A few words on the Lighthouse

The Lighthouse Website: Mr Wang sat down with WLNY TV 10/55 news anchor Richard Rose and Long Island Association President Matthew Crosson for the show Focus back on May 18th where he talks about the Lighthouse Project and the approval process.

This is a three part interview and runs about thirty minutes:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

The site also has some updated articles on the business end of things and the upcoming schedule of events.

The proper format to show your support for the project would be to submit a letter through the Lighthouse website here
because sensationalist tactics & misconceptions about the process are not going to get this approved.

I have added the feeder from the site to this blog for those wanting regular updates from credible professional media sources.

Islanders 5/31 Update

Islanders website: John Hill has a very early Saturday am update on the Isles at the prospects combine with comments from Ryan Jankowski, the Islanders Assistant GM/Director of Amateur Scouting on the process and what the club is looking for.

National Post: Michael Traikos also had a few words from Mr Jankowski in an article on the defenseman defining the draft class after the first selection.

NHL.com: Evan Weiner does a feature on Bobby Nystrom and his Stanley Cup winning goal in 1980 against Philadelphia and asked the legendary player if taking a misconduct on a hot day helped get him a rest?

Toronto Star : Rick Westhead claims a secret document on NHL revenue shows the six Canadian teams account for thirty one percent of the $1.1 billion (U.S.) in league ticket revenue with the Isles among eight clubs that generated less than half the amount of ticket revenue of the Edmonton Oilers and Ottawa Senators with the Coyotes generating the least ticket revenue of any club.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The fans had to sit out an entire year for this agreement, both sides agreed to full disclosure and there is revenue sharing so why not simply release the full accounting of each team from an independent arbitrator without secret documents leaking to the media?

If the Canadian dollar is strong of course they are going to take in more revenue along with markets that increase the price of tickets. In many markets this still does not offset the huge overhead to run a franchise in places like New York where many things are more expensive.

Note the pdf file included says the Isles revenue from ticket sales went from five hundred thousand per game to five hundred fifty thousand per game. Seems estimated in many teams cases or at the very least rounded off.

Many of these reports come off like fabricated Msg/Versus press releases on television ratings or announced attendance at games off Espn links. It's practically as bad as all the folks who take the Forbes yearly estimate released around December as gospel even though they have no access to any teams books.

My point being with a lack of credible information folks will believe anything that anyone says or writes.

Telegraph-Journal: Nathan White and Marty Klinkenberg had comments from Ted Nolan on the passing of his former player in Luc Bourdon, former Islander Steve Tambellini also comments. Islanders website also released an article with the coaches comments
here.

Tsn.ca: Has an article on the prospect combine taking place in Toronto with player comments and provided a full blog on the days events here.

Isles profiled prospect Zach Bogosian on the website, I added it to the prospect section.

USA Today.com: Kyle Woodlief of Red Line Report profiled the top fowards in the draft with Stamkos, Filatov a cut above the rest.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Added to sidebar, must read for Islander fans.

Newsday: Neil Best who has the media beat reports New York finished with a 1.6 rating for game three of the finals which was 34th among 56 major markets and claims it must be baseball season.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It's always baseball season in New York, Mr Best. This is why your paper needs to put in more New York Islander coverage and lower Ranger content in the paper but you only seem to be interested in your favorite team, it's hurt local interest in the sport across the board.

What's funny is folks like Mr Best will be the first ones telling us his Rangers in the finals will be good for the sport but here is Detroit-Pittsburgh and New York could care less.

So why will it be different for other markets if a New York area team did make a final if New York is thirty sixth for a great matchup like this?

Daily News: Ranger reporter John Dellapina who has been selling the Rangers at Yankee Stadium since day one has Bill Daly's comments the big meeting regarding this will take place next week which involves the Mayor's office. The article says NBC wants no part of the Isles involvement or a local matchup and that being excluded could anger the club.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Keep sending e-mails to Mayor Bloomberg folks if you want the New York Islanders involved because it's down to the Mayor's office and a meeting next week. If Mr Ebersol, Dellapina, Flood and the Garden do not want the Isles in that game let them pick another city. Isles put in all the work for this and should not only be in the event but the host New York team as the championship hockey tradition in New York Hockey.

