Civic Dutied this morning to the longest lines I’ve seen in five years at my current residence. Which was far from the most interesting thing about the morning to date.
Jeremy Colliton is an NHL head coach, promoted from Rockford and named this morning to replace Joel Quenneville in Chicago.
@Blackiehubcap is one of the smartest and best humans I’ve played with. I know he’s as good as a coach as he was a player and teammate. He gets it and will gain players respect simply by being himself. Congratulations brother.
— Rhett Rakhshani (@itsrhett) November 6, 2018
Colliton took Rockford to the Western Conference Final last year a year after taking Mora IK back to the SHL. His playing career ended way too soon because of concussions, but he remains 40 points clear of the field with 203 points as a Sound Tiger over all or parts of six seasons; only Mark Wotton played more games here, 368-326.
“It’s awesome. I’m so happy for him,” said Brent Thompson, who coached Colliton here in the division-championship year, 2011-12, Colliton’s last North American pro season, cut short by injury. “He was a great captain for us here. I got to be good friends with him, talked with him through the course of his coaching career. I’m really happy he got this opportunity in the NHL.”
Bridgeport looked largely the same as it did the other day, though it looked as if (a) Stephen Gionta might get in and (2) Sebastian Aho was ready to go, too (oh, and (iii) Tom Kuhnhackl was called up yesterday, and Mitch Gillam sent back to Worcester for their trip to the Rock (lucky Mitch), so Gibson/Smith is the tandem again).
One addition, though: Scott Eansor rejoined the group for the first time since Oct. 19. He was a fourth on the fourth (edit, 3:34 p.m.: brainfart, fifth) line. His return isn’t imminent, but better than it was.
Bright and early tomorrow, assuming that the high school soccer schedule doesn’t get in the way, and that we wake up after watching the election.
Elsewhere, yeah, you know, vote and such. Even if you just do the second half, because you probably won’t affect the front half much. (I’ve lived in the same congressional district my whole adult life. Looked it up once, and I think I could’ve voted 70,000 times without affecting a single federal election. Anyway.)
That NHL deal for Matt Donovan turned out to be a two-year contract.
Former Islander (and endtimes Whaler) Derek King takes over for Colliton in Rockford.
Brian Boyle scores three on Hockey Fights Cancer night. (The AHL found a Bridgeport tie.)
Newtown’s Melissa Samoskevich and the U.S. national team begin play in the Four Nations Cup today. Darien’s Spencer Knight, with the NTDP, is on the United States roster for the U18 Five Nations Tournament in the Czech Republic.
And pretty neat: What happens when a foreign country’s president runs the New York City Marathon?