Day off (except Russia, Ottawa and SJ)

Robert Nilsson's confidence was never in doubt, was it?

Sunday, by the way, was the fifth anniversary of the longest game the Sound Tigers have yet played, a double-overtime Game 3 at St. John's. Juraj Kolnik won it with 1:24 left in the fifth period. That let me just barely make first-edition deadline, which is amazing considering Newfoundland is an hour and a half ahead of us and the game started at 6 Eastern...

Far across the sea, nothing weird happened, though it came close in one case. Canada beat Norway 4-2, having to come from behind once and needing two goals in the third to break a tie. The Slovaks beat up on Germany late. Sweden beat up on Latvia, though Herbert Vasiljevs had an assist; Andy points out in the comments below how Dickie Tarnstrom's all over the scoresheet. And in a horrific result, Switzerland beat Italy 2-1, though Mario Chitaroni took two penalties, including a cross-checking minor at the buzzer.

Each of the four groups has gone deadly according to the seeds, leaving an elimination game in each group: Latvia-Italy; Austria-Belarus; Germany-Norway; Denmark-Ukraine. A tie would go to the first team named in each of those matchups.

New beginnings

"That's one thing I've learned, it's a fragile, fragile thing, confidence. They all come here with some talent. To develop that, you need their full attention."
--Dan Marshall, July 17, 2006

The era didn't last that long, but that first part was proven 10 times over this season, in just about any way you'd want to read it.

It's Jack Capuano's team now, officially. In some ways, it was already. He seemed to have their respect and their confidence. The atmosphere was definitely different around that team after Jan. 1. We'll see what they let him do.

Sounds like one assistant to come.

Hartford's done after losing back-to-back games at home, never leading in either game. Good night, Connecticut. (Attendance: 2,266. Wow. Almost was 2,268, but we got sidetracked. Hey, have I said lately how much I hate the NHL's delay-of-game penalty for a puck over the glass from the D-zone?) Manitoba forced another Game 7. And check out who scored with 2:35 left for the Penguins to finish off the Blackhawks in Norfolk. (Get a snapshot of the three division finals that are set already on the league's schedule page for May. Love that Iowa-Chicago: Every other day? You'd think it was pro hockey.)

Elsewhere in the world (PDFs alert), Sean Bergenheim had an assist in Finland's 6-2 win over Denmark. Possible future linemate Frans Nielsen had one, too (it neatly jumped onto the next page, so it took me a while to find it), and he also took a penalty for the second game in a row. Hard to imagine. (I like the cross-checking bit, though.) The U.S. is actually 2-0. Ukraine scored first, and like Italy yesterday to Sweden, it ticked Russia off. The former Sound Tigers again didn't score. And I guess the Czechs beat Austria.*

Next for these teams, the third game of the prelim round, is when the Worlds usually start to get interesting. The Americans, the Czechs and the Austria-Belarus winner go into a six-team group with the top three out of Slovakia, Canada, Germany and Norway. The results of the games already played between those teams carry over.

*-Had to love the so-beautifully-filthy thepensblog.com take on Slovakia-Norway yesterday: "If you care about this game and want more details, Move to Slovakia or Norway." (Also loved their recap of the news the other night...)

Sunday preview

If there's such a thing as a big but anticlimactic story, it's in the paper come the morning (possibly earlier on the Web). Substantial, but given the events of the past few months, probably no shock.

There's another story I enjoyed doing on Michael Benedosso, a West Point boxer from Milford. Nice kid.

So there'll be a Game 7 in Hartford Sunday night after Providence won Game 6 tonight. The winner will meet an odd foe, because believe it or not, the Monarchs have won a playoff round! The Monarchs have won a playoff round! The Monarchs have won a playoff round! Mike Iggulden's power-play redirection kept it going with 4:17 left in regulation, but it wasn't enough.(!) Iowa finished off first-place Omaha, setting up the first division-final matchup: Iowa-Chicago. Eric Manlow had an early goal as Hamilton knocked out Rochester.

Over in Russia, Canada needed Jamal Mayers' second goal to beat Uwe Krupp and Germany 3-2; anguished cries of "what's wrong with Canadian hockey?" rock the True North. Switzerland beat Latvia in a tuneup for Italy. Speaking of whom, Italy scored first against Sweden, and that seems to have ticked Sweden off; Dick Tarnstrom had three assists. Slovakia beat Norway, which isn't the same without Espen Knutsen.

The night's so long it hurts

Newtown's Own Peter Zingoni and not Newtown's own Mike Thornton met up with the Tragically Hip. (Tip of (fifty-mission) cap: Patrick Williams)

ATL: The vaguely familiar Chris Lee's* third goal of the playoffs kept Omaha alive on the power play with 2:24 to play in regulation, and then Tomi Maki won it in OT. Grand Rapids won again in overtime, so Manitoba has to win two in a row at home. And eight different Penguins (plus a familiar ninth, with three assists) say it's not so hard to walk into Norfolk and win two out of three. And spoke to someone who was at Providence-Hartford on Thursday who said it was a good one. (I was gonna say "as good as the score indicated," but y'never know what people think of 1-0 games these days.)

*-He played one game for Bridgeport, 1/5/07

"He's in my book club"*

Over in Russia, a goal and an assist for Sean Bergenheim as Finland starts the World Championships with a win. (Everything's a PDF over there now?) Frans Nielsen didn't figure as Denmark starts the Worlds with, um, a 9-1 loss to Russia. (Neither Denis Grebeshkov nor Alexander Kharitonov figured for Russia.)

Dick Tarnstrom is on Sweden's roster. Beast of New Haven Herbert Vasiljevs is on Latvia's roster, and our old Nighthawks hero Mario Chitar(r)oni is on Italy's.

Elsewhere, one "scary cut" for Rochester defenseman Martin Tuma. The blood led Kevin and Don Lever to compare it to the unforgettable Clint Malarchuk incident. Hearing about the severed tendons reminded me more of what happened to Eric Healey in 1999-2000; hope Tuma comes back as strong as Healey did. (One of my favorite other-team stories, from the 2003 playoffs with Manchester.)

