We’ll be following along with Pete Michaud (Audio / Video) this weekend. Following Twitter reports from Corey, Pete, the Ads’ official feed and their play-by-play account.
The box will be here. First Bridgeport game for Jason Rollins. He’s also an ECHL supervisor; from googling, looks like he’s worked mostly (maybe exclusively) Norfolk and Charlotte home games in the AHL.
Justin Johnson serves out his suspension tonight, while Marc Cantin starts his three-gamer. None of the assorted ill or injured were expected back tonight, so that’d leave 13 forwards and six defensemen (and again in case you’ve missed it, Ness in, Donovan out) to pick from.
Notes and links from around: This was out there from the other side earlier, but Portland announced from their side today that Corey Trivino, an Islanders draft pick, signed a PTO; he’d had 24 points in 29 games with Stockton. His potential AHL debut has been delayed: The first game of the Portland-St. John’s series is postponed from Saturday to Monday because of travel delays. That turns a three-in-four into a three-in-three, Sunday-Monday-Tuesday. Mattias Tedenby is on waivers in New Jersey. Wayne Messmer, legendary anthem singer in Chicago and part owner of the Wolves, will honor the first responders who saved his life when he was shot 20 years ago. Everyone gets a trophy in Switzerland, too, then? (Kidding. Pretty neat thing that the Amerks got to go. They’re back at it for real tonight in Utica.) And our story on the fun and games of warmup ran today. As you may be able to tell, it’d held for a while, but hopefully it’s a fun read.
Speaking of, scheduled 7:15 start, so warmup probably begins around 6:39. More later. COUGH got ’em backward. Tonight’s 7:30, so warmup probably begins around 6:54.
–Micheal Haley’s back in for Hartford tonight, the team’s Twitter account reports. He’d been out since before Thanksgiving after sports hernia surgery. Meanwhile, Riley Gill starts for Hershey tonight; hoping his second AHL start tops his first.
–Nilsson vs. Bobkov, Corey says.
–From what’s tweeted, looks like Devos in for Kabanov, and Ness reunited with his former partner:
BRIDGEPORT from Corey
F: Lee-Devos-Halmo
Bouchard-Quine-Diamond
Persson-A.Clark-Lowry
Gallant (A)-Langkow-Bruton (C)
(Kabanov-scratch)
D: Ness (A)-Mayfield
Keenan-Cornell
Jackson-Vaughan
G: Nilsson
Reiter
NORFOLK from Pete
F: Etem – Rakell – Smith-Pelly
Cramarossa-Wagner-Sauve
Laganiere-Steckel-Whitney
Kurtz-Sarault-Stortini
D: Gagne-Yonkman
Exelby-Warg
Parent-Grant
G: Bobkov
Gibson
R: Chmielewski, Rollins. L: Hamlett, Pomento.
–Bleeding Gums Murphy on the anthem tonight in Norfolk. See you in 10 minutes.
–Bruton vs. Kurtz. Bruton took a couple early but hung in.
–Stortini-Gallant after a Stortini hit on Vaughan. Bridgeport didn’t have a shot for about nine minutes but has had a few chances since.
–Rakell has a half step on a backchecker to make it an effective two-on-one as Smith-Pelly carries wide on the left wing; Rakell’s redirection of Smith-Pelly’s pass beats Nilsson to make it 1-0 late first.
–That’s a killer: Diamond’s backhand clearing attempt hits Jackson, caroms to Etem; Etem dekes and scores to make it 2-0 Norfolk at 19:55 of the first. 4.5 seconds left, per the tweets.
–See the comments for a neat Fun Fact. Meanwhile Bridgeport kills an early penalty and has another Norfolk PP shortened by a Wagner interference minor just past the game’s midpoint.
–In Glens Falls, Chris Brown has given Hershey and Adirondack no power plays through 47 minutes; just one fight. No score there.
–There are power plays in Norfolk, though, and with Stortini off boarding, Aaron Ness scores from the center point. Ness has a four-game scoring streak… back to Oct. 30. The Sound Tigers will go back to the power play after a Laganiere slash on Diamond.
–Fourth consecutive penalty against Norfolk with 2:16 left in the second, and at least the second in a row that’s a foul on Diamond, who’s hooked by Parent here.
–The period ends 2-1 in Norfolk’s favor; Bridgeport got the one goal on those four second-period power plays.
–They’re 5:16 away from overtime in Glens Falls, and still just those coincidental majors.
–OT in Glens Falls. And just as it starts, Genoway high-sticks Newbury. There’s your first PP. I feel no shame now about flipping back to the Admirals and Sound Tigers, who’ll start again in a minute or two.
–RIP, Phil Everly.
–Phantoms win up there. Meanwhile, I reload the BST-NOR game and find Scott Mayfield off for high-sticking 71 seconds into the period.
–With Lee off for slashing midway through the period, Smith-Pelly finishes a tic-tac-toe play at the front of the net to make it 3-1 Norfolk. Norfolk has only four shots in the third, but Bridgeport has none.
–With under nine to go, Dallas Jackson’s five-game scoring streak is on the line. It’s modest, but there are only four longer in team history by defensemen.
–Halmo gets a stick in on Rakell, who goes down with 3:22 to go.
Norfolk 3, Bridgeport 1, final.
–Meanwhile, the only one of Pierre-Marc Bouchard’s eight AHL games in which he doesn’t have a point is his first one. Had thought I remembered another; not so.
–“The first period was pretty even,” Scott Pellerin said. “They were letting us play. We had a couple of opportunities to score and weren’t able to capitalize. They capitalized on a two-on-one, and late in the first we had a turnover deep in the defensive zone with under five second left, and it cost us.” Tough way to get down two, but you’ve got to know the situation there, he added later. “It’s the little details I talk about, that every coach talks about,” he said.
They created chances in the second but few second chances, he said. Then in the third, “we kept telling the guys to get pucks to the net, get pucks to the net. We weren’t able to take the next step and get pucks in.”
He mentioned that John Persson was hurting in the third; they’ll see how he is tomorrow.
We’ll be doing this again then. In the meantime, we’ll be listening to a lot of this.