Soundin' Off

The United States has last change in the quarterfinals against Finland after its 5-2 win Tuesday over Switzerland (minus the injured Nino Niederreiter). The win, which included two more Max Pacioretty assists (he’s 2-10-12 in seven games), clinched second place in the pool after Canada’s relatively easy win over Belarus secured first for the Canadians. (Canada had both Luke Schenn and Marc Methot tossed for boarding majors in the last five minutes. Impressive work.) Canada gets Slovakia in the quarters; France’s fun little run ended, though not before it tied the game three times Tuesday. Branko Radivojevic’s second of the third period proved the winner. (“Branko Radivojevic” is, of course, already a winner of a name.)

On the other side, all went to form, with wins for host Sweden, for the Czech Republic (they’ll meet in the quarters), and for Norway (which draws undefeated Russia).

All four quarterfinal games will air on NBC Sports Network, former Versus, former OLN, former whatever-was-on-that-spot-on-your-cable-box-probably-some-home-shopping-channel-or-something-am-i-right. In order, beginning at 6 a.m.: Canada-Slovakia, Russia-Norway, USA-Finland (the listings say 11 a.m.; the IIHF schedule says 11:30), Sweden-Czech. Semifinals Saturday, bronze-, then gold-medal games Sunday. (The listings say the weekend games will be tape delayed; looks like Indy 500 qualifying in the way.)

Joe Fallon made 32 saves and Peter MacArthur scored a goal as Las Vegas took Game 1 of the Kelly Cup Final on Monday. Game 2 is Tuesday. Might be ongoing by the time this actually posts, in fact. Slow server or something.

Looking back at Bridgeport’s run to the Final

The Bulldogs switch goalies for this Wednesday-night game at Copps Coliseum: Claude Julien starts Marc Lamothe over Ty Conklin, and Lamothe rewards him with 25 saves in a 4-2 win over the Sound Tigers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final. Fernando Pisani, Jani Rita (his second goal of the night already) and Chad Hinz all score power-play goals in the first period as some shaky defense allows Hamilton to take leads of 3-0 and 4-1 in the first 20 minutes. The line of Rita, Peter Sarno and Kevin Brown has combined for 10 points in three games. “They’re three very skilled guys. When they start moving the puck, like the game (Wednesday) night, they’re hard to stop,” Julien says the next day. “Rita’s got speed that’s unbelievable. Brown’s skills are so good, and Peter Sarno sees the ice so well.” Justin Mapletoft scores nine seconds into the second, but that’s it. The Sound Tigers still lead the series 2-1, and Games 4 and 5 are Friday and Saturday, May 17-18.

(Wanna go up to Toronto on the off day? ‘Course ya do. Forgot it turned out that ugly. The off-day story notebook includes a note on Brown and one on Raffi Torres’ childhood buddy Hayden Christensen, who had a little art-house film opening that day.)

Sound Tigers locker room sale Saturday at 10 a.m..

Finland beat Kazakhstan to move, at least for the moment, into second place in the pool. If the U.S. takes care of its business tomorrow against the Swiss (1:15 p.m., OLN Versus NBC Sports Network), it’ll be second (unless Canada loses in regulation, thus moving the U.S. up to first, or unless it wins in overtime and Slovakia bombards France, thus messing up the goal-differential tiebreaker), Finland third, and either France or Slovakia fourth. If it doesn’t take care of its business against the Swiss… anger will mount in at least one living room it’ll depend what happens with Slovakia-France immediately before. A two-way head-to-head tie between the Slovaks and the U.S. goes to the Slovaks. (Current standings; 3 pts for reg win, 2 for OT/SO win, 1 for OT/SO loss))

Either way, remember, the U.S. is through to the quarterfinals.

France kept its quarterfinal hopes alive with a come-from-behind win over Belarus. A regulation win Tuesday against Slovakia, and they’re in. Russia stayed perfect with a win over Italy. Denmark finally won one, shutting out Latvia. The combination relegates Italy, who’ll join Kazakhstan a level lower next year.

