Finally announced today, Boston vs. the Islanders at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard, Oct. 1, 7 p.m. It’s a Saturday night.
Tickets on sale July 11, beginning at $19, according to the release. Those with season tickets for either the Sound Tigers or the Islanders can get in on a presale July 7.
Edit: Word a bit before 5:30 that big and tough defenseman Benn Olson is coming back on an AHL contract. Did a nice job on a PTO and got an invitation to return.
….
Calgary named former Houston assistant Troy Ward as Abbotsford’s new head coach.
| TEAM | Old | New |
| BPT | Pat Bingham (4/13) | Brent Thompson (6/28) |
| PRO | Rob Murray (4/16) | Bruce Cassidy (6/25) |
| POR-a | Kevin Dineen (6/1, FLA coach) | Ray Edwards (6/27) |
| MIL | Lane Lambert (6/9, NAS ass’t) | Kirk Muller (6/27) |
| ABB | Jim Playfair (6/13, PHX assoc.) | Troy Ward (6/30) |
| TEX | Glen Gulutzan (6/17, DAL coach) | — |
| HOU | Mike Yeo (6/17, MIN coach) | — |
| SJS | Claude Noel (6/23, WIN coach) | — |
| SA-ab | Ray Edwards (6/27) | Chuck Weber (6/29) |
| CHI | Don Lever (6/27) | — |
| ROC-b | Chuck Weber (6/29) | — |
a-Ray Edwards moved from San Antonio to Portland with Phoenix’s affiliation. b-Chuck Weber moved from Rochester to San Antonio with Florida’s affiliation.
Buyouts done or reported include Tyler Sloan, J.P. Dumont, Sheldon Souray, Cam Barker and Mike Commodore.
Brendan McCarthy notes that the rumors have a nickname for St. John’s: IceCaps. Brendan also notes one of the several issues with that nickname: Double-Doubles would be much more fun.
We went through something like this here in 2000. The team put out four names in its name-the-team contest. Bored at work one day, I started checking registries for variations on them, and I found one and only one. “Beach Tigers” it was, I figured. Until I got in touch with Peter Ricciardi, who said, well, no, not definitely.
And Justin Bourne on the late Barry Wilkins.