Former Sound Tigers Updates

This is an article that will feature updates on past Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

Pascal Morency: Pascal, a fan favorite in Bridgeport, has signed a two way AHL-ECHL contract with the Houston Aeros. He has since been sent down to the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL. We wish him the best of luck with his new team.

Drew Fata: Drew, one of my favorite former players on the Sound Tigers, Has been released from his PTO with the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL. In his one game with the Penguins during the PTO he had no points.

Jeff Tambellini: Signed with the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL. In four games so far Tambellini has recored one goal and one assist with six penalty minutes.

Raffi Torres: Also signing with the Vancouver Canucks in the NHL. In eight games, Torres has two goals and an assist with twenty-one penalty minutes.

Sean Bergenheim: After not being resigned by the Islanders in the off season, Bergenheim signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL. In eight games he has three goals and two assists with six penalty minutes.

Jeremy Reich: Signing with the Boston Bruins in the off season he was assigned to Providence. In six games with Providence, he has two assists and eleven penalty minutes.

Tyler Haskins: Haskins has signed with EHC Wolfsburg. So far, he has one goal and four assists.

Joe Callahan: After signing with St.Louis in the summer. Callahan was involved in a trade that would send him to the Florida Panthers. He was then assigned to the Rochester Americans in the AHL. Callahan was named assistant captain this year for Rochester. In seven games he has three assists and six penalty minutes.

More to come in the next edition.

Sound Tigers late rally comes up short in 2-1 loss

Looking to salvage a win this weekend, the Sound Tigers were in Portland, Maine to play the Portland Pirates. Although the Sound Tigers pounded the Pirates with shots, Portland's David Leggio stopped all but one to get Portland the win.

In the first Portland would take the lead quick as only :22 seconds into the period as T.J. Brennan shot one from the top of the circle that got through a maze of people and past Sound Tiger goaltender Mikko Koskinen to put the Pirates up 1-0. The rest of the period would be played pretty even, as both teams traded scoring chances. The Sound Tigers would also take three penalties, one by Rhett Rakhshani and the other two by Jeremy Colliton who is on the team by a professional tryout contract. They were able to kill the penalties and escape the period only down by one. The Sound Tigers would also get a shot on the power play but hit both the post and cross bar. Portland led in shots after the first with 10 to the Sound Tigers 7.

The second period would see Portland score again, this time on the power play. After a slash from Portland's Luke Adam, a skirmish started after the whistle behind the net and led to both Robin Figren and Tomas Marcinko of the Sound Tigers receiving two minutes each for roughing. This put Portland on the power play and they made the most of it as Matt Ellis who was all alone in the slot, fired a one timer past Koskinen to make it a 2-0 Portland. There were a ton of shots taken in the second as Portland took 14 and the Sound Tigers took 13.

The Sound Tigers poured it on offensively as the third wore on, peppering Leggio with shot after shot. They took 17 shots on Leggio in the third period alone. The Sound Tigers looked like they had a shot at coming back in the game as Jesse Joensuu found a puck after a turn over and fired it past Leggio to make it 2-1. This however, would be the only goal the Sound Tigers would get as with the seconds ticking down on the clock, Joensuu's shot was stopped, this time point blank by Leggio to secure the win. Sound Tigers out shot the Pirates by a impressive 17 shots to 7.

# Stars:

#1. David Leggio-POR

#2. Matt Ellis-POR

#3. Mikko Koskinen-BST

Honorable Mention-Jesse Joensuu-Scored lone goal for the Tigers

Shots:

Bridgeport:37

Portland:31

Sound Tigers Line up:

FORWARD LINES
DiBenedetto – Colliton – Joensuu
Martin – Hisey – Rakhshani
Haley – Marcinko – Figren
Bourbeau – Taylor – Yablonski

DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS
Hamonic – Kohn
Reese – Katic
Wotton - Klementyev

Sound Tigers fall 6-3 to Manchester

It was a very rough game tonight in Manchester against the Monarchs as the Sound Tigers fell by the final score of 6-3. Tonight saw the season debut of two Sound Tigers in Jeremy Colliton and Nathan Lawson.

The first period was the most penalized period the Sound Tigers have ever played. It started early, as at 5:09 Micheal Haley blatantly cross checked a Manchester player away from the play then proceeded to go after a Manchester defenseman in the corner, jumping him and trying to throw punches as the Manchester player had his arms over his head protecting himself. This drew everyone on the ice over. Micheal Haley would receive a double minor for roughing and a two minute penalty for cross checking to add on to it. He would total six minutes in penalties on the play. Manchester's John Zeiler would also receive a two minute minor for roughing. Haley's bad penalties would cost the Sound Tigers as Manchester would score twice on the power play. The first one came on a two on one, as Manchester's Corey Elkins made a great pass to teammate David Meckler who made a great shot top shelf over the glove of Lawson to make it 1-0. With six minutes of penalties because of Haley, the Sound Tigers would still be on the penalty kill. A shot from the point would beat a screened Lawson to make it 2-0. The Sound Tigers were getting frustrated and it showed as after Dustin Kohn got nailed by two Monarchs, Travis Hamonic fought Zeiler who hit Kohn. On the ensuing face off, Matt Martin and Manchester's Richard Clune, who helped sandwich Kohn, dropped the gloves. Martin got a couple good blows in but Clune won the tilt landing a good right and taking down Martin. On the next face off, Jeremy Yablonski dropped the gloves with big Justin Johnson, Yablonski took advantage of Johnson getting a couple solid punches before taking Johnson down. Manchester would not be done scoring, as Brandon Kozun would score at 10:04 to make it 3-0. There was a bright spot in the first however, as Hisey would find the loose puck in front of Manchester's Jeff Zatkoff and put it into the open net to bring the Sound Tigers within two, with the score 3-1.