The IIHF gave Finland’s Anssi Salmela a three-game suspension for Sunday’s hit on Alex Goligoski. He’d miss a quarterfinal rematch if that’s how they pair, but he’d be back should they meet in the final (the quarters are within the same pool, 1 vs. 4, 2 vs. 3, but the semis cross over). I liked Finland’s one-liner in the power rankings: “Unfair! The North Americans used pros against our amateurs!”

That U.S. team that could barely beat Kazakhstan? Shut out Finland Sunday at the Worlds. The local boys both had two points: a goal and an assist for Max Pacioretty (who’s the fourth-leading scorer in the tournament right now), and two assists for Cam Atkinson.

Slovakia’s 1-0 win over Switzerland keeps things fairly simple in Group Helsinki. Canada, the U.S. and Finland are through for sure. The fourth spot (though not yet the fourth seed) comes down to this: France gets through as the fourth seed if it beats both Belarus and Slovakia in regulation, or else it’s Slovakia.

(That’s quite a lovely box score, by the way. One goal, one assist, three minor penalties.)

Russia beat the Czechs 2-0 to remain perfect and may get some help from Washington (as may Sweden). Oh, and Norway beat the ever-loving heck out of Germany. A six-goal second period. Yikes.

The U.S. plays Switzerland on Tuesday in the last game of the first round and clinches second place with a regulation win, though it needs a set of circumstances to get there with an overtime win. (A regulation win could even take first if Belarus somehow knocks off Canada in regulation. An overtime win and a three-way tie with Finland and Slovakia would go to the U.S., as would a two-way tie with Finland; an overtime win and a two-way tie with Slovakia goes to the Slovaks.)

With one or two games left in the prelims:

Elsewhere in Europe… Holy Blue Moon*.

And… Community on Friday? Darn you, Red Network. (Well, at least it survives.)

*-It’d be unfair to casual soccer fans to say I’m even a casual soccer fan. But in Championship Manager games, I (a) always start with one of the teams from one of the cities in “The Bells of Rhymney“; (2) always try to jump to Manchester City at some point in the game. So Swansea City’s technically “my” EPL team**… but got a soft spot for the boys in Columbia*** Blue.
**-So that’s not bad, either.
***-Columbia hasn’t won an Ivy title in the Big Two Sports since 1968, either. Wouldn’t mind that changing, too.

Two Aaron Gagnon goals, one in the second and one early in the third, were enough to give St. John’s a win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Game 7 in Newfoundland. Eddie Pasquale with 26 saves. Both conference finals start Thursday, and they could both end in seven on May 30.

So the AHL playoffs come down to the top two seeds in each conference, four of the league’s top five records. (The other, No. 4? Wilkes-Barre, which finished a point ahead of the IceCaps but played in the wrong division.)

Remember that Kazakhstan team that the U.S. could barely beat Friday? Kinda back to normal on Saturday: Canada shut them out, scoring five in the third to win 8-0. Switzerland and Tobias Stephan lost to France, which actually leaves France in control of its own destiny. Norway shut out Latvia. Sweden shut out Italy. Germany beat Denmark 2-1. Slovakia beat Belarus. The United States plays Finland in the morning.

Dmitry Chesnokov referred on Twitter to this sport.ru report that Kirill Kabanov may join Salavat Yulayev (KHL) next year. One of the tags on the post says something like “possible transactions,” so I’m guessing it’s rumor, albeit strongly worded. I got a reply from the Islanders similar to the one Arthur Staple got.

Oh, and if you read the story link, make sure you scroll down to a comment from “Max99″ that references South Park. Beautiful. Crossing cultural boundaries.

Game 7 Alert: Wilkes-Barre forced a deciding game with a 4-2 win on the Rock. They’ll play it Saturday night in St. John’s.

That’s the only series left going in this round. Richard Panik came back from a puck to the face to score on a breakaway at 13:01 of overtime and knock out the Whale in Game 6 in Norfolk. Cam Talbot, ho hum, 44 saves. His line after a brilliant playoffs: 5-4, 2.10 goals-against average, .938 save percentage (307/327), two shutouts to start it all off.

