Soundin' Off

Election Day. Vote hard. Several kids hanging around The Rinks this morning. Lucky kids. Only school of mine that was ever a polling place: PS 83. (Kindergarten/first grade.)

So they got to see a “short-handed” bunch of Sound Tigers on the ice: Haskins remained out (said he was coming along, though, with whatever that upper-body injury is); Joel Rechlicz, Anton Klementiev and Tomas Marcinko were also out, and Jack Capuano was home. There’s some sort of bug going around. Supposedly not the flu, but sounds bad enough. (I’m sniffling, myself.)

So they were all the way down to 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies.

Consistency was the story of the weekend, to hear it from those we talked to. When they had it, they did well. When they didn’t, well, they lost two games.

Enjoy those political ads while you can.

The way they’ve run since Thursday is pretty much the way they ran today. Bobby Hughes, Pascal Morency (suspended), Anton Klementiev and Jake Gannon stayed out late. Scott Munroe was the first off. Phil got what sounded like a good interview with Greg Mauldin. They’re ready to go.

Trevor Gillies was in town but awaiting a physical.

After mishearing one person and misunderstanding others, I have been set right at last: Adam (A.J.) Perry is the other tryout forward in Bridgeport’s camp. Played a dozen games with the Rampage last year and scored one of his three points against the Sound Tigers.

So that produces this best-as-we-gather, unofficial training-camp roster:

Forwards — Sean Bentivoglio, Jean Bourbeau, Jason Dale, Justin DiBenedetto, Robin Figren, Michael Findorff, Tyler Haskins, Paul Healey, Jesse Joensuu, Mike Lesperance, Pascal Morency, Vladimir Nikiforov, Adam Perry, Jeff Pierce, Tomy Romano, James Sixsmith
Defensemen — Victor Bartley, Dustin Friesen, Jake Gannon, Jon Gleed, Garrett Gruenke, Mark Katic, Jan Piskacek, Luke Sellars, Evan Stoflet, Mark Wotton
Goaltenders — Dov Grumet-Morris, Mikko Koskinen, Nathan Lawson, Juha Toivonen

The Sound Tigers open camp Wednesday morning, and they announced today that it’ll be open to the public Wednesday and Thursday at The Rinks at Shelton. Each day, one group will go 10-11 a.m., and a second group goes 11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Friday, the groups will go a little shorter, 10-10:45 and 11-11:45 before the game in Cromwell; they’ll go a little earlier Saturday, 9:10-9:40 and 9:50-10:15. Those aren’t specifically open… “So we’ll have to be quiet.”*

BTW, don’t think I ever linked yesterday to the Newsday news that Frans Nielsen will miss 4-6 weeks. So there it is. (Other tidbits in there, too.) Lots of potential and former Tigers in tonight’s Isles lineup.

Edit: BTW, Drew Fata is in the Bruins’ lineup today against the Rangers. Artem Anisimov posterized another Bruins defenseman (didn’t catch which) for a SHG, a beauty.

*-1F19.

It’s pouring here. This is a whole lot of scattered showers. Hopefully holds off at Kennedy Stadium tonight.

Anyway. Traded e-mails with Jack Capuano on last night’s rookie game, and he led off with: “We definitely worked on the penalty kill that’s for sure.” Didn’t sound enamored with the officiating, and called it a “chippy game.” (See Ray’s comment for the other side.) Marcinko had a goal and two assists; Capuano said the goal came off a nice Haskins pass, and one assist was a result of his disruption on the penalty kill, setting up an odd-man rush.

He said the kids played well, mentioning Poulin, Hamonic and Klementyev in particular.

Katie has the groups; the lines are on the team site.

The StarPhoenix has the full Islanders training camp roster, which is the first place I’ve noticed that included Tyler Haskins, Pascal Morency and this Jan Piskacek kid as big-club-camp invites.

No Sure Way, Loudon Wainwright III

The Bravest, Tom Paxton (a bit more than halfway down)

Hang on to your tear ducts.

The AHL has information on the Ace Bailey Children’s Foundation and the Mark Bavis Leadership Foundation.

Had something here; was concerned about provenance, took it down. If it’s accurate, it’ll be out soon enough.

Elsewhere…

Fantastic 1953 film, Here’s Hockey, as seen on Uni Watch (where Paul Lukas leads into the link with “ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod,” quite fairly). After watching that, check out Roch Carrier’s The Sweater, essential viewing.

Tom Gulitti talks with John MacLean.

Onetime Wolf Pack standout and AHL MVP Derek Armstrong is going to St. Louis and, Dave Eminian reports, probably Peoria.

Terry Gregson took over the NHL officials earlier this week.

Shaun Hannah resigned as coach of Sacred Heart.

