This is the article from the Vancouver Province on Monday, regarding the game vs. the Islanders.
Isles look like team in oldtimers league
Many of the names are familiar, but their legs are creaky, writes Gordon McIntyre
The Province
Published: Monday, November 17, 2008
General manager Garth Snow has put together a pretty good squad — if it was the 2001-02 season.But Mike Comrie, Bill Guerin, Doug Weight and Mike Sillinger are all past their best-by date.
And, yikes, is that Richard Park wearing an ‘A’ and logging up to 19 1/2 minutes?
Head coach Scott Gordon, last year’s AHL coach of the year, probably wishes he had his Providence Bruins lineup on many nights.This once-proud franchise has long been a joke and owner Charles Wang is hinting he will leave town or sell the team if the decrepit Nassau Coliseum, long past the glory years of Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy, isn’t replaced.
The Isles are last in league attendance, officially averaging 13,233 fans (but most nights there are far fewer bottoms in the seats), and Wang claims he loses $20 million US a year.
That someone might be interested in buying a team that owes Rick DiPietro $4.5 million a year until 2020-21, when the oft-injured goalie will be 39, is beyond comprehension.
With all the uncertainty surrounding the Isles off the ice and a weak roster on it, the team did manage to beat Ottawa back-to-back in a home-and-away series on Thursday and Saturday.
They did it largely due to goalie Joey MacDonald, a career journeyman who is 6-6-2 in the abscence of DiPietro, who has been injured for all but three games.
In fact, with the Islanders’ recent record of 4-2-1, they’ve clawed past Flordia out of last place in the Eastern Conference.
“It feels like we’re playing in front of a guy who feels good about himself,” Weight told New York reporters. “We feed off his energy and with Ricky out, he’s been huge.”
Still, the Islanders have a penchant for blowing late leads — they squandered multi-goal leads in four of five games early in the month.
“Not that it’s behind us completely, but I don’t think anybody’s thinking about that anymore,” Gordon said after watching the Sens score two late goals to pull within 3-2 on Saturday.
The Isles will be missing defenceman Thomas Pock, suspended for five games after getting a major and being tossed from Thursday’s game for elbowing former Canuck Ryan Shannon in the head in his debut with the Senators.
Comrie, their leading scorer last season with a measely 49 points, and Sillinger are doubtful with hip injuries.
gordshockey@hotmail.com
The e-mail address is there – maybe folks should send a nice note to him about last night’s game… Other than a 1 minute blip to start, I thought the game was well played and a great success. OT was outstanding, and are you getting more and more impressed by Franz?
Joey – well – he is just Joey!
Great job boys! Great effort, and I am glad to see you shut up the Canadian media who thinks their poo does not stink!
Check your pants boys!!!
Posted under Islanders 08-09
This post was written by Gary Harding on November 18, 2008
It always amuses me when people write articles that clearly demonstrate that they were sitting on their keyboard while they typed them. This guy is clueless. It’s funny that one of the “old timers” with his “creaky” legs has just about a point a game for us. Also, of course, who bested who last night? Joey was Stellar once more, and, yes, number 51 impresses me more and more very day.
Please don’t associate one moron who clearly isn’t paying attention to the Islanders team with an entire nation’s media corps.
Seems that Howie Rose is in the same boat. Seeing that he still (and forever) bleeds Ranger blue, what does he really care? – just shilling for the “home” side like his phony analyst-turned-salesman sidekick.
Can New York hockey people PLEASE, PLEASE stop this stupid inferiority complex when it comes to its alleged mistreatment in “Canadian” media? Yes, I’m using a generalization here, but this one sticks as I’ve seen and heard it constantly for decades on end.
Now, let’s go out and win the next game!!
We’ll be at the Bell Centre on Monday. The way the Habs are going, this could be a good night for the orange and blue.
My dear Rich,
Howie still bleeds his blue, due to his long time fandom (from his younger years), and you can not blame him for that. I think he has done a good job (not the best, but good).
We know that this team is banged up and playing as good as it can, but it is tiresome to read the media up north just blast us. Believe me, many Canadian Isles fans feel the exact same way!
We are not asking for high energy top notch writing, but a little respect would be nice, dont you think?
Have fun in Centre Bell Monday!