AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Snap Road Skid

February 7, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


After a 3-0 road loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Wednesday, the Sound Tigers beat the Worcester IceCats 5-1 Friday to snap a 15-game, road, winless streak that saw them go 0-13-1-1 away from Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard after a 4-1 win over the Hershey Bears at the Giant Center on November 20th. The Sound Tigers then dropped a 6-4 road decision to the Lowell Lock Monsters Saturday afternoon in the last game of a stretch in which they played 12 of 15 away from home. The Sound Tigers finished last week in sixth place in the East Division with 40 points and a 19-25-1-1 record, including 16-5 at home and 3-20-1-1 on the road.

WED FEB 2nd at WIL, 3-0 L: Goaltender WADE DUBIELEWICZ made 32 saves, including a trio of high-light reel stops to earn the second star of the game in a losing effort. MAXIME TALBOT, on the power play; MICHEL OUELLET, at even strength, and TOMAS SUROVY, into an empty net, scored and MARC-ANDRE FLEURY made 14 saves for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Sound Tigers were 0 for 4 on the power play while the Penguins were 1 for 7 and had a 35-14 shots on goal advantage.

FRI FEB 4th at WOR, 5-1 W: Five different players scored and a total of ten notched points for the Sound Tigers who were 2 for 8 on the power play, 7 for 7 on the penalty kill and had a 29-26 shots on goal advantage. JUSTIN MAPLETOFT and RYAN KRAFT scored on the power play, BRENDAN YAREMA had a shorthanded goal, JIM CAMPBELL notched the game-winner and ROB COLLINS added an empty-netter. Kraft also had two assists while Yarema and Collins had one each. DIETER KOCHAN made 25 saves and posted his first point as a Sound Tiger, assisting on Yarema's goal.

SAT FEB 5th at LOW, 6-4 L: Taking the ice just 16 hours after Friday's win, the Sound Tigers rallied from deficits of 1-0 and 3-1 to twice tie the game before falling in the third period. CHAD LAROSE led Lowell with a hat trick, and teammates RYAN BAYDA, MIKE ZIGOMANIS, CHUCK KOBASEW, LYNN LOYNS and RICHIE REGEHR had two points apiece. SEAN BERGENHEIM converted a penalty shot, CHRIS CAMPOLI scored shorthanded and KEVIN COLLEY tallied twice and added an assist for the Sound Tigers. WADE DUBIELEWICZ made 33 saves in a losing effort. The Sound Tigers were 1 for 3 on the power play while the Lock Monsters were 2 for 9 and had a 39-17 shots on goal advantage.

SOUND TIGERS PLAYER OF THE WEEK – C RYAN KRAFT

After twice hitting the post in the first period of Friday's road-skid-snapping win, Kraft assisted on a pair of goals, including the game-winner, before scoring on the power play in the third period. The Bottineau, North Dakota native was also a +2 and the second star of the game Friday. Kraft, the team's only returning captain and top-returning scorer, has nine goals, nine assists, 18 points and 12 penalty minutes in 38 games this season. He also leads the team with five first goals and has three power-play goals but is out of the lineup after suffering a fractured left ankle Saturday afternoon.

THIS WEEK – Sound Tigers To Host Binghamton & Visit Hershey The Sound Tigers will play two division games in two nights this week hosting the Binghamton Senators Friday and visiting the Hershey Bears Saturday.

FRI FEB 11th vs. BIN, 7:35 p.m.: This will be fourth of eight meetings of the teams this regular season, the second of four in Bridgeport. The Sound Tigers are 7-9-1 all-time, 1-2 with a home win this season, versus Binghamton who finished last week tied with the Norfolk Admirals and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for first place in the East Division with 61 points and a 27-18-4-3 record but just 9-13-2-1 on the road and winless in six games at 0-4-1-1. The Sound Tigers finished last week with six games in-hand on the Senators who will be represented by three players at the AHL All-Star Classic in Manchester on February 13th and 14th. JASON SPEZZA, who ended last week as the League's leading scorer with 51 assists and 74 points, had been named a starter for the Canadian Team while BRANDON BOCHENSKI, who finished last week as the AHL's top rookie scorer with 40 points and tied for the lead among all freshmen with 20 goals, and BRIAN POTHIER, who ended last week tied for third in scoring among all defensemen with 33 points, will skate for PlanetUSA.

