About time he gets going…..another pp for the Isles.  Let’s get 3

Posted under Islanders 06-07

Well, it seems that the ref wanted to give Chicago a chance to get a goal.  The Isles were two down for nearly 3 minutes, but Chicago got nothing to show for it.

We finally got a PP goal late in Period 1 thanks to Mike York.  However, the team still seems lethargic in their own zone.  Hill is looking more and more like dead weight each game.  I hope Campoli comes back soon.

Amazing looking across the ice and seeing only about 40-50 people in the end zone 200′s.  Real bad.  This team is playing well for the most of it.  Got points in 6 of 7 games,  but no one is coming. 

Great sign by signguy.. The Attendance may be down, but the spirits are up.

Talk in the 3rd.

Posted under Islanders 06-07

If there is 5000 people, there is a lot…..

God these  Blackhawks look confused out there.   I guess that is why they have been without a goal in 205 minutes.

Nice to see Aucoin.  I know he went for better money, but I liked the guy.  He won the Nystrom award in 2004.  We had a reception (NYIBC) for him, and was quite gracious and contrite in his acceptance of the award.  He had such a injury plagued season last year and is struggling with this year as well.

Isles look sloppy as well.  Playing to the competition, I hope.  But get your act together guys….

 

Posted under Islanders 06-07

First of all, Happy Halloween.  Hope you gets lots of candy!

Tonight – the Chicago Blackhawks come crawling into town.  LITERALLY!

Losers of three straight shutouts, the team that will probably end up near the bottom of the league comes in real pissed off, I’m sure.  Also – this is the first time that AA (Adrian Aucoin) comes to the Coliseum since he left the team for bigger money.  Bet he wishes he didn’t???  He is the captain of an Original Six team, but right now, it should be five!  The Hawks, thanks to old idiotic ownership, and a clueless GM, are so far down the food chain in the windy city, that 40% capacity are attending games in the United Center.  They have lost Martin Havlat (and his 6.5 million $ salary) to injury for 3 months.  Michael Handzus is out for the year.  The “Bulin” wall is hurt, and a lot of players are strangely enough not playing to potential.

And now they come to Nassau to clear up the problems…

Doesnt it ALWAYS seem to be, that we cure all other teams problems.  We gave Ottawa their first road win when they started; now they beat us almost all the time!  I can go on and on and on.

For the continuation of futility, we have to POUNCE on these guys IMMEDIATELY.  Put pressure on their D, get shots into Boucher, and set the tone.  These guys were embarassed on Versus last night, and they want to take it out on the next opponent.  We have to counter that, and put the team back on their heels.  If you want to make a final statement from this home stand, now is the time.  You want to show that it was a positive stand, make it so.

 

Keeping fingers, toes and anything else crossed….

Gary

RAMBLING time. - if you saw the Ranger/Coyote game Saturday night, you saw that the Blueshirts looked pretty good.  They played on all cylinders, they were getting contributions from all 4 lines and 3 defensive pairs.  Just a good effort.  And how to they add onto that?  With probably the poorest showing of the season, against the Kings.  They made the Rangers look like a Central Hockey League team.  Can’t you tell, that I am deeply saddened by this?  Sorry my Ranger fan friends, this is not directed at you, but for all the media that after Saturday night’s game, annointed the Rangers as turning the corner and on their way to a Canyon of Heroes parade.  One game does not do it, stupid!  To make matters worse, they now have San Jose and Anaheim on back-to-back nights.  BRILLIANT! 

Man, has Pittsburgh looked real good or what?  They even had to keep young Mr. Staal up as a result of his stellar play in the first nine games.  Someone said on the TSN coverage of the Leafs game last night, that because of the opportunity to market Mr. Crosby, that he does not expect to see him in a Pens uniform anytime after his 25th birthday.  Makes you go hmmmm?

Well, we better beat the Hawks tonight, or it will be embarassing beyond belief!!!

G

Posted under Islanders 06-07, Ramblings

Sorry – I have had a lot of things to do this weekend, so I did not make any posts.  Trying to keep up on blogs is kind of tough sometimes.

Well – it wasnt necessarily a great game played by the Isles last night.  The 3rd period was very sloppy.  It seemed to look like they just wanted to hold onto the lead.  Even when I saw the coach at Champions in the Marriott last night, he thought there was no way that Florida tied that game up, but he was happy to get the 2 points.

The game ended up in a shootout, going 10 rounds until Andy Hilbert, so far not playing up to his expectations, got a backhand deke that he lifted over the body of Ed Belfour to give the Isles a victory.

