This season brought to you by the farm-fresh youngsters of the Hartford Wolf*Pack.

No, really, I finally got what I wanted – youth in Hartford. Regardless of uninformed rants on other web sites about how we are older than ever, actually this is the youngest team ever fielded by Hartford in its seven years of existence. Yes, they do make dumb mistakes (I’m talking to you, Mr. Tjutin) but they also are exciting, enthusiastic, and occasionally even dazzlingly talented. I will enjoy a season that is played the way this one has opened, with wild end-to-end rushes, necessarily spectacular goaltending, and huge hits that leave opponents staggering in circles. If this team can stay what it is now – an incubator for youth on the bubble – and not become a dumping ground for discarded vets from New York – then I don’t even care if we win the cup. Hockey will be fun in Hartford for the first time in four years.

I’m going to go through the roster by lines, which in the past would be a pointless exercise – lines changed ever period, if not every shift. Now, with Sather saying that stability is important, his lapdog McGill is instituting the same thing in Hartford – line changes are minimal during the game, and it appears even between games. Which is good, because these kids are still trying to learn each other’s names, let alone where they are going to be on the ice.

We opened with our checking line, consisting of Captain Ken Gernander, Alternate Captain Jason MacDonald, and Bobby Andrews.

RW/C Gernander (5-10, 178) is 34 this season, and is the only captain this team has ever known. This is his tenth year in the Rangers organization, and he continues to lead the Pack with patience, class, and passion. Has been repeatedly named “Best Defensive Forward” by the team and media, and is one of the best PK players in the league – and a constant threat for the short handed goal. On Friday, our forwards couldn’t find the right end of the ice, leading to our defensemen jumping up all night – meaning that Kenny ended up playing defense. For a guy who played defense for the first time in his career last year, he’s pretty good at it.

RW MacDonald (5-11, 210) is 29. Jason arrived this summer as a free agent from the hated Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (the team that brought us Billy Tibbetts) where he was their captain and PIM leader. He also arrives with a long list of suspensions, some for particular infractions, some for accumulating too many game misconducts. After watching him fight in the first game, I think he has racked up the PIMs for the same reason as Garrett Burnett – no one is afraid to fight him. He had 9 PIM in the first game but apparently someone told him to cool it, because he stayed out of the box last night. Given that he started the fight but never landed a punch, he’s apparently an agitator who thinks he is a fighter (don’t they all, though?) He definitely gets points for distracting the other team with his antics though – kind of a PJ without the same crowd charisma. And like PJ, he falls down when he hits people.

C Andrews (6-1, 190) is 25 in his third year with the pack after signing as a free agent in 2002. Four years of college hockey didn’t seem to make him into any less of a physical player, and what Bobby brings to the table is his willingness to grind it out along the boards. Another one of our major PKers, he is excellent at stealing the puck from opponent’s feet along the boards. Of course, once he gets the puck he is useless with it (see Chad Wiseman, below) but that’s what Kenny is there for. Normally you think of wings as opening the ice for the center, but it’s the other way around here – Bobby knocks people off the puck, Kenny takes it and heads up ice, and MacDonald starts a fight as a distraction.

Opening defensive pairing was John Jakopin and Fedor Tjutin.

D Jakopin (6-6, 245) is 28. He signed with the Rangers as a free agent this summer, making this his fourth organization in four years. For a big guy who hits as hard as he does, he stays out of the box pretty consistently – the only time he has put up big PIM numbers was during his two year stay with the Beast of New Haven (AHL) before they folded. I guess this puts to rest any hope we had that he might be a fighter. That’s okay, though, as he is the only true defensive defenseman we have right now (Lampman still injured, and likely to head to New York as soon as he is healthy anyway). He’s big, he’s mean around the net, and he hits so hard his prey seem to disappear below the dasher, only staggering to their feet, shaking their heads and skating in circles after 10 seconds or so. When he gets going (and as a big guy, that takes awhile) he can take people out with just one outstretched arm to push them into the boards. As much as I like State, he and Jakopin play the exact same game – just John does so with more confidence.

