Islander News Articles 4/5

Newsday: Greg Logan's game recap of the Islanders 3-1 over Tampa Bay Saturday has comments from head coach Scott Gordon who is interested in his lineup and building something for next season, not the current standings while Josh Bailey talks about the set play with Blake Comeau that led to his third period goal.

Newsday: Mr Logan's second article was on Mark Streit, whether he will return this season where he also discusses playing for Switzerland at the World Championships.

NY Post: Mark Hale covered last nights game with comments from Jesse Joensuu and Scott Gordon.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
At this point unless a writer is dispatched to the Nassau Coliseum from Editor Leon Carter's Daily News sports department I will not be posting their sportsticker updates. I suspect the Daily News New York Islander budget is spent for this year unless there are more articles on former owners.

Tampa Tribune: Erik Erlendsson's game coverage and blog entries here.

St Pete Times: Damian Cristodero's game coverage of Tampa's loss to New York on Saturday.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's article is on Pascal Morency and Mitch Fritz with a preview of Sunday's 1pm home game against River Rats who Bridgeport won against earlier this week in Albany.

Mr Fornabaio is not sure who will be returned to Bridgeport among the Islander callups at this time.

New York 3, Tampa Bay 1

Associated Press: Recaps New York's 3-1 win over Tampa Bay Saturday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The surprise of the day for me in this one was Scott Gordon breaking his goaltender rotation and starting Danis who had been struggling badly at home recently with MacDonald needing a home game of his own to start.

Maybe the coach wanted to put him back in and see how he responds? I'm not sure what to read into that.

The rest of this was a lot of callups on both sides and kind of an ugly choppy game with not many great chances on either side. The Islanders were a little more rested and got a nice break in the opening minute on good hustle by Park. Tampa only generated seven shots at Martin Broduer last night but scored three times, tonight Danis had to make a few very good close in saves but nothing sustained.

For the Islanders what caught my attention was Tambellini going shoulder to shoulder with a 6'4 220lb defender on the Lightning and sending him flying, that's how he's going to win the pucks and find space to use his excellent shot which McKenna had no chance on when Tambellini hit the post in the third.

Joensuu had some very visible shifts, two more points and Iggulden flattened someone on the Lightning. The play to set up Bailey for a breakaway goal on the powerplay was as good as you can ask for. Gervais and Comeau very visible and effective games.

Radek Martinek seems to like scoring against Tampa Bay in 3-1 wins at the Coliseum which is his fourth goal since that game on 2/3.

Just have to let the games play out folks and let the lottery take it's course.

Tim Jackman wins Nystrom Award

Islanders website: Announced Tim Jackman won the Bob Nystrom award Saturday with his comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Sorry everyone, thought that selection would be announced the final weekend so I extended the poll, now that Jackman has won we will close to poll with the final results as follows:

Kyle Okposo 8 (20%)
Frans Nielsen 3 (7%)
Sean Bergenheim 3 (7%)
Richard Park 2 (5%)
Mark Streit 7 (17%)
Andy Hilbert 1 (2%)
Brendan Witt 1 (2%)
Bruno Gervais 1 (2%)
Josh Bailey 1 (2%)
Tim Jackman 11 (27%)
Other 2 (5%)

Thanks to everyone for participating, Jackman won our poll with eleven votes but everyone listed was selected by someone and this was a poll where everyone only had one option.

Tampa Bay at New York 7pm Msg+

I readjusted the man games lost to injury on the sidebar, everyone has their own number but the Islanders release today is what we will go by for the next week.

This is not a precise thing charted by the league with NYIFC, Fox, Newsday and the Islanders all having different figures at some point between illness-injury.

The final number is going to come in very close to six hundred which says enough.

Tampa Tribune & St Pete Times: Preview's tonight's game.

Updated Player Pos Injury Expected Return
Marek Malik D Lower body Out until at least early April
Vincent Lecavalier C Wrist Out for the season
Cory Murphy D Foot Out until at least mid-April
Mike Smith G Concussion IR. Likely out for the season
Andrej Meszaros D Arm IR. Out for the season
Paul Ranger D Undisclosed IR. Out for the season

Tampa Tribune: Erik Erlendsson reports Defenseman Josef Melichar left the game with a lower body injury in the second period and did not return. He’s likely out for Saturday’s game. Melichar was limping around the locker room after the game and looked to be favoring his left leg.

Also, Ryan Craig left the game at some point in the third period with an upper body injury and looks like he might miss the remaining four games. Craig had his left arm in a sling after the game so more callups are coming with Mike McKenna likely to be in goal.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
I have watched enough of Tampa to know that they come to play and work hard every game, even with their injuries (LeCavalier) they have far more offense than the Islanders without Okposo-Bergenheim-Streit.

Now we see if they need even another callup for Andy Hilbert.

Last night Tampa had the the Devils down 2-0 and even with Kevin Weekes getting injured, Broduer coming in who made several big saves, a thrown stick penalty shot goal finally got the Devils (who looked terrible) who turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead, Tampa still rallied to tie the game and then down 4-3 scored again to force overtime.

