Updates to NYI Fan Central/Afternoon news

Some big changes to New York Fan Central today for those interested.

* Tags were cleaned up for a more accurate digest of information from the blogs.

* Message forum was also upgrade a little.

* A few nice pictures were added to the sidebars and counters, there will be more changes in that department.

* The big change is today I released our header for New York Islander Fan Central.

A little big at the end but had to make room for Bill Torrey and Ted Nolan. I think I got it right. I hope our members and visitors like the look and feel confident it reflects the hard work and quality this blog will provide if you visit this site.

Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
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Islanders Website had some of the articles from the Times and Transcript we had this morning with some new pictures.

Most of the players had today off. The lone skaters were those participating in tonight's 7 pm match up against the University of Moncton.

Here is tonight's lineup.

Goaltenders
1 Maxime Ouellet
30 Mike Mole

Defensemen
62 Jamie Fraser – 70 Simon Lacroix
56 Dustin Kohn – 68 Jordan Hart
49 Drew Fata – 61 Martin Frechette

Forward
67 Sean Bentivoglio – 50 Tomas Marcinko – 52 Tyler Haskins
77 Trevor Smith – 65 Chris Gaudet – 58 Masi Marjamaki
53 Max Gratchev – 59 Derek Damon – 40 Justin Bourne
48 Steve Regier – 38 Marc Cavosie – 42 Jason Pitton

Cory Witt's blog had some media notes on Greg Logan and Evan Grossman. Also included was the story NYY Fan Central had on Garth Snow last month being inducted into a local hall of fame here.

Another Islanders season preview this one by
David Pressman, Contributing NHL Editor
Sports Network.

Former NY Post beatwriter Evan Grossman working for NHL.com is with the Islanders in camp and was doing his own day by day blog.

New York Islander Fan Central Comments:
A lot of things in this blog that I did not see anywhere and well worth your time if you decide to read it. Grossman always came off as negative at the Post so it's shocking to read this and he has no vested interested in selling our club working for the league.

In his blog today:
I don’t make predictions anymore. Sort of a personal policy there, mostly having to do with a long line of off-the-mark prognostications. But I’m making an exception this year, and I’m going out on a limb here when I tell you people that the Islanders might have something special going on. Look, I’m not going to guarantee what their point total is going to be this season, and I’m not going to forecast where they’ll finish in the conference or the competitive Atlantic Division.

But I will say this: All those experts picking them to finish near the bottom of the standings are going to want a mulligan in about six months.

I just spent a week with the Isles during their training camp in Moncton, New Brunswick and a couple of exhibition games in some small hockey-loving locales, and while they didn’t win all three preseason games I watched, I did notice something a lot more important than what the final scores of those exhibition games said on the scoreboards.

Perhaps Chris Simon put it best when after the Islanders lost to Atlanta in Hockeyville, he said he liked how they stuck together.

I don’t know how the Islanders will fare this year, but I will tell you people that they are a team to be wary of. They stick together. They stick up for each other. And man, do they play hard.

A lot of people have counted them out already, before the season’s even started, but here’s what I saw, what I know, and what I think is in store for Ted Nolan’s team:

People were freaking out when the Isles missed out on some free agents this summer. They were convulsing when the rest of the division added big names and made so-called blockbuster signings. But guess what? Big names and monster contracts and glitzy press conferences do not win hockey games. They don’t win Cups.

Hockey is, and will forever be, a game where chemistry, camaraderie and character will take you a long way. Even all the way. The Islanders might not have a Jason Blake anymore, they weren’t close enough to home to hold onto a Ryan Smyth, but what they do have – and believe me, it was evident in so many places this week – is miles and miles of heart and character.

This isn’t just a suck-up either for letting me tag along this week. The Isles will tell you that I’ve never been one to heap unearned praise on anyone or anything in print. This is just me, a hockey fan, telling you that they’re definitely on to something on the Island. What they have, going into this season, is a team that’s not going to be much fun to play against and a squad that truly seems to care about one another.

The Islanders are a group that cares about winning, they care about competing every night and playing the game the right way. They’re not going to lay down for anyone this season, and I’m curious to see where they finish in the standings.

But my first impression is that they are a group that can make some noise this year.

I’m not making any bold predictions of first place or last place, but I will go out on a limb right here and right now and tell you that they’re going to be right there at the end of the season, when the games mean so much and the points are extra precious. OK, so maybe I can’t help myself, so I will make one prediction.

And it’s that they are a group that’s going to stick together. Good times, bad times, whatever happens this year, whatever adversity pops up along the way, you can bet your bottom dollar on that.

Who do the Islanders play for? Well, that’s easy. They play for each other.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Very through preview of the Islanders that goes a little too far into the history to make his point about upper management that only Charles Wang remains a part of with some of the scouting staff. When he's done telling us about Milbury, Spano and gets down to the roster for the most part does a very good job on the players he does write about. He he had no idea about Campoli and Gervais but gave more praise to Meyer than anyone could expect based on last season.

Still when your done reading this the point does have to be made this organization made four of the last five playoffs and gave the President Trophy Winning Sabres a good series that Isles could have easily taken seven games if they got one replay call. To say nothing of the video replay against the Rangers that kept the Isles from finishing sixth which would have meant they play Atlanta.

A lot of other NHL clubs that have not been to four of the last five playoffs that do not have to read the history lesson provided here.

This site released a lot of NHL team previews by different writers.

Edmonton Journal reports this afternoon
Robin Figren is still injured in Islanders camp and when he returns to the Oil Kings is expected to miss three weeks.

NHL.com releases it's Islanders Preview on September 23rd.
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Finally, my congratulations to Tom Liodice on being named an Islander blogger. I did not know anyone else they selected but he's an excellent choice and has more than paid his dues the last few years.

Interesting thing is this blog had far more updates than any other one I looked at even though it's less than two months old. Some of the writers were from inside the city limits which again should have the organization tone down the Long Island mantra and stop limiting themselves.