Islander News Articles 12/30:

New York Islander Fan Central | 12/30/2007 02:09:00 AM | | | | | | | | | | | | |
NY Times: Dave Caldwell makes an extremely rare appearance for an Islander game and has comments from Andy Sutton on his fight, Ted Nolan on the crowd and Wade Dubielewicz/Brendan Witt/Bill Guerin on the shot blocking and physical play.

“If you’re going to drop the gloves, you’re going to take one in the face now and then,” Sutton said. “I’m none the worse for wear, and we got the win.”

“When leaders are willing to sacrifice their faces, it’s easy to get in step behind them,” Dubielewicz said.

“I like these types of games,” Witt said. “Everybody gets involved.”

“In the end, there are 2 points on the line,” Guerin said. “There’s stuff to be taken care of, but the game takes precedence over everything else.”


Newsday: Greg Logan's article has comments from Ted Nolan on how the Islanders will not be pushed around without Chris Simon, while Dubie talks about his win and Andy Sutton talks about his Gordie Howe hat-trick.

"With teams seeing that Chris Simon's not in our lineup anymore, they come in and try to push us around," coach Ted Nolan said. "Those days are over. These guys have a lot of pride. A lot of guys stood up. I thought our team played a very gutsy performance."

"It feels good," Dubielewicz said. "You want to validate yourself on the team. I don't play a whole lot, so when I do, you want the guys in the dressing room to believe in you."


Newsday: Greg Logan's second article is on Miroslav Satan, who was not used on the point against the Devils and the Islanders pp struggles among several subjects.

"On our power play, with one guy in the corner, nobody's helping him," Nolan said. "All of a sudden, there's a panic situation, he throws the puck behind, they intercept and go down two-on-one. You get the puck at neutral ice and try to make the cross-ice pass, and it gets intercepted. Those mental mistakes are really hurting us."


Daily News: Peter Botte showed up and did a limited space article.

Newark Star Ledger: Rich Chere has comments from Brent Sutter and Martin Brodeur on the loss with Al Arbour in attendance.

"To battle back like that you have to get something out of the game," Sutter said. "But the last 10 minutes were a reflection of what the first 30 minutes were. Hey, we weren't good enough tonight. We had a lot of guys who were very average.


Bergen Record: Also covers the Devils.

Ottawa Citizen:Chris Yzerman has an article on the Islanders allowing Mike Sillinger to stay in Ottawa Friday to watch his son play in the Bell Cup Classic.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has the recap of Bridgeport's 2-0 win against Hartford Saturday night with Jeremy Colliton again producing on the pp. Howard Saffin comments on the release of Joe Rullier's release so Dustin Kohn can get into the lineup more.

"We've been working good," Colliton said. "A lot of teams play an aggressive penalty kill. We're trying to move the puck as much as we can and make them back off."

"When you play against a goaltender like Montoya, you've got to go to the paint. You've got to go to the net. (Colliton) was outstanding," Capuano said. Colliton has five goals and two assists but has been instrumental on the penalty kill and defensively. "I don't really measure my success through goals and assists," said Colliton. "I try to play a hard, physical game. ... If the team's winning, I usually am playing well."

"We want to give the young players more of an opportunity," team president Howard Saffan said. "Rather than Dustin Kohn being a sixth/seventh defenseman, we'll bring him up a little more."


Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio blogs on the Sound Tigers win and does a pregame blog on the Islanders at the WJC and the release of Joe Rullier.

Hartford Courant: Covers the Wolfpack.