Islander News Articles 4/15

Will add/update this posting on Thursday depending what's written, working on some Islander end of season blog entries.

Toronto Sun: Ian Busby reports that Eric Nystrom will play for team USA at the World Championships and makes it very clear his roots are in Calgary despite speculation he would sign with New York this summer.

CBC.com: Former Islander general manager Mike Mibury reviews the East, pulling no punches on how many people he thinks really care about his former team on Long Island and also takes some rips at the local politicians.

NYIFC Comments:
Sounds harsh but people in New York (not just LI) care enough to point out how many mistakes were made under your tenure (also when you were selling tickets) that contributed to putting the organization in it's current spot which absolutely still resonates with many folks who decide to purchase tickets.

In terms of prospects Travis Hamonic (Brandon Wheat Kings) who advanced to semi-finals against Calgary begins Friday 4/16 here. Galtender Kevin Poulin (Victoriaville QMJHL) opens against St John in QMJHL semi-final starting also starting 4/16.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports Head coach Jack Capuano, and players felt goal late in third was a " joke " with Islanders Garth Snow in attendance. Lebanon Daily News Patroit News all recap the Bears 4-3 comeback overtime win in game one.

NYIFC Comments:
Sidebar has all blogs/twitter updates from writers, I did live blog and twitter through game and had a lot of fun, despite tough result. Game two is Friday night at Giant Center.

And for those who just want in-game twitter updates NYIFC second blog has only the twitter box updating the games without all the new blog entries.



New York Islander Fan Central Twitter Page

NYIFC Returns Full Time For Bridgeport Playoffs

I have decided for the duration of Bridgeport's playoffs NYIFC will re-open to full time daily blogging using our old format with game one against the Hershey Bears on Wednesday including all AHL newspaper coverage for both clubs.

NYIFC will not link to Newsday coverage in a single blog entry until it is completely free and accessible to all of our fans regardless if a writer is sent to Harbor Yard and will I only use the professional print media (Ct Post) and AHL.com along with box-scores. Hershey's primary paper RSS is now linked to media sidebar on left side of page.

NYIFC prospect blog has several rss feeds, twitter updates from teams along with ways to watch/listen to games in addition to this.


NYIFC Comments:
Bridgeport is changing divisions for the playoffs (going back to division they played in last season) and going up against a team that many consider the best in a generation in Hershey (Washington Capitals affiliate) with an incredible record so it may well be a very short series as Tim Leone of the Patroit News is predicting along with a Calder Cup repeat for the Bears. Head coach Mark French is concerned about Nate Lawson and Scott Munroe & the Sound Tigers 11-5-1-0 finish for an opponent which had the same point total as the Bears a year ago in the same divison.

To the best of my knowledge an upset will be a task of monumental proportion nor will Bridgeport even have Josh Bailey and for now apparently Dustin Kohn. Bridgeport posted a negative goal differential of 201-220 but will face a team 60-17-3 with 342-198 goal disparity.

Hershey beat Bridgeport 9-2 earlier at Giant Center 2/27 and beat them again at Harbor Yard badly 6-3 on March 2nd.

I remembered both those games. Sound Tigers coach Jack Capuano had to use both his goaltenders in both games and that 6-3 game at home was 6-1 before two late Sound Tiger goals, Hershey had fifty shots in the 9-2 game which is very unusual for a team that scores nine times because it usually means some bad goals on first shots.

Andrew MacDonald was returned to Bridgeport Monday along with Dylan Reese, Michael Haley, Kohn and Joel Rechlicz here. Brendan Witt's father in-law is ill and left the team this weekend after not missing a single game since he was sent to Bridgeport earlier so his knee has responded fine despite several three games/three days situations.

The twitter box many have seen all season here will not be back until after the Sound Tigers playoffs conclude but the NYIFC updates will post on twitter and there will be some Islander related twitter entries plus twitter updates are all over NYIFC anyway at the top and on the sidebars.

The secondary NYIFC blog will not carry these written updates.

Our sidebar feeds have been updated to include newspaper links to Hershey's primary coverage for the latest including Tim Leone's twitter feed here. The Ct Post does not have an RSS feed for Bridgeport games but Mr Fornabaio's twitter and blog rss are on our active sidebar.

This also means some New York Islander blog entries will be returning here for a short time as the season is wrapped up, however there is little to add on the bouncing ping pong balls Tuesday beyond fifth (70 odd percent), first (less than eight percent) or sixth. (whatever else percent)

New York cannot move to second, third or fourth. It's first, fifth or sixth.

