By Bruce Berlet

HARTFORD, Conn. – It was hardly a super goal on Super Bowl Sunday, but the Portland Pirates were more than happy to accept it.

The Connecticut Whale would have been, too.

Instead, defenseman T.J. Brennan picked up a loose puck near the blue line, skated toward the corner and fired a bad-angle shot that hit goalie Chad Johnson, then the post and the keeper’s leg before trickling into the net with 3:12 left to give the Pirates a 3-2 victory over the Whale before 3,458 at the XL Center.

“As I was skating in, I saw two guys (Colin Stuart and Corey Tropp) crashing the net, so I just wanted to get the puck on the net, and that’s what I did,” Brennan said. “When I skated around (the net), I saw the puck was over the goal line because (Johnson) never had control of it. Thank God it counted.”

Much like Derek Whitmore’s power-play goal with 7.5 seconds left that gave the Pirates a 3-2 victory in their previous visit to the XL Center on Jan. 29.

Brennan’s score decided a fifth one-goal game between the teams this season, with the Pirates (30-15-4-1) evening the series at three after blowing an early 2-0 lead. It helped alleviate the pain of a 4-3 loss at home Saturday night, when the Pirates surrendered three one-goal leads. But this time they prevailed and moved within two points of idle Atlantic Division-leading Manchester.

The loss prevented the Whale (24-21-2-5) from passing Worcester for third place in the Atlantic Division, but they remained five points ahead of fifth-place Providence, which lost 4-3 to Charlotte. The Whale have lost five of their last six games at home, fell to 12-13-2-1 overall at home, and are 12 points behind Manchester and 10 back of the Pirates.

No one felt worse about Brennan’s fortuitous goal than Johnson.

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“It was just an ugly goal, just a bad goal,” Johnson said. “(Brennan) just came down the wing, hit the post and the puck kind of went on my right pad. I really didn’t get a good look at it, but it was just kind of sitting on my leg. I tried kind of leaning forward because I could feel it kind of rolling down the side of my leg. I didn’t know if it was over the line or not. I heard the whistle, and then I saw the ref coming into the picture and he’s pointing goal, goal, goal.

“It’s a tough goal. There are (three) minutes left in the game, and it was one I probably have to play a lot differently. I felt I was in good position, it just somehow got by me and hit the post. I didn’t really give him anything to shoot at except the post, and it got by me. Then it was a play down by feet, so I just tried to cover up all the holes that I could wherever I thought the puck was, and when I looked behind me, the puck was sitting right over the line a little bit.

“All these games (with the Pirates) seem to come down to the last five minutes, when teams obviously pick it up because it’s kind of like an overtime atmosphere. It’s tough because we had our chances and played good in a back-and-forth game, but it just comes down to a bad goal. I’ve got to have those. This time of year it cost the team getting a point, so it’s just disappointing.”

Pirates coach Kevin Dineen, who saw his share of good and bad goals during his years as a standout right wing and captain with the Hartford Whalers, wasn’t about to complain about his team passing another survival test.

“It wasn’t a masterpiece, but you never critique the two points,” Dineen said. “We were in a game where we got so badly outplayed in one period (the second), but I liked our response in the third. I’m just so respectful of the talent over there that you’re trying to weather the storm sometimes. Some of the play over there, specifically (former Pirates center) Tim Kennedy, who’s NHL-worthy, playing fabulous hockey and making a pretty good career against us, is a credit to their team.

“But we didn’t play a great game, didn’t respond to the amount of effort and pressure they were putting on us. We looked like the team that played three games in three days, but I liked our last seven or eight minutes. There was a lot of emotion that went into that game, and I think we responded well. Their best players were the best players and hardest-working guys this weekend, and I can’t say the same thing about my group. But that’s the nature of the beast. Sometimes your identity comes from your worker-bees, and they certainly got it done for us this weekend.”

After Brennan got the tie-breaker, David Leggio (33 save) made stellar stops on Wade Redden and Evgeny Grachev with 1:43 and 1:32 left. The Whale then pulled Johnson for a sixth attacker, and Leggio preserved the victory when he stopped Jason Williams cruising in off left wing with 1:02 left. After a Whale timeout, Williams’ deflection with eight seconds to go went just wide right.

But fortunately for the Pirates, Brennan’s shot somehow found its way into the net.

“It’s really tough when you feel after those first two goals that you really took control of the game,” said Kennedy, who scored the Whale’s first goal. “It’s just one of those kind of fluke goals that can beat you and leaves a sour taste in your mouth. We didn’t have the best start, but after that, they had their chance here or there, but I thought we really carried the play.

“It’s just a tough loss because we’re trying to catch those guys, and that’s two points that I think we should have.”

As for his success against his former team, Kennedy smiled and said, “I think they (the parent Buffalo Sabres) are still paying me. I’ve definitely had some pretty good games against (the Pirates), but I think that’s just because when you’ve played for a team and are playing against your own friends, you get up a little more for it. We’ve had some pretty good games against them, but it still hurts not to win.”

The Whale might have won if they hadn’t gone without a power play for only the second time in 14 seasons, the other being on Nov. 17, 2007, when they won 3-2 at Lowell. But they were fortunate Johnson was ready at the start as he made a big save off Brian Roloff just 15 seconds into the game and a good right-pad stop on All-Star Luke Adam at 1:32. Leggio then had a right-pad save on Whale All-Star Jeremy Williams at 4:13 before the Pirates scored twice in 2:31.

Justin Bowers broke a scoreless tie at 13:47 when he cruised through the slot and deflected Igor Gongalsky’s shot from the right circle past Johnson. A few shifts later, Adam dropped a pass to NHL veteran Mark Parrish, whose shot from 30 feet in the slot deflected off the stick of Whale center Kris Newbury and past Johnson with 3:42 left in the period.