And I've been holding out on this, which probably means I shouldn't post it, but I will anyway. A couple of days ago, comments on the post of the day over at Uni Watch somehow rolled around to the 1997 Mets and their ill-conceived white hats. That led Paul Lukas to post this picture of "the now-forgotten Takashi Kashiwada" (comment No. 118). Now-forgotten? How could you forget America's Favorite Japanese Left-Hander? (OK, he was probably America's ONLY Japanese Left-Hander at the time...)

So yeah, naturally, I have this picture of America's Favorite Japanese Ice Cream Man on my computer desktop now...

*-AABF20 ("You liked Rashomon." "That's not how I remember it.")

Still, you should see the other guy

(I'm not sure it's driveable)

---

"It's gonna get worse," the nurse in Honesdale said after all that had happened that night, "before it gets better."

The miserable first few hours of April 27, 2006, that I remember. The few weeks before that...

The funniest part of all this was probably in training camp, or right before, maybe. I was looking back over the 2005-06 Sound Tigers stats, looking for something or other, and one name stood out.

Miles.

What stood out was that I couldn't remember him. Who was he? When did he sign? Why? What'd he look like? What position did he play? What were the circumstances of those five games, 0-0-0 and minus-6?

What was his first name?

A few weeks later, I was looking back for the last time Bridgeport was shut out. It was Game 4 of the playoffs. I couldn't remember a thing about it. My game story tells me a puck went off Jeff Tambellini into the Bridgeport net for the only goal of the night. You'd think it would be memorable. No clue.

Basically, all I know about April 2006, I learned from my blog. And a lot of stuff since then wasn't sticking, either.

Look, I always knew concussions were funny animals. The brain's complicated, and we don't know what it's going to do while it's healing. But I wasn't prepared, and not just because I'd never had one (as far as I know) before. Every few weeks, I'd get a little better, and I'd think, "Whew, thank God, back to normal." And then I'd get a little better again and realize, "Jeez, no I wasn't. But whew, thank God, back to normal..."

Good gravy, eight months I wouldn't wish on anybody: It stunk. And so did I.

It slowly got better, though. Picked up on some things. The haze keeps lifting. I think I'm pretty close to normal again (though I'm reserving judgment). A turning point was mid-January, reading this column during a trip to Philly. None of it and all of it felt familiar. "There have been times I just didn't want to do it because my head just didn't feel right," said Keith Primeau. That was my year. But accepting it made it a little easier to deal with.

------

So why am I writing this down now? I don't know. The anniversary brings it to mind, for one thing. (Weirdly, my ear started to itch Sunday night; dry skin on the scar.) Maybe it's just that old "If I can help one person" bit. In a weird way, covering Brandon Cullen's recovery reinforced in my own mind that I wasn't nuts, that these things can happen.

Head-on-steel-on-asphalt probably guarantees that they happen. Forget about forgetting Jeff Miles: Without a seat belt, I'd be starting my second year of death. You may be a civil-liberties, stick-it-to-the-Man type who can't be told to wear a seat belt. You may be the type who worries about getting out of a car if you have to get out of your seat belt. Hey, I'm right there with you, but do me a favor: Wear it anyway, so you can still be a civil-liberties worry-wart on the off chance your car rolls over.

And God forbid that does happen, remember: Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better.

First one(s) through

Hershey finished off Albany tonight in five, making the Bears the first team to advance (Attendance: 1,637). Then out west the Wolves became the second with an OT win at Milwaukee.

Sean Hill...

..."has been suspended 20 games for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program," the league announced today. The Islanders' pregame notes had Drew Fata listed among the possibilities, so maybe Fata makes his NHL playoff debut.

Go Cole Botta

Had no intentions of posting -- if this were real, we'd be sure to pray for Gaetan Duchesne, for one thing -- but Just Go Here Now.

That's it

How about Marjamaki potting the winner? He didn't even want to talk about it. He didn't even want to talk about this year. Just a springboard for next year. That sounds fine to me.

SIGNED -- Mark Wotton, Jeff Tambellini, Blake Comeau, Masi Marjamaki, Jason Pitton, Jeremy Colliton, Petteri Nokelainen, Michael Mole, Allan Rourke, Jamie Fraser, Trevor Smith, Frans Nielsen, Sergei Ogorodnikov.
RESTRICTED FREE AGENT -- Drew Fata, Steve Regier
UNRESTRICTED FREE AGENT of one stripe or 'tother -- Rick Berry, Jamie Johnson, Tomas Malec, Ken Magowan, Gregg Johnson, Brandon Nolan, Wade Dubielewicz, Eric Boguniecki, Billy Thompson, Kyle Rank, David Desharnais, Brandon Cullen, Peter Ferraro, Stephen Wood
UNSIGNED DRAFT PICK -- Andrew MacDonald

The initial indication is that they do plan to qualify Fata and Regier. Figure they've got to bring in at least two of those three defense draft picks (MacDonald, Kohn, O'Neill), and there's not a lot of room for defensemen, given the guys who'll be back; bring in one more vet, and there's no room at all.

We'll have a wrap story in Tuesday's paper.

----

Speaking of returning defensemen, the team honored Mark Wotton for his charity and community work before the game, and they introduced E.J. Carfi, a 10-year-old boy from Ridgefield who suffers from Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa. It's a skin disorder where his body lacks a protein that holds the skin together. Apparently they're trying to get ABC's Extreme Makeover to help out, and you can take a look at the online petition at http://www.petitionspot.com/petition/carfi. Here's a Ridgefield Press story about him.

----

Congrats to Phil Giubileo, who's going to the BST full time in sales to go along with the 'casting. And a fond tip of the cap to Andy Hutchison, who's departing as media relations guru after one year.

----

I (stunk) this year. If given the opportunity, I'll be better next year.

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Grand Rapids got into the playoffs because of the shootout (caveat, might not play same way, blah blah blah). The Griffins went 8-5 in the bonus round; drop those eight points, and they would finish with 77 points, trailing both Peoria and Syracuse. Go further back and take out the overtime-loss point (GR collected six), and the Griffins finish with 71 points, still behind the Rivermen (79) and Crunch (75).

