers are sophomore forward Sean Ambrose (9, 9), senior forward Andrew Olson (11, 6) and freshman forward Jordan Sims (8, 8), the son of former Hartford Whalers defenseman Al Sims, who is now the coach of Fort Wayne in the East Coast Hockey League.

“Jordan is not a defenseman like his dad, but he doesn’t like to get scored on, which is nice,” Marshall said. “He’s a good two-way forward.”

The top players for Sacred Heart (3-18-5, 3-11-5), which has lost five in a row and is 1-8-1 in its last 10 games, are senior forward Patrick Knowlton (5, 12), sophomore forward Eric Delong (5, 11), junior forward Matt Gingera (9, 6), senior forward David Berube (6, 8) and sophomore goalie Steven Legatto (3-14-4, 5.09, .879). Sophomore forward Kyle Verbeek (3, 4) is the son of former Hartford Whalers wing and captain Pat Verbeek, who is now a scout with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kyle wears his dad’s No. 16.

“We’ve been trying to put the pieces together,” Marshall said. “We still want to climb a little higher, but our younger classes are doing a good job, and our seniors are playing with that passion that you need seniors to play with.”

Schneider and Latta agree with their coach that seniors such as Olson, a captain, and Marcello Ranallo have been a stabilizing influence with half the team being freshmen and sophomores.

“The older guys have helped us get going and showed us the ropes, so we just do what we can help them out as well,” Schneider said.

Schneider, who was born in Williamsville, N.Y., played for the hometown Regals and then committed to UConn at Christmas, 2008 before playing two junior seasons with the Tier I Youngstown (Ohio) Phantoms of United States Hockey League, though he missed half of last season with a wrist injury. This season, he was named AHA Player and Rookie of the Week after getting three goals and an assist in an 8-5 victory at Niagara on Dec. 4. It was only the fifth time a UConn player recorded a hat trick since the Huskies went Division I.

Latta grew up in West Chester, Pa., played for the Junior Flyers out of Philadelphia, committed to UConn his senior year of high school and then played last season in the USHL for the team in Sioux City, Iowa, before being traded midway through the season to the Chicago Steel, where he skated once outdoors while hampered by three minor knee surgeries but played in 40 games.

This season, Latta was named AHA Rookie of the Month for December, has figured in the scoring in 10 of the last 13 games with six goals and nine assists and had a five-game scoring streak snapped in a 4-0 loss to Holy Cross on Saturday.

“You never know if you’re going to get up that high in scoring, but knowing the guys that you’re going to play with, you hope they can help you out, and you can help them out as well,” Latta said. “You have to give a lot of credit to the older guys on the team. They made the adaptation for the underclassmen pretty easy, kind of showed us how to take it day-by-day, how to manage your game, how to compete in practice and carry it into a game. The older guys have helped for sure, but it’s nice a young class that’s starting to produce and help the team.”

The underclassmen most responsible for keeping the Huskies in most games is Bartus, a sophomore goalie from St. Charles, Ill., who arrived in Storrs last year in mid-semester when homesick freshman Jeff Larson suddenly left the team. Bartus was 11-4-0 with a 1.91 goals-against average, .925 save percentage and two shutouts in 17 games with the St. Louis Bandits of the North American Hockey League when he left for Storrs.

“He’s pretty steady and consistent in net,” Schneider said of Bartus, who left the Bandits for a chance to play for a Division I school even if it was non-scholarship.

Bartus was 5-14-1 with a 3.26 GAA and .900 save percentage in 20 games with the Huskies last season, when he set an UConn record for saves in a Division I game with 57 in a 2-2 tie at Air Force on Jan. 9, 2010, just his third game with the Huskies. This season, Bartus is 7-12-4 with a 3.66 GAA and .902 save percentage, with at least 30 saves in 17 of 24 games. He leads the nation with 786 saves, including 50 in an 8-5 victory at Niagara on Dec. 4 and 40 in a 3-3 tie at No. 7 Maine in the season opener.

“He has played really well and solidified that position for us very well over the last year,” Marshall said.

If time away from classes permit, Bartus and the rest of the Huskies will try to get acclimated to the outdoor rink at a practice at Rentschler Field on Feb. 11, with the women’s team to follow.

Latta said he didn’t play outdoors as a kid except for “pond hockey.”

“I’m really excited because I’ve never competed at this level outdoors. Everything has been recreational,” Latta said. “I’ve played in front of big crowds (9,500 for a USHL game at Green Bay, Wis.) but never outdoors or in front of a school crowd. The University of Connecticut is known for their athletics, so hopefully people recognize the name and program and start coming to our games, too.”

Schneider got exposed to outdoor hockey when he was on the 18-and-under midget hockey Buffalo Regals, a travel team that played five times at the rink at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh.

“That was fun, but nothing like on a stage like this (Rentschler Field),” Schneider said. “The atmosphere will be at a higher level, and playing in the football field will be a little bigger than just a regular rink.”

And his scouting report for his teammates?

“It’s going to be cold,” Schneider said with a chuckle.

Smart fella, that Cole.

The Huskies also hope some of the enthusiasm from the football team’s season will carry over to Rentschler Field late this month.

“Everyone is pretty excited about it, and hopefully we get a lot of people to come out and watch,” Schneider said. “Marketing is doing a good job of promoting it. There are flyers around the school, and I heard there’s a couple of billboards up in Hartford, so hopefully that helps to get people to come.”

Hartford, CT …  Whalers Sports and Entertainment president and COO Howard Baldwin, Jr. announced today that “Sam’s Race for a Place” has been chosen as the official charity of the Outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 at Rentschler Field.

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

“Sam is such a great advocate for health and shows deep personal involvement,” said Jennifer Putnam, the Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House.  “We are so excited and so thrilled.

“The kids are going to love it,” continued Putnam about the children whose families use the Ronald McDonald House. “I can’t wait until it all comes to fruition.”

The Ronald McDonald House is a non-profit charity that has been operating since 1991, helping 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 conceived Sam’s Race for a Place after learning that Ronald McDonald House is independently-funded, and must depend on grass-roots campaigns for nearly all of its support.

More information about Sam’s Race for a Place is available at www.samsraceforaplace.com, and donations can be made through that web address as well.

The Outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 will run from February 10-23 at Rentschler Field. The featured event is the “Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl” February 19, which consists of the outdoor AHL game between the Connecticut Whale and the Providence Bruins at 7:00 PM, preceded by a Hartford Whalers legends vs. Boston Bruins legends classic at 4:00 PM.  In addition to that, the historic outdoor event will feature: five premier college games, at least 15 elite high school, junior and prep school games and a “Whale Town”, featuring exhibitors, games and the Whalers Mobile Hall of Fame.

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

No one – repeat no one – enjoyed/enjoys tough, physical, fan-pleasing hockey more than Kevin Dineen.

The former Hartford Whalers star right wing/captain, now coach of the Portland Pirates, thrived on the kind of play, earning endless plaudits from Connecticut fans and respect throughout the hockey community.

But Dineen sees a bad trend developing in the game he loves. And you need go no farther than the Pirates-Connecticut Whale game on Saturday night in which neither team backed down, jabbing at the opposition was commonplace and hits often ferocious. It hardly seemed appropriate behavior on Boy Scouts Night at the XL Center.

“It was a great game and hugely disappointing,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said after a heart-breaking 3-2 loss on Derek Whitmore’s power-play goal with 7.5 seconds left after an interference penalty on Dale Weise.

But Dineen expressed concern about the direction of the game.

“I thought there were some marginable hits on both sides,” Dineen said. “Hits are one thing, but blows to the head are really dangerous and getting too common.”

Boston Bruins officials and fans would emphatically agree with Dineen, one of their major antagonists during his playing days, after former Wolf Pack center Marc Savard took injurious hits from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Matt Cooke and Deryk Engelland.

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Cooke’s blindside hit on Savard on March 7 knocked Savard out for the remainder of the regular season, then he returned for a first-round loss to the Philadelphia Flyers but was plagued by post-concussion syndrome and missed the first 23 games of this season. The hit led the NHL to outlaw blindside hits to the head, but Cooke didn’t receive any suspension. Then on Jan. 15, Engelland smashed Savard into the boards with a forearm to the mouth that left the feisty center “woozy” but he also didn’t’ receive a suspension.

Then on Jan. 22, Savard sustained a “moderate” concussion when he was slammed face-first into the boards by former teammate Matt Hunwick in a 6-2 victory over the Avalanche in Denver. Bruins coach Claude Julien called it a clean hit, but Savard is out indefinitely resting at his home in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, his season and career very much in question.

The NHL’s marquee player and leading scorer, Sidney Crosby of the Penguins, had to miss the NHL All-Star festivities this weekend after being out the last nine games with a concussion sustained when he was slammed into the boards head-first by Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman on Jan. 5. Crosby is feeling “a little bit better,” but it’s not known when he will return.

Penguins general manager Ray Shero had a terrific line when he said he supports “at least exploring” banning all hits to the head.

“We are a league where you can accidently hit a guy in the head with your shoulder and not be penalized,” Shero told USA Today. “But if you clear a puck out of your zone and it accidently goes in the stands they give you two minutes. Does that make sense?”

Last week, the Rangers sent down defenseman Michael Del Zotto and forwards Dale Weise, Evgeny Grachev, Kris Newbury, Chad Kolarik and Brodie Dupont. They all played in games Friday and Saturday, and then Del Zotto, Grachev and Newbury were called up Sunday and practiced with the Rangers on Monday in preparation for Tuesday night’s game at Madison Square Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Newbury and Grachev are expected to play alongside Rangers captain/Trumbull native Chris Drury, while Del Zotto might watch as former Wolf Pack wing Ryan Callahan (hand) and defenseman Dan Girardi (rib cage) will return. Wing Brandon Dubinsky (stress fracture in left foot), another former Wolf Pack player, also might return, and forward Vinny Prospal (knee) is on track to make his season debut Thursday night at home against the New Jersey Devils. Center Erik Christensen is shooting for Feb. 11 against the Atlanta Thrashers, while Ruslan Fedotenko isn’t expected back until the middle of the month.