But just 46 seconds later, Kennedy again haunted his former team. Defenseman Jyri Niemi passed from the left point to the right circle to Kennedy, who maneuvered into position and beat Leggio to the far stick side for his third goal in six games against the Pirates this season. The previous two were overtime game-winners on Dec. 29 and 31.

“It was a nice pass from Jyri, but this time the goalie took away the glove side so I had to go stick side and caught him cheating a little bit,” said Kennedy, named to the AHL all-rookie team in 2008-09 when he led all rookies in assists (49) and points (67) while with the Pirates.

Johnson kept it a one-goal game with glove save on Roloff at 1:36 of the second period, then Leggio denied Chad Kolarik breaking in off right wing at 7:09. The Whale then lost a bid to tie when Kelsey Tessier lost the puck on a breakaway at 9:14.

On the ensuing shift, Johnson robbed Roloff in the slot and redirected the puck to Kolarik, who raced down right wing on a 2-on-1 and took a shot from the top of the circle that beat Leggio to the far stick side at 10:04 for his 20^th goal. It was his third goal in two days against the Pirates and fourth in six games against Portland since being acquired from the Columbus Blue Jackets and Springfield Falcons for Hartford Wolf Pack captain Dane Byers on Nov. 11.

Johnson, who got his second assist of the season on Kolarik’s goal, kept it tied when he stopped Dennis McCauley in close with 3:26 left in the period before Leggio denied Jason Williams in front with 1:58 to go. A backhander by the Pirates’ Tim Conboy found the net moments after the second-period horn sounded.

Kolarik threatened again off a pass from Kennedy 3:32 into the third period, but Leggio came out to keep the game tied. After the teams sparred for several minutes, Johnson got his shoulder on a right-circle blast with 7:48 left by Mark Mancari, who leads the AHL with 28 goals.

The teams then searched for the slightest opening that might make the difference, and Brennan found it.

“You have two pretty equally matched teams, and your start isn’t up to par and the last shot on goal is one I’m sure Chad would like to have back,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “I guess that can be the difference, can’t it?

WHALE SCRATCH SAME FOURSOME

The Whale again scratched goalie Cam Talbot (high ankle sprain), center Todd White (concussion) and wings Dale Weise (undisclosed injury) and wing Chris McKelvie (foot surgery). The Pirates scratched forward Travis Turnbull (shoulder) and two defensemen, All-Star Drew Schiestel (knee) and Alex Biega (knee). … This was the Whale’s last game at the XL Center until March 2, when they play the Springfield Falcons. They host the Providence Bruins on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m., but that’s at Rentschler Field in East Hartford and follows a 4 p.m. between the Hartford Whalers legends and the Boston Bruins legends in the start of the Harvest-Properties.com “Whale Bowl.” Army plays AIC in a college game at 1 p.m.

The Whale’s ensuing home game is March 11 against the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears, as they play 10 of their next 12 games on the road, including their only trips to Toronto, Hamilton, Ontario, and Charlotte, N.C. They leave Tuesday for Toronto, where they face the Marlies on Wednesday morning at 11:00, trying to avenge a 4-0 loss at home in the teams’ first meeting on Nov. 9, in which rookie goalie Jussi Rynas made 33 saves. The Marlies (24-20-0-7), who are battling for a playoff spot in the North Division, are led by veteran center Mike Zigomanis (eight goals, 24 assists), left wing Fabian Brunnstrom (14, 13), rookie center Nazem Kadri (9, 16) and defenseman Matt Lashoff (7, 18). Rynnas is 9-13-3 with a 2.79 goals-against average, .920 save percentage and one shutout. … The Whale’s Tip-A-Player Dinner and Sports Carnival raised $32,000 for the Gaylord Specialty Healthcare at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford. Center Ryan Garlock and defenseman Jared Nightingale collected the most “Puck Bucks” for doing various activities as the team increased its eight-year take for Gaylord to about $285,000. The Whale and Gaylord families thank all the fans who attended, all the volunteers who donated their time and all the restaurants that provided the food and drink. As usual, it was “A Whale of a Time” for a terrific cause that has benefitted so many people. … Sunday was the 31^st anniversary of the first NHL game in the rebuilt and enlarged Hartford Civic Center, a 7-3 Whalers’ victory over the Los Angeles Kings.

WOMEN HUSKIES, HUSKIES TIE IN PRELIM

The recent record snowfall gave several local college teams, especially UConn, a chance to practice and play in the XL Center. And they even got to hear the Whalers’ famed theme song, “Brass Bonanza,” as the UConn teams skated out before each period.

The UConn men’s and women’s teams began working out in Hartford on Wednesday when the Freitas Ice Forum on the UConn campus was deemed unsafe until snow and ice was removed from the roof. The teams will practice at the XL Center at least one more day before hopefully staying on campus.

The UConn men lost 5-3 at the XL Center on Saturday night, and the UConn women tied Northeastern 2-2 in the preliminary to the Pirates’ 3-2, win thanks largely to junior goalie Alexandra Garcia of Pointe-Claire, Quebec. Garcia had 33 saves but didn’t take a loss when Taylor Gross’ 30-foot shot from the slot trickled through Northeastern goalie Leah Sulyma’s legs at 5:08 of the third period. Stephanie Raithby, who scored UConn’s first goal, missed the net on a breakaway 18 seconds into overtime, and Kristi Kehoe, who scored Northeastern’s first goal on a nifty backhander, hit the crossbar at 1:24.

UConn, coming off a 3-2 overtime loss at Boston College on Saturday, is 12-16-2 overall and 8-7-2 in Hockey East. Northeastern is 14-9-5, 6-7-4.

The UConn teams will be part of the historic “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” that is scheduled to begin Friday at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. “UConn Day” is Sunday, when the alumni plays at 9 a.m., followed by the men’s team facing Sacred Heart at 1 p.m. and the women meeting Providence at 4 p.m. … UConn freshman forward Alexandra Vakos of Hamden was named Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month for the month of January. Vakas had three goals, all game-winners, and three assists in nine games. She had a career-high three points (one goal, two assists) in a win over Robert Morris.

