2018-19 Chicago Wolves Game Notes SAN ANTONIO AT CHICAGO JANUARY 4, 2019 7 p.m. THE U TOO A HAT TRICK OF ALL-STARS 2018-19 The American Hockey League announced the rosters for the 2019 AHL All-Star Classic on Thursday TALE OF THE TAPE and the Wolves have secured three of the 10 skaters’ spots on the Central Division roster. Forwards REGULAR-SEASON SERIES Brandon Pirri and Daniel Carr and rookie defenseman Erik Brännström are among the players that 2-0-0-0 San Antonio | 0-2-0-0 Chicago will compete in the festivities Jan. 27-28 at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts. The All-Star Wolves will represent the Western Conference during the skills competition on Jan. 27 and battle for the Central Division All-Stars during the 3-on-3 round-robin tournament on Jan. 28. Pirri leads the league in scoring with 41 points (17G, 24A) in 28 games and was honored Wednesday as the AHL’s Player of the Month for December. The 27-year-old Toronto native has notched six goals and three assists in seven games for the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights since being recalled from loan 16-17-1-0 20-11-3-1 on Dec. 19. LEADING SCORERS IN SERIES Carr ranks second among AHL scorers with 40 points (17G, 23A) in 29 games and reamins as the only SAN ANTONIO CHICAGO player in the league this season to produce a four-goal game, which he accomplished on Nov. 7 at Skater G A Pts Skater G A Pts Milwaukee. MacEachern 2 0 2 Quinney 1 1 2 Nolan 2 0 2 Brännström 1 1 2 Kyrou 1 1 2 Hyka 1 1 2 Brännström led AHL rookie defensemen and shared fifth among all AHL defensemen in scoring (4 Butler 0 2 2 McKenzie 1 0 1 goals and 16 assists in 24 games) when he was recalled from loan by Vegas on Dec. 16 to join Team Sweden for the World Junior Championship. He captained the squad that went 4-1-0 and tied for the team lead with four goals in five games. On Wednesday, Sweden fell 2-0 to Switzerland in the WJC SERIES GAME-BY-GAME quarterfinals. On Thursday, Brännström was returned on loan to the Wolves by Vegas. Date Location Result SF-SA PP PK Oct. 28 AT&T Center L, 2-3 27-20 1-4 4-7 Dec. 1 Allstate Arena L, 3-5 22-15 1-3 3-3 Jan. 4 Allstate Arena 7 p.m. WELCOME, TYE MCGINN Jan. 5 Allstate Arena 7 p.m. On Thursday, the Wolves consummated their first official trade since Dec. 17, 2016, when the team March 5 AT&T Center 10:30 a.m. acquired left wing Tye McGinn from the AHL’s Manitoba Moose in exchange for future considerations. March 16 Allstate Arena 7 p.m. Also on Thursday, Wolves defenseman Jimmy Oligny was recalled from loan by the Vegas Golden March 23 AT&T Center 7 p.m. Knights and traded to the Winnipeg Jets for future considerations. Oligny, who posted one assist and March 26 AT&T Center 7 p.m. 28 penalty minutes in 16 games with the Wolves, will join the Central Division rival Moose. THROWING IT BACK TO 2005 McGinn, a 28-year-old Fergus, Ontario, native, produced two goals and four assists in 26 games this On Jan. 8, 2005, J.P. Vigier scored the game-winning season for Manitoba. Drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in the fourth round of the 2010 NHL Entry goal and Michael Garnett posted 27 saves as the Draft, McGinn has appeared in 89 NHL games and produced 9 goals and 8 assists spread across four Wolves knocked off the San Antonio Rampage 2-1 seasons with the Flyers, San Jose Sharks, Arizona Coyotes and Tampa Bay Lightning. The 6-foot-2, in front of 10,021 fans at Allstate Arena to run their 205-pound forward owns 88 goals and 83 assists in 337 AHL regular-season games. record to 21-11-3-1 (if the current Wolves win tonight, they’ll have the same record). What else was hap- pening in the world about that time? TWO WILD BATTLES • The USS San Francisco, a U.S. Navy nuclear sub- marine, ran aground south of the Pacific Island of WEDNESDAY, JAN. 2 IOWA 3, (AT) CHICAGO 1 Guam. The submarine hit an undersea mountain, • The Wolves scored less than two minutes into the first game of the new year, but special teams which caused one death and more than 100 injuries. proved to be the difference in the home loss. • The University of Illinois basketball team defeated • Defenseman Dylan Coghlan scored Chicago’s only goal in the opening minutes of the contest, Purdue 68-59 