Hartford Wolfpack - 5
Bridgeport Sound Tigers - 2

SCORING
First Period - HFD, Dawes 20 (Bourret, Helminen) - PP, 6:00; HFD, Dawes 21 (Bourret, Degon), 12:57

Second Period - BRI, Fata 3 (Sixsmith, Pitton) - PP, 13:42; HFD, Dawes 22 (Helminen, Lampman) - PP, 18:49 ; HFD, Byers 15 (Pikkarainen, Korpikoski) - PP, 19:05

Third Period - BRI, Immonen 16 (Bourret, Dawes), 4:24; BRI, Rank 1 (Magowan, Wotton), 16:32

PENALTIES
First Period - BRI, Bench Minor (Too many men), 2:27; BRI, Pitton (Slashing), 5:35

Second Period - HFD, Purinton (Interference), 6:06; HFD, Helminen (Tripping), 10:09; HFD, Helminen (Tripping), 12:21; BRI, Wotton (High Sticking), 14:35; BRI, Berry (Hooking), 17:08 ; BRI, Pitton (Hooking), 17:19

Third Period - HFD, Roche (Hooking), 12:46; HFD, Reese (Tripping), 16:49

GOALTENDING
Hartford -  Holt (30 shots, 28 saves)
Bridgeport - Thompson (43 shots, 38 saves)

SHOTS
Hartford - 11-21-11 = 43 shots
Bridgeport - 10-9-11 = 30 shots

A - 5115

THREE STARS
1. Nigel Dawes, HFD
2. Alex Bourret, HFD
3. Dwight Helminen, HFD

OFFICIALS
Referee:   Nygel Pelletier (41)
Linesmen: Marty Demers (79), Brent Colby (7)

Well, we knew these line combos were going to be interesting, so here they are.  Bridgeport is dressing 18 tonight, (10 F, 6 D)…

Forwards:

Comeau-G. Johnson-Magowan
Crampton-Rank-Pitton
Marjamaki-Ogorodnikov-J. Johnson
Sixsmith

Defensemen:

Berry-Fata
Wotton-Fraser
Malec-Wood

Goaltenders:

Thompson
Mole

This will be interesting…back after the first…

James Sixsmith will be wearing #11 tonight. Steve Crampton will be donning #37 and Kyle Rank with #47.

Anyone remember the famous SNL skit “Jingleheimer Junction”, where Will Ferrell and the gang are in a children’s TV sho about friendship? They try to play “Mix-mash-mix-em-up” and almost spell a four-letter word that I’m sure Isles and Sound Tigers fans are saying to themselves right now as the injury woes continue to bite both clubs in such a crucial point of the season. They’re almost forcing me to bring back the M*A*S*H reference again…
So there have been a TON of roster moves lately. Just got the official word from the Sound Tigers organization, so let’s run them down…

On Recall to the Islanders:
–Steve Regier (emergency unless Smyth or Hilbert cannot play)
–Wade Dubielewicz
–Jeff Tambellini
–Allan Rourke

Joining the Sound Tigers:
–Mike Mole, recalled from Pensacola
–Sergei Ogorodnikov, recalled from Pensacola
–James Sixsmith, signed to ATO
–Kyle Rank, signed to ATO
–Steve Crampton, signed to PTO (Las Vegas)

Currently out day-to-day:
–Frans Nielsen (minor concussion)
–Eric Boguniecki (sickness)

Released from PTO:
–Dustin VanBallegooie
–Cam McCaffrey

On to business at hand now. Sound Tigers are in Bridgeport tonight hosting the Hartford Wolfpack on the tail end of a home-and-home. Your guess will be as good as mine on what line combinations Dan Marshall and crew are going to throw out tonight, but I will be on it when I find out.

Finally, here are the current playoff standings. Albany plays Manchester tonight for those who are going to be scoreboard watching. Those in bold have obviously clinched playoff spots. Binghamton has officially been eliminted.

****

Looks like Allan Rourke is getting an emergency recall because of Freddy Meyer IV’s broken finger.

Dubie won’t be up for as long as we thought. The previous TSN reports proved to be incorrect as Greg Logan is reporting Ricky should be back for Friday’s game against Buffalo. Great news for Isles fans.

Well it looks like the Sound Tigers split their two-game set with the Pirates today as they lost 5-2.  I was not on hand unfortunately because I’m back in Hershey (surprise! surprise!) covering the Binghamton Senators.

Sens lost AGAIN in the third period, this time it was kinda close 3-1.  Coach Cameron was definitely not happy tonight.  Odd, he was nice with me after they lost 6-1.  Maybe blow-outs are preferred?

Kelly Guard played pretty well today, as did the B-Sens defense until those two late goals.

