New York Pre-Season Game In Barrie/Notables

Islanders website announced a preseason game in Barrie against the Ottawa Senators on September 30th.

“The New York Islanders are excited about the opportunity to host a game in Barrie, one of Canada’s true hockey communities,” New York Islanders General Manager Garth Snow said.  “With several of our players such as John Tavares, Josh Bailey and Matt Martin having been a part of the OHL, we know how passionate fans are about hockey.”

NYIFC Comments:
For those scoring at home:
Edmonton Oilers, September 27th, Regina SK.
Ottawa Senators, September 30th, Barrie.
New Jersey Devils Oct 2nd, Brooklyn.

What's of note is the Isles are hosting the game in Barrie, with the Isles controlling the arena in Bridgeport, plus the usual Coliseum game, it could mean a longer preseason.

If there is a season.
************************************
Obviously by now folks know Matt Donovan was recalled, he will debut vs Devils.
************************************
Lottery Watch:
New York's weekend dropped them back into the lottery. Toronto/Anaheim controls the ROW as the first tie-breaker. Isles control the tie-breaker vs Minnesota.

Any wins/points could change the entire mix.
************************************
Notables:
NYIFC twitter feed fired back at an article on Pat Lafontaine, where this blogger believes it comes from and pulled no punches in the comment section.  

This blog was one of the few to be critical of the Isles for not using it's website to rally support for Jason Blake when he announced he had Leukemia.

Management was praised by Jason Blake for their support in his first year when he left the club long ago.

This blog was critical last summer when former coach Steve Stirling was hospitalized during the AHL finals, and it was ignored by the Islanders/teams peripheral media.

In the past we have seen the clubs website chronicle the finals exploits of Brent Sopel and Aaron Asham. Let's be clear the Isles not inserting an image of Pat Lafontaine on the teams 40th anniversary website calendar is not a big deal but perhaps a bit petty?

Omitting his efforts with Steve Webb's earlier this year in an article is not appropriate because NHL.com did include Lafontaine and Webb together, and has featured Lafontaine/Webb/Royals.

To the other side of that, the teams skinny (game recap) has consistently detailed Lafontine's career accomplishments vs games played or records during the 2012 season. 

Having written this there are two sides to a story, selective reporting/questionable standards either way should never be ignored.

Pat Lafontaine was honored by the team in Nov 2003 with a night after he was inducted into the Hall Of Fame. To the best of our knowledge, Lafontaine declined to have his number retired.

Lafontaine was announced at the Coliseum on Al Arbour, night and was on the ice. He is pictured with Sidney Crosby on another occasion at a different game.

Before the Metro Ice Challenge fiasco, the Islanders and Rangers agreed to donate to Lafontaine's charity based on head to head game results.

In short, everything is placed on the table for transparency here, otherwise why bother? 

Islander News Articles 3/14

I had time to do Saturday articles.

For those still scoring at home the Islanders tragic number is four to be officially eliminated from the NHL playoff race.

Unofficially that happened around mid December depending on your point of view.

Carolina 78 points
New York max points (14-0) 82 points.

That's points gained by Carolina or lost by New York which means it could happen on Saturday.

Newsday: Greg Logan's article has comments from head coach Scott Gordon that his team is no longer an easy two points and it does not matter who the opponent is. He goes on to say since getting rid of a couple of bad apples (as the beatwriter speculates Campoli-Comrie)at the trade deadline the chemistry is better as the team pulls together and plays with a purpose.

Kyle Okposo discusses the Canadians game and what the club must do on a game by game basis.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Campoli and Comrie never said anything directly to the media about the coach or the team, was it really necessary for Scott Gordon to go in that direction considering how he has his team playing?

It's going to be fun when the Islanders head to Ottawa and their media reports that quote next week.

Globe & Mail: Tim Wharnsby reports Jason Blake did not wish to speak with the media about his season-long streak without scoring despite six assists in his last ten games with head coach Ron Wilson's comments.