HARVEST-PROPERTIES HOCKEY FEST 2011 STARTS THIS WEEK

The “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” is scheduled to begin Friday at 4 p.m. with the first of 30 outdoor games between the girls’ teams from Hotchkiss School (Lakeville) and Cushing Academy (Ashburnham, Mass.), the opener of a tripleheader.

The featured attraction is the Harvest-Properties.com “Whale Bowl” on Feb. 19, when celebrities will participate in a game between the Whalers legends and Bruins legends at 4 p.m., followed by the Whale-Providence game at 7 p.m. In case of bad weather, the Whale-Bruins game will be played Feb. 20.

Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, and Brad Park headline the Bruins legends team. Other commitments are Enfield native Craig Janney, former captain Rick Middleton, who played 12 seasons in Boston and 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.

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

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

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

MR. TOUGH GUYS

Don’t ever say hockey players or even coaches aren’t the toughest hombres in all of sports. Getting stitched up and returning to the ice by the next period is common for most players. But Worcester Sharks coach Roy Sommer earned special kudos Friday night.

Sommer, whose 13 seasons in the San Jose organization is the AHL’s longest coaching run, sustained a broken nose when a deflected puck hit him in the face during the first period of a 4-3 shootout victory over Manchester. Sommer immediately went to his knees and was escorted to the locker room, where he was treated by trainer Matt White. Sommer soon returned to the bench with Q-tips sticking out of his nostrils and a piece of tape across his nose for the rest of the game.

“Never saw it coming,” Sommer told Worcester Telegram & Gazette writer Bill Ballou. “Even if I had, I’m not sure I could’ve gotten out of the way, not with the cat-like reflexes I’ve got.”

Sommer said it wasn’t his worst injury behind the bench. An opposing player once tried to tomahawk one of his players and missed.

“I got El-Kabonged,” Sommer said.

Sommer was back behind the bench Saturday night, when the Sharks beat Providence 2-0 behind 20 saves from rookie Carter Hutton, who notched his first pro shutout in his 16^th pro game. Hutton was playing because the Sharks’ No. 1 goalie, Alex Stalock, was injured late in Friday night’s game.… Former Wolf Pack goalie Al Montoya relieved Matt Climie in the third period, made 13 saves in regulation and overtime and then stopped all five Lake Erie shootout tries to lead visiting San Antonio to a 5-4 victory Saturday night. Defenseman Garrett Stafford scored the only shootout goal, as the Rampage won their fourth consecutive game and are on a 6-0-1 run to tie Milwaukee for first place in the West Division. … Rookie center Nick Bonino, who excelled at Farmington High and Avon Old Farms, scored twice as Syracuse beat league-leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 4-2 Saturday night. … Former Wolf Pack wing Nigel Dawes scored his 23^rd goal and Stratford native Jaime Sifers had two assists to help the Chicago Wolves beat Peoria 4-2 Saturday night. … The Monarchs (31-16-1-4), who got 26 saves from rookie All-Star Martin Jones in a 4-0 victory at Albany on Saturday night, are 11-1-1-0 against the two Connecticut teams (5-0-1-0 vs. Bridgeport and 6-1-0-0 vs. the Whale) and 20-15-0-4 against the rest of the league. … The Sound Tigers will take over operations of Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport from Centerplate if they receive approval from the city council Monday night. Sound Tigers president Howard Saffan, who is also the senior vice president of operations for the parent New York Islanders, said the tentative agreement was reached after six months of negotiations. “With the New York Islanders going into the entertainment business with Nassau Coliseum, which we took over the management of last year, we wanted to take advantage of our relationships and pursue the entertainment industry in Fairfield County,” Saffan told Mike Fornabaio of the Connecticut Post. If the Sound Tigers win approval, they would take over the original lease, which runs until 2021. Mayor Bill Finch’s office said Centerplate will continue to provide food and beverage services while the team will book the arena. A 4-1 loss to the Falcons on Saturday night was the Sound Tigers’ sixth in a row and dropped them to 1-11-2-1 in 2011. … The Falcons postponed a scheduled game Tuesday night against the Sound Tigers to Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. It was rescheduled to allow crews time to remove snow and ice from the MassMutual Center roof and the surrounding area. The rescheduled date also gives the crews more time to completely execute the changeover from the Disney on Ice Show that occupied the building last week back to the original ice surface.

MILFORD NATIVE QUICK CONTINUES WINNING SHOOTOUT WAYS

Hamden native Jonathan Quick continued to build on a stellar season Saturday night as he stopped five consecutive shootout attempts, two with help from a post, as the Los Angeles Kings beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 to improve to 2-0-1 on a 10-game road trip.

After allowing two goals in the skills competition, the Flames couldn’t score again on Quick, who made a spectacular, falling-backwards glove stop on Curtis Glencross in the fourth round on the way to going 6-0 in shootouts and ending Calgary’s six-game winning streak. Quick (24-14-1, 2.14 goals-against average, .921 save percentage, career-high five shutouts) is only the third goalie in Kings’ history to win 20 games in a season, joining Rogie Vachon and Kelly Hrudey.

Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff also allowed two quick goals and then stopped four shots before Justin Williams beat him after getting a goal and two assists in regulation. It was the Kings’ first win in Calgary in 11 tries since Dec. 21, 2005, and moved them into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Flames.

PIRATES 3, WHALE 2

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

First period: 1. Port, Bowers 4 (Gongalsky, McCauley), 13:47. 2. Port, Parrish 8 (Adam, Tropp), 16:18. 3. Conn, Kennedy 10 (Niemi), 17:04. Penalties: Nightingale, Ct (slashing), 0:15; Kolarik, Ct (unsportsmanlike conduct, misconduct-unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:11.

Second period: 4. Conn, Kolarik 20 (Johnson), 10:04. Penalties: None.

