Looking Back at the Sound Tigers 2006-07 Season
The Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2006-07 season began with some controversy. A new coach was hired in Dan Marshall, who had been the Director of Player Personnel for the New York Islanders, and was hand-picked by Charles Wang. Neil Smith, who was announced as the new general manager of the Islanders, resigned after the press conference, announcing the hiring of Marshall. With that, the current back-up goaltender of the New York Islanders, Garth Snow, announced his retirement and took over as Islanders General Manager.
With all of that, it was a season of change for the Sound Tigers. Alongside Marshall, there were two more new members of the coaching staff in Joe Ferras and Jack Capuano, with Bernie Cassell being the only holdover. A new broadcaster was brought on in Phil Giubileo, who came over from the Danbury Trashers after they had folded following the 2005-06 season. The biggest change, however, was the release of new uniforms. Gone was the look with a blue tiger roaring out of the water. The traditional white jersey was changed into an alternate with shades of orange and a darker blue. The road jersey was inspired by the look of the Islanders, while the home jersey was basically the previous away jersey flipped with white and orange as the color scheme.
A New Era
A new era of Sound Tigers hockey was implemented for the 2006-07 season. Mark Wotton, a 13-year pro, fresh off of his first professional championship with the Hershey Bears, was named the 6th captain in Sound Tigers history in a move that brought stability to the role. Other key pieces coming in were Jeff Tambellini, who had been acquired from the Los Angeles Kings at the 2006 trade deadline, veteran and Port Jefferson native Peter Ferraro, as well as Rick Berry, who came over from Milwaukee after helping them get to the Calder Cup Finals. Bridgeport also acquired Drew Fata, who had played for the Penguins the year prior.
Jeremy Colliton, Blake Comeau and Steve Regier all came back to the Sound Tigers, while highly touted prospect Frans Nielsen came over to North America alongside Petteri Nokelainen. Wade Dubielewicz came back for year number four and had Billy Thompson and Mike Mole back him up throughout the season.
The Regular Season
The 2006-07 Sound Tigers started off well with a 3-1-1 record including defeating the defending champion Hershey Bears. That was one of the only good parts of the season, as Bridgeport stayed around .500 until a stretch of eight games into the new year which saw them lose seven out of eight.
During the season, it was also noted that there was an unofficial coaching change. Dan Marshall was unofficially demoted to Associate Head Coach, while Jack Capuano had taken the reigns. Marshall was still head coach in title, but it didn’t look like it.
Roster changes were made. Right before the unofficial coaching change, that longtime NHLer and New Haven native Eric Boguniecki was acquired from the Syracuse Crunch, while Matt Koalska, Robert Nilsson, and Peter Ferraro were all dealt before the trade deadline.
The Sound Tigers, with a fluctuating cast of players coming in and out, stayed around .500 until the last weekend of the season. Wade Dubielewicz was back to his old form, earning his second All-Star selection, and became an Islanders hero in the process by poke checking the Islanders into the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Sound Tigers were in a battle for the last spot in the playoffs with the Albany River Rats going into the final two weeks of the season. In the last five games, with playoff spots on the line, the Sound Tigers lost four of them, which lead to a season with no playoff hockey, the second in the team’s short history.
The 2007-08 Sound Tigers season closed in, with a much needed coaching change and some new pieces added to the puzzle.
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.