“It’s good to get the guys on the ice,” Rangers coach John Tortorella told the New York media after practice. “Cally (Callahan) does everything for us. He’s one of our leaders. I give our team a lot of credit because I was most worried when he was went out because I wasn’t sure how they would react because he means so much. He’s important in the (locker) room and on the ice.”

As for the Whale call-ups, Tortorella said: “We’ll have to see if Del Zotto gets in, but he has played really well in Hartford. I like Newbury’s grit and hopefully he can win some faceoffs. Grachev has played much better (in Hartford), but it hasn’t translated here yet (he is pointless in eight games). Now he has to protect pucks and score some goals. Weise played well, too, but we can’t take everybody.”

WHALE HOMESTAND ENDS FRIDAY NIGHT

The Whale (22-20-2-5) and the rest of the AHL are off until Thursday, and then they end a four-game homestand Friday night at 7 against another struggling team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (19-23-3-3). A last-second, 3-2 loss to the Portland Pirates on Saturday night was the Whale’s third in a row overall and fourth straight and sixth in seven starts at home after eight consecutive wins at the XL Center. It dropped the Whale into fourth place, one point behind Worcester, which beat Providence 3-2, and they are only three points ahead of the Bruins, who have two games in hand. The Whale is 11-12-2-1 at home and 11-8-0-4 on the road but 4-1-0-1 in the GEICO Connecticut Cup against the Sound Tigers, capped by Chad Johnson’s 22-save shutout in a 4-0 victory at Bridgeport on Dec. 26. Right wing Jeremy Williams, the Whale’s representative in the AHL All-Star Game on Monday night, leads the team in goals (22) and points (40). Newbury is second in scoring (5, 31), followed by right wing Chad Kolarik (17, 16) and center Tim Kennedy (9, 24).

The Sound Tigers will come to the XL Center on a four-game losing streak that ended the worst calendar month in franchise history (1-9-2-1) and dropped them into the division cellar. Like the Whale, the Sound Tigers have had to try to battle through countless call-ups, including on Monday, when goalie Kevin Poulin and defensemen Ty Wishart and former Wolf Pack Dylan Reese were recalled by the parent New York Islanders. Poulin and Reese returned to the Islanders after spending two games with the Sound Tigers during the NHL All-Star break. The Rangers recalled Del Zotto, Newbury and Grachev after they played two games with the Whale. Reese had a goal in a 3-2 loss at Worcester on Friday, when Poulin made 45 saves. The Sound Tigers’ leading scorer is right wing Rhett Rakhshani, who has three of his 10 goals and two of his 24 assists against the Whale and is tied for first in AHL rookie scoring. Center Rob Hisey (7, 18) is second in scoring, and center David Ullstrom (6, 17) is tied for third with Wishart (4, 19). Left wing Micheal Haley (12, 10) leads the team in goals. Rookie Mikko Koskinen (5-14-0, 3.67 goals-against average, .882 save percentage) has played the most games in goal for the Sound Tigers.

After the Sound Tigers game, the Whale will play a home-and-home set with Portland, Saturday at 7 p.m. in Maine and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the XL Center. The teams have split their first four games, with both Whale victories coming on overtime goals by former Pirates center Tim Kennedy, on Dec. 29 and 31. The Pirates (29-14-4-1) have won five of their last six games to move within a point of Atlantic Division-leading Manchester.

HOWE, PROPP AND HANGSLEBEN VISITING

Former Hartford Whalers and 1986 NHL All-Stars Mark Howe and Brian Propp, and ex-Whaler Alan Hangsleben, will be at the XL Center on Friday night. They will hold a private, “meet and greet” reception with Whale season ticket holders and outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 ticket purchasers before the game (4:30-6:30 p.m.) and then drop the ceremonial first puck. Hangsleben also will sign autographs in the XL Center atrium during the second intermission with selected Whale players.

Friday is the 25^th anniversary of the 1986 NHL All-Star Game at the Hartford Civic Center. Howe and Propp were with the Philadelphia Flyers and played on the Wales Conference team that beat the Campbell Conference 4-3 in overtime. Propp, who finished his 15-year NHL career with the Whalers, scored the first Wales goal. It was one of four All-Star appearances for Howe, the son of hockey legend Gordie Howe who was at the XL Center on Friday night scouting for the Detroit Red Wings, a job he has held since retiring from the Red Wings in 1995.

Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., the Grand Rink at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods will host a skate with Hangsleben and former Whalers Doug Roberts and Garry Swain, former Bruins Bob Miller and Tom Songin and Whale mascot Pucky. Fees are $10 for adults with a $5 skate rental, and $6 for children with a $2 skate rental. Hot beverages and photo opportunities are included, as well as the chance to win tickets to the “Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl” on Feb. 19.

WHALERS AND BRUINS LEGENDS FACE OFF FEB. 19

Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, and Brad Park headline the Boston Bruins legends team that will play the Hartford Whalers legends on Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. in the opener of the doubleheader that’s part of the “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest” on Feb. 11-23 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The Whale and Providence Bruins will play at 7 p.m., and in case of bad weather, that game will be played Feb. 20 at the XL Center.

Other commitments for the Bruins team are Enfield native Craig Janney, former captain Rick Middleton, who played 12 seasons in Beantown and two with the Rangers, 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, who was 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 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 and the Babych brothers, Dave and Wayne. Emile “The Cat” Francis, a coach and general manager with the Rangers and Whalers, will be back behind the bench again, and Norm Barnes and former captain Russ Anderson will be assistant coaches.

Celebrities scheduled to play with one of the legends teams include Michael Keaton, Alan Thicke and David E. Kelley, son of New England and Hartford Whalers coach and general manager Jack Kelley and the writer of the 1999 hit film “Mystery, Alaska,” which was produced by Whalers Sports and Entertainment president and CEO Howard Baldwin and his wife, Karen. “Mystery, Alaska” cast members slated to appear are Michael Buie, Scott Richard Grimes, Jason Gray-Stanford and Cameron Bancroft, along with Neal McDonough, Kevin Zegers, Bobby Farrelly, David Henrie and the Hanson brothers – Steve, Jeff and Dave –  who were the comedic linchpins of the classic movie “Slap Shot.”

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.

WAY TO GO, NHL!!!!

Kudos to the NHL for making its All-Star Game more interesting than any other sport with the creation of the Fantasy Player Draft.

It was interesting – and fun – to watch center Eric Staal of the host Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom pick their respective teams as captains.

After winning the toss, Staal smartly made Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward the first overall pick, much to the delight of the thousands of Carolina fans in attendance. Lidstrom started with young Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos, who has taken over the NHL scoring lead while Crosby recovers from his concussion.

Staal soon had some fun at the expense of younger brother and Rangers defenseman Marc Staal, who had given Eric some grief while being interviewed on TV during the early stages of the draft. So in the fifth round, Eric leaned into the microphone and said, “Team Staal selects … from the New York Rangers … Henrik Lundqvist.”

As the Rangers goalie approached the stage to put on his Team Staal jersey and sit with his new teammates, Marc Staal mugged to the camera, jokingly showing how angry and upset he was that his brother hadn’t selected him.

“I expected to be taken in the first round,” Marc Staal said in mock jest. “I am not happy with this.”

But a round later, Eric ended the snickering as he chose Marc, assuring they would play together for the first time. Until then, it had always been Eric and Penguins center Jordan against Marc and youngest brother Jared in their pickup games in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Jared, the Phoenix Coyotes’ second-round pick in 2008, was traded to the Hurricanes on May 13 for a fifth-round pick. He began the season with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, was assigned to the ECHL’s Florida Everblades on Nov. 19 and then recalled on Dec. 17. He is the cousin of former Wolf Pack wing Jeff Heerema, who plays for the Nottingham Panthers in the Elite Ice Hockey League in England.

Unlike the Staals, brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks were the fifth and sixth picks, so they played against each other for the first time for Team Staal and Team Lidstrom, respectively.

Toronto Maple Leafs wing Phil Kessel had to hang around nearly an hour waiting to be the 46^th and final pick.  But the wait was worth it for Kessel, who received a new car and a $20,000 donation for his favorite charity.

Team Staal won the SuperSkills competition 33-22, as Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara won his fourth consecutive fastest shot title with a record-breaking blast of 105.9 mph.

The All-Star Game pregame ceremonies Sunday included 12 local youngsters picking their own teams via sticks on the ice. The last sticks belonged to two surprise entries, former Hurricanes stars Rod Brind’Amour and Ron Francis, who received rousing ovations from the sellout crowd of 18,680. Francis holds virtually every franchise offensive record set mostly with the Whalers, and when he appeared, one of the youngsters in the center circle said, “No way, Ron Francis.”

“Ronnie Franchise” then was interviewed during Versus’ telecast that included Ward wearing a microphone while in goal in the first period. Team Staal was coached by former Whalers defenseman Joel Quenneville, who guided the Chicago Blackhawks to the 2010 Stanley Cup.

In the usually wide-open, no-checking game, Team Staal scored the first four goals in only 5:41, but Team Lidstrom made the biggest comeback in All-Star Game history when it rallied for an 11-10 victory. The winner was an empty-net goal by Dallas Stars forward Loui Eriksson, his fourth point of the game, because Eric Staal scored with 33.6 seconds left, making it the third All-Star Game in which both teams reached double digits in goals.

The Bruins’ Tim Thomas set a record by becoming the first goalie to win three straight All-Star Games. Blackhawks center Patrick Sharp (one goal, two assists, plus-2) was named MVP and received a new Honda, though Lidstrom certainly was deserving. His plus-7 rating in his 12^th All-Star Game appearance was the highest since Adam Oates was plus-7 for the Wales Conference in 1991. Lidstrom’s defense partner, Shea Weber, was plus-6 with four assists.