Finally nothing new on the Ridderwall-Johansson front.

NYI Fan Central Final Review: Rob Davison

Today a quick final review of Islander defender Rob Davison.

2007-08:
For a player who had not played going back a few months in San Jose Rob Davison not only got here from Columbus on the day of the trade deadline but played that same night so he was a man very happy to be a part of a team getting a chance.

His days in the pressbox were over when he came here.

For what I could tell he seemed to fit in well and did a solid job on defense. It was rare to see many mistakes from him and in this conference he seemed to be able to keep up in terms of skating on defense. His game reminded me of Andy Sutton in the second half when he was playing well. Isles did not need him fighting which was one of his assets going into the deal because he did too good a job on a team with a backline with so many injuries, he was needed on the ice. Not many big hits but you look for solid defensive play and it was a good job scouting by the Isles on this move.

Having written that he did not help the club win but he is not an offensive defender.

Moving forward:
With so many defenders signed he is in a mix of players who are fourth, fifth and sixth defenders here. His only chance seems to be if the Isles move a Witt or a Sutton. My guess is his goal against Toronto from two hundred feet away will be the memorable highlight of his tenure in New York.

Final Grade:
I thought he did a solid job, I'm not expecting him back but he earned a B with his defensive game.

Islander/NHL notables

Islanders website: Islanders New Vice President of Communications
Josh Bernstein comments on the new Islanders Illustrated program that will debut June 18th on Msg plus and what the long-term plans are for this permanent feature.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Good concept to have a television show for the Islanders that is long overdue. I do not want to come off negative here but the house team at Msg has constant progamming that can run for a full day and longer if necessary so I'm not sure if it's time to celebrate one program. I want to see Jiggs McDonald do half hour programs on all the great players from the franchise with highlights from their careers and the writers comments.

And the same has to start happening for the Devils.

If Ron Duguay can get something like this on Msg there is no excuse for championship winning players with multiple cups as New York Islanders being profiled as well as the entire current team along with a regular schedule of the greatest Islander games as voted by the fans. Added to that a regular lineup of pre-season games televised with some games sold to channel nine or channel four to help market the club that would normally appear on Msg plus2.

Finally repeat Islander telecasts provided a one hour edition.

When the Garden starts making television inroads like this for our team that is the day I give them credit for doing things properly and will call them a fair partner.

Partners share, not give one team ninety eight percent while splitting two percent with the other two teams.

It's helped kill exposure and ratings for all three teams and the sport in the New York market. One look at the local coverage for the finals say it all.

THN.com/several articles: Ken Campbell confirms Blake Wheeler rejected the Coyotes final offer and will be an unrestricted free agent as of June 8th with the ramifications of this.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
One of those ramificantions is the Coyotes are awarded the fifth pick in the second round which pushes the Islanders back a spot. Kyle Okposo is from Minnesota as well as Wheeler.

Someone will get a good prospect without giving up a player in return, his value in terms of contract is limited as to what can be offered so this will not be a sweepstakes.

I think it goes without saying it sure would not hurt the Isles youth movement to try and sign him along with twenty eight other clubs.

Yahoo sports: Released an uncredited team report which is basically a summary of recent Islander events with some speculation on their own free agents along with a few old comments from the Isles website.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It is what it is, take it as an uncredited overview. I debated posting it at all here but Ross McKeon does some good hockey reports for this site.

Finally a horrible day for the entire NHL family and all of it's fans with the death of Cauncks prospect Luc Bourdon in a motorcycle accident. Bourdon played in Moncton under Ted Nolan and Danny Flynn when they reached the memorial cup final.

Ratings game/Outdoor game

NBC sports: Released their version of the ratings for game three
announced as earning a 2.8 overnight rating and a 5 share, the best overnight rating for a Game 3 in six years. (2002 – Carolina-Detroit, 3.8/8)

The Penguins 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings garnered an 18.2/28 in Detroit, trouncing the Detroit Pistons-Boston Celtics NBA Eastern Conference Final
head-to-head by more than 14 percent in "Hockeytown" (15.9/24).

