Jim Hulton is scratching a seven-year itch, insofar as how long the new coach of the Charlottetown Islanders has been out of major junior puck.
Whenever news snippets about the turnaround the Wolfe Island, Ont., native had effected with the United States Hockey League's Tri-City Storm trickled across Twitter in recent months, it usually came with a prevailing suspicion that Hulton returning to the Canadian Hockey League might just be a matter of when. On Monday, the QMJHL's Islanders, who have a talented core group but parted with Gordie Dwyer after a second-round playoff loss last season, installed Hulton behind the bench.