So the league that has made the Winter Classic a New Year’s Day staple the last four years and gave even marginal fans an inside look at the game with HBO’s “24/7” with the Penguins and Capitals now also offers a All-Star player draft that drew rave reviews.

Congratulations, NHL. And to show people were paying attention to something really good, ESPN First Take had Jon Ritchie and Lomas Brown hold a Fantasy Player Draft of Super Bowl teams Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers on Monday. Not surprisingly, Ritchie and Brown made quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger of the Steelers and the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers the first two picks.

Yes, in this copy cat world of sports, you know you’ve arrived when ESPN, the Worldwide Leader in Sports headquartered in Bristol, has two in-house residents copying what you did with the granddaddy spectacle of the granddaddy of modern sports.

An unusual event occurred at the Connecticut Whale game on Saturday night at the XL Center in Hartford.

Trying to fulfill a bet with his buddies an alleged drunken d-bag Kevin O’Connell of East Hartford was arrested for assaulting the team mascot Pucky the Whale in front of a group of families and children. After bystanders pulled O’Connell off of poor Pucky, others pointed him out to the Hartford cops on duty.

O’Connell was not only arrested and charged with second degree breach of peace; he has been banned from the XL Center.

There were no other arrests made but the rumor going around is that an unnamed UConn donor was allegedly in on the beating but pulled the funding when he was told he wouldn’t be able to pick the new mascot.

Photo credit: flickr

Hartford, CT … Whalers Sports and Entertainment announced today that filmmaker Bobby Farrelly and actor David Henrie have been added to the list of celebrities who will skate alongside ex-Whalers and Bruins in the Hartford Whalers legends vs. Boston Bruins legends game February 19, 2011, at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

The legends game comprises part of the “Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl,” the featured event of the two-week outdoor Whalers Hockey Fest spectacular at Rentschler Field that will include 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.

Along with his older brother, Peter, Bobby Farrelly has written and directed such smash-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”. The Rhode Island-born Farrelly is an accomplished goaltender, having played collegiately at RPI, and was MVP of the Bruins’ Legends game at Fenway Park last year.

Henrie, a Mission Viejo, CA native who bills himself an avid hockey fan, is best known for his Disney Channel roles as Justin Russo on “Wizards of Waverly Place” and as Larry on “That’s So Raven”. He has also had a TV co-starring turn in “Providence” and has guest-starred on such popular shows as “How I Met Your Mother”, “Without a Trace”, “NCIS”, “Cold Case”, “House” and “Judging Amy”.

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

The Connecticut Whale reached the AHL All-Star break on a bummer after their most disheartening defeat of the season.

But a 3-2 loss to the Portland Pirates on Derek Whitmore’s power-play goal with 7.5 seconds left before 10,872, the second largest crowd of the season at the XL Center, didn’t erase the often hard-to-fathom job that coach Ken Gernander, assistants J.J. Daigneault and Pat Boller and the players have done in keeping the Whale and parent New York Rangers challenging for playoff spots.

The Rangers have already lost a staggering 193 man-games to injuries, compared to only 78 games last season, and the casualties have included a Who’s Who on Broadway, especially at forward, starting with Vinny Prospal’s offseason knee surgery and another operation on Oct. 18 that has caused him to miss all 49 games. The injury list has also included captain/Trumbull native Chris Drury, Marian Gaborik, Alex Frolov, Ruslan Fedotenko, Derek Boogaard and former Hartford Wolf Pack players Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky. Former Pack defenseman Dan Girardi even had a 330 consecutive games-played streak end last week, but he and Callahan are expected to return Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Rangers’ plethora of injuries opened up lots of roles on Broadway, and eight Whale players have helped keep the parent club in the Atlantic Division title hunt. And with the development of players such as Ryan McDonagh, Tomas Kundratek and Pavel Valentenko, coupled with the improvement of former Wolf Pack players Girardi, All-Star Marc Staal, Michael Sauer and Matt Gilroy, the Rangers could trade veteran Michal Rozsival for 24-year-old wing Wojtek Wolski.

Meanwhile, in Hartford, McDonagh and forwards Mats Zuccarello, Dale Weise, Chad Kolarik, Kris Newbury, Evgeny Grachev, Brodie Dupont and AHL All-Star Jeremy Williams earned call-ups from the Rangers, who won more than they lost with all the graduates. Rangers coach John Tortorella said one of the untold stories of the season has been the excellent job that Gernander and his staff have done in preparing the Whale players for the Rangers. And until losing six of eight games leading into the All-Star break, the Whale has challenged for the Atlantic Division lead but is now fighting to hang on to a playoff berth.

So what does Rangers assistant general manager/assistant coach/Whale GM Jim Schoenfeld think about the Whale’s showing in the first 49 games?

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“I guess it’s pretty easy to measure if you look at the job the guys have done that we called up to New York,” Schoenfeld said before Saturday night’s game. “That’s what (the Whale) is for. First and foremost, they’re here to develop players to become Rangers, and the second criteria is to have the guys you call up ready to contribute. I think they’ve done a good job in both cases with the development and call-up preparation. It was a good job by the (Whale) staff and a good job by the players to make sure they were prepared and ready. The Rangers won more than their share with the Whale players’ help. It’s fantastic because that’s what we’re here for.”

The Rangers’ satisfaction was demonstrated again Sunday when they recalled Del Zotto, Newbury and Grachev from the Whale. Del Zotto had seven assists in 10 games in two reassignments to the Whale, while Newbury had one assist in seven games with the Rangers and Grachev was scoreless in eight games. The Whale are off until Friday night at home against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Rangers return from the NHL All-Star break Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Daigneault, who handles the defense, has been instrumental in developing McDonagh, Kundratek and Valentenko, with help from veteran Wade Redden, and then was in charge of getting Del Zotto back on track. Del Zotto, the Rangers’ first-round pick (20^th overall) in 2008, was a member of the NHL all-rookie team last season, when he was fourth overall and led team defensemen in scoring with nine goals and 28 assists in 80 games. But he struggled at the start of this season and changed places with McDonagh on Jan. 3 with the hope the 20-year-old could improve his overall game, most notably consistency, decision-making and physicality.

After getting the seven assists in eight games with the Whale, Del Zotto returned to the Rangers because of the rare injury to Girardi. The message of Rangers coach John Tortorella before Del Zotto headed to a second stint in Hartford wasn’t any different than it was the first time around.

“He just said to keep working hard, and I can only take it a game at a time,” Del Zotto said. “He said I should pretty much work on the same thing, consistency. I thought the last couple of days before I got called up I was playing well, and there’s not really much I can do other than work hard. I can’t control any decisions.

“At first I was a bit nervous, but then I felt comfortable. Then in the second game, I felt really good and back where I used to be.”

Daigneault made sure Del Zotto got lots of ice time, as he averaged nearly 30 minutes thanks in part to playing 35 minutes in an overtime victory against Norfolk after rookie defenseman Jyri Niemi went out with an injury midway through the first period. At one point, the Whale had only three defensemen because of Niemi’s injury and penalties, so Daigneault had Del Zotto kill an entire two minutes.

“In New York, he wouldn’t play in overtime, but here he got to play in every situation, obviously on the first power-play until and on the penalty kill,” Daigneault said. “Just playing a lot and making some mistakes and making some good plays enable him to improve.”

Daigneault also emphasized defensive zone coverage.

“Michael is a very gifted kid,” Daigneault said. “He’s got very good skills, and what he was able to bring to the Rangers last season was a good first pass out of the defensive zone. What I wanted down here is for him to keep being efficient with that first pass, but not spectacular. Spectacular might be a big word, but at times, because he has such good skills, he’s able to find guys in the neutral zone with the aerial pass and things like that.

“But in the NHL, sometimes those passes are picked off. That’s what happened in some of his games with the Rangers. Those are the kinds of things that you have to stay away from as much as possible, which is why I try to use the word efficiency. Usually the first available outlet is the best one. He has played some good hockey, but I think he’s going to be even better if he focuses on a few things. At times he has tried to do too much.

“For him to go back to the Rangers and stay there for many, many years, he has got to avoid those three very good games and three sub-par games. Consistency over the course of maybe 20 games is going to be a good indicator of which direction he is going.”

Some of Del Zotto’s problems have stemmed from too great expectations after a rookie season in which he led Rangers defensemen in scoring. McDonagh had similar inconsistencies in the first quarter of his first pro season in Hartford.

“McDonagh does a lot of subtle things like being strong on the puck and along the boards, but he wasn’t like that at the start of the season,” Daigneault said. “Then I showed him some clips and told him to stop doing certain things. There was a point early in the season when I wouldn’t use him at the end of a period or a game if we were up a goal because I could see he was just getting his feet wet in the AHL. He was projecting a lack of confidence, and then I started to put him in those situations and he was good at shutting people down. But it took 20 games.”

Del Zotto was more defensive-minded in his second go-round with the Whale, and that is part of what pleased Rangers assistant general manager/assistant coach/Whale GM Jim Schoenfeld.

“He’s back on track as far as an incremental upgrade of his entire game,” said Schoenfeld, who saw Del Zotto play three of his first 10 games with the Whale and the two games on his first recall to the Rangers. “As has been documented, it’s a tough position being the last line of defense before the goalie, so your mistakes are glaring. And because of his ability, Michael also adds an offensive element to his game, and when you’re put on the power play, you have to produce, and if you aren’t, you look at somebody else.

“But you don’t have to be off much to suffer greatly in both areas, and that’s all it was. He wasn’t dreadful. He was just a little off his game for our expectations, and I think for his expectations. And we just felt the best thing for Michael was to go find his best game. It had nothing to do with sending a message. It was strictly hockey. He was not one of our top six (defensemen) in New York, so why have a young kid in and out of the lineup? So we wanted him to go find his best game, and I think he has done that.”