to run its record to 16-0 and maintain but the Wild clamped down after that to keep the home team at bay. their No. 1 Associated Press ranking. • Goaltender Max Lagace saved 23 shots. • Trucker hats and skinny jeans became all the rage on certain fashion fronts. MONDAY, DEC. 31 (at) IOWA 3, CHICAGO 1 • Mario’s “Let Me Love You” started an eight-week run • The Wolves suffered their first regulation loss since Dec. 2 as the Wild took a 2-0 lead at the end atop the Billboard Top 100 charts. of the second period and couldn’t be caught • Center T.J. Tynan scored with 59 seconds left in regulation to pull the Wolves within 1, but the ALL-TIME RECORD BREAKDOWN visitors couldn’t set up a good chance for the equalizer Seasons Home Road Overall • Goaltender Oscar Dansk stopped 20 of 22 shots. 2002-2018 33-15-1-1-1 27-19-3-0-2 60-34-4-1-3 2018-19 Chicago Wolves Game Notes 2018-19 HOME-ROAD CONTRASTS BY THE NUMBERS Regular Season Home Away Difference Goals For 3.67 3.76 0.09 The Wolves will have three representatives - forwards Brandon Pirri and Daniel Carr and Goals Against 3.39 2.59 0.80 defenseman Erik Brännström - at the 2019 AHL All-Star Classic, joining the San Jose Bar- 3 racuda as the only other team to have three players selected. It will be Pirri’s third appear- ance at the AHL All-Star Classic while Carr and Brännström are first-time selections. RECORD BY DIVISION Record Win % The Wolves’ prowess during even-strength hockey can be seen at the top of the AHL’s Central 15-11-3-1 .567 plus/minus ratings -- where they own four of the top-five spots. Left wingDaniel Carr and North 1-0-0-0 1.000 4 rookie defenseman Zach Whitecloud are tied for the league lead with a +21 plus/minus. Pacific 4-0-0-0 1.000 Center Gage Quinney stands tied for third with Rochester’s Lawrence Pilut third at +19 while rookie defenseman Nic Hague ranks fifth with a +18 RECORD BY MONTH Record Win % There are five AHL teams that have yet to be shut out this season: Bridgeport, Chicago, October 6-2-0-1 .722 Hartford, Iowa and Texas. The Wolves have not been on the short end of a shutout since November 4-5-2-0 .455 Feb. 24, 2018, at Manitoba -- which means only Texas (Jan. 13, 2018) has been shut out less December 10-3-1-0 .750 5 January 0-1-0-0 .000 recently than the Wolves. February 0-0-0-0 .000 The San Antonio Rampage roster features a whopping nine former Wolves: forwards Sam- March 0-0-0-0 .000 April 0-0-0-0 .000 uel Blais, Conner Bleackley, Jordan Kyrou, Mackenzie MacEachern and Adam Musil, de- 9 fensemen Chris Butler and Jake Walman and goaltenders Jordan Binnington and Ville Hus- so. Bleackley, MacEachern and Walman each played roles on the Wolves’ 2016-17 and 2017-18 Central IN OVERTIME (4-3) Division champions while the others all helped the 2016-17 team captained by Butler. Goaltender Saves-Shots SV% Oscar Dansk (2-1) 7-8 .875 This is the number Erik Brännström dons for the Wolves, but he hasn’t worn it for the Max Lagace (2-2) 4-6 .667 last nine games because he was busy captaining Team Sweden in the 2019 World 26 Junior Championship. Sweden won all four of its preliminary games, but fell to Swit- zerland in quarterfinal action on Wednesday. The official paperwork for Brännström’s return to Chi- IN THE SHOOTOUT (0-1) cago came through on Thursday afternoon at roughly the same time he was named an AHL All-Star. Shooter Goals-Chances SH% Chicago leads the AHL with 130 goals -- seven more than Syracuse -- so it makes T.J. Tynan 1-1 1.000 sense that the Wolves boast three of the league’s top 10 scorers: League leader Erik Brännström 0-1 .000 Brandon Pirri (17A, 24A), No. 2 Daniel Carr (17G, 23A) and No. 7 Brooks Macek Daniel Carr 0-1 .000 130 Reid Duke 0-1 .000 (17G, 17A). Center T.J. Tynan sits in 11th place with seven goals and 25 assists. Brooks Macek 0-1 .000 Stefan Matteau 0-1 .000 If you’ve suited up for the Wolves, chances are better than 50/50 that you’ve Brandon Pirri 0-1 .000 also played in the National Hockey League. When goaltender Eddie Pasquale won his NHL debut Dec. 4 for the Tampa Bay Lightning against the Detroit Red Goaltender Saves-Shots SV% 354 Oscar Dansk 5-7 .714 Wings, he became the 354th player (out of 616 Wolves all-time) who have competed for the Wolves and in the NHL.