Five Alive

So I was thinking about doing something toward the end of the season, and then things got busy, and then life got in the way, and then the season ended. And as it was slipping away, I got an e-mail from Bob Farrington that brought it all back.

I can’t believe it’s over! […] So somewhere within the craziness that is my mind, I started to think about the 5 years of Sound Tigers history and the players we have seen come through here. And then I thought about what an “All-Time” Sound Tigers roster might look like.

Good gravy, thought I, the man’s thinking like me. (What this means for him, that’s left as an exercise for the reader.) But then I read on…

But how to do it? Who are the best players? Who played the best while they were here, without regard to what they may have done elsewhere? Is there a minimum-game eligibility requirement? All good questions. I don’t know that I have any answers either. I think I’ll just wing it and see what happens. I’ll start with the premise of a 23 man roster: 13 forwards, 7 D and 3 goalies and see where that leads.

Good gravy, thought I, the man’s thinking exactly like me. None of this one-guy-at-each-position stuff. He wants an all-time TEAM.

But I’ll go him one better — I want a lineup, four full real lines (LW-C-RW), and three D pairs (LD-RD), plus your spare forward and spare defenseman. Pick three goalies, but designate which one gets scratched opening night. Since Gary Bettman is still commissioner, we’ve got to play under the New Rules; remember that your squad will have to play special teams, too, and especially since Francois St. Laurent will work some of your games, remember that some of this is gonna be 5-on-3.

To keep things honest, let’s include only players who appeared on a Clear Day list. This eliminates some good and/or influential players (My all-left-out unit: Weinhandl-Wyatt Smith-Yarema, Bouchard-Timander, Stirling) while including some short-timers (Steve Webb and this year’s Manchester Two most obviously), but what the heck.

Players are listed below where I’d say they played most influentially for Bridgeport. And since even I’m not sold on a couple of these position choices, I might allow you some changes, particularly on defense; a lot of these guys played some different spots semiregularly. I think these are most representative, but if you feel really strongly, make your case.

One person gets a blanket exception to these rules, and that’s Bob, ’cause it was his party in the first place.

The rest of you? Get pickin’. Here’s your candidates:

Left wing–Jeremy Adduono, Derek Bekar, Graham Belak, Sean Bergenheim, Martin Chabada, Marty Kariya, Juraj Kolnik, Masi Marjamaki, Justin Papineau, Steve Regier, Dave Roche, Mike Souza, Jeff Tambellini, Chris Thompson, Raffi Torres.

Center–Kevin Colley, Jeremy Colliton, Blaine Down, Matt Higgins, Ben Guite, Matt Koalska, Ryan Kraft, Jason Krog, Eric Manlow, Justin Mapletoft, Jason Podollan, Daniel Tkaczuk.

Right wing–Rob Collins, Eric Godard, Jeff Hamilton, Barrett Heisten, Trent Hunter, Konstantin Kalmikov, Patrick Leahy, Cail MacLean, David Masse, Dave Morisset, Robert Nilsson, Marko Tuomainen, Steve Webb.

Left defense–Ryan Caldwell, Chris Campoli, Denis Grebeshkov, Cole Jarrett, Jay Leach, Alan Letang, Branislav Mezei, Tomi Pettinen, Scott Ricci, Jody Robinson, Allan Rourke, Ray Schultz, Brandon Smith.

Right defense–Keith Aldridge, Chris Armstrong, Sven Butenschon, Eddie Campbell, Bruno Gervais, Ray Giroux, Vince Macri, Alain Nasreddine, Harlan Pratt, Ken Sutton.

Goalie–Frederic Cloutier, Rick DiPietro, Wade Dubielewicz, Dieter Kochan, Stephen Valiquette.

(For bonus fun, construct a lineup made up of actual, regular line combinations. Kolnik-Krog-Hunter, Adduono-Tkaczuk-Hamilton, etc., for instance.)

Maybe there’s a way we can compile some kind of five-year team off each individual vote, so either post them in the comments or e-mail them to me at mfornabaio@ctpost.com with the subject “Five Year Team” or something similar but clear (spam filters, y’know). We’ll see what happens. Voting runs through July 26, so you’ve got some time. Have fun.

Michael Fornabaio