Soundin' Off, Movin' Out

Who needs a house out in Hackensack? (Though the shopping's good.)

The original Soundin' Off appears to be back in working order. And best of all, I don't have access to the templates. If I was doing something to mess it up, it won't get messed up again.

Thanks much to ace online editor Jeff Bustraan for putting the pieces back together again amid a busy schedule of his own.

If you have any problems with the new blog, or if you at some point need something off the Lifeboat and can't find it (not planning, at this time, to index the posts since February, the way I did in winter), please e-mail me at mfornabaio@ctpost.com and I'll get on it.

Thanks as always for your patience. The Lifeboat is stowed... again.

Trying to return home...

Back from a few days away with the little brother and the folks...

The release is out: former Nighthawk Chris Kotsopoulos will be the Sound Tigers' color analyst this year. A radio deal appears to be coming soon.

Former Sound Tiger Wyatt Smith and former future Sound Tiger Wes O'Neill signed with Colorado. Former Sound Tiger Brandon Nolan had trouble at the border.

An anonymous commenter points here to a possible Gordie Dwyer tryout with the Islanders. No confirmation on that; as one Isles person said, "I'm not sure we'd have room." Commenter also asked about the toughness that's been added. Bootland scored 27 two years ago while spending six and a half* of his 77 games in the penalty box. Jackman scored 23 a few years ago with Syracuse, and his 19 last year would have tied him with Regier for fourth on the Sound Tigers. Spiller has played in the NHL, though he hasn't stuck there. They're counting on these guys to be productive, not just protective.

As to whether the toughness makeover will pay off? It's the AHL. You always need more scoring and fewer injuries. The one thing for sure: It'll be interesting around here. Maybe especially against Hartford again.

*--OK, he didn't serve them all, surely, but...

Moving north/south/up

(This thing didn't post? Oh well -- some updates, anyway)

The Islanders add Josef Vasicek, which should finish things for them, barring a trade. It could well push Frans Nielsen to here full-time until injuries.

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Greg Ireland lands on his feet with the Stampede Rampage.

 

TEAM	Old	New
HOU	Rob Daum (4/18)	Kevin Constantine (5/29)
BPT	Dan Marshall (4/30)	Jack Capuano (4/30)
BIN	Dave Cameron (St. Mike's 5/1)	Cory Clouston (7/19)
PHI	Kjell Samuelsson (6/6)	Craig Berube (6/6)
GR	Greg Ireland (6/15)	Mike Stothers (7/18)
MIL	Claude Noel (Columbus 6/28)	Lane Lambert (7/11)
SA	Pat Conacher (<7/18)	Greg Ireland (8/14)
HFD	Jim Schoenfeld (7/23)	Ken Gernander (7/23)
SPR	Steve Stirling-s	Geoff Ward (5/15)
SPR	Geoff Ward (8/1)	Kelly Buchberger (8/3)
NOR	Mike Haviland-n	Steve Stirling-s
RCK	---	Mike Haviland-n
CLE	---	Joe Sacco (5/7)

n-from Norfolk to Rockford with Chicago's affiliation; s-from Springfield to Norfolk with Tampa Bay's affiliation

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RIP, Scooter, a guy I appreciated more when I got older. May there be a cannoli waiting on the other side of the bridge...

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And if you're on all the RSS feeds, you may have noticed something different. Will probably give it a dry run the next few days and "relaunch," if you will, next week... And hopefully for good.

Extra exhibition...

...and like last year at Glens Falls, I guess we won't be there to see it. Bridgeport at Lowell, Sept. 29, 5:05 p.m., on opposite Devils vs. Islanders at Harbor Yard.

l'Italia chiamò

Eurohockey.net notes that Matt Koalska has signed with Bolzano in far-northern Italy. Obligatory fun with Babelfish: He may be playing soccer, because "'our trainer Doug McKay heads at this player', has asserted the president of the HCB Dieter Knoll."

Look who's back

Ottawa signs Justin Mapletoft.

Around the league, sort of

Out of curiosity...

Team	3-in-3	BTB	Standalone
ALB	8	16	24
BIN	9	17	19
BPT	11	10	27
CHI	11	11	25
CLE	6	21	20
GR	6	18	26
HAM	8	17	22
HFD	14	11	16
HER	13	10	21
HOU	8	13	30
IOW	5	20	25
LOW	10	13	24
MCR	10	18	14
MTB	6	26	10
MIL	9	12	29
NOR	7	19	21
PEO	12	13	18
PHI	16	6	20
POR	11	16	15
PRO	15	9	17
QC	5	17	31
ROC	14	11	16
RCK	10	15	20
SA	9	10	33
SPR	10	18	14
SYR	6	21	20
TOR	8	17	22
WBS	6	20	22
WOR	10	15	20

BTW, Jason at the League Office confirms that Dec. 23 is now a mandated off-day, joining Dec. 24 and 25.

Corrections are appreciated, if you notice something. This was compiled rather late at night.

Closing early

Something that just caught my eye as I sorted for season series... The eighth and final game against Norfolk is Feb. 20; the last Albany game is Feb. 24. That's two out of six division rivalries that will be over and done with seven weeks -- and 22 games -- remaining in the season. Binghamton doesn't end much later, March 12. If Bridgeport needs to make hay against any of those teams, it'd better do it early. (Or it'd better hope it can beat Wilkes-Barre an awful lot in 10 weeks*.)