So back to 500 as the Isles have three games this week.  Tomorrow, against the again struggling Chicago BlackHawks.  Losers of four in a row, and without two of their most important options, Havlat and Handzus; with the latter out for the season with ACL/MCL tears.  This is a winnable game.  Then Thursday at the Meadowlands for a rare away match.  This will be a big test.  The NJ offense is not spitting on all cylinders, but the one thing that you can count on with them, is the netminder and the defense.  Two points in this match would be huge.  Then Saturday, back home to the blue hot Thrashers, who ended the Sabre streak at 10.  They are strong all over, with Kari Lehtonen doing the sophomore ‘un’ jinx and playing his arse off.

THREE STARS of Saturday’s game.

1. Andy Hilbert – maybe getting the shootout winner will be just the remedy to get his game going.
2. Alexei Yashin – I hope the detractors can soon shut their mouths and get on the bandwagon.  He is still getting severly doible-teamed.  This year, he is making plays and creating options.
3. Shawn Bates – finally on the board with a goal.  He has played well, but until now, nothing to show for it.

GOLD STAR AWARD

• Islanders TV – a great way to get your info on the team on the Internet.  A 24 hour TV channel chock-filled with info, shows, interviews, all the things that an Islander junkie would need

TIN TWIT AWARD

• Newsday’s Greg Logan – our ‘beat’ writer should just ‘BEAT IT!’ Also – a tie to the ‘unfaithful’ Islanders fans. Maybe SOMEDAY, Logan may write something POSITIVE!  And today (MONDAY) he writes a 2 page piece on the lack of ATTENDANCE.  We know about it!  Charles is trying all he can do to get fans in the stands.  However, the typical LONG ISLAND fan, (sorry I say this) SUCKS.  If we are not winning, they do NOT show.  Being a fan means staying with your team.  If you do not want to be there when you lose, then don’t bother showing up when they win.  Because you know that ding-dongs like Logan will interview these idiot fans, when we win, and the fan will say ‘….duh, well I was there all along!…’  As Jim Norton, from the O & A show would say, ‘…were you, STUPID?!’

Well, until Tomorrow…

Gary

PS – on the NY Hockey Report on Wednesday, we will have Steve Zipay, the Ranger writer for Newsday as the guest.  That should be a fun show.

Posted under Islanders 06-07

I compared this game to a scene in the movie MIGHTY DUCKS 2.  In the movie, the Ducks were playing Iceland (the first time).  The Ducks decide to do the Flying V.  They are moving up the ice, and all of a sudden, the big Iceland team just topples the V and skate the other way.

Minus the size, that is what the Sabres did.

Buffalo is now 10-0-0-0 after a 3-0 shutout of the Isles last night.  The goals were scored as a result of the things that I said that the Islanders must avoid, in order to do well.

1. stay out of the box
2. not making mistakes at the blue lines

I will not go over the details, the papers and other outlets can do that.

Three Stars – I really don’t think the team played terrible.  It was excessively average, but no stand outs.  No Stars to be awarded last night.

Gold Star – Popcorn.  This is the first time I had some this year…  I know a long time ago, Goal Magazine (the old program at NHL arenas in the 80′s), rated the best food in the arenas around the league.  Popcorn was ALWAYS the best at the Coliseum.  It is still there. (Boy, am I stretching for something here).

Tin Twit – Under 9000.  I know that we are not lighting up the league, but this is the best team in the NHL, going for a record number of wins to start a campaign.  There should have been more there…. This is getting slowly embarassing.

Oh well – back to normal.  Florida tomorrow.  Should be a good contest.  No “Bert” – he is in Florida with a backache.  Will we get Alex Auld, or the Senior Citizen Belfour.  The kittycats lost to the Devs last night 2-0 (check out 2manadvantage.com for info on that game), so they will be fired up.  Will we?  I know in the past, that would be an issue.  I dont think that will be tomorrow.

See ya then,

G

Posted under Islanders 06-07

Buffalo has been interesting, haven’t they?

One game from a tie for the best start by a team in NHL history, they put their undefeated streak to a test in Uniondale tonight, against an Islander team, that frankly, hasn’t look too intimidated by much this season.

Remember, the media and progisticators basically all thought we should just go out there and shoot ourselves…

What a nice treat it would be, to put the kybash on the perfect season, on a team that has not experienced it as of yet!  The possibilities are there…

What do the Isles have to do?  The one word is DISCIPLINE. 

