Wolves Take Game One

The Chicago Wolves have captured the game one win in the Calder Cup Finals after jumping out to any early 1-0 lead on an incredible play (watch the highlights) leading to a Jesse Schultz goal with assists to Darren Haydar and Jason Krog.

Krog finished the night with two assists to Haydar's one.

The Wolves, who built out a 3-0 first period lead, beat Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins' goaltender John Curry (the BU alum) five times to edge the comeback-minded Jr. Pens, 5-4.

They will drop the puck on game two Sunday afternoon at home for the Wolves once again with a 4pm EST start.

Go Wolves!

Go 'Cats!

AHL Chats: Krog Responds

Thanks, Jason, for taking the time to answer our questions.

The transcript is title-linked to this post and notably mentions the ol' Alma Mater twice in reference to a career highlight in the 98-99 Tournament and a familiar face in fellow alum and teammate, Darren Haydar.

The first game of the Calder Cup Finals is... NOW!!!

Go 'Cats!

'Bout Time

The 2008-2009 schedule is out... just ahead of June.

Seems like some weak opponents (Rensselaer, St. Lawerence, Holy Cross and... Maine?) but we know how some of those games turned out last season.

On the other hand we will host perennial power Wisconsin in the first game of the season and will wind our way west to the Mariucci for a two game set against the Minnesota Golden Gophers - both relatively early in the season as the Minnesota games will take place November 7^th and 8^th.

The season (the 'See Entire Schedule' link to the right, under 'Upcoming Games', is updated) will open with a five game home stretch (starting with the exhibition) and six games played in Towse Rink out of the first seven. That will give way to six games on the road.

Two games will be played in Manchester's Verizon Wireless Arena - The RiverStone Cup versus Dartmouth and second of the Maine series in early February.

Be sure to see the title-linked Official Site's write-up!

Just over four months from the 08-09 season! I can't wait!

Go 'Cats!

AHL Chats w/ AHL MVP Jason Krog

Click here to submit your questions for Jason!

Wolves Advance in Five

The Chicago Wolves are the 2008 Western Conference Champions, winning the Robert W. Clarke Trophy over the Toronto Marlies in five games.

After a brief game four setback in which the two Wildcat Alums-turned-Wolves wunderkind were finally held ineffective, they stormed back. Darren Haydar lead the way, finishing the comeback, by breaking a 2-2 tie in the third period after having assisted, along with Krog, on the Wolves first goal to mount the offensive after falling behind by two in the first period. Krog would finish with two assists to bring his league leading point total to 28 (9 goals, 19 assists). Haydar's goal and assist allows him soul possession of second in scoring with 20 points (8 goals, 12 assists).

Bryan Muir did not play in the final game.

As always you can find game highlights on the Chicago Wolves' Official Website.

Go Wolves!

Go 'Cats!

UNH Men's Hockey Class of 2012 Announced

The University of New Hampshire Men's Hockey Class of 2012 has been announced on the Official Site of UNH Athletics and the title-linked article gives a great rundown of the newcomers.

The class includes two goaltenders, - Matt DiGirolamo and Tyler Scott - two defensemen - Blake Kessel and Damon Kipp - and three forwards - Mike Borisenok, Steve Moses and Kevin McCarey.

All told there are three USHL alumni (DiGirolamo, Kessel and Borisenok), an EJHL alumnus (Moses), a USNTDP alumnus (McCarey - EJHL alum before that), a BCHL alum (Kipp) and a New England Prep alum in Scott.

You can find links for stats (click on the names in grey) for most of them as well as a table of commitment dates and other stats in the Future 'Cats section in the lower part of the right-hand sidebar of this blog.

Welcome Class of 2012!

The article also includes this morsel for Wildcat Nation:

The Wildcats officially kick off the 2008-09 season on Saturday, Oct. 11 against WCHA foe Wisconsin at 7 p.m. at the Whittemore Center in Durham, N.H. UNH will also host an exhibition game on Saturday, Oct. 4 against St. Francis Xavier at the Whittemore Center at 7 p.m.

Go 'Cats!

AHL WC Final... Kind of the Same

Jason Krog was held without a goal for the first time in five games - though that still leaves him with five goals through the first three games of this series - and Darren Haydar out-paced him in assists three-to-one as the Chicago Wolves took a commanding 3-0 series lead over Bryan Muir and the Toronto Marlies.

