It was nearly two months to the day from when the American Hockey League paused its season because of COVID-19 to the day it completely canceled it in May.
The Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the AHL affiliate of the New York Islanders, had 13 games left in a season in which they weren’t going to qualify for the Calder Cup Playoffs. They finished the 2019-20 season with a 23-33-5-2 record over 63 games.
The AHL season is tentatively scheduled to begin Dec. 4, but that could change depending on the ongoing situation with COVID-19. In the meantime, Bridgeport Sound Tigers head coach Brent Thompson has been preparing for whenever things do start up again.
NYI Hockey Now spoke with Thompson to find out what he’s been doing with the downtime and how he and his staff are preparing for next season.
Christian Arnold: Coach thanks so much for the time. I guess I’ll start out with just what you have been up to. What have you been doing with all the downtime?
Brent Thompson: Watching a lot of hockey on the TV, just like probably everybody else. I mean I pretty much locked myself down, watched every single game I could. We had group conversations, I think our staff is on a group text. We’re always communicating through the game and then we have Zoom calls where our group gets together and talks a little bit about what we saw through the course of the week. The games and things that we could potentially do or talk about video. Say hey, can we grab some clips from that game so we can obviously be better next year. Really a lot of hockey talk and a lot of watching hockey as much as we can.
Arnold: Obviously with the deep run that the New York Islanders had in the playoffs that must have been pretty enjoyable for you and your staff. Especially because some key guys there you had a hand in developing.
Thompson: Yeah it was really exciting. A lot of fun to see the group. Obviously, we feel like we’re part of it, but a distant part. It was real enjoyable to watch these guys, the steps that they’re taking and the growth that they’ve had over the course of their careers and being big parts of the Islanders’ success this season.
Arnold: How have you and your staff started to look forward to next season and keep in touch with the players you know will be with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers with you next season?
Thompson: I think the biggest thing is just the communication. We’ve had great communication between our staff. Chris Lamoriello has obviously spearheaded the Zoom calls and meetings and whatnot, both with us and with the contracted players. It’s just really the communication. Knowing that at any given point we have to be ready. As far as the staff, we kind of want to know what we’re doing, but they’ll be time once the NHL figures thing and once everybody figures out the actual dates. I’m sure they’ll be some time where we can sit with (Islanders coach Barry) Trotz and his staff and make sure we’re all on the same page.
Arnold: Are there players that you’re keeping in touch with and have given a bit of a regiment you want them to stick to so that they’re ready for whenever the season starts?
Thompson: Right now there’s just so much uncertainty and so much we don’t know, but definitely there is that communication. Whether it’s from Chris Lamoriello or whether it’s from our staff, it’s just reaching out to guys and seeing how their summer has been going. What they’ve been doing. Very casual, but just to make sure there’s that communication and they know that we’re thinking of them. And as the summer progresses or as this break if you will, this COVID break progresses and we do see an actual light at the end of the tunnel as far as the next season playing, that’s when they’ll get their workouts and their protocols. Things will start falling into place, but just to make sure they know that we’re thinking of them and kind of touching base. Most of the guys now are finding ways to get out and doing workouts and just staying sharp on their own. They’re Pros and with that comes wanting to be great and our guys want to be better next year.
https://www.facebook.com/soundtigers/videos/191053068752002
Arnold: You mentioned being better next year, but looking back at this year for a moment what are some of the takeaways for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers?
Thompson: Well internally as a coaching staff we talked about things that we needed to do. Whether it’s bench management. Whether it’s accountability, little things like that. What I liked this year — and you want to take the positives from a year like this — the steps that we took with the young kids. We had a lot of 18 and 19-year-olds playing with us in a man’s league. They took huge steps. They had big roles, huge responsibility as far as production and power play. I think (Oliver) Wahlstrom took a step in the right direction with his play away from the puck. I thought (Simon) Holmstrom got confident just being able to control the puck and attack offensively as the season progressed. Especially, the last third of the season he really took off. So there’s expectations that he comes in and he feeds off that confidence that he seemed to have at the end of last season.
And Bellows the same way. The first 20 games he had one goal. The last 30 he had 20, so it was just exciting to see his development too as far as from the beginning to the end of the season and how he finished. Then him going up and actually helping out with the Islanders when he had his opportunity in the NHL. There was a lot of positives. We gave a lot of our young guys a chance to get healthy. I know (Mitchell) Vande Sompel missed the whole year. He healthy and he’s feeling good, and he’s chomping at the bit to get back. It’s exciting for us looking at next year.
Arnold: What is the expectation for how ready the guys will be once camps do open?
Thompson: I think the starts going to be important. Guys need to be ready right from the hop and you have to be ready to buy in right away. The intensity, the work ethic. It’s obviously something that we’re going to be preaching once things get going, but our starts going to be important.
Arnold: We’ll end it on this, do you have a Stanley Cup prediction?
Thompson: Tough one. I have to go with the goaltending. I think (Andrei) Vasilevskiy is really a difference-maker. Not that (Anton) Khudobin bad or anything, I just think he’s a difference-maker. I’ll say Tampa.