But the rules are the rules, and the Griffins nipped Peoria by a point. Providence took third and will face Hartford. Omaha won the West. Rochester claimed home ice. Here are the schedules.

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Darren Haydar finished 41-81-122, which is the eighth-best scoring season in league history and the best since Brad Smyth went 68-58-126 for Carolina in 1995-96. Interestingly, Keith Aucoin and Martin St. Pierre both finished 27-72-99 with 10 PPGs in 65 games.

----

Versus just listed Dallas' playoff record as 1-1-1. Hmm. Excuse me a moment.

----

I've got nothing against orange, per se. Like it on the fly. A little in the trim is nice. For instance, next year's darks for the Sound Tigers -- the new superdeluxe RBK model, like the NHL's wearing -- will be that dark blue with orange trim under the arms. They were on display Sunday.

But the third jerseys, on display Sunday -- and maybe I'm late to the party on this -- will be straight orange.

Hmm. Excuse me a moment.

----

If you remember, bloggin' got a little light around here (or, well, around here) over the summer until you guys badgered me into posting. Expect the same. (Please don't badger too quickly.) We'll see what happens.

The vast majority of the stuff I said last year at this time stands, with the key addition of Mike Pignataro to the list of people -- Gary Rogo, Dave Wells, Bill Paxton -- who gave me space to write. Even as we got squeezed tighter and tighter, it was never a matter of whether to cover it or not, just how much room we'd have. Thanks to them.

And after you've put up with five months of technical difficulties and eight or nine (or more?) months of incoherence, still reading... Thank you.

News, (a hundred-eighty-) five minutes sooner

The team has its breakup meetings after the game today, so I don't know when I'll actually post something postgame. Here's your lineups to tide you over:

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Marjamaki-Ogorodnikov-Nokelainen
Pitton-Smith-Regier
J.Johnson-Desharnais-Nolan
Magowan/Rank
D: Berry (A)-Wotton (C)
Fata-Fraser
Malec-MacDonald

NORFOLK
F: Brouwer-St. Pierre (A)-Parenteau
Nordqvist-Bolland-Low (A)
Bickell-Dowell-Burish
(Koci-scratch)-Berti-Skille
D: Hendry-Byfuglien
Richmond (A)-Rogers
Barker-Domish

Democracy at work: Fake Team Awards II

In yet another very, very scientific ballot (10 votes: hey, one more than last year!).....

Fan Favorite was Wade Dubielewicz in a runaway with seven out of 10 votes. (Boguniecki, Fata and Regier all got one.) Can't say I'm surprised. He evolved into a leader and the face of the franchise over four years. He'll be missed, not that anyone who's been around here isn't thrilled about the reason he'll be missed.

The Seventh Player voting was much more spread out -- interesting; last year, it was the opposite -- but Jason Pitton won a nailbiter, and I'd agree with that one. He got three votes on his own with one split between him and Fata. Regier and Marjamaki got two votes apiece; Fata and Nielsen got one apiece, plus that other half for Fata.

Three Stars, again, is Wade Dubielewicz by most measures. He has the most first-star picks (8), tied Tambellini for most second-star picks (7), beats Tambellini on a 5-3-1 system (63-56) and on a 3-2-1 system (40-37). Tambellini was picked more than Dubielewicz (18-17) but played 10 more games. The only other player in the ballpark is Boguniecki.

Pardon the post that used to immediately precede this. It wasn't supposed to go up yet.

Missing the point

Top Five lost opportunities:

5) WHERE IT BEGAN -- Bridgeport's first really aggravating loss -- not counting Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, which was just a big loss to a better team -- was Oct. 20, when the Sound Tigers went 0-for-10 on the power play and lost in a shootout to Hartford. (1 pt)

4) HAWK-EYED -- Bridgeport took a 3-1 lead Jan. 14 against Providence at home on New Haven Nighthawks day. The Bruins came back and won in a shootout. (1 pt)

3) SLIPPERY SLOPE -- Bridgeport had a nine-point lead, had won eight out of nine... then lost ugly to Philadelphia. Was it the beginning of the end? Kinda. Two nights later, Feb. 23 at Albany, the Sound Tigers blew two leads and lost 4-3. Drew Fata nailed Keith Aucoin after the buzzer. Bridgeport is 7-15-0-2 since. (2 pts)

2) STARTS AND STOPS -- Bridgeport takes a 3-0 lead in the first period Nov. 10 at Philly, then blows it and loses 6-4. (2 pts)

1) HEAVEN AND HELL IN HERSHEY -- Back from 4-2 down, Bridgeport takes a lead with 3:22 to play March 31 on James Sixsmith's second goal -- and then surrenders two goals in 31 seconds. Sure, they come back and beat Albany the next day, but the damage is done. (2 pts)

(Honorable mentions: Nov. 5 vs. Hartford, two goals against in 2:05 and only an own-goal on a delayed penalty; Nov. 15 in the morning vs. Wilkes-Barre, a shootout loss after blowing two leads; March 2 at Wilkes-Barre, finally getting some days off, taking a 3-2 lead before losing 5-3.)

One more

Not a lot of intensity. Not a ton to write home about. Good little performance by the goalie, which at least gave me something to write about. They were of course stoked downstairs to see the end of the Islanders game, because there's at least something going in the organization.

Just 24 hours from now, it'll be over. Norfolk has something to play for, so it could be interesting for a while at least.

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Marjamaki-Ogorodnikov-Nokelainen
Pitton-Smith-Regier
J.Johnson-Desharnais-Nolan
Magowan/Rank
D: Fata-Berry (A)
Fraser-Wotton (C)
Malec-MacDonald

PHILADELPHIA
F: Kane (A)-Cullen (A)-Giroux
Ruzicka-Potulny-Reid
Greentree-Matsumoto-Ross
Zingoni/Cote/(Powe-scratch?)
D: Parent-Slaney (C)
Timonen-Guenin
Printz-Davis

Wasn't looking too closely but didn't notice Cote and thought I saw Powe in warmups.

Here's the Hershey-Albany schedule.

Elmira moved from the UHL to the Coast yesterday.