Third period: 5. Port, Brennan 6 (Stuart, Tropp), 16:48. Penalties: None.

Shots on goal: Portland 15-9-8-32. Connecticut 12-10-13-35; Power-play opportunities: Portland 0 of 2; Connecticut 0 of 0; Goalies: Portland, Leggio 14-4-0 (35 shots-33 saves). Connecticut, Johnson 15-18-3 (32-29); A: 3,458; Referees: Francis Charron, Geno Binda; Linesmen: Paul Simeon, Derek Wahl.

Portland, ME, February 5, 2011 – Despite trailing for much of the game, the Connecticut Whale pulled out a 4-3 win over the Portland Pirates Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center, making a power-play goal by Kris Newbury at 2:40 of the third period stand up as the game-winner.

The Whale were down 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before prevailing for their second straight post-All-Star break victory, after they went into the break with three straight losses.  A line of Chad Kolarik, Tim Kennedy and Evgeny Grachev combined for six points, including a pair of Kolarik goals, and Jason Williams had a goal and an assist.  Dov Grumet-Morris made 22 saves to get his first Whale win, in just his second start in a Connecticut uniform.

Dennis McCauley had a goal and an assist for Portland, which also got goals from Mark Mancari and Justin Bowers.

Mancari, the AHL’s leading goal-scorer, gave Portland the game’s first lead with his 28^th goal of the season at 9:12 of the first period, with Portland shorthanded.  A pass by Newbury went off of Jeremy Williams’ skate at the middle of the Portland blue line right to Mancari, and he had a breakaway all the way in and beat Grumet-Morris with a low shot.  The goal was Mancari’s 10^th in his last eight games and 14^th in his last 15.

After that shorthanded score, only the second given up by the Whale in 51 games on the season, Connecticut very nearly got a shorthander in its first man-down situation, but a shot off left wing by Kolarik that beat Jhonas Enroth’s catching glove went off the crossbar at 16:15.

Following that relatively quiet first frame, the two teams would combine for five goals in the second period, the first three in a span of only 2:25.

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Jason Williams scored his fourth goal in 15 games with the Whale at 5:22, just one second after a Whale power-play ended.  Williams and Brodie Dupont (two assists) were both screening Enroth, and Williams deflected in a shot from the right point by Tomas Kundratek.

Portland restored the lead just 1:29 later at 6:51, on the first of two goals in the period by a line of Justin Bowers, McCauley and Igor Gongalsky.  Bowers put Portland up 2-1 on a goal from the left-wing side of the goalmouth, after McCauley centered the puck past Whale defenseman Jared Nightingale.

Kolarik scored the first of his two goals to tie it back up only 56 seconds after that, at 7:47.  Kolarik buried a second rebound from between the hash marks, after Enroth (25 saves) stopped shots by both Kennedy and Grachev.

The Pirates jumped back on top at 12:37 on the ninth of the year by McCauley, who connected on a shot from the right side of the slot.  Nick Crawford started the play by stickhandling down from his left point position and working his way up the slot.

Once again the Whale fought back though, and the Kennedy line would click a second time with 1:20 left in the period.  It was Kolarik finishing the play again, this time on a pass from left to right across the slot by Grachev.  Kolarik had Crawford in his way, but was able to flip the puck past Enroth before he could slide far enough to his left.

After that late goal in the second, Newbury would strike for his seventh of the season, and second in as many games, just 2:40 into the third, with Marc-Andre Gragnani in the box for slashing.  Jason Williams and Dupont exchanged the puck on the right-wing side and found Newbury open along the goal line.  The left-handed-shooting Newbury was able to get enough of a shooting angle to rip the puck off of Enroth’s pads and into the net.

That goal gave the Whale its first lead of the game and, as it would turn out, would be enough for the victory.

The Whale have now won two of their three visits on the year to Portland, and the Pirates came into the game with the best home winning percentage in the AHL (.792), at 17-3-3-1.  Fourth-place Connecticut improved to 24-20-2-5 for 55 points on the season and remained one point behind third-place Worcester in the Atlantic Division, after the Sharks shut out Providence at home, 2-0.

The Whale and Pirates have a rematch Sunday at 3 p.m. at the XL Center in Hartford. There will be 2,000 Whale headbands given away compliments of XFINITY of Comcast. It’s the Whale’s last game at the XL Center until March 2, when they face Springfield. Then the Whale won’t be home again until March 11 against the defending Calder Cup champion Hershey Bears, meaning after Sunday, they play 10 of their next 12 games on the road, including their only trips to Toronto, Hamilton, Ontario, and Charlotte, N.C. But they do play 10 of their last 16 games at the XL Center.

HARVEST-PROPERTIES HOCKEY FEST 2011 STARTS THIS WEEK

The historic “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” is scheduled to begin Friday at Rentschler Field in East Hartford with a game between the girls teams from Hotchkiss School (Lakeville) and Cushing Academy (Ashburnham, Mass.) at 4 p.m., the opener of a tripleheader.

The featured attraction of the event that runs through Feb. 23 is the Harvest-Properties.com “Whale Bowl” on Feb. 19 in which the Hartford Whalers legends play the Boston Bruins legends at 4 p.m., followed by the Whale and Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. Celebrities also will participate in the legends game, which will follow a game between Army and AIC at 1 p.m. In case of bad weather, the Whale-Bruins game will be played Feb. 20.

Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, and Brad Park headline the Bruins legends team. Other commitments are Enfield native Craig Janney, former captain Rick Middleton, who played 12 seasons in Boston and 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.

The official charity of the Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011 is “Sam’s Race for a Place,” a fund-raising effort spearheaded by West Hartford resident Samantha Udolf that benefits the Ronald McDonald House. Since Udolf, a successful competitive skier, founded Sam’s Race for a Place in June of 2008, it has generated donations of more than $43,500.