Chicago Tribune: Chris Kuc reports the Chicago Blackhawks lost to Columbus on home ice Friday 5-3 with former New York Islander x2 Wade Dubielewicz getting his first NHL win since returning to the NHL in only his third start with the Blue Jackets.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
Imagine if Dubielewicz did clear waivers? He would have played three games during his first week here to warm up. Considering what Danis and MacDonald have done since things for now have worked out very well.

Dany Sabourin for those wondering started against Bridgeport tonight.

Congratulations to Wade Dubielewicz who I will be rooting for if the Jackets qualify for a playoff spot with Michael Peca and Raffi Torres.

National Post: Keith Howell reports Jordan Nolan was suspended on Friday for 20 games by the Ontario Hockey League after an altercation last weekend that left a Plymouth player with head injuries.

The league did not release any further details of the incident.

AHL.com: Recaps Bridgeport's 3-2 shootout win against Springfield Friday night.

1. SPR Linglet, (5) (Stone, Chorney), 14:05 (PP)
2. BRI Lessard, (9) (Lee, Walter), 12:38 (PP)
3. BRI Sim, (6) (Joensuu, Colliton), 1:36
3. SPR Linglet, (6) (Brule, Young), 12:26

9 Ben Walter No Goal
23 Trevor Smith Goal
6 Jesse Joensuu No Goal
16 Jon Sim No Goal
27 Junior Lessard Goal

Kris Mayotte had twenty six saves in goal for Bridgeport with Mike Mole backing up.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's recap of Bridgeport's 3-2 shootout win and blog entry here which has head coach Jack Capuano's comments on Mike Mole and Robin Figren getting a game this weekend.

No callup to the Islanders at this time and according to an earlier update from Mr Fornabaio Kurtis McLean has an injury that is not day to day.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I expect they will not play shorthanded again. Either someone gets a callup or Richard Park is ready to play.

The Republican: Gary Brown recaps Bridgeport's 3-2 shootout win against the Falcons Friday.

Islander News Articles 12/9

More updates to this blog entry tomorrow.

Newsday: Greg Logan has the recap of the Islanders loss in Toronto with comments from former Islander Jason Blake and head coach Scott Gordon about his teams lack of skating.

Newsday: Mr Logan had a late blog entry with Mike Sillinger's comments on his goal and how it feels to be back playing, Scott Gordon explains why he was re-united with Hunter and Hilbert.

Toronto Star & National Post with Toronto Sun & Globe & Mail: Covers the Toronto Maple Leafs on their 4-2 win.

National Post: John O'Connor has an interview with former Islander head coach Ted Nolan who declined to talk about his tenure as coach but did say the rumours about him playing the veterans when gm Garth Snow wanted him to play the kids were untrue.

Nolan also discussed being an NHL head coach again along with what else is going on with him these days which included watching Monday's game.

Islander/Sound Tigers/NHL Notables

Islanders website: Jason Lockhart has the weekly prospect watch.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
All Islander Prospect Watches back to last season are archived on NYI Fan Central Prospects Blog by date order.

NHL.com: Released it's voting page for the NHL All-Star game, seems a bit slow to work on day one.

Newsday: Greg Logan has Doug Weight's comments in the Islanders Newsday blog about Bailey learning to play at this level and the youth movement while pointing out the significant injuries this team has had while at the same time now allowing it as an excuse.

Mr Logan points out some may accuse the club of playing for a lottery draft pick this season, but to do so disrespects the effort they've given while fighting to overcome injuries but at the same time felt the club didn't play their youth enough last season to determine and might as well do so now in the case of Bailey.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr Logan is correct on injuries but he barely writes about them himself unless it's to complain about league/team policy.