Schoenfeld said Del Zotto went from having a bad game at Portland (minus-3 in a 3-0 loss on Jan. 14) to rebounding against Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (plus-4 in a 6-3 victory) and then continued on.

“I think he has gotten on track, and the biggest indicator was when he came to New York (the first time),” Schoenfeld said. “You prioritize, and most good offense comes from good defense on every player. It’s when you start forcing something that’s not there that it starts backfiring on you.”

Things backfired mightily on the Whale on Saturday night after Weise took an interference penalty with 1:38 left that led to Whitmore’s winner and a post-game closed-door meeting with Gernander.

“Their goalie (David Leggio) played good,” Gernander said, “but we had a lot of guys who really worked hard, paid the price and did extra duty when we shortened the bench and to have someone take it upon himself to be undisciplined is disappointing. A lot of guys played a strong game, but it doesn’t matter at the end of the day if you end up losing because of (lack of) discipline.”

Weise concurred with his coach.

“Obviously not a smart play by me,” said Weise, playing his third game since being one of six players reassigned by the Rangers last week. “I’m an emotional player, and sometimes I cross the line. I crossed the line tonight, and it cost us the game. I don’t feel good about it, but it’s a mistake, and I’ll learn from it.”

Weise’s mistake led to the Pirates (29-14-4-1) finishing 2-for-3 on the power play as they won their fifth game in six starts to remain one point behind Atlantic Division-leading Manchester, which beat Bridgeport, 3-2. Leggio had 36 saves for his second straight win over the former Hartford Wolf Pack, the other being a 21-save shutout in a 3-0 victory at home on Jan. 14.

Meanwhile, the Whale (22-20-2-5) lost their third in a row to fall 13 points behind the Monarchs. More importantly, they dropped into fourth place, one point behind Worcester, which beat Providence, 3-2. The Whale also has lost four in row and six of seven at home after eight consecutive wins at the XL Center. They’re 11-12-2-1 at home, the worst record among the top four teams in the division, and 11-8-0-4 on the road.

The Whale and rest of the AHL are off until Thursday, and then their four-game homestand ends Friday at 7 p.m. against the Sound Tigers (19-23-3-3), who completed their worst calendar month in franchise history (1-9-2-1) with a 3-2 loss to the Monarchs on Saturday night. The Whale then play a home-and-home set with Portland, Saturday night at 7:05 in Maine and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the XL Center.

Former Hartford Whalers and 1986 NHL All-Stars Mark Howe and Brian Propp, and ex-Whaler Alan Hangsleben, will be at the XL Center on Friday night. They will hold a private, “meet and greet” reception with Whale season ticket holders and “Outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” festival ticket purchasers before the game (4:30-6:30 p.m.) and then drop the ceremonial first puck. Hangsleben also will sign autographs in the XL Center atrium during the second intermission with selected Whale players.

Friday is the 25^th anniversary of the 1986 NHL All-Star Game at the Hartford Civic Center. Howe and Propp were with the Philadelphia Flyers and played on the Wales Conference team that beat the Campbell Conference 4-3 in overtime. Propp, who finished his 15-year NHL career with the Whalers, scored the first Wales goal. It was one of four All-Star appearances for Howe, the son of hockey legend Gordie Howe who was at the XL Center on Friday night scouting for the Detroit Red Wings, a job he has held since retiring from the Red Wings in 1995.

Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., the Grand Rink at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods will host a skate with Hangsleben and former Whalers Doug Roberts and Garry Swain, former Bruins Bob Miller and Tom Songin and Whale mascot Pucky. Fees are $10 for adults with a $5 skate rental, and $6 for children with a $2 skate rental. Hot beverages and photo opportunities are included, as well as the chance to win tickets to the “Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl” on Feb. 19.

WHALE’S WILLIAMS ON TARGET, HELPS EASTERN CONFERENCE WIN

Williams was the only player to hit all four targets in the corners of the net to win the accuracy shooting contest in the All-Star skills competition Sunday at the sold-out Giant Center in Hershey, Pa.

Williams batted .500 (4-for-8), while Portland’s Luke Adam, who traveled to Hershey with Williams and his fiancée after Saturday night’s game, and Hershey’s Andrew Gordon each had three hits. It was one of four individual titles as the Eastern Conference, captained by Sound Tigers defenseman/captain Mark Wotton, scored a 19-7 victory over the Western Conference, captained by former Wolf Pack wing Alexandre Giroux of Oklahoma City who helped the Bears win two Calder Cup titles.

“It was a little nerve-wracking, but it was fun,” Williams said of his victory in his first All-Star event.

Williams also was denied by the Western Conference’s Jake Allen of the Peoria Rivermen in the breakaway relay. Williams made his first All-Star appearance after clinching a fourth consecutive 20-goal season and couldn’t help but jab Newbury, a close friend and a teammate in the Toronto, Detroit and Rangers organizations since 2004.

“I’ve been able to play on some good teams,” Williams said during a post-victory television interview. “I’ve got a guy who I’ve played with for about seven years in Kris Newbury. It has been nice to be able to play with him. He’s quite the passer, so I think he’d take a lot of credit for most of my goals.”

Williams, who also owes plenty of credit this season to slick-passing Tim Kennedy, said it has been nice to hear “Brass Bonanza,” the theme song of the Hartford Whalers and Whale played before every period and after every Whale goal.

“It has been really good since we changed the name (16-9-0-2), and we’ve got a lot more fans out,” Williams said. “It’s not quite looking like Hershey yet, but we’re getting there and I think the fan support from Connecticut has been great.”

Hershey leads the AHL in attendance at 9,435, but the Whale has improved from 18^th to 12^th (5,048 for 26 games) since Whalers Sports and Entertainment assumed control of the business operations and rebranded the team from the Wolf Pack to the Whale on Nov. 27. Their average attendance for the 13 games since then has been 6,691. The franchise hasn’t averaged more than 5,000 since 2005-06, when they were 15th at 5,045. The team record is 7,221 in their second season, 1998-99.

Former Whale defenseman Brian Fahey of the host Bears, the last replacement player named to the All-Star Classic, won the hardest shot contest at 96.9 mph after being given a third chance because he missed the net the first two times. Other winners were Manchester defenseman Viatcheslav Voynov, fastest skater (14.197 seconds), and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton goalie John Curry, top goaltender (75 percent, 21 of 28 shots).

Western Conference forward Linus Klasen provided an ESPN Top 10 highlight reel moment in the breakaway relay when the Milwaukee Admirals’ top scorer (20 goals, 19 assists) skated left inside the blue line, completed a 360-degree spin with the puck and then beat Manchester goaltender Martin Jones between the legs.

Wethersfield native Colin McDonald, son of former Whalers and New Haven Nighthawks defenseman Gerry McDonald, is a Western Conference All-Star after scoring a career-high 24 goals, three behind Pirates’ right wing Mark Mancari (27), the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week last week after getting back-to-back hat tricks, and one back of Giroux. Williams’ 22 goals is tied for fifth with former Wolf Pack wing Nigel Dawes of the Chicago Wolves.

Williams is playing for first-time All-Star coaches Mark French and assistant Troy Mann, who earned the honor by virtue of the Bears winning the 2010 Calder Cup for the second consecutive year. Rookie head coaches John Hynes of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Jared Bednar of Peoria will be co-coaches of the Western Conference team because their teams had the best record in the Western Conference as of Jan. 16.

The AHL Hall of Fame Class of 2011, to be inducted Monday at 11 a.m., is Mitch Lamoureux, Larry Wilson and the late Harry Pidhirny and Maurice Podoloff, who grew up in New Haven, graduated from Hillhouse High School and Yale and became the first person to be president of two professional league simultaneously (AHL and then NBA). AHL Hall of Famer Bruce Boudreau, former coach of the Bears and now coach of the Washington Capitals, will be the keynote speaker, and AHL graduate and 2008 Foster Hewitt Award winner Mike Emrick will be master of ceremonies.

AHL Live (ahllive.com) and NHL Center Ice will air the All-Star Game live on Monday night at 7. MSG Plus HD will show the skills competition at 5 p.m. Monday, followed by the All-Star Game. NESN will show the game Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Emrick, the lead announcer for NHL games on NBC and Versus as well as the TV voice of the Devils, will handle the play-by-play alongside Craig Laughlin, former AHL and NHL wing and longtime commentator for Comcast SportsNet’s live game coverage of the Washington Capitals. Bears broadcaster John Walton will be the rink-side reporter for the All-Star Game.

WHALE/AHL LEFTOVERS AT THE BREAK

The Whale is the AHL’s most penalized team (1,103), led by the individual leader Devin DiDiomete, who has 187 minutes, 10 more than former Wolf Pack wing Francis Lessard. Justin Soryal, usually one of DiDiomete’s linemates, is seventh with 158 minutes. … Kelsey Tessier, who played a strong game Saturday night, ended a five-game pointless streak with a nifty assist on the Whale’s first goal by Williams. … Kennedy’s five-game point streak (one goal, six assists) ended Saturday night but not for lack of trying. He set up Grachev for several excellent scoring chances, most notably at 6:58 of the second period when he stole a pass in center ice, raced into the offensive zone, pirouetted around Pirates defenseman T.J. Brennan and passed to a wide-open Grachev, whose point-blank bid from 15 feet in the slot was gloved by Leggio. That helped end Grachev’s four-game goal-scoring streak, a team high this season, and pro career-high five-game point streak (seven goals, one assist). .. Giroux capped off an impressive January with three goals and two assists in a 5-2 victory over visiting Chicago on Saturday night. Giroux had 12 goals and 12 assists in 15 games in January and is now second in the AHL in goals (25) and points (58) in 50 games. McDonald, a linemate, had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as he kept alive his streak over not going scoreless in three straight games for the first time since Nov. 6-9. The third member of the line, former AHL All-Star Brad Moran, also had a goal and two assists

New York, January 30, 2011 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that defenseman Michael Del Zotto, and forwards Kris Newbury and Evgeny Grachev have been recalled from the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League (AHL).

