For Brent Thompson, his seven years with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers have been a roller coaster. He and Eric Boguniecki are the last of the holdovers on the hockey operations side from the Garth Snow era. Many fans this season were calling for the firing of Thompson, and if this is his final season, who is going to take over as head coach of the Sound Tigers? Well, here are some names that could be on the watchlist for the Sound Tigers.

Ken Gernander

Ken Gernander is one of the most hated men in Bridgeport Sound Tigers history, first as the captain of the Hartford Wolf Pack during the first four years of the Sound Tigers, then as Head Coach of the Wolf Pack/Whale from 2007 to 2017. But after his departure from the Rangers organization, Gernander joined the Islanders as a scout and has been helping to find talent for the team. For Gernander, an AHL Hall of Famer, while he was hated by Sound Tigers fans, he is a local guy, living in Newington which is only an hour north of Bridgeport. It would be interesting to see if the Islanders stay in house and pick Gernander.

Kevin Colley

One of the more popular players in Sound Tigers history, Kevin Colley played parts of three seasons with the Sound Tigers from 2003-2006. Colley, whose father Tom was one of the greatest New Haven Nighthawks ever, had the local connection due to that he was called up to the Islanders midway through the season and played 16 games until his career was cut short due to a devastating neck injury. Colley won the Bob Nystrom Award following the season. After that season, he dabbled in coaching, starting with the Sound Tigers’ ECHL Affiliate, the Utah Grizzlies where he coached for six seasons until leaving the team and going down to the CHL with the Arizona Sundogs until the league disbanded. Colley currently is the hockey program manager for the Dallas Stars.

Alan Letang

A guy who played two seasons with the Sound Tigers, the Canadian Born-Croatian was a cult hero for his local club in Croatia and coached them into the KHL. Letang then became the Head Coach of the Owen Sound Attack, and then was on the Canadian World Juniors staff during the 2020 tournament. It would be interesting to see if Alan makes the jump from the OHL to the AHL. Alan was a very popular Sound Tiger and it would be interesting to see if he makes the move.

Kurt Kleinendorst

Kleinendorst is an AHL Veteran Coach who has ties to Lou Lamoriello. Kleinendorst currently coaches in the DEL in Germany but was a longtime scout for the Devils and got his first AHL Head coaching job for the Lowell Devils after being an assistant coach for the NJ Devils. Kleinendorst has made stops in Iowa, Binghamton, Belleville and the University of Alabama-Huntsville in his career. Currently he is in Nürnberg with the Ice Tigers but it wouldn’t be surprising if he makes the move back to the states.

Keith McCambridge

McCambridge is currently not coaching, but spent seven seasons as a bench boss in the AHL including a run to the Calder Cup Finals with the St. John’s IceCaps in 2013. He spent two seasons as Ken Gernander’s replacement in Hartford with the Wolf Pack. In his two seasons as the Head Coach in the capital city, he failed to make the playoffs. McCambridge was let go this past off season but it would be interesting to see if he comes to the Sound Tigers.
And that will do it. It isn’t set in stone if Brent Thompson is leaving, or if he leaves, whether Eric Boguniecki will take over or Matt Carkner as the coach. It will be interesting to see this offseason.

Christian Gardecki

A Native of Danbury, CT. Christian is one of the longest tenured Drive4Five writers, Christian Gardecki began writing for Drive4five In May of 2017. Christian covers Minor League Hockey and the Bridgeport Islanders for Drive4Five. Outside of Drive4Five, Christian was the captain of his High School Hockey team and currently attends Hofstra University with a major in journalism. Christian was the play by play broadcaster for the Danbury Westerners summer collegiate baseball team during their 2021 NECBL Championship. Christian also was the Public Address Announcer for the Danbury Hat Tricks Minor Pro Hockey team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League and NAHL Junior team from 2019-21.