I'm not big on excuses for losing myself but few clubs in this league could sustain the loss of it's starting goaltender, Witt, Martinek, Meyer, Sillinger, it's number one draft pick, now what seems like Comrie and the earlier loss of Sutton-Campoli to start the season that does not even include Bergenheim-Tambellini both hurt in camp.

Not even Nate Thompson could stay healthy, the injury list has been long in Bridgeport too.

Still this team has been in position to win almost every game outside of the Buffalo game and they have been outscoring last year's club.

Folks want to claim they are playing to lose, I disagree because they have done everything but finish games, many nights the Islanders are the better club for a good part of the night.

Are they a flawed club? Absolutely on a lot of levels, but terrible teams get blown out every other night 5-1 or are usually not in the games, so far that is not this group or close.

Regarding last year I have no idea what Mr Logan is talking about not giving the prospects a chance. Last year with all the injuries everyone got a look from Colliton to Matt Keith to Ben Walter along with Comeau. I cannot think of anyone who did not get a few games or more from Bridgeport.

Scott Gordon/Garth Snow not only demoted Comeau but the coach put down his contribution last season which seemed over the top when he gave his initial comments about what he saw on film last year. That is not consistent with what the general manager had to say earlier in the summer.

Newsday: Mr Logan also had more from Gary Bettman on the Lighthouse Project where he does not know about Mr Wang-Rechler's financing on the but urges the green light now. Mr Logan claims Charles Wang said in a meeting with Newsday's editorial board early this year that his financial well is not bottomless and denial of the project might force him to consider selling.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Funny but those comments did not make the paper at the time Mr Wang meet with Newsday's editorial board or the sports pages?

Point Blank: Mr Botta has more on the arena subject/Mr Wang's patience as well as a blog entry here on coaches and young prospects submitting past examples in his experience where a coach benched a prospect for a reason that did not seem to make sense along with a few words on Scott Gordon-Kyle Okposo-Jeff Tambellini.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Good stuff from Mr Botta, but he needed to put the Comeau-Gordon issue center stage because it looks even worse than the disconnect he felt between Ted Nolan and Robert Nilsson.

At some point I suspect if Garth Snow's coach has no use for Blake Comeau, Garth Snow will be forced to move Comeau as he did Nilsson when Nolan had no use for a player. Big barometer in the gm-coach working relationship is to agree on young players and move the ones the coach does not feel is part of the answer.

National Post: Howard Berger reports Jason Blake was furious after being scratched by Leafs coach Ron Wilson for Tuesday's game with the former Islanders comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
There is nothing short of re-entry waivers and the Leafs taking contracts from the Islanders in another deal that makes this feasible. Ron Wilson is doing what he was hired for and it's working, if Jason Blake does not like being scratched or placed on a fourth line he has to work harder.

Journal Pioneer : Jason Simmonds has more on the Sound Tigers-Senators game in Summerside PEI on Tuesday.

Islander News Articles 10/23

Newsday: Greg Logan has the latest on Chris Campoli who could return against Dallas with the defenders comments on his injury and adapting to head coach Scott Gordon's system as the coach talked about his play in training camp.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Does Gordon go to Campoli over Weight on his powerplay? The speculation game begins on whether Jack Hillen goes to Bridgeport or does Tomas Pock takes a seat in the stands because he does have to clear waivers.

Islanders never seem to have this problem linger very long for the wrong reasons.

Does this slightly bring into play Mark Streit seeing a shift or two at forward or at least a reduction in his minutes if the club continues to struggle in games with it's offense?

What would you do if it were up to you?

NY Post: Dan Martin is permitted a postage stamp sized preview with Chris Campoli's comments while Larry Brooks was allowed space to do a second article on the Devils game.

Dallas Morning News: Mike Heika previews tonight's game and has the Stars injuries.

The Star:Sunaya Sapurji has a feature article on Islander prospect Justin DiBenedetto with comments from Sarnia coach Dave MacQueen.

