Your Favorite Number 35

April 21, 2021

No. 35 is one of only two numbers that has been dedicated exclusively to goaltenders since the Chicago Wolves were born in 1994. Many who donned the Wolves’ No. 35 made their way to the National Hockey League after making their way into Wolves’ fans hearts. It won’t be easy to determine the winner of Your Favorite Number 35, presented by Jewel-Osco.

This week’s clips feature four Wolves who made a difference while wearing No. 35: Stephane Beauregard, Frederic Cassivi, Jake Allen and Oscar Dansk.

Shortly after Thanksgiving in 1997, the NHL’s Washington Capitals loaned Beauregard to the Wolves. While Wendell Young was the workhorse during the 1997-98 regular season — he appeared in 51 games while Beauregard saw action in just 18 — the dynamic duo started taking turns in the net once the Turner Cup Playoffs began. Head coach John Anderson stuck with the successful rotation until Game 1 of the Finals, when Young started but had to leave due to dehydration and a shoulder injury.

It became Beauregard’s net the rest of the way and he backstopped the Wolves to their first league championship while saving his best for last. The Wolves returned to Chicago for Game 6 trailing 3 games to 2, but the 30-year-old Quebec native surrendered just one goal over the final 120 minutes as the Wolves hoisted the Turner Cup in front of a sellout crowd at the Rosemont Horizon.

On Jan. 24, 2002, the Atlanta Thrashers traded defenseman Brett Clark to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Cassivi. While the 26-year-old Quebec native did appear in eight games for the Thrashers, he spent most of his time building his American Hockey League Hall of Fame resume with the Wolves. Cassivi appeared in 67 regular-season games over two-and-a-half years in Chicago, but his most memorable contributions came at the outset of the 2002 Calder Cup Playoffs.

With the Wolves faced with a best-of-three preliminary series against Cincinnati, Cassivi was tapped to play all three games in a three-day stretch. Chicago dropped Game 1 3-2, but Cassivi made heroic saves in Game 2 to enable the Wolves to take that 3-2 in two overtimes. He then stepped up and guided the team to a 3-2 win in the decisive Game 3. Pasi Nurminen joined the team shortly thereafter and played almost exclusively, but the Wolves never would have captured the 2002 Calder Cup with Cassivi.

Allen joined the Wolves in 2013 when Chicago changed its NHL partnership from Vancouver to St. Louis. The 23-year-old from Fredericton, New Brunswick, had earned a spot on the NHL’s All-Rookie team in 2012-13, so he didn’t have much to prove — but he played every night like he did. Allen dominated the AHL with a 33-16-3 record, a 2.03 goals-against average and .928 save percentage to backstop the Wolves to the Midwest Division crown. Accordingly, he earned AHL First All-Star Team honors as well as the Aldege “Baz” Bastien Memorial Award as the league’s Outstanding Goalie. Allen has spent the last seven years exclusively in the NHL, where he helped St. Louis earn its first Stanley Cup before moving to the Montreal Canadiens during the last offseason.

When the Wolves signed a partnership with the fledgling Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, Dansk began a remarkable three-year run in Chicago. Over the course of 95 regular-season appearances for the Wolves, the Stockholm, Sweden, native delivered a 58-28-8 record with a 2.42 goals-against average and a .912 save percentage. He claimed fifth on the Wolves’ all-time list for wins as well as shutouts (6).

Dansk also carried the heaviest load during the run to the 2019 Calder Cup Finals as he earned 10 of the Wolves’ 12 postseason victories. He capped his tenure in Chicago by earning the team’s Dan Snyder Man of the Year Award and being nominated for the AHL’s Man of the Year honor.

To vote for your favorite Wolves player who wore No. 35, visit one or more of the team’s social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) and make your opinion known!

If you missed any of the previous episodes, here they are: