Islander News Articles 12/22

New York Islander Fan Central | 12/22/2007 07:31:00 AM | | | | | | | |
Newsday: Greg Logan has comments from Ted Nolan on how his line changes worked in reverse with the fourth line carrying the club in the third period with Blake Comeau asked about his opportunity here, Andy Hilbert talks about the coach going with the players who play well.

Ted wanted a few guys to put a little spark in the lineup ... Whether I'm out there for one shift or 10 shifts, I try to make an impact every shift."

Teddy has stressed the last week or so that he's going to go with the guys who play well. We saw a little bit of that in getting a shot on the power play," he said. "Everyone knows you have to come out and play. It doesn't matter who you are."


Newsday: Greg Logan has comments from Jarkko Ruutu/Sidney Crosby about Chris Simon. Crosby also calls Brendan Witt one of his toughest opponents.

"I don't want to blow the whole thing up," Ruutu said. "It doesn't serve a purpose. Everybody can see it online and on TV and form their own opinion. I don't have a comment on the whole thing. It's in the past. We've just got to move on."

"Witt goes out of his way to finish hits," Crosby said. "He wants to establish that physical presence. You have to be aware. If you get caught sleeping for a second, you get hit pretty hard. He's a guy who prides himself on that."

All A.P for the Times, Post and Daily News out of Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Dave Molinary prints what Greg Logan did not provide in his game coverage which was Blake Comeau's comments about his first NHL goal.

"When I looked at the net, I heard guys yelling, 'Shoot,' and there were bodies there and a lane was open," Comeau said. "I put my head down and tried to shoot it as hard as I could, and it ended up going in."

Pittsburgh Post Gazettte: Shelly Anderson asked Penguins coach Michel Terrien and Ted Nolan about Chris Simon's suspension.

Pioneer Press: Bruce Brothers article today has Don Lucia's response where he defended his twenty year record. WCHA Commissioner Bruce McLeod blasted Garth Snow for his comments, while Wild Gm Doug Risebrough gave his thoughts on signing college hockey players in season. Athletic director Joe Maturi wondered why Snow did not come out and watch the program before passing judgement. Snow's former college teammate at Maine, Minnesota Wild defenseman Keith Carney defended Snow but did not know the circumstances.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
What is notable in this article is Mr Brothers comments the Islanders asked Okposo to give up his college eligibility and play a season of junior hockey in Canada this winter before joining their organization. He said no and announced in June he would return to the Gophers. This was not reported last summer.

Again I ask the same question?

Why couldn't Don Lucia have simply respected Okposo's decision and wished him luck and kept his criticism of the Islanders behind closed doors? This promoted Garth Snow's response which led to all of this which is only going to hurt this kid moving forward.

All due respect to Joe Maturi, but it was reported in Greg Logan's blog back on December 2ND here that Garth Snow had intended to visit Kyle Okposo.

“I’ll be visiting Kyle in the next few weeks,” Snow said. “We’ve had Bryan Trottier, Kenny Morrow and Steve Webb from our staff see him on a regular basis and talk to him on the phone. Things aren’t going to go perfect the whole season. He’s not putting up the points, but he’s playing a well-rounded game and he looks like a man playing with boys. We think very highly of him.”


All due respect to Bruce Brothers but how come he did not include this in his article being that he's getting reaction from the college level and the Minnesota Wild? The entire story should be told from all sides.

Washington Times: Corey Masisak has an article on former Islander Viktor Kozlov's frustration over not scoring.

Sound Tigers Website: Has the recap of Bridgeport's 2-1 at Hartford Friday night.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports on the Sound Tigers fourth straight win, a 2-1 shootout win at Hartford Friday. Joey MacDonand's had thirty three saves, Jeff Tambellini scored the Sound Tigers lone goal to tie the game with less than two minutes to play and won the shootout with another goal.

"I made the save when I had to. It didn't look good for a while. We took some penalties, but we stuck to it, and we got a greasy goal."

"We just tried to stay in shooting lanes," Tambellini said. "Joey did a good job. He hadn't played in a couple of nights, and he came in and did a pretty good job."


Hartford Courant: Bruce Berlet who's paper has an association with Newsday provided Wolfpack coverage and had a few words from Jeff Tambellini on his goal.

"A couple of guys had lost an edge, so I just threw the puck at the net to get it to the front," Tambellini said.


Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's blogs on the Sound Tigers win and includes the " non-concrete rumors " were the Islanders were speaking with Okposo before Simon-Ruutu. Also an ECHL all-star update was given with Trevor Smith, Michael Haley selected and former Islander prospect Ryan O'Marra.