Del Zotto, 20, has registered seven assists in 10 games with Connecticut this season. He is tied for second among Whale defensemen in assists and third in points. Del Zotto recorded a four-game assist streak from January 15 vs. Providence to January 22 at Springfield, tallying five assists over the span. He recorded two assists vs. Hamilton on January 21, and registered one assist and a plus-four rating vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on January 16. He recorded an assist in his AHL debut on January 5 at Worcester. Del Zotto returns to the Rangers where he has registered two goals and seven assists, along with 14 penalty minutes in 37 games this season. Five of his nine points were recorded on the power play, and he ranks fourth on the team with 60 blocked shots. Del Zotto made his 100th career NHL appearance at Colorado on November 19.

The Stouffville, Ontario native was originally the Rangers’ first round selection, 20th overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Newbury, 28, tallied a power play assist in yesterday’s 3-2 loss vs. Portland, and has registered five goals and 31 assists for 36 points, along with 91 penalty minutes in 43 games with Connecticut this season. He is tied for sixth in the AHL in assists. He also leads the team in assists, ranks second in points and fourth in penalty minutes. Newbury has registered a team-high, 10 multi-point performances this season, including two separate streaks of three games with multiple points – November 13 vs. Springfield to November 19 at Springfield (six assists), and December 3 at Providence to December 11 vs. Manchester (one goal, six assists). The 5-11, 213-pounder established a career-high with an eight-game assist streak from November 28 vs. Adirondack to December 17 vs. Worcester, recording three goals and 12 assists over the span. Newbury returns to the Rangers where he has registered one assist and 33 penalty minutes in seven games this season. He made his Rangers debut at Montreal on January 15, and recorded his first point as a Ranger with the primary assist on the game-tying goal in a 3-2 shootout win at Atlanta on January 22.

The Brampton, Ontario native was originally San Jose’s fifth round pick, 139th overall, in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. He was acquired by the Rangers from Detroit in exchange for forward Jordan Owens on March 3, 2010.

Grachev, 20, registered one goal in a 4-2 loss vs. Manchester on Friday, marking his fourth consecutive AHL game with a goal (seven goals) and fifth straight game with a point (seven goals, one assist) dating back to January 15 vs. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He has registered 13 goals and six assists for 19 points, along with 12 penalty minutes and a plus-eight rating in 42 games with Connecticut this season. He is tied for second on the team in goals, while his plus-eight rating leads all team forwards and ranks second on the Whale. He is also tied for fifth on the team with three power play goals. Grachev registered his first professional hat trick in a 5-1 win at Springfield on January 22. He returns to the Rangers where he has skated in eight games this season, making his NHL debut vs. Carolina on October 29.

The Khabarovsk, Russia native was originally the Rangers’ third round selection, 75th overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

The Rangers’ practice schedule for Monday, January 31, is 2:00 p.m. at the MSG Training Center.

By Bruce Berlet

HARTFORD, Conn. – The Portland Pirates played beat the clock on the power play Saturday night and came away with one of their most stirring victories of the season.

Left wing Derek Whitmore took a pass from behind the net from Corey Tropp about 35 feet in the slot and beat Connecticut Whale goalie Chad Johnson high to the glove side with 7.5 seconds left to give the Pirates a 3-2 victory before 10,872 at the XL Center.

“I came off the bench and tried to find the seam,” Whitmore said after scoring his 19^th goal. “(Defenseman) Nick Crawford was working the puck down low. Tropp made a good play to the slot. I knew there wasn’t much time, and I tried to shoot it past the guy coming out at me (Chad Kolarik) and was able to find the back of the net.”

Johnson’s head dropped after allowing a goal set up by Dale Weise’s interference penalty with 1:38 left. It earned Weise a post-game, closed-door meeting with coach Ken Gernander.

“It was a great game and hugely disappointing,” Gernander said. “Their goalie (David Leggio) played good, but we had a lot of guys who really worked hard, paid the price and did extra duty when we shortened the bench.”

Weise admitted that his penalty was ill-timed.

“Obviously not a smart play by me,” said Weise, playing his third game since being one of six players reassigned by the parent New York Rangers earlier in the week. “I’m an emotional player, and sometimes I cross the line. I crossed the line tonight, and it cost us the game. I don’t feel good about it, but it’s a mistake, and I’ll learn from it.”

Weise’s mistake led to the Pirates (29-14-4-1) finishing 2-for-3 on the power play as they won their fifth in six starts and remained one point behind Atlantic Division-leading Manchester, which beat Bridgeport, 3-2. Leggio had 36 saves for his second straight win over the former Hartford Wolf Pack, the other being a 21-save shutout in a 3-0 victory at home on Jan. 14.

Meanwhile, the Whale (22-20-2-5) lost their third in a row and fifth in seven starts to fall 13 points behind the Monarchs. More importantly, they fell one point behind Worcester, which beat Providence, 3-2. The Whale also has lost four in row and six of seven at home after eight consecutive wins at the XL Center. They’re 11-12-2-1 at home and 11-8-0-4 on the road.

Besides Weise, no Whale player was more upset than Johnson (21 saves).

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“The guy made kind of a good shot past Kolarik, and I just kind of caught it at the last second and just didn’t have enough time to react to it,” Johnson said. “It’s really disappointing because it was a big moment in the game. I talked to Kolarik, and he doesn’t know how it got by him. He was in good position, it’s just the guy found some way to get it by him and then I picked it up late and it beat me. It’s tough. When they score a late goal like that, you can’t do much with seven seconds left.”

Pirates coach Kevin Dineen reiterated Gernander’s thoughts about the quality of the game and was delighted his team could pull out such a win in its eighth game in 11 days, especially after losing two more players, defenseman T.J. Brennan and right wing Maxime Legault, to injuries.

“Except for the one game, all the games against them have been extremely tight,” Dineen said. “There’s a heck of a lot of talent on the ice with good goaltending at both ends in a game with a real, real physical tone to it. We were fortunate to go two-for-three on the power play, which is a huge night for us. We talked before the game that we had to have some power-play production in order to have some long-range success. I don’t think there was much designed play. There was a lot of effort more than anything else.”

Especially on the Pirates’ first power-play goal 59 seconds into the third period when Luke Adam, who left immediately after the game for the AHL All-Star Classic in Hershey, Pa., poked the puck behind the net to Tropp, who found Matt Ellis alone 15 feet in front for a quick finish for his ninth goal and first since being reassigned by the parent Buffalo Sabres on Friday.

The goal seemed to invigorate the Pirates, and Johnson had to be sharp to stop Ellis’ backhander at 6:14. The Whale then tied it on their third power play as Brodie Dupont got inside Crawford and deflected Kris Newbury’s centering pass from the right corner past Leggio with 7:56 left.

The Whale outshot the Pirates 10-1 in the opening 14:20 but actually fell behind 1-0 when NHL veteran Mark Parrish outworked several players for the puck in the right corner and passed into the slot to a wide-open Crawford, who beat Johnson to the glove side with a shot that went in off the post.

Evgeny Grachev, a threat throughout the game thanks to the passing of linemate Tim Kennedy, nearly tied it 50 seconds later, but his deflection went off the post. But the Whale continued to press and got even when Jason Williams made a lead pass to Kelsey Tessier, who outmaneuvered defenseman Dennis Persson and feathered a pass that All-Star right wing Jeremy Williams buried into the top corner at 5:25 for his 22^nd goal and 40^th point, both team highs.

Grachev nearly gave the Whale the lead, but his bid out of the corner and rebound were both turned aside by Leggio with 8:24 left in the period. Johnson made his best save of the period during the Pirates’ first power play when he stopped Parrish in front with 1:32 to go.

After Johnson denied Tropp cruising in off the right point at 5:28 and Ellis hit the post 36 seconds later, the Pirates escaped the second period tied despite being outshot 13-5 thanks to Leggio. First, he made what might be the save of the season at 6:58 with a glove stab off Grachev, set up alone in front at 15 feet off a pass from behind the net by Kennedy, who was named to the 2009 AHL all-rookie team after leading all rookies in points (67) and assists (48) while with the Pirates and beat his former team with back-to-back overtime goals on Dec. 29 and 31.

Leggio stopped a good Kennedy bid at 7:31 and denied Grachev from 20 feet in the slot at 11:08. The Pirates goalie then got lucky when Dupont stole a Pirates cross-ice pass and raced off on a breakaway, only to be caught from behind with 3:42 left in the period.

Given those reprieves, the Pirates regained the lead on Ellis’ goal, then survived Dupont’s equalizer to win on Whitmore’s late heroics.

GARLOCK RETURNS AS WHITE OUT AGAIN

Center Ryan Garlock returned to the Whale lineup after missing two games with the flu and was reunited with feisty, hard-working wings Devin DiDiomete and Justin Soryal, who started the night first and eighth in the league in penalty minutes. Garlock replaced veteran Todd White, who was injured in a collision with Dupont in the first period of Friday night’s 4-2 loss to the Monarchs. It was White’s second game back after missing four with another injury. The Whale also scratched center Oren Eizenman, defenseman Jyri Niemi and injured goalie Cam Talbot (fifth game with high ankle sprain) and wing Chris McKelvie (foot surgery). … Defenseman Tim Conboy returned for the Pirates after serving a two-game suspension. But the Pirates were without injured All-Star defenseman Drew Schiestel, Travis Turnbull, Brian Roloff, and Marc-Andre Gragnani, hurt in a 4-2 loss at Providence on Friday night. To combat the injuries, the Pirates signed defenseman Kyle Bushee to a tryout contract on Friday.

