Islander News Articles 11/16

Newsday: Greg Logan has the recap of the Islanders 3-2 win with comments from head coach Scott Gordon pointing out other teams surrender leads in the third period also, Doug Weight on getting back to five hundred with so many injuries as confidence in the system improves and Joey MacDonald who talked about weathering the storm early against the Senators in the first.

Newsday: Mr Logan's other article was on the possible return of Brendan Witt who has taken part in practices and hopes to play by Friday with his comments about his injury along with more from head coach Scott Gordon on Josh Bailey and the coach sending a fax on Friday indicating Pock's suspension was a step up in discipline for a player with no previous suspensions.

Newsday: Jim Baumbach did his best Mark Herrmann impersonation doing Islander viability, could relocate, low attendance article number (who knows) telling us Charles Wang should speak up now about the status of the Lighthouse.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Nothing like Jim Baumbach to pour as much cold water he can on sweeping a club who have dominated them since they entered the league and not even cover the game when he is assigned. He even wrote some people's evaluations of the youth on this team are inflated like he wanted to be anywhere else.

I'm sure Monday we will get Luongo's comments on the Nassau Coliseum if the Islanders win again as part of this expanded coverage.

I wonder how many more folks would be at the games if Newsday talked up the players the last decade instead of running the club down every chance they could or outright ignoring them like when it's franchise player starts the All-Star game while putting down any attempt at bringing back alumni as nothing more than a ticket grab?

Newsday can only took at themselves in the mirror when they did nothing on the 25th anniversary of the first cup back on 5/24/05.

Newsday coverage has only served to drive fans away which does not happen in other cities where the club struggles. The media does not beat them down like this every other week and it seems the staff takes turns.

Players who do well here are considered under-rated in national media circles and it has nothing to do with the building or the attendance but the reporting.

If Mr Baumbach or the Newsday staff wants to know what's going on why don't they have Mark Harrington who does most of the business-related articles on this subject go interview Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray and get some comments or the other key players who have a vote? Instead I guess the plan is get Mr Wang talking so Newsday can rip whatever he says sooner or later.

Maybe Mr Baumbach should stay home and let us enjoy a win for a change?

Daily News: Peter Botte was given some descent space for a change and had postgame from Scott Gordon, Doug Weight and Joey MacDonald on the 4-2-1 Islanders in their last seven.

Ottawa Citizen Alan Panzeri & Ottawa Sun: Has the Senators coverage which includes Bruce Garroich who had a lot from captain Bill Guerin about Pock's hit where he felt the NHL must send this kind of message with longer suspensions because the NHLPA is not going to take money out of players pockets or force them to sit out here.

ECHL.com: Report former Islander draft pick Luciano Aquino has been signed by the Reading Royals of the ECHL, affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Sound Tigers.com: Previews Sunday's game against the Aeros while the Houston Chronicle's has coverage Chronicle here.

The Republican: Gary Brown has comments from AHL President Dave Andrews and John Graham, a Toronto businessman who promoted the two Sound Tiger games in Summerside and St Johns after building a relationship with the club.

Quick review of Isles restricted free agents

According to my list the New York Islanders have to qualify the following restricted free agents by today.

Anyone qualified automatically receives a percentage raise per CBA as a starting point in negotiations on a new contract with both sides having the option to file for arbitration.

To be qualified does not mean a player is signed. Other teams can sign a rfa after 7/1 with an offer sheet but if a club elects not to match compensation in draft picks can become expensive depending on salary and experience of that player.

# 15 LW-Jeff Tambellini RFA
# 20 LW-Sean Bergenheim RFA
# 51 C-Frans Nielsen RFA
# 2 D-Aaron Johnson RFA
# 8 D-Bruno Gervais RFA

# 21 C-Jeremy Colliton RFA
# 29-C Ben Walter RFA
# 39-LW-Steve Regier RFA
# 44 D-Drew Fata RFA
# 60-G Mike Mole RFA

C: Luciano Aquino 7/210/05 RFA
LW: Masi Marjamaki 5/144/05 RFA

Latest:
News Sentinel: Blake Sebring had Komets General Manager David Franke back on June 13th speculating Luciano Aquino would like to play in the AHL next season as he discussed his free agents.

In terms of newspaper updates there is nothing availble on Masi Marjamaki at this time

Islander Notables

Islanders website: Recaps Wednesday's open house with comments from Garth Snow, Chris Dey, Ted Nolan & Bruno Gervais.

Newsday: Katie Strang attended the open house and has Garth Snow's comments on what he's looking for at the draft.

Globe & Mail: Tim Wharnsby has an article on the 1975 Islanders with comments from Lorne Henning and Clark Gillies.

Sean Bergenheim did not play in Finland's 3-2 overtime win vs US at the World Championships on Wednesday. Finland lost a 2-0 lead in the final minutes before winning in overtime after the US tied the game.