Stamkos, St Louis, Malone and a lot of the forwards were all over the Devils at times last night, not in terms of shots but generating quality chances when they did shoot.

Both teams obviously need some callups. For Scott Gordon Joey MacDonald has not played at home for a while and Danis has struggled at home. I would guess unless Hilbert can go the Isles need at least three recalls depending on McAmmond.

Sean Bentivoglio and Trevor Smith played Thursday and Friday, Bridgeport is off Saturday but has a big game Sunday.

Because Isles lead Tampa in wins (first tie-breaker) the tragic number to turn the lottery race into a two team contest with Colorado is four with tonight being a four point game.

I guess no coaches post-game press conference tonight because we have to watch Cablevision Hockey Night Live canned coverage. Should be interesting to see how Isles find enough programming to fill twenty minutes of pregame.

Season went so quick, Summer will be quicker

It's really hard to believe a full hockey season is over in a week.

Seemed like yesterday we were reading about Overspeed and the Islanders were getting together in Moncton.

I remember Chris Lee scoring against the Devils in preseason to win a game in overtime like it was last month.

Unlike last summers off-season where the news never really stopped but was two weeks longer, this one will go even faster with the Olympics pushing up the schedule and the build-up to the draft.

Five months from 4/12, New York Islander Hockey will be back already with camp opening.

Can't wait, even with NYIFC faded well into history by then.

Thirty One games one goal/open net losses

You take that number, add in the five hundred plus man games lost to injury and that's the 2008-09 New York Islanders story.

Islanders win fifteen of those thirty one games on one of the lowest scoring teams in the NHL they are tied for eighth place with eighty nine points.

All about survival skills in games to avoid regulation losses and gain points. Colorado for their season has only two overtime losses all season which may be the worst survival skills to force overtime and lose since this format was adopted.

Of course Colorado won more in regulation.

Islander News Articles 4/4

Newsday: Greg Logan previews tonight's game against Tampa (mostly about the lottery) with Jeff Tambellini's comments.

Newsday: Mr Logan in the Islander Newsday blog writes contrary to certain contrarians, the sidebar that accompanied the Islanders game story in today's Newsday did not say that injured Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit would definitely miss the rest of the season with their groin strains. It simply suggested that it would not be surprising if that happened as he went on to clarify what happened in the press conference with head coach Scott Gordon's comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Of course where Mr Logan fails here is to simply not do a blog entry right after the game on Thursday and cover all angles. This is what Steve Zipay does after almost every game with his blanket coverage so why can't he do that in the only full-time paper that covers this team?

Couldn't the question to Scott Gordon on Okposo and the World Championships wait for another week or an off-day where the winger himself comments?

NY Post: Dan Martin takes his shots at the Isles being well rested because of the lack of playoff series wins while Richard Park feels next year will be different and he will see his first playoff action since he was with the Minnesota Wild that went to the conference finals in 2003.

Sault-Star: Reporter Bill Montague has comments from former Islander head coach Ted Nolan about being a general manager and a return to coaching as he dismissed owning a team. Also reported in this article was former Islander assistant Dany Flynn was named coach of the year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League earlier this week.

AHL.com: Recaps Bridgeport's 4-3 overtime win against Hershey Friday night on Sean Bentivoglio's overtime goal to clinch the first one hundred point season in franchise history in the post-shootout era.

Joe Callahan and Joel Rechlicz did not play, nor did Robin Figren or any of the CHL players on tryout contracts.

Peter Mannino had twenty nine saves in goal.

1. BRI Fraser, (7) (Joensuu, Wotton), 3:36
1. HER McNeill, (3) (Brennan, Joudrey), 17:46
1. HER Perreault, (11) (Giroux, Lepisto), 18:23 (PP)
2. HER Reid, (2) (Gordon), 2:47
2. BRI Joensuu, (19) (Fraser, Kohn), 11:14 (PP)
3. BRI Haskins, (10) (Bentivoglio, Sim), 5:43
OT. BRI Bentivoglio, (13) (Haskins, Kohn), 0:25

1 x Hershey Bears 76 47 21 2 6 102
2 x Bridgeport Sound Tigers 77 46 23 3 5 100
3 x WBScranton Penguins 75 47 24 2 2 98

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Never say never but Bridgeport needed a regulation win Friday. Hershey plays WBS Saturday. With an eighty game schedule is almost up.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps Friday's big win with comments from head coach Jack Capuano, Sean Bentivoglio and goaltender Peter Mannino, who credited defenseman Jon Gleed for a game saving blocked shot in the third period.

Ct Post: Has the following statement from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Team President Howard Saffan not written by beatwriter Michael Fornabaio:

Howard Saffan, president of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, issued the following statement Friday:

I want to take this time to apologize to Lynn Carlotto, General Manager of the Arena at Harbor Yard, for my recent criticism of her management of the facility. I have turned what should have been a private business disagreement into a public matter. My comments were emotionally charged due to the fact that we are fighting for the number one seed in the AHL playoffs and because of the Arena's schedule we will not be able to begin our quest for the AHL championship on home ice. We are working to resolve a difference of interpretation regarding the way playoff dates are established at the Arena.

