Soundin' Off

There’s a line in tonight’s walkout song — well, in the original version, not Bill Haley’s and his Comets’ — about rolling of eyes and gritting of teeth.*

This team might make you do that sometimes this year.

They gave up another quick one. Then they gave up three quick ones. The game was more or less over, dropping Bridgeport to 7-8, and for whatever it’s worth, they fell to fifth place, too. (And that eighth-place team is a-coming after them, too.)

There were all kinds. There was a pretty power-play setup. There was an intercepted clear. There was a bad break, where they blocked two shots only to have the second bounce straight to the open man. There was one funky one that deflected back through Munroe’s legs; there was one from the other side that somehow got through.** Five goals in 16 shots, and the Falcons were gone.

Bridgeport’s 36 shots probably included about 14 on the power play — maybe more, but give or take — including eight on that first chance that produced the goal. Of the 36, 12 came from either Flood or MacDonald. (Flood had four in the first period, and they might all have come on that one power play.)

At 12:22 of the first, Trevor Smith forced a turnover and got the puck to the net, where Devan Dubnyk stopped Greg Mauldin.

“It’s a whole different game, with Trevor Smith going to the net, if Greg Mauldin puts that in,” Capuano said.

The cynical response is that Springfield would then have taken its 2-1 lead at 12:37 instead of 19:01.

—

Prescout. Typically good day for the usual suspects.

Montreal plucked Jay Leach off re-entry waivers. Jersey, meanwhile, signed Dean McAmmond.

Coupla-time Sound Tiger Jean Desrochers retired, his team announced.

Ryan Kinasewich was the ECHL’s Player of the Month.

Good stuff on Faith and Fear in Flushing today. Greg is happy with a Neil Best report on SNY’s Thursday offseason programming, and I’ve got to agree. (MSG had a Harry Howell film this morning that was fun to see.) Jason imagines the afterlife.

Good story from Ken Levine.

And there’s brighter Hughes family news.

*-In a breathtakingly different context, of course.
**-I say “somehow” because I was twitterin’ on the previous one at the time and couldn’t get a handle on the replays. Stupid technology.

Nothing to see here…

–There are certain immutable truths. If you leave Manchester’s city limits at midnight, you’re not getting home until 3. It’s that simple.

–The Platters, in time-honored fashion, belted oldies with style and sold records. Did the kids at the time know those songs were, as we would probably say now, remakes? It took me a while to learn some of those songs were 20, 30 years old at the time, but I was 30, 40 years removed from the Platters’ versions, too.

–On the other hand, do the kids today even know the Platters?

–Instant poll: If some “American Idol” kid cut “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” could he have a hit with it?

–Had forgotten how much time I spent in Manchester the first few years. Got to know my way around that town (and that barn) pretty well. It all came back quickly yesterday, too. And nice to see the likes of Ken Cail and Kim Mueller again.

–The Beach Boys’ “Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!*)” begins with “The Girl From New York City” before trickling off into a couple of weird songs and so-so covers, rebounding with the brilliantly insipid “Girl Don’t Tell Me”** before veering off into territory, ranging from good to stunning, that points you straight toward “Pet Sounds.”*** But that first song makes me wonder. She went out to L.A. with her best friend. The guys “all got their eyes on that girl from New York City” (emphasis mine). What’s wrong with the friend? She ugly? Dumb? Boring? Does she write brilliant songs with insipid lyrics? Is she (shudder) from Jersey?

–Who designed I-84? Is there a more confusing highway than that stretch between East Hartford and Waterbury? I was afraid to leave the middle lane, worried I’d get stuck in an exit-only lane and wind up in the wilds of, I dunno, Farmington. The Gun Hill Road exit on the New England Thruway is a cute little novelty. The 17 left-exits and -entrances on that stretch of I-84 are just freaky.

–To augment the I-495 rant from last night and steal a song line, one of those towns between Lowell and Marlboro must have a giant Exxon sign that brings the fair city light. Could we see it, please?

–List of saddest songs: 1: “Puff, the Magic Dragon.” 2: “Catch the Wind.” 3: anything else. (It’s the misdirection.)

–Told AT&T I wouldn’t be available Friday afternoon. Yolanda put in a request for a tech visit Saturday afternoon. Tech showed up Friday when I was in, more or less, Lowell. This is my life. Time to try something else.

*-Sic
**-Really, is there a better song with lyrics that annoying?
***-Wondered in the car if you could combine “The Beach Boys Today!” and “SD(aSN!!*)” to create a single, 12-track (even 14), Pet Sounds-precursor album. I don’t think you can. Losing 10-12 cuts is a lot.

Word is that the audio situation should be resolved and you’ll get Phil tonight… but tonight turns out to be free preview night for the AHL Live, so you can get video, too, if you’ve got the bandwidth. (Oh, and Internet at your current location. You’ve got one more chance, SBC AT&T. But I digress.)

Nathan Lawson gets the start. They’re going off rotation. What is he, C.C. Sabathia or something?

Meanwhile, meet Bobby Hughes:

BRIDGEPORT
F: Smith-Moore (A)-Mauldin (A)
DiBenedetto-Romano-Joensuu
Bentivoglio-Haskins-Martin
Rechlicz-Hughes-Figren
D: Wotton (C)-Gleed
Kohn-MacDonald
Katic-Westgarth
G: Lawson
Munroe

MANCHESTER
F: Zeiler-Elkins-Segal
Gauthier (A)-Cliche (A)-Meckler
Moller-Loktionov-Holloway
Mikus-Azevedo-Westgarth
D: Bagnall (A)-Piskula
Campbell-Kolomatis
Hickey-Voynov
G: Bernier
Zatkoff
R: C.Brown. L: Ross, Lovett.

