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fever95 · 03-31-2014, 04:09 PM

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Hello and welcome to the first edition of Wolfpack After Hours with your hosts and former SHL players, John McBride and Michael Abdalla. On this show, we will be examining the New England Wolfpack games on a weekly basis, and this week we will be recapping games played from immediately following SHL's trade deadline up until the last game of the season. The Wolfpack finished second in the Eastern Conference and will face the Toronto North Stars in the first round of the playoffs. Now, I will hand you over to John and Mike. Take it away boys.

The New England Wolfpack kicked their week facing one of the Eastern conference’s top contenders, the Hamilton Steelhawks. With 3 new guys in town it was not sure how the Pack would suit up for this game, newcomers having little to no time to build some chemistry, however it proved to pay off as the defender from the Riot set up a goal with the help of Dean Clarke, for Ace Faulkner’s 16th of the season to open the scoring. To continue, Armin Brovalchuk also got his first point, with an assists on Alexey Kovalenko’s goal from the very promising top line with Jordan Nugent-Hall. With the score 2-0 heading into the second, the Hawks needed a spark to get back in the game, they found it from one of their go to guys, David Winter who had a great 2nd period firing off 5 shots, however he and the rest of the Hawks could not beat Tennyson who rejected them all to preserve the 2-0 lead to the 3rd. In the 3rd, the Pack took back control of the game and they got that vital next goal when Chuck Weird slapped home his 2nd of the season from O’Callahan and Kovalenko. That is all it took for the Pack to win, 3-0 the final. Tennyson earns the shutout making 19 saves.

After winning in Hamilton, it was New England’s turn to play host as the Hawks were in town determined to win back those 2 points. However the Wolfpack scored within 2 minutes of the start of the game when Nugent-Hall scored a short handed breakaway goal. The Hawks responded quickly this time, when the unlikely source of Michael Stich put away his first of the season. Heading into the 2nd, the Hawks found their spark scoring 3 goals to New England’s 1, which was scored again by Jordan Nugent-Hall, to make the score 4-2 heading into the 3rd. Within a minute of the 3rd period, the Hawks put the game out of reach when Rehn Miller scored his 13th of the season, ending a bad night for the Wolfpack who allowed 35 shots on goal.

The following game was in Minnesota where the Chiefs were looking to steal away 2 points to help their playoff push. The Wolfpack’s Erik Lehner put a dent in those hopes when he scored his 11th of the season early in the first, however the Chiefs would not lie down answering just 2 minutes later when Erik Karlsson scored his first of the season. A tight game continued in the 2nd, but it was New England’s Ace Faulkner who scored the go ahead goal to give his team a 2-1 lead heading into the 3rd. That proved to be the game winner, as the only goal scored in the 3rd was Alexey Kovalenko, his 14th. A great rebound game for Tennyson who stopped all but 1 of the 24 shots he faced for his 21st win of the season.

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The pack went back home to face the bottom dwellers, the Manhattan Rage. New England was going in expecting an easy 2 points, and they got a whole lot more than they bargained for. On what looked like a practice, the Wolfpack scored just the lone goal by Faulkner in the first, but allowed just 2 shots on goal. It got worse in the 2nd when New England’s Kovalenko made it 2-0. However the Rage scored on their first shot of the period, Kein Monesti slipping a softy between Tennyson’s pads. Faulkner who has been red hot in the past 4 games, scores again right before the period ends to give his team a 3-1 lead. Craig Iginla scored on a shot from the blue line to open the 3rd, and despite the Rage only having 5 shots on goal, the Rage were within 1 goal having scored twice! The wolfpack didn’t give them that opportunity again however, as the Rage would fail to record another shot for the rest of the game and New England adding one final blow when Laraque Obama scored his first as a Wolf.

The Wolfpack would get a good night’s sleep before they face one of their biggest threats, the Toronto North Stars. Tennyson wasn’t sharp in their win against the Rage, however got the start in this game and managed to shut the Stars out for 2 whole periods. Unfortunately for him, his team could not score to give him any kind of lead to work with. Which they would pay for of course in the 3rd, when Ben Wong scored his 20th off a dazzling shot midway threw the period. Pulling Tennyson late didn’t help as Ondrej Ravchitikov scored in an empty net to end the game. New England only managed 13 shots on goal and deserved the loss.