Shots in the period for Bridgeport, 11 and Manchester, 14.

The second was no where near as physical as the first and had a lot less scoring. The Sound Tigers would get on the board first, when on the power play Justin DiBenedetto took a shot from the top of the circle by the boards, the puck would go five hole past Zatkoff to make it 3-2. Jesse Joensuu provided a great screen on the goal, giving Zatkoff no chance at all to find the puck. The Sound Tigers looked to have good momentum going into the third when at 19:49 Manchester's Kozun got his second of the game off of a rebound to make the score 4-2. Lawson continued to play well but got little support from the team. Shots in the second for Bridgeport, 9 and Manchester, 11.

It was a quick start for the Sound Tigers in the third as at 1:13 David Ullstrom took a quick wrist shot past Zatkoff to make it a 4-3 game. This would be the closest the Sound Tigers would come to coming back in the game. The Manchester Monarchs would put the game away the Sound Tigers would surrender two more goals. Shots in the third for Bridgeport,11 and Manchester,11.

The Sound Tigers got a good showing from goaltender Nathan Lawson tonight. Even though he did let up six goals, only one looked to be weak. Other than that Lawson made 30 saves and looked pretty composed. Colliton split time on the second and third line and recored a penalty.

3 Stars:

#1.Brandon Kozun-Man

#2.Alec Martinez-Man

#3.David Meckler-Man

Shots:

Bridgeport-31

Manchester-36

Starting Lineups:

Bridgeport/Manchester

#52-Nathan Lawson-G/#36-Jeff Zatkoff-G

#3-Travis Hamonic-D/#76-Viatcheslav Voynov-D

#5-Dustin Kohn-D/#37-Tomas Hickey-D

#10-Rhett Rakhshani-RW/#9-Bud Holloway-RW

#17-Matt Martin-LW/#21-Dwight King-LW

#26-Rob Hisey-C/#15-Justin Azevedo-C

Former Sound Tiger Returns Home

Former Sound Tiger Jeremy Colliton will be looking to impress the coaching staff this weekend as he has been signed by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers to a Professional Tryout Contract (PTO).

Colliton played four years for the Sound Tigers before leaving the team to go play in Sweden last year. In four years with the Sound Tigers, he recored 48 goals and 83 assists to equal 131 points. He also tallied 156 minutes in penalties. While in Sweden he had 11 goals and 10 assists for 21 points and he would receive 24 penalty minutes.

Colliton will wear the number 21 like he did in 2008-09. He practiced today with the team and will likely to play over the weekend against either Manchester or Portland. He will be considered a veteran stat-wise, as he has played 320 games in the AHL and the Swedish Elite League but look for him to add a much need scoring presence the Sound Tigers.

October 30th Sound Tigers.vs.Manchester game game postponed

http://www.soundtigers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=22700&ATCLID=205015776

(Official article from Soundtigers.com on the game.)

At the request of the City of Bridgeport, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers have postponed their scheduled game on Oct. 30 against the Manchester Monarchs to accommodate President Obama’s visit to the Arena at Harbor Yard.

“It is an honor and a privilege to have the President of the United States visit our beautiful arena,” said Howard Saffan, President of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.

The game has not been scheduled yet and makes the next Sound Tigers home game November 3rd at 11am against the Springfield Falcons. This is also cool fun 101.

Game Preview: Sound Tigers at Manchester Monarchs

Sound Tigers at Manchester Monarchs

7pm, Verizon Wireless Center

The Sound Tigers look for back to back wins as they will face off against the Manchester Monarchs on Saturday night. Last Sunday, the Sound Tigers gave the Portland Pirates their first loss of the season, winning by the score of 4-1. The Sound Tigers found power play goals from Justin DiBenedetto and David Ullstrom to put the game out of reach for Portland.

Last time these two teams met:

The Last time the two teams met was on October 10th. Even though this was only the Sound Tigers' second game of the season, it was one of the most controversial games they will probably have this season as with .6 seconds to go in the game Matt Martin's game tying goal was called off due to a hand pass that never happened. The Monarchs would go on to win by the score of 2-1.

Manchester 2-2-0-1, who looked to have found their scoring touch, played Tuesday night against Portland. Manchester took Portland into overtime tied at two. But overtime would not settle it, so the game went into a shootout. In the ninth round, with both teams tied at one in the shootout, Portland's Whitmore scored to end the game. Manchester fell to Portland 3-2 in a SO.

