Taking aim at the A with ‘A’s: end of preseason notes

I asked Mike Halmo what the ‘A’ meant to him. He thought I said the aim, meaning for tomorrow, and said “The guys are excited. We’ve been cooped up a while. I think everybody’s ready to play for keeps. … It’s time to show what we can do.”

Liked that, but I meant something different: Halmo and Kael Mouillierat will wear the A’s for Bridgeport at home. Harry Zolnierczyk and Anders Lee get them on the road.

A mix of some of the older/experienced guys and some younger guys (Thompson put an A on Justin DiBenedetto in 2011, you may recall). Thompson said he’s expecting leadership in several aspects from guys who aren’t wearing letters.

And yeah, as Halmo said, they’re excited, hoping to make a run. “I think the biggest thing will be consistency,” Halmo said. “There’s going to be a lot of high points and a lot of low points, too. If we can get through the low point, battle through together, through the rough points, I think we can accomplish a lot.”

Things looked generally the same today as yesterday in the last day before it all begins here. The AHL season begins tonight with five games; St. John’s opening road trip begins in Providence before it comes here. The other four games are in the Rumored Conference. Everybody except Manchester and Hartford plays Saturday.

Lindsay Kramer catches up with Jeremy Reich.

The Adirondack Flames introduced their mascot Thursday, and you don’t know how many set phrases involve fire in some way until you try to say casually how they botched it. Maybe it’s just fresher after the death of a fireman in Hartford this week, but that was quite the uncomfortable picture. And I love me some gallows humor, but no.

Neat: Wayne Gretzky interviews Gordie Howe.

And: “Think about the kind of range required to play both Ann Veal and Amber Holt.” Well played, Alan Sepinwall.

Michael Fornabaio