Patriot-News: Covers the Hershey Bears.

Islander Notables/Quick Hits

Paper transaction or otherwise Callahan, Bentivoglio, Smith and Rechlicz were returned to Bridgeport Friday who have a huge game against Hershey tonight but a very rare Saturday off with the Isles-Tampa game Saturday.

If Andy Hilbert cannot go and the same players are recalled with a Bridgeport game Sunday someone could potentially play four days in a row (it's happened before) unless Jack Capuano gives Robin Figren and now perhaps Matt Martin-Max Gratchev a chance to play with first or second place on the line or some ECHL players come up.

Anything can happen with this.

Newsday: Had a short token editorial blasting Kate Murray's petition for stimulus money to renovate the Coliseum.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Reads nice, no doubt it makes a few Islander fans happy but make no mistake Cablevsion owned Newsday has a huge financial gain in the New York Islanders leaving and if you don't understand this feel free to look at what happened in Hartford when the Whalers left combined now with hundreds of millions of cable revenue forfeit.

Lets see Newsday do an editorial on the front page the New York Islanders should never move anywhere and cover it like a major market team.

Their coverage over the years has contributed to the damage in the stands, that was not on Cablevision's watch.

Do those things, then I will change my thoughts, not before.

Point Blank: Mr Botta has comments from head coach Scott Gordon from last night that if Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit are healthy they will play with some other items on the playoff chase.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
We'll see, that obviously did not apply to Andy Sutton. Nine days are left, the five games are important but not at the expense of anyone's health.

Telegraph Journal: Kevin Barrett reports former Islander assistant coach Gerard Gallant is interested in a job with the Saint John Sea Dogs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as he discussed not coaching this year after his late reassignment by the Islanders after Scott Gordon was hired.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Were we not told Gallant was re-assigned as a special consultant to GM Garth Snow
here?

THN.com: Ryan Kennedy has a feature on Columbus Bluejacker goaltender Wade Dubielewicz on mostly his run to the playoffs with the Islanders two years ago.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Why is is so hard to do an article with an interview and make such painfully obvious mistakes? The Islanders were not swamped by Buffalo with almost every game (aside from the opener Dubielewicz lost 4-1) decided by a goal, a video review or Ryan Miller's save on Satan in the final ten seconds.

The writer could not even get correct the Isles did not lose four games in a row.

Quick Hits:
* Funny how Scott Gordon could not survive a day earlier this season (even after wins) where the Isles had problems in the third period where he was not assaulted with questions about it. Now the Rangers have blown a ton of third period games under John Tortorella at the most critical time of the season and the Ranger media (aka fans) don't even bring up the subject or barely touch on it?

* Sure seems like the same local media is putting a lot more time covering the Devils free fall than Brodeur setting an all-tme the record, seems hypocritical but typical.

* So what's the deal with our pregame (not complaining about Tennis last night) do the Islanders have no video of our team recently so they have to used canned features from other teams now to fill the thirty minutes? Why not have Billy Jaffe or Howie Rose do some more interviews/round tables on the players/team if the Msg crew can go to Bayside.

* Any law going around the lockeroom after games for more comments after Gordon's presser? Isn't that why Stan Fischler, Butch Goring and C.J Papa are there?

* I cannot recall the NHL jumping on a team like they did Toronto with a whopping 500k fine and forfeited draft pick for a signing bonus to a player recently.

* If I'm going to use this space to blast Blues President John Davidson when his team was terrible, I have to also give him his due when his team turns things around because they have done an excellent job with a lot of injuries and adversity. My criticism of him always was more that he got a pass for the Blues losing and their mistakes while Garth Snow did not.

* So when they award the Masterson will it be for the player who had the best season on the ice or off of it? To nominate Mark Streit for this to me is a door prize for a player who deserved nothing less than a Norris Nomination knowing he should not win because a few other defenders had better years. Streit did not persevere to become an even better hockey player within the last year, he was a very good player already.

Vote for Bob Nystrom Award

Our final poll which has been up for a while and will go until the final weekend home games ask you to select among a bunch of players for the Bob Nystrom award.

Anyone selecting other please let me know who and I will add that name to the results.

In 1991, the Islanders began presenting the Bob Nystrom Award to the player on the team "who best exemplifies leadership, hustle and dedication." Past winners:

* 1991 - Brent Sutter
* 1992 - Ray Ferraro
* 1993 - Benoit Hogue
* 1994 - Steve Thomas
* 1996 - Dan Plante
* 1997 - Claude Lapointe
* 1998 - Rich Pilon
* 1999 - Claude Lapointe
* 2000 - Claude Lapointe
* 2001 - Dave Scatchard
* 2002 - Steve Webb
* 2003 - Jason Blake, Garth Snow
* 2004 - Adrian Aucoin
* 2005 - No winner due to NHL lockout
* 2006 - Kevin Colley
* 2007 - Trent Hunter
* 2008 - Richard Park

Islander News Articles 4/3

Newsday: Greg Logan's game recap and a second article on the loss of Streit and Okposo perhaps being for the season with more lottery speculation here.