Bridgeport 2-3-0-0, is coming off a strong showing on Sunday against Portland as they won 4-1. The power play was on fire, with DiBenedetto and Ullstrom score two power play goals. Also Kevin Poulin, who got his pro win, had a great performance and was named one of the stars because of it.

Key Players:

For Bridgeport, if he is played, look for center Jeremy Colliton who is signed to a PTO at the moment. He will be looking to impress the coaching staff so he can stay around for the rest of the season. When Colliton is on his game he is a point-a-game player.

For Manchester, David Meckler has been playing great hockey for Manchester and is tied for first on the team with Dwight King with five points. He also leads Manchester with 16 shots. Look for Meckler and King to be on Manchester's starting lineup.

Update: Nathan Lawson has been loaned from the New York Islanders to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Lawson was put on injured reserve at the start of season with the New York Islanders. Last year Lawson played 36 games with the Sound Tigers going 16-16-3. Look for him to get a start soon enough and if the goaltending can hold up on the Island, I would not be surprised if he took over the starting spot, as he has proved before that he can handle the work load.

Sound Tigers give Portland there first loss as they win 4-1

The Sound Tigers found some much needed offense tonight and the power play looked good as they handed the top team in the Atlantic Division, the Portland Pirates, their first loss of the season by the score of 4-1.

In the first period the Sound Tigers would get on the board early. Portland's Travis Turnbull was called for roughing. This would give the Sound Tigers struggling power play a chance to get off to a good start in tonights game. They would do just that as it was jammed in front of the crease, then a Sound Tigers player, that looked to be Jesse Joensuu or Justin DiBenedetto, put it in the net. The goal was credited to DiBenedetto from Joensuu and David Ullstrom. Then came the rough stuff as out of no where Sound Tigers tough guy Micheal Haley jumped a Portland player. After the referees tried to break it up and pull Haley off the guy, he continued throwing punches, all along the Portland guy never fought back, protecting himself. After he was finally pulled off, Haley kept mouthing off and in the end he received a 4 minute roughing penalty and a ten minute misconduct for "continuing." Haley would total 14 total penalty minutes in the altercation while no one would go to the box for Portland. Bridgeport would get 9 shots in the period while Sound Tigers goalie Kevin Poulin saw 15 shots making a couple highlight reel saves.

The Sound Tigers would strike early in the second to make it 2-0 as Rhett Rakhshani put one past Portland goalie Jhonas Enroth. Micheal Haley would leave the ice covered in blood as he got a high stick from Portland's Luke Adam. Haley would return to the game and Adam would receive a four minute double minor for high sticking. The Sound Tigers would fail to capitalize on this man advantage as Portland would kill it off. This gave Portland some momentum as with under two minutes left, Portland's Adam put one past Poulin for his forth of the year and brought the game with in one, making the score 2-1. Sound Tigers would manage to fire 12 shots at Enroth while Portland took 1o at Poulin.

As the third started, Portland knew that they needed to score early but the exact opposite happened as they took a penalty for holding. Time was almost up on the power play when the Sound Tigers struck next. Justin DiBenedetto found the rebounding puck and buried it behind Enroth to make the score 3-1. That would give DiBenedetto his second of the game and give the Sound Tigers their second power play goal in the game. The Sound Tigers would test Portland giving them a couple good opportunities to score when they took some unnecessary penalties late, but Poulin would stand tall in the net. The Sound Tigers and the Pirates both had 3 penalties in the third. With 20.6 seconds left to go Jesse Joensuu would ice it for the Sound Tigers as he took a shot from the red line that would go into the empty net making the score 4-1 and crushing all hopes of a come back for Portland. Final shots for the third period, the Sound Tigers had 8 and the Pirates had 7.

3 Stars:

#1. Justin DiBenedetto-BST- Scored two goals in the game.

#2. Kevin Poulin-BST- Got his first pro win stopping 31 shots.

#3. Luke Adam-POR- Scored lone goal for Portland his fourth of the season.

Honorable Mention-David Ullstrom-BST-Had two assist in the game.

Shots:

Bridgeport:29

Portland:32

Starting Lineups:

Bridgeport/Portland

#38-Kevin Poulin-G/#1-Jhonas Enroth-G

#3-Travis Hamonic-D/#3-T.J Brennan-D

#5-Dustin Kohn-D/#4-Alex Biega-D

#12-Tomas Marcinko-RW/#25-Mark Mancari-RW

#18-Micheal Haley-C/#37-Matt Ellis-C

#23-Robin Figren-LW/#39-Adam Luke-LW

Game Preview: Sound Tigers.vs.Portland Pirates

Bridgeport Sound Tigers.vs.Portland Pirates

3pm, Arena at Harbor Yard

The Sound Tigers look to come away from this weekend with at least one win under their belts as they face off again with the Portland Pirates. This will be the second meeting this weekend between the two teams, as they played on Friday night. Portland won the game 3-1 after scoring two goals in a span of 13 seconds late in the second.