The Kings recalled Chris Parse, the second-leading scorer in the AHL. And that Hickey-Voynov pairing is Nos. 37 and 76, which is one odd-looking note.

Feels like forever since I’ve been here. It’s actually only 18 months and 21 days, but that’s almost forever in hockey terms. (Check out some of those names.) I’ll throw out another musical thought: “House of the Rising Sun” by the Animals gets better every time I hear it.

Two guys appeared this morning in the little-used white practice jerseys: Mark Flood, and Micheal Haley. Uh-oh. “Haley had a setback,” Jack Capuano said. That didn’t sound good for the weekend, though Capuano wouldn’t go that far.

Going the other way, Flood got through the practice and was one of the last ones off the ice, spending time working on skills with Martin and Westgarth and Matt Bertani. “It felt great, actually,” Flood said as he came off.

Top three lines were as they began Tuesday night; Morency was with Marcinko and Figren this morning.

Manchester leads the division to begin the first three-in-three. “They’re a puck-possession team, a quick team,” Capuano said. “They’re a team whose guys have been there for a while together, so they’ve got some chemistry. The power play is pretty dynamic.” It went 4-for-6 Sunday.

Tomorrow’s story references this.

Elsewhere, Hartford has shipped Patrick Rissmiller to Grand Rapids. (Only two more years at $1 million-per on that one.) Peter Zingoni is making an impression in Houston. Washington called up Aucoin and Giroux. Sergei Kostitsyn left Hamilton.

*-Bobby Fuller, 10/22/42-7/18/66

The first crop of Sound Tigers got together tonight to meet up, fill out some paperwork and get oriented. With a few guys banged up and not too many more here, they’ll skate in one group in the morning at 10.

Only one change to the tryout list, but the added name I got doesn’t mesh with, you know, the facts. I’ll check it again tomorrow. Tom May isn’t here. Tyler Haskins isn’t here yet, either, in large part because he’s playing in Kansas City. A few of those guys could wind up here by Wednesday night.

Elsewhere: Wade Dubielewicz was sent down. Puck Daddy has a disturbing roundup on the way Marty Kariya’s recent injury was handled in the KHL. And just a neat story about street hockey in Lowell, the hat-tip for which I’ve lost; apologies to whomever I’ve swiped that from.

And about 12 minutes into this BBC show, they deconstruct the Tornadoes’ stunning “Telstar,” masterpiece creation of disturbed producer Joe Meek. Fascinating listening.

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…

On The AV Club, Chuck Klosterman delves into the recording history of some forgotten Liverpool band, “so obscure that their music is not even available on iTunes.” Go. Now. (Unless a couple of dirty words would offend you.)

(In hockey: Multiple Quinnipiacs on Milwaukee’s training camp roster, via Admirals Short Shifts. Edit: they’re both on AHL contracts.)

Edit 2: It’s Braves-er-Bobcats Day, apparently: JB reports WBS has signed Dan Henningson.

So we go from inside-baseball references to, well, inside baseball…

Bluefish-Barnstormers Monday night at Harbor Yard, in the shadow of the barn where we’ll reassemble in a mere 32 days, 15 hours or so. Runners on first and second. With the pitch, the runner on second takes off for third. The pitch is belt-high and maybe just off the outside corner. The catcher doesn’t catch the pitch. It goes squarely off his glove and rolls away, whereupon the runner on first advances to second.

The runner on second was going with the pitch, so regardless of what happens between the ball and the catcher, he gets a stolen base.

The runner on first was not. He advances to second on a passed ball.

I’d never seen it happen, though the rules specifically call out the situation (10.07(a)) and say to credit both the steal and the PB.

Just another night in the ‘Lantic League, including a safety squeeze in the bottom of the ninth that failed — well, the bunter didn’t fail, but the whole play did — when the runner on third didn’t run.

Utah signed veteran goalie Dov Grumet-Morris. Meanwhile, no word — yet — on Matt Martin.

Thoughts on the NHLPA’s firing of Paul Kelly from Damien Cox and Tom Benjamin and Eric Duhatschek.

Joe Posnanski hangs out and watches a ballgame with Bill James.

Ken Levine writes an appreciation of Ellie Greenwich.

And Jake Novak, counting down the days to Columbia’s football opener, writes about Randy Murff, a classmate remembered with a grin…

Mike Sillinger retired Wednesday, the injury proving too much. Still quite a career.

Hartford signed Brent Henley, who came to camp here a few years ago and was with Norfolk last year.

The Devils are bringing back the green for a night on St. Patrick’s Day. Sweet.

Stephen Walkom is looking to make a comeback as a referee.

From Sports Pickle: Don’t we wish.

A sad day on the obits; RIP Dominick Dunne, and condolences to a Kennedy family that lost two siblings in 15 days.

And songwriter Ellie Greenwich died Wednesday, too. In addition to better-known songs such as “Be My Baby,” “Leader of the Pack” (title of the 1980s revue based on her life), “Do Wah Diddy”*, “River Deep, Mountain High” and others, she’s also at least partly responsible for such gems as the Shangri-Las’ “Out in the Streets,” “Why Do Lovers Break Each Other’s Hearts” (Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, with Darlene Love singing lead), Lesley Gore’s “Look of Love,” and a few on which she also sang, like the Butterflys’ “Good Night Baby” and the Raindrops’ “The Kind of Boy You Can’t Forget,” all worth a listen. RIP.

*-BTW, if you’re only familiar with Manfred Mann’s version, track down The Exciters’ original.