Wolf Pack Capture 1,000th Win in Franchise History

HARTFORD, Conn. – The Hartford Wolf Pack (3-0-0) entered Saturday night’s game undefeated, seeking their 1,000th win in franchise history. After downing the Lehigh Valley Phantoms by a score of 5-1, Hartford now sits at 4-0-0 and is having their best start to a season in almost 20 years.

It didn’t take long for the Wolf Pack to get on the board, with rookie forward Brett Berard scoring his first professional goal a little over five minutes into the first. Berard took a pass from defenseman Nikolas Brouillard and picked his corner to beat Phantoms goaltender Cal Petersen, giving Hartford an early 1-0 lead.

“I think we got the right group of veterans in our room,” said Berard when discussing some of the early success of the team despite the wildly varying ages on the roster. The veteran core Berard was referencing has made quite the impact for the Wolf Pack this season, including 32-year-old forward Alex Belzile, who notched the second goal of the game for Hartford to take a 2-0 lead heading into the third period.

After close to 100 minutes of scoreless visitors in the XL center, the Phantoms finally broke through as the Wolf Pack conceded their first goal at home in the 2023-2024 season. Lehigh Valley forward Ollie Lycksell scored off the rebound to beat Hartford goalie Dylan Garand to cut the lead in half, making the score 2-1.

However, this was the closest the Phantoms would get to catching the Wolf Pack as Hartford would tack on three more goals in the third period. The first goal was scored by Brouillard during four-on-four hockey after both teams had players in the penalty box for roughing. The Wolf Pack would add on two more goals from forwards Bobby Trivigno and captain Jonny Brodzinski for extra insurance.

“We just took too many penalties and it was tough to get momentum going and [we] just need to be better from the start,” said Phantoms Head Coach Ian Laperriere when recounting his team’s performance on Saturday. Lehigh Valley had 30 penalty minutes, and despite the fact that they only conceded one power play goal to Hartford, they played down a man for close to half the game.

“We were in it going into the third tonight, didn’t get the job done. But that’s what’s good about this league; we’ll be back at it again tomorrow. I’s a long season,” said Phantoms captain and forward Garrett Wilson after the game. Wilson tallied a secondary assist in the lone goal for Lehigh Valley.

The Wolf Pack will look to keep the train rolling next weekend at home when they face off against the Springfield Thunderbirds for the second installment of the I-91 rivalry series while the Phantoms will head back home and host the Wolf Pack in just over a week.