Montreal Gazette: Pat Hickey recaps New York's loss against Montreal Thursday night.

Daily News & NY Post.

Northeastern University: Reports Thursday Men's hockey coach Greg Cronin (former Sound Tigers coach) has been named New England Hockey Writers Coach of the Year and a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award as NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Coach of the Year. Cronin led Northeastern to 25 wins and its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994 this season. Cronin was already named Hockey East Coach of the Year.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Congratulations to Greg Cronin who not only coached in Bridgeport but was with the Isles for years.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio previews Friday's win in regulation or else game if the Sound Tigers have any hope of catching the Hershey Bears for first place trailing by three points with Hershey and WBS having a game in hand. Jesse Joensuu's recent struggles are the focus of the article with prospect Maxim Gratchev the latest who could see action in the final games with Kevin Poulin.

1 x Hershey Bears 75 47 21 1 6 101
2 x WBS Penguins 75 47 24 2 2 98
3 x Bridgeport 76 45 23 3 5 98

Like the NHL, AHL first tie-breaker are determined by wins as here so with Bridgeport having only four games remaining in an eighty game schedule for now the Bears and Pens have on paper an extra point to go with game in hand.

Montreal 5, New York 1

Associated Press: Has the recap of the Montreal Canadians 5-1 win against New York on Thursday.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Not much to say on this one, tough night.

Sure seems like calls on being made on standings or reputation these days, Isles had not given up that many shorthanded in a game this year and all due respect to the Habs skill they got some bounces or deflections off Islanders for two of the goals.

Montreal was more impressive on the plays they did not finish.

Canadians scored a few nice goals in the second but without Halak being on his game early Isles have a few goals themselves. Thompson got a few chances, Nielsen one or two and Tambellini had an excellent game bouncing off players and creating chances beyond his nice shot for the only Islander goal.

You see Bailey feed Bentivoglio and out of the camera Jackman is getting called, then another at the start of the second for what looked marginal, that is not the Canadians talent taking over, that's the officiating.

Still, Isles only generated one goal in a game that was over basically by the half-way point.

Sure faceoffs did not help but they did not create some of the calls or bounces off Islanders that led to them. Danis had little help and Thompson for a second night was beaten down low for a goal against.

Would not be an Islander game without an injury, with Hilbert likely going out for the season.

Scott Gordon was furious behind the bench around the time Weight fought, loved the bench reaction to both Islander fights with the players supporting them.

Msg sure did spam that out of town scoreboard tonight, if Howie Rose wants to talk Rangers so much go cover their games, he seemed to lay it on a little thick tonight about the Canadian fans in the building.

No doubt the fans wanting one of those two picks got what likely had to happen.

I wanted a good Islanders effort and did not see much of it after the first ten minutes which was when they should have been most vulnerable.

Five games left, unless Colorado has a win or some points in them, Isles cannot gain more than five points.

Montreal at New York 7pm Msg+: Smith, Bentivoglio Recalled

The Islanders will be without Kyle Okposo (day-to-day, strained groin), Mark Streit (day-to-day, strained groin) and Dean McAmmond (day-to-day, sick). They have re-called Trevor Smith and Sean Bentivoglio from the Bridgeport on an emergency basis.

Niagara University: Issued a classy release for their former player by two years in Sean Bentivoglio getting the call for his NHL debut.

Add another two players per game to man games lost to injury starting tonight.

Goaltender Carey Price will not play tonight against the Islanders because of illness. Jaroslav Halak will get the start and Marc Denis has been called up to play the back-up role. - TSN

Updated Player Pos Injury Expected Return
03/10/09 Francis Bouillon D Groin IR. Out indefinitely
03/31/09 Roman Hamrlik D Upper body Questionable for at N.Y. Islanders
03/31/09 Sergei Kostitsyn LW Upper body Questionable for at N.Y. Islanders
03/09/09 Robert Lang C Achilles' IR. Likely out for the season

03/31/2009 CHI 1 @ MTL 4
03/28/2009 BUF 4 @ MTL 3
03/26/2009 TBL 2 @ MTL 3
03/24/2009 ATL 3 @ MTL 6
03/21/2009 TOR 5 @ MTL 2

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Fair to write this is as close as it gets to an elimination game tonight for Montreal who lost both games at home to the Islanders and trailed 4-1 in the Coliseum game before rallying.

Canadians were in New York as Islanders played in Washington.

Should be Danis against his former team who played very well against them last time out, he needs a strong sixty minutes tonight.

I expect the Isles to be a little tired tonight, but sometimes the team waiting starts poorly. Sure would be nice to see the Isles get some calls but that does not seem likely. One thing for sure is you take all the players out and add Streit to this and still play competitive it's all you can ask for.

