Wolves hampered by Blues’ injuries

If there’s any question why the Wolves are in sixth place in the American Hockey League’s Central Division, consistency — or lack thereof -— provides much of the answer.

Since the season opener, the Wolves have had 11 of their 20 players spend time in the NHL. Shipping talent to the parent-club St. Louis Blues has become a regular occurrence, making it difficult for Wolves coach John Anderson to maintain any consistency with his lineup.

The constant shuffling has taken its toll, as evidenced by the team’s 25-26-5-3 record (58 points).

Among the most traveled is right wing Ty Rattie, who has been called up four times this season. In 13 games with the Blues, Rattie has four goals and six points. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and mangameslost.com, the Blues have lost 236 man games to injury this season.

The back and forth has gotten old not only for the Wolves, but for Rattie.

“It’s not the ideal situation,” Rattie told thehockeywriters.com “Packing up and moving, packing up and moving. But it’s the NHL, and that’s the career I chose. I’m not going to say no. I love the game, so I’ll do anything to be there.”

The Wolves have had their own injury issues. Since Dec. 29, they’ve acquired 14 players from the East Coast Hockey League, further complicating their chemistry.

Goossens will join Fire

Fire coach Veljko Paunovic confirmed Tuesday that Dutch midfielder John Goossens resolved his visa issues and will be with the team when it travels to Orlando for the game Friday. Paunovic said he and other club officials will wait until then to decide if Goossens will play after having limited training time because of traveling this week. He missed the Fire’s 4-3 season-opening loss to New York City FC.

“We will see how he feels, and we will try to prepare him to be available for the game,” Paunovic said.

Sky adds trio

The Sky added free agents Yvonne Turner, Shanece McKinney and Jacki Gemelos to their training-camp roster.

Turner, a 5-9 point guard, is leading the Polish League in scoring with 16.9 points per game. This will be her second training camp with the Sky. McKinney, a 6-4 center, appeared in 24 games with the New York Liberty in 2014. She’s playing in Spain, where she’s averaging 13.4 points and 1.8 blocks per game. Gemelos, a 6-foot guard, appeared in 17 games last season with the Sky and is playing in Spain, where she is averaging 9.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. The Sky opens training camp April 24.

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