New York Pre-Season Game In Barrie/Notables

New York Islander Fan Central | 4/03/2012 12:14:00 PM | | | | |
Islanders website announced a preseason game in Barrie against the Ottawa Senators on September 30th.

“The New York Islanders are excited about the opportunity to host a game in Barrie, one of Canada’s true hockey communities,” New York Islanders General Manager Garth Snow said.  “With several of our players such as John Tavares, Josh Bailey and Matt Martin having been a part of the OHL, we know how passionate fans are about hockey.”

NYIFC Comments:
For those scoring at home:
Edmonton Oilers, September 27th, Regina SK.
Ottawa Senators, September 30th, Barrie.
New Jersey Devils Oct 2nd, Brooklyn.

What's of note is the Isles are hosting the game in Barrie, with the Isles controlling the arena in Bridgeport, plus the usual Coliseum game, it could mean a longer preseason.

If there is a season.
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Obviously by now folks know Matt Donovan was recalled, he will debut vs Devils.
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Lottery Watch:
New York's weekend dropped them back into the lottery. Toronto/Anaheim controls the ROW as the first tie-breaker. Isles control the tie-breaker vs Minnesota.

Any wins/points could change the entire mix.
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Notables:
NYIFC twitter feed fired back at an article on Pat Lafontaine, where this blogger believes it comes from and pulled no punches in the comment section.  

This blog was one of the few to be critical of the Isles for not using it's website to rally support for Jason Blake when he announced he had Leukemia.

Management was praised by Jason Blake for their support in his first year when he left the club long ago.

This blog was critical last summer when former coach Steve Stirling was hospitalized during the AHL finals, and it was ignored by the Islanders/teams peripheral media.

In the past we have seen the clubs website chronicle the finals exploits of Brent Sopel and Aaron Asham. Let's be clear the Isles not inserting an image of Pat Lafontaine on the teams 40th anniversary website calendar is not a big deal but perhaps a bit petty?

Omitting his efforts with Steve Webb's earlier this year in an article is not appropriate because NHL.com did include Lafontaine and Webb together, and has featured Lafontaine/Webb/Royals.

To the other side of that, the teams skinny (game recap) has consistently detailed Lafontine's career accomplishments vs games played or records during the 2012 season. 

Having written this there are two sides to a story, selective reporting/questionable standards either way should never be ignored.

Pat Lafontaine was honored by the team in Nov 2003 with a night after he was inducted into the Hall Of Fame. To the best of our knowledge, Lafontaine declined to have his number retired.

Lafontaine was announced at the Coliseum on Al Arbour, night and was on the ice. He is pictured with Sidney Crosby on another occasion at a different game.

Before the Metro Ice Challenge fiasco, the Islanders and Rangers agreed to donate to Lafontaine's charity based on head to head game results.

In short, everything is placed on the table for transparency here, otherwise why bother?