Hold that Tiger: Thursday notes

So Nicky Cullinan and Will Forrest and Matt Walker are indeed one heck of a line………

Sorry. Mixing my Tigers. And trips to Wonderland.

(They are, though. Been coming up big for years.)

It looked like all hands on deck for the Sound Tigers this morning: Devon Toews and Kyle Burroughs paired up, which could mean Toews’ five-game injury exile is over. The way the drills went, it looked as if Mike Sislo and Stephen Gionta might be the two vets of seven who’ll sit out Friday, but it also looked as if both will play this weekend.

“We’ve got to (rotate the vets),” Brent Thompson said. “The situation we have, you can look at it two ways. I’m going to look positively: We have great vets that I want in every night, but we’re going to have to rotate in and make sure they’re all sharp. There’s a huge value to each one of these guys, slightly different game-to-game.”

The Sound Tigers exorcised their Springfield demons in the last trip up I-91. They’re winless in the past five trips up I-95 to Providence, the last four in regulation. Another chance tomorrow, then home Saturday and Sunday. It is, as Kieffer Bellows noted, six games in nine days (in four states) for the Sound Tigers. But then comes Christmas.

No Providence for us — few if any road games, it sounds like, the rest of the way, with our shifted-around responsibilities — but should be around Saturday. (And we’ll be talking high school hockey on Friday.)

Neat note from Utica on Stratford’s Jaime Sifers and the Comets’ involvement with the military. (Also from Utica, Colton Saucerman’s beard is getting more attention than it did last year in Springfield. Yes, Yukon Cornelius and all, but please tell me there’s at least one other person who sees his name and lets out a bawmp bawmp bawwwwmp.)

Michael Fornabaio