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Hartford Wolf Pack

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Hartford Wolf Pack
CityHartford, Connecticut
LeagueAmerican Hockey League
ConferenceEastern
DivisionAtlantic
Founded1926, in the CAHL
Home arenaXL Center
ColorsBlue, red, white
     
Owner(s)Madison Square Garden, Inc.
General managerRyan Martin
Head coachGrant Potulny
CaptainCasey Fitzgerald
MediaMSG Network
AHL.TV (Internet)
Mixlr (Internet)
AffiliatesNew York Rangers (NHL)
Bloomington Bison (ECHL)
Franchise history
1926–1976Providence Reds
1976–1977Rhode Island Reds
1977–1980Binghamton Dusters
1980–1990Binghamton Whalers
1990–1997Binghamton Rangers
1997–2010Hartford Wolf Pack
2010–2013Connecticut Whale
2013–presentHartford Wolf Pack
Championships
Regular season titles1: (1999–00)
Division titles4: (1999–00, 2003–04, 2008–09, 2014–15)
Conference titles1: (1999–00)
Calder Cups1: (1999–00)
Current season

The Hartford Wolf Pack are a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the American Hockey League (AHL), they play their home games at the XL Center. The team was established in 1926 as the Providence Reds. After a series of relocations, the team moved to Hartford in 1997 as the Hartford Wolf Pack. It is one of the oldest professional hockey franchises in existence, and the oldest continuously operating minor league hockey franchise in North America.

The franchise was renamed the Connecticut Whale in October 2010, in honor of the former Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League (NHL), but reverted to their current name after the 2012–13 AHL season. The Wolf Pack is the top affiliate of the NHL's New York Rangers and is one of the three professional hockey teams in Connecticut.

History

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The franchise that became the Wolf Pack was founded in 1926 in Providence, Rhode Island as the Providence Reds, one of the five charter members of the Canadian-American Hockey League. In 1936, the Northeast-based CAHL merged with the Midwest-based International Hockey League to form the International-American Hockey League, which dropped the "International" from its name in 1940.

The Reds — known as the Rhode Island Reds in their later years — folded after the 1976–77 season. Shortly afterward, the owners of the Broome Dusters of the North American Hockey League bought the Reds franchise and moved it to Binghamton, New York as the Binghamton Dusters. After securing an affiliation with the Hartford Whalers in 1980, the team changed its name to the Binghamton Whalers. An affiliation change to the Rangers in 1990 — one that continues to this day — brought another new name, the Binghamton Rangers.

After the 1996–97 NHL season, the Whalers moved to Raleigh, North Carolina as the Carolina Hurricanes. Soon after the Whalers' departure, the Binghamton Rangers relocated to Hartford and began to play at the vacated Hartford Civic Center (today known as the XL Center).

Following a "name-the-team" contest, the franchise became the Hartford Wolf Pack, a reference to a submarine class as well as the tactic known as "wolfpacking". With Connecticut being home to both the main builder of submarines (General Dynamics Electric Boat) and the US Navy's primary submarine base, honoring the state's naval tradition was the paramount goal. The name Seawolf, a reference to the Seawolf-class submarines was considered to have been the ideal name for the team. However, it had already been taken by the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the East Coast Hockey League. Following the submarine theme, the mascot was named "Sonar".

The Connecticut Whale logo, used from 2010 to 2013
The Connecticut Whale logo, used from 2010 to 2013

The Wolf Pack's first coach was E.J. McGuire, and their first home game was played in front of a crowd of 12,934 fans on October 4, 1997. P.J. Stock scored the first home goal in Wolf Pack history. The first franchise goal was scored the night prior in Providence, R.I., by Pierre Sevigny. The team reached the playoffs during the first 12 years of their existence and won the Calder Cup in 2000, defeating the Rochester Americans in the Cup finals. Derek Armstrong won the Jack A. Butterfield Trophy as AHL playoff MVP.

