Sound Tigers Honor Sandy Hook

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Bridgeport, Conn. AHL club holds touching tribute

The AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers had the youngest victims of last week's school shooting on their mind when they hit the ice yesterday against the Adirondack Phantoms. Twenty children and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. on Dec. 14.

There's no one who doesn't already know the story. But what you may not know is the Sound Tigers' close connection to the school.

“Sandy Hook Elementary School has been a part of our family, supporting the Sound Tigers at games and community events since the team began calling Bridgeport home, 12 years ago,” Sound Tigers president Howard Saffan said. “We are honored to recognize the victims of the heartbreaking events that happened less than 20 miles up the road.”

Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images via Sound Tigers (official Facebook)

Players wearing names of young victims in place of their own

From Thursday's Sound Tigers press release:

In place of each player’s last name, every jersey worn at home beginning on Sat., Dec. 22 when the Sound Tigers take on the Adirondack Phantoms, will have the name of one of the 20 students whose life was lost on Dec. 14 in Newtown, Conn. The names of the six adult victims will appear on the center hung digital scoreboard throughout the entire game.

The Sound Tigers will wear their black alternate jerseys for these games. The month-long tribute concludes on Jan. 20 when the team hosts the Springfield Falcons.

During that game, the Sound Tigers will honor the Newtown community, as members or representatives from each family will be invited to take home their jerseys off the players’ backs at the conclusion of the contest.

The Sound Tigers will hold a number of promotions and auctions over the next few weeks, the proceeds of which will go to Sandy Hook Elementary.

Sound Tigers tribute will continue through rest of season

The tribute to the Sandy Hook victims doesn't end on Jan. 20.

Earlier this week, the team announced that they will wear commemorative ribbon patches on the jerseys and stickers on their helmets for the remainder of the 2012-13 American Hockey League season, and a graphic with the initials “S.H.E.S.” and the date “12.14.12” will be painted into the ice behind each net at Webster Bank Arena.

For more pictures of the black jerseys worn during last night's game, The AHL's Official Facebook page has a great photo album you can check out.

Around The AHL

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I don't plan to make a habit out of it, but I was just catching up on some news around the AHL. I'm more of an NHL guy but I figured there might be some stuff out there of general interest. Came across a couple of things.

A reader recently pointed out an unusual logo currently appearing on the Binghamton Senators' official web site. He noticed it in NHL 09 and wondered if it was a new logo the team plans to use.

Did some quick research and found that this is a specialty logo designed by a local artist for the B-Sens for an Ottawa-themed jersey almost two years ago. The jerseys were worn on February 23 and 24, 2007. It looked like this.

As far as I know, there are no plans to recycle the logo this season, but then I don't really have my finger on the pulse of the AHL. If any Binghamton fans have heard anything, let us know.

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The Norfolk Admirals — affiliate of my Tampa Bay Lightning — unveiled a 20th anniversary logo a few weeks ago. It incorporates blue into the logo which the primary lacks despite being on a blue jersey. The blue was added to the team's color scheme when they hooked up with the Bolts.

I don't know how or if the Admirals plan to make the logo part of their uniforms this season. I would assume there will be a shoulder patch. But for sure, folks in Norfolk (ha) will see it on a lot of promotional materials.

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The Bridgeport Sound Tigers are going green! No, they aren't changing their colors despite what the image below might suggest. That's just a Bridgeport PR guy having some fun. Everybody wishes they had Photoshop skills.

No, they mean "going green" in the sense that they're saving the environment. Anyone who works in media or has been in the media box of any hockey arena knows about the stacks of stats sheets you get handed when you walk in. You've easily wasted an entire ream of paper after a few days worth of games.

To help curb the tree-killing, the Sound Tigers will begin offering all of that information on reusable USB drives.

Sounds cool to me. Makes you wonder whether the NHL will join up.

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I know the season hasn't begun yet and these may just be preseason jerseys, but it seems NHL 09 had the jersey designs wrong for the AHL's newest team — the Iowa Chops. The image below, a still from the game, shows sweaters based off the design of the Anaheim Ducks, with some colors changed.

On the Chops' official web site is the following image which shows a jersey that looks nothing like Anaheim's. It also lacks the obnoxious CHOPS text beneath the logo.

Now this may or may not be the actual jersey. The story it's attached to is talking about a rookie tournament. But this is why I don't inherently trust video games for accurate jersey depictions.

Anyway, that's all for this afternoon. If there's anything I missed, feel free to email me.