It was Cool Fun 101 today and Sound Tigers didn't disappoint the 7,000 plus school students in attendance. The Sound Tigers defeated Springfield in the shoot out 6-5. They were led by Jon Sim who had just cleared waivers and has been sent down from the New York Islanders on a loan.
The Sound Tigers got off to a quick start in the first period as Jon Sim found the puck behind the net on the power play and did a quick little wrap around that beat Springfield's David LeNeveu through the legs only 1:03 into the game, to make it 1-0. They struck again about two minutes later, as Justin Dibenedetto one timed a great cross ice pass from Jesse Joensuu to make it 2-0. The game was not even three minutes old and the Sound Tigers were up by two. Sim would get his second goal of the game as he cut through the two Springfield defenders, took a shot that was stopped, but followed up his rebound that sat right in the crease; he banged it home to make it 3-0. After the goal, the rough stuff started to pick up when Travis Hamonic, who had challenged a Springfield player before hand, finally found somebody to fight. Unfortunately, he found Springfield's Tom Sestito, who is about 4 inches taller then Hamonic and has a longer reach. Sestito had his way and didn't let Hamonic get more then one punch in. Less then two minutes later, Micheal Haley dropped the gloves with Falcon's forward Nate Guenin. Haley got the win in this bout. Springfield would strike late though, as Matt Calvert came down on Sound Tigers goalie Nathan Lawson, on a semi breakaway and beat Lawson five hole to make the score 3-1. Shots in the period, For Bridgeport 14 and Springfield 8.
Springfield's first come from behind rally in the game started in the second, as Springfield's Maxsim Mayorov sprung on a breakaway and beat Lawson glove side to bring the Falcons within one 3-2. The Falcons would strike yet again only thirty two seconds after their second goal, as Micheal Ryan tipped a shot from the point past Lawson, glove side to tie the game 3-3. The Sound Tigers would regain the lead however, as David Ullstrom shot from the slot and beat a screened LeNeveu and trickled in to make it 4-3 Sound Tigers. Jon Sim scored his third goal of the game in the second, as he made a move around a Springfield defender and took a shot that was stopped, but he got his rebound and buried it top shelf for the hat trick. His goal put the Tigers up 5-3. Shots in the period, for Bridgeport 13 and for Springfield 13.
The third saw a lot of action down in front on Lawson, including a puck that trickled across the goal line but never entered the net and after a lengthy review it was deemed to be no goal. Everything in the third was going the way the Sound Tigers wanted, until about midway through the period, when Springfield picked it up a bit and mounted their second come back of the game. Justin Dibenedetto who had a good game, getting some great scoring chances, was called for a two minute roughing penalty for falling on Springfield's goalie. With body's crashing the net left and right the puck managed to make it's way to the point where a shot by Calvert beat a stick-less Lawson to make it 5-4. It was Calvert's second of the game. A minute and fifteen seconds later, the Falcons struck again as Steven Goertzen, who stood wide open in the circle, put one past a splitting Lawson to tie the game at 5-5. The Sound Tigers would need extra time for a second consecutive game to settle this one. Shots in the period, for Bridgeport 11 and Springfield 13.
Overtime brought some good scoring chances by both teams but no goals were scored, so it was on to the shootout. Bridgeport decided to shoot second, so Calvert came down on Lawson and took a shot low blocker side and Lawson made the save. Then it was Rhett Rakhshani for the Sound tigers, he came in and made a nice forehand snap shot, beating LeNeveu glove side. In the second, third, and forth rounds both teams remained scoreless. In the fifth round, Mayorov came down and beat Lawson with a quick shot, blocker side. It was up to Jon Sim now, if he scored, the Tigers would win. He did just that, as he came down on LeNeveu and did a couple quick forehand fakes before shooting it glove side over a sprawled out LeNeveu.
3 Stars:
1.Jon Sim-BST
2.Matt Calvert-SPR
3.Rob Hisey-BST
Shots:
Bridgeport-42
Springfield-35
Bridgeport Starting Lineup/Game Stats:
*Italics indicate starters
A | 2 | Reese, Dylan | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 3 | Hamonic, Travis | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
C | 4 | Wotton, Mark | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 | Kohn, Dustin | D | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 0 |
A | 6 | Joensuu, Jesse | RW | 0 | 2 | +1 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | DiBenedetto, Justin | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| 10 | Rakhshani, Rhett | RW | 0 | 2 | -1 | 3 | 0 |
| 12 | Marcinko, Tomas | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 15 | Bourbeau, Jean | LW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Sim, Jon | LW | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 2 |
| 18 | Haley, Micheal | LW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| 21 | Colliton, Jeremy | C | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Klementyev, Anton | D | 0 | 1 | +1 | 1 | 0 |
| 23 | Figren, Robin | RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 24 | Ullstrom, David | C | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | Hisey, Rob | C | 0 | 3 | +1 | 3 | 0 |
| 33 | Yablonski, Jeremy | RW | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 71 | Katic, Mark | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| | TEAM | | 6 | | | | 0 |
|
| | Goalies | | GA | Mins | SH | SVS | PIM |
| 1 | Koskinen, Mikko | | - | - | - | - | - |
| 52 | Lawson, Nathan | | 5 | 65:00 | 35 | 30 | 0 |
Coach: Jack Capuano Assistant Coach: Pat Bingham, Matt Bertani
Lineup courtesy of www.TheAHL.com |