Sens vs. Sound Tigers 3/20/04 Preview: Tigers invade the Arena for the final time this year
March 20, 2004

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Binghamton Hockey.net

The Binghamton Senators welcome to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena for the final time this year the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in the tenth and final meeting of year for the two teams. In the seven previous meetings the Senators have the series edge winning four games to losing three games to the Sound Tigers. In the BCVMA the Senators have won two out of the three games played in Binghamton, while the teams split the four game season series at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport.

The Senators will be without the services of All Star goalie Ray Emery tonight. Emery who was re-called on an emergency stint for Thursday's Ottawa Senators, Colorado Avalanche NHL game, to back up Patrick Lalime in the 2-0 win was returned for Friday's game vs. Albany. After the 5-4 win vs. the River Rats, Ottawa asked for Emery services again as he will once again be backing up Patrick Lalime in the game vs. the Carolina Hurricanes tonight. Back-up goalie Billy Thompson will make the start for the Senators vs. the Sound Tigers tonight potentially setting up a rookie vs. rookie goalie match up with Thompson in goal for the Senators and Wade Dubielewicz in goal for the Sound Tigers.

The last game between the Sound Tigers and the Senators happened on March 7th and was the final game this year at the Arena at Harbor Yard. The first period belonged completely to Bridgeport jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead with goals from Justin Mapletoft at the 52 second mark and then a goal from Eric Manlow just 7:26 into the game. When the second period began the game started to change into the Senators favor when David Hymovitz scored a shorthanded goal with assists to Jody Hull to Andy Hedlund at the 8:49 mark. Then with in 2 minutes and 30 seconds the Senators scored two more unanswered goals vs. the Sound Tigers off shots from Julien Vauclair & Brad Tapper. With the Senators up 3-2 in the second period leading for the first time in the game it did not take long for the Tigers to tie the game back up after Ryan Kraft sent a shot past Thompson at the 13:33 mark of the game. In the third period Thompson only had to stop five shots from the Sound Tigers and received the game-winning goal from the stick of Brad Tapper. Tapper's goal in the third was his second in the game and won him the #1 star honors in game. Dieter Kochan stopped 26 of 30 shots sent his way for the Sound Tigers while Senators goalie Billy Thompson stopped 27 of 30 shots in the 4-3 victory over the Tigers for the Senators.

The Senators in their last six games are still 4-1-1 after last night's 5-4 win vs Albany. The Senators last two games have been vs. the Albany River Rats (5-4 OT & 5-4) last Sunday & last night. The other four games has the Senators skating to a tie with Wilkes-Barre (4-4) last Saturday, a loss to Rochester (5-3) on Friday, beating Rochester (1-0) in Binghamton last Wednesday and skating passed Bridgeport (4-3) two Sundays ago.

The Sound Tigers have also won four out of their last six games including last night's 1-0 shutout victory over the Atlantic leading Hartford Wolfpack. The other three wins have come against Wilkes-Barre (2-1) this past Wednesday, Hartford (4-3) last Saturday and vs. Providence (3-0) two Wednesdays ago. The two losses for the Tigers came from the sticks of Manchester (2-1) last Sunday and from Binghamton (4-3) two week's ago tomorrow.

Tonight begins a five game road trip for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. After tonight's game in Binghamton the Tigers will then travel to Albany tomorrow and then have four days off until they face Philadelphia in Philly in a battle for the East division lead. The Tigers then travel to the Scope in Norfolk to battle Norfolk in a two game set. The Tigers do not return home until March 31st when they play host to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins.

The Senators after tonight's game will then have three days off before hosting Manitoba at the Arena on Wednesday. The Senators will then head a little north to Syracuse to face the Crunch next Friday before returning home to end their season series vs. the Philadelphia Phantoms on Saturday. Binghamton will then start April in Norfolk with a two game set scheduled to be played on April 2nd and 3rd from the Scope.

Denis Hamel leads the Senators in all three categories with 61 (27+34) points. Ray Emery (20-19-5) will not be in the line-up tonight after his 5-4 win last night vs. Albany. Emery has 2.51 goals against average and a .920 save percentage on the season. Back up, Billy Thompson has a record of 11-13-2 with 2 shut outs on the season. Thompson has a 3.03 goals against average and a .901 save percentage playing in 31 games in his rookie season.

Jeff Hamilton's +17 +/- rating and his 61 (37+24) points leads the Sound Tigers and places him closely into the MVP running for the 03/04 season. Rookie goal tender Wade Dubielewicz is close to breaking the record for shut outs by a rookie, which stands at nine games. The rookie has eight on the season this year while sporting a 20-7-4 record. Dubielewicz has an impressive 1.41 goals against average and a .944 save percentage as a rookie in the AHL.

With last nights 5-4 win vs. the River Rats the Senators (31-30-7-2 71 points) placed themselves one point above idle Hershey (29-29-8-4 70 points) and into a tie for fourth with also idle Norfolk (31-29-4-5 71 points). Last night's OT loss by Wilkes-Barre (30-26-8-6 74 points) placed the Penguins only three points above Binghamton and Norfolk for third place in the East. Bridgeport (36-19-9-4 85 points) on the other hand is in another battle for first place like last year vs. the Senators but this year vs. the Philadelphia Phantoms (39-23-6-1 85 points). Both teams are tied with 85 points with the Phantoms having the edge with three more games won then the Sound Tigers. The Tigers and the Phantoms will face each other two more times before the season's end and the two games could be crucial to the winner of the East division.

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