Soundin' Off

(Sorry. Heard “Rag Mop” on the radio over the weekend.)

Was completely out of touch on Monday, off in the land of minute-and-a-half minor penalties, so maybe I’ll ask you guys the questions this week. Chat as usual at 1:30 on Tuesday. Be here.

Belatedly I think we noted on Twitter in the morning but not in the chat that Jason Dale was sent back to Bloomington. Other moves are certainly possible, depending on health.

And as noted in the chat, there’s one guy whose health will apparently not allow him to dress for this team. The promised Pat Bingham on Andy Hilbert: “He called it a year. We — it just got so late in the season. Obviously it’s very frustrating for him. For me, as well. It was a real pleasure to get to know him. He is a great guy. Just his passion for the game — some of the talks we had, I’ll remember forever. Hopefully he just wakes up one day and everything clears up for him. I’m sure he’ll be a success in whatever he does. He puts his heart and soul into it.”

So Hilbert had two more numbers and one more letter than he had games played. Good luck and better health to him.

Speaking of veterans, meanwhile, Scott Reynolds of The Copper & Blue added up the salaries of every Clear Day list, estimating the AHL contracts. You get one guess who came in at No. 30.

We noted all those fascinating bits yesterday about Phil Ginand’s signing an amateur tryout with the Sound Tigers, the team-still-alive, the he’s-a-sophomore.

From Ginand’s perspective, though, the decision was easy. He wasn’t going to be cleared to play for Mercyhurst again this year. He didn’t plan to be back. Onward he went.

“I got a concussion — well, supposedly a concussion — two or three weeks ago,” Ginand said. “The doctors said I’d be out for the season, and it was pretty serious. They’re the same doctors who told me, freshman year, when I hurt my knee that I probably shouldn’t play hockey again, but I went home and saw my doctors and they fixed me up. (This time) I got clearance from my doctors.”

So he feels ready to play. He expected to turn pro when this season ended, in no small part because he expects to finish off requirements for his finance degree by the fall.

“I’ve got two terms left: this term, and I can finish classes in the summer,” Ginand said. “I would have been done with classes.

“This was going to be my last year, no matter what.”

Ginand confirmed that there’s no agreement in place beyond the ATO. He’s hoping to add some youthful energy, he said. Though Bridgeport is grinding out its last quarter, this is his fresh start.

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For what it’s worth, the Sound Tigers say they are not signing Alex Penner, who set off a comment flurry last night. They may need to sign somebody, though, to have 18 skaters tonight. They had an optional skate this morning, so it wasn’t possible to get a perfect read on who’s ready to go, but there’s no indication that they’ll be rushing back any of the guys who were out over the weekend.

Edit: Jamie tweeted around 2:30 that Bridgeport has signed Jason Dale to a PTO. You may recall Dale from last year, on paper if nothing else: He attended training camp here on an AHL contract but never got called up. Assuming he plays tonight, it’ll be his AHL debut. He was with Bloomington (CHL) this year.

Edit2, historical notes: Assuming Dale and Ginand both play tonight, they’ll be Nos. 300 and 301 to take part in a Bridgeport game, including the backup goalies (to “wear the sweater,” is how I’ve termed it in the notes). They’ll be 293 and 294 to actually play, and 289 and 290 to play in the regular season. And, as Jeff knows well, they’ll be Nos. 46 and 47 to play this year, one short of the regular-season record (2005-06, 2006-07).

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Hoping all the best for New Canaan’s Max Pacioretty, injured last night. Edit: The Canadiens announced that Pacioretty suffered a nondisplaced fracture of his C-4 vertebra, and a severe concussion.

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I’m on assignment tonight (all right, I’m covering Amity-St. Joseph), and neither Phil nor Carmine will be in Albany. I probably won’t be able to do more than check in on the Bridgeport game, so no liveblog or tweeting (though I’ll try to do some postgame thoughts and notes, if possible, late tonight here.) Pete Dougherty will have lots at his blog for the Times Union. The Devils’ broadcast won’t be on radio but will be at AHL Live. The (two-referee) box score will be here.

Edit: Well. I don’t know what to add to that, sight-unseen. Chad Wiseman with four goals in the last 10 minutes? Giving up a 4-1 lead? Wow. There’s the blown 5-1 lead from the first year, but even that was 5-3 by about four minutes into the third.

May have other thoughts after I get a look at the box. May just wait until tomorrow.