We’re No. 3. Connor Hellebuyck made 39 saves, Nick Bonino opened the scoring from Brock Nelson in the first period, and the U.S. beat the host Czech Republic 3-0 to take bronze at the World Championship. Farmington’s Bonino picked up a double minor for high-sticking in the second, but soon after he assisted on Charlie Coyle’s back-breaker. So that’s bronze for a group that includes Milford’s Mark Arcobello and former Sound Tigers Nelson and Anders Lee, as well as Yale’s Alex Lyon, who backed up Hellebuyck once but didn’t play.
As was widely noted on Twitter today, this is a pretty good accomplishment for the young Americans. Still hard to believe the U.S. hasn’t done better than silver simply by accident at some point in the 20-plus years since the fall of the Iron Curtain. It’s had some very good pool-play performances. But it’s the fourth American bronze since 1996, which followed a 34-year drought.
Canada completed its perfect tear through the tournament with a 6-1 annihilation of Russia in the gold-medal game. Canada outshot the Russians 37-12; when Canada scored its sixth goal, Russia had only seven shots. Canada’s first gold since 2007; first medal since 2009.
Nelson finished the tournament 12th in scoring (with seven Canadians ahead of him) at 6-4-10 in 10 games. He was tied for fourth in goals with the likes of Jaromir Jagr and Jason Spezza. Lee finished with a goal and four assists; Arcobello had a goal and an assist, and Bonino had two goals and two assists. Hellebuyck was picked to the media’s all-tournament team.
Back closer to home: Chris Roy reports that the Coyotes, with the affiliation on the way from Portland to Springfield, cleaned house, right down to the trainers (including John Krouse, brother of Islanders assistant Rich “Shakey” Krouse).
| TEAM | Old | New |
| SD-a | Jarrod Skalde (4/21) | — |
| CHA | Jeff Daniels (4/30) | — |
| ROC | Chadd Cassidy (5/1) | — |
| p-SPR | Ray Edwards (reported 5/17) | — |
a-Former Norfolk Admirals, new San Diego Gulls. p-Former Portland Pirates; AZ affiliation moves to Springfield. To keep this manageable, other affiliation-swap coaches are assumed to move with the affiliation until we hear otherwise.
Grand Rapids moved on to the Western Conference Final with a 5-3 win at Rockford, finishing the series in five games. Andy Miele had three points; Teemu Pulkkinen scored, because it’s a day ending in ‘y’. The Griffins await either Utica or Oklahoma City. Utica can finish it Monday; if not, Game 7 there is Wednesday.
This really surprised me: Former Sound Tiger Justin Bourne broke up Shelby Miller’s no-hitter today in the Braves-Marlins g…what? Who? Oh. Never mind.
And RIP, Garo Yepremian.