It was a tough loss for the Pack to take, and going into Minnesota it showed on the ice. They started the game terribly and let the playoff hungry Chiefs score 2 goals in the first. The second period was better, the Pack fired shots on goal and tried to pull to within one, but Winnfield stood tall. In the 3rd the Chiefs scored the crucial 3rd blow to the Pack. They didn’t give it up, but the lone goal on the powerplay from Dean Clarke was all they could provide in the loss.

Next, the Pack headed into Cowtown to face the Calgary Dragons and continued to struggle as they gave up goals to Finnegan Larsson at the beginning of the first period and to Krišs Labsvārds, near the end of the period. Calgary took the 2-0 lead into the middle frame, where they continued their dominance early on, Krišs Labsvārds putting home his ninth of the season two minutes in on the powerplay, and Käri Bärköv potting his 20th of the season about a minute later, giving the Dragons a commanding 4-0 lead. A timeout was taken by New England and it settled them down a bit. Kovalenko started the scoring for the Pack with about four minutes remaining in the period, hammering a Carter O'Callahan pass home with Nugent-Hall drawing the other assist on the powerplay. With the Pack on another powerplay, O'Callahan set up another powerplay goal, Nike Kickz the beneficiary this time, and Clarke drawing the other assist. The third line came through for New England with less than half a period remaining in the game as Di Gennaro netted his first of the season from Obama and Hooper and drawing within one. A couple minutes later, the Pack drew even on a Erik Lehner marker, with Chuck Winnfield and Nike Kickz putting up helpers. Overtime solved nothing so a shootout was needed, Nugent-Hall stopped by Morris on the first attempt, followed by Zommers missing the net on Tennyson. Armin Brovalchuk put the Pack on the board, and Jacek-Kix was stoned by Tennyson. O'Callahan could put it away with a goal and he did not disappoint, rooking it on Morris and doing his part in helping the Pack to come back from 4-0 to win 5-4 in the shootout. Tennyson posted 22 saves in the win.

Following the heroic comeback win in Calgary, the Pack headed home for a date with the Los Angeles Panthers in what was a physical battle right from the get-go. Less than a minute in, O'Callahan demolished Chezno up along the boards, causing him to leave the game with a broken ankle. Less than a minute after that, Potoczny put home his 15th of the year to open the scoring. About halfway through the period, Westbrook and Velevra dropped the gloves in a spirited battle that seen the decision go to Velevra. Late in the period, Nugent-Hall was taken into the boards awkwardly by Donini and forced to leave the game with a knee injury. Nearing the halfway mark of the second period, the Pack capitalized on a powerplay chance, Dean Clarke powering a slapshot by Fuhrberg with O'Callahan and Tennyson drawing assists. Laraque Obama found twine for his 6th of the season late in the period, with Clarke and Hooper notching assists and giving New England a 2-1 lead, heading to the final twenty minutes, Los Angeles took over in the final period, Stryker potting his 6th of the year a minute in to tie things up, followed by Salmelainen scoring his 15th a few minutes later. Donini added a late goal for the final nail in the coffin in a period that the Panthers dominated, outshooting the Wolfpack 22-7.

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Next up was the second game of a home-and-home with the Panthers in Los Angeles. New England would be without Nugent-Hall in this contest, while Chezno was sidelined due to injury for the Panthers. Stryker opened the scoring on an early powerplay to give Los Angeles a quick 1-0 lead. Late in the period, the Wolfpack answered back with a powerplay goal of their own, Westbrook and Kickz setting up Erik Lehner for his 13th of the season. The second period seen Los Angeles outshoot New England badly but Tennyson stood on his head and kept the score tied, heading to the third period. A powerplay goal five minutes in with decider, off of the stick of Shawn Velevra for his 11th. Tennyson stopped 32 shots in the loss.

