Looking Back at the Sound Tigers 2014-15 Season
The 2013-14 Bridgeport Sound Tigers season was one of the low points in the franchise’s 13 season history. But the 2014-15 Sound Tigers had a familiar face behind their bench that season. After two seasons with the Islanders as an assistant coach, Brent Thompson returned to Webster Bank Arena and brought back some familiar faces from his 2011-12 season.
Roster
The Sound Tigers brought back Ryan Strome, Brett Gallant, Mike Halmo, Scooter Vaughan, Anders Lee and Johan Sundstrom. Aaron Ness was named captain, the youngest in team history. In goal, Kevin Poulin returned for his fourth season, and the team acquired David Leggio to be the backup. Other veterans that the Sound Tigers picked up for the 2014-15 season included Harry Zolnierczyk, Kael Mouillierat and Colin McDonald.
However, this iteration was infused with young, valuable talent, including Ryan Pulock, Alan Quine, Griffin Reinhart, Scott Mayfield and Adam Pelech.
Struggling Season
The Sound Tigers started off October at around .500. But, when the calendar turned to November, the Sound Tigers got hot. They won their first five games of November and ended the month with a 6-3-3 record.
The Sound Tigers then fluttered, mostly due to troubles from their young defense. Mouillierat, Zolnierczyk, Quine and, C.J. Stretch led the way in scoring. At the All-Star break, Bridgeport was in the middle of the pack at 19-20-6. After that, the team struggled, losing their next ten, a franchise-record losing streak.
At this point, Garth Snow sent Cory Conacher and Matt Carkner down from the Islanders, who were playing well. It didn’t help, as the Sound Tigers then traded away many key players, including Stretch, Conacher and Andrey Pedan. Bridgeport also traded the physical Dyson Stevenson to Portland for former AHL All-Star Matt Lashoff. The Sound Tigers only won eight of their last 30 games in the season, ending the season with a record of 28-40-8.
A Rule Made at Harbor Yard
In 2014-15, it seemed like the Sound Tigers had to change the rules if they were going to be successful.
On November 4, 2014, the Sound Tigers were hosting the Springfield Falcons at Webster Bank Arena. The Sound Tigers turned over the puck at their own blue line, springing Springfield forwards Lukas Sedlak and Dana Tyrell on a two-on-none against David Leggio. Leggio turned around and knocked the net off its moorings.
The call on the ice was that Tyrell, who had the puck, would take a Penalty Shot against Leggio. Leggio stopped the penalty shot, turning a two-on-none into a one-on-none, which he shut down.
Two days later, the AHL made a change to that rule. If this happened again, the goaltender would be given a game misconduct, any player on the ice could take the penalty shot, and the replacement goalie would face the shot.
Defining Moment
However, the defining moment of the 2014-15 Sound Tigers season came on March 22, 2015, in a game against the Binghamton Senators. Kael Mouillierat went behind the net, and like Robert Nilsson did nine years before, pulled off the Michigan move on former Sound Tiger Peter Mannino sending Webster Bank Arena into a frenzy.
In a trying season, this is a moment that fans will never forget in the twenty years of Bridgeport hockey. After this season, the 2015-16 Sound Tigers returned with more veterans, a new captain, the same defensive core, but a year older and stronger. 2015-16 was looking to be a good season for Brent Thompson and the Sound Tigers.
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.
