Looking Back at the Sound Tigers 2008-09 Season
The Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2008-09 season had a lot of new pieces join the club with a good core of returning players, while AHL veterans and top scorers were attracted to Bridgeport as the Sound Tigers were looking to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Along with a new season saw the Sound Tigers bring in a new white home jersey, worn mostly against teams that wear red, had a Reebok Edge template on it.
Roster Changes
The Bridgeport Sound Tigers roster for the 2008-09 season looked a little different compared to the year prior. Returning was Ben Walter, Jeremy Colliton, Captain Mark Wotton, Andrew MacDonald, Sean Bentivoglio, Dustin Kohn, and Pascal Morency. Trevor Smith and Michael Haley earned full-time roles with the Sound Tigers. In goal, the Sound Tigers got three new netminders in rookie duo Nathan Lawson and Peter Mannino. Veteran Yann Danis, who helped lead the Hamilton Bulldogs in 2007 to the Calder Cup before Carey Price took over, started the year in Bridgeport until he was called up to Long Island to replace an injured Rick DiPietro.
Upfront, Mike Iggulden, fresh off of back-to-back 30 goal seasons with the Worcester Sharks was picked up to add more goal-scoring punch. Kurtis McLean had been a “Sound Tiger Killer” in his days with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Chris Lee, who played one game with Bridgeport in 2006-07 was picked up after two years in the Midwest with Iowa and Omaha and was the Sound Tigers most consistent defenseman. New prospects also joined the club, Tyler Haskins, future Slovak Olympian Tomas Marcinko, and Jesse Joensuu.
An Improving Club
Led by their new goaltending duo in Mannino and Lawson, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers started October off with a record of 6-2-1. Bridgeport’s first line of Mike Iggulden, Trevor Smith, and Kurtis McLean was one of the most lethal lines in the entire AHL. The Sound Tigers had a seven-game point streak from Nov. 5 to the end of their first trip to Texas in six years, where the Sound Tigers took both games against San Antonio and Houston. At the New Year, the Sound Tigers sat at 21-9-3 and were among the best in the AHL.
At the All-Star Break, Mike Iggulden and Andrew MacDonald were selected to represent the Sound Tigers at the 2009 AHL All-Star Classic in Worcester, where Iggulden starred for two years. Throughout the season, many Islander regulars spent time in Bridgeport. Mike Sillinger scored his last professional goal with the Sound Tigers and Mark Parrish also played three games in Bridgeport. Jon Sim was another player who came down and
The Defining Moment
On a Wednesday in February, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 2008-09 season saw its most defining moment when they hosted the San Antonio Rampage, a Western Conference foe. Down 3-1 late in the game, the Sound Tigers surged back to win 4-3 in overtime. This game jumpstarted an 11-game point streak for the Sound Tigers.
Playoff Push
Heading towards the end of the season, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers were close to winning their second division title in franchise history. On the last weekend of the season, the Sound Tigers needed to win all three games and have Hershey lose all three. On that Saturday, Bridgeport won their fourth straight after Hershey lost the night prior in Philly. The Sound Tigers beat Springfield 4-3, but the Bears won 3-2 over the Phantoms.
The next night, The Sound Tigers beat Albany but Hershey lost to Wilkes-Barre. Tying the two teams with 106 points each. Putting them both tied for second in the league for the overall league standings. Both teams also tied on the first tiebreaker, regulation, and overtime wins, but Hershey had more overall regulation wins with 40 to Bridgeport’s 36. The Sound Tigers had made their first playoffs in three years, but it was a different looking playoff then usual.
Elmo Pushes the Sound Tigers to Long Island
Heading into the 2009 playoffs, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers faced off with their playoff rival, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Unlike the last two, Bridgeport had to play its home games somewhere other than the Arena at Harbor Yard. Due to a scheduling conflict with Sesame Street Live, the Sound Tigers moved games one and two from Bridgeport to the Nassau Coliseum. This baffled many AHL, and Bridgeport, fans.
Into the playoffs, the Sound Tigers got reinforcements from the Islanders with Kyle Okposo returning to Bridgeport. Game One on the Island in front of 5,000 fans went to the Penguins who won 3-2. Game Two, teams swapped goals as Bridgeport got goals from Kyle Okposo, Michael Haley, and Mike Iggulden, but at the five-minute mark of overtime, Chris Minard beat Nathan Lawson to give the Penguins a 2-0 series lead heading back to a hostile crowd in Northeast PA.
Game Three was another nailbiter. Jon Sim opened the scoring in the first. At the start of the second, Todd Reirden’s squad turned it on and scored four unanswered goals on Peter Mannino. It was 4-1 Penguins when former Danbury Trasher J-M Daoust scored. Bridgeport got one back with Andrew MacDonald’s blast at the end of the period. Jon Sim scored 12 minutes into the third and Joe Callahan tied it with four minutes left and forced a second straight overtime. In overtime, Sean Bentivoglio was the hero as he beat John Curry off of a breakaway and made it a 2-1 series.
Game Four saw the series finally go to Bridgeport in a weird format where after game three each game was flipped from Bridgeport to Wilkes-Barre. It was a tough game for the Sound Tigers who were finally happy to play at home. Down 2-0 with five minutes to go, Ben Walter ripped one past Curry. Bridgeport outshot the Penguins 33-21 but it wasn’t enough and Bridgeport was down 3-1 with their backs against the wall on the road.
Game Five in Wilkes-Barre started off tied at one after one as Justin DiBenedetto scored his first professional goal. But Bridgeport was missing some of its key players, without Iggulden or Kyle Okposo. Back-to-back goals by Jeffrey and Daoust made it 3-1 until Jesse Joensuu cut the lead in half heading to the third. The Sound Tigers were working hard to get a goal to tie it and they couldn’t. Jeff Taffe put home an empty netter and ended Bridgeport’s season.
After a wild and wacky 2008-09 season which saw the Sound Tigers just two points from winning the Regular Season Title. It ended too soon against their playoff rival Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. 2009-10 was calling with a new look which would be taken by the Islanders soon after.
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.