I do not expect to see Colorado gain another point, which means Isles gain six points in six games they will improve to 29th.

Next Years Depth Chart

Obviously some things will change but I would take Garth Snow at his word when he says, " Next year's team will be very similar to the one we have now ".

I also expect with the Lighthouse-TOH clouds only growing darker and a bigger story than the opening of next season the team will most likely function with a minimal NHL payroll so for those thinking free agents and big bucks even for one player don't count on it with Alexei Yashin (in the KHL finals) cap hit going up to 3.2M next season and the contract obligations they have already.

Our depth chart can mean little for Scott Gordon, we found that out with Blake Comeau who did not make his opening roster last season while Nate Thompson did. No lock for even Bailey to make the club if he has a poor camp.

Here is the forward depth chart on paper of signed players:

Sean Bergenheim-Josh Bailey-Kyle Okposo
Blake Comeau-Frans Nielsen-Trent Hunter
Jeff Tambellini-Richard Park-Tim Jackman

That leaves a lot of players on the outside for now with Andy Hilbert, Doug Weight, Dean McAmmond, Nate Thompson (pick a prospect) including that top pick maybe taking up a spot at forward.

Do we even talk about Joensuu, Marcinko, Figren, or an older player like Iggulden, McLean, Trevor Smith-Sean Bentivoglio breaking through and winning a spot. Rob Hennigar had a good year in the ECHL when he got settled and is hardly a kid by age.

There is also competition for spots on Jack Capuano's squad with more prospects on that teams radar.

All I know is unless a player among those nine listed with contracts for next season are moved the Isles have three spots to fill up front with a top draft pick coming if Hedman is not the pick.

Defense we have gone through recently with all six locked up for at least next year and some for multiple years.

Martinek-Witt
Gervais-Streit
Meyer-Sutton

On the outside: Pock, Hillen (restricted) Dustin Kohn and several prospects.

Depth chart is very crowded already.

FINAL DAY FOR NYIFC SET FOR 4/17/09

I have made a final decision with regard to a closing date for NYIFC.

I will not be leaving NYIFC up for Bridgeport news updates unless more folks tell me they really are interested.

Unless something completely unforeseen happens the final day ever for this blog in terms of ANY updates will be Friday 4/17.

The NHL draft lottery is confirmed for 4/14 or two days after the regular season concludes.

The NHL lottery will be the final major event here as we will send this blog into history with a big part of the teams future determined in this lottery selection.

This will give us a short-time frame to wrap things up with the media coverage likely drying up quickly after 4/12 as the players will likely have gone their own ways by 4/17 the latest which is why I selected that date which is a Friday.

Shortly afterward I will set the blog to private or outright delete it. I can tell everyone I'm 99.9 percent sure I will not be reactivating it ever again.

Prospect blog will also be deleted/private in short order.

In terms of the blog box the Islanders were contacted and informed of our decision, not sure when/if they remove the link but hopefully it stays up until 4/17, if not you will have to bookmark if you want to read updates down to the end.

Thank You

Islander News Articles 4/2

Newsday: Greg Logan's early recap with no quotes at this time.

Washington Times: Corey Masisak's game coverage on Washington's win over New York with blog updates.

Washington Post: Tarik El Bashir's game coverage and blog entries.

Montreal Gazette: Herb Zurkowsky reports
Sergei Kostitsyn is out with an upper-body injury Thursday and Roman Hamrlik, who left the previous Montreal game did travel to New York.

Telegraph Journal: Kevin Barrett lists former Islander head coach Ted Nolan and current assistant John Chabot as possible candidates for the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL in speculation.

Daily Free Press: Ben Seal has a few words on Islander Prospect Corey Trivino of Boston University.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has the Sound Tigers notebook.

Washington 5, New York 3

Associated Press: Recaps Washington's 5-3 win against New York on Wednesday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
About as annoyed after a game as I have been since the early loss against Atlanta where they gave up that 3-1 lead, but this one is not about the Isles but the officiating.

Too many reputation calls. Like the other game a bad call was made early and Billy Jaffe said one players is a veteran, the other a rookie so the vet got the benefit of the doubt.

Do the quality of the calls now depend on the spot in the standings?

I see Joey MacDonald having players run him every other game with two knee injuries already and he absorbed more than his share of contact tonight but Jackman overpowers Poti, falls into Theodore and the goal by Bailey is not only disallowed but the Caps receive a power play that decides the game?

Spare me the Caps skill took over the third period, that call decided the hockey game.

I have also seen goals disallowed and coincidental contact with no penalty issued.

How does Rechlicz get four minutes in penalties jumping in after a Cap player instigated that scrum with with a big push?

Meanwhile the flying elbow on Hilbert by Mike Green is only good for a two minute charging penalty?

Nonsense.

All I want is the calls consistent, if Hilbert hit someone like that we would have seen the automatic ejection, five minute powerplay and five game suspension with every Islander defending the league decision.