And lots of Beatles stuff floating around; it’s fantastic. WDRC-FM was playing albums tonight; how often do you hear “Misery” and “Anna” on the radio? (Apologies for the volume as I drove by, suburban dwellers.) Have I ever plugged Alan W. Pollack’s “Notes On” series here? Outstanding work…

(Why does stuff keep happening when I’m off? Good thing I’m in my living room)

Hartford released its preseason schedule, which includes a home-and-home against Bridgeport, Sept. 25-26, Friday in Cromwell, Saturday in Shelton. Waiting to see if Bridgeport has others.

Edit: That’s it, two games. According to Howard Saffan, that’s largely because they won’t get here until Tuesday, Sept. 22, and will break that Sunday; that’s a couple of days more compressed than usual. Here’s the official on Lawson. Onetime cult hero Andy Chiodo’s signing in Ottawa was finally announced. And condolences to the Theodore family.

Those Tuesday games are designed, Howard Saffan noted, to avoid four-in-fives. They already have enough three-in-threes with a couple of four-hour bus rides in there. Not a ton of hotel nights.

Here’s a textier version of the schedule, if you’d prefer:

Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2009-10 schedule

Sat., Oct. 3 Lowell, 7 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 9 Worcester, 7 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 10 at Wilkes-Barre, 7:05 p.m.
Mon., Oct. 12 Binghamton, 1 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 17 Norfolk, 7 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 18 Adirondack, 4 p.m.
Tue., Oct. 20 at Lowell, 7 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 23 at Manchester, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 24 Wilkes-Barre, 7 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 25 Albany, 4 p.m.
Fri., Oct. 30 at Worcester, 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 31 at Portland, 7 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 1 at Providence, 4:05 p.m.
Wed., Nov. 4 Adirondack, 11 a.m.
Fri., Nov. 6 at Springfield, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 7 Hartford, 7 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 8 Lowell, 4 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 13 at Springfield, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 14 at Adirondack, 7 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 15 Portland, 4 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 20 at Abbotsford, 10:30 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 21 at Abbotsford, 9 p.m.
Wed., Nov. 25 Manchester, 7 p.m.
Fri., Nov. 27 Lowell, 7 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 28 at Worcester, 7:05 p.m.
Sun., Nov. 29 Hartford, 3 p.m.
Wed., Dec. 2 Providence, 7 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 4 at Lowell, 7 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 5 Springfield, 7 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 11 at Springfield, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 12 at Hartford, 7 p.m.
Tue., Dec. 15 Portland, 7 p.m.
Fri., Dec. 18 at Providence, 7:05 p.m
Sat., Dec. 19 at Portland, 7 p.m.
Sun., Dec. 20 Springfield, 4 p.m.
Sat., Dec. 26 Hartford, 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 1 at Providence, 7:05 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 2 at Hartford, 7 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 3 at Worcester, 3:05 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 8 at Springfield, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 9 Springfield, 7 p.m.
Wed., Jan. 13 at Adirondack, 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 15 Providence, 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 16 at Albany, 5 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 17 Worcester, 1 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 22 at Albany, 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 23 at Binghamton, 7:05 p.m.
Tue., Jan. 26 Albany, 7 p.m.
Fri., Jan. 29 at Portland, 7 p.m.
Sat., Jan. 30 at Portland, 7 p.m.
Sun., Jan. 31 Norfolk, 3 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 5 at Springfield, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 6 Manchester, 7 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 12 Worcester, 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 13 at Hartford, 7 p.m.
Sun., Feb. 14 Springfield, 3 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 17 Lowell, 7 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 19 at Hartford, 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 20 Abbotsford, 7 p.m.
Sun., Feb. 21 Hartford, 3 p.m.
Wed., Feb. 24 Abbotsford, 7 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 27 at Hershey, 7 p.m.
Tue., March 2 Hershey, 7 p.m.
Fri., March 5 Portland, 7 p.m.
Sat., March 6 Providence, 7 p.m.
Sun., March 7 at Manchester, 3 p.m.
Fri., March 12 at Norfolk, 7:15 p.m.
Sat., March 13 at Norfolk, 7:15 p.m.
Fri., March 19 at Syracuse, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., March 20 Manchester, 7 p.m.
Sun., March 21 Springfield, 3 p.m.
Wed., March 24 Syracuse, 7 p.m.
Fri., March 26 at Manchester, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., March 27 at Hartford, 7 p.m.
Sun., March 28 at Lowell, 4 p.m.
Fri., April 2 at Manchester, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., April 3 Portland, 7 p.m.
Fri., April 9 at Lowell, 7 p.m.
Sat., April 10 Manchester, 7 p.m.
Sun., April 11 Hartford, 3 p.m.

Got a schedule, beginning with Lowell on Oct. 3 at home. Adirondack comes to town early; Abbotsford visits in February. They see all they’ll see of Wilkes-Barre early and all they’ll see of Hershey late.
More reactions later on.