In the summer of 2010, the Rangers entered into a business relationship which gave former Whalers owner Howard Baldwin and his company, Hartford Hockey LLC (doing business as Whalers Sports & Entertainment), control of the team's business operations.[1] On September 20, 2010, Baldwin announced the Wolf Pack would change their name to the Connecticut Whale in honor of the Whalers.[2] The name change took place on November 27, 2010; the final game with the "Wolf Pack" name came on November 26, 2010. The opponent was Connecticut's other AHL team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Sound Tigers won 4–3, in a shootout. On November 27, 2010, the team played their first game under the new "Whale" name. The opponent was, again, the Sound Tigers. The Whale won 3–2, in a shootout. The attendance for the debut game was 13,089, which is the third-largest crowd in franchise history.[3] On January 1, 2011, the Whale debuted new home jerseys featuring light blue instead of green, however, the color was shelved for the 2011–12 season.

A picture of the XL Center during a Hartford Wolfpack game on 12/10/22.

The Whale were hosts and participants in the 2011 AHL Outdoor Classic, the Whale Bowl, held at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut. Connecticut fell to the Providence Bruins, 5–4, in a shootout.

In June 2012, after just 21 months, the New York Rangers terminated their business relationship with Baldwin[1] after he and his company ran up a debt of almost $3 million and had about 15 court cases against him.[4]

In April 2013, just two and a half seasons after rebranding as the Whale, the team decided it would revert to the nickname "Wolf Pack" for the following season.[5] Global Spectrum, the group now marketing the team and managers of the XL Center arena, announced in May 2013 that the franchise had officially returned to the Hartford Wolf Pack identity.[6]

Although the Wolf Pack does not officially acknowledge its past in Providence and Binghamton (or claim the Reds' four Calder Cups), it is the only AHL franchise to have never missed a season since the league's founding in 1936. In one form or another, the franchise has iced a team every year since 1926. The Wolf Pack and Abbotsford Canucks — the descendants of another charter AHL member, the Springfield Indians — are the oldest minor-league hockey franchises in North America. However, the Indians were inactive for three seasons in the 1930s, making the Wolf Pack the oldest continuously operating minor-league hockey franchise in North America. The only professional hockey franchises older than the Wolf Pack and the Canucks are the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins.

Team information

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Mascots

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The Wolf Pack started in 1997 with one mascot, a wolf named Sonar. The name was chosen to keep with the submarine theme that the team had used in their naming and logo. Following the folding of their sister team, the Arena Football League's New England Sea Wolves, the Wolf Pack added the Sea Wolves' mascot, named Torpedo; this mascot has since been retired. In 2010, with the renaming of the team to the Connecticut Whale, Sonar was joined as a mascot by former Whalers mascot Pucky the Whale. Sonar took the 2012–13 season off while Pucky was the sole mascot. When the naming arrangement ended, Sonar came back while Pucky was retired.