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

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

Connecticut Whale 4 at Portland Pirates 3
Saturday, February 5, 2011 – Cumberland County Civic Center

Connecticut 0 3 1 – 4
Portland       1 2 0 – 3

1st Period-1, Portland, Mancari 28   9:12 (SH). Penalties-McCauley Por (hooking), 7:18; Redden Ct (tripping), 14:37.

2nd Period-2, Connecticut, Williams 4 (Dupont, Kundratek), 5:22. 3, Portland, Bowers 3 (McCauley, Ellis), 6:51. 4, Connecticut, Kolarik 18 (Grachev, Kennedy), 7:47. 5, Portland, McCauley 9 (Crawford, Gongalsky), 12:37. 6, Connecticut, Kolarik 19 (Grachev, Kennedy), 18:40. Penalties-Conboy Por (interference), 3:21; Redden Ct (interference), 10:03; O’Hanley Por (tripping), 13:33.

3rd Period-7, Connecticut, Newbury 7 (Dupont, Williams), 2:40 (PP). Penalties-Gragnani Por (slashing), 1:51; Williams Ct (interference), 14:22.

Shots on Goal-Connecticut 8-14-7-29. Portland 5-12-8-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Connecticut 1 / 4; Portland 0 / 3.
Goalies-Connecticut, Grumet-Morris 1-1-0 (25 shots-22 saves). Portland, Enroth 16-14-1 (29 shots-25 saves).
A-5,709
Referees-Francis Charron (46).
Linesmen-Landon Bathe (80), Joe Ross (92).

By Bruce Berlet

HARTFORD, Conn. – Friday marked the 25^th anniversary of the 1986 NHL All-Star Game at the then Hartford Civic Center and the end of the 2011 AHL All-Star break for the struggling intrastate rival Connecticut Whale and Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

While Game 50 for the Whale and Game 49 for the Sound Tigers likely won’t make any All-Star reels, it proved plenty exciting for the 6,023 at the XL Center, including ’86 All-Stars and former Hartford Whalers Mark Howe and Brian Propp, along with former Whalers fan favorite Alan Hangsleben.

And Whale goalie Chad Johnson gave an All-Star performance, especially in the first period, and AHL All-Star Jeremy Williams, rookie Jyri Niemi and veteran Kris Newbury scored as Johnson and the Whale ended three-game losing streaks with a 3-2 victory.

Johnson’s 28-save effort came a day after he spent a half-hour after practice chatting and watching video with New York Rangers goaltenders coach Benoit Allaire. They reviewed a few clips of Johnson’s first NHL win last season against the Colorado Avalanche and focused on keeping things simple.

“I told him I just haven’t felt the same,” said Johnson, who had a 21-save, 4-0 victory over the Sound Tigers in their previous meeting Dec. 26. “For me, it’s all about my posture and my stance. We looked at things and just tried to keep it simple. I admit I haven’t really been consistent this season throughout games, so it has been tough. We just talked about little things and simplifying my game, just beat the pass, that’s the big thing. He was just reinforcing the basics and his philosophy and what can make us successful.”

Johnson was especially successful in the opening 10 minutes, which the Sound Tigers dominated while holding the Whale to only one shot. But that was a goal at 3:22 by Jeremy Williams, who took a centering pass from behind the net from Brodie Dupont and lifted a shot under the crossbar, much as he did in helping the Eastern Conference beat the Western Conference 11-10 in the AHL All-Star Game on Monday night. It was Williams’ 23^rd goal and 41^st point, both team highs.

The rest of the period belonged to Johnson, who made point-blank saves off Justin DiBenedetto at 6:14, Olivier Labelle at 9:38 and Brady Leisenring at 10:01.

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“Bennie had said be aware of where the players are, and my success was being aware of where guys were when they got in the slot,” Johnson said. “I was in good position, pushed into it and was square to the puck earlier than usual. Guys did a good job communicating after I talked to the defensive corps with (assistant coach) J.J. (Daigneault). We wanted to make sure we had communications, and if could see pucks and playing the puck behind the net, and I think that helped a lot. We had a lot more communications and I was seeing a lot more pucks, so like J.J. said, if I see it, I stop it. Now having consistency is going to be the biggest thing for me.”

Newbury, reassigned to the Whale on Thursday after two solid stints with the Rangers spanning eight games, scored the winner off Wade Redden’s rebound with 8:40 left in the second period. Newbury had several other good scoring chances while having to play a more offensive role than in New York, where he was on a checking line and helped kill penalties and take face-offs.

“We’ve been struggling, but tonight we put it together for 45-50 minutes,” said Newbury, who will have played seven games in 10 days by the end of a home-and-home with the Portland Pirates on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. “There are definitely some things to work on when we have a couple days off next week to get some better practice habits and try to clean up our end a little better before we start on the offense.

“Chad played well and kept us in the game. Even when they got a late one (by Wes O’Neill with 6:56 left), he was able to shut the door for us. It’s good to see, but some a forward’s standpoint, and I think I can talk for most of the defense, we have to be better in our end.”

It was a much-needed victory for the Whale (23-20-2-5), who had lost the first three games of a homestand, as well as four straight and six of seven at home after eight consecutive wins at the XL Center. The victory got the Whale even at home (12-12-2-1) and kept them within one point of third-place Worcester, which beat Atlantic Division-leading Manchester 4-3 in a shootout. But the Whale, now 5-1-0-1 in the GEICO Connecticut Cup against the Sound Tigers, remained only three points ahead of Providence, which beat Springfield, 2-1.

Meanwhile, the Sound Tigers (19-24-3-3) lost their fifth in a row and are 1-10-2-1 in 2011 while falling into the division cellar.

After Williams gave the Whale the early lead, Johnson robbed DiBenedetto at 5:45. But moments later during the Sound Tigers’ first power play, DiBenedetto converted his own rebound 22 seconds later off a deflected shot from the right point by former Wolf Pack defenseman Dylan Reese, reassigned earlier in the day by the parent New York Islanders.

