Quick Isles/Tigers notables

Newsday: Greg Logan has more from Ted Nolan on Kip Brennan, Drew Fata, Matt Keith what their roles will be, the Sound Tigers setting on a lineup, the Isles signing Jack Hillen and what's happening in terms of securing a lottery pick that could net New York a number one draft pick.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports Hillen practicing/playing for the Isles will make him ineligible to play for the Sound Tigers.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I will repost the clear day list in the next day or two. If Bridgeport qualifies for the postseason that will be the list of players who must play before anyone can be added.

In other words, Joensuu or anyone else cannot play unless there are a lot of injuries. That's why clear day is a very big deal in the AHL.

Updated:
Aaron Johnson out, Matt Spiller in.

Espn.com: John Buccigross feels the NHL should include the Isles in the outdoor game and credits Mr Wang for Isles TV.

Islander News Articles 3/23

Newsday: Greg Logan reports Ted Nolan has not been offered an extension of his three year contract extension nor has he spoken with the club about it but intends to return for the final year of his agreement. Garth Snow away scouting said he had no comment. Team spokesman Chris Botta said the organization would have no comment on contract issues involving management.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Why is Greg Logan doing all he can to stir something up here when many teams do not comment on management contracts?

Greg Logan must really hate this beat or need to stir things up to go all out to make this an issue again putting DiPietro in the center of things with that one game and going to Nolan for more comments about it today? He did not even do a game preview or tell folks in the paper there is a game tonight, nothing on Okposo either or if Joey MacDonald could play?

He does use Garth Snow's one quote on WFAN about the decision to start Dubie raising his eyebrows to again infer problems between the coach/gm and did not even report everything Garth Snow or Ted Nolan said that day. Mr Logan even goes back to Janaury to use Snow's comments on the club to create a far bigger deal than it is right now.

Ted Nolan also said on WFAN that day the gm leaves him alone while the gm said the coach makes the lineup which Mr Logan did not report here.

Just because the gm feels the teams records should be better does not mean he is putting that on the coach but for Mr Logan it's implied without a word from the gm.

On top of that Mr Logan's writing about the injuries exacerbating tensions and turmoil within as the team spiraled downward in the standings without a single quote from anyone. If you are going to throw this out there you have an obligation to find out who and where this is coming from unless the purpose of it is to stir the pot.

Mr Logan should wake up to the fact speculation becomes rampant in the Canadian hockey media because they quote his Newsday articles and write their speculation around his speculating. This is just irresponsible journalism from Mr Logan.

Also again it seems this writer has problems with Rick DiPietro who gave all he had and played well since the all-star break beyond numbers which in this case does not tell the story at all about how the goals were scored. Mr Logan cannot even figure out he started virtually the same amount of games a year ago and had not reported he had faced a hundred a forty less shots.

Newsday would not even send Greg Logan to Atlanta to cover his all-star appearance so the Islanders sent Chris Botta. Mr Logan's pre-written feature appeared all star Sunday but he did not do one blog that weekend on the Islanders franchise goaltender at the all-star game.

This seems very unfair on Greg Logan's part. It should also be noted Peter Laviolette's contract was extended the year he was fired and it made no difference in the end which did not make this article.

NY Post: Larry Brooks as usual cannot go a Sunday without a shot at the Islanders making his point Neil Smith was the general manager when the Islanders drafted Kyle Okposo.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
No Islander quotes or writer for the Devils game, no preview for the Flyer game tonight and now this junk from Mr Brooks who cannot help but take his Sunday kick at the Islanders.

We get you are upset at Charles Wang for not paying Neil Smith his contract from your November article here after being stuck with attending Al Arbour night but also give Tony Feltrin and his staff credit for the Okposo pick as Neil Smith here did.

Kelowna Capital News : Warren Henderson has a full feature on former Kelowna Rocket, Blake Comeau and how the experience has been for him since coming up to the Islanders and what he feels he has to do to make the decision easier for management this summer so he keeps his spot from day one next year.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Outside of getting the age of the Coliseum incorrect Mr Henderson does an excellent job here letting us know a lot about Comeau that has not been reported in the local paper.

Pittsburgh-Post Gazette: Shelly Anderson has Sidney Crosby's comments that he could return against the Islanders.

Barrie Examiner: Ian Shantz reports Islander Prospect Tomas Marcinko assisted on the game winning goal in overtime as Barrie took a two-nothing series lead on Brampton.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports in his blog Kip Brennan is likely facing another suspension and recently signed Islander prospect Jesse Joensuu skated with the AHL team.

