Islanders announce roster: No Berard

Islanders Website at 1pm announced it's 23 man roster submitted to the league here.

ISLANDERS ROSTER IS SET New York Islanders
13 forwards, 8 defensemen, 2 goaltenders

The roster for the start of the New York Islanders' 2007-08 season has been set. The Islanders will open the season with a roster of 23, not including injured forward Shawn Bates. Ted Nolan's roster is comprised of two goaltenders, eight defensemen and 13 forwards.

The following players took the ice at Islanders Iceworks this afternoon for practice.

GOALTENDERS (2)
34 Wade Dubielewicz
39 Rick DiPietro

DEFENSEMEN (8)
2 Aaron Johnson
8 Bruno Gervais
14 Chris Campoli
24 Radek Martinek
25 Andy Sutton
32 Brendan Witt
44 Freddy Meyer
47 Marc-Andre Bergeron

FORWARDS (13)
7 Trent Hunter
10 Richard Park
11 Andy Hilbert
12 Chris Simon (eligible to return Oct. 13)
13 Bill Guerin
16 Jon Sim
18 Mike Sillinger
20 Sean Bergenheim
26 Ruslan Fedotenko
27 Darryl Bootland
63 Josef Vasicek
81 Miroslav Satan
89 Mike Comrie

17 Shawn Bates (injured)

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Islanders had to have a list submitted to the league by 3pm and now we know who is on that list.

It reads like it's final on the surface but this gives the club time to work a deal with Berard or make a trade, or the club has decided to go in another direction and not sign Berard which is entirely possible despite the quotes and comments.

We just have to wait and see what happens in terms of Berard to see how the rest of the defense falls into place. One thing the club could not do was announce a roster and tell everyone about private contract negotiations. That was for Logan's speculation as the club's beatwriter and he gave us an update within the hour claiming Islanders could sign Berard later today.

Islanders are not going to sit two defenders every game, with Meyer away from the club for now it will be seven defenders anyway if it extends into Friday.

Updated 3pm
Michael Fornabaio updated his blog in the Ct Post with the following:

OK, here's what we (think we) know so far:

--Most obviously this morning, Masi Marjamaki was not here. What's next with him, that's unclear at the moment.

--Of the tryouts and semi-tryouts, four survive: Morency, Labelle, Gregg Johnson and Morrison.

--The Islanders' 23-man roster includes none of Jeff Tambellini, Kip Brennan or Blake Comeau. It does include all of Aaron Johnson, Freddy Meyer and Bruno Gervais. Not clear yet what's going on with Berard, but they do appear to be fine with going with eight defensemen.

Here were the lines this morning:
Bentivoglio-Walter-Jackman
Regier-Nielsen-Colliton
Johnson-Smith-Labelle
Pitton/Morency

Along with the following 10:
D: Wotton, Kohn, Spiller, MacDonald, Fata, Fraser
G: MacDonald, Morrison, Ouellet, Mole

Gordie Dwyer was not signed.

9/19: Islanders vs Montreal 6pm: ITV Telecast

Ted Nolan spoke to the teams website this afternoon on some player performances and tonights game. DiPietro will play the first two periods, Dubie to play the third tonight in Moncton.

"I thought Joey MacDonald played exceptionally well for us. Spiller also stepped up in that first game for us, and Blake Comeau played a strong game against Atlanta. Bootland stood out in the second game, but other than that there wasn't too much to talk about. Guys are just starting to find their way. You always look for guys who stick out. You have to stick out in order to make an impression."

"We have nine exhibition games, so we have a long way to go. We probably won't start fine-tuning the line combinations until the final three or four. It'll be nice to see guys like Comrie, Guerin, Fedotenko and Sillinger out there. Ricky will probably play the first two games, as opposed to half. Then Dubie will fill in for the third. It should be a fun game."

The teams chief amateur scout had this to contribute:

"Defenseman Jamie Fraser used his speed and skating effectively to stand out. You could see that his year in pro hockey last season really helped his development.

"The line of camp invitees Marc Cavosie, Tyler Haskins and prospect Tomas Marcinko energized the group. They matched the work ethic of the other team. Also, by the third period Jeremy Colliton and Sean Bentivoglio were playing much better."

Islanders website has the preview for tonights game against Montreal at Moncton.

This game begins at 6pm New York Time, 7pm Moncton time.

Montreal,is 1-1 this preseason, splitting a pair of games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

This is the first of two exhibition meetings between the Islanders and Montreal. The two teams square off again on Friday at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

ISLANDERS
Goaltenders
34 Wade Dubielewicz
39 Rick DiPietro

Defense
4 Bryan Berard
8 Bruno Gervais
25 Andy Sutton
32 Brendan Witt
43 Andrew MacDonald
47 Marc-Andre Bergeron

Forwards
7 Trent Hunter
10 Richard Park
13 Bill Guerin
16 Jon Sim
18 Mike Sillinger
26 Ruslan Fedotenko
28 Tim Jackman
54 Gordie Dwyer
57 Blake Comeau
65 Chris Gaudet
81 Miroslav Satan
89 Mike Comrie

Kimber Auerbach covers the Sound Tigers part of camp and touches on how some of the prospects and Jamie Fraser.