Moments later, a diving Koskinen robbed Evgeny Grachev, whose skate caught the goalie in the face, dazing him. Chad Kolarik picked up the rebound and sent it to the left point to Tomas Kundratek, who passed to the right point to Jyri Niemi for a 50-foot shot into an open net at 7:02 for his first pro goal.

“I thought the referee was going to whistle the play dead,” Koskinen said. “I thought I felt OK, but the next time I saw the puck, it was in the net.”

When asked if he thought a monkey had been lifted off his back, Niemi smiled and said, “Oh, yeah, it’s like a gorilla.” Niemi, a third-round pick of the Islanders in 2008 acquired by the Rangers for a sixth-round pick on May 25, 2010, had the commemorative puck in his locker room after being presented it by Kundratek.

“The guys told me that I would have been fined if I didn’t score,” Niemi said, smiling again. “When Tomas got the puck, I looked down and the goalie was falling down, so I thought I’d take my time and score. Tomas saw me wide open, so it was a good play by him.

“It has never taken me this long to score, maybe 12 games in my last year of juniors (with Saskatoon of the Western Hockey League). In juniors, I used to score a lot, so it’s a big relief to get the one out of the way here.”

Would he being texting his family and friends in his native Finland?

“They can look it up on the Internet,” Niemi said with one final smile.

The Whale got the winner when Redden picked off a Jesse Joensuu clearing attempt along the left boards and fired a shot that Newbury converted with a backhanded rebound at 11:20 after outmuscling All-Star defenseman Mark Wotton in front.

“We haven’t scored a plethora of goals lately, so those are the kind of goals that we need more of,” Whale coach Ken Gernander said. “We need him to get into those dirty areas either to get second or third attempts net-front or just occupy people in front or create some traffic.”

Johnson kept it a two-goal game with another brilliant stop, this time on All-Star captain Mark Wotton’s wide-open rebound bid from 10 feet in front with 2:48 left in the period.

Koskinen kept the Sound Tigers in the game when he made a right-toe save on Kolarik with three seconds left in the period. Then moments after the Whale killed a Sound Tigers power play, Kolarik blocked a pass in his own and took off on a breakaway but missed the net at 3:10.

At 6:33, Koskinen slid across to rob Niemi breaking in alone off a pass from Newbury, causing the rookie defenseman to shake his head in disbelief. Then Johnson came out to deny DiBenedetto cruising in off right wing with 8:34 left.

But Johnson couldn’t hold off the charging Sound Tigers forever as O’Neill got inside Whale defenseman Jared Nightingale and knocked in Leisenring’s rebound with 6:56 left.

The Sound Tigers pulled Koskinen for a sixth attacker with 1:32 left, but the Whale allowed only one shot on Johnson.

“I thought some guys were pretty sloppy in areas, and part of it was both teams were coming back from the (All-Star) break,” Gernander said. “We could have made better plays with the puck at times, and there were some breakdowns never should have occurred, and both goalies made some good saves, but Johnson was good.

“I’d like to see everybody hitting on all cylinders, and I don’t think our game is where it was before we had the rash of injuries and call-ups. So we have to continue to push until we squeeze out our A game on a consistent basis.”

WHALE SWITCHES GOALIES; NEWBURY, NIEMI RETURN; WEISE OUT

The Whale signed goalie Dov Grumet-Morris to another professional tryout contract and released goalie Pier-Olivier Pelletier from his PTO. Grumet-Morris, a sixth-year pro out of Harvard, played in two games with the Whale in November, going 0-1-0 with a 1.32 goals-against average and .935 save percentage in 91 minutes. He returns from the Whale’s ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Road Warriors, for whom he was 15-8-1, 2.32 GAA, .922 save percentage in 24 games. He was tied for the ECHL lead in shutouts (three) and was second in GAA and fourth in save percentage.

Pelletier, signed Jan. 19 from Laredo of the Central Hockey League, played 54 minutes in his AHL debut Jan. 21, stopping 18 of 22 shots, including a penalty shot, in a 7-3 loss to Hamilton. The Whale needs a second goalie because Cam Talbot missed his sixth game with a high ankle sprain sustained in a 6-3 victory over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Jan. 16. The Whale also scratched wing Dale Weise (undisclosed injury), center Todd White (concussion) and wing Chris McKelvie (foot surgery). Oren Eizenman replaced Weise and was on a line with Ryan Garlock and Justin Soryal. The Sound Tigers scratched leading scorer and All-Star Rhett Rakhshani, Tony Romano, Andy Hilbert, Jason Pitton and Jeremy Yablonski.

Meanwhile, Newbury, the Whale’s second-leading scorer (five goals, 31 assists) despite missing six games during two stints with the parent New York Rangers, and Niemi returned to the lineup. Newbury, reassigned after getting one assist and 35 penalty minutes in eight games with the Rangers, was on a line with Jeremy Williams and Dupont.

But Newbury wasn’t forgotten in New York.

“I like what Newbury brought,” coach John Tortorella said before the Rangers lost 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night despite goals from former Wolf Pack wing Ryan Callahan, his second in two games after missing six weeks and 19 games with a broken hand, and Vinny Prospal, playing his first game of the season after two knee surgeries. “He will fight, he’s abrasive. He’s a guy we could call up (again). The staff loves him because of his jam.”

Newbury was flattered but had more immediate things on his mind.

“It always gives you more confidence when a coach like that has good things to say for you,” Newbury said. “But at the same time, I have a different role down here, and I have to play to that to help to help this team win hockey games. It’s a thrill that he’s talking like that about me, but at the end of the day, I want to work hard down to help this team win and hopefully get back up there.”

… Whale mascot Pucky made a triumphant return to the strains of “Rocky” after being tackled and punched by an intoxicated fan during Saturday night’s game against Portland. Pucky entered the ice in a wheelchair, then leaped up, slid head-first across the ice and stood up and pumped his arms as the crowd roared.