After the game, Jeremy Williams left for Hershey and his first All-Star appearance at the Giant Center. The Pirates’ representative is Adam, who has 12 goals and 14 assists in 27 games with the Pirates and three goals and one assist in 18 games with the parent Buffalo Sabres. Williams and Adam were named to the Eastern Conference team and traveled together to Hershey. Wethersfield native Colin McDonald, son of former Whalers and New Haven Nighthawks defenseman Gerry McDonald, is a Western Conference All-Star and started the night tied for second in the league in goals with Charlotte’s Jerome Samson with a career-high 23, four behind Pirates’ right wing Mark Mancari, the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week last week after getting back-to-back hat tricks last Saturday and Sunday. McDonald is one goal ahead of former Wolf Pack wings Nigel Dawes of the Chicago Wolves and the Oklahoma City Barons’ Alexandre Giroux, who is captain of the Western Conference team. Williams was tied for sixth with the Hershey Bears’ Andrew Gordon.

Williams and Adam will play for first-time All-Star coaches Mark French and assistant Troy Mann, who earned the honor by virtue of the Hershey Bears winning the 2010 Calder Cup for the second consecutive year. Rookie head coaches John Hynes of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Jared Bednar of Peoria will be co-coaches of the Western Conference team because their teams had the best record in the Western Conference as of Jan. 16.

The AHL Hall of Fame Class of 2011, to be inducted Monday at 11 a.m., is Mitch Lamoureux, Larry Wilson and the late Harry Pidhirny and Maurice Podoloff, who grew up in New Haven, graduated from Hillhouse High School and Yale and became the first person to be president of two professional league simultaneously (AHL and then NBA). AHL Hall of Famer Bruce Boudreau, former coach of the Bears and now coach of the Washington Capitals, will be the keynote speaker, and AHL graduate and 2008 Foster Hewitt Award winner Mike Emrick will be master of ceremonies.

WHALE ENDS HOMESTAND FRIDAY NIGHT

After the All-Star break, the Whale’s four-game homestand ends Friday night against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who completed their worst calendar month in franchise history (1-9-2-1) with a 3-2 loss to the Monarchs on Saturday night. The Whale then will play a home-and-home set with Portland, Saturday night at 7:05 in Maine and Sunday at 3 p.m. at the XL Center.

Former Hartford Whalers and 1986 NHL All-Stars Mark Howe and Brian Propp and ex-Whaler Alan Hangsleben will be at the XL Center on Friday night. They will hold a private, “meet and greet” reception with Whale season ticket holders and “Outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” festival ticket purchasers before the game (4:30-6:30 p.m.) and then drop the ceremonial first puck. Hangsleben also will sign autographs in the XL Center atrium during the second intermission with selected Whale players.

Friday is the 25^th anniversary of the 1986 NHL All-Star Game at the Hartford Civic Center. Howe and Propp were with the Philadelphia Flyers and played on the Wales Conference team that beat the Campbell Conference 4-3 in overtime. Propp, who finished his 15-year NHL career with the Whalers, scored the first Wales goal. It was one of four All-Star appearances for Howe, the son of hockey legend Gordie Howe who was at the XL Center on Friday night scouting for the Detroit Red Wings, a job he has done since retiring from the Red Wings in 1995.

Next Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m., the Grand Rink at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods will host a skate with Hangsleben and former Whalers Doug Roberts and Garry Swain, former Bruins Bob Miller and Tom Songin and Whale mascot Pucky. Fees are $10 for adults with a $5 skate rental, and $6 for children with a $2 skate rental. Hot beverages and photo opportunities are included, as well as the chance to win tickets to the “Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl” on Feb. 19.

HALL OF FAMER PARK MEETS FANS, DROPS PUCK

Hall of Fame defenseman Brad Park greeted fans, signed autographs and dropped the ceremonial first puck before the game Saturday night. Park and fellow Hall of Fame defenseman Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, headline the Bruins legends team that will play the Hartford Whalers legends Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. in the opener of a doubleheader that’s part of the “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest” on Feb. 11-23 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The Whale will play Providence at 7 p.m., and in case of bad weather, that game will be Feb. 20 at the XL Center.

MORE BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ‘THE GREAT ONE’

I previously mentioned knowing I’m old when I’m wishing Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky a belated happy 50^th birthday from Wednesday. Watching a 17-year-old Gretzky play his final game with the Indianapolis Racers against the New England Whalers in 1979 and being fortunate to cover the Howes when they came to Hartford and “Mr. Hockey” was still going strong at 52 against the likes of a 19-year-old Gretzky in a NHL All-Star Game were fond memories.

I was equally as fortunate to witness one of the greatest feats in sports history when Gretzky recorded five points in four consecutive games in 1982, including one goal and four assists against the Hartford Whalers on what was designated as “Feed Gretzky Night” in Edmonton before the Oilers embarked on a seven-game road trip. He was two goals shy of tying Phil Esposito’s season record of 76, and after scoring once in the first two periods, he played virtually the entire third period, staying on the ice while the Oilers’ other four skaters changed. He failed to get No. 76, but barely, whiffing on a wide-open, goal-mouth crossing pass with 45 seconds left when the puck hit a chip of ice and bounced over his stick. I can still hear – and feel – the groans reverberating through Northlands Coliseum. Heck, even I was disappointed and upset, and there’s not supposed to be any cheering in the press box.

Then after covering a Whalers game in Vancouver on Saturday night, Hall of Fame announcer Chuck Kaiton and I took a red-eye flight to Detroit for the Oilers’ game against the Red Wings on Sunday night. Despite being shadowed by Paul Woods, Gretzky scored No. 76 and added four assists. Then it was on to Buffalo, where Gretzky broke the record, was saluted on the ice by Esposito and then demonstrated why he was considered a classier act off the ice than on it. A mob of reporters awaited Gretzky after the game, but knowing his hometown reporter, future Hall of Famer Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal, needed some comments ASAP, Gretzky pulled Matheson and this reporter, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time, into the back of the locker room shower and spoke with us for several minutes. It gave Jim and myself a jump on the opposition and helped immensely with deadline issues.

Now Gretzky is 50, and he and wife Janet have five children, including 22-year-old Paulina, 20-year-old Ty and 18-year-old Trevor, all of whom used to travel the NHL circuit, closing on Broadway when dad played three seasons with the Rangers before the curtain came down with “The Great Goodbye” on April 13, 1999. How appropriate! No. 99 retired in 1999. The most stunning statistic of Gretzky’s endless number of records in a mind-boggling career? If you take away all of the record 894 goals that he scored, his record 1,963 assists would still make him the NHL’s all-time scoring leader by 76 points over former Oilers teammate Mark Messier (1,887).

Later in 1999, on Nov. 22, Gretzky became the 10^th player to bypass the three-year waiting period for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, which announced he would be the last player to do so. He was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2000, and his No. 99 was retired league-wide at the NHL All-Star Game. It was only the second number retired league-wide by a major North American sports league, the other being Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 by Major League Baseball in 1997. In 2002, 14 years after “The Trade” to Los Angeles, the Kings held a jersey retirement ceremony and erected a life-sized statue of Gretzky outside Staples Center. The ceremony was delayed until then so owner Bruce McNall, who had recently finished a prison sentence, could attend.

Two years earlier, Gretzky had agreed to purchase a 10 percent stake in the Phoenix Coyotes in a partnership with majority owner Steve Ellman, taking on the roles of alternate governor, managing partner and head of hockey operations. He became head coach on Aug. 8, 2005, with associate head coach and former Whalers defenseman Ulf Samuelsson taking over in training camp in 2009 during an ownership dispute. Gretzky hasn’t had any official ties to the NHL since he stepped down as coach and head of hockey operations on Sept. 24, 2009.

Gretzky insists he holds no grudge toward the NHL or anyone connected with the league while continuing his connection from afar. Let’s hope the NHL never lets it come to that. No. 99 will always be No. 1 in my mind. Players today and forever should always remember that being an ambassador for the game like “The Great One” and “Mr. Hockey” should be the ultimate goal.

PIRATES 3, WHALE 2

Portland           1 0 2 – 3
Connecticut     1 0 1 – 2

First period: 1. Port, Crawford 4 (Parrish, Bowers), 3:02. 2, Connecticut, Williams 22 (Tessier, Williams), 5:25. Penalties-Byron Por (cross-checking), 6:46; McCauley Por (fighting), 9:18; Soryal Ct (fighting), 9:18; Brennan Por (delay of game), 11:28; Gongalsky Por (fighting), 14:20; DiDiomete Ct (fighting), 14:20; Weise Ct (roughing), 17:55.
Second period: No scoring. Penalty: Newbury, Ct (boarding), 19:33.

Third period: 3. Port, Ellis 9 (Tropp, Adam), 0:59 (pp). 4. Conn, Dupont 9 (Newbury, Weise), 12:04 (pp). 5. Port, Whitmore 19 (Tropp, Crawford), 19:52 (pp). Penalties: Conboy, Por (roughing, roughing), 10:52; Williams Ct (elbowing), 10:52; Weise Ct (interference), 18:22.
Shots on goal: Portland 7-5-12-24. Connecticut 12-13-13-38; Power-play opportunities: Portland 2 of 3; Connecticut 1 of 3; Goalies: Portland, Leggio 13-4-0 (38 shots-36 saves). Connecticut, Johnson 14-17-3 (24-21); A: 10,872; Referee: Chris Brown; Linesmen: Kevin Redding, Brent Colby.

By Bruce Berlet

HARTFORD, Conn. – A five-minute lapse early in the second period proved the Connecticut Whale’s undoing Friday night in another tight encounter with the Manchester Monarchs.

AHL All-Star defenseman Viatcheslav Voynov, Brandon Kozun and Bud Holloway scored in a 5:06 span, and the Monarchs held off a late Whale charge for a 4-2 victory before 5,802 at the XL Center.