Keep a disciplined approach on puck possession, and do not make any mistakes on the offensive blue line.  Low percentage passes can lead to a transition game that is just ridiculously swift.  I think every forward on that team with the exception of Andrew Peters, has the ability to put on some serious afterburner.  That is scary. 

Also – the emergence of Ryan Miller as an elite level netminder is also a concern.  The Isles have to shoot, shoot, and when they think they have enough, shoot some more.  Get a goal early and try to keep the pressure on, and make as few mistakes as possible.  Sounds like a big thing, but it can be done.

The guys that have been a big part of the Islanders point streak at home need to continue the love on the ice.  Yash, Silly, Blake need to step it up even more.

As I stated before, the defense need to be on all cylinders.  Witt and Hill, the two slower skating guys, need to be up to snuff.

On a different note, got to talk to Jim Jackson, the Flyers play-by-play guy on Comcast last night on the New York Hockey Report, to discuss the extermination of the GM and the Coach.  He feels that with almost half of the team playing under John Stevens in the past (Philly Phantoms won the Calder Cup in 2005), there will be a little comfortable feeling on the ice and in the dressing room.  Should be interesting to see how Philly comes out tonight against a white hot Atlanta team.  Can the speedy Altanta forwards make a mockery of the maligned Philly D, especially the “Rock on Skates” Derian Hatcher?  Sorry, but his factor has diminshed faster than Enron Stock in the 90′s!!!

By the way, want go give kudos to some of the other New York Sports Day related blog sites.  I would urge you to check them out, to get your opinions of the other NY area teams.  Yes, their teams may be the ‘enemy’, but they are my colleagues in the NY Sports Day World, so please check them out, won’t you?

• Under the Blues – the blog of Joe McDonald, the NYSD Owner and my co-host on the NY Hockey report (http://www.undertheblues.com/)
• Hitting Back – the blog of Derek Felix, my co-host on the NY Hockey Report and his slant of ALL sports (http://www.hittingback.com/)
• 2manadvantage – the blog of New Jersey Devils correspondents Patricia Greuter, and Joe Bechtel (a LI native and rooting for the Devs?  How rude… LOL!).  It is a good site, and worth the look (http://www.2manadvantage.com/)
• NOT A NYSD site, but check out….The 7thwoman Journal – the blog of Denise Karl, a former NYI 7th Wo(man) award winner.  She has some interesting insights, and has a lot of chuckles as well (7thwoman.bravejournal.com)

More to talk about tomorrow.  Have a great day, and LETS GO ISLES!

Gary

Posted under Islanders 06-07

Last night, the Islanders GM garth Snow was the guest at the first Islanders Booster Club meeting for 2006-07.

He rocked the house!

He was candid, funny and brought a lot of information to the table about the team, and the life of a new General Manager.  He had some great comments about the team, he is excited about the way they have played of late, and had some interesting insights about some specific issues, especially Nilsson, and Bergenheim, among others.

I will deflect most of my musing on this to Dee Karl (alias the 7th Woman), who will be writing the article for the Booster Club.  This will be posted on the NY Islanders Booster Club web site next week, and will be in the Club Newsletter as well.

He was so impressed by how the club operates and gets involved, that he even JOINED the Club!

Great guest, and stand up guy!

The next meeting of the club, is on Monday, November 13th, at the Long Island Marriott.  We have not officially named the guest, but between you and me, it MAY be a guy that sits behind the players at games, and wears a suit and tie.

But you did NOT hear it from me….

 

Gary

Posted under Booster Club

Sorry for the late post… I had a LAZY day yesterday, which was much needed.  The Stanley Cup champs came in.  And we got 2 points!

What a game.  The team had the lead, lost it, and got it back. The Isles played a strong game, and lapsed a little during the third period, as a result of a Peter Laviolette ‘blown head gasket’ during a time out in the third.  He let into his guys, and they responded with a shortie, and two other goals, to take a lead with about 5 and 1/2 minutes left in the third frame. 

Silly got his fourth goal in consecutive games, and got a wet kiss from Blakey in the celebration.  It was a great second effort, to tie the score 90 seconds after Carolina took the lead.  Carolina’s Mike Commodore took a penalty with about a minute left in regulation to give the Isles a PP that would go into Overtime.

After securing the first point, Tom Poti got his second goal of the season, a blast that Sillinger screened the goalie John Grahame on, to put the Islanders to a 500 record at 3-3-2.  The team is in a 5 way tie for 7th place, but after a tenth of the season in the books, we are not looking as anemic and pathetic as everyone said we would.