Portland 4-0-0-0, has continued to roll after defeating the Sound Tigers on Friday night as they beat the Springfield Falcons on Saturday by a score of 4-2. They lead the Atlantic Division with 8 points and 18 goals for.

Bridgeport 1-3-0-0, continue to have trouble finding the back of the net. They would fall to the Hartford Wolf Pack 2-1 on Saturday night. The Sound Tigers are in last in the Atlantic Division with 2 points and last in goals for in the Atlantic with 8.

Key Players:

For Bridgeport, rookie center David Ullstrom, is playing a very well rounded game. A great two way center, Ullstrom has been playing on a line with Matt Martin and Jesse Joensuu, a line that has generated many great scoring opportunities. Look for Ullstrom to set up his line mates with good passes and watch as he will almost always be the first forward back into the defensive zone to help out the defenseman and his goalie.

For Portland, keep your eye out for Mark Mancari, who in four games this season has 5 goals and 5 assists. He leads Portland in points with 10 and is a +8 in plus/minus. Mancari, flanked by winger Luke Adam should team up to be the biggest threat today to the Sound Tigers. Adam is second on the team in scoring with 8 points in four games.

Rakhshani gets lone goal as Sound Tigers fall 2-1

The Sound Tigers played their second game in two nights tonight against the Hartford Wolf Pack. In a very physical game, the Sound Tigers still could not find the offensive fire power they have been looking for in the last couple games and it showed on the scoreboard as they would lose there third straight 2-1 to the Wolf Pack.

The first period was by far the most physical period played so far this season. With no goals scored in the first period, both teams were battling to take control of the game. Kohn got the first roughing minor of the game when he hit a Hartford player along the boards at 3:44. This would start the long run of penalties in the first. Later as Robin Figren was entering onto the Sound Tigers bench through the door, Hartford's Dane Byers pulled Figren out of the door way and proceeded to jump him. Figren's teammate, Tomas Marcinko, came into stand up for him. Marcinko would receive 2 minutes for roughing and Byers would receive 4 minutes for roughing. With the Sound Tigers on the power play, Rhett Rakhshani went into the defensive end where he was hit hard from behind by Hartford's Kris Newbury, which sparked a skirmish which elevated into a fight between Newbury and Sound Tigers assistant captain, Dylan Reese. Both players would get 5 minute majors and Newbury would get an additional 2 minutes for boarding. Four minutes later Travis Hamonic "dropped 'em" with Hartford's Justin Soryal. Both traded blows behind the Sound Tigers net. The first period saw twelve penalties for the two teams combined. Shots in the first period were for Bridgeport, 10 and for Hartford, 7.

The second period saw the Wolf Pack take control of the game, as they dominated the play through out the period. Rakhshani took an early penalty just .35 seconds into the second period, which led to the first goal of the night. Nigel Williams was able to tip Wade Redden's shot from the point to give the Wolf Pack a power play goal and put them up 1-0. The Sound Tigers managed to kill off the other two penalties they took in the period to keep the score at 1-0. There was very little scoring for Bridgeport in the second as Hartford continued to shut the Tigers down. Bridgeport had 7 shots in the period while Hartford had 10.

In the third, the Sound Tigers picked up their play as they started to generate more scoring chances and picking up the hitting again. At 7:17 after a great play by Klementyev, Rakhshani tapped one past Hartford goalie Chad Johnson. This made the score 1-1. But the lead wouldn't last long as Hartford's Evgeny Grachev found Mats Zuccarello open in the slot who beat Bridgeport goalie Mikko Koskinen high over the glove to give Hartford the lead again at 2-1. The Sound Tigers would get a couple of good chances left in the closing minutes of the game but it was not meant to be as time expired and the horn sounded. The Sound Tigers fell to the Wolf Pack 2-1. Hartford had 10 shots in the third to the Sound Tigers 5.

Poll Results: Justin DiBenedetto won the poll as voted on by the fans for the most likely to score first against Hartford, He did not as Rhett Rakhshani did so.

3 Stars:

#1. Chad Johnson- HAR - 21 Saves against the Sound Tigers.

#2. Rhett Rakhshani- BST - Only goal scored for the Sound Tigers Tonight.

#3. Mats Zuccarello- HAR - Scored game winning goal.

Honorable Mention- Tomas Marcinko- BST - Good job sticking up for Figren when he got in trouble.

Shots:

Bridgeport:22

Hartford:27

Starting Line-ups:

Bridgeport/Hartford

#1-Mikko Koskinen-G/#29-Chad Johnson-G

#2-Dylan Reese-D/#8-Jyuri Nemei-D

#3-Travis Hamonic-D/#6-Wade Redden-D

#6-Jesse Joensuu-LW/#34-Dane Byers-LW

#17-Matt Martin-RW/#18-Jeremy Williams-RW

#24-David Ullstrom-C/#11-Kris Newbury-C

Pre Game: Sound Tigers.vs.Wolf Pack

Sound Tigers.vs.Hartford Wolf Pack

7pm, Arena at Harbor Yard

After a well played two periods last night in Portland, the Sound Tigers fell apart late in the second allowing two goals in the span of 13 seconds. There was no coming back at that point as they would go on to lose to Portland 3-1. Tonight they look to get there first win of the three games they play this weekend when they play there arch rivals the Hartford Wolf Pack. This will be the first out of ten meetings against each other this season.