It was the Whale’s third consecutive loss at home and dropped them to 11-11-2-1 at the XL Center compared to 11-8-0-4 on the road. Meanwhile, the Monarchs (29-16-1-3) moved back into the Atlantic Division lead, one point ahead of the Portland Pirates (28-14-4-1), who lost 4-2 at Providence and will be at the XL Center on Saturday night.

Despite being reinforced by the return of defenseman Michael Del Zotto and forwards Kris Newbury, Dale Weise, Chad Kolarik, Evgeny Grachev and Brodie Dupont from the Rangers, the Whale fell to 1-5-0-1 against the Monarchs.

“They’re (the Monarchs) obviously a good team, and you can’t give them opportunities,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “They’re going to earn them on their own, so you can’t give them extra cracks at it, and that was the case a couple of times tonight.”

Especially in the first 10:20 of the second period when turnovers and lax play by the Whale helped the Monarchs take the lead and then hold it thanks in large part to another solid effort by rookie goalie Martin Jones, who had 26 saves to improve to 17-5-0 with a 2.17 goals-against average and .930 save percentage. In the Monarchs’ previous visit, Jones made 39 saves for his first of two shutouts in a 3-0 victory.

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“Within that (five-minute span), we made some big mistakes that I’m sure we’ll have to address,” Gernander said. “It’s not that we went flat or disappeared for a segment of time. The goals came in a short span, but there were some big mistakes in that span. I’m not going to single guys out, but some of our mistakes were by some of our more key players, and that’s always disappointing.”

An angry Gernander called his timeout at 10:20 of the second period after the Whale turned the puck over in the neutral zone and Holloway, the Monarchs’ leading scorer, skated into the left circle and beat Chad Johnson high to the glove side at 10:20.

“There were mistakes, and there were some areas where our effort could have better,” Gernander said in revealing what was said during the timeout. “Throughout the course of a game, people are going to make mistakes, people are going lose the odd battle, but it was just the general kind of malaise and some mistakes that were beyond just mistakes, kind of bonehead plays instead of just the mistake that you make in the course of a game. After some of those mistakes, I don’t think the effort was there to try to recover or correct the situation.”

Dupont admitted a lack of defense and effort on the sequence that led to Holloway’s goal.

“I tried to make up for it,” Dupont said. “You know you can do better. I wanted to make it up to the team because I enjoy playing for this team.”

The Whale responded with their best forechecking of the game, leading to Weise scoring off a give-and-go with Dupont at 13:41 for his third goal in two games since being reassigned by the Rangers on Saturday.

The Monarchs managed to retain their lead 2:23 into the third period when a diving Dupont drove to the net and let go a shot from 10 feet in the slot that Jones stopped without knowing where the puck was. After Johnson (30 saves) kept the Whale close with three stops during the Monarchs’ third power play, Kennedy broke in alone from center ice but hit the post at 7:37.

“(Jones) was pretty good,” Gernander said. “There were no muffins. I thought we had some pretty good chances where he made some good saves and we hit a post and other things, but I think he’s a really good goalie.”

The Whale pulled Johnson for a sixth attacker with 1:06 left, but John Zeiler took a pass from former Yale forward David Meckler and iced it with an empty-net goal with 50 seconds to go.

Jones picked up where he left off from the previous game when he turned aside Dupont’s 30-foot shot at 2:55 and slid across to stop Jason Williams’ rebound attempt on a power play at 5:05.

Johnson then made bang-bang saves on Kozun’s close-in bid and rebound at 7:09 before Weise had the crowd buzzing after hits that knocked down defensive partners Thomas Hickey and David Kolomatis at the nine-minute mark.

The Whale then took a 1-0 lead on a brilliant individual effort by Tim Kennedy, who stole a Kozun back pass in the Whale zone, raced into the offensive zone, pirouetted away from Monarchs defenseman Jake Muzzin and passed in front to Grachev, who had gotten away from Voynov, for an easy finish at 11:23. It gave Grachev a four-game scoring streak, best on the Whale this season, and was his seventh goal in that span.

Whale center Todd White was injured in a collision with Dupont with 7:02 left in the period and didn’t return. Moments later, Jones made a strong save on Stu Bickel’s one-timer off Kelsey Tessier’s pass.

The Whale nearly expanded their lead on their second power play, but Jones denied Newbury in front with 5:44 left and then made a right pad save on Weise’s 40-foot laser from the right circle with two seconds to go.

Jones made another alert stop on Tessier’s 35-foot shot from the slot 2:24 into the third period before Johnson stopped Justin Azevedo from the left circle on a Monarchs power play at 4:59.

But the game quickly turned in a little more than five minutes.

Moments after the Monarchs’ second power play expired, Meckler hit the post. Weise was unable to reach the rebound, and Voynov picked up the puck and fired a 40-foot shot to tie it at 5:14, becoming the Monarchs’ 10^th player with at least 10 goals.

The Monarchs took the lead for good 62 seconds later as Elkins dropped a pass to Kozun, who got away from Kolarik and fired a wrist shot from the left circle that beat Johnson high to the glove side, went off the crossbar and inn. Holloway capped the rally 4:04 later.

“We didn’t play a 60-minute game,” said Del Zotto, starting his second go-around with the Whale. “I know from the first day I got here that’s one thing we’ve talked about, you need to play 60 minutes. The penalty kill did a good job (4-for-4), but it kills you when you just don’t take care of the puck for a couple of shifts.

“They did a really good job in the neutral zone, and we were trying to make plays through them when all we really had to do is chip it by them and become the first guy on the forecheck. When we were doing that, we were successful and scored our goal in the second when we had 45 seconds battling them down low.

“When we did that, we were successful, but we didn’t do it on a consistent basis. And turnovers really kill you, especially in the neutral zone, and that’s what happened. There were a couple of shifts back-to-back that hurt us and ended up costing us the game.”

TALBOT, GARLOCK AND MCKELVIE OUT AGAIN

Goalie Cam Talbot missed his fourth game with a high ankle sprain, center Ryan Garlock sat out his second game with the flu and wing Chris McKelvie was out a second game after foot surgery. The Whale also scratched center Oren Eizenman and defenseman Jyri Niemi. The Monarchs scratched forward Ray Kaunisto and defenseman Patrick Mullen. … One former Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman replaced another in the AHL All-Star Classic on Sunday and Monday at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. The Hershey Bears’ Brian Fahey, who played for the Wolf Pack in 2008-09 after being a member of a Calder Cup champion with the Chicago Wolves the previous season, replaced teammate Lawrence Nycholat on the Eastern Conference team. Fahey has three goals and 14 assists and is plus-17 in 33 games with the Bears and also finally reached the NHL, getting one assist in seven games with the Washington Capitals. Nycholat, who played for the Wolf Pack for two-plus seasons in 2002-05, will miss the skills competition on Sunday at 3 p.m. and the All-Star Game on Monday at 7 p.m. because of an injury.

HALL OF FAMER PARK AT XL CENTER SATURDAY NIGHT

Hall of Fame defenseman Brad Park will make a special appearance Saturday night when he will meet and greet fans and sign autographs before the game and then drop the ceremonial first puck before the Whale takes on the Pirates. After playing the Pirates and the All-Star break, the Whale will end a four-game homestand Friday night against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers before a home-and-home set with Portland next Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Former Hartford Whalers and 1986 NHL All-Stars Mark Howe and Brian Propp and ex-Whaler Alan Hangsleben will be at the XL Center on Friday night. They will hold a private, “meet and greet” reception with Whale season ticket holders and “Outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” ticket purchasers before the game (4:30-6:30 p.m.) and then drop the ceremonial first puck. Hangsleben also will sign autographs in the XL Center atrium during the second intermission with selected Whale players.

Feb. 4 is the 25^th anniversary of the 1986 NHL All-Star Game at the Hartford Civic Center. Howe and Propp were with the Philadelphia Flyers and played on the Wales Conference team that beat the Campbell Conference 4-3 in overtime. Propp, who finished his 15-year NHL career with the Whalers, scored the first Wales goal. It was one of four All-Star appearances for Howe, the son of hockey legend Gordie Howe who was at the XL Center on Friday night scouting for the Detroit Red Wings. It was Howe’s fourth game at the XL Center this season but first since the team was rebranded from the Hartford Wolf Pack to the Connecticut Whale on Nov. 27. Howe said he didn’t have any special pangs when “Brass Bonanza” first played, but he did recall the feelings of youngest son Travis for the most famous theme song in hockey.

“He had the 45 (rpm) of the song and played it 24/7 while racing around the house with his hockey stick,” Howe said with a smile.

Howe also smiled about the crowd.

“Nice to see more people here now,” he said.

On Feb. 5 from 2 to 4 p.m., the Grand Rink at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods will host a skate with Hangsleben and former Whalers Doug Roberts and Garry Swain, former Bruins Bob Miller and Tom Songin and Pucky, the Whale mascot. Fees are $10 for adults with a $5 skate rental, and $6 for children with a $2 skate rental. Hot beverages and photo opportunities are included, as well as the chance to win tickets to the “Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl” on Feb. 19.

WHALERS AND BRUINS LEGENDS FACE OFF FEB. 19

Park and fellow Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, headline the Bruins legends team that will play the Hartford Whalers legends on Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. in the opener of the doubleheader that’s part of the “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest” on Feb. 11-23 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, where construction of the rink began Jan. 17 and snow removal will take place Thursday. The Whale and Providence Bruins will play at 7 p.m., and in case of bad weather, that game will be played Feb. 20 at the XL Center.

Other commitments for the Bruins team are Enfield native Craig Janney, former captain Rick Middleton, who played 12 seasons in Beantown and two with the Rangers, 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, who was 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 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 and the Babych brothers, Dave and Wayne. Emile “The Cat” Francis, a coach and general manager with the Rangers and Whalers, will be back behind the bench again, and Norm Barnes and former captain Russ Anderson will be assistant coaches.

