Looking back at the Sound Tigers 2001-02 Season
In March of 2000, it was announced that the AHL would expand to Bridgeport, CT. Later that year, an affiliation was struck with the New York Islanders, and on Sept. 20, 2000, they announced the team’s name, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. This affiliation for the Islanders would start for the Sound Tigers 2001-02 Season, the team’s first. The year prior, in 2000-01, Islander prospects were split into five different teams, as Trent Hunter played the full season in Springfield, while Jason Krog and Juraj Kolnik played with Lowell before being loaned to Springfield with Hunter and goaltender Steve Valiquette, while other Islander prospects were scattered throughout the AHL and IHL. Rick DiPietro split the 2000-01 season with the Islanders and Chicago Wolves.
Coming into the 2001-02 season, the Sound Tigers had a good mix of young players looking to make the jump to the NHL. Mike Millbury also signed a good group of veterans like Chris Armstrong, who spent 2000-01 with the expansion Minnesota Wild, former AHL All-Stars Ray Giroux, a former Islander, Marko Tuomainen, and Jason Podollan. In goal, Bridgeport was relying on DiPietro to lead the defense. With first-year Head Coach Steve Stirling, the pieces were in place.
The Beginning
On October 5th, 2001 at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, NY, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers played their first game. At 5:58 of the second Period, Dave Morriset put his name into the history books. Morriset beat Rochester Americans goaltender Mika Noronen to score the first goal in Sound Tigers history. Rick DiPietro would make 29 saves and earn the Sound Tigers’ first win and shutout.
Bridgeport would then tie the next night against the Syracuse Crunch before coming home the next Wednesday against the Philadelphia Phantoms. The first-ever event at the brand new Arena at Harbor Yard. The Sound Tigers lost but more history was made. Juraj Kolnik scored the first goal in Arena at Harbor Yard history. Dave Roche fought Francis Lessard for the first fight in Sound Tigers history, and Eric Godard made his name known in Bridgeport with two fights including a war with Craig Brunel.
Sound Tigers 2001-02 Season: Birth of Sound Tiger Hockey
The Sound Tigers would win their first home game two nights later against in-state Rival Hartford. Throughout the season, Bridgeport played well winning games and barely having rough stretches. The only tough spot all season was at the end of 2001 where Bridgeport lost three straight to New England foes Manchester, Lowell, and Springfield, but Bridgeport turned it around. Heading into the All-Star break, the Sound Tigers were 26-18-7-2 and atop the East Division and won 11 of 12 into March.
At the 2002 AHL All-Star Classic in St. John’s, NL. The Sound Tigers were represented by Rick DiPietro and Ray Giroux. Both players impressed many and showed that Bridgeport is a tough team.
After the All-Star break, Mike Millbury made some moves, trading Dave Roche to the Mighty Ducks for veteran enforcer Jim Cummins. Cummins wouldn’t last long in the Islanders organization and the Sound Tigers would reacquire Roche from the Mighty Ducks for Ben Guite before the end of the season. Bridgeport also picked up rugged forward Pat Leahy and steady defenseman Scott Ricci, who won the IHL’s Turner Cup the year prior with the Orlando Solar Bears.
Going into the playoffs, the Sound Tigers had to win the last game of the season in order to win both the East Division and the Regular Season Title. That night, against the Wolf Pack, Matt Higgins scored to give the Sound Tigers the win and home ice throughout the playoffs. The Sound Tigers ended the season with a record of 43-25-8-4, good for 98 pts.
Playoffs
The Bridgeport Sound Tigers opened up the 2001-02 playoffs against a team they did not play against in the regular season, the Manitoba Moose. The Moose had won their qualifying series by defeating the Worcester IceCats in the second overtime in game three. The AHL had qualifying rounds where seeds seven to ten would play for the last two playoff spots. The series would be played as a best-of-three. Bridgeport won the first two games before losing game three in Winnipeg. They would close out the series in game four.
In the second round, the Sound Tigers stayed in Canada, heading to St. John’s. Bridgeport swept the Leafs in four with two overtime wins including a double-overtime winner by Juraj Kolnik with two minutes remaining. To this day, that game is still the longest in team history.