Finland's semi-final game will be on Friday.

NY Times: Jeff Z. Klein is doing a live blog at the times and lists Bergenheim on his lineup sheet but he's not playing.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The Times has been all over the WC but barely cover the three local teams or provide blogs to supplement New York Islander coverage?

Apparently the budget allows for Dave Caldwell to cover Pens-Flyers.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio is blogging on the AHL playoffs, providing some Utah coverage for the Finals, the WC and reports Islander prospect Luciano Aquino's Ft Wayne Komets won the Turner Cup in triple overtime coming back in the series.

Ft Wayne Journal-Gazette: Justin A. Kohn has blanket coverage and blogs on the Komets Championship.

NY Times: Richard Sandomir also questions Cablevision's ability to be objective as the owner of Newsday and writes about Garden media policies in the past restricting writers and content.

Islander News Articles 5/11

Edmonton Sun: Jason Hills has Robin Figren's first comments since signing with the Islanders and why he is going to play in Europe next season.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The Islanders issued a release on the signing, Newsday did virtually nothing beyond putting that release in the Isles blog and had it in the briefs part of the print edition (without the general managers comments) meanwhile the Edmonton Sun which covered him with the Oil Kings is the only publication so far that has printed his comments for the fans?

Shoddy work top to bottom. I expect it from Newsday but the Isles should have had some comments from Figren for the fans.

WCF Courier: Jim Nelson has Islander prospect Blake Kessel's comments after Omaha defeated Waterloo to earn the Clark Cup on Saturday.

Ft Wayne Journal Gazette: Justin A. Kohn has Islander prospect Luciano Aquino's comments after the Komets forced a deciding game after Saturday's 4-3 win. The Komets will play host to Game 7 of the Turner Cup Finals on Monday at Memorial Coliseum.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Aquino is a restricted free agent this summer for those wondering, he has not been included in any of the prospect reports from the club after being dropped from Bridegeport. Back in October an update was done on this in the Journal Gazette here.

Newsday/several writers: Report Rupert Murdoch has dropped his bid for Newsday and Cablevision could complete a purchase as early as Monday.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Hopefully if this happens Charles Dolan will run things but either way it will be used to showcase Cablevision properties and that is not New York Islander Hockey aside from limiting them on television.

Get ready for Newsday plus coverage for our team but it cannot get much worse at Newsday regardless because the current coverage and space provided is terrible. All three potential buyers were poor options who have not given the club adaquate coverage.

NY Times: Richard Perez-Pena had an article on the possible Newsday purchase as well.

Hennigar, Hillen, Aquino, Isles notables

Tsn.ca: Reports Rob Hennigar was named one of Canada's best university athletes Monday at the BLG Awards. Islanders website updated the earlier release to include Garth Snow's praise for his accomplishment while Canadian Press has Hennigar's comments.

BLG Canada.com: Gives some background as to what the Borden Ladner Gervais awards are all about and Rob Hennigar's accomplishments here.

Newsday: Katie Strang again updated the Isles blog with a Jack Hillen interview.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Could be old comments from when Hillen was here at the end of the season, tough to tell from the content but a lot more from a player who seems to be someone the Isles are going to give a chance to play full time in the NHL.

Times Herald: Notes Islander prospect Rookie of the Year Luciano Aquino in the IHL Turner Cup Finals with the Ft Wayne Komets.

Ft Wayne Journal Gazette: Justin A. Cohn has blanket coverage on the Komets and a blog.

Newsday: Mark Harrington reports on Cablevision's bid to purchase Newsday with former U.S. Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, whose Park Strategies Washington Group Llc is listed as a lobbyist for Rupert Murdoch's NY Post.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I don't think folks understand how bad a situation this is going to become.
A. The Post owns Newsday's Islander coverage.
B. Cablevision owns Newsday's Islander coverage.
C. The Daily News owns Newsday's Islander coverage.

You take a team off television or limit them only to games, knock their newspaper space down to nothing to a point they cannot market themselves and then your opposition buys the only paper in your market the Isles are going to have an impossible task to market themselves which is already nearly impossible.

They are not having these town halls just to tell us the direction on the ice, it's also because of a media who will not tell the New York Islanders story so folks will purchase tickets.

The man who talked Charles Wang into purchasing the Islanders (Al D'Amato)
and used to work the other side of the street in the past for Smg (and likely still does) now is paid by Rupert Murdoch who's Fox merger with Msg killed Islander ratings and sportschannel a decade ago?

Now Mr D'Amato wants Rupert Murdoch's NY Post (a paper without a full time Islander beatwriter) who's merger with Msg hurt the Isles on television to have ownership of Newsday so we can lose all coverage here too?