D Tjutin (6-2, 212) is 20. A rare Rangers draftee, he was chosen 40th overall in 2001. I think I have more written in my notes about Fedor than about any other player, and I stand by my initial assessment of him as the Kovy of the blueline. Fedor is immensely talented, and I don’t think anyone is still questioning whether he actually can follow up his juniors offensive storm at this level, now that he has three goals in the first two games. However, the first night, he scored two goals but was on the ice for at least two against. The second night, he scored again, but was on the ice for the goal that ended the shutout bid with 19 seconds left. In spite of his three goal outburst, he was still even on the weekend. Fedor likes to hang out behind the opponents net, which might be a good place for him as he is particularly deadly on the point, as he seems to have a short attention span and allowed two short handed breakaways in the first game alone, one leading to a goal. He doesn’t block shots. He also is prone to using the Poti poke check at inappropriate times and places. He’s young, though, and sporadically enthusiastic, and can be entertainly bratty on the ice, throwing opponents into the net and such. Just keep him here, where perhaps Aufiero can explain “two-way defenseman” to him, and away from Malakov in New York. One issue that may be causing problems for him is that with the loss of Lyashenko and the return of Chebaturkin to his home, we no longer have any Russian speakers on the team. With so much talent at such a young age – and the drive to succeed – I think patience is in order.

Our first scoring line consisted of Alternate Captain Cory Larose, Jed Ortmeyer, and Chad Wiseman.

C Larose (6-0, 192) is 28. He arrived last fall in a trade with Minnesota for Jay Henderson. A prolific scorer, Cory was expected to be our main offensive threat this year. He plays on our first power play unit and also is a penalty killer, partnered with Jed Ortmeyer. Cory is small, relatively quick, and has good hands, but can be knocked off the puck so he tends to avoid the net. When knocked down in the corners, he is more prone to whining about it than picking himself back up and rejoining the play. He was, however, hitting this past weekend, perhaps a sign of the grit that is being emphasized by the organization this year. He gets points for effort, although it’s not like the people he was hitting noticed. For reasons that are beyond me, Cory has the “A” this year. Personally, I wouldn’t have rewarded a player who had so much trouble adjusting after his trade that an MVP goalie had to be traded away to retrieve his former roommate to make him happy. http://mt.hockeybird.com/archives/000931.html

RW Ortmeyer (6-1, 186) is 25. He was signed as a free agent by the Rangers in 2003. My friends have implored me to choose a ‘good’ favorite player this year – one who won’t be traded, released, or sent to Charlotte and thus cause me the anguish of losing yet another favorite. My apologies to him in advance if this curses his career, but this year I pick Jed Ortmeyer. Named CCHA’s best defensive forward in his senior year at U. Michigan in addition to a slew of other honors, Jed is a great addition to the team with his intelligence, vision, and confidence both with and without the puck. On opening night, McGill sat a healthy Brandon Cullen in favor of double shifting Ortmeyer on the second and fourth lines. As a two way forward, he is an excellent linemate for Cory: his responsibility for his own end of the ice covers for Larose’s focus on scoring while his strong passing keeps Cory in pucks to shoot, but he also can chip in goals while racking up assists. He excels at stripping pucks from opponents on the wing, and is willing to go into corners to fight for pucks with players much bigger than him. In so many ways, he reminds me of Roman Lyashenko.

LW Wiseman (6-1, 205) is 22. He arrived as part of the trade that sent Nils Ekman to San Jose this summer. I’m assuming he was another pet of Nick Fotiu’s from his time with San Jose’s farm team. Chad not only looks like a kid, he plays like one too. Hard to believe he is a NHL vet, given the number of turnovers, whiffs, and tripping over the blue line that he demonstrated this past weekend. There was a particularly bad cough up in his own slot that took all 5 teammates in a wild scramble to clear and force overtime. He did manage to score a goal in the second game though, and his teammates and coach stated repeatedly to the media that Chad had been snakebit before scoring, not that he was making mistakes (isn’t “snakebit” a tad dramatic after one scoreless game?) Ah, I see - he doesn’t suck, he’s just unlucky. I’ll keep that in mind. Chad does get the shots on goal, totaling 7 over the weekend, but also rang up a pair of silly minor penalties to go with them. He is enthusiastic, I’ll give him that - perhaps he was just overexcited or nervous. We’ll see if he settles down over the next few weeks.

The defensive pairing this is always on the ice with this line is Lawrence Nycholat and Jayme Filipowicz.

