2020-21 Chicago Wolves Game Notes CHICAGO AT ROCKFORD FEB. 6, 2021 3 P.M. AHLTV.COM OPENING COURSE: YOUTH IS SERVED 2020-21 In the days leading up to the Chicago Wolves’ opener Friday night against the Grand Rapids Griffins, TALE OF THE TAPE head coach Ryan Warsofsky promised that his youngest players would be thrown right into the fire. REGULAR-SEASON SERIES Sure enough, when the Wolves took the ice, their 12-man forward group featured four players who 0-0-0-0 Rockford | 0-0-0-0 Chicago would normally be playing in juniors. LAST MEETING March 8, 2020 But with the juniors on hold until further notice due to COVID-19, four 19-year-olds — Seth Jarvis, Jamieson Rees, Ryan Suzuki and Phil Tomasino — found themselves in the thick of the action during the Wolves’ 3-1 victory over the Griffins that served as their professional debuts. Each youngster was placed on a different line with more experienced players. But when the power plays came... 0-0-0-0 1-0-0-0 Jarvis, who turned 19 Monday, delivered the game-winning goal when he deposited a power-play goal past Griffins goaltender Pat Nagle at the 2:09 mark of the second period. Tomasino and rookie LEADING SCORERS LAST YEAR Dominik Bokk (who turned 21 Wednesday) set up Jarvis with a perfect tic-tac-toe while Suzuki was ROCKFORD CHICAGO also part of that power-play unit. The only non-rookie, defenseman Jeremy Davies, showed some Skater G A Pts Skater G A Pts veteran savvy as he went out of his way to pick up the puck as a souvenir for Jarvis. D. Sikura 5 3 8 Elvenes 2 7 9 T. Sikura 4 3 7 McKenzie 3 3 6 “I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time now,” said Jarvis, who was selected by the Carolina Hagel 2 5 7 Coghlan 4 1 5 Hurricanes with the 13th pick in the 2020 NHL Draft. “It was great getting my feet wet and, obviously, Wedin 2 3 5 Cotter 2 3 5 scoring is going to make it pretty memorable, I think. On the power play, we have a bunch of young guys and it’s nice to do it with them and make plays with them.” SERIES GAME-BY-GAME Date Location Result SF-SA PP PK “We want to put these guys in good spots and where they’re comfortable,” Warsofsky said. “I thought Oct. 18 Rockford MetroCentre L, 2-3 31-33 1-6 5-5 our power play was really good today — I thought both units got really good looks. It’s a learning Oct. 19 Allstate Arena OTL, 2-3 33-39 1-3 3-3 curve. Every night’s going to be a challenge and I thought our guys, especially our young kids, looked Nov. 3 Rockford MetroCentre L, 4-7 25-23 1-4 5-7 pretty good tonight.” Nov. 10 Allstate Arena L, 1-4 19-38 1-4 3-3 Nov. 29 Rockford MetroCentre L, 2-4 33-26 1-4 4-4 Tomasino, the Nashville Predators’ 2019 first-round pick, posted two assists in his pro debut as he Jan. 5 Rockford MetroCentre W, 3-2 30-33 1-5 4-4 also set up Tom Novak’s goal late in the first period with a visionary cross-ice pass that sprung Jan. 19 Allstate Arena L, 0-2 34-18 0-4 3-3 defenseman Cavan Fitzgerald for a rush down the left wing. Fitzgerald’s blast was stopped, but Feb. 23 Allstate Arena W, 5-1 22-31 2-3 3-3 Novak crashed the crease and contorted his body perfectly to knock home the rebound. March 8 Allstate Arena W (OT), 3-2 25-40 0-4 2-2 ENERGY TO BURN ALL-TIME RECORD BREAKDOWN While the Chicago Wolves waited more than 18 minutes to score their first goal of the season Friday Seasons Home Road Overall night, they wasted no time asserting themselves physically. It seemed like every 10 seconds, Triphahn 2007-20 45-21-4-3 26-36-5-5 71-57-9-8 Center echoed with the sounds of a Wolves player depositing a Griffins player into the boards. WE ARE THE WOLVES “I loved the energy in the room before the game,” said Wolves head coach Ryan Warsofsky. “I Defenseman Dylan Coghlan was a potent scorer from thought our leadership’s really stepping up right now, which is something that we need to bring the the blue line and a fan favorite the last two seasons group together. Even between periods, it was real positive. That was something that we really need for the Wolves. His hard work and improvement paid and want. I call it ‘juice.’ We want juice in the room and energy and guys excited to play. off Friday when the 22-year-old played 13:15 in his NHL debut with the Vegas Golden Knights. Coghlan became “I just liked our physicality. I thought we were ready from puck drop to the end of the game. Our team the 378th player in Wolves history to play in the NHL. speed was good. We were playing faster. Obviously there was a lot of stuff we need to work on, but physically I thought we looked like we were in midseason form.” Actually, that number jumped to 385 Friday night be- cause seven of the 19 players who made their Wolves THE SEASON OPENER debuts Friday nights — goaltender Antoine Bibeau, defensemen Alex Carrier and Tyler Lewington and FRIDAY, FEB. 5 (AT) CHICAGO 3, GRAND RAPIDS 1 forwards Rem Pitlick, Sheldon Rempal, Anthony • In his first professional game, centerSeth Jarvis scored the game-winner early in the second Richard and Cole Smith — also own NHL experience. period with a power-play marker set up by two other rookies: Dominik Bokk and Phil Tomasino. • Center Tom Novak scored the Wolves’ first goal of the season while defensemanCavan That means 385 of the 666 players who have suited up Fitzgerald set up Novak’s tally and added an insurance goal with seven minutes left in the third. in the Burgundy and Gold (57.8 percent) have reached • Goaltender Antoine Bibeau earned the win as he rejected 22 of 23 shots. the pinnacle of the sport. 2020-21 Chicago Wolves Game Notes FINAL 2019-20 BY THE NUMBERS HOME-ROAD CONTRASTS Regular Season Home Away Difference For the first time since the Chicago Wolves’ first season in 1994-95, every player on the Goals For 2.57 2.52 0.05 roster is new to the organization. The bulk of last year’s roster was signed to deals with the Goals Against 2.87 2.87 0.00 0 Vegas Golden Knights organization, so those players made the move to Nevada during the offseason to play for the Golden Knights or the new Henderson Silver Knights (AHL). The Wolves had RECORD BY DIVISION one familiar name in camp — veteran goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo, who posted a team-best 2.38 Record Win % goals-against average for the 2017-18 Central Division-winning Wolves — but Kaskisuo was recalled Atlantic 0-0-0-0 .000 from loan by Nashville (NHL) on Jan. 25 to join the team’s taxi squad. Central 24-23-5-2 .509 North 1-2-0-0 .333 Defenseman Cavan Fitzgerald, who signed an AHL deal with the Wolves during the offseason, Pacific 2-1-0-1 .625 produced two points (G, A) during Friday’s win over Grand Rapids. Considering he managed 2 just five points (2G, 3A) in 25 games for the Charlotte Checkers last year, perhaps Fitzgerald’s RECORD BY MONTH outburst seems surprising. But a closer look suggests Fitzgerald was just hitting his stride when Record Win % the pandemic brought the 2019-20 season to a halt. The Boston native posted two 2-point games in October 6-3-1-0 .650 November 3-10-1-0 .250 his last three outings — 1 goal and 1 assist Feb. 29 at Lehigh Valley and 2 assists March 1 at Hershey. December 7-3-0-1 .682 Fitzgerald clearly has earned the coaching staff’s respect as he joined Jeremy Davies on the January 5-4-1-1 .545 Wolves’ top defensive pairing — and Fitzgerald joined forward Tanner Jeannot and defenseman February 5-5-1-0 .500 Tyler Lewington in wearing the “A” on their jerseys Friday night. March 1-1-1-1 .500 The Wolves always have prided themselves on featuring local players on their roster — and this season should be no exception. There are three players on the Opening Night roster IN OVERTIME (3-5) 3 who grew up in the Chicago area: forward Lukas Craggs (Elmhurst), forward David Gust Goaltender Saves-Shots (21-26) SV% (Orland Park) and defenseman Joey Keane (Homer Glen). Keane, who was born in Chicago and spent Dylan Ferguson (0-0) 3-3 1.000 several youth hockey season with the well-respected Chicago Mission, was the only one to play in Oscar Dansk (1-2) 10-12 .833 Friday’s opener. The 21-year-old Keane was drafted by the New York Rangers in the third round of Garret Sparks (2-3) 8-11 .727 the 2018 NHL Draft. He spent most of last year with Hartford (AHL), but was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in February. He earned AHL All-Rookie honors last year with 9 goals and 28 assists in 57 IN THE SHOOTOUT (2-3) games split between Hartford and Charlotte.