The 2.8/5 was an 87 percent increase over last year's Game 3 on NBC (Anaheim-Ottawa, 1.5/3) but that was a Saturday night game which is traditionally a lower rating night.

Wednesday's Top Markets:
1. Pittsburgh, 33.1/47
2. Detroit, 18.2/28
3. Buffalo, 6.2/9
4. Columbus, 4.1/7
5. Minneapolis, 3.7/7

NYI Fan Central Comments:
A ton of spin both ways. Ottawa-Anaheim game three was played on a Saturday night which is traditionally a lower rating night.

I think it says a lot about how far hockey as fallen when Pittsburgh-Detroit is competing with Carolina-Detroit for ratings.

2.8 is not even in the same universe as Dallas-New Jersey about a decade ago. The Wings beat out the Pistons with basketball on cable and hockey on free television but with both on cable the Pistons won across the board.

NBC finished fourth for the night on broadcast with ratings down 34% from the programming they showed a year ago which is not good.

New York did a 1.6 according to WFAN and Francesa-Russo laughed off the New York hockey fans claiming a WNBA basketball game here had a higher rating than a conference finals hockey game last week.

Tsn.ca: Is confirming Detroit will play Chicago in the next outdoor game.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Wake me when the league announces an official game, we have a few too many unofficial/official confirmations, someone call Al Trautwig.

Can the Isles contend in 08-09 Absolutely

With the Islanders off at the NHL prospect combines in Toronto doing player interviews & the local papers not covering anything beyond one blog on Lighthouse meeting the other day (Post had Devil/Ranger updates Thursday) the question of the day is can the NY Islanders content next season?

Absolutely and without any doubt would be my answer.

This club was one of the lowest scoring teams in the league with a terrible powerplay that was prone to allowing goals with the man advantage, had a fourteen game stretch with two goals or less when they were rested/healthy and lost over four hundred man games to injury. They lost seven games in a row in January. As bad as things were with a team that had only eleven first period goals into December and were terrible at even strength that could not get games to overtime they still were mathematically in the race until the final two weeks of the season.

The forty/fifty shot games they managed to lose also said something about how hard they did work in some games, even with a lot of players who could not score.

You look at Boston going into last season who were supposed to be terrible, a club that lost Bergeron and somehow they found enough scoring and defense to qualify for a playoff spot that took Montreal to seven games. Philadephia went from 30th to a playoff spot and made a run to the conference finals with a flawed team that had some brutal stretches last season.

Islander fans know terrible teams that cannot compete, the kind of seasons they are ten-fifteen points out of a playoff spot before Thanksgiving/Christmas and approaching double-digits below five hundred. Last years's club was in a playoff spot for a good part of the season until health and the lack of scoring finally caught up with them. Even with the seven game losing streak they won six in a row and were close enough not to be sellers at the trade deadline.

I know the schedule is about to change with less Atlantic division games which could hurt with more speed/skill teams from the West but Isles had a winning record against two of the four teams in the division and finished a game under against Pittsburgh who they played eight even games with aside from a deflection off Brendan Witt. Another game they lost they took over fifty shots against the Pens.

Isles improve their scoring and stay healthy (two big questions) there is no doubt they not only compete for a playoff spot but can make a run come playoff time. Isles for all their flaws had very few games they were blown out of and no more than most teams that did make the playoffs.

DiPietro's shots against was cut by almost two hundred last season from 06-07, something no one has written about.

I'm not expecting much in terms of roster changes aside from many of the UFA not returning. I do think Snow will stick to his word and the team will get younger but as we saw on many nights the young players were among the most visible. If any of these kids emerge as consistent scorers and they can some mileage out of some veterans who are injury prone, I have little doubt Isles will have a great chance to not only return to the playoffs but do some damage.

My guess is a young player could be moved in a trade, especially on defense.