Season-by-season results

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Games Won Lost Tied OTL SOL Points PCT Goals
for 		Goals
against 		Standing Year Prelims 1st
round 		2nd
round 		3rd
round 		Final
1997–98 80 43 24 12 1 — 99 .619 272 227 2nd, New England 1998 — W, 3–0, BNH W, 4–3, WOR L, 1–4, SJF —
1998–99 80 38 31 5 6 — 87 .544 256 256 2nd, New England 1999 — W, 3–0, SPR L, 0–4, PRO — —
1999–00 80 49 22 7 2 — 107 .669 249 198 1st, New England 2000 — W, 3–2, SPR W, 4–1, WOR W, 4–3, PRO W, 4–2, RCH
2000–01 80 40 26 8 6 — 94 .588 263 247 2nd, New England 2001 — L, 2–3, PRO — — —
2001–02 80 41 26 10 3 — 95 .594 249 243 2nd, East 2002 BYE W, 3–2, MAN L, 1–4, HAM — —
2002–03 80 33 27 12 8 — 86 .538 255 236 3rd, East 2003 L, 0–2, SPR — — — —
2003–04 80 44 22 12 2 — 102 .638 198 153 1st, Atlantic 2004 BYE W, 4–1, POR W, 4–0, WOR L, 3–4, WBS —
2004–05 80 50 24 — 3 3 106 .663 206 160 2nd, Atlantic 2005 — L, 2–4, LOW — — —
2005–06 80 48 24 — 6 2 104 .650 292 231 2nd, Atlantic 2006 — W, 4–3, MAN L, 2–4, POR — —
2006–07 80 47 29 — 3 1 98 .613 231 201 2nd, Atlantic 2007 — L, 3–4, PRO — — —
2007–08 80 50 20 — 2 8 110 .688 266 198 2nd, Atlantic 2008 — L, 1–4, POR — — —
2008–09 80 46 27 — 3 4 99 .619 243 216 1st, Atlantic 2009 — L, 2–4, WOR — — —
2009–10 80 36 33 — 6 5 83 .519 231 251 6th, Atlantic 2010 — Did not qualify
2010–11 80 40 32 — 2 6 88 .550 221 223 3rd, Atlantic 2011 — L, 2–4, POR — — —
2011–12 76 36 26 — 7 7 86 .566 210 208 2nd, Northeast 2012 — W, 3–0, BRI L, 2–4, NOR — —
2012–13 76 35 32 — 6 3 79 .520 213 222 2nd, Northeast 2013 — Did not qualify
2013–14 76 37 32 — 1 6 81 .533 202 220 3rd, Northeast 2014 — Did not qualify
2014–15 76 43 24 — 5 4 95 .625 221 214 1st, Northeast 2015 — W, 3–2, PRO W, 4–2, HER L, 0–4, MAN —
2015–16 76 41 32 — 3 0 85 .559 202 199 6th, Atlantic 2016 — Did not qualify
2016–17 76 24 46 — 4 2 54 .355 194 280 7th, Atlantic 2017 — Did not qualify
2017–18 76 34 33 — 6 3 77 .507 208 252 6th, Atlantic 2018 — Did not qualify
2018–19 76 29 36 — 7 4 69 .454 209 266 8th, Atlantic 2019 — Did not qualify
2019–20 62 31 20 — 6 5 73 .589 171 173 4th, Atlantic 2020 — Season cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2020–21 24 14 9 — 1 0 29 .604 82 74 2nd, Atlantic 2021 — No playoffs were held
2021–22 72 32 32 — 6 2 72 .500 205 225 7th, Atlantic 2022 — Did not qualify
2022–23 72 35 26 — 4 7 81 .563 227 215 5th, Atlantic 2023 W, 2–0, SPR W, 3–1, PRO L, 0–3, HER — —
2023–24 72 34 28 — 7 3 78 .542 204 219 5th, Atlantic 2024 W, 2–1, CHA W, 3–1, PRO L, 0–3, HER — —

Players

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Current roster

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Updated December 18, 2024.[7][8]

Team roster
No. Nat Player Pos S/G Age Acquired Birthplace Contract
55 Canada Alex Belzile (A) RW R 33 2023 Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec Rangers
21 Sweden Anton Blidh (A) LW L 29 2023 Mölnlycke, Sweden Rangers
15 Canada Brett Budgell LW L 23 2024 St. John's, Newfoundland Wolf Pack
42 Czech Republic Jaroslav Chmelar F R 21 2024 Nove Mesto nad Metuji, Czechia Rangers
70 Canada Louis Domingue G R 32 2022 Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec Rangers
4 United States Casey Fitzgerald (C) D R 27 2024 North Reading, Massachusetts Rangers
31 Canada Dylan Garand G L 22 2022 Kamloops, British Columbia Rangers
24 Canada Bo Groulx C L 24 2024 Rouen, France Rangers
5 Canada Ben Harpur D L 29 2022 Hamilton, Ontario Rangers
25 United States Blake Hillman D L 28 2022 Elk River, Minnesota Wolf Pack
17 United States Blade Jenkins LW L 24 2024 Jackson, Michigan Wolf Pack
38 Canada Ryder Korczak C R 22 2022 Yorkton, Saskatchewan Rangers
16 Canada Jake Leschyshyn C L 25 2023 Raleigh, North Carolina Rangers
14 United States Connor Mackey D L 28 2023 Tower Lakes, Illinois Rangers
23 United States Victor Mancini D R 22 2024 Hancock, Michigan Rangers
7 United States Case McCarthy D R 23 2024 Troy, New York Wolf Pack
18 Canada Bryce McConnell-Barker C L 20 2023 London, Ontario Wolf Pack
20 Canada Riley Nash Injured Reserve C R 35 2023 Consort, Alberta Wolf Pack
78 Canada Brennan Othmann LW L 21 2023 Scarborough, Ontario Wolf Pack
44 Canada Matthew Robertson D L 23 2021 Edmonton, Alberta Rangers
28 Canada Dylan Roobroeck F L 20 2024 London, Ontario Rangers
58 Canada Brandon Scanlin D L 25 2022 Hamilton, Ontario Rangers
37 United States Nate Sucese LW L 28 2024 Fairport, New York Wolf Pack
10 Slovakia Adam Sykora LW L 20 2023 Piestany, Slovakia Rangers

