HARTFORD, October 7, 2011:  Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld today announced the Whale’s season-opening roster for 2011-12.

CT WhaleThe opening roster consists of the following (24) players:

Goal (2): Chad Johnson, Cameron Talbot

Defense (9): Lee Baldwin, Stu Bickel, T.J. Fast, Tomas Kundratek, Jyri Niemi, Jared Nightingale, Blake Parlett, Wade Redden, Pavel Valentenko

Forwards (13):  Jonathan Audy-Marchessault, Sean Avery, Ryan Bourque, Andre Deveaux, Tommy Grant, Carl Hagelin, Chris McKelvie, John Mitchell, Kris Newbury, Jordan Owens, Scott Tanski, Kelsey Tessier, Andreas Thuresson

The Whale kick off the franchise’s 15th season of action this tomorrow night, Saturday, October 8th, at the Glens Falls (NY) Civic Center against the Adirondack Phantoms.  Faceoff is 7:00 PM, and all the CT Whale Rockin’ Hockey action can be heard live on “The Rock”, 106.9 FM, WCCC, as well as on-line at www.ctwhale.com.

The Whale’s regular-season home opener is coming up next Saturday, October 15, a GEICO Connecticut Cup game vs. the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.  Five-thousand fans at that game will receive a free Whale magnetic schedule, sponsored by Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.  Tickets to that game, and all 2011-12 Whale home games, are on sale now at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, as well as on-line at www.ctwhale.com and through TicketMaster Charge-by-phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Save on your tickets, and get the best seats, with a ticket plan for the Whale’s 2011-12 AHL campaign, which are on sale now. For information on season seats and mini plans, visit www.ctwhale.com, or call the CT Whale ticket office at (860) 728-3366 to talk with an account executive today.

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