Marauding kids

Is preseason over yet? The stories are neat, it's cool seeing all the people you don't expect (or, half the time, know) come through, it's nice that people aren't all that on edge yet. But totally selfishly, it's hard to cover a preseason game in this league. You're in a press box that no longer has internet or phone lines. You're on folding tables next to the boards with no power. You're in the lobby trying to look around people, and yelling "SCREEN" doesn't work, because they can't hear you, and you can't hear inside.

Selfish, yes.

An impressive comeback, Bridgeport's third comeback win in three games, sparked by avoiding the penalty box, then by Jason Goulet's willingness to take a few punches to get there. Goulet did more giving than taking, of course, which makes him quite interesting. Keep him around? This team hasn't had a heavyweight since Messrs. Belak and Godard departed. (Funny stat in the story tomorrow -- second edition at least.)

Colliton, Regier continue to look good. Guys like Bryan Rodney (nice shot on the game-winner; an impressive play all-around by the four guys on the ice) and Kevin Mitchell drew some notice for their power-play work. Albany's goals were all at the other end, and I got no read on them at all, but what I saw of Dubielewicz in his AHL preseason debut was good. (All three goals were on the power play, with Peter Tsimikalis' on a two-man advantage.)

Ham or Italian beef

It's official: Hamilton's a Hawk. He wanted an NHL job, and he went out and won one.

Unrelatedly, a preseason feature on "opportunist" Raffi Torres in the Edmonton Sun today.

Day 3.14159...

Bridgeport sent Dave Borrelli, Jocelyn Dubord, Tyler Liebel, Dan Sullivan and Jeff Pietrasiak to the ECHL today. With Jeremy Colliton and Blake Comeau in town for practice today, that leaves 17 forwards, 10 defensemen (plus Mark Wotton and injured Ryan Caldwell) and three goalies in the BST camp.

Dan Marshall said he expects the Saturday/Sunday exhibition games' lineups to really start to reflect the opening-night lineup. His figure was "95 percent," which is probably 5-10 percent more metaphorical than mathematical, but you get the point. We'll get what we can from Glens Falls on Saturday.

Took a peek at Ticketmaster today to see where seats were available for Saturday's game. One spot on their site claimed to be offering "on-ice seating" for $47.50. If I was padded well enough, that could be the coolest thing ever.

Day 3

(Gotta get away from these numbers. Maybe.)

Two stops at Tim Hortons turn this from an OK day to a good one...

Good game (it appeared from where I was). Mole did his job, penalty kill was good, Regier looked like a man among boys once he played. (He, Koalska and Marjamaki sat out the first period for an unspecified reason. I know it's not disciplinary; just unspecified.) Good game for the people you'd expect it from, and few of the tryouts look substantially out of place.

Dave Borrelli appeared to take a stick up high early in the game, and I don't think he returned to action, though he might have been on the bench. We'll check again Thursday.

Initial lineup:
F: Lalonde-CFerraro-Sullivan
Magowan-Johnson-Aquino
Dubord-Liebel-Borrelli
D: Mitchell-Rodney
Halvardsson-Yandle
Bodine-Martin

Lines were torn asunder by the return of Marjamaki, Koalska and Regier in the second, and the earlier departure of Borrelli (Bodine took a couple of shifts on the wing in the first); the pairs all shifted around, too. Just for the heck of it, here's a run of even-strength forward shifts from the early-to-middle of the third period: Sullivan-Koalska-Liebel; Marjamaki-Ferraro-Dubord; (penalty kill); Dubord-Johnson-Liebel; (penalty kill); Magowan-Johnson-Sullivan; Lalonde-Koalska-Dubord; Aquino-Liebel-Regier; Marjamaki-Ferraro-Sullivan; Magowan-Johnson-Lalonde; Dubord-Koalska-Liebel.

(Signifying? Nothing. Probably.)

There's likely a couple of more days or so until cuts. The Islanders got to 26 this morning by sending Jeremy Colliton and Blake Comeau here. Peter Ferraro, one of the 26, gets featurized in Newsday.

Chris Madden... is not retired. At least, not officially, although he sounded almost resigned to it today, "unless something really special comes up." He's heard from a couple of teams but didn't sound sold on something happening. He's frustrated, and who can blame him after the way last season went. He had some back spasms in camp, "got hit kind of funny," and that slowed him down, but even so, he said he wasn't sure he saw a spot in the organization for him.