Met Ed Gonser from the AP today.  Doubt he will be reading this, but if he does, it was very nice to meet him and I hope to run into him soon.

If anyone hasn’t seen Dubielewicz’s new goalie mask, it pays tribute to past Isles history and it’s a BEAUT!  I only saw one side of the mask, which was laying on his lockerroom shelf, that had an image of Denis Potvin lifting the Stanley Cup from the Isles first cup victory.  But on the forehead?  The dreaded FISHERMAN!   It reminds me a lot of Eric Fichaud’s infamous fisherman mask.  Brilliant idea by Dubie to say the least.

Tough Isles loss to the Rags today.  As usual, the goaltending was spectacular and that damn Straka-Jagr-Nylander combination bites the Isles again.  This puts them tied with the Hurricanes and the Habs for the final playoff spot in the East.  It’s not gonna get any easier so the Isles need to take any points that come their way.

That’s all for now…time for the long drive back home.

Until then…

Portland Pirates - 0
Bridgeport Sound Tigers - 2

SCORING
First Period - BRI, Berry 3 (McCaffrey, Galbraith), 12:50; BRI, Marjamaki 4 (G. Johnson, Wotton), 14:34

Second Period - No Scoring

Third Period - No Scoring

PENALTIES
First Period - POR, Hartigan (Hooking), 5:23; BRI, Wood (Holding), 8:48; POR, Wilson (Holding), 10:28; BRI, Galbraith (Interference), 17:18

Second Period - BRI, Regier (Slashing), 9:02; BRI, G. Johnson (Holding), 13:50

Third Period - BRI, Wotton (Holding), :47; POR, Melin (High Sticking), 6:15

GOALTENDING
Portland - Coleman (24 shots, 22 saves)
Bridgeport - Dubielewicz (36 shots, 36 saves)

SHOTS
Portland - 10-14-12 = 36 shots
Bridgeport - 14-5-5 = 24 shots

A - 6718

THREE STARS
1. Wade Dubielewicz, BRI
2. Masi Marjamaki, BRI
3. Rick Berry, BRI

OFFICIALS
Referee: Frederic L’Ecuyer (48)
Linesmen: Paul Simeon (66), Luke Galvin (2)

Sound Tigers dressing seven defensemen again…

BRIDGEPORT

Forwards:

Regier-Nielsen-Magowan

Galbraith-G. Johnson-Marjamaki

McCaffrey-J. Johnson-Pitton

Rourke/Comeau

Defense:

Wood-Berry

Wotton (C)-Fraser

VanBallegooie-Malec

PORTLAND

Forwards:

Keith-Wirtnaen-Melin

Miller-Motzko-Hartigan

Gillies-Hynes-Hoffman

Carter-Ferguson-Wilson

Defense:

Amadio-Rome

Salcido-Weinrich

Blanchard-O’Brien

Hey all. Apologies for the lay-off. Life seriously went from dull to ten times of hectic in the span of two months. But it’s good to be back in Bridgeport as the Sound Tigers will take on the Portland Pirates at 7pm today.

Big game in terms of the playoff race for the sound Tigers. They moved into a tie for the last playoff spot yesterday as a result of their win in Bingo and Albany’s SOL in Hamilton. Today the River Rats take on Syracuse, which should be an easy win for them, so it is must win for the Tigers. Here’s the playoff race as it looks now:

Early word coming out of Bridgeport is that Blake Comeau will be back in the lineup after missing a good month or so with an ankle injury. Boguniecki missed last night’s game due to an illness and will not dress tonight as well. Add Drew Fata to the list of injured with back spasms.

Be back in a few with the pre-game warmup line combinations…

So I apologize for being absent yesterday.  I was quite exhausted and slept most of the day when I got off of work after spending the previous night traveling back from Hershey.

~Speaking of Hershey, the B-Sens were handed another crushing loss this time, losing 6-1.  Kyle Wilson finished the Hershey scoring with a natural hat trick (all which came in a span of seven minutes!).  The hat trick actually helped him earn AHL Player of the Week honors.

~Yesterday was affiliation-mania as two teams announced partnerships
**Chicago Blackhawks and the new Rockford Icehogs agreed to a 10-year agreement.
**Edmonton and the Springfield Falcons signed a 3-year agreement.

~Looks like Wade Dubielewicz is staying in Tampa with the Islanders incase Rick DiPietro can’t go.  I’d expect Dubie to return to the Sound Tigers on Friday when they travel to Binghamton.

~I’ll be spending tomorrow in Hershey covering the Springfield Falcons for the Springfield Republican, then Saturday in Bridgeport doing the NYSD thing, and then back in Hershey on Sunday for Bingo so I got a busy rest of the week ahead of me.

Best to all…time to tune in the Isles.

Tom…