Opening day, coming back to where he established himself in this league, playing the team he helped to the Calder Cup Final: I figured it’s just another game once the puck drops, but was this day special at all for Kael Mouillierat?
“Every opening day is special. It doesn’t really matter who you’re playing; you’re excited to get going,” Mouillierat said.
He’s got lots of good friends down the hall, including Blair Riley from both stops and Jordan Hill from there.
“But the old saying is there’s no friends on the ice,” Mouillierat said. “We’ll save the chit-chat for later on after the game or tomorrow, maybe.”
Two games against an IceCaps team that’s already got Jason Jaffray and Peter Budaj hurting. Bridgeport, meanwhile, seems as optimistic as it has been in a while.
“There’s a lot of excitement,” Mouillierat said. “We’ve got a lot of good young guys, and they also brought in some older guys to lead the way a little bit.”
He’ll start out flanked by two of the younger guys.
BRIDGEPORT
F: Lee-Mouillierat (A)-Collberg
Zolnierczyk-Sundstrom-Gillies
Persson-Quine-Halmo (A)
Gallant-Langkow-Vaughan
D: Ness (C)-Pulock
Czuczman-Graham
Pelech-Mayfield
G: Poulin
Leggio
ST. JOHN’S
F: Klingberg-O’Dell (A)-Lipon
Holland-Albert (A)-Kosmachuk
Blanchard-MacKinnon-Riley (A)
MacLean-Olsen-Brassard
*(Balisy-scratch)
D: Melchiori-Ellerby
Brouillette-O’Neill
Chiarot-Kichton
G: Hellebuyck
Olkinuora
R: Lambert. L: Colby, Briggs.
A’s on Mouillierat and Riley.
Partly because of the ATOs last spring, no more than five guys will make their Bridgeport debuts tonight (Gillies, Collberg, Pelech, Zolnierczyk, and Leggio backing up). There are four scratches who could eventually, though.
Meanwhile, Lindsay Kramer notes that the Goaltenders Union has won: Their records are now W-L-OTL in the AHL instead of W-L-SOL. All losses beyond regulation are in the third column now, so for them as for the team, a point for getting to overtime. (If you’re gonna go to three-on-three, I can’t get upset about that change.)