I have not decided if this will go as far as the World Championships that will include Scott Gordon as team USA head coach but much of this depends on how the Sound Tigers do.

What I can guarantee is this is not a full-time permanent return to our old NYIFC format which I have no interest in doing. This is just a nice way of thanking all the folks who have followed here and on twitter all season with a little extra hockey and making up for the playoffs that were not covered here last season when things were closing down.




New York Islander Fan Central Twitter Page

Islander News Articles 4/4

Newsday: Greg Logan previews tonight's game against Tampa (mostly about the lottery) with Jeff Tambellini's comments.

Newsday: Mr Logan in the Islander Newsday blog writes contrary to certain contrarians, the sidebar that accompanied the Islanders game story in today's Newsday did not say that injured Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit would definitely miss the rest of the season with their groin strains. It simply suggested that it would not be surprising if that happened as he went on to clarify what happened in the press conference with head coach Scott Gordon's comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Of course where Mr Logan fails here is to simply not do a blog entry right after the game on Thursday and cover all angles. This is what Steve Zipay does after almost every game with his blanket coverage so why can't he do that in the only full-time paper that covers this team?

Couldn't the question to Scott Gordon on Okposo and the World Championships wait for another week or an off-day where the winger himself comments?

NY Post: Dan Martin takes his shots at the Isles being well rested because of the lack of playoff series wins while Richard Park feels next year will be different and he will see his first playoff action since he was with the Minnesota Wild that went to the conference finals in 2003.

Sault-Star: Reporter Bill Montague has comments from former Islander head coach Ted Nolan about being a general manager and a return to coaching as he dismissed owning a team. Also reported in this article was former Islander assistant Dany Flynn was named coach of the year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League earlier this week.

AHL.com: Recaps Bridgeport's 4-3 overtime win against Hershey Friday night on Sean Bentivoglio's overtime goal to clinch the first one hundred point season in franchise history in the post-shootout era.

Joe Callahan and Joel Rechlicz did not play, nor did Robin Figren or any of the CHL players on tryout contracts.

Peter Mannino had twenty nine saves in goal.

1. BRI Fraser, (7) (Joensuu, Wotton), 3:36
1. HER McNeill, (3) (Brennan, Joudrey), 17:46
1. HER Perreault, (11) (Giroux, Lepisto), 18:23 (PP)
2. HER Reid, (2) (Gordon), 2:47
2. BRI Joensuu, (19) (Fraser, Kohn), 11:14 (PP)
3. BRI Haskins, (10) (Bentivoglio, Sim), 5:43
OT. BRI Bentivoglio, (13) (Haskins, Kohn), 0:25

1 x Hershey Bears 76 47 21 2 6 102
2 x Bridgeport Sound Tigers 77 46 23 3 5 100
3 x WBScranton Penguins 75 47 24 2 2 98

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Never say never but Bridgeport needed a regulation win Friday. Hershey plays WBS Saturday. With an eighty game schedule is almost up.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps Friday's big win with comments from head coach Jack Capuano, Sean Bentivoglio and goaltender Peter Mannino, who credited defenseman Jon Gleed for a game saving blocked shot in the third period.

Ct Post: Has the following statement from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Team President Howard Saffan not written by beatwriter Michael Fornabaio:

Howard Saffan, president of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, issued the following statement Friday:

I want to take this time to apologize to Lynn Carlotto, General Manager of the Arena at Harbor Yard, for my recent criticism of her management of the facility. I have turned what should have been a private business disagreement into a public matter. My comments were emotionally charged due to the fact that we are fighting for the number one seed in the AHL playoffs and because of the Arena's schedule we will not be able to begin our quest for the AHL championship on home ice. We are working to resolve a difference of interpretation regarding the way playoff dates are established at the Arena.

Patriot-News: Covers the Hershey Bears.

Islander News Articles 4/3

Newsday: Greg Logan's game recap and a second article on the loss of Streit and Okposo perhaps being for the season with more lottery speculation here.

Montreal Gazette: Pat Hickey recaps New York's loss against Montreal Thursday night.

Daily News & NY Post.