Hartford 1-1-0-1, like the Sound Tigers has only one win so far this season. That win came against one of the newest teams in the AHL the Charlotte Checkers in a close 4-2 game.

Bridgeport 1-2-0-0, is having trouble finding the back of the net so far this season. The Sound Tigers are Tied for last in the goals for category in the Atlantic Division with 7.

Key Players:

For Bridgeport look back at the blue line and you will find 6'3, 215 pound defenseman Travis Hamonic. Hamonic likes to rush the puck and is a very offensive defenseman. He tallied his first pro goal last night and will be looking for more. Keep an eye out on the power play as he is usually quarterbacking it from the point.

For Hartford we keep our attention on defenseman as we will see former NHLer Wade Redden. After being waived by the New York Rangers, Redden was sent down to Hartford were he has picked up his game trying to get back to the NHL level. In three games Redden has 1 goal and 3 assists with 9 shots on goal. If the Sound Tigers want to come away with the win they will need to shut him down.

For those of you who have never been to a Sound Tigers.vs.Wolf Pack game you will be in for a great game. There is such a fierce rivalry between these two teams from Connecticut that anything can and will happen. Look for a physical, in your face style of play from both teams and don't be surprised to see a fight or two. Tonight is also Latino Night. It should be a pretty full house so get there early and enjoy Sound Tigers hockey!

Sound Tigers fall to Portland 3-1

The Sound Tigers had their first game away from The Arena at Harbor Yard tonight and it didn't go as well as planned, as they lost 3-1 in a penalty filled game.

The first period started off with a bang, literally. Micheal Haley dropped the gloves with Portland's Tim Conboy, both would receive five minutes each for fighting. Bridgeport would jump out to an early 1-0 lead when Portland's Correy Tropp took an interference penalty. Bridgeport's defenseman, Travis Hamonic took the puck off the a face off, won by Rob Hisey and rocketed one from the point past Portland's goaltender Jhonas Enroth. It didn't take very long to answer right back. On a delayed penalty to the Sound Tigers Jean Bourbeau, Portland's Derek Whitmore scored to make it 1-1. In a period that saw seven penalties, the Sound Tigers would go on a late power play. In they dying seconds of the first on the power play Rhett Rakhshani almost gave the Tigers the lead as he put one past Enroth but he hit the post. The period would end with the score 1-1. Bridgeport had 12 shots in the period and Portland had 5.

With the start of the second period came a continued power play for the Sound Tigers. Although there were a couple of good chances on the power play, nothing would get past Enroth. This is where Sound Tigers goalie Kevin Poulin, who got his first pro start tonight, really started to shine. Poulin made a good save on a two on one and just minutes later made one of the best saves of the year so far as he made a save with the rebound popping out to his blocker side where it was put back on to the net. Poulin hit the puck out of the air with the paddle of his stick, making a great save. With the game going back and forth with chances at either end, Bridgeport Micheal Haley and Portland's Dennis McCauley dropped the mits. McCauley got the better of Haley in the fight throwing a couple good right hands before getting Haley's jersey over his head, this gave the linesman reason to break it up. The second would see nine penalties, three for Bridgeport and six for Portland. There was a lot of action during this time including Travis Hamonic leveled Luke Adam (sending Adam to the Portland locker room), Dustin Kohn was robbed in front by Enroth, and Justin DiBenedetto made two great moves getting into the zone to get David Ullstrom a one timer in the slot. However, none of these chances would result in goals. Portland would get an offensive burst as the period ended as with 15 seconds left Portland's Mark Mancari took a great pass from Matt Ellis and got one right inside the post for a 2-1 lead. Only 13 seconds later Portland's Dennis McCauley tipped one past Poulin a shot by Mancari with 2.6 seconds left. The period would end with the score 3-1 Portland. Portland had 12 shots in the second to the Sound Tigers 9.

Early in the third period both teams played very well defensively, but the Sound Tigers had a tough time getting any continuous pressure in the Portland zone. The game stayed physical as Katic wet off for boarding, after he got out of the box he demolished Portland's Luke Adam in the corner. Then Robin Figren bumped into Enroth sending both players to the ice and sending Portland down on a 3 on 1. Poulin made a great save to keep the game close. He made a flurry of saves on the following play including a great diving save. After the save, a Portland player gave a jab to Poulin so defenseman Mark Katic got in there to stick up for his goalie. The Sound Tigers chance to come back in the game was pretty much squashed as Katic was given a two minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct for pulling the Portland player away from Poulin. Upset with the call Katic argued all the way to the box, so much so he was given another two minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. The only chance the Sound Tigers had was with 36 seconds to go in the game when Portland got a penalty for delay of game. The Sound Tigers took a time out to talk the plan over and with the goalie pulled and a man up the Sound Tigers had a 6 on 4 advantage. With the two man advantage the Tigers still could not get a goal as the horn sounded to end the game. Shots in the period were for 9 for Portland and 7 for Bridgeport.