SAT FEB 12th at HER, 7 p.m.: This will be the fourth of eight meetings of the teams this regular season, the third of four in Hershey. The Sound Tigers are 6-8-3 all-time, 2-1 with wins at home and on the road this season, versus the Bears who finished last week in fifth place in the East Division with 51 points and a 25-23-1 record, including 15-11-1 at home. Hershey, the last AHL team yet to loose in a shootout, will be represented by 2004 Stanley Cup Champion ERIC PERRIN, who will skate for the Canadian Team, at the All-Star Classic. The Sound Tigers finished last week with three games in-hand on the Bears who will visit the Lowell Lock Monsters Wednesday and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Friday.

SOUND TIGERS TEAM LEADERS (active players)

Goals – ROB COLLINS & SEAN BERGENHEIM, 13 Penalty Minutes – ERIC GODARD, 196
Assists – ROB COLLINS, 20 Wins – WADE DUBIELEWICZ, 11
Points – ROB COLLINS, 33 Goals Against Average – DIETER KOCHAN, 2.73
Plus / Minus – SEVERAL, +3 Save Percentage – WADE DUBIELEWICZ, .908


SOUND TIGERS SPECIAL TEAMS; AHL RANK
Power Play – 34 for 232, 14.7%; 17th Shorthanded Goals Against – 2; t-1st

Penalty Kill – 235 for 291, 80.8%; 25th Shorthanded Goal For – 6; t-11th

SEAN BERGENHEIM NAMED PLANETUSA ALL-STAR

RW SEAN BERGENHEIM; who scored the Sound Tigers' first-ever, road, penalty-shot goal last Friday in Worcester; has been selected to play for the PlanetUSA Team at the AHL All-Star Classic in Manchester on February 13th and 14th.

SOUND TIGERS STREAKS

C BRENDAN YAREMA (1g,2a), RW ROB COLLINS (1g,2a) and D JODY ROBINSON (2a) are on two-game assist and point streaks . • RW JIM CAMPBELL (1g,1a) and D CHRIS CAMPOLI (1g,1a) are both on two-game point streaks.

SOUND TIGERS INJURY UPDATE

C RYAN KRAFT suffered a fractured left ankle this past Saturday and was scheduled to have the injury evaluated on Long Island today. • D KEITH ALDRIDGE had successful surgery on his right shoulder this past Wednesday. • C BLAINE DOWN is out of the lineup with fractures of three vertebral bodies of his cervical spine suffered on January 30th but is expected to make a full recovery and should be able to resume his hockey career once cleared by a specialist.

SOUND TIGERS TRANSACTIONS

D VINCE MACRI was reassigned to the ECHL's Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies last Tuesday. • RW JOHN MORLANG was re-signed to a professional tryout contract Saturday, January 29th. • D NIC BILOTTO was released from a PTO January 23rd. • D ED CAMPBELL signed a PTO January 15th. • C BRENDAN YAREMA signed a PTO January 3rd.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR & PROMOTIONAL NEWS

The Sound Tigers will team up with "Habitat for Humanity of Greater Bridgeport" to help with the construction of a development of 18 new homes on Agresta Terrace in Stratford this Tuesday and Wednesday, February 8th and 9th. Players, coaches and staff will work from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. both days. • JODY ROBINSON will serve as a celebrity reader at the Norwalk Public Library this Tuesday at 2 p.m. • The team mascot STORM will visit the South School Science Fair in New Canaan this Thursday at 6 p.m., Roger Sherman Elementary School in Fairfield this Friday, "Mascot Day" at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain this Saturday at 2 p.m. and a youth hockey clinic at the Ice Pavilion in Milford this Sunday at 10 a.m. • Voice of the Sound Tigers BILL McLAUGHLIN will speak to the Wilton Rotary Club this Friday at 12:15 p.m.

SOUND TIGERS ON THE AIR

All games are web cast live at www.soundtigers.com. Most games, including both of this weekend's contests, are also broadcast live on 600 WICC-AM. Head coach GREG CRONIN is scheduled to be interviewed live on WICC by news director TIM QUINN this Friday at 9:30 a.m.

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

The Sound Tigers will practice at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard this Tuesday through Friday at 10 a.m. and depart for Hershey following Friday's game. Call 203-334-GOAL to confirm practice times and locations or with any media requests.

Check out the Bridgeport Islanders Statistics



American Hockey League Stories from February 7, 2005


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