Calgary Wranglers Series Preview: Brett Sutter to hit 1,000 AHL games against former team, the Ontario Reign
1 year ago
The Ontario Reign are coming to town to face the Calgary Wranglers for a back-to-back midweek series this week. This is their first time playing each other this year and Brett Sutter’s first look against his former team. Hopefully, he still has some relevant game notes he can share with his team to have a slight strategic advantage. Sutter will also mark the occasion of playing against his old team with a massive milestone of 1,000 AHL games on Wednesday.
Projected Lineups
Calgary
Jakob Pelletier – Connor Zary – Mitch McLain
Emilio Pettersen – Cole Schwindt – Ben Jones
Brett Sutter – Kevin Rooney – Walker Duehr
Alex Gallant – Rory Kerins – Clark Bishop
Emilio Pettersen – Cole Schwindt – Ben Jones
Brett Sutter – Kevin Rooney – Walker Duehr
Alex Gallant – Rory Kerins – Clark Bishop
Dennis Gilbert – Nick DeSimone
Colton Poolman – Jeremie Poirier
Yan Kuznetsov – Nicolas Meloche
Colton Poolman – Jeremie Poirier
Yan Kuznetsov – Nicolas Meloche
Dustin Wolf
Oscar Dansk
Oscar Dansk
Ontario
Alex Turcotte – Quinton Byfield – Tyler Madden
Lias Andersson – T.J. Tynan – Martin Chromiak
Alan Quine – Nate Thompson – Samuel Fagemo
Andre Lee – Samuel Helenius – Aidan Dudas
Lias Andersson – T.J. Tynan – Martin Chromiak
Alan Quine – Nate Thompson – Samuel Fagemo
Andre Lee – Samuel Helenius – Aidan Dudas
Tobias Bjornfot – Helge Grans
Jacob Moverare – Cameron Gaunce
Tobie Bisson – Frederic Allard
Jacob Moverare – Cameron Gaunce
Tobie Bisson – Frederic Allard
Cal Petersen
Matthew Villalta
Matthew Villalta
Leaders
Calgary
Matthew Phillips (inactive due to NHL call-up) – 20GP, 15G, 15A
Jakob Pelletier – 24 GP – 10G, 16A
Connor Zary – 24 GP – 9G, 15A
Ontario
T.J. Tynan – 23 GP, 2G, 23A
Jordan Spence – 22GP, 2G, 19A
Quinton Byfield – 14GP, 9G, 4A
Notes and expectations
Jordan Spence of the Reign was up with the Los Angeles Kings but only got a game in before being reassigned over the weekend. He has been a promising young prospect for the Reign, averaging just under a point per game. He may be in the lineup for one or both of these games, but that is just one minor game note.
The big storyline going into this series focuses on Wranglers captain and former Reign captain of the last five seasons, Brett Sutter. He is set to hit a massive milestone on Wednesday night with his 1,000th AHL game. He has the third most games played in the league out of active players.
Sutter has played 16 years in the AHL and prior to this series sat at 180 goals and 259 assists for a total of 439 points in his AHL career not including the postseason. He has played in eight Calder Cup runs but has yet to hoist it at his ripe age of 35.
No one could have drawn up a more perfect storyline for Sutter than to play his 1,000th game against his former team and one he played over a third of his AHL career with. Sutter played in 379 games with the Reign before being picked up by the Flames organization over the summer. If you have not figured it out yet, yes he has relations to Flames head coach Darryl Sutter. Brett is his son and Darryl has been seen at multiple Wranglers games this season when the Flames are not on the road.
Brett is still finding a way to the scoresheet and contributing where he can for his team beyond just a veteran presence. This season, he has been a natural choice to lead the Wranglers with the help of his alternate captains Nick DeSimone, Matthew Phillips (when active) and Colton Poolman. Sutter sits at four goals and 11 assists on the year and has been spending most of his ice time on the third line.
Some of Calgary’s players have been rising to the occasion of the various NHL call-ups and slotting in and contributing to team scoring the last few games including Emilio Pettersen, Jakob Pelletier, Cole Schwindt and Walker Duehr. Their play has not gone unnoticed but this week, all eyes are going to be on the guy with the C on the Wranglers jersey.
This series kicks off on Tuesday night and you can join the organization in honouring Brett’s 1,000th AHL game at the Saddledome on Wednesday night. Both games at set to start at 7:00 p.m. MT. If you can’t make it in person, you can stream the games on AHL.TV. FlamesNation contributors Mike Gould and myself will have live coverage on Twitter.
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