Day 2.5, running

Jeff Hamilton could be about to make the Blackhawks, say the Tribune and the Daily Herald. What jumped out at me in the Herald piece: Hamilton reportedly saying he was 7-for-10 in shootouts for the Sound Tigers in 2003-04. I wonder if one or both of them meant Hartford in '04-05. Hamilton never took a shootout attempt in a Bridgeport sweater: There wasn't one until '04-05, and last year, he was up for the first four and was hurt the night of the fifth, in Manchester, his final game in a Bridgeport sweater.

Update2, in reverse order: Former AHL stat service Pointstreak had Hamilton 6-for-11 in shootouts in 2004-05.

Update1: Mike Jarmuth is joining Chris Thompson in camp with Columbia (ECHL).

Day 2

Finally, a hockey game. Felt good. Felt like midseason.

(Referee joke omitted)

Granted, it's the first game of the preseason; there are young kids, kids used to a lower level, kids in only their second real day of work, and there are going to be penalties.

But for two periods, Jamie Koharski had his hand in the air more than he did at his side.

(Ahhhhhhh, you know where I stand on all that.)

When that stopped, it settled into a decent enough game, some good skating, some good flow, some good goaltending; some less-than-good stuff all the way around, too, and isn't that how it goes on Day 2? Because the Sound Tigers were solid on the penalty kill in the first period, denying six out of seven chances, Dan Marshall thought he felt the team really feed off that, play well as a group. Perhaps it did.


Lines changed, in part because of all the penalties, but here's how they lined up at the start:

Nilsson-Nielsen-Nokelainen
Magowan-Guerriero-Lalonde
Dubord-Liebel-Hemingway
Pitton-Ogorodnikov-Borrelli

Fata-Yandle
Bodine-Goulet
Henley-Martin

And if the box didn't make your edition (consider this somewhat unofficial, since it sounded like some things might have changed):

Hartford 1 1 1 0--3
Bridgeport 1 1 1 1--4

First Period -- 1, Hartford, Byers (Smyth, Ouellette), 1:52 (pp). 2, Bridgeport, Guerriero (Hemingway), 17:55 (pp). Penalties -- Hoffman, Hfd, major (fighting), :05; Henley, Bpt, major (fighting), :05; Magowan, Bpt (holding), 1:09; Bodine, Bpt (hooking), 2:18; Bodine, Bpt (tripping), 5:46; Byers, Hfd (hooking), 5:51; Graham, Hfd, minor-major (goaltender interference, fighting), 6:21; Goulet, Bpt, major (fighting), 6:21; Yandle, Bpt (hooking), 10:04; Purinton, Hfd, major-misconduct (fighting), 10:04; Henley, Bpt, major-misconduct (fighting), 10:04; Bodine, Bpt (elbowing), 10:33; Kozak, Hfd (roughing), 12:33; Goulet, Bpt, double minor (roughing), 12:33; Yandle, Bpt (hooking), 13:56; Byers, Hfd (boarding), 17:39.
Second Period -- 3, Bridgeport, Magowan (Yandle, Pitton), 7:40 (pp). 4, Hartford, Bahensky (Kozak), 19:29. Penalties -- Fauci, Hfd (high-sticking), 4:02; Byers, Hfd (tripping), 5:10; Purinton, Hfd (slashing), 5:40; Nightingale, Hfd (hooking), 9:12; Purinton, Hfd (hooking), 10:31; Bodine, Bpt (holding), 16:05; Liebel, Bpt (slashing), 16:24; Nightingale, Hfd (hooking), 19:32.
Third Period -- 5, Bridgeport, Hemingway (Lalonde, Ogorodnikov), 1:30 (pp). 6, Hartford, Callahan (Smyth, Fauci), 7:01 (pp). Penalties -- Martin, Bpt (holding), 6:13; Nightingale, Hfd (hooking), 8:25.
Overtime -- 7, Bridgeport, Fata (Goulet), 4:49 (pp). Penalties -- Liebel, Bpt (high-sticking), 2:46; Jessiman, Hfd (goaltender interference), 4:44.

Shots on goal -- Hartford 17-13-7-7--44. Bridgeport 8-16-11-4--39.
Power play opportunities -- Hartford 2 of 11, Bridgeport 4 of 11.
Goaltenders -- Hartford, Holt (24 shots-22 saves), Westlund (start third, 15-13). Bridgeport, Thompson (44-41).
Attendance -- 1,127. Referee -- J. Koharski. Linesmen -- Spannaus, Redding.

Good crowd. "Let's Go Trashers" broke out with nine minutes to play; "We Want Trashers" followed with about four. Loudest of the night, I thought. Fair enough.