3 Stars:

#1-Mark Mancari-POR

#2- Dennis McCauley-POR

#3- Jhonas Enroth-POR

Honorable Mention- Tomas Marcinko-BST- Had a great night in the face off circle

Travis Hamonic-BST-Scored his first pro goal

Shots:

Bridgeport:28

Portland:28

Starting Line-ups:

Bridgeport/Portland

#38-Kevin Poulin-G/#1-Jhonas Enroth-G

#2-Dylan Reese-D/Not Available-D

#4-Mark Wotton-D/Not Available-D

#12-Tomas Marcinko-C/Not Available-C

#18-Micheal Haley-LW/Not Available-LW

#23-Robin Figern-RW/Not Available-RW

Pre Game: Bridgeport Sound Tigers at Portland Pirates

Bridgeport Sound Tigers at Portland Pirates

7pm, Cumberland County Civics Center

After a tough loss on Sunday, the Sound Tigers look to bounce back quickly when they take on the Portland Pirates. This will be the first time the two teams face each other this year. They will play each other a total of ten times this season, five home, five away.

Portland 2-0-0, has had no problems scoring in their first two games as they put five goals on the board against Charlotte in a 5-1 win and scored six goals in a close 6-5 win against Manchester.

Bridgeport 1-1-0, who had played back to back home games on the weekend to open up their season played one of the most existing home openers ever played by a Sound Tigers team, defeating Worcester 5-4 in a shootout. Although on Sunday, they fell short losing to Manchester 2-1 when a goal scored by Matt Martin was waved off, called a hand pass by the back referee, a very questionable call.

Key Players:

For Bridgeport, two players who have looked very good in the first two games this season are Robin Figren and Justin DiBenedetto. Figren, who was on the starting lineup for opening night scored a huge goal then later tallied an assist against Worcester and then scored again the next night against Manchester for the Sound Tigers only goal in the game. He leads the team with three points. DiBenedetto, who did not have a point in the first two games of the season looked very good. He had some of the best scoring chances against Worcester, he had a great opportunity to score off a rebound but Worcester's goalie Alex Stalock had other ideas as he robbed Dibo with a great glove save. He also had another good chance that he put behind his back but it went just wide.

For Portland, two players to watch for are Mark Mancari and rookie Luke Adam. In the two games Portland has played, Mancari who leads the team in points with five, two goals and three assists, will be a threat to the Tigers as well as Luke Adam. Adam who in two games has had two goals and two assists looked very good for Portland. Look for both players to try to make big plays against the Sound Tigers.

Tigers In The NHL : Blake Comeau

UNIONDALE, NY - OCTOBER 11: Blake Comeau #57 of the New York Islanders scores at 12:59 of the first period against the New York Rangers at the Nassau Coliseum on October 11, 2010 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

On this blog, every once in a while I will have an article about a former Sound Tiger who has made it to the National Hockey League (NHL). This one will be on former Sound Tiger, and now New York Islander, Blake Comeau.

Blake Comeau was drafted in the 2nd round, 47th overall by the New York Islanders in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Comeau would play one more year with the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League before joining the Sound Tigers for the last bit of the 2005-2006 season where he played seven games and recorded three assists.

In 2006-2007 season Comeau played with the Sound Tigers tallying 12 goals and 31 assists for 43 points in his rookie campaign. A campaign that had him third overall in assists and that saw him rank six overall for most points on the team. He also would recored 46 penalty minutes, he would always stick up for his team mates. To see Comeau fight was rare, but when he did you wouldn't wanna be the one going against him. Comeau also made his NHL debut on December 7,2006 against the Montreal Canadians. He would two more games that year with the Islanders but would not record a point.

When the 2007-2008 season came around Comeau was given his chance. After playing 31 games for the Sound Tigers were he recorded 19 points, Comeau was called up to the Islanders where he played 51 games. Blake got his first NHL goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins when he put one past them Penguins goalie Danny Sabourin on December 21, 2007. It would turn out to be the game winner that night for the Islanders and the first of many for Comeau. He also recorded an assist that night for his first NHL assist. Comeau would continue to put the puck into the back of the net with a total of 8 goals at the end of the season and 7 helpers to go with them.

The next season, 2008-2009, Comeau would play only 19 games with the Sound Tigers. Sound Tiger fans could tell he would not be skating at Harbor Yard anymore after this season, he was ready for the Islanders. Blake would play 53 games this year for the New York Islanders and see himself reach new personal milestones as he made some great plays to get 18 assists on the season. This helped him get to 25 points on the season. Towards the end of the season, he split time between Bridgeport and the Island. During this time I had the pleasure to meet and have dinner with Blake. He is one of the nicest players I have ever gotten to meet.

