Soundin' Off

Despite the six goals… See, let’s start here. Since that overtime debacle in Philadelphia on Thanksgiving weekend, the Sound Tigers have killed eight of the last nine five-on-threes against them, which is all the more remarkable considering they were only 12-for-22 to start the season.

Yeah, Mike Zigomanis shot wide twice. Yes, Keith Aucoin missed the net as well. Sure, Lowell passed up scoring opportunities. OK, Krys Kolanos broke his stick on a one-timer. Maybe Paul Healey cleared the puck himself once. The Sound Tigers didn’t allow Lowell a shot on goal on that 62-second, two-man disadvantage.

Wade Dubielewicz didn’t have to be great, but he was, anyway. And now he might be great backing up Garth Snow for a while, depending on how bad Rick DiPietro is hurt.

No word on what’ll happen with the Sound Tigers’ goalie situation in the meantime, but Dubielewicz gets a well-earned promotion. So does Jeff Hamilton, who doesn’t know how not to score.

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Some days as a writer, you just happen to be in the way.

I went downstairs at the Spectrum tonight not sure how this 4-1 Bridgeport victory set itself apart from the other games of late. Another good, solid, team win. Wade Dubielewicz remained excellent. Clutch goals put Bridgeport ahead and kept it there. All of these, I’ve written about before.

So I went downstairs wondering which way to go. My initial hunch was to talk to Sean Bergenheim, who had opened the scoring with a nifty goal. As I waited out the 10-minute cooling-off period, I chatted with Bruno Gervais as he pedaled the stationary bike. I got called in to the coaches’ office and chatted with Dave Baseggio, and I found we were more or less in agreement about what we’d seen.

By then, 10 minutes were up. I started into the dressing room, but Dave Karpa (another day to rest the abdominal injury) was coming out as I was about to go in. I waited for him to go ahead, and as I waited, Bergenheim was on his way into the training room, which is off limits to us sports-writin’ folk.

So I figured I’d wait for him. The visitors quarters in Philly has the trainer’s room off to the right as soon as you come in, a small, rectangular room, with the door on the short wall. The main part of the dressing room is roughly square after that, with the goalies’ stalls along the wall that, on the other side, is also the long side of the trainer’s room. So as the boys were milling around, the first person I’d bump into is Dubielewicz.

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There’s a couple of you Gentle Readers who really ought to be on the BST payroll.

That guy bashes Chris Madden in the preseason, and he has a solid first two months.

PRussell bashes Wade Dubielewicz this morning, and Dubielewicz makes 36 saves tonight.

Y’all ought to call some of the boys up and offer your bashing services.

Say what you will about Dubielewicz: He has been outstanding in the past week, a big reason Bridgeport is 2-0-0-1 in its last three.

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The team convened again today. Chris Madden made it back from Ontario, but he might not make it back for Wednesday’s game; there’s talk about scoping out the knee and getting it fixed, since it hasn’t responded very well. We’ll know more tomorrow.

Evgeny Tunik took a puck off the schnozz during the informal post-practice workouts. It was a bleeder, but he said he’s OK. Dave Karpa sat out, but he’s hoped to play Wednesday. Allan Rourke is supposed to play, too.

Jeff Hamilton was here, with the yo-yo in the down position.

As our friend the Goal Judge pointed out, WBS annihilated Hershey last night. The Pens were 4-for-6 on the power play in the first period. Fun ‘n’ games with Jamie Koharski.

And late last night in Vancouver, the U.S. started the World Junior Championship off right with an 11-2 thrashing of Norway. Hershey Bears forward Chris Bourque scored five goals, this year’s hot draft pick Phil Kessel had five assists, and Phoenix pick Kevin Porter had a goal and three assists. You can follow the tournament here, on the IIHF’s Web site. Canada and the U.S. meet Saturday night.

For those who might also be watching the test pattern on Cablevision while waiting to see Rangers-Ottawa… the lovely woman on the customer service line insisted Ch. 24 would kick in just in time for the game to start at 8 p.m.

The Rangers were ahead 2-1 at that time, the game having begun at 7:30. It’s now 8:01, it’s 3-2 Ottawa, and Ch. 24 still has a test pattern. When I call back, I expect to be told it’s all illusory.

Aw, heck, the Isles are back on, anyway. (And of course Jeff Hamilton is back up.)

From a Bridgeport perspective, you could call this an evening ruined by one moment.

Bad clear, thrown back down low, deflected, rebound deflects back out to the slot, Wade Dubielewicz is helpless as Dwight Helminen tosses it upstairs. That cost Bridgeport a point.

