AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Hold Off Hartford 3-1

December 24, 2002 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


BRIDGEPORT, CT – The American Hockey League's 2001-02 Regular Season Champion and Eastern Conference Playoff Champion Bridgeport Sound Tigers, top affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, played their final home game of 2002 Monday with a 3-1 victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack before a crowd of 5,293. Jeff Hamilton and Brandon Smith had two assists apiece, and Matt Higgins scored his third goal in two games which turned out to be the game-winning tally. The Sound Tigers have won two straight home games and are unbeaten in their last three games overall at 2-0-1.

Bridgeport jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period on Blaine Down's fourth goal of the season at 2:45 on assists from Hamilton and Kevin Mitchell. Bridgeport allowed their least shots on goal against in a period this season, holding Hartford to only one in the opening stanza.

Higgins scored his tenth goal of the season, on the power play, to put the Sound Tigers up 2-0 at 10:07 of the second period on assists from Hamilton and Smith.

Ted Donato got Hartford on the board, on just their eight shot of the game, closing the gap to 2-1 with his sixth goal of the season with just :32 remaining in the middle period. Dixon Ward was credited with the lone assist while the teams were playing on at four-on-four strength.

Trent Hunter put the game away for the Sound Tigers with his team-leading 15th goal of the season, an empty netter, assisted by Justin Mapletoft and Smith with 5.1 seconds left to play.

The Sound Tigers were 1 for 6 on the power play, 8 for 8 on the penalty kill and outshot Hartford 37-20. Jeff Hamilton was named number one star, Matt Higgins number two star, and Blaine Down was the number three star of the game.

The Sound Tigers will travel to Winnipeg to face the Manitoba Moose Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and again on New Year's Eve at 5:00 p.m. They will host the Hershey Bears on Friday, January 3rd at 7:35 p.m. and the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday, January 4th at 7:05 p.m. during "Pride in America Weekend". All games are broadcast live on "The ZONE" FOX Sports Radio 1300 and at www.soundtigers.com. WSTC/WNLK 1400/1350 also carries road games.

Sound Tigers 2002-03 tickets are on sale at the Arena at Harbor Yard box office, on-line at www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 203-368-1000. Information regarding Sound Tigers flex packs, group discounts, birthday packages and season ticket packages is also available by calling 203-334-GOAL or logging on to www.soundtigers.com. Groups, organizations, companies, etc. that are interested in having a member of the Sound Tigers appear at an event are invited to call 203-334-GOAL or log on to www.soundtigers.com as well.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 24, 2002


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