D Nycholat (6-0, 195) is 24. He arrived last spring in a trade with Minnesota for Johan Holmqvist. I don’t like Lawrence. I resent the manner in which he joined the team, and that we lost Johan just to make Cory feel more comfortable on his new team. An offensive defenseman (not my favorite creature in any situation), Lawrence tends to hang around the opponent’s net with his buddy Cory. Yes, he does pick up points, racking up and assist every second or third game. Yes, he is + much more than -. He partners Fedor on the power play *shudder* and yes, they have already given up a short-handed goal this year. When he played in Houston, he put up 155 PIM in 66 games, but in Hartford, we’ve only seen penalties of the Messier “lazy legs” type. I’d like him more if we had defensive dmen to complement him - but to be honest, he could perform emergency open-heart surgery at center ice and save the life of a widowed mother of six, and I still wouldn’t like him.

D Filipowicz (6-3, 212) is 27. He was signed to a PTO by the Pack on Friday. He wears #4, which should have been adequate warning for me. Given that his 5 years of pro play have been split between the IHL, AHL and ECHL – 5 different teams – I have no idea why this guy was signed. I can’t even figure out what he is supposed to be contributing to the team. Perhaps because he doesn’t score, someone thought that made him a defensive defenseman, as opposed to just a dman who can’t score. For this, Jeff State was sent to Charlotte?

Our second scoring line consists of Garth Murray and Juris Stals flanking Dominic Moore.

C/LW Murray (6-2, 210) is 21. Another Rangers draft pick, Garth was taken 79th overall in the 2001 draft. After playing almost all of last year with abdominal injuries he hid from coaches and trainers, Garth finally looks to be healthy and is starting to play like the force of nature he was in the playoffs two years ago. He hits hard, fights with homicidal rage, and will jump to a teammate’s defense even before his mate realizes he needs help. At the opener, Ben Guite, who had been at Rangers camp before being cut by the Wolf*Pack, played for Bridgeport. When Guite got his stick up into Dominic Moore’s face, Garth instantly took him down and then made him eat the stick. Just kidding about the last part, but with Garth, you never know. Last year he broke his teammate Benoit Dusablon’s arm in an accidental collision. http://mt.hockeybird.com/archives/000962.html

C/LW Stals (6-3, 208) is 21. Drafted 269th overall by the Rangers in the 2001 draft, Juris is somewhat of a sleeper on the ice. Even though he’s quite large, you don’t really notice him until he decides to go through someone to get the puck. When you really watch him, though, you notice how strong he is on his skates and the sheer power that he brings to the ice. Juris and Garth make a great set of bookends for Moore, and create a lot of space for their talented linemate. Juris hits hard and even scuffled a bit in the corners, but he has always managed to stay out of the box in the past. He can handle the puck just fine, but we haven’t seen a whole lot of it yet as he tends to knock people over and just dish it off to Dominic.

C Moore (6-1, 196) is 23. Dominic Drafted 95th overall by the Rangers in the 2000 draft, but chose to finish out his four year college career at Harvard before turning pro. Dominic is easy to describe to Rangers fans: he’s Jamie Lundmark with a nasty streak, kind of Jamie’s sort-of evil twin. Dom plays passionately, and will deliver the slash, cross check, or trip if he can get away with it. He’s extremely smart (that Harvard thing, you know – somehow I suspect he merited that admission a bit more than Hugh Jessiman did his alma mater) and always seems to be thinking about 3 steps ahead of everyone else on the ice – including the opposing goalie. Like Ortmeyer, he can strip the puck from an opposing player and then take off with moves that would do Kovalev proud. In the opener, he stole the puck along the half boards, slipped free of the defense and then walked in alone on the goalie, faked near post, followed up with an inside-out move around the now committed goalie and popped the puck in between the far post and the flailing goalie’s skate. Almost brought a tear to my eye, he made it look so easy.

Our two-way defensive pairing is Pat Aufiero and Matt Kinch.

D Aufiero (6-2, 186) is 23. Pat was drafted by the Rangers 90th overall in the 1999 draft. Something happened to Patty this summer. Maybe it is the facial hair (he’s got the Alan Rickman thing going these days). Maybe it’s the change in jersey number. Maybe he just realized it was time to step up and play the game he is capable of bringing to the ice. Or maybe he is just channeling the spirit of Terry Virtue, whose number, facial hair, and style of play he is now embracing. Patty is not a very big guy, but this year he has started to really finish his checks – meaning that he puts opponents much harder into the glass than they are expecting from someone his size. He fights hard for pucks along the boards, blocks shots, and still manages to lead the team in shots. If I had to pick a favorite defensemen currently in Hartford, it would be Patty – no matter where he is on the ice, he is making the good play. Now watch him get hurt. Or traded.