Milford’s/Fairfield Prep’s/Yale’s Mark Arcobello had the first goal, an assist on the second and an assist on the winner as Oklahoma City advanced to the Western Conference Final in five games, winning the last four. Here’s the Western Final schedule.

At worlds: a little bit of “are you kidding me?” yelled at my TV this morning, but the U.S. pulled out an overtime win over Kazakhstan. Justin Faulk’s second goal, with about 22 seconds left in overtime, won it off a Max Pacioretty assist.

Canada trailed by two twice but came back to beat Finland. Russia scored six unanswered to beat Sweden. The Czechs scored three power-play goals and a short-handed goal to beat up on Italy. Think that eliminates Kazakhstan from medal-round contention (it can’t finish with more than seven points, and either Switzerland or Slovakia is guaranteed at least eight); Italy is barely alive.

And tip of cap to Steve Moria. Gerry Cantlon had him as the last of the active New Haven Nighthawks, 20 years later.

I knew I was gonna forget about this.

Have mentioned a few times over the past month or so that Bridgeport has not won a playoff round since 2003. While we’re at it, it hasn’t won two in the same year since 2002, the charmed spring that may just prove once-in-a-lifetime.

But in 2002, 10 years ago right now, the Sound Tigers were completing their playoff tear through the Canadian Division of the AHL, having knocked off the Manitoba Moose and St. John’s Maple Leafs, losing only one of eight games in the process. Next up in the Eastern Conference Final: The Hamilton Bulldogs, with the likes of Jason Chimera, Marc-Andre Bergeron, Brian Swanson (who retired this week), former Beast of New Haven winger Kevin Brown, goalies Marc Lamothe and Ty Conklin, veteran tough guy Louie DeBrusk, Jani Rita, Peter Sarno, captain Alain Nasreddine.

Game 1 was May 10, 2002, a Friday night at the Arena at Harbor Yard. There’s a pregame moment of silence for John Cunniff, who passed away that day. That’s how Ken Sutton learns of the death of one of his greatest mentors. But he goes out and makes Cunniff proud, combining with Scott Ricci to shut down the Chimera-Swanson-Fernando Pisani line. Rick DiPietro makes some big point-blank saves in the final minutes to preserve a 3-2 win. Trent Hunter, being taken down, has a rebound go off his skate and into the net (“inadvertent,” he says, and clearly referee Chris Rooney agrees). Bridgeport never trails. Jason Krog scores in the first period; Chimera answers on a second-period power play on a shot that hits Sutton and changes direction. Then Raffi Torres scores on a rebound on a two-on-one with 29.8 seconds left in the second, Again, Hamilton ties it, before a Chad Hinz tripping penalty a little over a minute later sets up Hunter’s heroics with 6:27 left.

No rest: Game 2 is the next night, and again, a late Hunter goal breaks a tie in a game in which Bridgeport never trails; it wins 3-1 to take a 2-0 series lead. Justin Mapletoft’s steal sends Torres and Hunter in on a two-on-one that Hunter converts with 5:42 to go, beating Conklin. The Sutton-Ricci pair is strong again as neither team reaches double-digit shots in any period. Mapletoft scores in the second period after he, Torres and Eric Godard work over the Hamilton defense along the boards, setting up Mapletoft to roof a backhander in front (Godard gets the primary, his third assist in 10 playoff games after four regular-season assists in 67 games). Brown ties it on a seeing-eye power-play shot from the point that eludes five bodies, including DiPietro’s, with 8:27 left. But Hunter unties it, and he adds an empty-netter. Despite Brown’s goal, Bridgeport holds the Hamilton penalty kill to 1-for-7, including a longish stretch in the second period after both Ray Schultz and Branislav Mezei are called for boarding for hits on Peter Sarno, 1:49 apart. (Mezei’s will be changed to a major and a game misconduct a few days later, the second time that happens to him in the postseason.)

Elsewhere, this quote from John Anderson after his Chicago Wolves hold off Houston in double overtime in Game 1 of the Western Conference final: “We’re like gangrene. We just don’t go away.”