The feeling Sound Tiger fans had about Comeau not coming back, was right as he spent the entire 2009-2010 season with the New York Islanders. He scored 17 goals and had a total of 35 points with the Islanders, two more personal best at the NHL level. Also put in his first ever goal while short handed in the NHL. One of his best highlights of the season though was his first hat trick in the NHL against the Chicago Blackhawks on March 2,2010. He ended the season on fire and hoped that it would carry over to next year.

Over the summer Comeau found time to come back and even do some hospital visits and other appearances in the community, like I said before he is one of the nicest guys you will meet. Comeau also worked very hard and said in an interview on NewYorkIslanders.com

"I want to perform at the NHL level for 82 games, that’s one of my goals to be in the lineup every game this year,” Comeau said. “Knock on wood, I haven’t been injured too much over my career. So I feel like if I can stay healthy that is something I can do this year - contribute all year long.”

With this can do attitude Comeau is on his way to a great season.In two games already this season Blake has 3 goals and 1 assist. If he keeps this pace he will be on his way to another milestone year.

Sound Tigers Lose To Manchester 2-1

It was a tough night tonight for the Sound Tigers as they lose to the Manchester Monarchs in what could be one of the most controversial losses this season for the Tigers. There was a pretty decent crowd there tonight for the game, Sundays are never a great days to draw big crowd but looked like there were more people there today then this time last year.

It didn't take long tonight for the fans to get a good look at newly added fighter Jeremy Yablonski as he went toe to toe with Justin Johnson. One of the most intense fights I've seen, both players continually throwing hard hits. The fight lasted about two minutes with Yablonski definitely taking the win. After the two were done you could see Johnson looked like he was saying "good fight". It seemed the Tigers got a jump out of it and it showed as Robin Figren absolutely buried a one timer past Manchester's goalie Erik Ersburg to put the Tigers up 1-0. It was a good look and a great pass by Dylan Reese to find Figren in the high slot. That would be it for scoring in the first period, Shots were 9 for Bridgeport and 7 for Manchester.

As the second period started the Sound Tigers were applying good pressure in the Manchester zone but six minutes into the second Manchester's Dwight King was behind the net threw the puck in front where it banked off of a Sound Tiger defenseman and through the legs of Sound Tigers goalie Mikko Koskinen and into the net to make it 1-1. Rhett Rakhshani had a break away on Ersburg but was hooked by Manchester's Alec Martinez and did not get a shot off, it did however draw a power play. Bridgeport's power play has lacked the last couple of years and it carried over into tonight. The Sound Tigers went 0 for 3 on the power play getting limited to no chances on the man advantage, while the penalty kill looks to be solid again this year. They looked good tonight, going 4 for 4 on the penalty kill. Shots for the second period were 15 for Manchester and 10 for Bridgeport.

At the start of the third period Manchester pored on the pressure getting chance after chance until Manchester's Justin Azevedo took a back hander on the goal line and beat Koskinen to make it 2-1. Koskinen bounced right back though as he made one of the best saves of the game sliding cross crease to rob a Manchester player point blank. The Sound Tigers never gave up as they pressured the Manchester and got a couple great scoring opportunity's but Ersburg shut the door every time. Most of the time as the tigers were entering the offensive zone, Manchester always had at least four guys back to shut down anything the Sound Tigers could develop. With 7.1 seconds left and the score 2-1, the Sound Tigers had a offensive face off to the left of Ersburg which will lead to what could be one of the most controversial blown calls this season. The Tigers with goalie Koskinen pulled, won the face off and carried the puck around the boards, where Dylan Reese sent the puck up in the air and it was gloved down out of the air and put on the ice by Rhett Rakhshani. From my angle and from a couple other people I have talked to, the puck hit a skate of a Manchester player, went back to Rakhshani's stick, and then it trickled over to Matt Martin who put in past Ersburg and into the net with 0.6 seconds left to go in the game. The rink went crazy and so did the Sound Tigers everyone was celebrating, then the unthinkable happens. The trailing referee who was on the opposite side of the play and was in between the blue line and red line waved off the goal. It was clearly a good goal and this was a terrible call, I have never heard boo's that loud coming from the stands at The Arena At Harbor Yard. They were well deserved though. But with the referee's call the Sound Tigers fate was sealed. Shots were 10 for Manchester and 9 for Bridgeport.

This brings up what I have been saying about video review and why it should be mandatory and applied to the AHL. With video review the play in tonights game would have easily been over turned and counted as a good goal. On http://www.soundtigerforums.com/ i brought up this idea and was answered by "OneTigerFan" who gives a very good explanation to why the AHL doesn't have video review. He says "The reason that the AHL doesn't have video replay is because it would be too expensive. While all games are on AHL Live, the various arenas have different standards of video and the large majority of them (including Bridgeport) do not have nearly the amount of video coverage needed to use video replay. Each arena would need to have mounted video cameras above the goals on each side to replay goal calls. This would all cost way more then most teams could afford (especially considering some of the horrible attendance numbers some teams put up).".