Northeastern University: Reports Thursday Men's hockey coach Greg Cronin (former Sound Tigers coach) has been named New England Hockey Writers Coach of the Year and a finalist for the Spencer Penrose Award as NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Coach of the Year. Cronin led Northeastern to 25 wins and its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994 this season. Cronin was already named Hockey East Coach of the Year.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Congratulations to Greg Cronin who not only coached in Bridgeport but was with the Isles for years.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio previews Friday's win in regulation or else game if the Sound Tigers have any hope of catching the Hershey Bears for first place trailing by three points with Hershey and WBS having a game in hand. Jesse Joensuu's recent struggles are the focus of the article with prospect Maxim Gratchev the latest who could see action in the final games with Kevin Poulin.

1 x Hershey Bears 75 47 21 1 6 101
2 x WBS Penguins 75 47 24 2 2 98
3 x Bridgeport 76 45 23 3 5 98

Like the NHL, AHL first tie-breaker are determined by wins as here so with Bridgeport having only four games remaining in an eighty game schedule for now the Bears and Pens have on paper an extra point to go with game in hand.

Islander News Articles 3/29

Newsday: Greg Logan's recap of New York's 4-3 loss to Philadelphia in a shootout Saturday with comments from Doug Weight on why he dropped the gloves after Jackman was hit in the first, how the team is coming together and head coach Scott Gordon on Yann Danis among a few subjects.

Newsday: Mark Herrmann does a very classy job crediting the fans for their support of a last place team not only last night but at the meeting Thursday and credited the club for how they have played along with owner Charles Wang for his strategy on the Lighthouse, Josh Bailey comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
If I'm going to be heavily critical of Mark Herrmann here I have to give the man his due when he does praise the Islanders. As great as it was they sold out against Philadelphia, everyone knows it's was a big partisan crowd last night with the Isles fan base comprised of kids, on the ice the plan seems to be working with the young players giving this team something every game that is translating not just to good shifts any longer but with goals/points/chemistry and the confidence to make plays at this level.

Newsday: Mr Herrmann also has some comments from Hall of Fame General Manager Bill Torrey about the Isles, and what still are very strong and active ties to the area and the NHL.

NY Post: Mike Puma's coverage of the Isles shootout loss with comments from head coach Scott Gordon on his shootout choices and Doug Weight about the club sticking up for one another.

Note-For some reason Larry Brooks felt obligated to take a very unprofessional cheap shot at Mike Milbury.

Note-If Peter Botte was dispatched to cover the game his Sunday article for the Daily News will be added but at this time of year the Daily News usually bails on home coverage.

Cherry Hill Courier Post: Chuck Gormley's coverage of the Flyers shootout win Saturday.

Philadelphia Inq/Daily News: Combined Flyer coverage.

Delaware County Times: Also has Flyer coverage.

Windsor Star: Bob Duff had comments from Josh Bailey about his year in the NHL with head coach Scott Gordon on his top draft picks development to this level after the game in Detroit on Friday.

AHL.com: Reports Bridgeport lost huge in Hershey in a first place battle on Saturday 7-2.

1. HER Aucoin, (24) (Sloan, Giroux), 7:24
1. HER Bourque, (20) (Giroux, Aucoin), 8:30 (PP)
1. HER Aucoin, (25) (Mink), 18:20
2. HER Mink, (32) (Lepisto, Varlamov), 3:58 (PP)
2. BRI Smith, (29) (MacDonald, Sim), 5:17 (PP)
2. HER Giroux, (53) (Aucoin, Helmer), 12:44 (SH)
2. BRI MacDonald, (8) (Lee, Iggulden), 16:07 (PP)
2. HER Giroux, (54) (Aucoin, Bourque), 17:16 (PP)
3. HER Gordon, (21) (Bourque, Kronwall), 0:43 (PP)

Nate Lawson was pulled after allowing six goals on seventeen shots. Bridgeport had forty shots.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio was at Harbor Yard for the NCAA but had a blog entry on the game.

Note-If the paper has a game article from the Ct Post beyond Sunday's preview against Lowell on the road 4pm Sunday here I will add it in tomorrow.

Ct Post: Dan Sernoffsky had an article that was mostly Bears centric with no Sound Tiger quotes.

Patroit-News: Tim Leone has Bears coverage of their win which gives them a five point first place lead with a game in hand for a team the Sound Tigers led or were tied with only a week ago.

Lancaster Online: Harold Ziegler also has coverage on Hershey's win.

1 x Hershey Bears 73 47 19 1 6 101
2 Bridgeport Sound Tigers 74 44 22 3 5 96
3 WBarre/Scranton Penguins 73 45 24 2 2 94

Hershey plays WBS Pens Sunday

AHL season is eighty games.