Peter Ferraro had a goal as Peoria stayed alive with a shootout loss. If the Rivermen win Sunday and Grand Rapids loses in any way, Peoria gets the spot. If Peoria loses in overtime/shootout and Grand Rapids loses to Toronto in regulation, Peoria -- if I have this added right -- gets in on season series, 9-8. But the Griffins still walk in with a win.

So Wilkes-Barre takes second with a win, or an overtime loss and a Norfolk loss -- basically, finish tied or better. Providence just needs a point, gained by the Bruins or lost by Worcester, to take third in the Atlantic; Lowell lost to fall out and clinch a berth for the Sharks and Bruins.

Rochester and Hamilton play for second place in the North; Rochester just has to get it to overtime. Omaha can win the West Division just by getting its game with Chicago to overtime.

None of this has anything to do with the Icebreaker at Thompson International Speedway, which is gonna take up most of my agate time in the near future.

Vs. Phantoms, phantom no more

It's a momentous day.

In warmup here, the 'A' is actually on Rick Berry's sweater for the first time. Really.

Good night

Since the high-water mark, since the injuries started, since the middle of February, the Sound Tigers are 7-15-0-2.

Those hurt quite a bit.

But there was a point late last month where the Sound Tigers beat Portland at home and had their game in hand the next day, and I kinda thought if they won that and went four points up with 11 to play, they had a good shot.

Since that point, they are 2-7-0-1.

That didn't work out.

They haven't scored since Smith deflected in Comeau's shot late in the second at Albany, 145 minutes and 16.4 seconds ago, the team's longest scoreless streak of the liveball era.

That doesn't help.

Sound Tigers have accidentally put two pucks into their own net in the past two games, and that's two more than they've put into the opposition's net.

Look, you miss your top line and a third of your second line for the last three weeks, it's a miracle if it ends well. The Islanders proved miracles happen. The Sound Tigers proved they don't happen often.

"The effort was a lot better than Wilkes-Barre," Capuano said. "No question we played a very good hockey team tonight. The puck support was great. We moved the puck well before we got all those penalties. We had some chances."

Didn't capitalize, and there are two games left. Expect to see the kids a lot.

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: G. Johnson-Ogorodnikov-Regier ('A')
Marjamaki-Smith-Nokelainen
Comeau-Rank-Nolan
Magowan/Pitton
D: Fata-Berry ('A')
Fraser-Wotton (C)
Malec-MacDonald

HARTFORD
F: Jessiman/Helminen
Byers-Dubinsky-Moore
Dawes-Immonen-Bourret
Owens-Korpikoski-Lessard
D: Purinton (A)-Degon
Liffiton-Weller (C)
Lampman (A)-Sanguinetti

Just hope this isn't the last trip here. But how funny would it be if the last trip to Hartford not only eliminated Bridgeport but made it nine in a row over the Sound Tigers?

Eric Boguniecki was behind the bench with Capuano and Marshall, just trying to add a little spark.

The Sound Tigers went 132:04 without scoring during the final three games of last season. That team was hit even harder than this one by recalls and injuries.

Pavel Bourret had two goals and six assists in three games against Bridgeport.

Darren Haydar is the AHL's MVP. You'll hear some cries for Jason LaBarbera, who did a heck of a job in Manchester, where he deserves not to be. But the more I think about it, the more I think the MVP is Keith Aucoin.

Sacred Heart's Pierre-Luc O'Brien signed an ATO with Portland. There was some talk about him coming to Bridgeport when all the other ATOs did.

So Hershey clinched the division and an old-school playoff series against Glens Falls. (Congrats, Albany; you still haven't seen playoff games since 2000.) Wilkes-Barre will play Norfolk but still needs two points to secure home ice.

Hartford clinched second. Worcester and Providence both still need a point to clinch a playoff berth; Lowell still needs to win out in regulation. Portland is stuck in sixth.

Iowa clinched the fourth West Division playoff spot, but Peoria moved to within two points of Grand Rapids in the crossover possibility.

We'll do some looking-back things in the next few days.

"Tell your statistics to shut up"

There are 243 combinations of results for the final five Albany and Bridgeport games.

Only 21 of them -- 8.6 percent -- result in the Bridgeport Sound Tigers making the playoffs.

There's a battle ahead

Optional today at Shelton. So optional that Bernie Cassell was the only coach in the house. So optional that, between Paulie and John, Kimber Auerbach and his two camerawomen, an equipment company rep and me, we outnumbered guys who played Wednesday 7-6. Rank, Smith, Magowan, the Johnsons and Nolan went Thursday, plus Mole, the Black Aces of the moment (Desharnais, Ogorodnikov, MacDonald) and Boguniecki and Nielsen. No definitive word on whether the latter two would go, but the impression is no. Jeremy Colliton was there along with Blake Comeau for treatment; Colliton says he's feeling good.

The public skate followed. Ken Magowan tested out some new skates, and I wondered if he had paid to get on the ice. There's always some lite-poppy stuff playing during the public skate, and the only one that caught my ear today was Sixpence None the Richer's remake of the Crowded House classic "Don't Dream It's Over." I've always felt that song is more ominous than its literal lyrics should make it, especially at a time like this. But that's just me.

Rourke may have been a little more banged up than it appeared Wednesday night. He's being checked out. But I wouldn't bet against him for Friday.

Did not expect to arrive home last night/this morning, flip on the television and find Dallas-Vancouver in a fourth overtime after a 4-4 regulation. But there it was. Watching almost 10 minutes of hockey at 3-something a.m.? Love this time of year.

Insane amount of deer on I-84 last night, by the way. Insane. (Fortunately missed them this time.)

Scrolling through headlines this afternoon, I got my RSS groups mixed up but got an idea. The UHL has a search committee going to find its next commissioner? Two words: Reality Show. "Who Wants to Run the U-Haul?"*

Brett Sterling -- shocker -- is the AHL rookie of the year.

Since the Sound Tigers and River Rats can't end up tied in points and wins and season series anymore, there's only one other place that could happen: the Atlantic. If Worcester loses out in regulation and Lowell wins out in regulation -- including Sunday -- that race would come down to goal differential. I still think that would be an awesomely trippy way to settle a playoff spot.

