HARTFORD, CT – The Hartford Wolf Pack and Rochester Americans met for the second time this season on Saturday night at the XL Center. The Wolf Pack aimed to bounce back from a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Laval the previous night.
However, the contest on the ice quickly took a backseat at the end of the second period. A line brawl between the two sides led to a total of 160 penalty minutes in the game. When the dust settled, Rochester walked away with a 6-3 win.
American Made
The Americans took a lead they’d never lose just over nine minutes into the game. With Chad Ruhwedel in the box for holding, Mason Jobst ripped a shot from the slot by Dylan Garand to open the scoring.
Isak Rosén made it a two-goal game in the final seconds of the opening frame. A brutal turnover led to Rosén speeding into the Hartford zone on a breakaway bid. Rosén then beat Garand through the five-hole to put Rochester up two heading into the first intermission.
The Amerks pushed it to three 8:38 into the middle frame. Kale Clague took a shot from the left circle that slipped through Garand’s five-hole.
Count on Anton
Late in the second period, Bryce McConnell-Barker took a high-sticking minor, sending the Wolf Pack back to the penalty kill. However, during the final seconds of the kill, Anton Blidh forced a turnover in the Hartford zone. Blidh carried the puck into the Rochester zone, but it was briefly poked away. Blidh regained control and, with McConnell-Barker out of the box, fired a shot on Felix Sandström from the slot. Sandström denied the initial bid, but Blidh grabbed the rebound and fired it through the five-hole to get Hartford on the board.
From there, chaos ensued.
Carnage in Connecticut
Before Blidh’s goal, Connor Mackey and Brett Murray got into a scrap. Officials attempted to break it up before it became a full-fledged fight, but Murray got a few extra shots in that Mackey couldn’t return. The extra punches raised the tensions between the sides.
Alex Belzile attempted a shot right as the horn sounded which Sandström took issue with. Garand promptly sprinted down the ice and challenged Sandström to a fight, which the Rochester netminder accepted. However, officials jumped in and broke up the scrap before the goalies could throw down.
Casey Fitzgerald and Ty Tullio started the theatrics before Garand joined the fray, fighting in the right corner. Belzile then got into a scrap with Graham Slaggert in the left circle. Brett Berard and Vsevolod Komarov were next, exchanging blows along the back wall. Matthew Robertson and Jagger Joshua capped off the brawl, going at it in the high slot.
All eight skaters earned five minutes for fighting and a ten-minute misconduct. Each side had three players earn game misconducts for secondary altercations – Belzile, Berard, and Robertson for Hartford and Slaggert, Komarov, and Joshua for Rochester. The six men were kicked out of the game as a result. Finally, Garand took a two-minute minor for leaving the crease, which sent Rochester to the power play to start the final frame.
Overall, 122 penalty minutes were handed out at 20:00 of the second period.
Whistle Happy
Hartford killed off the minor against Garand for leaving the crease to start the third period. However, after that, officials began calling everything they could.
Adam Sýkora took a high-sticking minor at 2:15. Officials then called Bo Groulx for cross-checking at 3:29. The calls reached another boiling point at 4:01, when Ruhwedel was given a misconduct for continuing an altercation, despite there being no altercation.
Wolf Pack head coach Grant Potulny gave the officials his money’s worth and eventually earned himself a bench minor. Rosén and Murray potted power play goals as a result of the extended five-on-three, giving Rochester a 5-1 lead.
This Pack Doesn’t Quit
Despite trailing by four goals and playing with a shortened bench, the Wolf Pack refused to go away. Jaroslav Chmelař cut the lead back to three, ripping a feed from Dylan Roobroeck home from the high slot.
Brennan Othmann drew Hartford within two just 63 seconds later. With Jobst in the box for hooking, Othmann lasered a shot top-shelf to add to the intrigue. The goal was Othmann’s second in as many games.
The Wolf Pack continued to push in the final minutes of the contest. However, with the bench shortened, they simply ran out of gas. Noah Östlund ended the intrigue with an empty-net goal, giving the Amerks a 6-3 decision.
“This team doesn’t have any quit in them, I’ll say that,” Potulny told The Calder Times after the contest. “You appreciate the fact that we’re continuing to play through the end of the game. We have to figure out how we can start better.”
Up Next
The Wolf Pack cap off their three-in-three weekend this afternoon in Springfield for the latest installment of the I-91 Rivalry against the Thunderbirds. Puck drop is set for 3:05 pm.