Video of Kip Brennan suspension

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's blog provides a link to this video from YouTube as well which I did not see when I linked to his updates earlier.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Geoff Peters elbowing Pascal Morency should bring a response from Brennan but I do not think that's the correct one because he could have seriously injured Peters and it goes outside the box. I know in the context of a game it's easy to react that way.

Also with Daryl Bootland's earlier trade the physical depth Bridgeport had earlier is somewhat diminished.

At this point no suspension for Geoff Peters had been announced by the AHL. Geoff Peters is not to be confused with Andrew Peters who plays for the Buffalo Sabres even though this is Buffalo's affiliate.

Kind of interesting Sound Tigers TV had all the goals but did not include this in the two minute highlight package of the game provided, they do have postgame also.

Elite Prospect.com: Has a 2/11 report from a newspaper which I cannot translate prospect Jesse Joensuu I think is rumored to be signing with the Islanders.

Anyone who can translate this for everyone with the exact wording would be much appreciated.

Thank You

Islander News Articles 2/13:

It's limited coverage like today on our team that really put me in the position of having to provide the Islander tv updates on the sidebar of this blog.

Newsday: Greg Logan has the recap of the Islanders win with comments from Ted Nolan, Ruslan Fedotenko and Trent Hunter.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Witt reportedly has a sprained knee which means they are likely to lose him for a while.

As for Newsday, the super bowl is over so what's the latest excuse for one article after an important game? Meanwhile Mr Zipay is already blogging for his team with more updates coming today from practice.

Of course many know sometimes Islander coverage is not even included in the city edition of the paper. This important game merited two articles. Of course Mr Logan recently has made his second articles about the opposition?

Daily News: Peter Botte recaps the Isles win with Ruslan Fedotenko, Jeff Tambellini and Trent Hunter's comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I saw the story on Anders Kallur's sister a few days ago and did not even post it here but in a limited space article begging for more information and at least the coaches quoted comments Mr Botte includes it. Could be more but seems like Mr Botte wanted to get all his filler in for his short article and go home.

Do a seperate feature on Andy Kallur's sister, do not supplement it in an article that needed more hockey game coverage. We can bet the News will not be doing anything extra on the core of the four in early March or Andy Kallur.

Of course Leon Carver's sports department provided space for an article on a Hartford Wolfpack coach in the Daily News that was the same size as the Islander game update.

It only get's worse at the NY Post as Devils, Rangers articles are written for
off-day's but no Dan Martin/anyone covered last night's Islander home game. The Post even has an insulting poll asking what is your favorite NY championship team with the New Jersey Giants one of the choices but no Islander clubs.

Philadelphia Daily News Ed Moran & Philadelhia Inquirer: Tim Panaccio have the Flyer centric coverage who is critical of the Nassau Coliseum ice surface.

Phillyburbs.com: Wayne Fish also has coverage as does Rob Parent in the
Daily Local.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio has a full recap on Brennan's suspension with player comments.

Worcester Sharks at Bridgeport Sound Tigers
WHEN — Tonight, 7:30
WHERE — Arena at Harbor Yard
ON THE AIR — Webcast and B2 Networks Internet pay-per-view at www.soundtigers.com

Sound Tigers.com: Has Kip Brennan and Howard Saffin's statement on the fifteen game suspension handed down by the AHL.

Michael Fornabaio: Has several blogs on the suspension.

Islander Notables

Islanders website: Did a profile on Stefan Persson to preview the core of four weekend.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Add Kenny Jonsson's best x 2 and add in an elementc of knowing when provide offense and that's Stefan Persson. His play coming in off the point to tie game one of the 1980 finals is still one of the fastest setups for a goal I have ever seen. If you watch the old replays you see Bossy circle but you never see Persson until the sticks go up to celebrate.

Newsday: Greg Logan has a blog with Garth Snow's comments on the club's scoring and the future in terms of the prospects.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Mr Logan does a very good job here with the article and on top of it goes out of his way to explain how and why the copy editor wrote a headline that turned out to be a harmless error, excellent work top to bottom today.

Media Blog: Cory Witt reports Dubie and Marty Biron will be miked by Versus tonight as the backup goalies.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports Kip Brennan was suspended fifteen games for an incident in Saturday's game.



Win or lose no postgame until tomorrow morning.

High River Times: John MacNeil had a fantastic feature on Jeremy Colliton on his callup last week to the Islanders, how it's been playing for Ted Nolan, fighting his son Brandon earlier this year and being part of the organization since he was drafted.

Islander News Articles 2/10:

Newsday: Greg Logan recaps the loss with Jeff Tambellini's comments on his missed breakaway, Ted Nolan who thought they could not play much better but was not happy how his club did not come back on the winning goal.

