It’s kind of depressing when the season opens up and people are talking more about Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers than what’s on the ice. We did get some Ben Walter and Pitton Brothers (well, one of them anyway) time, though.
There was a little buzz over the “speedy little guy” — Vladimir Nikiforov — both before and after the skate. Speedy, yep. Little, yep. He and Trevor Smith were among three players in blue. Light blue. Columbia blue. I felt at home. “Let’s go, Lions,” I said, to which John Sullo said they haven’t been any good since Barry Sanders. Well, we were both right.
I was dumb enough not to get a roster (why did I think I’d seen numbers somewhere?), so my numbered-up line combinations are semi-worthless. Their only worthiness depends on how many numbers remained the same from summer camp, in which case: Nikiforov-Smith-Hennigar; Rechlicz-Martin-Marcinko; Bentivoglio-Bailey-Gratchev; Haley-Haskins-DiBenedetto; Joensuu (doctor’s appointment, late arrival). Don’t hold me to positions; I was otherwise occupied at times during line rushes. My guess, and it’s only that, is that Hamonic was the defenseman missing.
Neat stuff at the start. While Mike Dunham and Sudsie Maharaj put Peter Mannino and Kevin Poulin through their paces, down at the other end were the coaches — going through a drill in the corner. Just going over stuff, Scott Gordon said, making sure everyone was on the same page. Lots of chalk-talk, too. Good to see they’ve got the communication going, anyway. That carried right over into the drills. They stopped a few times to get it right.
Very spirited. Very hard-skating. The ice let them down eventually, and they might have become a little tired (Jeremy Colliton noted that most of them had to be up at about 6:30 for physicals — smart man, he got his in, then went back to sleep), but they kept going. Up-and-down, turns, blue-line-in backchecks, three-on-twos. At the break, they did some more chalk talk in the room to make sure everyone had a handle on it.
Mark Herrmann wrote about Kyle Okposo. Hung out while they were talking to him, and I was glad to see something that’s mentioned down near the bottom of the column: Okposo seemed a lot more comfortable today. Not that he was reserved with us last year, exactly, but you could see he was holding something back sometimes. Good to see him open up, ’cause he seems like a good kid.
A slew of the vets were in, and they had about a half-hour scrimmage after the rookies finished. Joey MacDonald and Yann Danis at opposite ends. Jason Pitton went, saying he’s feeling really good after his shoulder surgery in March. Except for DiPietro and Bergenheim, I think I saw every former Sound Tiger under contract, and they might have been there too for all I know.
And oh yeah, Brandon Sugden will supposedly be in town tomorrow.
At least so far, I have nothing nearly as cool as Jonathan’s promised Tim Wallace story about a bear and a moose.
I’m on assignment the next two days, but there’s the rookie game at Shelton on Thursday, 1 p.m., $10, benefiting a Nathan Crowell scholarship fund.
And meanwhile, Chris Botta is gonna be bloggin’ up an Islanders storm. I can’t compete.
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Hey, college kid! Wanna be a Sound Tigers intern? Details here. Not listed among the requirements: Taking the beat writer’s guff. Ohhh, it’s been a long summer.
(Speaking of summers, Tyler Haskins called his “short.” Sure, you win a few playoff rounds…)
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Matt Murley is back with the Whalercanes.
What’s wrong with this picture? (Hat tip: Uni Watch.)
The Syosset Public Library is pretty nice. I’ve nothing more really to say, but it is. (Could use wireless Internet. Or better wireless Internet, if extant.)
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Jack Falla tributes (bring tissues): There’s Fluto Shinzawa of the Globe. Our old buddy Scott Lauber, like Shinzawa a pupil of Falla’s, had one on the blog. And here’s Kevin Allen.