Greg Cronin used to talk about "First-day Tarzans, 10th-day Janes," and I kinda liked the sentiment at least, so we'll give these guys a few days before we pass out darts and laurels. The story* happened to be on Jason Guerriero, and he had a pretty good game to make me look good. Colin Hemingway has been singled out by a couple of people as a guy to watch, and he ended up with a goal and an assist.

And there's four more games in the next five nights. The next one is in Rhode Island, and Yarmouth standout Mike Mole is set for the full 60 minutes or more. Bridgeport's also bringing ex-New Hampshire goalie Jeff Pietrasiak in as the fourth goalie in camp with Chris Madden apparently retired. (More, I hope, tomorrow.)

Didn't notice it online, but apparently Jody Robinson is in camp with Omaha.

Nice to see Storm back. Definitely glad he didn't get a dye job. Is he getting a new sweater, though? The colors were right, but the design was the white "Islanders Appreciation" one the team wore a couple of years ago...

*-I tend to write camp stories after practice instead of games, unless I'm really writing off the game for some reason: late in camp
or whatever, things coming together. This was especially important today, as the game ended 20 minutes after first-edition deadline...
These 7:30 starts are gonna be interesting.

Day 1.5 (I hope)

The technical difficulties may be stalking me. First I couldn't get on here for hours; then I lost this post when I finally got on...

BST stuff, mostly, later, except that it sounds like Caldwell is being targeted for the second weekend of the season, with an outside shot at opening night...

Ex-BST stuff from the West: Mapletoft and Godard.

Anon commenter: Sean Burke details are here (SPR) and here (TAM).

What's that? What? Underneath here? Oh, for car horn's sake...

Day 1.5

Most BST stuff after the game... Caldwell, it sounds like, is more like 2-3 weeks. Borderline for opening night, more likely second weekend.

Some ex-BST stuff now: Justin Mapletoft in Winnipeg and Eric Godard in Calgary.

Anon commenter: Sean Burke explanations can be found here (SPR)
and here (TAM).

Day 1

(update at 7 p.m.)

Cold in there. (He said with a sick little grin)

So here's the list, as it is now:

GOALIES -- Wade Dubielewicz, Mike Mole, Billy Thompson
DEFENSE -- Will Bodine, Drew Fata, Jason Goulet, Johan Halvardsson, Brent Henley, P.J. Martin, Kevin Mitchell, Bryan Rodney, Allan Rourke, Mark Wotton, Brian Yandle
FORWARDS -- Luch Aquino, Dave Borelli, Jocelyn Dubord, Chris Ferraro, Jason Guerriero, Colin Hemingway, Jamie Johnson, Matt Koalska, Mike Lalonde, Tyler Liebel, Ken Magowan, Masi Marjamaki, Frans Nielsen, Robert Nilsson, Petteri Nokelainen, Sergei Ogorodnikov, Jason Pitton, Steve Regier, Dan Sullivan

Among the missing... Chris Madden may have retired. That's how it sounded to Howard Saffan, anyway. Updates if available. Ryan Caldwell is expected to miss up to a month with a shoulder injury. Rick Berry, Jeff Tambellini, Peter Ferraro, Jeremy Colliton, Blake Comeau and even Brandon Cullen remain up with the big club. (I'll be interested to watch this game against the Rangers tonight). Joe Grimaldi, Andrew MacDonald and Chris Gaudet went back to junior (as did Ryan O'Marra, who had broken an ankle in offseason training). Wotton has a few days coming to him to get his family across the country.

If the groups today were any indication, most of the familiar names will be scratched Tuesday. Guerriero looks to play, and it sounds like Nokelainen, Nielsen and Nilsson could be a line combination. Interesting.

----

And as noted in the earlier version: Vince Macri is going back to Fresno.

Jack Lautier, RIP

Longtime Bristol Press writer Jack Lautier died Wednesday after an eight-month battle with cancer. He'll be missed.

Free agent scoreboard, moved over

Just to have this here... there are updates.

(Color code: black: unsigned. blue=re-signed with NYI/BST. red=signed elsewhere in North America. bright, bright green=signed in Europe. Italics indicate it's not announced, but either we're reporting it, or some other semi-official source has it. New: Split color means there's some kind of report saying it's happening (we'll try this out))

