The American Hockey League’s Most Valuable Player, Jason LaBarbera, along with Jed Ortmeyer, Chad Wiseman and six others, will be at the Madison Square Garden Training Center when the Hartford Wolf Pack open training camp on Sept. 26. General Manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the team has agreed to terms with the nine players.
LaBarbera set a new league record with 13 shutouts last season and finished tops in the league with 34 wins and rated second overall in goals against average (1.59). Ortmeyer played the majority of the season with the New York Rangers, and tied for second-most playoff goals during the Wolf Pack’s post-season with Wiseman, who also agreed to terms today. Rounding out the forwards, 23 year-old Alexandre Giroux, who came to the club from Ottawa in March of this year and center Blair Betts, who was acquired by the Rangers from Calgary also in March.
Defensemen Lawrence Nycholat and Martin Grenier will also be back with the club. Nycholat led all Wolf Pack defensemen in regular-season points, goals and assists (6-26-32), while the 6’5″, 245 pound Grenier led the team in penalty minutes (250) during the 2003-04 regular season.
Veteran goalie Steve Valiquette, who was acquired in March of 2004 and appeared in seven games with the Pack last season also signed with the club today, as did netminder Randy Petruk.
This brings the total players attending camp to 39.