NYI Fan Central Final Review: Kyle Okposo

Tonight's mini-review is on the Islanders top draft pick Kyle Okposo.

2007-08:
Overall it was a wild ride for Okposo in 07-08 being one of the first player to leave college in season and sign with an NHL club as he was headed to the WJC. A few weeks after the commotion died down after he returned from team USA he found himself with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in completely different circumstances as a professional.

Islander stretch:
Okposo was recalled to the Isles as soon as his contract could no longer count against this season and he did not disappoint showing the skills and hockey ability to find the open area's of the ice and make plays to get into position. He looked very solid with Richard Park and Blake Comeau. His first goal was very impressive that won a game against the Devils where he got himself to the high slot and unloaded a rocket to beat Martin Brodeur, another goal he hit the hole and drove the net for a good goal against the Rangers in the season finale. He's not easy to take off the puck and a wrap around against Toronto almost brought down the house in his home debut.

All in all you look at a player like Tambellini who has had several NHL looks and seems invisible then you see Okposo come up and make that kind of impact where he is a factor and it's very impressive at such a young age after a tough season with so much change.

Moving ahead:
It would not shock me to see him with the Isles but maybe the right thing to do is let him get a full year in Bridgeport. With Guerin, Hunter under contract there seems to be room for only one more right wing. If Satan is resigned or another veteran scoring right winger is brought in there does not seem to be a spot for Okposo unless he plays on a fourth line. Either way it's a good situtation for the club because he can flat out play with a talent level lacking on the roster.

Final grade:
For his nine games he hardly looked out of place for his age and showed good instincts. Put me down for an A as I cannot wait to see him a year older and better hopefully with a scoring center who can get him the puck.

Upcoming final reviews

Quick Update on the final reviews remaining and what dates the ones I have done were posted for those who wish to go back.

Bill Guerin 4/6
Mike Sillinger 4/15
Shawn Bates 4/15
Sean Bergenheim 4/16
Jon Sim 4/21
Miroslav Satan 4/26
Frans Nielsen 4/30
Jeff Tambellini 5/1
Richard Park 5/7
Mike Comrie 5/19
Josef Vasicek 5/22
Blake Comeau 5/22

Remaining reviews: Trent Hunter, Kyle Okposo, Ruslan Fedotenko, Tim Jackman.
Colliton, Walter, Regier did not see enough minutes to do a full review beyond a quick blog so I'm going to omit them.
_______________________________________________________

Brendan Witt 4/9
Radek Martinek 4/11
Bryan Berard 4/14
Andy Sutton 4/29
Chris Campoli 5/14

Remaining reviews: Bruno Gervais, Aaron Johnson, Rob Davison, Freddy Meyer
Hillen, Fata, Spiller did not play enough games or minutes to do full blogs.
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Rick DiPietro 4/23
Wade Dubielewicz 5/28

Joey MacDonald/Mike Mole did not play enough games or minutes to do a full blog.

________________________________________________________
I guess enough blog postings have been done already on Garth Snow and Ted Nolan that can be called full reviews.

I will have these reviews done before the draft.

NYI Fan Central Final Review: Wade Dubielewicz

Today we continue the season ending reviews with the spotlight on goaltender Wade Dubielewicz.

Entering 2007-08:
It took some time for Ted Nolan to go with Wade Dubielewicz down the stretch late in 2006-07 but when he did he won the coach over and management as he was finally given an one-way contract as a reward for his strong season in Bridgeport and for the Islanders when they needed it most.

At the beginning of 2007-08 Dubie did not see much action but had a solid preseason, when he finally got his first start an exhausted Islander team was traveling and playing it's fifth game in seven nights against Toronto and simply did not give him much help in a bad loss against Toronto where he was not sharp himself.

After that the club played about three games in twenty plus days where again he was put into a bad situtation where an Islander team hung him out to dry in a game against Atlanta where he surrendered four first period goals where he allowed one bad goal late in the first period.

In that Atlanta game their club came at Dubielewicz in waves and did not allow anything after the first period that could have been 8-0 if not for his play.

On Al Arbour night he came in cold half way through the game and was outstanding in the comeback win.