This will be the earliest a division-rival season series will end, by better than two weeks. In fact, those three series this season will actually end before** the previous record-holder. In 2005-06, Bridgeport played its final Norfolk game on March 11 with a season that ended April 16, comparable to this year's April 13. (The Sound Tigers only had one game with Wilkes-Barre after Feb. 12 that year, but it was April 14.)

*-Opponents after that final Albany game: WBS 5, HFD 3, PHI 3, BIN 2, LOW 2, POR 2, WOR 2, HER 2, MCR 1.
**-"Before," in the Binghamton case, in terms of days-left-in-season, if not by the calendar.

Schedule out

Random thoughts on the schedule, which at first glance feels a lot better than last year's for wear and tear:

--Two in-and-out trips to Norfolk? Have fun.

--Sundays are at 4 p.m. exclusively because teams wouldn't agree to the 1 p.m. start (and by league rules didn't have to agree).

--Nov. 11 vs. Hershey. Nov. 17 at Hershey. Nov. 21 at Hershey. Gah. (At least Hershey plays games in between. I wanna stay out there Nov. 18-20. Gettysburg, maybe... We'll find stuff to do.)

--March 19 at Worcester. March 21 at Worcester. That'll be an interesting one. Do you stay, or do you go home? It's only two hours, so probably home, but...

--April 12 at Hartford, April 13 vs. Hartford to finish. Just like old times.

--Jan. 16 at Norfolk, Jan. 18 at Philly, Jan. 19 at Albany, Jan. 21 at Portland. That ties for the longest road trip of the season in games. It'll be a tough one in mileage.

--April 2 at Manchester: It's the only trip there, but it caught my eye for a different reason. Bridgeport played there April 2, 2004, too. It was on the road to that game that I got calls confirming two things: The team was off the radio, and the team was getting sued. Not a happy day, so it's weird to see "April 2 at Manchester" again.

--Oct. 20 vs. WBS - and then Bridgeport doesn't see the Penguins again until Feb. 1. And then they see each other seven times after that. (It's seven out of 34 for Bridgeport, seven out of 36 for WBS.)

--One of those seven games is Feb. 29 at Wachovia Arena, Bridgeport's first leap-day game.

--Jan. 12 vs. Springfield, the only trip in: about a quarter of the Falcons could be former Sound Tigers.

--Only ("only") 11 three-in-threes, the fewest in three seasons. There are another 10 sets of back-to-back games. There are stretches with a lot of games packed into not many more days, but there are at least days off in there; that's something that hasn't always been the case in past years.

(Oh, let's not waste a chance for a table:)

Year	3-in-3s	BTBs
2001-02	10	15
2002-03	11	13
2003-04	11	17
2004-05	9	16
2005-06	13	10
2006-07	14	9
2007-08	11	10

("BTB": Two games in two nights with a day off on both sides)

--February 2008 includes three more days off than February 2007. March isn't as vicious, either; there's even a full weekend off, March 22-23.

Get planning...

Bonvie: This is it

Dennis Bonvie says this is his last season.

As opposed to... ooh, lunch!

This press release is one of the reasons I so love both the English language and its print conventions. It all makes perfect sense and gets across what it needs to get across... but if you go playing around, there are at least a couple of jokes to be made. Love it. It's like how, a couple of years ago, a team put out a release saying that a press conference would be open to "credentialed members of the media and the general public." It's true, but it's funnier if you group the nouns differently...

This is what happens to me when I'm supposed to be writing about football.

Anyway, the AHL schedule is due out at 11 a.m. Tuesday.

Where's Joe Ferras?

A: Rapid City, S.D.

And RIP, Tommy Makem.

Horrors, and diversion

Much love to the Twin Cities, hopes that all our friends and family and friends of friends are OK, and that those who aren't find peace... Pioneer Press and Star Tribune to keep up.

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On a much brighter note, Geoff Ward followed his old boss (and co-award winner) to Beantown, so the Falcons get former Oiler Kelly Buchberger as their new head coach.

(Hmm... what to do with...)
 

TEAM	Old	New
HOU	Rob Daum (4/18)	Kevin Constantine (5/29)
BPT	Dan Marshall (4/30)	Jack Capuano (4/30)
BIN	Dave Cameron (St. Mike's 5/1)	Cory Clouston (7/19)
PHI	Kjell Samuelsson (6/6)	Craig Berube (6/6)
GR	Greg Ireland (6/15)	Mike Stothers (7/18)
MIL	Claude Noel (Columbus 6/28)	Lane Lambert (7/11)
SA	Pat Conacher (<7/18)
HFD	Jim Schoenfeld (7/23)	Ken Gernander (7/23)
SPR	Steve Stirling-s	Geoff Ward (5/15)
SPR	Geoff Ward (8/1)	Kelly Buchberger (8/3)
NOR	Mike Haviland-n	Steve Stirling-s
RCK	---	Mike Haviland-n
CLE	---	Joe Sacco (5/7)

n-from Norfolk to Rockford with Chicago's affiliation; s-from Springfield to Norfolk with Tampa Bay's affiliation