The Abomination ends up 4-3, and the game ends up 3-2.

Great game for Masi Marjamaki (more in the days to come, I hope)… For two and a half periods, I had him first star. And I kind of wish I had put him as one of the stars (he was on my ballot, but not in print). Dubielewicz got better after a somewhat shaky start, though that shaky start didn’t include a goal against; they weren’t bad. He kept creeping up my three-stars ballot.

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The weekly topic, as I mentioned last night, is sadly appropriate. It was a fantastic night on the ice, with the best team in the league in the house, and it was witnessed by friends and family. It’s just a shame. Heaven knows I can’t tell people how to spend their money, but 1,660 announced, and certainly no more than two-thirds that in the house…

Comparisons to past years are tough. Everybody says everybody else is papering the house. Drop counts — those who actually showed up — aren’t readily available. Sorting out paid from freebies is even tougher. But there’s a little chart in the paper today that includes data from the past four seasons through 14 home games and through Dec. 18. Here’s an expanded version, with some added numbers that hopefully add some context:

I don’t know, maybe this question was better asked before this week, but here it is anyway: Why? If you aren’t you coming to games, why? If you are, why aren’t your friends? Do people not get what this product is? Do people not care? What’s holding this team back? We’ve spent five years speculating, and maybe it’s time we figured it out.
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Meanwhile, Jeff Hamilton and Rob Collins were here for practice this morning. It’s likely that one, maybe both, of them will return to the Islanders for tomorrow night’s game against mighty Ottawa. And on an absolutely, positively, 100-percent unrelated note, isn’t the salary cap great?

Well, maybe I oughta stop making excuses for this team.

The defensive effort was stellar Wednesday night. Almost perfect. Bruno Gervais was tough back there. Newbie Scott Ford played physically. Chris Thompson? Hitting again, along with Travis Brigley and Steve Regier.

Jeremy Colliton, back from the NHL, was outstanding, maybe the best player on the ice in every zone. Wade Dubielewicz stopped everything he had a chance to stop.

The result? Wilkes-Barre/Scranton is 14-1-0-1 on the road.

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Jeff Hamilton seems to be just a paper transaction; he’s still up.

Rob Collins was not just a paper transaction. In mind, body and spirit, he was here for the morning skate, long enough to do a couple of interviews, too… and then was called back up.

In addition, defenseman Scott Ford came up from Trenton on a pro tryout as the Sound Tigers attempt to corner the market on former Brown defensemen.

–Jeff Hamilton, Jeremy Colliton and Rob Collins will (apparently for real this time) return to the Bridgeport lineup Wednesday night. I’d love to have a copy of the CBA available to cite you chapter and verse on the emergency-recall rules at the holiday roster freeze, but just in case they’re not the same as they used to be, let’s just go on to…

–Also set to return: Chris Madden, albeit as a backup.

–And also returning to practice this morning: Joel Bouchard. Story in the morning.

Early rumblings are that the rule does apply: Sounds like Coach Nas can’t also be Captain Nas. We’ll get the story tomorrow…

Hot rumor: Remember Joel Bouchard? He might be back in the lineup sooner than later. (Not this week, but soon.)

What was that score? It was 9-6? Did Aki Berg kick a field goal? But hey, Eric Godard and Rob Collins with their first NHL goals, that’s neat.

Just had one of those dumb moments watching the rerun here on TV… Do you get these? They panned the bench, following as Garth Snow skated out to the net after Stajan’s short-hander, and I looked up and thought for an instant to myself, “gee, that looks like Rob Collins.” Well, duh.

Player-coach Alain Nasreddine? Not bad. (Gotta check something — there’s a rule that says a player-coach can’t serve as captain.)

More fun: DiPietro and Drury on the Olympic team.

Good luck to Larry Robinson; stress stinks. And godspeed to the retiring Vlady Malakhov, one of the four to complete the trifecta. Know who has the best chance to be No. 5? Joel Bouchard. See, it’s all a circle.

I’m thinking this might be my Wednesday story, but just some raw numbers (with a tip of the hat to Peter Zellen of the, y’know, other paper, who asked in postgame about something similar…)

Bridgeport has played 31 games now, 11-18-2-0. They lost one in overtime after not trailing during regulation, so let’s set that aside for the moment as a special case.

In the other 30, Bridgeport has trailed at some point in 21 of them. That’s 42 conceivable points. How many have the Sound Tigers picked up?

Five.

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