Have you seen this yet? My brother passed it on: Go to Google Maps, click "get directions" and punch in "New York" and "London." I wonder if you have the same concern I do. (Concerns, actually.)

*-Fill in the punchline.

Closer to farther away

There's controlling your own destiny. (No more of that.) There's a day where you can be eliminated no matter what you do. (Not quite yet.)

And then there's Friday. A loss at Hartford and an Albany win over Binghamton (and does that look more like a gimme than ever, or what?), and the playoff fantasy is over.

Another effort like tonight's, and it could come that quickly.

The start was almost OK. Not good, for sure, but almost enough. If Jeff Deslauriers doesn't stop Brandon Nolan coming off the boards 15 minutes in, maybe it's a different game.

He does. Stone hits the post the other way, James goes untouched through the slot (it's a trend), and it's 1-0.

The penalty kill breaks down again -- moving ahead too quickly on the first one, and Drew Fata can't get back to Stone; no one near Schremp on the second one -- and it's 3-0.

A bum clear, and it's 4-0.

Mixed-up four-on-four coverage, the puck goes in off Gregg Johnson (minus-4), and it's 5-0.

Can't remember how it became 6-0. Seemed like things were wrapped up by then, right?

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: J.Johnson-G. Johnson-Nolan
Comeau-Smith-Regier
Marjamaki-Rank-Nokelainen
Magowan-(MacDonald-scratch)-Pitton
D: Fata-Berry ('A')
Fraser-Wotton (C)
Malec-Rourke (A)

WILKES-BARRE/SCRANTON
F: Nilsson-Schremp-Wallace
Jacques-Pouliot-Brodziak
Stone-Spurgeon-Filewich
James-Dixon-(McLean-scratch)
D: Ratchuk-Skolney (A)
Gilbert-Carkner (A)
Young-DuPont (C)

Rourke, Comeau and Fraser all went off for brief periods with injuries that looked scary at the time, but all came back in short order and looked OK afterward.

Comeau said the misconduct was a product of frustration boiling over and saying something Ryan Fraser didn't like.

Trio of scoring changes came through too late for the stats: Add an assist to Cam McCaffrey (six points in eight games, is all); add two assists to Steve Regier and subtract one from Mark Wotton.

Some stuff I liked that didn't make the Dubielewicz feature:

--He talked about watching Toronto-Montreal on Saturday, how much it was a microcosm of this whole run. "Toronto went up 3-1? 'We're set.' Montreal went up 5-3? 'We're done.' Finally Toronto wins 6-5: It was a roller coaster. It was such an up-and-down, emotional week. And now we've got to start all over again."

--Asked him about all the attention he was getting. "Who doesn't like attention?" he said with a laugh.

--He mentioned the "We know drama" motto of cable's TNT network. "We brought new meaning to the word," Dubielewicz said.

--Asked about Tambellini being the first one off the bench to jump on him Sunday, and he said they've become pretty close the past few weeks in this run. "We're both pretty new to the situation at this level," Dubielewicz said. "We've communicated a lot how incredible the experience has been. It was neat that he was first off the bench."

Syracuse was finally eliminated tonight with Grand Rapids' shootout win over Hamilton; the Bulldogs clinched a finish ahead of the Griffins with the point, though. Peoria's shootout loss hurt; with three games to play, they need to win out and have Iowa lose out in regulation to catch (what would then be the falling) Stars. A slightly better hope is to cross over on Grand Rapids, but the Griffins lead the Rivermen by four points; a tie would go to Peoria, but it's a climb.

Worcester's win means Hartford will still be playing for second place Friday. And that can't be good for Bridgeport. (Another night like this, and it won't matter who they're playing.)

RIP, Warren Strelow

Warren Strelow died last night, the Sharks announced. Among myriad other accomplishments, Strelow was the goaltending coach for the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. Here's USA Hockey's tribute.

Ubi Dubie?

(I've been waiting four years to do that)*

Chatted with North American media star Wade Dubielewicz this afternoon for a little feature for (I think) tomorrow. Sounds like he goes Thursday.

It also appears Brandon Nolan is set to go tomorrow. He skated with both Johnson boys at practice today. Eric Boguniecki and Frans Nielsen skated and are improving and are possibles for the weekend.

Catch "Edward Campbell" on The Price is Right? Funny stuff.

----------

It appears the team again won't give any individual awards outside of the Man of the Year honor to Mark Wotton. So like last year, let's play around and pick 'em ourselves. Here's last year's post setting it up. We'll do the same thing: Put a comment here, or send an email to mfornabaio@ctpost.com, picking one "Seventh Player" (achievement beyond expectations) and one "Fan Favorite." I'll compile up a "Three Stars Award" at some point. Voting is open until I go home Saturday night (around 11 p.m. or so, probably), and please vote only once. (It's only for fun, anyway.)

*-"That's not Latin." (3F17)

Rare Earth?

And the first star, from the New York Islanders... Well, don't have to say more, right? Thursday-Saturday upstate, Monday-Wednesday on the Island. We'll see what happens in the next few days with DiPietro.

So Stephen Wood is going way up north to Alaska* for the playoffs. Boguniecki, Nolan and Nielsen are skating this week; Nolan is the only one who could be back Wednesday to face the Edmonton Oil WBS Pens.

Tape is in on Bayda.

Doubtful a Sound Tiger would be disappointed in this Player of the Week choice. The Hunt goes to Mike Keane; Matt Carkner wins the Dupre Award.

On to the dumb stat of the day: Bridgeport's 7-6 record in shootouts means they've played 13 "ties." (Remember them?) That tops the team record set in 2003-04. This year's team has gone to overtime 19 times, tied with 2002-03 for second-most in the team's six seasons; it won't catch '03-04, which played extra hockey 24 times:

2001-02: 14 (2-4-8)
2002-03: 19 (5-3-11)
2003-04: 24 (8-4-12) (plus five playoffs, 2-3)
2004-05: 17 (7-4; 5-1)
2005-06: 14 (3-6; 2-3)
2006-07: 19 (5-1; 7-6) (through 76 games)

That 2003-04 team was of course a product of insane defense, and its ties were often indicative of its limited scoring. Only one game went OT at 4-4, three went at 3-3, 10 went at 2-2, eight went at 1-1, and two went scoreless (and stayed that way). You notice the tough time the injury-plagued team had when you see that two playoff games went at 4-4 (two at 2-2, one at 1-1).