Islander News Articles 3/28

Will update early Saturday so we have as many quotes as possible from both sides.

Newsday: Greg Logan's game recap has goaltender Joey MacDonald's comments on his first career shutout against his former team in his game recap.

NHL.com: Brian Hunter has comments from Joey MacDonald on his first shutout who credited his team as he talked about his diving save in the second period. Head coaches Scott Gordon and Mike Babcock also discusses the game with Wings defender Nicklas Lidstrom agreeing with MacDonald the momentum swung with the two goals and the big saves.

NHL.com: Larry Wigge does a feature on Bill Guerin comparing his circumstances here vs Pittsburgh and uses Scott Gordon's rotten apples comment to make his point with the Long Island label slapped on virtually everything despite the head coach's praise for Bill Guerin.

Kyle Okposo in this NHL feature that has several subjects but leads with Guerin also has Kyle Okposo's comments about adding a franchise talent or finishing this season strong.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
If Larry Wigge who is a long-time respected writer cannot do the homework or only goes for Newsday blurbs where even Greg Logan speculated he was not talking about Bill Guerin how is anyone else going to get these stories right?

Scott Gordon was on XM radio and praised Guerin earlier this week, that did not make it in this article at all.

Canadian Press: Has Bruno Gervais and Josh Bailey's comments in their recap along with MacDonald.

Detroit News: Ted Kulfan has the recap of New York's 2-0 win in Detroit.

Michigan Live: Ansar Khan also has a game recap.

Detroit Free Press: Also has Red Wings coverage on their loss.

Journal-Star: Kevin Capie reports Islanders scout Ken Morrow was one of at least five NHL teams scouting the Peoria Rivermen against the Milwaukee Admirals on Friday.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio previews Saturday's big game in Hershey with head coach Jack Capuano and defenseman Andrew MacDonald's comments.

Islander News Articles 3/16

Newsday: Greg Logan has the recap of New York's 4-2 win against Chicago on Sunday afternoon with comments from goaltender Peter Mannino and head coach Scott Gordon.

Newsday: Mr Logan had a six paragraph entry in the Islanders Newsday blog noting that Mark Streit not only passed Mike Comrie's point total that led the club in scoring last season but noted his strong defensive play and the extended minutes he and Bruno Gervais saw against Chicago. Streit for his part praised Peter Mannino's strong goaltending as the beatwriter says he know's he'll be writing more about Streit in the next few days.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr Logan should be hyping up Streit for the Norris. Once again the Cablevision-owned club in Newsday received more print space Sunday, three blog entries and a live game blog while the Islanders are simply not treated as the primary hockey team in the local paper.

Jay Greenberg is allowed to travel/provide additional Ranger coverage at the Post with Larry Brooks but are only providing full time coverage for two teams?

If the Post finally has revenue to assign Mr Greenberg do extra hockey coverage it should be for the New York Islanders. He should have been sent straight to Chicago after being assigned to Montreal to provide more coverage for Martin Brodeur on Saturday or he should have been in Boston on Saturday for the New York team, then Chicago.

Associated Press: Also recaps the game.

Chicago Tribune: Chris Kuc game and blog coverage also has Peter Mannino's comments.

Chicago Daily Herald: Tim Sassone's game coverage with the Islanders blocking nineteen shots and losing sixty four percent of faceoff's Sunday.

Edmonton Sun: Cary Sastanga has an article on former Islander Bob Bourne, how he has some problems with his weight/health and what he does now to stay in shape. He also discussed the rivalry with the Edmonton Oilers as he will be part of the NHL Oldtimers' Hockey Challenge skates in Edmonton on Wednesday, when the NHL legends take to the ice against the Edmonton firefighters team at Rexall Place in support of the local chapter of Muscular Dystrophy Canada.

Chicago Sun Times: Len Ziehm's game coverage had comments from head coach Joel Quenneville on the loss.

AHL.com: Recaps Bridgeport's 3-2 loss at Hershey Sunday afternoon.

Mike Mole started in goal for Bridgeport. Sound Tigers dominated the third with ten shots before the ten minute mark but could not get the tying goal. Andrew MacDonald's goal was a five on three pp goal.

