AHL Bridgeport Islanders

Sound Tigers Win Three Of Four

Published on March 14, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Bridgeport Islanders News Release


The Sound Tigers won three of the four games they played in a five-day span last week. They beat the Providence Bruins 3-2 at home Wednesday, lost 2-1 on the road to the Hartford Wolf Pack Friday, beat the Hershey Bears 3-2 in overtime at home Saturday and rallied to beat the Springfield Falcons 2-1 at home Sunday. The Sound Tigers finished last week in sixth place in the East Division with 61 points and a 29-30-2-1 record, including 23-8 at home, 6-22-2-1 on the road and 6-3-1 in the last ten games.

WED MAR 9th vs. PRO, 3-2 W: PATRICE BERGERON gave Providence a 1-0 lead on a first-period, power-play goal, but the Sound Tigers rallied to take a 3-1 lead on goals by COLE JARRETT and JUSTIN PAPINEAU in the opening frame and JOHN MORLANG in the second period. BRAD BOYES pulled the Bruins to within 3-2 late in the middle stanza, but the Sound Tigers held on for the win. DIETER KOCHAN made 33 saves as the Sound Tigers were outshot 35-17. They were 0 for 2 on the power play while Providence was 1 for 4.

FRI MAR 11th at HAR, 2-1 L: ALEXANDRE GIROUX gave Hartford a 1-0 lead that held up from late in the first period until ROB COLLINS tied the game on the power play 3:30 into the third, but former Sound Tigers JEFF HAMILTON blasted home the game-winning slap-shot with 6:04 left to play. The Sound Tigers were 1 for 4 on the power play and 4 for 4 on the penalty kill. Hartford had a 28-22 shots on goal advantage.

SAT MAR 12th vs. HER, 3-2 OTW: COLE JARRETT opened the scoring in the first period and ROB COLLINS doubled the lead in the third, but Hershey rallied on late goals by MATHIEU DARCHE and JEFF ULMER to tie the score at 2-2 and send the game to overtime. JUSTIN MAPLETOFT scored the game-winner with 53.4 left in the extra session. DIETER KOCHAN made 30 saves as the Bears had a 32-29 shots on goal advantage. The Sound Tigers were 0 for 2 on the power play and 4 for 5 on the penalty kill.

SUN MAR 13th vs. SPR, 2-1 W: MITCH FRITZ gave Springfield a 1-0 lead just shy of the mid-point of the first period, but STEVE REGIER answered less than three minutes later then helped set up the game-winning goal by COLE JARRETT with 5:18 left in the game. WADE DUBIELEWICZ made 33 saves as the Sound Tigers won despite being outshot 34-27. They were 0 for 3 on the power play while the Falcons were 0 for 4.

SOUND TIGERS PLAYER OF THE WEEK – G DIETER KOCHAN

Kochan was 2-1 with a 2.01 goals against average and.937 save percentage last week completing a stretch in which he played six straight games and 12 out of 13 going 8-4 with a shutout and an overtime loss. He is 16-15 with a 2.50 goals against average,.918 save percentage, one shutout, one assist and eight penalty minutes in 32 games this season.

THIS WEEK – Four Road Games In Five Days

The Sound Tigers will play four road games in five days this week. They will visit the Binghamton Senators Wednesday, the Springfield Falcons Friday, the Manchester Monarchs Saturday and the Albany River Rats Sunday evening.

WED MAR 16th at BIN, 7:05 p.m.: This will be the sixth of eight meetings of the teams this regular season, the fourth and final in Binghamton. The Sound Tigers are 9-9-1 all-time versus the Senators, including 3-2 this season with a 4-0 road win in the last meeting on February 17th. Binghamton finished last week in first place in the East Division with 81 points and a 36-20-5-4 record, including 20-6-3-2 at home and 8-1-1 in the last ten games. The Sound Tigers begin this week with three games in hand on the Senators who do not play again until Wednesday.

FRI MAR 18th at SPR, 7:35 p.m.: This will be the second and final meeting of the teams this season, the only in Springfield. The Sound Tigers are 13-5-1 all-time versus the Falcons, including a victory in their only visit to Springfield last season. The Falcons, who will host the Hershey Bears this Wednesday, finished last week in seventh place in the Atlantic Division with 39 points and a 17-40-2-3 record, including 12-15-1-3 at home and on a six-game losing streak.

SAT MAR 19th at MCH, 7:35 p.m.: This will be the third of four meetings of the teams this regular season, the second and final in Manchester. The Sound Tigers are 6-5-3 all-time versus the Monarchs, including 1-1 with a home win this season. Manchester finished last week in first place in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference with 88 points and a 41-17-3-3 record, including 24-6-2-1 at home and on a two-game win streak but just 5-5 in the last ten games. The Monarchs will host a first-place showdown with the Hartford Wolf Pack this Friday.