All of the goals scored by the Wolves came on the powerplay leaving Muir's plus-minus intact as he has only been on the ice for a single powerplay goal each game of this series - he is a +6 in this season's playoffs which ranks him tied for 15^th in the league with a couple of his teammates. Once again BC alum, Scott Clemmensen allowed three goals or more to the Wolves.

Krog still leads the league in points with 9 goals and 16 assists and Haydar is tied for third with 7 goals and 10 assists. Muir has 2 assists.

Game four is tonight, 7:30 EST, at Toronto's Ricoh Coliseum.

Go 'Cats!

Where Will They Be?

Where will past and present Wildcats be when the new, 2008-2009 hockey season dawns?

Let's have a look.

The question on everyone's mind - will James vanRiemsdyk return for his sophomore season?

Answer: Absolutely. This was widely reported on by WMUR a few weeks back and, as was brought to my attention, recently by Foster's. Good news indeed for the Wildcat Men's Hockey Team.

Glad to have you, James!

Still no word on whether Darren Haydar will cross the Big Pond to play for Ambri next season as his post-season continues with fellow Wildcat Alum, Jason Krog, and the Chicago Wolves. It also seems as if some other Swiss teams are interested in acquiring Haydar as well though rumors of him joining Ambri for next season persist.

I haven't heard anything concerning Krog's future yet but I can only assume that he will be looking to turn his AHL MVP and playoff scoring leader performance into a solid slot on an NHL team.

I have recently heard that both Sean Collins and Justin Aikins will look to reunite in the SM-league (Finnish) competing against former Wildcat teammate Steve Saviano (who's returning to Tappara Tampere). The duo will play for Sport Vaasa who had also hoped to bring in Saviano. This news was related to me by a dedicated Sport fan who gratefully contacted me with the news and questions pertaining to the pair's playing style.

That's all I have for now but questions persist:

Will Dan Winnik maintain his spot on the Phoenix Coyotes' roster?

Will Ty Conklin land a starting gig with an NHL club?

Will Kevin Regan lock up the starting role with the Providence Bruins?

What about the rest of Wildcat Nation? What are your big questions? Have you heard any believable rumors? Comment below!

Go 'Cats!

Game 2 - More of the Same

Almost literally.

Jason Krog scores twice in the first three minutes and eight seconds of the game, the first coming at just twenty-five seconds, and Darren Haydar adds two assists as the Wolves shut out the Marlies 5-0.

The Captain, Haydar, fed the puck to teammate, defenseman Joel Kwiatkowski, who got the puck to Krog for the 1-0 lead. Joe Motzko (St. Cloud State) found Krog for the 2-0 lead then Krog and Haydar got the puck to Kwiatkowski, returning the favor, for the 3-0 lead at the 6:51 mark of the first period.

Krog now has a commanding nine goals and fourteen assists in fifteen games and thereby leads the league. Haydar moves up to a tie for fifth in league scoring with seven goals and seven assists in fifteen games.

On the losing side for the second straight game but by no fault of his own, Bryan Muir was even in the loss and BC alumni goaltender Scott Clemmensen was chased from the game after two periods giving up all five goals.

Go 'Cats!

Krog, Haydar Dominate WC Finals Gm 1

Jason Krog scored twice, make that thrice, and assisted once to one-up teammate and fellow Wildcat Alum, Darren Haydar, who scored and assisted while leading the Wolves to victory in game one of the Western Conference Finals in the hunt for the Calder Cup.

Krog leads the league in playoff scoring with 6 7 goals and 14 assists in 14 games. Haydar is closing with 7 goals and 5 assists in those 14 games and is tied for 10^th in playoff scoring.

Bryan Muir was a +1 in the losing effort on the part of the Marlies and BC alum, goaltender, Scott Clemmensen.

The final score was 4-1 Chicago with the empty-netter going to Krog for the hat-trick.

Go 'Cats!

Regan's Accolades Accumulate

Though Kevin Regan's college hockey career has come to an end, he continues to rack up awards, having recently been honored with our Alma Mater's Jim Urquhart Student-Athlete Of Year Award.