At one point the Isles did get him to Bridgeport for a few games but when the call came he proved he could adapt and not only responded with good play from a backup but did not look at of place against any club.

When DiPietro did miss some games with mild injuries or knocks after that Dubielewicz played above and beyond what you expect from a backup goaltender with several outstanding efforts, his forty shot win against Carolina was typical of most of his work in the second half, he defeated the Rangers twice in the garden, gave his team a chance to win in almost all of his stretch starts after DiPietro shut down his season. No goalie is going to win without scoring support, Dubie did all he could and more and looked as good as most full time starters in this league.

In truth Dubielewicz looked like he could start for many teams in this league. As
much as the club needs Rick DiPietro's world class abilities, Wade Dubielewicz was outstanding most games when he got the call.

Moving forward:
Here we are in late May Joey MacDonald is signed to a one-way deal, Ridderwall's status will be decided in a few days and Dubie hits the open market on July 1st while DiPietro recovers from his second hip surgery. Seems to me if the Islanders wanted Dubie back something would have been done. The goaltenders comments have usually been he does not want to prove himself somewhere else and would like to stay.

Do the Isles gamble and give the backup role to MacDonald who has NHL experience and a few solid late season efforts or Dubie who looks like he could step in and start if necessary?

I have written several times the Islander fan in me wants him to stay but the NHL fan wants to see him start for someone. From day one this year I felt he would do a good job here, he lived up to my expectations and no doubt the Islanders are stronger with him.

Final Grade:
He could not outright steal games on the lowest scoring club in the league but he was ready when the call came for him to do the job without playing which was something we were not sure he could do after such a big workload in Bridgeport, he did his job and gave his team every chance to win.

Dubielewicz gets an A and a contract extension if it's my decision. He would easily start in Toronto/Los Angeles and vastly upgrade the current state of their goaltending.

Islander News Articles 5/28

Newsday: Greg Logan blogged on last night's Lighthouse meeting, the road ahead in the process as well as the political and enviormental hurdles the project will have to get through before final approval. It was written partly from a hockey perspective with Mike Bossy also in attendance.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Hopefully Newsday has an update in the business section on the meeting. The LI Business News lags behind a day or so on these updates but has done a lot on the Lighthouse project. Will be interesting if/when the heavyweights like Smg/Al D'Amato, and the same folks who have been killing Coliseum projects back to the days of John Pickett start surfacing with their demands. Nice update today but this works kind of like Sheldon Silver in Manhattan where he can kill something simply because he feels like it regardless of what anyone thinks.

Mr Wang negotiated an out-clause in the Isles lease with the county if this project is rejected at some point but Smg's lease runs until 2014 and the television contract until 2030 makes any relocation highly unlikely because of the huge revenue the club receives in the deal.

Erie Times News: Victor Fernandes has an article on the NHL draft as Pierre McGuire envisions Drew Doughty as the next Denis Potvin with comments from several of the prospects.

Winnipeg Sun: Steve Simmons has an article about Wings scout Hakan Andersson and the success they have had with draft picks from Sweden starting with Henrik Zetterberg in relation to the 1999 draft with a lot on how Mattias Weinhandl was also targeted by the Wings but went to the Isles in the third round.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
This was the kind of thing I was writing about recently in terms of the Islanders drafts over close to a decade, no late round steals at the forward position, not even a mid or early round steal for that matter either.

Erie Times News: Victor Fernandes has an article on the NHL draft as Pierre McGuire envisions Drew Doughty as the next Denis Potvin with comments from several of the prospects.
_______________________________________________________________
It should be noted for those watching Wednesday's finals on my cable guide Versus lists no postgame while Espn news is advertising all postgame interviews.

Makes little sense to me unless NBC-Versus-NHL Network simply do not work well together. Why not have a panel with an hour long postgame and full press conferences after months of Versus coverage. NBC will be cutting to local news quickly after games.

