With it being the 20th anniversary of the Bridgeport Islanders (formerly known as the Bridgeport Sound Tigers) franchise, we’ve had an idea for over a year now here at Drive4Five. Throughout the 20-year history of the Bridgeport AHL hockey franchise, there has been many fantastic players, and we’ve decided to put them together and start a series — one that highlights the greatest players in Bridgeport Sound Tigers/Islanders history. This article will be an overview of some of the criteria we will be looking for in our series that is commemorating the history of AHL hockey in Bridgeport.

Overview of the Series

There are a few criteria that we have.

First off, as some people may know, there was a hockey franchise based in Bridgeport before the Sound Tigers and baby Islanders. That franchise was the Bridgeport Home Oilers, who played a few seasons in independent professional hockey circuits and the Can-Am League in the 1970s at Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport. This series is only for the AHL franchise.

There will be four articles that split up the goalies, defensemen, forwards and enforcers. Then, we will wrap it up with a conclusion. Three goaltenders will be selected on our All-Bridgeport hockey team, followed by four lines of forwards with three extras, then three pairs of defensemen with one extra. There will be no set limit of players for the enforcers’ article.

For the players, they must have played more than one season in Bridgeport and the following will be considered: how good they were in Bridgeport, the impact they had on the franchise and the impact they had at the NHL level.

We hope that you will enjoy this series. It will not be easy to make and will have a lot of hard decisions. Thank you!

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.