And my dentist is good. He did a filling just during one half-inning. (Happened to be the bottom of the eighth, but...)

*-Johnny Horton, who as far as I know didn't do coffee.

Miracles happen

What a day for the Islanders organization. The pokecheck we've come to expect got the Islanders into the playoffs. And Hartford... well, you always want to control your own destiny. The Sound Tigers did until Saturday night, and now Jarkko Immonen's hat trick and Bobby Sanguinetti's first two pro apples has given that control back to Bridgeport. Of course, to exercise that control, the Sound Tigers may have to do what Albany couldn't and win in Hartford...

So Bruno probably goes back up. Tambellini no doubt stays, and Dubielewicz remains as long as he's needed.

BTW, I had Hartford's record totally messed up: Manch clinched the division the other night. A point gained by Hartford or lost by Worcester secures second for the Pack. (I think.)

And finally tonight...

...25 degrees in Winsted.

Would someone please tell Mother Nature that it's April 8? Thank you. Good night.

Up and down

Fates turn around so quickly in this game.

Masi Marjamaki scores, and then he thinks he's low, and Boychuk's low, and he drives his shoulder in with speed, and he thinks his feet are still down, and he ends up with a major and a game misconduct after Boychuk's hurt.

Rick Berry can't get the handle on a puck in the corner and Albany scores, and then he blocks two back-door passes on the five-on-three kill to keep Albany from putting even a shot on Billy Thompson on a long five-on-three.

Fata gets booed every time he touches the puck, and then gets touched in a terrifyingly delicate spot. (He was, you probably will expect, not happy at all with Ryan Bayda.)

Bridgeport seems to have momentum into the third, a playoff-type third. It loses in a shootout.

It comes down to this: Albany's magic number is seven, points won by it or lost by Bridgeport (so long as that doesn't include two more OT/SOLs for the Rats than for Bridgeport). The Sound Tigers need a two-point swing to make it, or a few wins and a bunch of Albany SOLs: Go 3-1 to the Rats' 2-2, that's good enough.

"It'd be nice to have another one against them," Thompson said. "Now we've got to rely on them getting beat and us winning."

Berry hasn't lost faith. He's excited about the new guys getting into the system; he says the team's coming together.

Can it be in time?

ACTUAL LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Comeau-Smith-Regier
J.Johnson-Desharnais-G. Johnson
Magowan-Rank-Pitton
Marjamaki/Nokelainen
D: Fata-Berry ('A')
Malec-Wotton (C)
Rourke (A)-Gervais
(Fraser-scratch)

ALBANY
F: Bayda (A)-Aucoin (C)-Willis
McLeod-Dwyer (A)-Blanchard
Angelidis-Petruzalek-MacDonald
(Bouchard-scratch)-DaSilva-Stewart
D: Cumiskey-Boychuk
Babin-Carson
Love-Conboy

So the Islanders are in with a win against Jersey and out with a loss of any kind; Albany's playing Hartford. Folks sneaking away from the table all over the metropolitan area...

TV star Peter Ferraro returned to the Peoria lineup, but the Rivermen got beat 2-0.

Hartford did clinch a finish ahead of Providence. Looks like nothing substantial to be clinched in the Eastern Conference until Tuesday, when Manchester can secure the Atlantic Division with a win over Portland. The Bears could clinch the season series against Wilkes-Barre with a win, but there's no way that can matter anymore.

Long shift?

That was a 2 minute, 16 second shift for Blake Comeau before Trevor Smith deflected his shot in for Smith's first pro goal.

Keep on playing those mind games...

Bridgeport's lines resolved to a much more normal look from the start:

Comeau-Smith-Regier
J.Johnson-Desharnais-G.Johnson
Magowan-Rank-Pitton
Marjamaki/Nokelainen
Fata-Berry
Malec-Wotton
Rourke-Gervais

They're booing Fata when he touches the puck. Has there ever really been a hated Bridgeport Sound Tiger? Seems like it's against the organizational philosophy...

Did I just see Bates Battaglia's name?

Pregame radio

With all the money Mayor Mike has, he could at least buy some engineers for WPRX-AM 1120. North of Waterbury, the salsa signal from Bristol bled all over WNEW WBBR. (Unless it was my car radio, in which case... with all the money Mayor Mike has, he could at least buy me a new car radio.) Regardless, how about Wade Dubielewicz?

Anyway, here's your lineups, (edit: scratch Jamie Fraser and newbie Darick Bouchard, and Nokelainen is in). And given that I saw two cars with BST Booster Club stickers on the way up and met another carload at the rest area on I-90, there might be some juice in the crowd:

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: J. Johnson-Rank-Regier
Marjamaki-Desharnais-Magowan
Comeau-Smith-Pitton
G. Johnson/Nokelainen
D: Berry ('A')-Gervais
Malec-Wotton (C)
(Fraser-scratch)-Rourke (A)
Fata
G: Thompson
Mole

ALBANY
F: Bayda (A)-Aucoin (C)-Willis
McLeod-Dwyer (A)-Blanchard
Angelidis-Petruzalek-MacDonald
(Bouchard-scratch)-DaSilva-Stewart
D: Cumiskey-Boychuk
Babin-Carson
Love-Conboy
G: Weiman
Peters

5YA: April 7, 2002 (alternate timeline)

The story you may be about to read is totally made up, based on one little tweak to history:

What if Hartford had won that last game in 2001-02?

Click here to read the (poorly formatted) rest.

Deeper and deeper

Even before the Bridgeport game started, Albany was outshooting Binghamton 13-4 and outscoring the Sens 2-0. That's the easy Albany schedule we all expected.

It was over, for all intents and purposes, before the Bridgeport second period. It was over, really, in the third... as Bridgeport was giving back a 2-0 lead, then a 3-2 lead.