The Pack headed into Toronto for game number 48 on the schedule, bouncing back from a couple tough losses in great fashion. Westbrook put home his 3rd of the season from Obama and Hooper early on to put the Pack on top 1-0. Late in the period, Clarke increased the lead to two with his 9th of the season from Faulkner and Kickz. Meb Keflezighi scored hirst first goal in a Wolfpack uniform and 6th of the season late in the second period, the only goal of the period to give New England a commanding 3-0 lead heading to the final frame. The third period was full of back and forth chances, but both netminders held their ground and 3-0 was the final score. Tennyson stopped 23 shots for the shutout.

Back in Boston at the Garden to face the Renegades, it wasn't a good start at all for the Pack. Rookie, Xavier Gauthier put home a pair of powerplay goals a minute apart and just five shots on net, allowed Texas to take a 2-0 lead into the second period. Something must have been said to fire the Pack up between periods because they stormed back with a pair of goals, Kickz scoring his 8th from Lehner and Faulkner, followed by Obama bulging the twine for his 7th from Hooper and Weird to leave the game tied after two periods. FourFour stopped ten Wolfpack shots in the third while Tennyson turned away five from the Regades, and overtime solved nothing so a shootout was needed once more. Daigle scored on Tennyson while Nugent-Hall was stopped in the first round. Gauthier and Brovalchuk were both turned aside, while Carlzner put the game away in the third round.

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The last game of the season seen the Manhattan Rage come to town in what most would call a "gimme" but that certainly wasn't the case. Nick Bouchard opened the scoring for the Rage midway through the first period and no more goals were scored in the period. Arthur Grossberg put home his 11th of the season early in the second, and Manhattan rode that 2-0 to the third period. The Wolfpack made their best attempt at a comeback, pounding eleven shots on Sergei Bobovskry in the final period, and 34 in the game but he would not be broken, recording a shutout. Tennyson allowed two goals on ten shots in the loss.

Three Stars of the Week:

This week there was only one stand out player, everyone else blended in well when comparing stats. The Wolf Pack’s leading scorer was Erik Lehner, Alexey Kovalenko and Ace Faulkner were tied for first in goals, Carter O’Callahan was the top playmaker, Jordan Nugent-Hall was the top shooter, Alexey Kovalenko was the top hitter with an outstanding 56 hits and Chuck Winnfield was the top shot blocker.

With all that said, here are this week’s top Wolves of the Pack.

The 3rd: Dean Clarke.
Dean Clarke did a bit of it all this week, he scored 3 goals, added 4 helpers for a total of 7 points good for the highest scoring defender, he shot on net 14 times and managed 20 hits. He was 2nd in shots blocked with 13 which proves his productivity at both ends of the ice.

The 2nd: Erik Lehner
This week’s top scorer with 3 goals and 5 helpers has been the most productive in the offensive zone to end the season. He shot 22 times, accumulated 17 hits and 2 blocks.

This week’s Leader of the Pack: Alexey Kovalenko!
Kovalenko finished tied with the lead in goals with 4 and his 3 assists make him tied for 2nd best scorer of the Pack. However what was really impressive was not only did he shoot on net 34 times, but he hit 56 times which is more than double anyone else on the team.

Here’s a look at this week’s stats:
Ace Faulkner 4 3 7 22 26 3
Alexey Kovalenko 4 3 7 34 56 2
Armin Brovalchuk 0 4 4 32 1 4
Carter O'Callahan 0 6 6 9 13 9
Chad Levasseur 0 0 0 0 2 0
Chuck Weird 0 1 1 4 12 6
Chuck Winnfield 1 5 6 11 22 14
Computer Gwenael 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dean Clarke 3 4 7 14 20 13
Erik Lehner 3 5 8 22 17 2
Joel Westbrook 1 2 3 9 7 11
Jordan Nugent-Hall 2 3 5 36 7 1
Laraque Obama 3 2 5 19 31 0
Mac Hooper 0 5 5 15 1 1
Meb Keflezighi 1 1 2 7 19 10
Nike Kickz 2 5 7 22 1 0
Stefano Di Gennaro 1 0 1 16 2 0

That's all for this week. Make sure to join us again next week when we will be breaking down the Wolfpack's games during the week, which will be the opening round playoff series against the Toronto North Stars. Cheer your pack onto victory in their quest for a Challenge Cup!

**Disclaimer** Deezy and I collaborated on this, so please split the monwy between us.</div>