Soundin' Off

When I think back on Edward John McGuire, well, I remember three things. One, the mustache. I mean, come on. Awesome. Two, the ready smile. And three, how generous the Hartford Wolf Pack’s first head coach was with his time and insights to a schlubby, green kid out of college who was basically covering New Haven part-time. It had been far too long since I got to talk to E.J. McGuire again, and it’s sad to think I never will. RIP.

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Day off for me (personal, but good reasons, thanks). Not a day off for the team, though the best I got for you from afar is that Matt Campanale was back here after his NHL excursion. (And that, technically, he never had to be released from his AHL ATO to go do that. Wacky stuff. Trivia question of the future.)

Luke Adam is, the league notes, the third Pirate in a row to be named rookie of the year, and he’s also the second Garrett Award winner in four years from the lovely seaside town of St. John’s.

Norfolk outshoots Syracuse but blows its game in hand by giving up four power-play goals.

On Wednesday, Crunch owner Howard Dolgon issued a statement calling out fans who criticized the Syracuse players. On Thursday, he elaborated to Lindsay Kramer.

Well, one team out of Harbor Yard is getting it done in the playoffs: Minnesota Duluth is on to the final after knocking out Anders Lee and Notre Dame. In the second semi, Brock Nelson was taken off on a stretcher for apparently precautionary reasons as North Dakota faced Michigan. Will toss up a link postgame. Edit: Michigan beat UND 2-0 behind Shawn Hunwick’s shutout.

Edit2: Odessa finished off the Brahmas. Joel Martin had 26 saves. Next opponent TBA.

And Bob’s Burgers gets a second season. Right on.

Options limited by injury and maybe the OHL playoffs*, the Islanders signed Matt Campanale to an amateur tryout for tonight’s game. Jack Hillen’s apparently out.

An ATO obviously can’t be on another team’s reserve list, but he can (or at least he used to be able to) be on yours; that said, presumably Ness and Donovan cease to be “unsigned draft picks” when they sign for next year. (I’m only presuming that.)

Campanale is eligible to return to Bridgeport on another ATO.

Arriving in Bridgeport today is 19-year-old defenseman Cameron Wind, a teammate of Alex O’Neil’s at Brampton. He has been assigned No. 48, which cleans up every number up to 53. So, next on the watch list: 54, 56, 59, 60.

That time of year: Down lower on the farm, Kalamazoo lost Game 1 of its best-of-5 series to the Everblades. Bobby Goepfert took a break from livetweeting Jeopardy and made 31 saves. Odessa took a 2-1 lead in its first-round series behind Joel Martin. And look who else had a natural hat trick yesterday.

And Islanders coaching eras will collide, or rather coincide, at the World Championships.

*-Oshawa plays Thursday and Saturday. I’m just saying**.
**-Though I guess the “sign a college kid for a day” version of the emergency rule is almost as good as the “call a kid up from junior” version.

Three more players have signed amateur tryouts today, although one is, with all due respect, a little more interesting.

Matt Donovan left Denver after his sophomore season and signed his entry-level deal to begin next season. Donovan, a lefty defenseman, doesn’t turn 21 until May.

Out of 13 players in that 2008 draft, the Islanders have signed eight and traded one (Jyri Niemi). Corey Trivino is still in school, David Toews is still in junior, Kirill Petrov is still in Russia, and sixth-rounder Jared Spurgeon is, well, in the NHL with Minnesota.

Donovan won’t join the team in Portland, though. Who will: another lefty defenseman, Matt Campanale, from the Philly area via the University of New Hampshire, and forward Chris Barton, who for the past three years has been the second-leading scorer at Merrimack; he was the third-leading scorer in his freshman season. (The past two years, he has only been behind Stephane Da Costa, the French native who’s the premier college free agent this spring.)

So that’s 10 players on amateur tryouts. The first one who plays tonight becomes the 300th regular-season player in team history. When they all play, they’ll make 59 players this year, not counting Petizian. What a year.

Again, radio liveblog tonight.

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Rhett Rakhshani has been named to the AHL all-rookie team. He’s the fourth Sound Tiger so honored in 10 years, and the first forward. The others were Wade Dubielewicz (2003-04), Chris Campoli (2004-05) and Nathan Lawson (2008-09).