Now I guess we get to see how bad Okposo was hurt who returned to the bench but never the ice. McAmmond was sick so Isles may need two more players for Thursday.

Islanders made some big mistakes tonight but they also did a lot of good things on offense driving the net and skating. Okposo's goal on Streit's side of the ice (or his natural right wing side) may have been his first right side goal since that floater against Toronto/Toskala in the first Coliseum game.

Bailey made the goal with that screen.

Isles drove the net and made a lot of good plays, including the one off Nielsen's skate and Park making a great read for the goal that should have decided the game.

Considering the players out on defense the Isles hung in ok into the third before officiating gave the Caps the momentum.

Jose Theodore was a goalie waiting to get beat, Caps better be prepared to put up five or six with him in net or come playoff time they are going nowhere but home quickly. Okposo had a shot that hit Bailey in front and I have no doubt it was all that stopped it from going in.

Tambellini, Nielsen, Comeau all played well in this one.

Credit to Sergei Fedorov who skated like it was ten years ago and put that puck to an area for Ovechkin's goal where Thompson did not react. Joe Callahan played over ten games here, his turnover to another AHL player in Keith Aucoin cannot happen and was the first big mistake I have seen.

MacDonald was outstanding up to the point Green's game-winner got past him on what looked harmless. A few times he was under big pressure in the third.

Isles deserved a far better result tonight, don't mind losses because of the other team playing better which did not happen here.

Losing because of officiating bothers me, especially after the high stick on Jackman that drew blood but not even a power play at the end of the Flyer game.

Colorado continues it's free-fall shutout at home. Isles gain six points I highly doubt the Avs have another win/point in them.

Bridgeport Qualified for Postseason Tuesday

Sorry folks, playing a little catchup but wanted to do a special entry on Bridgeport clinching their first playoff spot since 2006 behind Sean Bentivoglio's first professional hat trick with three-point games from Jon Sim and Andrew MacDonald.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recapped Bridgeport's win in Albany on Tuesday with comments from head coach Jack Capuano and Sean Bentivoglio including blog entries which include Nate Lawson named to AHL all-rookie team here.

Mr Fornabaio/AHL.com has updates on Sarnia players (Kevin Poulin PTO) and also wrote about prospect Max Gretchev.

So what did we miss Wednesday?

So what did we really miss Wednesday beyond the usual hysterics any time the Lighthouse group or the Town of Hempstead aka Kate Murray or anyone connected with the town issue any release?

Kate Murray already did the stimulus dance, now she issued a petition. Tom Suozzi took his shot at her with the usual political game on both sides.

Even Mr Botta back on 3/26 with the meeting " By far the most important Islanders event of the week - make that the decade - is Thursday at the Marriott "

Not.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Kate Murray instead of being what she claimed her role was as a judge looking at all angle's (that's why she did not attend the pep rally?) now feels the Wang-Rechler development is holding people hostage to a point this supposedly impartial administrator started a petition here which of course puts it all on Wang to renovate Nassau's building while offering nothing besides him losing even more money for the privilege?

Mighty nice of her, apparently this is her anti pep-rally.

Again, if that's how she feels just release a statement saying she is not inclined to endorse this project. Instead she throws out this pathetic campaign that's designed to buy more time in years that goes nowhere after a good two decades trying to get the building renovated.

I find her conduct here hypocritical.

I saw the early TOH release and it was as incorrect as Newsday's 37 Billion figure in their article and insulting to New York Islander Fans getting the history wrong.

Tom Suozzi for his part in Newsday comes back with his usual insult at Kate Murray here while of course was not willing to give Wang-Rechler anything financial himself beyond his verbal endorsement of the plan.

If that's how Kate Murray feels, fine. Go get the money now to renovate the Coliseum and stop telling us what Charles Wang should spend immediately on a building he does not own and has no obligation to renovate.

Present to him a plan to make owing the Islanders profitable.

4/1: New York at Washington 7pm Msg+

Mark Streit has a groin strain, Joe Callahan has been recalled for tonight's game, add another player to the injury report.

Washington Post: Tarik El Bashir reported from practice Tuesday with Donald Brashear still recovering from a sprained left knee, the Caps have recalled center Keith Aucoin from Hershey. Brashear practiced with the team this morning, but he's doubtful for tomorrow's game against the Islanders.

Mike Green is also on the ice after missing yesterday's practice with the flu. I'll check on his status later, but he appears to be participating fully.

Here are the forward lines that Bruce Boudreau is using in the scrimmage:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Fehr
Fleischmann-Fedorov-Semin
Laich-Nylander-Kozlov
Brashear-Steckel-Bradley
(Aucoin is rotating in the the fourth line).

Washington Times: Cory Masisik also filed a post practice report that Mike Green is ready, Donald Brashear is not.