Meanwhile, Kevin O’Connell, a 28-year-old from East Hartford, was banned from the XL Center for life for attacking Frank Berrian. O’Connell told police that he attacked Pucky over a bet. He was arrested and charged with one count of second-degree breach of peace. Fortunately, no one was injured on Boy Scouts Night, though several youngsters witnessed the incident.

WHALE HAS HOME-AND-HOME SET WITH PIRATES

The Whale play a home-and-home set with Portland Saturday at 7 p.m. in Maine and at 3 p.m. at the XL Center on Super Bowl Sunday. They have split four games, with both Whale victories coming on overtime goals on Dec. 29 and 31 by Tim Kennedy, a member of the AHL all-rookie team in 2008 while with the Pirates. The Pirates (29-14-4-1), who were idle Friday night, have won five of their last six games and are two points behind Manchester.

The Pirates evened the season series with the Whale last Saturday on Derek Whitmore’s power-play goal with 7.5 seconds left, his third of the season against the Whale. David Leggio had 36 saves for his fourth consecutive victory and has allowed only two goals in two wins against the Whale. Wing Mark Mancari, the AHL Player of the Month for January, leads the league in goals (27) and is third in points (53), and the Pirates have the AHL’s second-best home record (17-3-3-1, .792 percent). There will be 2,000 Whale headbands given away at Sunday’s matchup sponsored by XFINITY of Comcast.

Saturday from 2 to 4 p.m., the Grand Rink at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods will host a skate with former Whalers Alan Hangsleben, 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 “Whale Bowl,” the featured attraction of the “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” on Feb. 11-23 at Rentschler Field in East Hartford. The “Whale Bowl” pits the Hartford Whalers legends against the Boston Bruins legends at 4 p.m., followed by the Whale Providence at 7 p.m. In case of bad weather, the Whale-Bruins game will be played Feb. 20.

NUMBERS BEAR OUT THOUGHTS

This writer gave major kudos to the NHL for its innovative All-Star Player Fantasy Draft in which Eric Staal of the hometown Carolina Hurricanes and Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit helped make it the most interesting All-Star Game in all of pro sports.

The numbers substantiate those thoughts as NHL All-Star weekend earned significant increases in viewership in the United States and Canada, a 42 percent increase in sponsorship revenue over the last All-Star Game in the U.S., an all-time record for video starts on nhl.com and the best retail performance for a U.S.-based All-Star Game in seven years.

Other than that, it wasn’t a very good weekend.

The city of Raleigh, N.C., and the surrounding area stood out for three days as fans tailgated, flocked downtown and more than 31,000 people attended the NHL Fan Fair. On Sunday, a sold-out RBC Center watched as Team Lidstrom rallied from an early three-goal deficit to beat Team Staal, 11-10.

“By all measures, this was one of the NHL’s most successful All-Star weekends ever with fans and our corporate partners embracing the event in a big way,” NHL COO John Collins said. “Our hosts in Raleigh did a tremendous job and it was gratifying to see the entire community energized around hockey. Our new innovation, the Player Fantasy Draft, was a huge hit. The Skills Challenge and the All-Star Game saw substantial viewership and digital increases. Without a doubt, All-Star Weekend remains one of the league’s most important platforms to celebrate hockey in the host community, promote our best players to a global audience and to provide a pathway for our corporate partners to invest in the sport.”

This success continues the league’s momentum created in part by its big events. The recent Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic between the Penguins and Washington Capitals was the most-watched U.S. NHL regular-season game in the last 36 years and generated a 20 percent increase in sponsorship revenue. The NHL’s big event strategy is driving significant growth and, as announced last week, the league is on pace to set an all-time revenue record for the fifth consecutive year.

The next major event is Feb. 20, when the 2011 Tim Horton’s NHL Heritage Classic, an outdoor game between the Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens. It’s also “Hockey Day in America,” a celebration of the roots of hockey, which includes NBC providing regional coverage of a slate of games.

Highlights of All-Star Weekend included the most watched All-Star game in VERSUS history, averaging nearly 1.5 million viewers, a 36 percent increase over the 2009 All-Star Game. The SuperSkills averaged 1.18 million viewers, the most watched such competition on cable since 2003 and a 35 percent increase over 2009 (875,000).

The debut of the NHL All-Star Player Fantasy Draft on Friday night was also a success as the telecast averaged 624,000 viewers, up 107 percent from the 2010-11 NHL regular-season average on VERSUS (302,000 viewers). The All-Star Game and SuperSkills were record-setters on CBC. The All-Star Game drew an average of 2.389 million viewers, the highest for an All-Star Game on Hockey Night in Canada and a 56 percent increase over 2009 (1.527 million). The previous best was 1.67 million for the 1999 All-Star Game, which is as far back as records have been kept.

The SuperSkills also was a record-setter, drawing an audience of 2.446 million viewers and peaking at more than three million. The average audience was 78 percent higher than the previous high, 1.371 million, that tuned in to the last SuperSkills in Montreal in 2009. TSN’s coverage of the All-Star Player Fantasy Draft averaged 1.5 million viewers for its 90-minute primetime broadcast and won the night on Canadian television in all key demographics.

Here’s what a few others had to say:

“With the sports world raving about the innovative player draft at the NHL All-Star Game, the focus now shifts to other sports that have gotten heat over outdated and uninteresting formats.” – CBSSports.com

“Officially the most exciting All-Star format in professional sports.” – Yahoo Sports

“A brilliant innovation.” – Yahoo Sports on the player draft

“There were many good things about the event in Raleigh. Even for the most cynical media types, it was hard not to feel a good deal of affection for the new innovation.” – ESPN.com

Case closed!!!!

WHALE 3, SOUND TIGERS 2

Bridgeport      0 1 1 – 2
Connecticut    1 2 0 – 3

First period: 1. Conn, Williams 23 (Dupont, Garlock), 3:22. Penalty: Klementyev, Bri (holding), 18:19.

