AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers end home-stand and 2004, begin seven-game road stretch

January 3, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


The Sound Tigers ended a four-game, holiday home-stand and began a season-high stretch of seven straight road games by going 0-2 last week with a 3-2 home loss to the Portland Pirates Tuesday and a 5-1 road loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Friday. With Tuesday's loss, the Sound Tigers ended the four-game holiday home-stand with a 1-3 record. The Sound Tigers finished last week in sixth place in the East Division with 31 points and a 15-16-1 record, including 13-5 at home and 2-11-1 on the road.

TUE DEC 28th vs. POR, 3-2 L: KEVIN COLLEY opened the scoring, on the power play, 9:49 into the game and assisted on ERIC GODARD'S second-period goal, which gave the Sound Tigers a 2-1 lead. However, BRIAN WILLSIE tied the game at 2-2 for Portland in the second period, and CHRIS HAJT scored the game-winner in the third period for the Pirates. DIETER KOCHAN made 17 saves in a losing effort. The Sound Tigers were 1 for 7 on the power play while the Pirates were 1 for 5. The Sound Tigers lost despite outshooting the Portland 29-20, allowing just two shots in the first period, which tied their 2004-05 mark for fewest shots allowed in a single period.

FRI DEC 31st at WIL, 5-1 L: Skating two men short with eight regulars out with injuries and a ninth with the flu, the Sound Tigers tied the game at 1-1 7:57 into the second period on STEVE REGIER'S third goal of the season. MICHEL OUELLET had a hat-trick for Wilkes-Barre, including a pair of third-period goals, and MATT MURLEY had a goal and an assist, including the game-winning tally, for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Sound Tigers were 0 for 4 on the power play, 3 for 4 on the penalty kill and were outshot 32-23.

SOUND TIGERS PLAYER OF THE WEEK – RW JOHN MORLANG Morlang was +1 in the Sound Tigers' two losses last week. The Coquitlam, British Columbia native, who attended training camp with the Sound Tigers but began the season with the United Hockey League's Danbury Trashers, posted his first AHL point with an assist versus Hartford on December 26th. Morlang has one assist and two penalty minutes and is a +2 in eight games this season with the Sound Tigers this season.

THIS WEEK – 2005 begins as road stretch continues in Norfolk The Sound Tigers will begin 2005 with a pair of games this week in Virginia against the division-rival Norfolk Admirals on Friday and Saturday night. These games will be the second and third of seven straight games from Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard. The Sound Tigers' next home game will be on Friday, January 21st.

SUN JAN 7th at NOR, 7:30 p.m.: This will be the third of eight meetings of the teams this season, the first of four in Norfolk. The Sound Tigers are 5-7 all-time versus the Admirals, including 1-1 this season with a 3-2 home win on November 13th in which they scored three third-period goals to rally from a 2-0 deficit. Norfolk finished last week in fourth place in the East Division with 40 points and a record of 18-15-1-3, including 9-4 at home where the Admirals are in the midst of a six-game home-stand with a record of 1-1 so far.

SAT JAN 8th at NOR, 7:30 p.m.: This will be the second of back-to-back road games against Norfolk. It will also be the Sound Tigers' third of seven straight games on the road, as well as the Admirals' fourth of six straight at home. The Sound Tigers play this season's four games in Norfolk in a pair of two-game visits, returning on March 30th and April 1st.

SOUND TIGERS TICKETS

The Sound Tigers do not play at home again until Friday, January 21st when they will host the Albany River Rats at 7:35 p.m. They will also host the Philadelphia Phantoms Saturday, January 29th at 7:05 p.m. and the Hartford Wolf Pack Sunday, January 30th at 4:05 p.m. • Sound Tigers individual-game tickets can be purchased at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard box office at 600 Main Street, which is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. The box office also opens at 10 a.m. on weekend game days and remains open until one hour after the start of all events. Individual-game tickets can also be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at 203-368-1000 and on-line at www.ticketmaster.com.