London Free Press: Steve Buffery reports former Islander Jason Blake could be taking a few shifts on the fourth line or even a seat on the stands for Ryan Hollweg as the former forty goal scorer comments.

Tampa Tribune: Reports Brian Lawton who was hired as vice president of hockey operations since June 25th for the Lightning has finally been named as the clubs general manager.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Can you imagine if Charles Wang did this? Maybe Tampa should just keep signing players so no one notices here as Damian Cristodero in the St Petersberg Times reports.

Quick Notables

The Star: Kevin McGran has the latest on Jason Blake as he reports on his health and expectations for year two with the Leafs.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I know I'm rooting for Jason Blake and with him settled in now after a tough first season I expect we will see more production from him and a return to the forum he showed here. Every day he plays hockey this is a better league with him part of it.

NY Post: Mark Everson has his usual negative article on the Devils in terms of free agency and keeping their own players.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
He did not get the nickname Neverson among area hockey fans for nothing, makes you want to run right out and purchase tickets before he does a limited space article on the Devils attendance. He makes it feel like root canal starts september 19th.

Quick Hit:
That's two nights in a row Msg featured some Rangers on their Msgny show and did a little advertising for their preseaon games. John Giannone was up at their training facility with Dave Maloney, nothing from our announcers.

Henrik Lundqvist said he wants to play about seventy five games and Giannone waved the Cablevision pom poms and lobbed him a lot of softball questions which is fine but if DiPietro said this it would be turned into something negative.

I wonder if Greg Logan still had his old beat if he would have written Lundqvist was hard-headed as he did about the Islander goaltender on 3/20?

Don't worry folks, Mr Zipay has several Ranger blog updates and a live chat on Wednesday for his readers while our beatwriter.......................nevermind.

NYI Fan Central Update:
I'm not sure if folks are interested in this but blogger came up with something where you can add a blog you visit on a regular basis for those with accounts who go through differnt sites to link here.

Tuesday Islander/NHL Notables

Sarnia Observer: Dave Borody reports current Sound Tiger/former Sarnia player Jamie Fraser was working out with the Sting veterans and will be attending Islanders training camp.

Toronto Sun/Wire Services: Terry Koshan has former Islander Jason Blake's comments as he prepares to begin his second year with the Leafs.

Moose Jaw Times Herald: Uncredited had a few words on the Warriors scrimmage which included Islander draft pick Travis Harmomic.

Point Blank: Mr Botta has some speculation on Islanders first round pick Josh Bailey signing before camp opens and gives specifics as to what that would mean for the club moving forward.

Jason Blake wins Masterson, radio notables

Globe & Mail: Reports former New York Islander Jason Blake won the Masterson at the NHL awards Thursday with his earlier comments about being traded.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Congratulations to Jason Blake, he may no longer wear an Islander uniform but all fans should be rooting for him in his battle with Cancer.

Mike Bossy helped present the Calder, Billy Smith the Vezina to Martin Brodeur.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Greatest money goalie of all time and Martin Brodeur on the same stage, worth watching just for that.

Islesnation.com: With Steven & Pete who do an outstanding internet radio show are back with manager Tony Stabile letting me know the program will not only be on the air next week for the draft but all three will be doing the show live from the Coliseum. I will let them give you the details themselves on their site after a meeting with the Isles and congratulate them.

Tony's blog will be featured here at New York Islander Fan Central permanently where the radio show is listed and will include all his latest updates with a new one on the upcoming NHL draft that is an excellent read.

Also congratulatons to Alex and Steve from Hockey Night on LI after doing an excellent show last Saturday with Shawn P. Roarke from NHL.com who will have Matt Ebbs, who is the General Manager of International Scouting Services with in depth reports on the upcoming NHL Draft this coming Saturday June 14 @ 3:30 PM EST here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Both shows do an outstanding job. Been my pleasure to appear as a guest on both and hope they keep up the great work.

Note-Sorry folks for listing Alex at Islesnation last night.