Edit: The Islanders did call up Kevin Poulin after 5 p.m. today. Nothing further from this side yet.
Edit2: Arthur Staple tweets that the Islanders will sign veteran John Grahame, who’d been coaching this year, which should (if nothing else changes in the meantime) allow them to get Poulin back here before the Sound Tigers play again.
Optional today; team goes as a whole again tomorrow. No word if the Islanders might need Kevin Poulin or anyone else for Thursday’s game; the official feed had David Ullstrom practicing but Evgeni Nabokov day-to-day.
Not Steve Oleksy’s favorite 24 hours.
With nine games to go, worth another look at the AHL’s outstanding Playoff Primer. Makes a few things clear, including that the big number right now is 88 points: Seven Eastern Conference teams can’t reach that number, so it guarantees you a playoff spot before dealing with any tiebreakers. Bridgeport’s magic number is thus 11 points for a playoff spot (via Adirondack and Worcester; less to eliminate others). Reaching 90 points guarantees at least sixth place.
For the division, Bridgeport’s and the Whale’s magic numbers are technically 19 (they’re even in points with nine to go, so win ’em all is 18, have the other team lose a point somewhere is 19). The Sound Tigers have the tiebreaker at the moment, so 18 will probably get it done; the Whale would have to earn five more non-shootout wins than Bridgeport the rest of the way to take the tiebreaker away from the Sound Tigers. That’ll be difficult to do while still earning exactly the same number of points, but it is still possible for at least another week.
Chris Barton, one of last year’s parade of ATOs, was named to the ECHL’s all-rookie team.
College Hockey News says UConn will apply to join Hockey East.
We’ve got a new high school lacrosse blog.
And finally, from a few years ago… you and me both, kid.