No, no, "Drewwwwww"…*

If you’ve got a bunch of people coming in on free tickets, and you’re hoping for a bit of an advertisement maybe, this probably isn’t what you’re hoping for.

Which came first, the lack of buzz on the Sound Tigers, or the lack of buzz in the crowd? There were points where the crowd tonight (which filled in a bit, didn’t it?) was quieter than the 500-something last night.

A friend came up to Mike Madar of the Hour and me afterward. “I feel sorry for you guys,” he said. “You’ve got to write about it.”

“No,” I said, “we’ve got Drew Fata.”

And then we said it together: “Life. Is. Good.”

Oh, Drew. Funny as usual. Salvaging the gamer, which is actually a little longer than usual. Most of it got in, except for the one that wasn’t printable (not dirty-unprintable, just off the record), and the one about how “I think I score two goals a year.” Squeezed in a little from Tambellini on the end of his conditioning stint and returning to an Islanders team that now has lost nine in a row.

Other than that, this last weekend before the break is now 1-1. Tomorrow becomes a little bigger.

——

With Jason Pitton scratched for the first time, Dennis Packard picked up most of his penalty-kill time. Sean Bentivoglio got a bit toward the end of the game, too.

Fata on his suspension in Philadelphia: “The fans are right on top of you. One fan leaned over. I pushed him out of the way. You can’t touch a fan.”

Bad too-many-men call in the second period. Kohn did jump on in front of the Binghamton player, but Bridgeport was a man short (it was the end of a power play, and they use different pairs for the power play than at even strength), so Kohn made five. Packard then came on for Joensuu, and the linesman made the call, but they never had more than five.

Courtesy of Isles PR man Corey Witt, here’s how Joe Callahan got to Nashville.

Prescout. Also of note, Hershey moved back two points ahead; Philly’s seven-game winning streak ended, but the tie got them to within two points of the Sound Tigers.

Jaime Sifers is somehow minus-2 in a 7-3 win, but congrats to him on his first NHL point, an assist on a Nik Antropov power-play goal.

Give Logan Pyett back his gold medal!

The Top 10 Astronomy pix of the year, chosen by “Bad Astronomy.” (Hat tip: Marginal Revolution.)

And RIP, Dock Ellis.

*-“No, they’re saying ‘Boo-urns!'” (2F31)

Michael Fornabaio