They did a special live program to show some ping pong balls for a half hour lottery, to not have finals postgame makes little sense but it's been happening for three years.
_______________________________________________________________

Islander/Finals notables

Thanks for the e-mails on the outdoor game folks, but please just send your e-mail to Mayor Bloomberg, not to me. I have done what I can with this, it's up to you.

I will leave the link up until a decision is announced on the game. If you want our team involved you have to do your part, I do not know if it will help but it sure cannot hurt. Isles put in two years trying to make this game happen and I feel our team deserve to be in this game or no event like this should ever take place in New York.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Eliteprospects.com
Has three rumor reports Tuesday of Islander prospect Kim Johansson moving to Sundsvall, Nyköping or Nybro with all three linked to a blog here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Take all this with a very large grain of salt but with Johansson needing to be signed within a week I listed it. I'm leaning toward cutting out eliteprospects.com from our updates because a few of them like this are linking to blogs I'm not sure are legitimate professional media sources and they have not been as reliable as they have been in the past. _______________________________________________________________________________
Finals notables:
My finals predictions of Pittsburgh in six from Hockey Night on LI Saturday with Osgood being exploited because he is not one of the new age goalies wearing all the extra padding is not looking too good right now. Guess that home ice advantage not being a big deal in today's NHL has me 0-3. (Laughing)

Having written that I did also say these clubs have never met and we'll see what will be the over-riding factor and that anything could happen.

It is getting old reading these 83 Oilers comparisons, Pittsburgh did not dominate during the regular season like Edmonton did in their conference that year. Fact is this Pittsburgh team is looking more like the 81-82 Oilers but played two average clubs in Philadelphia-Rangers who struggled to make the playoffs and a Ottawa club in a free fall but their overall talent and long-term potential is excellent.

Now they are meeting a good team playing well that dominated their conference all season, but Pittsburgh is going home and this will tell us whether we have a long series or a short series if their home winning streak is broken.

Gary Roberts looked like he did in the 2002 playoffs going after Jonsson's head last night. Only this time he's too old to charge in from center ice, garbage play.

These Versus ratings are not exactly great, are they double last year because they have more outlets in year three for people to watch? What does 1.8 on Versus translate to on a network with limited affiliates?

I guess we will find out when NBC takes over for game three. Personally I do not think any market makes that big a difference, the fact so many media did not even go to Detroit says all we need to know about what the sports editors think of hockey in general.

The New York media is not even showing the game highlights.

Best articles I have read from the major media on the finals are the ones wondering why Gary Bettman opens his press conferences with softball questions from NHL network to set the tone as David Shoalts in the Globe & Mail pointed out here.

It's about as pre-packaged as those rating reports coming from Versus media people.
__________________________________________________________________
Newsday: Mark Herrmann does a feature with Robert Borzomi from Sunday, who has painted the Nassau Coliseum ice since day one which the Isles website linked to today with comments from Bryan Trottier, John Tonelli and Lorne Henning.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Nice feature and well deserved, but it's long overdue for an update on pending free agents and a state of the Isles. If there is room in the print edition for a two part feature on this there should be room in the budget for information on the team. Kind of sad only Steve Zipay's Ranger blog is going live for the finals but all I can do here is point it out to everyone and ask why the Islander blog is not covering the finals?

The Oklahoman: Bob Hersom does a very good three part interview with former three time cup winner with the Islanders, Mike McEwen who talks about what is was like to play on those championship clubs.

Telegraph-Journal: Scott Briggs has a feature on former cup winning Islander Yvon Vautour who will enter New Brunswick sports shrine Saturday as he talks about being a part of a championship team with the Islanders.

Newsday: Noel Rubinton in the business blog of Newsday has more on Cablevision's purchase of the paper with more criticism for the deal and a link to the LI business news article on 5/23 and a Times article on the history of Newsday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I sent Mr Rubinton an e-mail about a week and a half ago asking what this means for the New York Islanders and their hockey coverage, to this point he did not respond.

