Islander News Articles 12/31

New York Islander Fan Central | 12/31/2007 12:20:00 AM | | | | |
Islanders website: Reported Sunday night that Rick DiPietro and Mike Sillinger did not make the trip to Carolina.

"It's important that we give Mike Sillinger a game off to heal some injuries," Nolan "Fans don't know this, no one does, but Mike has been banged up for a while and has shown a lot of guts playing through it. By giving him the one game off on Monday, it will give him four days to get a little more healthy until our home game on Thursday."

As for DiPietro, Nolan was consistent with what he said over the weekend. "We want Ricky at 100%," Nolan said. "He'll stay back and should be ready for Thursday against the Panthers. Why risk it for one game when he can get an extra few days of rest"?


NYI Fan Central Comments:
If the players need the time off and the extra days, the coach has to give it to them. Sillinger has looked worn down or playing hurt a lot recently. A lot of folks (myself included) at times tend to forget Sillinger has a lot of mileage on him and a lot is asked of him on this team because he's far more than a role player.

Newsday: Katie Strang has comments from Ted Nolan and Rick DiPietro on why the club is giving him an extra game to recover with the coach also showing confidence in Wade Dubielewicz. An update on Radek Martinek is also given.

"I'm not really a big fan of not playing," said DiPietro, who tried to make his case to Nolan. "You always try to talk a coach into letting you play, but at the end of the day, it always comes down to what the doctors say and the trainer, and everyone gets together to make a decision.

"I think we got the old Wade back," Nolan said. "After two games, he should be even sharper than he was last game."


Newsobserver.com: Covers Peter Laviolette's Hurricanes.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has a feature on Trevor Smith, who was recalled from Utah recently. Bridgeport plans to call up D Andy Sertich from Utah.

"It was a great feeling to get the call up," Smith said. "All the hard work paid off. It's not going to stop now."


Bridgeport Sound Tigers at Binghamton Senators
WHEN — Tonight, 6:05pm
WHERE — Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, Binghamton, N.Y.
ON THE AIR — Webcast and B2 Networks Internet pay-per-view at www.soundtigers.com

National Post: Had a summary from the Canadian based writers on a lot of NHL subjects. Only Chris Simon was brought up in terms of Islander content as to who will get the next big NHL suspension.