Sarno goes to the hospital for an MRI on his neck, but he won’t miss Game 3, and neither will we: Wednesday, May 15, up in Hamilton. If memory serves, we’ll drive up Monday.

Chris VandeVelde scored in OT for the second game in a row, and Oklahoma City is a win away from a date with Toronto. Yann Danis with 30 saves. The Barons can close it out tomorrow in San Antonio. The other two series are at it as well in Game 6s.

VandeVelde is the eighth AHLer to score two overtime goals in a playoff series, according to an old list from the AHL that I must’ve had lying around since 2007; that’s when Alex Giroux did it against Wilkes-Barre in the second round, the last one to do it. One of them is Jim Wiemer, for Rochester in 1983 against his future New Haven Nighthawks team. (That’s a year after Warren Holmes.)

Milford’s and Fairfield Prep’s Colin Sullivan is reportedly going to Boston College instead of Yale.

The U.S. was tied in the second period with Belarus (or, as the IIHF power rankings call it, “another … country we can’t find on the map“) but pulled out a 5-3 win. Nothing easy. A goal for Greenwich’s Cam Atkinson; two assists for New Canaan’s Max Pacioretty. Kazakhstan tomorrow, which had better be another easy win against a country we… well, you know*.

Jesse Joensuu had an assist in Finland’s easy win over France. Denmark lost to Russia. Latvia had a lead on the Czechs, but it didn’t last.

Everyone has played four games now at the Worlds, and the U.S. is in firm control of its own fate. Top four in each pool make the quarterfinals.

*-No, actually, better chance here of finding Kazakhstan than some towns upstate.

The first May playoff game at humid Harbor Yard in nine years gave the visitors a 3-2 series lead. Jaroslav Janus needed but 22 saves for the shutout, and Alex Picard scored the first two goals. The teams meet Friday and, if necessary, Sunday in Norfolk.

Gordie Howe among those in the house, with son Mark.

The Whale issued two statements, thanking the Sound Tigers for their hospitality, and the XL Center for “significant(ly)” helping pay the Harbor Yard rent.

Abbotsford and Toronto play Game 5 tonight. Edit: Mike Zigomanis scores in overtime on a reportedly controversial Hugh Jessiman high-sticking penalty; the Marlies win the series. Greg Scott’s natural hat trick in last night’s third period put the Heat on the brink of elimination after Darien’s Jessiman deflected in a Ben Walter shot in the second period.

Closest thing to a surprise at the Worlds: Canada needed an early-third tiebreaking goal from Ryan Getzlaf (from Cam Ward) to nip Switzerland 3-2. Tobias Stephan made 27 saves. Goal and an assist for John Tavares. Slovakia needed a couple of Tomas Kopecky goals late to beat Kazakhstan. Germany kept it close, but Sweden put it away. And Italy kept it close against Norway, though that’s not as impressive as doing it against Sweden.

And RIP, Carl Beane.

Simon Despres scored on his own rebound at 12:08 of double overtime, so the Penguins live to fight another day. Game 6 is Friday on the Rock. The Penguins survive a wacky goal from the neutral zone early on to do it.

Abbotsford and Toronto are playing Game 4 out in B.C. at this writing.

There’s a game in Bridgeport on Wednesday, you might’ve heard. There’ll be at least one familiar face.

Kurt Kleinendorst won’t be back as Binghamton coach, Joy Lindsay reports.

At the Worlds, Finland actually gave up a goal — couple of them — but Valteri Filppula scored twice in the third to make it a 5-2 win over the Swiss. Jesse Joensuu got an assist, then a two-and-10 for a check to the head/neck. Three goals for former Hartford Wolf Pack forwards: two for Jarkko Immonen for the Finns, and one for Andres Ambuhl.

Wins with some ease for Russia over Germany and Latvia over Italy. And Kazakhstan took a 2-0 lead, but Belarus came back with three in the second, the first short-handed for Konstantin Koltsov (speaking of Penguins overtime heroics in elimination games), beating another onetime Wolf Packer, Vitali Yeremeyev.

