AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Lose Heartbreaker In Hartford

January 12, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


HARTFORD, CT - The American Hockey League's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, top affiliate of the National Hockey League's New York Islanders, lost 3-2 in the shootout on the road to the Hartford Wolf Pack Wednesday. The loss was the first-ever in the shootout for the Sound Tigers who are now 1-1 in that extra session.

Hartford opened the scoring when Alexandre Giroux redirected a Ken Gernander shot for his team-leading 17th goal of the season 8:07 into the game with Layne Ulmer also assisting on the play. The goal was scored with 18 seconds left in a major penalty to the Sound Tigers Bruno Gervais while.

The assist was Gernander's 344th point with the Wolf Pack moving him into first place on the team's all-time scoring list.

The Sound Tigers tied the game with a power-play goal and took the lead while shorthanded as two players scored for the first time with the team. John Morlang notched the first goal of his AHL career on the back end of a double minor to Hartford's Jamie Lundmark at the 13:20 mark off assists from Sean Bergenheim and Keith Aldridge to make it 1-1, and Brendan Yarema scored his first of the season, his third point in as many games since signing with the Sound Tigers, off assists from Ryan Kraft and Jody Robinson with 2:05 left in the first period to make it 2-1.

After a scoreless middle frame, the Sound Tigers had a great chance to put the game away with a major power play early in the third period, but could not score. In fact, they took a penalty to negate two minutes of the advantage and went shorthanded just four seconds after the major expired. And, it was on that power play the Wolf Pack tied the game at 2-2.

Dominic Moore tapped home the rebound of a shot by former Sound Tiger Jeff Hamilton for his tenth goal of the season with Lawrence Nycholat also assisting on the equalizer with 8:47 left in regulation.

After a scoreless overtime, the teams proceeded to the shootout where the Sound Tigers again had the early advantage on goals by Rob Collins and Matt Koalska combined with two stops by Wade Dubielewicz. However, Hamilton tied the shootout in the fourth round, and Hartford goaltender Jason LaBarbera denied Barrett Heisten, which set the stage for Chad Wiseman to score the winning goal. Ryan Kraft and Kevin Colley also missed in the shootout for the Sound Tigers while Giroux and Moore were stopped for the Wolf Pack.

Gernander was the first star of the game, Dubielewicz the second with a team-season-high 42 saves, and Moore the third. LaBarbera made 22 saves to improve his unbeaten streak to 14 games. Hartford was 2 for 7 on the power play and had a 45-24 shots on goal advantage. The Sound Tigers were 1 for 8 on the power play.

The Sound Tigers will finish a stretch of seven straight road games by playing three in three days this weekend. They will visit the Providence Bruins Friday at 7:05 p.m., Hartford again Saturday at 7:35 p.m. and the Lowell Lock Monsters Sunday at 4 p.m. All Sound Tigers games are web cast live at www.soundtigers.com. Most games, including those this Friday and Sunday, are also broadcast live on 600 WICC-AM.

The Sound Tigers' next home game at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard will be Friday, January 21st when they host the Albany River Rats at 7:35 p.m. Information regarding Sound Tigers ticket packages and sponsorship opportunities is 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.

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American Hockey League Stories from January 12, 2005


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