After the game Michael Fornabaio who writes for the Sound Tigers wrote that Matt Martin said after the game"It's in the past now". From what Fornabaio wrote also on his twitter account he said "Replay is pretty inconclusive. Reese flipped it up from behind net. Rakhshani gloved down. Martin thought it hit MCR player bf he slapped in"

3 Stars:

#1. Justin Azevedo-MAN-Scored the game winning goal for Manchester.

#2. Robin Figren-BST-Only Sound Tiger goal, played well.

#3. Erik Ersburg-MAN-Stopped 27 out of 28 shots Sound Tigers took.

Honorable Mention: Justin Dibenedetto-BST-Couple big hits and looked very good in both games this weekend, good scoring chances.

Shots:

Bridgeport-28

Manchester-32

Starting Line-ups:

Bridgeport / Manchester

#1-Mikko Koskinen-G / #31-Erik Ersburg-G

#3-Travis Hamonic-D / #2-Andrew Campbell-D

#5-Dustin Kohn-D / #7 Patrick Mullen-D

#6-Jesse Joensuu-LW / #21 Dwight King-LW

#17-Matt Martin-RW / #9-Bud Holloway-RW

#24-David Ullstrom-C / #15-Justin Azevedo-C

Sound Tigers Defeat Sharks 5-4 In A Shootout

What a way to kick off the 2010-2011 10th anniversary season of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Everything went the way the Tigers wanted. First, the arena was completely sold out. They brought much needed energy into the arena and gave the team a little extra get up and go before the game. The attendance, as reported on TheAHL.com, was 8,480. With the crowd ready to go after a brand new video on the big screens and player introductions done, it was time for some hockey. The Sound Tigers got out to an early 1-0 lead when Tigers tough guy Micheal Haley cut off a pass by a Worcester Dman and went in alone on Sharks goalie Alex Stalock. Haley buried the puck high glove side on Stalock. The lead didn't last long though, as former San Jose Shark Jonathan Cheechoo, who was standing behind the net in the corner, banked one off the inside leg of Tigers goalie Mikko Koskinen. This tied the game up at one. But the Tigers had other ideas and soon enough they took the lead again as newly acquired center Rob Hisey scored a short handed goal, putting it through the arm of a butterflied Stalock. The period ended with a bang, as the Tigers Jean Bourbeau hit a Worcester player into the Sound Tigers bench. This brought over Worcesters Garent Hunt who then fought Bourbeau. Both received five minutes for fighting and Hunt got an additional two minutes for instigating and a ten minute misconduct. Shots for the period were 12 for the Tigers and 7 for the Sharks.

As the second period started so did Worcester's come back. They out played the Tigers for most of the period, The Sharks got two goals from Brandon Mashinter who played well for the Sharks. This had the Tigers trailing for the first time all night, but it wouldn't stay like that for long as promising Islanders prospect Matt Martin got a nice pass from another new Tiger David Ullstrom, and put it into the back of the net to tie things back up at three a piece going into the third period. Shots in the period were 11 for Worcester and 9 for the Sound Tigers.

The third kicked off with a bang as 28 seconds in Robin Figren got a beautiful pass out of the corner from Tomas Marcinko, and beat Stalock top corner. This got the tigers back on top 4-3. Things were made interesting as the Sharks T.J. Trevelyan put one past a sprawling Koskinen to tie it at four. With no more scoring in regulation time the game went into overtime. Shots in the third were 11 for Worcester and 9 for Bridgeport.

Both teams had great scoring opportunities including a great point blank save by Koskinen. Shots in Overtime were 4 for Bridgeport, and 1 for Worcester. In the shootout Cheechoo and Ferriero went first and second for the Sharks and were both stopped on deke attempts and Justin Dibenedetto and Rhett Rakhshani both missed the net, Dibo on a shot and Rakhshani on a deke. Mashinter then scored for the Sharks as well did Figren for the Tigers. DeSilva and Zalewski both talied for Worcester but the Sound Tigers answered right back as Hisey and Romano put pucks pasts Stalock. Stalock seemed mad at himself as he went to go get off the ice after the Romano goal and the shootout wasent over yet. With the scored tied 3-3 in the shootout they went into extra shooters. It only took one extra round as Worcester's Steve Sullivan was stopped by Koskinen. This left the door open for Tomas Marcinko who came down on Stalock and whizzed one right by him. The rest of the Sound Tigers poured off the bench to congratulate him and the crowd went wild. Stalock angry with how he played in the shootout, snapped his stick in the runway while heading to the locker room.

I have to mention the kindness of Matt Martin who took two game pucks to give to fans after the game and made sure that the fans getting them were kids. Shows how nice these guys really are. This was one of the best home openers the Sound Tigers have had and I hope to see crowds like this at every game because these players really gave the fans a great show. Good win, hope theres many more to come.

3 stars

#1. Tomas Marcinko-BST

#2. Brandon Mashinter-MAN

#3. Matt Martin-BST

Shots

Bridgeport-35

Worcester30

Welcome to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Fan Blog

Welcome to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Fan Blog, I will be updating this blog with information on the team such as news, scores, stats, and much more.