The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
AHL cancels season
Sound Tigers’ year ends with 13 games unplayed
Over a hockey season, players build up a nice bundle of money for a party at the end of the season. Fines for infractions, whether real or playfully overblown, and other contributions go into the kitty.
By April, Bridgeport Sound Tigers players came to realize they still had the money, but they weren’t going to have the party.
The season’s official end came Monday, when the American Hockey League announced its board canceled the rest of the season because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Sound Tigers’ year ends with 13 games unplayed, eight of them slated for Bridgeport’s Webster Bank Arena.
“I think we all kind of knew there was a very slim chance we were going to continue the season, so I don’t think the news today came as any big surprise,” Sound Tigers forward Colin McDonald said Monday afternoon.
“Everyone’s kind of sitting around to see what the NHL will be able to do, amongst other sports. Everyone’s in uncharted waters,” McDonald added. “Like everyone has been saying, sports really come second to making sure everyone’s healthy.”
Monday’s announcement came two months to the day after the AHL played its last games, including one in Bridgeport.
Within minutes of the end of that game, the NBA suspended its season after player Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. The AHL and NHL followed suit the next day. Most of the North American sports world has been on hold ever since. Most of the Sound Tigers soon headed home.
The NHL is reportedly working on completing its season in the summertime; television money makes that more viable for them than for their AHL affiliates, even if public-health concerns mean playing without fans in the arenas.
“We’re a very gate-driven league,” Sound Tigers president of business operations Brent Rossi said. “In order for the AHL to have a successful model, we need to make sure we can play games with fans in the stands.”
Rossi said the Sound Tigers are planning for a normal 2020-21 regular season to begin in October, but he said there are contingency plans in the works if the season has to start later.
Much still has to be determined, not least because the NHL season isn’t over yet and its 202021 schedule hasn’t been set yet. Some Sound Tigers may join the parent New York Islanders as
extra players if they resume play.
For this season’s unplayed games, refunds for single-game tickets will come at the point of purchase, the Sound Tigers said, while tickets bought through a resale site are subject to that site’s policies. Those with multigame plans, season tickets, groups and others will be contacted by team account representatives. More details about those and other ticket refunds and credits are at soundtigers.com.
The Hartford Wolf Pack also had eight home games left. A release from the team
at hartfordwolfpack.com said plan holders will receive an email about refunds, redemptions and other options.
Bridgeport wasn’t making the playoffs, but the Wolf Pack had an eightpoint hold on what would’ve been their first playoff berth since 2015. Instead, the AHL won’t determine a champion for the first time since the league began in 1936-37. Dave Andrews, retiring after 26 seasons as league president, won’t hand out one last Calder Cup.
“We work, obviously, for the team, but we’re all also fans of hockey, fans of the AHL,” Rossi said. “To have the season not be concluded is disappointing, but as
Dave Andrews said, the safety of our fans and staff and players is our top priority. It’s paramount before we make any other decisions.”
The Sound Tigers struggled to win games at times with young or inexperienced players in some key roles, not to mention a torrent of injuries in other key roles, and they had the AHL’s worst winning percentage at .421. But prospects like Kieffer Bellows, who scored 21 goals in his last 33 games, took strides over the season.
Bellows scored two goals and Christopher Gibson made 44 saves in a 4-1 win March 11 over Toronto, giving the Sound Tigers three wins in four games.
That was the last game they played before the pandemic shut down most of sports and a fair bit of society across the continent.
“I want to thank the first responders, the health-care people battling this corona,” Bridgeport coach Brent Thompson said. “The team, staff, we want to thank everybody out there in this fight.”
As for that $2,000 party fund, the players sent half of it to Bridgeport Public Schools to help provide meals to students in need, and the other half went to Fairfield County’s Community Foundation COVID-19 Resiliency Fund.