03/27/2009 TBL 3 @ WSH 5
03/24/2009 WSH 2 @ TOR 3
03/21/2009 WSH 1 @ CAR 4
03/19/2009 WSH 5 @ TBL 2
03/17/2009 WSH 3 @ FLA 0

03/30/09 Donald Brashear LW Knee IR. Out until at least early April
03/24/09 Boyd Gordon C Finger IR. Out until at least early April
02/13/09 Brent Johnson G Hip IR. Out until at least late March
02/05/09 Chris Clark RW Wrist IR. Out for the season
03/22/09 Quintin Laing LW Spleen Likely out for the season
03/27/09 Alexander Semin LW Flu Questionable for April 1


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Sorry folks, this will be the only update at NYIFC until after Wednesday's game with no news articles Wednesday. (check feeders for updates) For New York MacDonald won in Detroit and with Montreal coming in Thursday there should be a good chance Danis again starts against his former team who he recently beat in Montreal unless the coach wants to switch things up.

For Washington only questions remaining are whether they finish second or third in the conference unless they run the table catching Boston or lose every game with Carolina passing them with those teams winning or losing out themselves which are both highly unlikely. Caps are second seed by a point at this time so it is a big game if you see a difference between finishing second or third which no doubt the Caps will.

One thing for sure is as highly skilled as the Caps are, their goaltending is suspect and their recent record says they are vulnerable with that game against Tampa tied in the third very emotional after Ovechkin's celebration in the prior
game against the Bolts for his 50th had them very upset.

Updated 1:30pm
Newsday: Greg Logan in the Islanders Newsday blog reported Joel Rechlicz will be recalled, Sean Bergenheim is still not medically cleared to play.

Howard Saffan says Harbor Yard Violated Lease

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has Sound Tigers President Howard Saffan's comments that a company called Centerplate who operates Harbor Yard violated their lease agreement forcing the club to move games to the Nassau Coliseum blaming them with Arena executive director Lynn Carlotto who was not in the office Monday afternoon and could not be reached for comment.

Saffan said the Sound Tigers have sent e-mails about the situation to Carlotto and other officials of Centerplate, the company that runs the arena, since January about those dates.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Seems Michael Fornabaio is not willing to give the Sound Tigers the benefit of the doubt here and he raises a great point asking if this was a problem going back to January why a Saturday night announcement to only Islander fans?

Howard Saffan said the right things and showed the beatwriter the lease, I tend to believe him. Ok, if that's the case I cannot blame the Islanders but how this was announced and released was terrible and compounded things when this could have been made public a long time ago.

Dates should always be made available for the primary tenant.

It's All About Smg Lease that's Isles Problem

Of course most folks know this already.

To be fair Smg did not give themselves this lease and if it were me, I would want my revenue from a binding contract also.

Nassau County/Tom Suozzi who is saying Lighthouse or bust is doing a good sales job but he's doing a good Kate Murray impersonation on getting Charles Wang or the team any immediate financial relief on rent or Smg lease.

In short, Nassau will not do a thing financially for the club besides approve the Lighthouse.............Maybe if the TOH does approve this down the road.

In July 2003 Richard Sandomir of the NY Times spoke with Islanders owner Charles Wang here about the teams finances/Smg and reported the following after the club came off two playoffs:

Rent at the Coliseum rose to $2.5 million that, based on paying SMG, the landlord, 11 percent of net ticket revenue. The team gets nothing from parking and concessions and pays SMG and the county 40 percent of its advertising income.

Newsday: We also now know the Islanders for at least this season the Islanders paid Smg a fixed rate in advance for the advertising income from the recent meeting with Newsday:

HAVE LOSSES AFFECTED PAYROLL/WANG: We watch every penny. We try to be as conservative as we can. You see the attendance isn't that great, and you know the deal we have with SMG isn't that great. The more fans we get, we get admissions, but we don't get a cut of food, beverages or parking. Once we build a new one, the county is going to condemn their lease.

PICKER ON INCOME: Merchandise is up, we give a percentage of ticket revenue to them. We give them a fixed number for sponsorship now. It used to be 35 to 45 percent of sponsorship. We bought ourselves out of that this season. So, now, it's a fixed number we pay SMG.

WANG ON PAYMENT TO SMG FOR SPONSORSHIP: The reason is that the inventory we're creating, digital signs and things like that, we really want to be able to create without having to think. So, we paid SMG money and bought it all out.

WHY DID ISLES AGREE TO LEASE/PICKER: It's the old owners. We knew that going in. We understood the negative sides of it. But there was a vision that we thought we could pull off and we're hoping to do that and that we can push this forward in a timely fashion to alleviate all these types of questions that are out there to get us the benefits we've been talking about.

Sports Business Journal: Andy Bernstain in 2000 before Charles Wang bought the club had a lot on the Smg stranglehold lease not only here but in Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Also reported Smg was willing to make changes to the Pens lease letting the team play rent free but with concessions and that was with KC hanging over everyone's head in Pittsburgh.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Bottom line-Charles Wang takes the financial losses, Smg enjoys it's legal and binding lease and makes money off the Islanders (including the gate) while Tom Suozzi and Nassau County do nothing to help ease Wang's financial burden.

