AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Finish Final Four In Five Week

Published on April 11, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


The Sound Tigers played four games in five days for the final time this season last week losing 3-2 at home to the Albany River Rats Wednesday and beating the Philadelphia Phantoms 3-1 on the road Friday before dropping a pair of home games 3-2 to the Lowell Lock Monsters Saturday and 6-2 to the Binghamton Senators Sunday. The Sound Tigers finished last week in sixth place in the East Division with 75 points and a 35-37-4-1 record, including 25-13 at home and 10-24-4-1 on the road.

WED APR 6th vs. ALB, 3-2 L: BARRETT HEISTEN opened the scoring mid-way through the second period, but TUOMAS PIHLMAN answered for Albany 59 seconds later. JOE TALLARI made it 2-1 Sound Tigers early in the third period, but BRIAN GIONTA and AHREN NITTEL scored 28 seconds apart to give the River Rats the win. The Sound Tigers were 0 for 1 on the power play while Albany was 0 for 2 and had a 25-20 shots on goal advantage.

FRI APR 8th at PHI, 3-1 W: The Sound Tigers scored once in each period, outshot Philadelphia 23-20 and were 1 for 6 on the power play and 5 for 5 on the penalty kill with CHRIS CAMPOLI, JUSTIN PAPINEAU and JASON GUERRIERO scoring and WADE DUBIELEWICZ making 19 saves.

SAT APR 9th vs. LOW, 3-2 L: JUSTIN PAPINEAU and CHRIS CAMPOLI scored and WADE DUBIELEWICZ made 29 saves for the Sound Tigers while ERIC STAAL had a goal and two assists, COLIN FORBES and MARK GIORDANO scored once each in the third period and BRENT KRAHN made 31 saves for Lowell who was 1 for 3 on the power play and 5 for 5 on the penalty kill. The Sound Tigers outshot the Lock Monsters 33-32.

SUN APR 10th vs. BIN, 6-2 L: JOE TALLARI and JUSTIN PAPINEAU scored on the power play for the Sound Tigers. JASON SPEZZA, BRANDON BOCHENSKI, PAT KAVANAGH and JOSH LANGFELD scored once, CHRIS KELLY had two assists, ANTOINE VERMETTE scored twice and added an assist and BILLY THOMPSON made 36 saves for Binghamton. DIETER KOCHAN made 13 saves while WADE DUBIELEWICZ stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced in relief for the Sound Tigers who were 2 for 8 on the power play and had 38-30 shots on goal advantage. The Senators were 1 for 5 on the power play and scored a pair of shorthanded goals.

SOUND TIGERS PLAYER OF THE WEEK – RW JOE TALLARI

Tallari scored two goals, had an assist and was a +2 in four games last week. The Thunder Bay, Ontario native, who is on a professional tryout contract, finished last week with points in five of his last six games and with three goals, two assists and five points in nine AHL games this season doing all of his scoring at this level in eight games with Sound Tigers.

THIS WEEK – Three Game Week Marks End Of Fourth Season The Sound Tigers will finish the 2004-05 season, their fourth, with three games this week visiting Albany Wednesday and hosting the Manchester Monarchs Saturday and the Hershey Bears Sunday.

WED APR 13th at ALB, 7 p.m.: This will be the eight and final meeting of the teams this season, the fourth in Albany. The Sound Tigers are 18-8-5 all-time versus Albany, including 4-3 this season with an overtime win, an overtime loss and a loss on the road. The River Rats finished last week in seventh place in the East Division with 69 points and a 28-35-7-6 record, including 14-19-3-2 at home and unbeaten-in-regulation in eight straight games at 7-0-1.

SAT APR 16th vs. MCH, 7:05 p.m.: This will be the fourth and final meeting of the teams this season, the second at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard. The Sound Tigers are 7-5-3 all-time versus Manchester, including 2-1 this season with back-to-back wins and a victory in their only home game of the series. The Sound Tigers rallied from a 3-0 deficit for a 4-3 overtime win on the road in the last meeting on March 19th. The Monarchs finished last week in first place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, and just one game out of first place in the overall standings, with 106 points and a 49-19-4-4 record, including 21-13-1-2 on the road, 7-2-0-1 in the last ten games and on a three-game win streak. Manchester has clinched a playoff spot and will visit the Hartford Wolf Pack Wednesday and host Lowell Friday.