1. BRI Sim, (7) (Lessard, Callahan), 15:28 (PP)
1. HER Bourque, (18) (Wilson, Gordon), 16:22
2. HER Osala, (21) (Lepisto, Kronwall), 13:32
2. HER Giroux, (47) (Perreault, Bourque), 16:11 (PP)
3. BRI MacDonald, (7) (Sim, Walter), 16:27 (PP)

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's game coverage of Bridgeport's loss 3-2 loss at Hershey Sunday with blog entries here where Trevor Smith, Mike Mole discuss the game and head coach Jack Capuano's praised his players character at the end of a 14-5-0-3 stretch in thirty eight days, including a 13-1-0-3 run in the middle that gave it a three-point lead Friday night over Hershey.

Robin Figren made his AHL debut with no stats for Bridgeport.

York Daily Record: Dan Sernoffsky covers the Hershey Bears along with Harrisburg-Patriot News here.

Islander News Articles 1/17

First time the Islanders have played a Saturday game for a while, our little tradition here will be the put NYIFC in third jersey mode on such days.

Newsday: John Jeansonne has Saturday coverage with Wade Dubielewicz first comments heading into the Devils game who won in Columbus 2-1 Friday with Kevin Weekes in goal here.

Brendan Shanahan was not listed on the scoresheet.

Newsday: Anthony Rieber & Jim Baumbach report NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said this week that the Islanders are not looking to relocate but have comments from what they call a person familiar with the planning of their exhibition game in Kansas City as a showcase game as they recap comments from Mr Bettman on his XM radio show on Thursday.

NY Post: Dan Martin has Wade Dubielewicz's comments with head coach Scott Gordon. There is a chance Dubielewicz could start against New Jersey.

NY Post: Mr Martin also had Bill Guerin's comments who felt he and Doug Weight have upheld their part of the bargain and is very disappointed with the seasons results but hope they can contribute together when Weight returns.

NY Times: Dave Caldwell covered Dubie's comments yesterday with some post-Boston quotes from Scott Gordon.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The Times went to Islander practice, Lynn Zinser went to Chicago? They did not cover these games when they played at Msg.

What are we all missing here?

NYI Fan Central Comments:
We do not even get two articles for games much less a day off from the Post?

AHL.com: Reports Bridgeport lost against Hershey Friday night at Harbor Yard 5-3 dropping them into third place.

1. HER Osala, (19) (Bouchard, Wilson), 2:24 (PP)
1. BRI Iggulden, (17) (Smith, McLean), 7:11
1. BRI Walter, (9) (Smith, Iggulden), 15:43 (PP)
1. HER Perreault, (7) (Bouchard, Osala), 16:28
2. HER Giroux, (30) (Lepisto, Bourque), 15:54 (PP)
3. HER Giroux, (31) (Aucoin, Perreault), 7:34 (PP)
3. BRI Walter, (10) (Lee), 8:50 (PP)
3. HER Bouchard, (12) (Laing, Sloan), 11:20

Nate Lawson allowed five goals on seventeen shots.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has an full interview with Sound Tigers President Howard Saffan where he makes clear the following regarding Thursday's News and points out attendance is up in Bridgeport this season to fourteenth overall:

"One has nothing to do with the other," Saffan said. "We played a team this year, the Houston Aeros, owned by Minnesota. Proximity, one team versus the other, is fairly irrelevant.

"I'd be kidding you if I didn't say the convenience of Fairfield County to Long Island wasn't important, but at the end of the day, the New York Islanders need a place to develop players in the American Hockey League."

"We've built a good fan base. You can tell by the attendance," Saffan said. "My concern is, working with the Islanders, growing up on Long Island, desperately not wanting to see the Islanders forced off Long Island by politics."

"Charles' vision was to create a development that would be spectacular and draw people to Long Island. That's the premise for the Lighthouse project," Saffan said.

"Over the course of the past 24 months, politicians' timetables and developers' timetables are quite different. Charles continues to lose $20 million a year. (Wang partner) Scott Rechler and Charles are absolutely committed to this project."

"I know Charles many, many years. I've never met a person more committed to Long Island than Charles. The only way the Islanders move, in my opinion, off Long Island is if (town supervisor) Kate Murray and the Town of Hempstead turn down the Lighthouse project in a timely fashion."

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Normally I like to do a summary for everyone but too much for me and I wanted exact wording for you.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps Friday's loss with head coach Jack Capuano and Nate Lawson with in-game blog coverage here and previews Saturday's game in Binghampton here.

Harrisburg Daily News: Covers the Hershey Bears with Patriot News here.