If you saw me running from the press conference, it’s nothing personal: deadline was in about five minutes. Rushed through four questions, mostly about how MacDonald made the big ones early to keep them in it until things got going. Penalties were painful at times — Fata took four of ’em, including one of those slap-the-glass unsportsmanlikes that have been on the books a while — but MacDonald was there.
He credited the defense for keeping them to the sides and clearing the rebounds, but the past couple of games start to show why they think he’s going to be big for them this year.
They start drawing penalties — Nielsen with a few, Colliton with a big one — and Tambellini almost scores two (the first one got tipped on the Regier screen) after driving up from Philly, and Bridgeport wins. Not a bad start. last year was 2-0, too, of course, but this feels different, doesn’t it?
LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Comeau-Nielsen-Tambellini (A)
Bentivoglio-Walter-Jackman (A)
Regier-Smith-Colliton
Labelle/Brennan
D: Fata-A. MacDonald
Kohn-Spiller
Fraser-Wotton (C)
NORFOLK
F: Kvapil-Jones-Wanvig
Keller-Lawrence-Milley (A)
Egener-Stewart-Hrdel
(Rosehill-scratch)-Smolenak-Rogers
D: Mihalik-Leach (A)
Lampman-Schneider
Fletcher-Jancevski (C)
And not only were they orangey, but Nielsen’s name was misspelled. (I before E, except after C.)
So yeah, as mentioned yesterday, the opening video is slick, but I wouldn’t mind a quibble with Radek Martinek. Campoli, Dubielewicz, Gervais — born in Bridgeport. DiPietro, Bergenheim, Hunter, Tambellini — raised in Bridgeport, at the very least. Martinek, in comparison: He’s the cousin who stayed over for a weekend. All good, though; the video is a nice pop for the franchise. And a nice all-around job by Kimber Auerbach and company putting that show on.
“O Canada” is a one-night only thing, by the way, but a fine one-night-only thing ’tis.
Two more blasts from the past, 2002-03 style: David Schneider of the Admirals went to training camp with Bridgeport in 2002. Steve Stirling said he has helped, along with some of the free-agent signings, stabilize what had been a young defense last year in Springfield. And though there’s nothing on the Bombers’ Web site, the ECHL says Dayton has signed Daniel Tkaczuk.
Gervais last night: assist, minus-2, two blocked shots, 8-1 loss. Gervais’s doppelganger: 6 2/3 innings, seven hits, one earned run, one walk, four strikeouts. What would have happened if you flipped channels quickly enough?
Two conditioning assignments of note: Ump mentioned Ray Emery in Binghamton for the weekend — he made a bunch of saves and didn’t win tonight — and Alain Nasreddine is going to Wilkes-Barre. If they keep him down the full two weeks, he could play next Saturday at Bridgeport Edit2: Kelly Tomlinson writes that Nasreddine plans to be back up after this weekend; and as long as we’re on the Ex Files, Lane Lambert got his first win. And elsewhere, Manchester assigned Brendan Buckley to Iserlohn.
And Boulerice got 25 games.
I’d say see ya in Lowell, but after two years ago, I know better.
Edit: You know, that title made a lot — OK, a little — more sense with my old lead, which isn’t even close to there anymore. If you’re hunting for hidden meaning up there, don’t.