Group II
Sean Bergenheim (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (Russia))
Ryan Caldwell (signed qualifying offer, announced July 25)
Wade Dubielewicz (signed qualifying offer, announced July 19)
Denis Grebeshkov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (Russia), July 10)
Non-tendered UFA
Rob Collins (DEG Metro Stars (Germany), July 27)
Paul Flache (Gwinnett (ECHL), Sept. 7)
Eric Godard (Calgary, Aug. 5)
Cole Jarrett (Eisbaren Berlin (Germany), June 21)
Vince Macri (Fresno (ECHL), Sept. 25
Chris Madden (NYI training camp - tryout)
Justin Papineau (New Jersey)
Jody Robinson (Las Vegas (ECHL), Sept. 21)
Group III
Joel Bouchard (re-signed July 5)
Tomi Pettinen (Frolunda Indians (Sweden), May 5)
Wyatt Smith (signed with Minnesota, July 19)
Group VI
Frederic Cloutier (Rockford (UHL), Sept. 22; camp with Milwaukee)
Jeff Hamilton (Grand Rapids (AHL); Chicago Blackhawks - tryout)
Allan Rourke (re-signed for $475k up top, announced July 25)
AHL
Mike Jarmuth
Mark Lee (Charlotte Checkers (ECHL), Sept. 5, to camp with Hartford)
Harlan Pratt (Augsburger Panthers (Germany), Aug. 23)
David Masse (Tulsa Oilers (CHL), Aug. 21; camp with Manitoba)
Joe Tallari (in camp with Milwaukee)
Chris Thompson (tryout with Columbia Inferno (ECHL), Sept. 22)

Blasts from the past

One or two or three familiar names on the Manitoba Moose training camp roster -- Masse, Wood and Mapletoft. (Full list available as a pdf file.)

Mark Lee, as noted earlier, is in Hartford, along with, it sounds like, every Ranger who didn't go to San Juan.

And one I should have mentioned earlier: David Morisset is back in action, with Victoria (ECHL).

And this just in (always wanted to say that): Chris Thompson is going to Columbia (ECHL)'s training camp.

Even more updatin': Rockford (UHL) just announced the signing of Freddie Cloutier. He's going to Milwaukee's camp with Lane Lambert. Preston Mizzi is in Rockford as well.

8AD+MHGT

My brother called early this morning to wake me up. Specifically, to wake me up to tell me he's going to a hockey game tonight.

We used to go to an NHL preseason game together every year after I got out of school, dragging along 1-3 friends in the process, and going out for dinner either before or after. It was the "Dinner and a Meaningless Hockey Game Trip." That has kind of fallen off now that we're separated during September by 870 miles of interstate.

But tonight, TLP in Illinois keeps the tradition alive with his buddies: Florida at Chicago, 7:30 p.m. CDT, the Eighth Annual D+MHGT. I told him to say hi to Kolnik and Mezei for us.

If you want to go, hustle out there.

Update: Five goals, three primary assists for a former Sound Tiger, including two by a certain Yalie power-play specialist on a tryout...

Oh yeah: In case the brief doesn't make the paper, Jody Robinson signed with Las Vegas (ECHL).

Abandon Ship!

So I hope this will be a very short-lived site, but we're getting close to the important times, and no progress seems to have been made over at the Real Site. Which is weird, 'cause Joe Meyers has had no problems whatsoever.

The short version is, I posted What's black and white and... on the afternoon of Sept. 7. Sometime that day, the Web folks upgraded the software. Overnight, I tried to update that post with a Flache story and got an error message. Everything I tried to do thereafter got an error message, and everyone who tried to comment got an error. Everything is available and visible behind the scenes, but none of it publishes.

Weird. Anyway, here we are, until things go back to normal. Things might be somewhat quiet for the next couple of days, but if the tech difficulties remain into next week, this'll be the outlet for training camp stuff, until the TDs are resolved.

Spread the word, if you're so inclined.

How stupid can you get...

It wasn't 24 hours earlier that I watched people spraying champagne around Flushing.

So how could I forget, covering the Bridgeport Bluefish tonight as they tried to clinch, to bring a change of clothes?

(All I could imagine was getting pulled over on the way home. "Officer, look, can you draw the blood here? Because no matter how I smell....")

Boy, you show up for just one night, and look what happens to you...

-----
Really liked the Studio 60 premiere Monday night.
-----

From the Islanders' site today:

The players watched a video today on the 2006-07 NHL rules. The emphasis of the video was on increased battles in front of the net, with more physical play being allowed than last year.

I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm OK for now.

The theme of the week has been Jeff Tambellini, from all that's come out of Yarmouth... One week till Danbury.

(Published 9/20/06, 1:28 a.m.)

Camptown races

(I am really taking a lot on faith by continuing to post these entries, eh?)

