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Soundin' Off -- the lifeboat

Sunday, April 01, 2007

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.

9 Comments:

  • Wow, huge win! Talk about a gutsy effort all around by the Sound Tigers. Give credit to Mole coming into a playoff caliber game and being lights out in net. In the post game interview Mole said he got a piece on that big open net save in the first, did he actually get a piece of that or was it a total whiff by Albany?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:05 PM  

  • Pretty sure he got it. Though from my angle it looked like it might have even gone wide of the other post.

    By Blogger Fornabaio, at 11:59 PM  

  • what the heck!! my 1st chance in italy to go online and we have a whole new team!! wow!!

    well caio from florence italy and see u on friday night...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:12 PM  

  • Mole got all of it...somehow.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:21 PM  

  • very good game of "Molezy", but something that stood out more to me was Wotton's refusal to shake hands with opposing teams captain at ceremonial puck drops (second time I've seen it happen in a short period) and even worse, that he didn't shook the hand of the authistic girl who dropped the puck...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:33 AM  

  • I can't explain not shaking the captain's hand, but there are many autistic children who strongly object to being touched, so perhaps he was told ahead of time not to shake her hand.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:00 PM  

  • Wotton is as good a guy (personally) as you'll find. He was the only player out on the ice last week for the skate with the Zambonis and he spent the whole time watching his son and talking to the fans. Our first big time captain since Letang.

    By Blogger OneTigerFan, at 12:14 PM  

  • true that there are authistic people who object to being touched, but Aucoin shook her hand, and as to Wotton being a good guy personally, I've no doubt about that, but it's still good sportmanship to shake the hand of your opponent when it's being offered...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:56 PM  

  • The only way anyone on our team would ever shake Aucoin's hand would be if they wiped their a$$ with it first.

    This isn't about Wotton. It's about just how much the guys on our team hate Aucoin.

    By Blogger OneTigerFan, at 2:34 PM  

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