WOLF PACK WEEKLY REPORT

* Jan. 02, 2016

Pack Start well, but Fall to Devils

Nehring has Goal, Assist in 4-3 Loss

* Jan. 03, 2016

Pack can't Come all the Way back vs. Penguins

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Holds on for 3-2 Win

* Jan. 04, 2016

Jayson Megna Recalled by Rangers

Earns second callup of Season

* Jan. 06, 2016

Desjardins, Krushelnyski Added to Pack Roster

Desjardins Returns from Manchester, Krushelnyski Recalled from Utah

* Jan. 07, 2016

Graves Earns All-Star Classic Nod

Will Represent Pack on Atlantic Division Squad

UPCOMING: The Pack face three opponents in three days, the Springfield Falcons, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, and the Albany Devils. Head Coach Ken Gernander said. “Our lineup is different from when we last played. The emphasis for us however, is being at our best.” “It’s cliché, but we have to go one at a time. We have to have a good skate tomorrow, then play Springfield and then wake-up Saturday and do the same for Bridgeport.”

INJURIES PLAGUE PACK: Six players are out of the lineup and two have day-to-day status.

Travis Oleksuk is the latest name to appear on the injured list. Oleksuk took a shot from ex-CT Whale, Tim Erixon, off the skate last Sunday. The Pack report that the foot is not broken but Oleksuk is still hurting.

“(Oleksuk) remains day to day, There is no day-to-day for a broken foot injury is there,” joked Ken Gernander.

The other new name on the injured list is Matt Lindblad with a lower body injury. He’s has a potential chance to play.

“He might be available at some point in time this weekend, which is close to a year,” Gernander said.

This allowed the Rangers to recall Alex Krushelnyski from Utah (ECHL) where he had 31 points in 29 games.Krushelnyski had a strong training camp for the Pack and was among the last

Krushelnyski had a strong training camp for the Pack and was among the last cuts, for his efforts he was given an AHL deal for the year and he can show that faith and reward in helping the Pack.

“He is a good skater and has a good hockey IQ, so we’re expecting a pretty good two-way player,” Gernander said. “We expect him to take draws for us and maybe at some point some penalty killing action.”

The rest of the walking wounded include Shawn O’Donnell and Calle Andersson, who are both out with concussions. Until those protocols are met they haven’t even begun to skate., Raphael Diaz (lat muscle) is still not cleared to play. Toss in Cedrick Desjardins. The goaltender suffered an upper body injury in Manchester on his rehab assignment last Saturday and left after one period against Greenville.

Desjardins was recalled, but strictly to help Manchester create roster space. So Desjardins is a man in limbo who has not been reassigned back to the team. His status is still a question mark.

“I don’t know,” Gernander said. “It’s hard to make an evaluation. He hasn’t really played in over a year (just five games in Manchester). So once he plays I could give a better answer.”The other is goalie Mackenzie Skapski dispatched back to Greenville it’s different than his first assignment.

The other injured Pack player is goaltender Mackenzie Skapski. He was dispatched back to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits.

“There is no timeline for (Skapski). We want him to get his game to be where it needs to be and that was the task he was given when he was reassigned. That and to get back to the game of hockey he had last season.”

No lagging injury or soreness related to his off-season surgery?“No, he is healthy it just a matter of him getting playing time,”

Considering Skapski, in calendar-year 2015, played in just 18 games, they should let him stay till the trade deadline or later.

The team also lost Jayson Megna to recall. Despite just one goal and two assists in his last eleven Wolf Pack games, he fit like a glove with Rick Nash in a 6-2 win over the Dallas Stars garnering a goal and assist and the number three star.