You mean the goalie

There was a potentially huge addition for the Sound Tigers on the ice today at Wonderland, on early.

Johan Sundstrom got through the pre-practice skate OK. The plan is for him to skate again tomorrow before practice. Out since mid-January after taking a blow to the head, and considering how well he had played, Sundstrom would be a big help. They’re 3-7-1-2 since he went down, though you can surely make a note that that’s only two games after a whole forward line plus Travis Hamonic went up.

Oh, and Rick DiPietro practiced. Yeah, that too. He declined to comment to the media. He looked OK for, I’d presume, not having practiced in a few days. Otherwise, he was very… well, Ricky-like. Vocal, with what looked to be a somewhat intense (not unusual) chat with the D corps as they changed rinks. Funny, telling stories with his teammates as they packed up after practice.

The lines were the same as they finished Sunday’s game, Backman-Watkins-Niederreiter and Persson-Nelson-Kabanov with the other two lines as they were; D pairs as they’d been. No Max MacKay. Scott Pellerin said Brett Gallant saw a doctor yesterday and they were awaiting the report.

The Rangers stay in Hartford, and reportedly plan to keep the Whale. Ah well.

The Sound Tigers apparently sent tape in of the Dalton Prout hit on Brandon DeFazio after Friday’s game. Told that, though he wasn’t suspended and the box and the stats don’t change, that will be treated as a boarding major and game misconduct for future disciplinary purposes.

Steve Valiquette was back coaching today rather than goaltending. He dominated warmup this weekend; Frederic Cassivi came out of the bubble-hockey circuit, hopped in and played for Reading. Neat story from Jason Guarente.

Sunday was the last WBS game without a captain: Joey Mormina gets the ‘C’.

Two links from Utica that counter the idea that Calgary is a done deal. (Plus, as has been widely noted on Twitter, that original report doesn’t seem to be live anymore. Though, if you search for “Calgary,” pretty much every link seems to return a 404. Anyway.) Interesting that Robert Esche is involved.

Rochester officially sorts out its interim coaching staff.

The Blackhawks are a crazy 16-0-3, and if you’re a purist you scoff and you look for the “SO” tag, and you realize they’re 14-0-5 in your terms, and I guess even if you’re a 60-minute purist they’re 11-0-8. Amazing.

Three overtimes in the KHL. Mark Flood played, well, quite a bit.

And RIP, Jean-Philippe Gauthier and C. Everett Koop*.

*-I pity the fool who doesn’t like he.

Michael Fornabaio