SUN APR 17th vs. HER, 4:05 p.m.: This will be the eighth and final meeting of the teams this season, the fourth in Bridgeport. The Sound Tigers are 7-11-3 all-time versus Hershey, including 3-4 this season with two wins at home. The last two meetings have been decided in overtime with each team winning a home game in that time. The Bears finished last week in fifth place in the East Division with 81 points and a 39-35-2-1 record, including 16-19-1-1 on the road. Hershey was eliminated from the playoff picture with a 3-2 home loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins this past Sunday. The Bears will visit Philadelphia Friday and Binghamton Saturday.

SOUND TIGERS TEAM LEADERS

Goals – ROB COLLINS, 21 Penalty Minutes – ERIC GODARD, 291 Assists – ROB COLLINS, 37 Wins – DIETER KOCHAN, 19 Points – ROB COLLINS, 58 Goals Against Average – DIETER KOCHAN, 2.66 Plus / Minus – CHRIS CAMPOLI, +13 Save Percentage – DIETER KOCHAN, .914

SOUND TIGERS SPECIAL TEAMS; AHL RANK

Power Play – 56 for 380, 14.7%; 19th Shorthanded Goals Against – 11; t-21st

Penalty Kill – 363 for 440, 82.5%; 21st Shorthanded Goal For – 14; 4th

SOUND TIGERS STREAKS

The Sound Tigers are unbeaten-in-regulation in their last three road games at 2-0-1. • C JUSTIN PAPINEAU (GW,DP,PP) is on a three-game goal streak.

CAMPOLI & BELAK EARN AHL HONORS

D CHRIS CAMPOLI was named to the 2004-05 AHL All-Rookie Team last Wednesday. • LW GRAHAM BELAK was named the Sound Tigers' American Specialty / AHL Man of the Year for the second season in a row last Tuesday.

CAMPOLI SETS SOUND TIGERS RECORDS

D CHRIS CAMPOLI now owns the single-season and career records for goals by a Sound Tigers defenseman with 15 in each category. Campoli broke the single-season record, 13 by RAY GIROUX in 2001-02, Friday in Philadelphia and the career mark, 14 by BRANDON SMITH from 2002 through 2004, Saturday at home versus Lowell.

SOUND TIGERS SET ATTENDANCE MARK

With crowds totaling 14,223 last week, the Sound Tigers broke their single-season attendance mark and have drawn over 200,000 fans for the first time. With two home games left, the Sound Tigers have drawn 204,898 fans so far this season.

SOUND TIGERS TRANSACTIONS

LW JEFF HUTCHINS was released from a professional tryout contract last Wednesday. • C/LW TIM SESTITO signed an amateur tryout contract last Saturday, April 2nd. • RW JEFF SZWEZ was released from a PTO last Saturday, April 2nd. • RW JOE TALLARI signed a PTO on March 30th. • C JASON GUERRIERO signed an ATO on March 30th. • RW NATHAN GILLIES signed a PTO while RW JASON SESSA was released from one on March 29th. • D ED CAMPBELL was named the fourth captain in team history on March 15th. • D VINCE MACRI was recalled from the ECHL's Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies on March 15th. • D RICHARD SEELEY was reassigned to the AHL's Norfolk Admirals on March 15th. • F/D DOUG CHRISTIANSEN signed a PTO on March 13th and was released on March 15th. • RW JOHN MORLANG was re-signed to a PTO on March 4th.

SOUND TIGERS COMMUNITY CALENDAR & PROMOTIONAL NEWS

GRAHAM BELAK will visit a Boy Scout Meeting in Seymour tonight at 6 p.m. • Everyone who attends this Saturday's home game versus the Manchester Monarchs can sign up for a chance to "shoot to win" a car courtesy of Stamford Volvo. • This Sunday will be "Fan Appreciation Day" at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard.

SOUND TIGERS ON THE AIR

All Sound Tigers games are web-cast live at www.soundtigers.com.

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

The Sound Tigers will practice at the Rinks at Shelton this Tuesday and Wednesday at 10 a.m. and at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard Thursday through Saturday at 10 a.m. Call 203-334- GOAL to confirm practice times and locations.

Check out the Bridgeport Islanders Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from April 11, 2005


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