The title-linked article from the Official Site of UNH Athletics offers a great write-up of Regan's accomplishments in the Blue and White as well as a couple other great UNH Athletes who were honored.

Ricky Santos, the University of New Hampshire's quarterback shared the male athlete award for his extraordinary contributions to the football team and Cathy Parker, cross country, ran away with the women's award with a host of extremely impressive achievements.

Both Regan and Parker were also exemplary in the classroom.

Congratulations to all three on the well deserved honor!

Go 'Cats!

Krog, Haydar Help Wolves Move On

It's all there in the title-linked AHL article except for Haydar's assist on Krog's game-winning powerplay goal.

Krog is tied for the league lead in playoff points with 4 goals and 13 assists. Haydar is having an uncharacteristically off playoff season but is tied for 18th in points with 6 goals and 4 assists.

They resume their playoff journey Friday night, 8:30 ET, at home in the AllState Arena where they'll host the Toronto Marlies and former UNH defenseman Bryan Muir who has two assists and is a +5 for the Marlies.

Way to go fellas!

*Late Note: EA simulation projects Chicago Wolves to win AHL's Calder Cup

Jason Krog's four-point performance in Game 7 helped the Wolves capture the championship and earn him the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as playoff MVP in the simulation.

Go 'Cats!

Blown Coverage: USHL Playoffs

Yours truly has truly blown the coverage of the USHL playoffs concerning our Future 'Cat, Matt White.

As you know Blake Kessel and Matt DiGirolamo were huge factors in the Waterloo Black Hawks' playoff run.

Well. Saturday night, that run came to an end in the decisive final game of the 2008 Clark Cup playoffs - they lost in an eerie sequence, to the Omaha Lancers, that saw BC recruit Barry Almeida bat a puck out of the air past DiGirolamo and score the overtime game winner. Ugh.

Well, what I conveniently blinded myself to was the stellar playoffs had by Omaha Lancer rookie and Future 'Cat, Matt White!

White tallied a goal and three assists against the Black Hawks in the championship series to bring his 2008 playoff total to two goals and eight assists. He was a +3 in the final game though he did not record a point.

You may recall that he was held out of play for a large part of the season with a lacerated spleen that I reported on at the time. Regardless, his comeback now includes being tied for third in playoff scoring on his 2008 Clark Cup Champion Omaha Lancers.

Congratulations Matt!

Well done! Sorry about the oversight.

As to Kessel and DiGirolamo, sorry to hear about the tough loss (though they did earn the championship last season), but I am happy to say - see you in the fall!

Go 'Cats!

Recruits Kessel & DiGirolamo Play In Championship Game Tonight

The two Future 'Cats have been stellar but Omaha's Barry Almeida, a BC recruit, and their goaltender, Drew Palmisano (a Michigan State recruit), have pushed the series to a decisive game five where the winner will be crowned champion. If it is the Black Hawks they will have notched back-to-back Clark Cups.

Kessel leads the Hawks with a goal and nine assists and DiGirolamo leads all goaltenders with a 8-2 record that stems from his top in the league, 1.56 GAA and .933 save-percentage.

You can see the action on B2 Networks which can be accessed from the title-linked game four write-up on USHL.com.

Go Hawks!

Go 'Cats!

UNH Goalies Posting Up

First off is Ty Conklin who was announced as a finalist (May 9^th UPDATE: I apologize. This is incorrect. Conklin was a nominee for the award by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. Ty did not become a finalist as the three were announced today) for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for his stellar play in the NHL this year. I apologize for not getting this story out sooner - it's been kicking around since the beginning of April! See this NHL.com article for a great write-up.

And then we have our recent graduate, Kevin Regan who has signed to a two year entry-level contract with the Boston Bruins and is expected to land in Providence for next season. It will be interesting to see how the opportunity shakes out for the new pro as the Bruins goaltender corps is currently loaded with talent from starter, Vermont Catamount standout Tim Thomas, on through backups Alex Auld (unrestricted free agent) and Manny Fernandez, to one of the AHL's premier duos in Tukka Rask and Jordan Sigalet (former Bowling Green University goaltender with multiple sclerosis whose organization, ShutoutMS raised over $65,000 last year to fight the disease).

Congratulations both of you!

Go 'Cats!