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Soundin' Off -- the lifeboat

Monday, April 16, 2007

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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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.

10 Comments:

  • Thanks for all great coverage this season.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:54 AM  

  • Mike,

    Thanks for all of your hard work this season. I, like so many others, have thoroughly enjoyed reading your articles in the paper and your blogs. Don't ever think you are underappreciated, because you truly are appreciated. Just can't believe our season is over. At least we still have the Islanders and of course, now I can concentrate on the Mets.

    Good luck over the summer and hope to see some summer blogging.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:36 AM  

  • Mike, I just want to thank you for a great season and it was a pleasure working with you this year.

    I wish I could've been at the final home game but I was recently called up to cover the Devils playoffs. :-) You made my first full season an enjoyable one so for that, thank you!

    Hope to see you next season!

    By Blogger Tom Liodice, at 10:37 AM  

  • Mike, thank you very much for everything, I have enjoyed your articles in the paper and this blog. It's going to be a long "in between periods" for this fan.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:40 PM  

  • Mike,

    Thank you for being an awesome resource for me during my first season with the Sound Tigers.

    The last couple of hockey teams I broadcast for, I was the original announcer for a startup club, so it's a lot different, and actually a lot easier, being around from day one.

    You were certainly very helpful, both in your columns, and in person, for helping me get adjusted! I already can't wait for next season!

    BTW, if any of you need a ticket package for next season (if you don't have one at all--not if you're renewing), give me a call at the Sound Tigers office (yes, a shameless sales plug). I should be able to let you sit in the radio booth with me for a period next season!!!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:01 PM  

  • is jessie joensuu coming over from sweden for next year? The isles brought masi & ogorodnikov over when they were 20, but will they do the same with him?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:02 PM  

  • Joensuu doesn't turn 20 until October and his numbers were ok this season, but not so great that they'll feel like they need to bring him here. I'm betting he's another season away.

    By Blogger OneTigerFan, at 5:06 PM  

  • joensuu this year: 9 goals, 17 assists, 26 points, 52 games played

    ogorodnikov during his last year in russia: 0 goals, 2 assists, 3 points, 17 games played

    Personally, I believe joensuu will come over when he turns 20. His birthday is october 5th, so that means he makes our season opener by about a week. If they do, though, where will he fit in or is it straight down to Florida?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:59 PM  

  • Thanks for all the job you done this and previous seasons covering BST..
    heads up to all:
    on the jerseys:
    think there's only going to be 2 jerseys/team next season (NHL is doing that)..
    on Joensuu:
    he plays in Finland, not Sweden..

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:03 AM  

  • Thanks, all.

    Phil, bill's in the mail for that ad. :-)

    Tom, congrats on the call up. I hope your paycheck got a concurrent boost...

    Anon, haven't heard anything one way or the other on Joensuu. But one note: Marjamaki had been playing in the WHL for three seasons.

    Other anon: I'd heard the same thing about only two jerseys -- specifically, actually, about the NHL -- but someone in the know told me the orange one was indeed a third jersey, that there's another regular home one in addition to the blue one.

    By Blogger Fornabaio, at 6:22 PM  

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