Point Blank: Mr Botta answered a blog on the Islanders Hall of Fame regarding Bob Bourne and did a second video blog as a new feature (nice work) on John Tonelli.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
A few years earlier a relative of Bob Bourne sent the Sunday Post Soundoff of all places an e-mail about Bourne being under appreciated. As usual Charles Wang stepped up and did something about that to make up for past owners because it was the right thing to do. Hopefully names like Goring, Tonelli, Persson, Westphal and company also are added to that list in the coming years.

In the prospect section Igor Volkov transferred to another Russian club over the weekend.

The Star: Kevin McGran reports the draft prospects combine is underway in Toronto with the Isles (among several clubs) having wined and dined Paul Myers who is the fourth-ranked skater in North America according to the NHL's Central Scouting bureau. Meyer and as Alex Pieterangelo are asked and comment about being drafted by the Leafs.

E-mail Mayor Bloomberg, No Isles, no outdoor game in NYC

Folks, the New York Islanders need your help now.

I'm asking for my fellow New York Islander fans reading this blog to get involved in something that should only take a minute of your time and could help our team be a part of the outdoor game in their own market or make sure no game is held in New York at all.

Spread the word to as many folks as you can.

Please save the time you take e-mailing me back/responding with a discussion and use it to send NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg an email and then get your fellow Islander fans involved.

It's down to the end of the process with the league expected to announce a host city for the next outdoor game according to Gary Bettman's Stanley Cup press conference.

It looks like that comes down to the City of New York granting approval for the construction/winterizing projects that have to take place in the current Yankee Stadium to host an outdoor hockey event that need city approval. This means the Bloomberg administration is the final word here.

Spread the word, let the Mayor's office receive a few thousand e-mails from New York Islander fans demanding our team is involved in this event or no approval be granted by the city for any work on the current Yankee Stadium to make this event possible.

Mr Bloomberg's radio network owns the rights to New York Islander hockey. Former deputy mayor Dan Doctoroff used to be a minority owner of our team.

Not political here folks, it's simply about the right thing being done.

Fill out the forum and demand the New York Islanders be involved in the outdoor game or the city not approve any construction/winterization on the current Yankee Stadium so Cablevision/NBC/Dick Ebersol, Sam Flood can once again cut the New York Islanders out of their own market while only their own special interest take precedent.

If the New York Islanders are not involved in this game, the city should not grant the Yankees approval to make a game possible.

New York is the Islanders market. The club has put in all the work to make this game a reality for almost two years according to Mr Botta while NBC/Dick Ebersol/Sam Flood and likely Cablevision want no part of the Islanders involvement despite our strong fan support at Msg and in New Jersey.

If Dick Ebersol does not like it and wants the Garden's team involved at all cost let them go on the road to play an outdoor game. New York is the Islanders market and if they are not part of it no game should ever take place in New York.

Anyone who thinks Cablevision is paying the New York Islanders close to seventeen million a year or Devils about the same to give them equal billing on television and build a larger fan base I'm afraid I cannot do anything for you.

This is the same Cablevision that killed the West Side Stadium & the Olympics with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and his former chief of staff Patricia Lynch, a Garden lobbyist. The speaker himself has been accused of special priviledges at Ranger games by the NY Post here.

To this day Msg is still receiving tax exepmtions from the early 80's to keep from moving back then and want no part of ending that practice here with again Mr Silver pulling all the strings for Cablevision.

Our team needs this game and the exposure from it. The Islanders put in the groundwork for it and are the championship hockey tradition in New York. They belong in this event as the only other New York pro team with four or more consceutitive championships with the Yankees. It may even help them get the Hub approved with that many Islander fans in one place rooting for the team sending a message to the politicians in Nassau County with the attention the club will receive in the media from being a part of this.

This is the link to contact Mayor Bloomberg:
here.

You can bet Mr Bloomberg will be more than happy to step up and take something away from Cablevision after all they have taken from New York if the Islanders are not included. The mayor would not even get involved in a friendly wager with the City of Buffalo last spring when the Rangers were in the playoffs while Mr Suozzi did a friendly wager for the Islanders in the opening round.

It's up to you and I think it's a time for everyone to take a few minutes and do something to help. I hope you decide to send the mayor an e-mail and spread the word to help our team.

Thank You for reading this.