Celebrities scheduled to play with one of the legends teams include Michael Keaton, Alan Thicke and David E. Kelley, son of New England and Hartford Whalers coach and general manager Jack Kelley and the writer of the 1999 hit film “Mystery, Alaska,” which was produced by Whalers Sports and Entertainment president and CEO Howard Baldwin and his wife, Karen. “Mystery, Alaska” cast members slated to appear are Michael Buie, Scott Richard Grimes, Jason Gray-Stanford and Cameron Bancroft, along with Neal McDonough, Kevin Zegers and the Hanson brothers – Steve, Jeff and Dave –  who were the comedic linchpins of the classic movie “Slap Shot.”

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.

BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ‘THE GREAT ONE’

I know I’m officially old when I’m wishing Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky a belated happy 50^th birthday from Wednesday. In 1978, I saw a 17-year-old Gretzky play his final game with the Indianapolis Racers against the New England Whalers the night before being sold to the Edmonton Oilers with goalie Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll for $700,000. One of the highlights of that season was Gretzky’s appearance in the 1979 WHA All-Star Game, a three-game series between the WHA All-Stars and Dynamo Moscow. The All-Stars were coached by Jacques Demers, who put Gretzky on a line with his boyhood idol Gordie Howe and his son, Mark. In the first game, the line had seven points, and the WHA All-Stars won 4-2. In Game 2, Gretzky and Mark Howe each scored and Gordie Howe had an assist in another 4-2 win. The line failed to score in the final game, but the WHA won again, 4-3.

I was fortunate to cover the Howes when they came to Hartford, and “Mr. Hockey” was still turning heads at 52 years old. In fact, he was the Whalers’ representative in the 1980 NHL All-Star Game in Detroit, and rather than the hometown player(s), in this case Red Wings’ Reed Larson, being the last player to be introduced for the Wales Conference team, it was Gordie, making his 23^rd All-Star appearance with a record 10 All-Star goals. And instead of announcing Howe’s name, the public address announcer said, “And from the Hartford Whalers and representing all of hockey with great distinction for five decades, No. 9.” The 21,002 at Joe Louis Arena broke into a “Gor-die, Gor-die” chant and stood and roared for several minutes, forcing Howe to take a few bows and wipe away a few tears. Appropriately, Howe’s was the last name in the scoring summary as he assisted on the final goal by Real “Whalers Killer” Cloutier for his 19^th All-Star point. It was the last of four goals in a 4:26 span in the final 8:20 as the Wales Conference rallied for a 6-3 victory over the Campbell Conference, which included a 19-year-old named Wayne Gretzky in his NHL All-Star debut.

I was equally as fortunate to witness one of the greatest feats in sports history when Gretzky recorded five points in four consecutive games in 1982, including one goal and four assists against the Hartford Whalers on what was designated as “Feed Gretzky Night” in Edmonton before the Oilers embarked on a seven-game road trip. He was two goals shy of tying Phil Esposito’s season record of 76, and after scoring once in the first two periods, he played virtually the entire third period, staying on the ice while the Oilers’ other four skaters changed. He failed to get No. 76, but barely, whiffing on a wide-open, goal-mouth crossing pass with 45 seconds left when the puck hit a chip of ice and bounced over his stick. I can still hear – and feel – the groans reverberating through Northlands Coliseum. Heck, even I was disappointed and upset, and there’s not supposed to be any cheering in the press box.

Then after covering a Whalers game in Vancouver on Saturday night, Hall of Fame announcer Chuck Kaiton and I took a red-eye flight to Detroit for the Oilers’ game against the Red Wings on Sunday night. Despite being shadowed by Paul Woods, Gretzky scored No. 76 and added four assists. Then it was on to Buffalo, where Gretzky broke the record, was saluted on the ice by Esposito and then demonstrated why he was considered a classier act off the ice than on it. A mob of reporters awaited Gretzky after the game, but knowing his hometown reporter, future Hall of Famer Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal, needed some comments ASAP, Gretzky pulled Matheson and this reporter, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time, into the back of the locker room shower and spoke with us for several minutes. It gave Jim and myself a jump on the opposition and helped immensely with deadline issues.

Now Gretzky is 50, and he and wife Janet have five children, including 22-year-old Paulina, 20-year-old Ty and 18-year-old Trevor, all of whom used to travel the NHL circuit, closing on Broadway when dad played three seasons with the Rangers before the curtain came down with “The Great Goodbye” on April 13, 1999. How appropriate! No. 99 retired in 1999. The most stunning statistic of Gretzky’s endless number of records in a mind-boggling career? If you take away all of the record 894 goals that he scored, his record 1,963 assists would still make him the NHL’s all-time scoring leader by 76 points over former Oilers teammate Mark Messier (1,887).

Later in 1999, on Nov. 22, Gretzky became the 10^th player to bypass the three-year waiting period for induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame, which announced he would be the last player to do so. He was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in 2000, and his No. 99 was retired league-wide at the NHL All-Star Game. It was only the second number retired league-wide by a major North American sports league, the other being Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 by Major League Baseball in 1997. Later in 1999, Capilano Drive that runs past Northlands Coliseum was changed to “Wayne Gretzky Drive.” In 2002, 14 years after “The Trade” to Los Angeles, the Kings held a jersey retirement ceremony and erected a life-sized statue of Gretzky outside Staples Center. The ceremony was delayed until then so owner Bruce McNall, who had recently finished a prison sentence, could attend.

In 2000, Gretzky agreed to purchase a 10 percent stake in the Phoenix Coyotes in a partnership with majority owner Steve Ellman, taking on the roles of alternate governor, managing partner and head of hockey operations. He became head coach on Aug. 8, 2005, with associate head coach and former Whalers defenseman Ulf Samuelsson taking over in training camp in 2009 during an ownership dispute. Gretzky hasn’t had any official ties to the NHL since he stepped down as coach and head of hockey operations on Sept. 24, 2009.

Gretzky insists he holds no grudge toward the NHL or anyone connected with the league while continuing his connection from afar. Let’s hope the NHL never lets it come to that. No. 99 will always be No. 1 in my mind. Players today and forever should always remember that being an ambassador for the game like “The Great One” and “Mr. Hockey” should be the ultimate goal.

MONARCHS 4, WHALE 2

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

First period: 1. Conn, Grachev 13 (Kennedy), 11:23. Penalties: Kolomatis, Mch (hooking), 3:03; Tessier, Ct (hooking), 7:09; Johnson, Mch (interference), 14:10; Clune, Mch (unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:57.

Second period: 2. Mch, Voynov 10 (Meckler, Clune), 5:14. 3. Mch, Kozun 11 (Elkins, Teubert), 6:16. 4. Mch, Holloway 15 (King), 10:20. 5. Conn, Weise 10 (Dupont, Soryal), 13:41. Penalties: Weise, Ct (tripping), 3:02; Clune, Mch (fighting), 8:53; DiDiomete, Ct (fighting), 8:53.

Third period: 6. Mch, Zeiler 2 (Meckler), 19:10. Penalties: Newbury, Ct (boarding), 3:38; Dupont, Ct (interference), 8:27; Cliché, Mch (delay of game), 14:02.
Shots on goal: Manchester 10-12-11-33. Connecticut 12-5-8-25; Power-play opportunities: Manchester 0 of 4; Connecticut 0 of 4; Goalies: Manchester, Jones 17-5-0 (25 shots-23 saves). Connecticut, Johnson 14-16-3 (33-30); A: 5,802; Referee: Jamie Koharski; Linesmen: Luke Galvin, Brent Colby

Hartford, CT …  Whalers Sports and Entertainment announced today that Pat Verbeek will join the group of featured players for the Hartford Whalers legends vs. Boston Bruins legends game February 19, 2011 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.

The legends game comprises part of the “Harvest-Properties.com Whale Bowl,” the featured event of the two-week outdoor Whalers Hockey Fest spectacular at Rentschler Field that will include 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.

The Bruins Alumni currently boasts a roster that includes Craig Janney, Brian Leetch, Brad Park, Lyndon Byers and Rick Middleton. They will be taking on a Whalers Alumni team consisting of players such as Blaine Stoughton, Nelson Emerson, John McKenzie, Wayne and Dave Babych, as well as others still to be announced.

Verbeek, a right wing hailing from Sarnia, Ontario, played six seasons for the Hartford Whalers from 1989-95 and ranks twelfth on the all-time list of games played as a Whaler with 433. Verbeek served as the eighth captain of the Whalers from 1992-95.

Verbeek totaled 192 goals as a member of the Whalers, fourth all-time, and 211 assists, also good for fourth all-time. His 403 total points in a Hartford uniform ranks third in franchise history, behind Ron Francis and Kevin Dineen. Verbeek also registered 1,144 penalty minutes with the Whalers, also third all-time. He was selected to represent Hartford in the 1991 NHL All-Star Game in Chicago, recording one assist.

A 19-year professional, Verbeek skated in a career-total of 1,424 NHL contests with the New Jersey Devils, Whalers, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars, scoring 522 goals with 541 assists for 1,063 points, along with 2,905 penalty minutes, eleventh-most all-time in league history.

Originally a third-round pick of the New Jersey Devils in the 1982 NHL Draft, Verbeek was acquired by the Whalers from New Jersey in June of 1989 in exchange for Sylvain Turgeon. He captured a Stanley Cup Championship with the Dallas Stars during the 1998-99 campaign.

Verbeek’s son, Kyle, will also be participating in the Outdoor Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011.  Kyle Verbeek is a sophomore forward on the Sacred Heart University Pioneers hockey team, which is taking on the UConn Huskies at 1:00 on Sunday, February 13 at Rentschler Field.

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).