MOLINE, Ill. (October 30, 2014) - Defenseman Jani Hakanpaa has been reassigned to the Quad City Mallards from the American Hockey League's Chicago Wolves by the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues, the Mallards announced today. The Mallards further announced they have waived forwards Kyle Thomas, Garrett Vermeersch and Ben Woodley and have activated forward Antii Pusa from the team's reserve list while moving forward Evan Haney to the reserve list.
Hakanpaa, 22, scored four goals and added four assists while posting a plus/minus rating of +20 in 54 games with the Wolves last season.
Hakanpaa was selected by St. Louis in the fourth round of the 2010 National Hockey League Entry Draft with the one hundred fourth overall choice. The 6' 5", 218-pound product of Kirkkonummi, Finland got his first taste of North American hockey when he joined the Peoria Rivermen for 14 AHL games in 2012-13. Hakanpaa started that campaign in his homeland with the Espoo Blues.
Hakanpaa represented Finland at the 2011 and 2012 International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships, captaining the Finns at the 2012 event in Alberta.
Thomas played in one game for the Mallards, Vermeersch scored once in three outings and Woodley picked up an assist in two games.
Haney skated in two games before his move to the reserve list. Pusa, 25, makes his way to the active roster after sitting out the Mallards' first three games of the season.
The Mallards next play at home tomorrow evening - Halloween night- at 7:05 against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Kids 12 and under wearing Halloween costumes to tomorrow night's tilt will receive free tickets to that game and will have the chance to trick-or-treat on the ice during the first intermission. Tomorrow is also another $1 Dog/$1 Beer Night presented by 97X and MetroLINK. $1 hot dogs and beer are available at iWireless Center concession stands during all Mallards Friday night home games.
Single game tickets for all remaining Mallards regular season home games- including tomorrow night's- are on sale now at the iWireless Center box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.comand Ticketmaster charge-by-phone toll free at 1-800-745-3000. The box office is open weekdays from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and game days from 10:00 a.m. until the start of the second period. Tickets are available for $10, $16, $20 and $28.
