Today was the day it really started feeling like the Sound Tigers season. Partly because they pretty much had their team on the ice for the first time after yesterday’s team-building day. Partly because their real numbers were on their helmets, not their Islanders training-camp numbers. And partly because there was Josh Ho-Sang drama. Our version will be on ctinsider.com later. (I’m trying to put the stories manually onto @bstsoundinoff, because I haven’t figured out how to do it automatically yet. Heck, half the time I can’t find them the first time.)
How they ran this morning:
24 St. Denis-11 Fritz-37 Bernier
14 Lorito-12 Koivula-16 Wahlstrom
20 Bellows-25 Jobst-17 Schilkey
10 Bourque-21 Bardreau-13 McDonald
18 Stevens-36 Kubiak-29 Durandeau
27 Wotherspoon-8 Burroughs
28 Aho-7 Hutton
2 Helgeson-3 Hickey
32 Quenneville-6 Cornell
44 MacKinnon
(with nine D, they were mixed up every rush, so don’t hold to those pairs just yet)
33 Gibson
50 Coreau
30 Soderstrom
(not positive about the goalie numbers, but this was the buzz)
Missing were Ho-Sang and Simon Holmstrom. Brent Thompson said Holmstrom was there but got an extra day; he’s expected on the ice tomorrow. A tweet that was up briefly indicated that Holmstrom gets No. 15.
Nic Pierog and Jakub Skarek to Worcester; Kyle MacLean was sent back to junior. Ben Thomson wasn’t on the ice. Brent Thompson said he was in a “holding pattern.” Not sure in which direction that means — Thomson was on a tryout at last report — but that same short-lived tweet had Thomson in No. 45. It also had Erik Brown in 38. Thompson called Brown “lower body, week-to-week” after that hit he took in the Friday exhibition game in Hartford; still seeing doctors.
Holmstrom gets 15, vacated by Kieffer Bellows, who took over 20, former number of Scott Eansor, who steps away from the the game, as our old bud Christian Gardecki caught on the Instagram. “Scott and I had a good meeting that morning,” Thompson said. “You want what’s best for the player and you want what’s best for the kid, put the hockey aside. If he wanted to move on and do something different in his life, I’m going to support him. We all talked, ‘are you sure it’s the right decision?’ He’s such a great kid, he’s got great character: He’s one of those guys, you want to see him smiling. He seems to be happy with the decision, so I know as an organization, as a coaching staff, we’re supporting him.”
They’ll announce their captains on Friday. And then things begin for real in Springfield on Saturday.