The U.S. gets Belarus next, on Thursday.

The Chicago Blackhawks fired former Norfolk coach Mike Haviland, who was one of their assistants. Scapegoat, or sacrificial lamb?*

And RIP, Maurice Sendak and Jerry McMorris, and Stacy Robinson.

*-”And if I can obtain for you these animals?” –1F10**
**-It has been way too long since we did that.

The Whale tied things up tonight with a 4-1 win in the last game of the series in Hartford. They’re 2-2 coming to Bridgeport on Wednesday night. Cam Talbot with 19 saves, not as gaudy numbers as he had against the Sound Tigers but enough to get him first-star honors.

The Admirals are wearing T-shirts with two numbers: a big 76 on the front, and a 113 on the back. The latter happens to be their point total over the 76-game schedule, but it’s also a “Wedding Crashers” reference: Rule 76, “no excuses, play like a champion”; Rule 113, “don’t look for opportunities; make them.” We’ll see how they do with those Wednesday.

(Ads media relations director Keith Phillips, in addition to decoding the shirts, pointed us toward these videos they did this year. Some of them are hilarious.)

San Antonio-Oklahoma City, Game 3, went to overtime on a Rampage goal with 8:54 to go. The Barons appeared to win it at 9:06 of OT, but Teemu Hartikainen got called for goaltender interference on the play. We’ll update. (Listening in, off and on.) Edit: OKC wins it at 15:50 on Chris VandeVelde’s goal. A 2-1 series lead for the Barons.

Howard Baldwin Jr. is no longer in charge of the Whale, the team announced.

Former Bridgeport equipment manager Joe Franke, onetime backup goalie Nick Boucher and training-camper Brent Henley and the Fort Wayne Komets are champions of the Central League.

At the Worlds the U.S. lost to Slovakia, not a devastating loss but one they could’ve used. Cam Atkinson nearly tied it late in the third but caught iron. Max Pacioretty had an assist.

The Czechs came back twice to tie it, took a third-period lead, saw Norway tie it just under three minutes later. Ales Hemsky scored the only shootout tally. Canada rolled past France. Sweden took a big lead on Denmark and clung for dear life but did cling. Frans Nielsen had two assists in the comeback.

Onetime New Haven Nighthawk Norm Maciver is the new assistant GM of the Blackhawks.

Tip of cap to Brian Swanson.

And stopped into the one Office Depot I knew still existed to use a coupon; found a stray box of the old stick pens I used to love and haven’t seen in about two years. Only black, no blue, but still. Rejoice.

(It’s the little things. Give me a break.)

Trevor Smith scored the go-ahead goal 45 seconds after the Admirals tied it, and Norfolk eventually held on for a 4-3 win at Hartford and a 2-1 series lead over the Whale. If the winner of that series is going to play anybody but St. John’s, the Penguins are going to have to win out: after trailing 2-0, the IceCaps came back to win, again in overtime, on Ben Maxwell’s goal 27 seconds into the extra period (and on the Caps’ fourth shot of OT).

The Whale gets its chance to tie things on Monday. The Penguins play for their playoff lives Tuesday.

Busy day at the Worlds, with a couple of minor upsets. Ottawa’s/former Binghamton’s Kaspars Daugavins set up the winning goal as Latvia knocked off Germany 3-2. Italy beat Denmark 4-3 in overtime; former Albany defenseman Matt DeMarchi scored two goals, including the one that tied it in the second after Denmark scored three in a row.

Otherwise, France took care of Kazakhstan (the first-period scoring summary of that game inspired this beauty of a tweet). Finland, on a goal from former WBS Penguin Janne Pesonen, beat Slovakia 1-0; in 120 minutes, Finland’s got two goals but hasn’t allowed one. Tobias Stephan made 19 saves in Switzerland’s 3-2 win over Belarus. And Russia beat Norway 4-2.

A 1:15 start for Team USA on Monday against the Slovaks.

Tim Sestito made his NHL playoff debut in Jersey’s win over Philly.

And RIP, George Lindsey.