Moncton's Times and Transcript does a feature article on tonights NHL exhibition in Moncton with the Islanders and Canadians that basically tells us the local hockey writer is a Hab
fan and the Mayor is a Leafs fan.

More importantly Mike Comrie is nursing an injury.

The long-time local sports honcho wasn't entirely sure about the presence of Comrie, who is nursing a slight injury, but bottom line is confident Nolan will have most of his big guns -- including star goaltender Rick DiPietro -- deployed for tonight's big match at the Moncton Coliseum.

Among the quotes including an Islander spokesman and the Mayor of Moncton:

"(Islanders' general manager) Garth Snow said the team was going to be part of the community while they were here and they've done more than fulfil their promise to do that," said the mayor.

"It's been noticed all over the city and it started as soon as they got here on Friday with all the Islanders' players walking up Main Street and talking to the kids. It was a great way to kick it off and it's been wonderful all week."

Ted Nolan is featured in the Times and Transcript and talks about a lot of things but has this to say on the early predictions about the Islanders.

"The one thing I try not to do is concentrate on what other people say about you,'' he said.

"The thing that's important is whether you believe in yourself. I believe in this group of players and hopefully they believe in themselves.

"The NHL is not an easy league and there's no easy games, but if you do things right and you have the right attitude you never know what can happen. We're going to try to play to the top of our capabilities. If we do that, we'll be okay.''

Gordie Dwyer
article is also featured today in the Times and Transcript.

"It's great," says Dwyer, when asked what it's like to try out for the Islanders in his home province. "The hometown feel is obviously a little more incentive, but it's also good to bring an NHL club to the Maritimes. There's a lot of great hockey fans here and a lot of great hockey people in the Maritimes."

"It is to a certain extent, but I've been around the league for a little while now, and this is my 12th NHL training camp," says Dwyer, as he chugs a sports drink after an Islanders scrimmage at the Tim Hortons 4-Ice Centre. "I know how the game works and I'm just out here trying to give my best and hopefully things work out."

The general manager knows first-hand what Dwyer brings to the table. "I'm very familiar with him because I played against him," says Snow, who retired as the Islanders' back-up goalie prior to last season and moved into the GM role. "I love the way he plays. He competes, he's a guy who leaves it all on the ice, he hits everything in sight and he could be a great role player."

Dwyer knows Islanders assistant coach Gerard Gallant and credits him with helping land the invitation to camp. But Gallant says Dwyer got the invite based on his own merit.

"He opened the door himself, because he worked so hard in the summertime," he says.

Prospect Maxim Gratchev is also featured today.

"My No. 1 goal is to play in the NHL and I wanted to take the quickest route to get there. I thought major junior would be the best way to develop my game.''

Islanders' assistant general manager Ryan Jankowski believes Gratchev has what it takes to some day be a solid third-line player in the NHL.

"He's a heart-and-soul guy,'' said Jankowski, who's also the Islanders director of amateur scouting. "He's a water bug, an energetic player. He's a hard-working guy that has the skills to contribute offensively. His commitment is strong at both ends of the ice."

Prospect Mark Katic was featured late yesterday also in the local paper. Garth Snow visiting a local school was featured here and finally an article on the Islanders staff can be accessed here.

Gordie Dwyer will be attending Isles camp

Michael Fornabaio confirmed in his Ct Post blog on 8/28 that Gordie Dwyer (and Bryan Berard) will be attending Islanders training camp in Moncton from an earlier update.

Here is some background on Dwyer's career which is not to be confused with NHL referee Gord Dwyer.

NYI Fan Central:
Was cut from another teams camp on a tryout last season. Statistically speaking he has five NHL points since the 99-00 season with no goals in limited action.

Islander tryout and an apology to Michael Fornabaio

I'm going to make some mistakes in this blog with some commentary and information from time to time.

Today I have to acknowledge a mistake by not including Sound Tigers beat writer, Michael Fornabaio of the Ct Post in my update grading and discussion of the Islander media.

Michael Fornabio:
Has been with the Sound Tigers basically since it's inception. In my opinion Fornabaio's work is not only outstanding, with tons of information and an understanding not only of the game and team but let's the fans get to know all the players and tells their story and the teams. His work is so good is it usually ahead of Newsday in reporting possible moves the Islanders make in terms of call ups and signings. He has a blog at the Ct Post and had to relocate it and he seems to have an understanding of what the die-hards want and need to know. His paper also seems to give him the space required to do an excellent job. When he got in a car accident a few years ago he told us what was going on and really seemed to rush back to make sure the fans had game coverage. Chris Elsberry's updates on the Sound Tigers seem to appear less and less frequently on the club.

Needless to say Michael Fornabaio get's a A from me for a grade and an apology for not including him in the previous update because no one does a better job. Maybe the players are more willing to talk in the AHL but he also has an ability of making you feel you were at the game when you read his game reviews that is a skill many hockey writers lack.

Fornabaio reported in his blog that the Islanders may invite Gord Dwyer to camp on a tryout basis according to this
website he links to.

Islander spokesman claimed no confirmation on Dwyer invite and not sure we'd have room.

In another update from Mr Fornabaio former Nighthawk Chris Kotsopoulos will be the Sound Tigers' color analyst this year. A radio deal appears to be coming soon.