Second period: 2. Bri, DiBenedetto 10 (Reese, Hisey), 6:07 (pp). 3. Conn, Niemi 1 (Kundratek, Kolarik), 7:02. 4. Conn, Newbury 6 (Redden), 11:20. Penalties: DiDiomete, Ct (roughing), 5:59; Bickel, Ct (hooking), 7:28.

Third period: 5. Bridgeport, O’Neill 4 (Leisenring, Klementyev), 13:04. Penalty: Williams, Ct (tripping), 1:01.

Shots on goal: Bridgeport 10-10-10-30. Connecticut 6-15-8-29; Power-play opportunities: Bridgeport 1 of 3; Connecticut 0 of 1; Goalies: Bridgeport, Koskinen 5-15-0 (29 shots-26 saves). Connecticut, Johnson 15-17-3 (30-28); A: 6,023; Referee: Chris Brown; Linesmen: David Spannaus, Luke Galvin.

By Bruce Berlet

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. – Jim Hartnett called it his “Unlucky Number 7” project.

But a Herculean effort of countless hours of overtime and dedication the past three snow-filled weeks have kept the historic “Harvest-Properties.com Whalers Hockey Fest 2011” close to on schedule.

“This has been the toughest weather project I’ve ever encountered,” construction manager Jim Hartnett of EIS Rinks said Friday at Rentschler Field. “I had floated in four days for possible delays, and we’ve lost seven (of the first 18) days to weather as far as our production schedule, including snow removal (from the ice surface). I’ve done seven of these projects and had never lost a day to the end of the floated-in schedule.

“We’ve always been able to maintain a (finished) schedule, so this is Unlucky Number 7,” Hartnett added with a smile. “But the weather is the weather. We’re shooting for Feb. 11 for skating, but we’ll open it up as soon as it’s safe and skate-worthy.”

With any luck – and some cooperation from Mother Nature for a change – Harnett and his crew will be able to have the rink ready for opening day next Saturday. Two “break-in-the-ice” days have been wiped out, but Hartnett is confident that without further delays, the Cushing Academy and Hotchkiss girls teams will face off on time at 4 p.m.

There are six games or groups scheduled to use the rink next Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to midnight, then Feb. 13 is “UConn Day” starting with an alumni game at 9 a.m. After an alumni family skate, the UConn men will play Sacred Heart at 1 p.m., followed by the UConn women against Providence at 4 p.m. The day will conclude with the Junior A Wolf Pack playing the Springfield Pics at 7 p.m., and a cthockeyleague.com game at 10 p.m. If games are postponed, they can be moved to the backend of the schedule.

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Hartnett’s crew, which began the building the rink Jan. 17, hopes to finish putting up the dasher boards by Saturday afternoon and then start 21/2 days of ice-making on Sunday. Then there’s installation of the plexi-glass and cosmetic carpentry work such as building ramps, player and scorers benches and penalty boxes.

As Hartnett surveyed his hard-working crew and spoke near the rink covering the Rentschler Field grass that’s the home to UConn football, about 75 people from “Teen Challenge Connecticut” based in New Haven, “Teen Challenge Albany (N.Y.)” and “Teen Challenge New York” began the massive task of removing the record of more than four feet of snow that fell on the area in January from the 38,000-seat facility.

Ray Bohn, supervisor of Team Challenge Connecticut, was among 40 people from the local non-profit group removing snow to raise money for the organization. Bohn said the group had previously done snow removal, but nothing close to as extensive as this.

“We’ve done multiple projects like this, but not shoveled out stadiums,” Bohn said.

Kansas-based Kingdome has supervisors overseeing the three snow removal groups, who are expected to need four days to clear out Rentschler Field.

Howard Baldwin, Jr., president and COO of Whalers Sports and Entertainment, which is funding the Hockey Fest, said it is costing $72,000 to remove the snow from the stadium seats and $32,000 from the parking lots, including one runway. That’s more than $80,000 over the $20,000 budgeted in the $300,000 project.

“Getting the snow out of the stadium is a huge job, and an expensive one,” Baldwin said. “But we are glad to turn this into a positive for the community. The three groups doing the work are three very worthy organizations, and we are grateful to be able to direct this snow-removal expense to help them with fund-raising objectives.”

More than 30 youth, high school, prep school, college, alumni and pro games are scheduled from Feb. 11 to 23, with the feature attraction being the Harvest-Properties.com “Whale Bowl” on Feb. 19. It’s a doubleheader starting with the Hartford Whalers legends against the Boston Bruins legends at 4 p.m., followed by the second AHL outdoor game in history between the Connecticut Whale and Providence Bruins at 7 p.m. Celebrities will play for the alumni teams, and if the Whale-Bruins game is postponed, it will be played Feb. 20.

The legends-AHL games will be preceded by the Army-AIC game at 1 p.m., and Baldwin said about 18,500 tickets have been sold for the tripleheader. The crowd of 21,508 at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse last year was an AHL record that Whalers Sports and Entertainment officials hope to shatter.

“We need another 12,000 (people),” WSE chairman and CEO Howard Baldwin said. “Our measure of success is 30,000 or more.”

The younger Baldwin said he might have Hartnett’s crew put “Go Whale” into the snow surrounding the ice surface.

“We’re pumped up and excited,” Baldwin Jr. said. “We’re a little upset about the snow, but weather is not something we can control. We just hope we get a huge turnout for the 19^th.”

Hall of Fame defensemen Brian Leetch, a Cheshire native, and Brad Park headline the Bruins legends team. Other Bruins commitments 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 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.

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

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

For more information about Sam’s Race for a Place, visit www.samsraceforaplace.com. Donations also can be made through that web address.

Besides the games, the Hockey Fest will include “Whale Town” featuring exhibitors, games and the Whalers Mobile Hall of Fame.

Photo credits: Bettina Hansen – Hartford Courant (No. 5, No. 7)