Newsday: Greg Logan had more from Sean Hill on his suspension.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The Daily News has a full Ranger article and a three part Sunday feature but did not cover the Islander game. The Devils game was covered by a reporter.

Jay Greenberg was permitted to travel to Philadelphia for an extra Ranger article from Philadelphia with Larry Brooks and of course Mr Brooks had his usual Ranger centric Sunday feature. Mark Everson had a full Devils article.

At Newsday Ranger beat writer Steve Zipay controls the Sunday hockey agenda where it's usually more Ranger centric but about the NHL in general.

It's not the Islanders folks, it's the people in the offices making the decisions and it seems to come down to who is a fan of what team. This is why we need more Islander fans in the decision making process at these publications and that starts with Islander fans covering the team who will push the editors hard for print space and blogs.

Anyone think Greg Logan should have picked up on this and maybe just let the blog on Sean Hill be enough and used the space for his second article on the Islanders? Instead all we got in his second article is Aaron Johnson's scratch. He did not even report Colliton was sent back to Bridgeport, despite Mr Fornabaio telling us he could not get back in time to play against Portland and was sent down.

Star-Tribine: Michael Russo recaps Minnesota's win with Mark Parrish's comments on how he tried to convince the refs Blake Comeau knocked out his teeth, even though they were missing already which is very funny.

Pioneer Press: John Shipley recaps the game with Bill Guerin's comments that it was not a good point because his team did not finish the job.

The News: Has more on Jon Sim and Hockey weekend in Canada where Sim and Devin Smith of the NHL Association donated ninety sets of hockey gear through the NHL Dreams and Goals program and was praised by mayor New Glasgow Mayor Ann MacLean who presented Sim with a hand-tinted photograph of the Westside rink Sim skated on as a youth.

Chronicle Herald: Tom Mccoag has more on Jon Sim.

Sports Illustrated/AP: Has Brian Burke's and Chris Botta's comments on what happened with Pat Lafontaine and the Ducks gm Tuesday night and points out Lafontaine has been to several Islander games this season.

Sound Tigers website: Recaps the Sound Tigers loss to Portland.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports on the Sound Tigers 5-2 loss to Portland in a very physical game in front of the biggest crowd of the year at Harbor Yard. Kyle Okposo got a favorable bounce for his goal. Jeremy Colliton was sent back to Bridgeport but did not arrive in time to play. Kip Brennan was given a match penalty for sticking up for a teammate. Pat Bingham was behind the bench for Jack Capuano who had the flu.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's game recap also includes Kyle Okposo suffering from the flu and the Sound Tigers race to qualify for the playoffs with only thirty games left and Bridgeport on the outside.

Islanders website: Had a late Saturday feature on Kyle Okposo's two goals and assist which included his comments after the Portland Pirates loss.

Portland Press-Telegram: Has the Pirates coverage.

Jeremy Colliton recalled, Brennan sent down

Islanders website: Report Jeremy Colliton is up on an emergency recall with his comments.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports in his blog beyond the Jeremy Colliton callup Kip Brennan was sent back to Bridgeport, Tim Jackman skated at practice for the Sound Tigers. Pascal Morency may be day-to-day. Sean Bentivoglio does indeed appear good to go according to the beatwriter.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Not sure where Jeremy Colliton fits because he's been used a lot as a center, but it's clear he was recalled to replace Satan. Some may recall Colliton in his very brief callup early last season was used as a right wing.

I guess seven defenders dress or Johnson moves to wing for the road trip unless another move happens which is not a bad strategy to have Bergeron or Berard for the powerplay only.

For those wanting the youth recalled: Bergenheim, Comeau, Colliton, Nielsen are now with the club. Any more injuries or illness up front I guess were looking at Walter,
or perhaps Trevor Smith.

Michael Fornabaio on possible changes

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reported in his blog from Sound Tigers practice Monday morning that Tambellini, Nielsen and Brennan were not at practice and appear to be going to the Islanders, Tim Jackman is apparently in Bridgeport but sick.

Mr Fornabaio also reports rumor is there could be more to come, but that's it for the moment.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
A lot of players missing practice for Monday morning unless they are here.

I can see Brennan replacing Jackman if he's sick with Tambellini replacing Park and Nielsen replacing Hunter, but that's just speculation based on the Newsday article reporting players sick or hurt.

If I'm not mistaken Mike Sillinger has been playing hurt so Nielsen could be up to take his spot at center.

Greg Logan blogs around 5pm if he does an update and the Isles do their update after practice.

Usual good work from the Ct Post beatwiter.