But they got it done in the bonus round, Jamie Johnson and Allan Rourke scoring on the first two chances. David Krejci -- "obviously that first shooter for them is a pretty good hockey player," Jack Capuano said -- walked around Thompson's pokecheck and slipped the puck in. "I tried to be Dubie with that pokecheck there," Thompson said. "That's not my game. I went back to what works for me."

He stopped or forced wide the next four, and it's on to Albany, still dead even with five to go. The winner -- and like tonight, there has to be a winner -- reaches Easter in fourth place alone.

"Special teams and goaltending down the stretch is going to win hockey games," Capuano said. "It always does. Billy played with confidence, and Molesy did the other night."

How crazy is this race?


LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: G. Johnson-Desharnais-Regier
Comeau-Smith-J. Johnson
Magowan-Rank-Pitton
Marjamaki/Malec
D: Fata-Berry ('A')
Fraser-Wotton (C)
Rourke (A)-Gervais

PROVIDENCE
F: DiCasmirro-Thompson (A)-Downey
Bentivoglio-Krejci-Karsums
Pelletier-Walter-Trevelyan
Packard-Rosa-(Glenn-scratch)
D: Zinger (A)-Dempsey
Lashoff-Curry
Stuart-Leach (C)

Malec played D. He is also too honest: I thought he blocked a wide-open shot early in the game. He said the guy just missed it.

A solid night for Mark Wotton. And I don't mean his goals.

Early deadlines and one edition tonight, so no quotes in print. My deadline was about two minutes before the shootout ended.

So here's one: "They're a good hockey team. Give our guys a lot of credit. That's the way we have to play, really. We have to play with a lot of desperation in our game, a lot of heart and desire."

If you're thinking that lineup thing sounds familiar... The same thing happened to Bridgeport on Nov. 23, 2003, against Binghamton, with Rob Collins' No. 19 circled instead of Mattias Weinhandl's No. 11. "I said before the game, it's one of those games where you've got to really sharpen your focus on the little things," Greg Cronin said. "What do I do? I fill out the lineup card wrong."

It almost happened Feb. 20 this season, but Brandon Nolan noticed that Petteri Nokelainen had been announced as a starter instead of him, and he got off the ice for the opening faceoff. I thought it might have happened in Hartford one trip or another, but if so, Hartford didn't catch on.

Dan Marshall said he wasn't sure what happened there tonight.

Andrew MacDonald was in the house after the game.

Philly's loss and Albany's win eliminated the Phantoms. Despite its loss, Hartford clinched a playoff spot with Lowell's loss. Only one significant clinch possibility I can see for Saturday: Hartford clinches home ice with a win and a Worcester regulation loss. The Wolf Pack can also clinch a finish ahead of Providence with a win of their own, with a Bruins regulation loss, or with a Hartford overtime loss plus a Bruins loss of any sort.

Nice pregame tribute on the video board to Marilyn Goldstone of AMR, who died Tuesday. Goldstone was involved in a lot of charity work, including the Sound Tigers' Teddy Bear Toss.

Around the league: Mike Haviland is coach of the year. Hamden's Jon Quick is going to Manchester on an ATO as southern Connecticut continues to take over the AHL one player at a time.

Adam Rubin points out the cover of today's Philly Daily News in his blog. It shouldn't make me laugh, should it?

Fine story by Gary Smith in Sports Illustrated about Little Rock Central's football team and life at the school as it was integrated 50 years ago. It's online here.

One (more)'s on the way

Andrew MacDonald is on his way to Bridgeport, supposed to arrive tonight. Sounds unlikely to play tomorrow, though. (Moncton bio)

"Have fun"

That was part of the admonition from Jack Capuano this morning. Good advice. This is a heck of a race.

In fact, if this thing goes to the wire like this, with the teams tied in points and wins, it'll be unprecedented.

Only twice in the past 35 seasons has a team been eliminated on so much as the wins tiebreaker. The Beast of New Haven finished its final season 33-35-7-5 in 1998-99; Worcester was 34-36-8-2 to eke out fourth place in the New England Division. Adirondack (32-38-10) beat out Springfield (31-37-12) by a win in 1994-95.

(One asterisk on that: In 2003-04, Hershey knew it had to win its final game to leap a point ahead of Norfolk in points; the Admirals would take the tiebreaker. In overtime, the Bears pulled Phil Sauve, but Shane Willis' bank-in attempt sailed out and off the boards and into his own net. Antero Niittymaki got credit for the goal. Hershey would have been tied in points but lost on wins; instead, losing the OTL point left the Bears a point behind.)

In the league's first 35 seasons, it only happened four times: 1970-71 (Springfield 29-35-8, Quebec 25-31-16); 1962-63 (Baltimore 38-28-11, Quebec 35-30-7); 1948-49 (Cleveland 41-21-6, Pittsburgh 39-19-10); 1940-41 (Pittsburgh 21-29-6, Buffalo 19-27-10).

There have been 21 other races in which a team was eliminated by one or two points.

But none has come down to the season series. Could it happen this time? Heck, consider this: Albany beats Binghamton tomorrow, and Bridgeport loses in regulation to Providence tomorrow and beats Albany in regulation Saturday. The teams would be tied in points, wins and season series with four games to play, and Albany would be in fourth on goal differential.

Appears there's no help yet from the injured list, nor from the draft picks.

AHL announced its All-Star teams. No surprises.

Norfolk's first three home playoff games will be Games 3, 4 and 5*, alternating weekdays April 23-27, regardless of whether the Admirals are the higher seed. The Virginian-Pilot notes that Scope is booked for the first week of the playoffs by the Virginia International Tattoo.

(Favorite tattoos: 3) Michael Scofield's escape blueprint on Prison Break; 2) Bart Simpson's "Moth" tattoo from 7G08; 1) Billy Edd Wheeler's Coal Tattoo from the Kingston Trio's Time to Think.)

*-if necessary

The only thing that went right...

...for Bridgeport... went right four hours away.

The Sound Tigers can thank Jacob Micflikier, Kyle Wanvig, Steve Stirling and the Springfield Falcons for a little, tiny bit of redemption. Micflikier scored the winning goal with 3:19 to play after Albany rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie it.

Or, the Sound Tigers can just be angry at themselves. One of Albany's four gimmes goes the exact opposite way, and they're doing nothing in Philadelphia.