Hopefully COMPLETE LIST OF BST IN NHL CAMPS

COLORADO -- Ben Guite, Peter Tsimikalis (ATO)
CHICAGO -- Jeff Hamilton, Steve Munn
BOSTON -- Jay Leach
MONTREAL -- Eric Manlow
NEW JERSEY -- Justin Papineau
CALGARY -- Eric Godard
EDMONTON -- Tim Sestito, Raffi Torres
FLORIDA -- Juraj Kolnik, Branislav Mezei
PITTSBURGH -- Alain Nasreddine
NASHVILLE -- Patrick Leahy
NEW YORK RANGERS -- Stephen Valiquette
ATLANTA -- Jason Krog
MINNESOTA -- Wyatt Smith, Mattias Weinhandl
NEW YORK ISLANDERS -- Luciano Aquino, Jeremy Colliton, Blake Comeau, Jason Guerriero, Trent Hunter, Matt Koalska, Masi Marjamaki, Robert Nilsson, Ryan O'Marra, Steve Regier, Jeff Tambellini, Joel Bouchard, Ryan Caldwell, Chris Campoli, Bruno Gervais, Dustin Kohn, Radek Martinek, Kevin Mitchell, Allan Rourke, Rick DiPietro, Wade Dubielewicz, Chris Madden

(Vancouver only supplied a veterans roster. Calgary supplied only a rookies roster, but we took Godard to be a given.)

(Published 9/16/06, 1:43 a.m.)

It just takes a smidgen!

Might not be a spring (a supahring?) afternoon in the park, but life imitates Tom Lehrer anyway:

TEXARKANA, Texas (AP) -- Poisoned pigeons began nose-diving into pavement and dying on downtown sidewalks, marring the city's annual festival.

Maybe they can do in a squirrel or two next.

Hockey content, if this ever appears: Jeff Hamilton is in camp with the Blackhawks on a tryout.

(Published 9/13/06, 8:51 p.m.)

Exordium and Termination

In case this ever pops back up...

So how about that 15-year deal? Insane, huh? Well...

I'm not sold on "insane." Weird? Sure; you don't watch a guy sign a 15-year contract every day. Questionable? Hey, there's a lot that can happen between now and 2021*. (I was trying to remember myself 15 years ago; I come up with at least two lifetimes between now and then. I guess 24-to-39 is a little different than 16-to-31, but...)

But insane? Not at $4.5 million. If it works out, it's golden for all involved. If he gets hurt, there are ways around it. If it doesn't work out... Well, there are probably more ways around that. (Tom Benjamin points out a fun one.)

The joys of a salary cap.**

Happened to be on the way to Long Island anyway, catching up to a few guys before they head to Nova Scotia. A little piece on the two-thirds remaining from "3M" should run either Thursday or Friday -- and hopefully this blog entry will have appeared by then.

Glad to see Chris Madden, who's feeling good and is the same guy as always. I think he said he was on the grounds crew at a hospital this summer... the details slip away because he then mentioned he learned how to use an excavator. "It was like a giant video game," he said. "I skipped a lunch break to use it." I don't blame the man.

*-"In the year 2021... If the Coliseum is done... If this game's still any fun..." (Worst. Zager and Evans parody. Ever.)
**-And who's to say this NHL*** CBA will be in effect after 2009?
***-And who's to say there'll be an NHL on this earth**** by 2021?
****-"Now it has been 15 years... Fans have cried a billion tears..." Never mind.

(Published 9/13/06, 4:20 a.m.)

5YA: September 11, 2001

The night before was so typical: the Giants, some surfing, a lot of data entry, long-term advance for the preview. Sounds a bit like last night. I rolled over at about 3:30 or so, maybe closer to 4, ready for an afternoon/evening workday, call Steve Stirling in Lake Placid for a first-day-of-camp update.

Things -- as they sang about the same town 100 years earlier -- have changed since those times. Because the next thing I remember is my father waking me from a weird nightmare at 10:30 to tell me what had happened in the previous two hours.

There is little to say that hasn't been said in the five years -- good gravy -- since. Except that we have not forgotten, and we will never, ever forget.

If you haven't heard it, Tom Paxton's "The Bravest" is worth a spin today (or any other day). Download it from Paxton's Web site. Apparently not online but also quite worth the seeking: Loudon Wainwright III's "No Sure Way."

(Published 9/11/06, 1:51 a.m.)

What's black and white and...

...Actually, before that, just caught that Paul Flache signed with Gwinnett in the Coast. Here's hoping this is a better year medically for the big guy.

UPDATE — Check out this story from the Gwinnett Daily Post: Flache broke his C6 vertebra a month ago in a mountain-biking accident. Good gravy.

Now to your regularly scheduled attempt at humor: These should look pretty sharp in person, but on the Web, San Antonio's new sweaters look like someone flipped the switch from color to black and white...

(Published 9/7/06, 2:19 p.m.; updated 9/8/06, c. 3 a.m.)