SUN MAR 20th at ALB, 4 p.m.: This will be the sixth of eight meetings of the teams this regular season, the third of four in Albany. The Sound Tiger are 18-6-5 all-time versus the River Rats, including 4-1 this season with an overtime win in the most recent meeting on February 26th in Albany. The River Rats finished last week in seventh place in the East Division with 50 points and a 19-33-6-6 record, including 10-18-3-2 at home, 1-7-1-1 in the last ten games and winless in the last five at 0-4-0-1. Albany will visit the Rochester Americans this Friday and Springfield this Saturday.

SOUND TIGERS TEAM LEADERS

Goals – ROB COLLINS, 19 Penalty Minutes – ERIC GODARD, 253 Assists – ROB COLLINS, 29 Wins – DIETER KOCHAN, 16 Points – ROB COLLINS, 48 Goals Against Average – DIETER KOCHAN, 2.50 Plus / Minus – CHRIS CAMPOLI, +12 Save Percentage – DIETER KOCHAN, .918

SOUND TIGERS SPECIAL TEAMS; AHL RANK

Power Play – 44 for 301, 14.6%; 19th Shorthanded Goals Against – 6; t-10th

Penalty Kill – 308 for 374, 82.4%; t-20th Shorthanded Goal For – 11; t-4th

SOUND TIGERS STREAKS

The Sound Tigers have won two straight games and four in a row at home. • F/D COLE JARRETT is on a two-game goal streak (FG,GW). • D CHRIS CAMPOLI is on a two-game assist streak (2a).

SOUND TIGERS TRANSACTIONS

F/D DOUG CHRISTIANSEN signed a professional tryout contract Sunday. • LW JEFF HUTCHINS signed a PTO last Wednesday. • C BRENDAN YAREMA left the team on March 5th after his PTO expired on March 4th. • RW JOHN MORLANG was re-signed to a PTO on Friday, March 4th. • D ED CAMPBELL, who first signed a PTO with the Sound Tigers on January 15th, has been signed to a standard AHL player's contract retroactive to January 29th. • The Islanders reassigned RW JIM CAMPBELL to the AHL's Springfield Falcons on February 25th. • D VINCE MACRI was reassigned to the ECHL's Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies on February 1st. • D NIC BILOTTO was released from a PTO on January 23rd.

SOUND TIGERS RETURNING TO LONG ISLAND ON MARCH 23rd

Overwhelming demand for hockey at Nassau Coliseum has led to a return Long Island engagement for the Sound Tigers who will host the Norfolk Admirals on Wednesday, March 23rd at the home of the Islanders. Tickets to the March 23rd game cost $25, $15 and $10 and are available at the Nassau Coliseum box office, Islanders Team Stores, Ticketmaster outlets, Ticketmaster charge-by-phone at 203-368-1000 and on-line at www.ticketmaster.com. Sound Tigers season subscribers should call 203-334-GOAL to reserve their tickets to the game.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR & PROMOTIONAL NEWS

The Sound Tigers wives & girlfriends raised over $600 for the American Heart Association's "Go Red For Women" health campaign by selling special red pins during this past Sunday's game. • The Sound Tigers will take part in "Bridgeport Day" at the State Capitol in Hartford this Wednesday, March 16th from 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. • The team mascot STORM will visit "Kids Day" at Danbury Hospital this Saturday, March 19th from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. • Saturday, March 26th will be "Back to the Beach Night" at Bridgeport's Arena at Harbor Yard. The first 2,000 fans who enter "Back to the Beach Night" will receive a Sound Tigers / Bermuda Tourism beach towel, and one lucky fan will win a trip for two to Bermuda flying on American Airlines and staying at the 9 Beaches resort for seven days and six nights. • The first 1,000 fans age 14 and under who enter the Sunday, April 3rd home game versus the Binghamton Senators will receive a free Sound Tigers Clapper. • The first 2,000 fans who enter the Saturday, April 9th home game versus the Lowell Lock Monsters will receive the fifth and final of this season's card sets courtesy of Painter's Supply. The final card set will feature BLAINE DOWN, DIETER KOCHAN, JUSTIN PAPINEAU and CHRIS CAMPOLI. • The Sound Tigers will also wear their all-black uniforms on Saturday and Sunday, April 9th and 10th.

SOUND TIGERS ON THE AIR

All games, home and away, are web-cast live at www.soundtigers.com. All four of this week's road games, as well as the Wednesday, March 23rd game on Long Island are scheduled to be broadcast live on 600 WICC-AM but are subject to pre-emption on the radio by University of Connecticut basketball.

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE

The Sound Tigers are scheduled to practice at the Rinks at Shelton this Tuesday at 10 a.m. and depart for Binghamton that afternoon. They are also scheduled to practice in Shelton this Thursday and Friday at 10 a.m. and depart for this weekend's road games Friday afternoon. Please call 203-334-GOAL to confirm practice times and locations.

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American Hockey League Stories from March 14, 2005


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