Sound Tigers Open Season With Weekend Home Sweep
October 18, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release
The Sound Tigers opened the season on home ice for the first time in team history winning their home opener for the first time. In fact, they swept a pair of weekend home games beating the Albany River Rats 4-1 Saturday and the Philadelphia Phantoms 4-2 Sunday to finish the first week of the season in a tie for first place in the East Division and Eastern Conference with four points and a 2-0 record.
SAT OCT 16th vs. ALB, 4-1 W: RYAN KRAFT notched a goal and two assists; JUSTIN MAPLETOFT had three assists; JUSTIN PAPINEAU, JIM CAMPBELL and BRUNO GERVAIS scored once each; and WADE DUBIELEWICZ made 23 saves for the Sound Tigers who were 3 for 6 on the power play and 10 for 10 on the penalty kill. Albany had a 24-23 shots on goal advantage.
SUN OCT 17th vs. PHI, 4:05 p.m.: The Sound Tigers and Philadelphia combined to score six different ways. RYAN KRAFT opened the scoring with an unassisted, shorthanded, delayed-penalty goal, JUSTIN PAPINEAU scored a four-on-four goal, BARRETT HEISTEN converted a penalty shot, and ERIC GODARD added an empty netter for the Sound Tigers. Heisten's penalty-shot goal was the team's first since Papineau scored in his Bridgeport debut on March 15, 2003. MARK MURPHY, even strength, and PATRICK SHARP, five-on-three, scored for the Phantoms. DIETER KOCHAN made 34 saves as Philadelphia had a 36-25 shots on goal advantage. The Sound Tigers were 0 for 7 on the power play while the Phantoms were 1 for 7.
SOUND TIGERS PLAYER OF THE WEEK â C RYAN KRAFT The team's only returning captain and top-returning scorer posted two first goals (one on the power play and one shorthanded), two assists, four points and four penalty minutes and was a +2 in the first two games of the season. Kraft was also the first star of the game on both Saturday and Sunday.
THIS WEEK â Sound Tigers To Play Four Games In Five Days
The Sound Tigers will play four games in five days hosting Albany Wednesday and visiting the River Rats Friday then hosting the Hartford Wolf Pack Saturday and the Binghamton Senators Sunday.
WED. OCT 20th vs. ALB, 7:05 p.m.: This will be the second of eight meetings of the teams this season, the second of four at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard. The Sound Tigers are 15-5-5 all-time, including 1-0 this season, versus the River Rats who finished last week tied with Binghamton for third place in the East Division with two points and a 1-1 record, including 0-1 on the road.
FRI OCT. 22nd at ALB, 7 p.m.: This will be the third of eight meetings of the teams this season, the first of four in Albany. The River Rats are 1-0 at home this season on the heels of an impressive 6-2 win over Binghamton last Friday. The Sound Tigers were 1-2-1 on the road versus Albany last season, including a 2-1 loss on January 22nd at the Continental Airlines Arena, which is the home of the River Rats' NHL affiliate, the New Jersey Devils.
SAT OCT 23rd vs. HAR, 7:05 p.m.: This will be the first of ten meetings of the teams this season, the first of five at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard. The Sound Tigers are 17-10-3 all-time versus Hartford, including 5-3-2 with one overtime loss last season. The Wolf Pack finished last week tied with the Worcester IceCats and Springfield Falcons for fifth place in the Atlantic Division with two points and a 1-0 record. Hartford will host Worcester this Friday before heading to Bridgeport for its first road game of the season Saturday.
SUN OCT 24th vs. BIN, 4:05 p.m.: This will be the first of eight meetings of the teams this season, the first of four at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard. The Sound Tigers are 6-7-1 all-time versus Binghamton, including 3-5 last season. The Senators finished last week tied with Albany for third place in the East Division with two points and a 1-1 record, including 0-1 on the road. Binghamton will host the Hershey Bears this Friday and the Hamilton Bulldogs this Saturday.
SOUND TIGERS TEAM LEADERS
Goals â RYAN KRAFT & JUSTIN PAPINEAU, 2 Penalty Minutes â RICHARD SEELEY, 12 Assists â JUSTIN MAPLETOFT, 4 Wins â WADE DUBIELEWICZ & DIETER KOCHAN, 1 Points â RYAN KRAFT & JUSTIN MAPLETOFT, 4 Goals Against Average â WADE DUBIELEWICZ, 1.00 Plus / Minus â Several, +2 Save Percentage â WADE DUBIELEWICZ, .958
SOUND TIGERS SPECIAL TEAMS; AHL RANK Power Play â 3 for 13, 23.1%; t-8th Shorthanded Goals Against â 0
Penalty Kill â 16 for 17, 94.1%; 8th Shorthanded Goal For â 0
SOUND TIGERS STREAKS
C RYAN KRAFT (2g,2a) is on a two-game goal and point streak, including a power-play first goal and an unassisted, shorthanded, delayed-penalty first goal. ⢠C JUSTIN PAPINEAU (2g) is on a two-game goal streak. ⢠RW JIM CAMPBELL (1g,2a) is on a two-game assist and point streak. ⢠C JUSTIN MAPLETOFT (4a) and D CHRIS CAMPOLI (2a) are on two-game assist streaks.
SOUND TIGERS TRANSACTIONS
D VINCE MACRI was assigned to the ECHL's Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies by the Islanders last Tuesday.
COMMUNITY CALENDAR & PROMOTIONAL NEWS
The Sound Tigers are scheduled to take part in a trio of community events this week, including the St. Cecilia School Fair in Stamford and the Jane Ryan Elementary School Fall Carnival in Trumbull this Saturday, as well as the Trumbull Great Pumpkin Classic on Sunday.
SOUND TIGERS ON THE AIR
All games are web cast live at www.soundtigers.com. Friday's and Sunday's games are also scheduled to be broadcast live on 600 WICC-AM. Wednesday's and Saturday's games are subject to pre-emption on WICC by New York Yankees baseball. All game broadcasts begin 15 or 20 minutes prior to opening face-off on the quarter hour, and fans can email questions and comments to the Voice of the Sound Tigers BILL McLAUGHLIN who will respond live on the air.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
The Sound Tigers are scheduled to practice at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard Tuesday through Saturday. All skates are slated for 10 a.m. except on Thursday and Saturday when the team is scheduled to practice at 11 a.m. The team will bus to Albany Friday afternoon and return to Bridgeport following the game that night.
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