Three Stars

1. Alexei Yashin – Many folks are probably saying “FINALLY” – doing what he is supposed to do.  I think he has done a lot, many things that the skeptical fan does not see.  But 7 pts in the last 2 games is a way of silencing critics.  Is he for real?  I think so!
2. Mike Sillinger – Goals in 4 straight – 3rd in the league in face offs.  Great pickup Mr. Smith… Oh – sorry you are not here.. Thanks anyway!
3. Tom Poti – game winning goal.  Again – he is not supposed to be Brian Leetch, but he is playing admirably.  Doing the job.  We will take guys like that any time.  Oh – by the way, how is the Ranger D doing??? Hmmm…
4. Honorable mention – Rick DiPietro – good to see him back – had a good first 40 minutes.  Had a hiccup in the 3rd, but played a strong game.  Thanks to Mike Dunham for holding the spot so well.

Gold Star Award – Two awards: 1. NY Islanders – a great job by the Community Relations team, and all that were involved with the kids opening day.  Two hours befor the doors opened up, games, face painting and all sorts of things were there for the kids to enjoy.  Even with the ‘Auntie M’ Wizard of Oz winds, it went off real well.  Having mascots like Stormy, Storm, Sabertooth and Stinger to hang out with Sparky (All S’s), it made the day special for the kids. 2.  The Hartford Whalers Booster Club – since 1997, the club supporting the ‘Whale’ is still around and still involved.  Twenty or so, took the bus down to Long Island, and sat in 317.  Some were Carolina rooters, some were Islander rooters, some unsure, but it is absolutely great to see the Green and Blue jerseys.  Hartford has a lot of special meaning to me (my first date with my wife was an Isles-Whalers game at the mall).  Glad to see you guys!  I really hope that someday an NHL team returns to Connecticut’s capital.

Tin Twit Award – Don’t really have one.  Nothing really cheesed me off.  It was a nice night. Well – the $7.50 for a beer at Doolin’s after the game is a little costly.  You can almost by an Itish pub for that!

BOOSTER CLUB STUFF – Garth Snow is visiting the Booster Club tonight.  7:30 at the Amiptheater in the Long Island Marriott.  If you are not a member, it is a $5.00 cost to attend.  However, if you join that night, the $5.00 will go towards your membership.  Great chance to talk to the GM, take a picture, or get an autograph.  Will be doing a Q&A session, so come on down.

Talk soon,

Gary

Posted under Booster Club, Islanders 06-07

So many people have been seriously barking about the officials this year.  I tend to give a little benefit of the doubt and just chalk it up to human error.

However, if you watched last night’s game, that would be an exception.

Have folks in Pittsburgh, Canada, and the NHL offices, officially annointed Sidney Crosby as the next SAVIOR?  He is allowed to do what he wants, and not get 2 minutes for it?

I am so sick and tired of the prima-donna crap!

He was constantly slashing pushing and just being a nuisance on the ice.  And where was the officials hand?  Certainly not in the air, that’s for sure.

He was pushing around Trent Hunter late in the game, and what happened?  Good ‘ol T shoved his fist into his face.  He (Crosby) looked like he was going to cry…  Of course, the winning goal for Pittsburgh was on a power play caused by the fact, that Alexei Yashin (who had a GREAT game last night) was slashed by Crosby on his hand, and Yash retaliated. 

The ref’s ONLY saw the 2nd act, not the first?  Or are they only using their GOOD EYE?

Anyway – My Three Stars?

1. Alexei Yashin – No brainer – 1 goal 2 helpers all over the ice (not his fault for the penalty that lost the game – anybody doesnt think that way, should be SHOT on freaking sight)
2. Mike Sillinger – Good game – another goal – solid effort once again
3. Richard Park – He just gives it all EVERY game.  Just a pleasure to watch

Gold Star – Jiggs McDonald – with the loss last night in Game 7 – the Mets season is unfortuately a reality.  For Islander fans, that means that Howie will leave his cleats at the door, grab a stick and puck, and get back to calling Islander games.  I hope that the younger generation of Islander fans realize what a treat this was.  A Hall of Fame announcer, and honestly, one of the nicest gentleman in the game.  It brought back such wonderful and exciting memories.  Jiggs and Billy Jaffee had a great chemistry and it was shown almost right away.  I hope that Howie can duplicate the job that Jiggs did.  Well, to this reporter, NO ONE can, but I hope he can come close.

Tin Twit – Should I even let you have a guess…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See ya tomorrow – long day… Practice, then Kids Opening day… get some sleep.

Gary

Posted under Islanders 06-07