Updated:
Since the Dec 2009 Smg sublease agreement in Tom Suozzi's final days as County Executive, many aspects of this agreement were altered from this entry. It would be best to read Dec 2009 and subsequent entries from that point forward.

Islander-Sound Tiger NHL Notables

AHL.com: Reported Joel Rechlicz was returned to Bridgeport but a lot of these have been paper transactions.

Point Blank: Mr Botta has an exclusive interview with defenseman Jack Hillen.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports Islander Prospect Kevin Poulin is in Bridgeport, with Matt Martin, Justin DiBenedetto to Bridgeport also from the Sarnia Sting possible soon.

Mr Fornabaio apparently is not allowed to say much on Bridgeport's relocation to New York for playoff games but I will let his words speak for themselves.

Newsday: Greg Logan had an Islander Insider on Rechlicz who may stay down in Bridgeport because Sean Bergenheim could be activated among several subjects with a team comparison to the Detroit Red Wings.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr Logan does a nice job telling us about the Wings success and how old and run down their facility is, he does even better informing us owner Mike Ilitch receives all the things Smg receives today instead of Charles Wang.

What he fails to point out in his comparisons is the Wings for years were spending anywhere from sixty to eighty million on team payroll that set them up for their current reputation as a model franchise to attract players.

Mr Logan also failed to note the Wings have had attendance problems deep into the playoffs here and reportedly going into the lockout needed to make the finals simply to break even financially here.

The thing about NHL revenue no one writes about is if you spend 120m to generate 100m as a return that is generating a lot of revenue but it's still losing money and plenty of it which no one writes at all in these worthless estimated team financial evaluations.

For billion dollar companies who happen to own sports teams as a sidebar it's a smart risk to take that advantage but it eventually erodes the financial system.

This is what clearly is going on with Dallas and Colorado who could finally not buy their way out of a bad season or sustain their spending with the later maybe qualifying for revenue sharing here.

The Montreal Canadians have had financial problems too despite any revenue they generate here they have had a history of losing money even being a team that was not spending 80m a year on payroll before the lockout.

Howard Saffan on Bridgeport at Coliseum

Sound Tigers.com: Issued a Statement with Ted President Howard Saffan's comments as to why the Sound Tigers will have to relocate their first two playoff games from Harbor Yard to Nassau Coliseum.

It should be noted Bridgeport has four scheduled home games starting Friday after Tuesday's regular season road finale.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
I don't know the AHL traditions as well as the NHL but no scheduling conflict would displace playoff home NHL games this far in advance and I tend to think the same holds true in the AHL given Bridgeport's playoff history and their opposition.

It's obvious from Mr Fornabaio at the Ct Post the staff at Harbor Yard did not know the Islanders were planning before this before it was announced Saturday night so obviously the communication was poor.

I can appreciate the Islanders wanting to do something nice for their fans here but this is about this people in Bridgeport who support that team and have waited for playoff games for two years who go to the forty home games all winter long and have given them great fan support in a tough economic climate.

How could Harbor Yard book events to a point the building for it's primary tenant was unavailable this far in advance for any potential block of games, anyone who's been following knows the Sound Tigers at worst would be a middle seed.

I think in this instance the Islanders who own this team should have sat down with the folks who operate Harbor Yard and made dates available, to accept anything less is a mistake and one of the biggest made in a long time by Islander management.

If anyone knows of an instance AHL teams were displaced for home playoff games this far in advance I would like to know.

Daily News Has Exclusive with Charles Wang

NY Daily News: Nicholas Hirshon in the lateste from the paper that stopped covering home games has an exclusive interview with Charles Wang from Thursday who said he would consider moving the hockey club to Queens but vowing to mull all choices if his bid for Lighthouse is not approved by October.

"Right now, the whole focus and the whole plan is on one thing: getting this thing built," Wang said Thursday. "Obviously, if it doesn't get done within the time frame, then we look at all options."

Nassau County executive Tom Suozzi also is quoted.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It should be noted Mr Botta at Point Blank reported the Daily News was at Thursday's meeting and the article says these comments were from Thursday. What's a little different is Mr Wang did acknowledge for the first time Queens could be considered which is why I posted it here.

You can bet Mayor Michael Bloomberg given his non-working relationship with Msg and the Dolan family would be very happy to have the New York Islanders inside the City limits. Charles Wang for his part could construct an arena across the street from Msg and there is nothing the Garden can do about it in terms of territorial rights for those wondering.

Now the question is does Charles Wang (or Scott Rechler) want to be the developer for Willets Point and switch plans on the NYC timetable (this year) which is a much bigger and far more expensive area with existing businesses that would have to be displaced in a nasty fight.

Thing with this is NYC would be willing to give Wang-Rechler tax breaks and a lot of financial approvals they gave to the Mets to get a baseball stadium constructed because they want the eyesore businesses out of that area. They already went all-in with giving both baseball teams huge revenue streams and the area around Shea Stadium is all part of that.