So let’s see. To sum this thing up:
–Kevin Poulin’s good. Jeez. Diving across for rebounds, getting beat only on breakaways and deflections… He’s 10-4. Not bad.
–The PK has bounced back nicely. And while Worcester may be sputtering a bit with the advantage, that’s still 10 consecutive penalties killed for Bridgeport after it went just 3-for-7 to come out of the break. That includes two long five-on-threes and an overtime four-on-three.
–The power play is 3-for-13 in these three games, too. Colliton in front for the deflection on the first, Wotton gets a bit of luck but gets the shot through on the second.
–They’re getting something out of everybody. “The prospects are coming along nicely. They’re settling in to the pace of the league, the intensity, the mental focus you have to have every second out there. Maybe we didn’t understand that at times in the beginning of the year,” Bingham said.
They’re getting a handle on it now. If the season ended today as well as the year, they’d be in the playoffs.
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Two nights in a row, Bingham did some mixing and matching in the final minutes (it started with about seven to go today). “It’s a matter of shortening the bench, four lines to basically three,” he said. “I’m adjusting on the fly, too. I’m looking to see who’s huffing and puffing.” Bourbeau and Labelle have both fit into that mix both nights. “They probably didn’t play as much as some of the other guys,” Bingham said. “They’re guys who can skate. They win puck battles along the wall.” Hisey, too, Bingham praised for taking hits to make plays and earned time late in the game.
Bridgeport finishes the year 37-32-4-6 for 84 points in 79 games.
A feature from Michigan on ECHL all-star Steve Tarasuk.
Between now and the time the teams meet Sunday afternoon, Providence will have played two road games.
If you have a couple of hours, I highly recommend Joe Posnanski’s Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. (The whole week has been good stuff.)
RIP, Steve Boros and Tony Proudfoot.
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Favorite blog headers this year. And a couple of favorite posts.
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So that’s enough for 2010. Had its moments in both directions. (Plus, I had computer troubles and lost pieces of these lists, so add your own thoughts in the comments.)
We said hello to the likes of Len DiCostanzo (full-time), Brendan Witt for a bit, Dylan Reese, Mike Radja, Jake Gannon, Brett Motherwell, Dustin Friesen, Jean Bourbeau, Rhett Rakhshani, Jeremy Yablonski, Zenon Konopka (finally), Rob Hisey, David Ullstrom, Travis Hamonic, Kevin Poulin, Justin Taylor, Joel Martin, Chris Blight, Brandon Svendsen, Trent Campbell, Wes O’Neill (finally), Jon Landry, Eric Castonguay, Mike Sellitto and the Charlotte Checkers. We said goodbye to folks like Matt Broyles, Greg Moore, Brett Westgarth, Scott Munroe, Jon Gleed, Victor Bartley, Trevor Smith, Greg Mauldin, Jeremy Reich, Mark Flood, Tyler Haskins, Sean Bentivoglio, Scott Gordon and the Albany River Rats.
We said goodbye and good luck to the likes of Curtis Joseph, Michael Peca, Kerry Fraser, Nygel Pelletier, Sami Kapanen, Rob Blake, Chris Chelios, Scott Niedermayer, Rod Brind’Amour, Keith Tkachuk, Darcy Tucker, Bill Guerin, Jere Lehtinen, and Marty Demers.
We said hello again to Jeremy Colliton, Olivier Labelle, Ruslan Fedotenko and Donald Fehr.
And Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau went across town. And then Jack Capuano went up.
The hockey world lost people like Pat Burns, Willie Huber, Bob Probert, Brendan Burke, Michel Mongeau, Bobby Kromm, Elie Patrick, Pat Dineen, Wayne Stephenson, John Barbero, Jack Butterfield, Craig Charron, Vic Lynn, Harry Pidhirny, Doug McMurdy and Larry Kelley. The local hockey world lost Jason Proteau and Steven DeLuzio, Kevin Sheehan and Manny Perry. And there’s a banner hanging for one of them: We won’t forget Lt. Steven Velasquez and Firefighter Michel Baik.
The Sound Tigers needed lots of points down the stretch to get into the playoffs. They got them, then couldn’t get the last two to avoid Hershey. And that became the stuff of trivia questions.
The team celebrated its 10th season. We did lots to mark the occasion, too, here and on Twitter (#bst10thyear). We’ve managed weekly livechats. However we’ve communicated, hope you’ve enjoyed it.