The Guardian: Mike Carson has a few words from Bill Schurman, director of community services that ticket sales were not strong for the Sept. 27 game between the Florida Panthers and the Islanders because of the ticket prices so it will be packed with other games including the Sound Tiger regular season game November 11th against Binghampton.
Not the best of weeks for Mike Sillinger. First some writer in THN refers to him as dead weight here then he goes to a baseball game in Toronto and receives some light hearted jeers here.
NYI Fan Central Comments:
Perhaps Sillinger should change his name to Holik or Naslund because it seems the older and less productive they are the more writers think they can produce? Sillinger when he is healthy and on his game does a lot more to win a game with things that do not appear on a score sheet than a lot of limited veterans around the league. If he reverts to his twenty goal forum he is far more valuable than a Peter Forsberg will be and maybe even a Mats Sundin who despite his numbers had carried the Leafs nowhere the past two season.
Quick Hits:
* The Times cannot cover the Islanders press conferences or provide a professional newspaper blogger for the club but Mark Messier's biographer, Jeff Klein at the Times can do a full interview with K.H.L. president Alexander Medvedev here?
* With the calender pushed back a week for the start of camps it's technically just the beginning of September but in New York especially between the baseball, huge football stories from two clubs early season hockey in the NY market is going to be a very tough sell to the dwindling hockey media.
* I wrote it before and will again, Isles needed a high profile training camp here in New York and to tone down the Long Island angle because anyone who's a fan inside the city limits feels like they are rooting for the wrong club. They want to sell more tickets they have to make all tri-state area fans feel like this is their team.
* Good for John Tortorella blasting the new ownership in Tampa, you never give up a first round pick next summer when you finish 30th the year before unless it's a franchise player and this new ownership has not been classy at all with it's actions on a lot of levels. I do not think it's sour grapes at all and their treatment of Dan Boyle was horrible.