"No intensity on the power play," said Regier. They take 8-8-6 shots by period. OK, Philly maybe gets a bit lucky on its goals, but Bridgeport still wouldn't be winning with no goals.

The lead is a bit about coming in here and not doing anything against a team that they should be able to beat here. There are a lot of places in this season to look back and talk about opportunities and points lost. This could be one of them.

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Comeau-Desharnais-G.Johnson
Marjamaki-Smith-Regier
Magowan-Rank-Pitton
Fraser/J.Johnson
D: Fata-Berry ('A')
Malec-Wotton (C)
Rourke (A)-Gervais

PHILADELPHIA
F: Tolpeko-Cullen (A)-Zingoni
Greentree-Matsumoto-Ross
Powe-Ellison-Meloche
Cabana/Davis
D: Morrison-Slaney (C)
Parent-Timonen
Ruggeri-Printz

Berry wore the Phantom (not Phantoms) 'A' again. Lines changed up some in the third. Fraser was on defense, spotted in for a while and then a bit more regular. Gervais said the ankle felt good afterward.

Zingoni on the top line and on the penalty kill.

Phantoms wore their purple sweaters.

Moncton is out. No word yet on MacDonald.

Brief Tiger Todd Griffith was named to the ECHL's All-Rookie Team on Wednesday.

Manchester clinched home ice for the first round. Hartford cut its magic number to two on Brandon Dubinsky's four-point night.

New old-fashioned way

Amid all the new faces, one delightful old one: Bruno Gervais will play in Philly tomorrow night. He looked good, skated himself hard after practice, and he's raring to go. He'll wear his NHL number, 8. Capuano said they haven't decided on the lineup for tomorrow (including goaltender), but they do expect to go with six defensemen and 11 forwards.

Lots of interest at the stick rack in what Bruno brought along: a couple of RBK 9K (pretty sure) sticks, the pattern of his buddy and junior teammate Patrice Bergeron. The stick has seven small, oval holes near the bottom of the shaft. Sounds like it's very light, and he said he's got great feel for the puck with it. Interesting-looking twig.

Galbraith and Crampton were indeed released back to their ECHL teams, and James Sixsmith was released back to class. Regier stayed here. Boguniecki practiced but is no earlier than a Friday return. No immediate word on Nielsen. Nokelainen said things continue to improve; X-rays were good, but he said it still feels tight.

Bridgeport nominated Mark Wotton for the Yanick Dupre Award as man of the year. (Did I mention the team also put him forward for the Fred T. Hunt Award? Sportsmanship, perseverance, dedication... All those ballots were due Monday, so awards season is upon us...) (Oh, that's what I forgot: Syracuse nominated brief-time Tiger Jeff Szwez for the Dupre Award, and Hartford nominated Darien's own Hugh Jessiman.)

Elsewhere, the Todd Simpson era didn't last long ((edit a day later: fixed the link). Peter Botte of the News gets Mike Richter on Rick DiPietro. Edit: Hartford signed Bobby Sanguinetti to an ATO. And Edit2, 7 p.m. -- Martin Grenier will be suspended from tomorrow's game because of a late instigator over the weekend. And wouldn't it be easier if Jersey coaches' contracts just expired April 1?

Little big man

The Sound Tigers' media notes, I've just noticed, list Michael Mole at 6-foot-10.

That's 12 inches too many, obviously, but that's about how big he played in the first period.

Give Albany any one of those three goals, and the afternoon could have been quite different. Give them two, and the afternoon might have been quite ugly.

And the season would have been over, for all intents and purposes.

Mole gave them time with big saves, huge saves, a missing ingredient some nights. The Magowan-Rank-Pitton line disrupted Aucoin's line and kept up a forecheck of its own, scoring a goal. Desharnais scored on a power play through a Regier screen; Regier scored driving to the net for a Tambellini rebound short-handed.

If this wasn't the biggest regular-season game in this barn, it's second only to that last regular-season game against Hartford in 2002. (More on that, maybe, later this week.) It was crucial. It was huge. It was about 6-foot-10's worth of huge.

And though the Rats still have the easier path, Bridgeport is still on the road.

LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Tambellini (A)-Desharnais-Comeau
G.Johnson-Smith-Regier
Magowan-Rank-Pitton
Sixsmith/J.Johnson
D: Fata-Berry
Fraser-Wotton (C)
Malec-Rourke (A)

ALBANY
F: McLeod-Aucoin (C)-Willis
Murley (A)-Petruzalek-Bayda (A)
Estrada-Angelidis-MacDonald
Dwyer/DaSilva
D: Cumiskey-Carson
Babin-Boychuk
Flood-Conboy
(Love-scratch)

SCRATCHES
F: Laaksonen-Nielsen-Boguniecki
Nolan-Gove-Peat
Marjamaki-Colliton-Nokelainen
McCormick/Ogorodnikov

(Which forward unit would you take?)

Yeah, anyway, Murley-Aucoin-Bayda was the order of the day, and it was mostly Cumiskey-Boychuk, Babin-Carson.

Some quotes that got snipped from the story after it stretched into the 19-inch range: "We've been playing desperate every night," associate coach Jack Capuano said. "I know we lost to Hershey (Saturday) night, but the team deserved to win. The team has been battling hard."

And: "It's nice that the coaching staff had confidence in some of the new guys," Magowan said about getting the Aucoin checking assignment with Rank and Pitton. "To get that responsibility was huge. Where that line goes, that team seems to go."

Newbie Trevor Smith has a two-year deal with the Islanders beginning next seaason.

So Boguniecki and Nielsen are both due for tests Monday that might allow them to return next week. Nokelainen will have X-rays Tuesday that could get him cleared; Nolan could be cleared for next weekend, too. Colliton's surgery went well. Galbraith should be OK to play -- he skated Sunday -- but he and Crampton will both probably return to the Coast.

Mr. Smith comes to Bridgeport

Add one more: Trevor Smith left New Hampshire and is in the lineup today. He's the fourth Smith to play for Bridgeport (Nick, Brandon, Wyatt).

Tambellini and Rourke and Regier are back. Dubielewicz is not... A regular or two will be out.