D Kinch (5-11, 185) is 23. Matt was signed as a free agent with Rangers in 2001. You know Matt is having a good game when you forget he is on the ice. He is a responsible, conservative defenseman who can move the puck up to forwards and start the breakout (22 assists last year in 66 games). If you notice him, it’s because he screwed up. He must have screwed up in the first game, because he sat in favor of Craig Weller the next night.

The fourth line consists of Richard Scott, Layne Ulmer and Brandon Cullen.

LW Scott (6-2, 220) is 25. Richard signed as a free agent with Rangers in 2001, and hasn’t stopped demanding attention since then. You know him as the Rangers’ preseason media whore, and he hasn’t stopped after being sent down to Hartford. Richard hasn’t gotten much ice time down here with us, but he has already managed a fight on regional TV and his picture on the front page of the Pack site. He’s a character, no question about that. http://mt.hockeybird.com/archives/000962.html

C Ulmer (6-1, 200) is 23. Layne signed as a free agent with Rangers in 2001. I really don’t have anything interesting to say about Layne. Perhaps he will oblige me by doing something interesting in the next few games, and I can tell you about that. http://mt.hockeybird.com/archives/000931.html

RW Cullen (6-0, 215) is 22. Brandon is not listed as being in the Ranger’s system, indicating that he is a Wolf*Pack signing and thus fairly unlikely to ever see MSG. He had 202 PIM in 58 games in Charlotte last year. Brandon has already been sent down to the ECHL.

Seventh defenseman is Craig Weller

Weller (6-4, 224) is 22. Signed as free agent with Rangers in 2002, Craig was a surprise at Rangers camp this year. According to the Rangers site, Craig is 2 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than he was last year. Last year, he was a bumbling physical dman who couldn’t really skate or control the puck, but liked to fight. This year, he appeared as the heir to Dale, ready to fight anyone and a stronger skater than in the past. I had expected he would be headed back to Charlotte for the year, but at least for now he is holding on to a spot in Hartford, while his Wolf*Pack roommate Jeff State lost out and is now enjoying the kinder weather of the Atlantic seaboard.

Starting goalie is Jason Labarbera, and he is backed up by Phil Osaer.

LaBarbera (6-3, 220) is 23. Jason was drafted 66th overall by the Rangers in 1998, back before there was any sign of Danny Blackburn. Jason has battled his weight from day one, and with each successive year has shown up in better shape and with greater flexibility. This year, he looks great – and without question his play has been improved by the confidence that comes with being publicly named the number one in Hartford, at least until Blackburn comes back. His focus on the puck is Dude-like, making it almost impossible to put a shot past him if he can see it. For the first time, we are also seeing Jason challenge shooters, even rushing out to the face off dot to clear a puck that got away from an oncoming player. Jason’s bulk and speed clearly alarmed the opponent, as he pulled up so sharply he almost fell as Jason dove at his feet.

Osaer (6-1, 190) is 23. I don’t know Phil’s status with the team. He was at Rangers camp, presumably because of Blackburn’s injury. I’ve never seen him play. All I’ve seen is that he has an end-of-warmups ritual that rivals that of a Catholic mass and that he seems to have a good rapport with Jason. After the first game, Jason hung around the net after everyone congratulated, clearly upset about the weird ricochet that went in off his leg for the tying goal. Phil stood out there with him, allowing Jason to discuss the goal and demonstrate with his stick what happened – then he put his arm around Jason’s shoulder, and skated back to the locker room that way. Labarbera, Holmqvist and Meyer were all very close while they were in Hartford together, rooming together and playing videogames together in their free time. It appears that the netminders’ chemistry still is good in this new season.

Coaches Ryan McGill and Nick Fotiu

Ryan seems to have found religion this summer, as he has resolved to be more patient and positive with his players this year. I wonder what tipped him off to that need – and I can only imagine that the dead silence he was greeted with when he was announced at the opening ceremony may have helped clarify it for him. The team right now is playing like a typical young team – enthusiastic, energetic, exciting, and prone to frequent miscues and mistakes. That’s okay. In fact, it’s better than okay. It’s a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to watching these kids learn as they play this season. For the first time anyone can remember, Hartford is actually full of true prospects.

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