Game Preview - Chicago Wolves 11/19

Wolves Forward Mark Mancari

The Chicago Wolves return to the Allstate Arena tonight for the first time since October 29th to face the San Antonio Rampage, AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers. The Rampage are coming off of a 5-4 win last night in Grand Rapids and look to start a winning streak against the suddenly white hot Wolves. Through 15 games, the Rampage are 6-9-0-0 (12 pts) and in last place in the West Division. San Antonio features one of the top goalie prospects in the AHL in Jacob Markstrom, though since being assigned to San Antonio his stats aren’t stellar (GAA 3.60 Save % 0.879). San Antonio's leading scorer is center Bracken Kearns with 5-4-9 in 13 games played.

Player to watch:

Mark Mancari – Mancari had two points in last night's win against the Milwaukee Admirals and seems to be coming into his own since moving back to his normal position on the wing, he struggled to produce his normal big numbers when adjusting to playing center earlier in the season.

- Chris / @GgooglyBoogly

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Posted in: AHL,Bracken Kearns,Chicago Wolves,Florida Panthers,Grand Rapids,Jacob Markstrom,Mark Mancari,Milwaukee Admirals,San Antonio Rampage

Game Recap – Chicago Wolves vs Milwaukee Admirals 11/18

The Wolves kept on rolling Friday night in Milwaukee as they defeated the Admirals 6-3, and extended their season long winning streak to five games. Matt Climie got another start in net and played a solid game, turning away 31 of 34 shots faced. Climie has started each game during this four game winning streak and head coach Craig MacTavish is showing that his plan with his two number one goaltenders this year will be to ride the hot hand.

Darren Haydar started off the scoring with a quick release goal from a beautiful feed from Kevin Doell, who caused a turnover in the offensive zone and dropped the puck off for Haydar. In fact, four of the six wolves goals scored tonight were directly off turnovers.

The four goal second period started off with an odd man rush and Darren Haydar picked up his second point of the game after delivering a beautiful pass to defensemen Kevin Connauton - who continues to contribute to the offense (5-2-7). Goals by Nathan Longpre (Mancari) and Bill Sweatt (Haydar, Mancari) made it 4-0, and Mike Duco grabbed an unassisted goal when the Admirals goalie misplayed the puck in the corner.

The Admirals showed signs of life at the end of the 2nd period and scored one goal and got two more by Matt Climie in the third. Mark Mancari put in an empty netter late in the 3rd making the final score 6-3. The Amtrak rivalry series now stands at three games to two in favor of the Admirals. Scratches for the game were Polasek, Parent, Friesen, Davies, Archibald, Clackson, Reinprecht and Oreskovich.

Player of the game:
Darren Haydar – Darren had a three point night with one goal and two assists to give him nine points in his last three games, to this point in the season, he has 6-11-17 totals.

- Chris / @GgooglyBoogly

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Posted in: AHL,Amtrak Rivalry,Bill Sweatt,Chicago Wolves,Darren Haydar,Kevin Connauton,Kevin Doell,Mark Mancari,Matt Climie,Mike Duco,Milwaukee Admirals,Nathan Longpre

"Love for Lokomotiv"

As we all know, tragedy struck the hockey community this September as 44 lives were lost when the plane carrying Lokomotiv Yaroslavl players, coaches and other various personnel crashed. In their memory some hockey girls have started a charity for donations called "Love for Lokomotiv". They have been selling beaded bracelets ($50 adult/$25 child) and silicon bracelets ($10 one size) to raise money for the friends and family of the victims. 100% of the proceeds from the bracelets go to a foundation set up in honor of the team.

Heres the link to purchase bracelets: http://www.loveforlokomotiv.com/donate.html and their twitter account is: @Love4Lokomotiv

- Samantha / @Bicicaxx

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Posted in: charity,KHL,Lokomotiv,Love for Lokomotiv,Yaroslavl