Team captains

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Retired numbers

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Hartford Wolf Pack retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. retirement
12 Ken Gernander RW 1997–2005 October 8, 2005[13]

The Wolf Pack have honored a number of former Hartford Whalers players by hanging their jerseys in the rafters, without formally retiring their numbers. In 2006, Ulf Samuelsson (#5), Ron Francis (#10) and Kevin Dineen (#11) were honored by the team in this way, joining Rick Ley (#2), Gordie Howe (#9) and John Mckenzie (#19) whose numbers had been previously retired by the Whalers.[14]

American Hockey League Hall of Famers

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AHL Hall of Fame Honored Members
Name Seasons Induction Year
Ken Gernander 1997-2005 (player)
2005-07 (asst. coach)
2007-17 (head coach) 		2013
Jean-Francois Labbe 1998-2001 (player) 2016
John Paddock 1999-2002 (head coach) 2010
Brad Smyth 1997-2002, 2005-06 (player) 2019

Notable alumni

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The following players have played both 100 games in Hartford and 100 games in the National Hockey League:

Team records

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Single season
Goals: 50, Brad Smyth (2000–01)
Assists: 69, Derek Armstrong (2000–01)
Points: 101, Derek Armstrong (2000–01)
Penalty Minutes: 415, Dale Purinton (1999–2000)
GAA: 1.59, Jason LaBarbera (2003–04)
SV%: .936, Jason LaBarbera (2003–04)
Shutouts: 13, Jason LaBarbera (2003–04)
Goaltending Wins: 34, Jason LaBarbera (2003–04)
Career
Goals: 184, Brad Smyth
Assists: 204, Derek Armstrong
Points: 365, Brad Smyth
Penalty Minutes: 1240, Dale Purinton
Shutouts: 21, Jason LaBarbera
Goaltending Wins: 91, Jason LaBarbera
Games: 599, Ken Gernander

References

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  1. ^ a b Doyle, Paul (September 20, 2010). "Wolf Pack Name Changing To Connecticut Whale". Hartford Courant. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  2. ^ Jacobs, Jeff (September 20, 2010). "Wolf Pack's Name Changing To Whale". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on July 31, 2012. Retrieved July 31, 2012. Alt URL
  3. ^ Doyle, Paul (November 28, 2010). "Hartford Hockey: A Whale Of A Debut". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on December 1, 2010. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  4. ^ Jacobs, Jeff (August 6, 2012). "Give Howard Baldwin Credit For Trying, But The NHL Dream Is Dead — For Now". Hartford Courant. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  5. ^ Doyle, Paul (April 23, 2013). "Connecticut Whale: Exit Whale, Re-Enter Wolf Pack; Source Says Team Name Will Change". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on April 30, 2013. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  6. ^ "It's Official! Hartford Wolf Pack Now the Name". Hartford Courant. May 14, 2013. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  7. ^ "Hartford Wolf Pack :: Players". Hartford Wolf Pack. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  8. ^ "Hartford Wolf Pack - Roster". American Hockey League. Retrieved December 18, 2024.
  9. ^ "PACK CAN'T MAKE UP GROUND ON SOUND TIGERS". Hartford Wolf Pack. March 6, 2016.
  10. ^ "PACK ANNOUNCE CAPTAIN, ALTERNATES". Hartford Wolf Pack. October 5, 2017.
  11. ^ "Cole Schneider named Captain for the 18/19 season". Twitter. Hartford Wolf Pack. October 4, 2018.
  12. ^ "Wolf Pack Name Steven Fogarty Captain". Hartford Wolf Pack. October 3, 2019.
  13. ^ Jacobs, Jeff (May 17, 2017). "Gernander's firing is Hartford's biggest loss since Whalers". Hartford Courant. Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  14. ^ "Retired Numbers".
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