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Soundin' Off -- the lifeboat

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Dig it

All right, I blew off the roller coaster. Good thing, too.

I guess we got a glimpse tonight of what showed up in Yarmouth. Michael Mole started strong, made some huge saves and helped the Sound Tigers end this mini two-game winless streak.

Apparently they got here not long before warmup*; they got right out there, Mole felt pretty good, and it carried over into the game. Tough to fault a goalie on any of the four real goals tonight (and you know how I feel about the other three). There were some discipline lapses, but the game as a whole was much better-played than Friday's.

And Mole. Dan Marshall said Garth Snow was just hoping to see the kid play while he was here; Marshall said, hey, the kid came all the way up, so why not leave Dubielewicz home from the bus ride and give Mole a shot?

And how far has this kid come? Mole's only other AHL game to date was a mop-up third period in April 2003. Since then, both teams are gone (Lowell (technically) and Saint John), he went back to school, he played a solid first pro season, he opened a lot of eyes in Islanders training camp. And in his first AHL start, he walks into the Calder Cup celebration and steals the spotlight.

Tomorrow, maybe he starts in Reading. But he's got tonight.

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Comeau-Colliton (A)-Regier
Tambellini-Nielsen-Nilsson
Marjamaki-Ferraro-Aquino
Pitton/Ogorodnikov
D: Fata-Berry
Mitchell-Wotton (C)
Halvardsson-Rourke (A)
HERSHEY
F: Fleischmann-Tenute-Giroux (A)
Laing-Wiseman-Fehr
Robitaille-Hendricks-Bourque
(Vandermeer-scratch)-Werner-Johansson
D: Sloan-Arsene (A)
Hunt-Nycholat (C)
Schultz-Helbling

Sergei Ogorodnikov scored for the second night in a row in the shootout. "I'm trying to score in the game," Ogorodnikov said. "I give thanks to the coach that he gives me a chance in the shootout." Mole got help when Eric Fehr hit the crossbar and Timo Helbling lost the puck on their attempts, but Ferraro and Aquino iced the game around a really nice Mole stick save on Fleischmann.

Had the game gone the other way, we might be talking power plays. Bridgeport is on an 0-for-21 drought after a 6-for-18 start. But tonight wasn't the time nor the place to do more than drop the reference into first edition.

Didn't ask if Mark Wotton went to the home penalty box by accident or for showmanship. The little spin made me think the latter, but I guess you never know. Pretty good, either way.

The Bears wearing the chocolate made for the "right" team in darks. (But that's a rant from another time.) Wasn't listening too closely to the postgame auction, but I think Cassivi's went for $3,500 or so, and Tomas Fleischmann's, with I think the man himself playing to the crowd, topped 4K.

The evening began with a video of highlights from the Bears' playoff run, including the full calls from what sounded like most of the goals in the last two rounds. They lingered, justifiably, over the third period of Game 7 against Portland, when Colin Forbes hit the post on a penalty shot at 1:12, Graham Mink tied it with 2:09 to play, and Eric Fehr won it 9:07 into overtime.

President Doug Yingst introduced the coaches and the trainers, and they threw it upstairs to broadcaster John Walton. John introduced this year's players, and you could almost make him out when Frederic Cassivi hit the ice.

The invited guests came out -- Pat Mathers (wife of the late Frank Mathers, Hershey legend), Willie Marshall, Steve Andrascik, Dave Parro, Mitch Lamoreux, and then Dave Fenyves with the Calder Cup. They helped hand out the rings; Wotton was first to receive his, beginning a grouping in the corner to the right of the Zamboni entrance. Almost to a man, the other players came over with a handshake or a hug for Wotton. In order, the rings went to Jeff Schultz, Joey Tenute, Eric Fehr, captain Boyd Kane (in from Philadelphia in a suit), Tomas Fleischmann, Chris Bourque, Dave Steckel, Stephen Werner, Jonas Johansson, Louis Robitaille, Lawrence Nycholat (with a bear hug for both Kane and Wotton), Dean Arsene, Maxime Daigneault, Derek Engelland, Frederic Cassivi, trainer Dan "Beaker" Stuck, equipment man Justin Kullman, assistant coach Bob Woods, head coach Bruce Boudreau and president Yingst.

Then they dropped the banner. Then Mole stole the show.

---------

Made a stop on the way out to visit my great-grandparents for the first time, out in Queens**. Didn't know I'd be visiting my great-great-grandparents as well, though I knew two great-uncles would be there. Kinda touching.

On the way home tonight, I'll be blasting a little bit of the Bobby Fuller Four. Once midnight comes, it'll be Bobby's 64th birthday, though he wasn't around to celebrate more than 23 of them. And since I blew past it, let's just pause to point out that Dave Guard would have been 72 Thursday...

*-Probably stuck in the same typical I-78 delays I was.
**-By ridiculous coincidence, my other three sets of great-grandparents rest within 100 yards of each other in St. Raymond's Cemetery... It's eerie.

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