Bridgeport again waited for the next team they would play. It was either the Hamilton Bulldogs or in-state rival Hartford Wolf Pack. Hamilton beat the Wolfpack in five setting up for one of the best series in AHL History. Bridgeport would win both home games to open the series, following a split in games three and four. Bridgeport had a 3-1 series lead into game five, but Hamilton never gave up, winning 3-2. Game six was back at Harbor Yard. For the first time in the series, the two teams would go to overtime. Nine minutes into the first overtime, an unlikely hero, Louie DeBrusk, would pot the game-winner for the Bulldogs.
The “Raffi Torres Game”
Game seven became known as the “Raffi Torres Game” because of one defining Sound Tigers moment, which to this day is the most iconic in team history. With the score tied at 0-0 with under two minutes to go in game seven, Raffi Torres picked up a puck and beat Hamilton goaltender Ty Conklin. The Harbor Yard crowd went ballistic. Bridgeport had to play tight defense for another minute. Jason Podollan and Juraj Kolnik both scored empty-net goals to close out the Bulldogs and push the Sound Tigers into the 2002 Calder Cup Finals.
A Tough Opponent
For the Sound Tigers 2001-02 season, it had reached its pinnacle with the Calder Cup Finals against the Chicago Wolves. Chicago had won the IHL’s Turner Cup in 1998 and 2000 and lost in 2001 to Scott Ricci and the Orlando Solar Bears. The Wolves had most of the same roster from the year prior along with a new affiliate with the Atlanta Thrashers. Chicago had basically mixed the two best teams in the IHL in the 2000-01 season together with one team, with returnees like longtime captain Steve Maltais and former 100+ point scorer in the NHL in Rob Brown, mixed together with Orlando imports Brad Tapper, the late Dan Snyder, and goaltending duo Pasi Nurminen and Norm Maracle.
Chicago was the seven seed going into the playoffs, which meant they had to play in the qualifying round. Chicago lost their first game in the qualifying round and was brought to overtime against Cincinnati. In the second overtime, Zdenek Blatny beat future Sound Tiger and Islander Joey MacDonald to tie the series at one. Chicago would win the series and outlast Grand Rapids in five in the first round. In the second round against the best team in the Western Conference, the Syracuse Crunch, the Wolves went the distance. Into game seven, Chicago was 0-3 at the Oncenter in Syracuse. The Wolves exploded for six goals past future AHL Hall of Famer J.F. Labbe.
The Wolves would win in five against longtime rival Houston in the conference finals. Setting up for a showdown with Bridgeport in the Calder Cup Finals.
The Finals
The Sound Tigers and Wolves faced off for game one in Bridgeport. Jason Krog found the back of the net with two and a half minutes remaining in the game to give Bridgeport a 4-3 lead, but with the net empty, Chicago wouldn’t go down lightly. Bob Nardella beat Rick DiPietro to tie it at four with three seconds left. Forcing the game to overtime, and the tide changed as Andreas Karlsson scored 14 minutes into overtime and give the Wolves a 1-0 series lead. Marko Tuomainen would score the game-winning goal in game two to tie the series at one heading to Chicago.
Game three from the Rosemont Horizon (now known as the Allstate Arena) was all Chicago. The Wolves shutout the Sound Tigers for the first time in the playoffs. It was also the first time Bridgeport had been shutout since April 3rd against the Providence Bruins.
Chicago won game four by a score of 4-2 setting up for game five in Chicago with the Cup in the Building. Things did not start off great for Bridgeport. Steve Maltais scored a natural hat trick in the first period to give Chicago an early 3-0 lead. In the second, Bridgeport clawed their way back as Trent Hunter undressed Bob Nardella and scored top-shelf on Nurminen. Minutes later, on the power-play, Jason Krog unleashed a bomb five-hole to cut the lead to one, and before the period ended, Jason Podollan blasted one from above the blue line to tie it up at three. There were no goals in the third period, setting up overtime. In the first overtime, both teams traded good opportunities but couldn’t finish. In the second overtime, much like game one, Yuri Butsayev beat DiPietro and gave Chicago their third championship in five years.
After the Sound Tigers 2001-02 Season
For the Sound Tigers, it was a special season. The next day, the team was welcomed home from Chicago with a hero’s welcome at Harbor Yard. For many of the Sound Tigers, it would be the last time they would step in Harbor Yard as a Sound Tiger. Giroux, Sutton, Armstrong, Podollan, Krog, were all gone, but that’s for our article looking at the 2002-03 season. The Sound Tigers 2001-02 Season was definitely one to remember, especially with it being the first.
Make sure to stay tuned as we will be looking at all 19 Sound Tiger seasons over the next couple of months as they head into their 20th season this year!
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.