SOUND TIGERS TEAM LEADERS


Goals – ROB COLLINS, 10 Penalty Minutes – ERIC GODARD, 130
Assists – ROB COLLINS, 12 Wins – WADE DUBIELEWICZ, 9
Points – ROB COLLINS, 22 Goals Against Average – WADE DUBIELEWICZ, 2.42
Plus / Minus – ROB COLLINS, +6 Save Percentage – WADE DUBIELEWICZ, .915

SOUND TIGERS SPECIAL TEAMS; AHL RANK
Power Play – 21 for 156, 13.5%; 22nd Shorthanded Goals Against – 1; t-1st

Penalty Kill – 163 for 199, 81.9%; t-21st Shorthanded Goal For – 3; t-15th

SOUND TIGERS TRANSACTIONS

The Sound Tigers plan to sign C BRENDAN YAREMA to a professional tryout contract as soon as he arrives in Bridgeport. • C MIKE BAYRACK, RW JOHN MORLANG, C BRETT NOWAK and C DEREK EDWARDSON were released from their PTOs Sunday. Bayrack and Morlang returned to the United Hockey League's Danbury Trashers while Edwardson and Nowak returned to the ECHL's Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies. Edwardson had signed his PTO just last Tuesday. • D VINCE MACRI, who is on an NHL contract with the Islanders, was reassigned to Atlantic City Sunday.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR & PROMOTIONAL NEWS

KEVIN COLLEY is scheduled to read to students at Orange Avenue Classroom in Milford this Wednesday, January 4th. • The team mascot STORM is slated to visit Wilcoxson School in Stratford for Town Bingo Night this Friday, January 7th at 6 p.m. • STORM is also scheduled visit Osbourne Hill Elementary School in Fairfield next Monday, January 10th. • RYAN CALDWELL will serve as a celebrity reader at Side By Side Community School in Norwalk next Tuesday, January 11th. • Immediately following the Sunday, January 30th game versus the Hartford Wolf Pack, the Sound Tigers will present a "CVS Pharmacy All-Star Hockey Game" to benefit the Children's Glaucoma Fund. JIM CRAIG, KEN MORROW, BRAD PARK and KEN HODGE are scheduled to play in the benefit game. All fans with a ticket to the Sound Tigers – Wolf Pack game will be admitted to the celebrity game on January 30th. • Sound Tigers individual-game tickets for the second half of the 2004-05 season can be purchased in-person at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard box office, by calling Ticketmaster at 203-368-1000 and on-line at www.ticketmaster.com. • The new-and-improved Sound Tigers on-line Team Shop is now open at www.soundtigerstore.com. The Sound Tigers on-line Team Shop features jerseys, hats, apparel, souvenirs, a special kids section and more. • The Port Jefferson Ferry offers special all-inclusive packages and round-trip fares for Long Island fans who will be attending games in Bridgeport. On all Friday and Saturdays that the Sound Tigers play at home, the last ferry will also wait until 10 p.m. or a half-hour after the end of the game, whichever is later, to depart for Long Island. Additional information is available by calling 631-473-5138 or logging on to www.bpjferry.com.

SOUND TIGERS ON AIR

Both of this week's games will be broadcast live on 600 WICC-AM and at www.soundtigers.com. Both broadcasts will begin at 7:15 p.m. Fans can click on the "Ask The Broadcaster" link on the front page of www.soundtigers.com and email questions and comments to Voice of the Sound Tigers BILL McLAUGHLIN who will respond live on the air.

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

The Sound Tigers will practice at the Rinks at Shelton this Tuesday through Thursday at 10 a.m. The team will depart for this weekend's games in Norfolk Thursday at noon. With the exception of their three home games on the 21st, 29th and 30th, the Sound Tigers will practice in Shelton throughout the month of January. Please call 203-334-GOAL to confirm specific practice dates and times or with any special media requests.

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