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.