That may be the good news.

Cablevision (Charles Dolan/James Dolan) that made Islander television a necessity because they hid our team to drive down ratings also now could own the only paper that covers our team? These are the people who took over the teams television rights from Murdoch's Sportschannel and took them off television a decade ago, and hid our
playoff games on Metro. How are you going to feel knowing Msg owns the articles printed on the games?

What's next Islanders will be in Newsday plus when the new format comes out that features only the Garden-owned teams on the sports pages?

Roy Boe in 1972 did not even have these kind of roadblocks.

And the third party in this disaster is Mort Zuckerman who treats the Islanders like dirt in his Daily News and all but threw the club crumbs for coverage last season and those crumbs are getting smaller each year.

Pick your poison folks because if you think the New York Islanders are hurting now in the stands partly because of poor coverage and limited space you have not seen anything yet if one of these three entities purchase Newsday.

Islander/NHL Notables

USA Today: The latest prospect updates from Kyle Woodlief of Red Lind Report includes word came out of Niagara last week that defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is done for the season after being diagnosed with mononucleosis on April 6.

Note-Isles did have their in their profile of Pietrangelo a few days ago with even more information.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
The USA Today updates are infequent nor is there a feeder to link here from Mr Woodlief's section but his articles will be added to the prospect section.

A must read for all NHL fans year round and critical at draft-time.

Red Line Report's preliminary list of the top eligible prospects for the NHL's 2008 draft in Ottawa on June 21-22.


NO. PLAYER POS HT/WT S DOB TEAM

1 Steven Stamkos C 6-0/180 R 7-Feb-90 Sarnia
2 Nikita Filatov LW 6-0/172 R 25-May-90 CSKA
3 Drew Doughty D 6-0/213 R 8-Dec-89 Guelph
4 Zach Bogosian D 6-2/199 R 15-Jul-90 Peterborough
5 Alex Pietrangelo D 6-3/198 R 18-Jan-90 Niagara
6 Luke Schenn D 6-2/210 R 2-Nov-89 Kelowna
7 Mikkel Bdker RW 5-11/201 L 16-Dec-89 Kitchener
8 Colin Wilson C 6-1/203 L 20-Oct-89 Boston University
9 Kirill Petrov RW 6-3/218 L 13-Apr-90 Ak Bars Kazan
10 Cody Hodgson C 5-11/182 R 18-Feb-90 Brampton

Mississauga News : Reports Islander prospect Luciano Aquino of the Fort Wayne Komets was named IHL rookie of the year and this week was again named rookie of the week.

Aquino placed second in the league in scoring with 91 points, including 41 goals in 74 games is a seventh-round draft choice of the New York Islanders in the 2005 NHL entry draft.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Aquino used to play in Bridgeport, he is a restricted free agent this summer.

Wall Street Journal: Joe Mantone reports former Islander part owner Stephen Ross who today owns half the Miami Dolphins, said he no longer has any stake in the Islanders. He says his only interest and motivation was in the real estate and building a new arena there and that never took place.

Tsn.ca: Reports Carolina Hurricanes winger Sergei Samsanov was resigned to a three year contract today worth 7.6 million. Samsonov will receive $2.3 million in 2008-09, $2.5 million in 2009-10 and $2.8 million in 2010-11.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
That cheering you hear in the background is from Miroslav Satan and his agent.

Robin Figren & Luciano Aquino Updates

Journal Gazette:Justin A. Cohn reports Fort Wayne Komets coach Al Sims often has harsh criticism for his star and leading scorer, mixed in with praise, because expectations of the Islanders 2005 seventh rounder are high. In his recent game he had two goals, but a high-sticking penalty, a misconduct penalty he took for arguing that call and a penalty for having too many men on the ice he caused.

“A lot of negatives come with the positives. It kind of shows, I think ‘maturity’ is the word you have to use with him,” Sims said. “Certainly, he’s a force at this level and one of the leading scorers in the league. He wants to get back to the next level and is trying to go about it the right way and I’m doing what I can to help him.”

“I don’t know if he’s a perfectionist, but he expects a lot out of me and my line,” Aquino said. “I can’t complain about him. He’s been good to me. Every coach is different and you just have to know Al and his type. He keeps me on my toes. He gives me a kick in the butt when I’m not doing well and he also gives me a kick in the butt when I’m (rolling).”

“It happens to a lot of players where you get stuck in a (NHL’s team’s) system. You think you deserve a chance to play and they don’t give you a chance,” Aquino said. “God’s honest truth, I don’t even worry about getting called up. I don’t even care. Hockey is a game you can’t control. There are so many good players who are in the NHL and so many bad players who are. It’s all about work and that’s what I’ll do.”

Edmonton Sun: Jason Hills has prospect Robin Figren's comments upon returning to the Oil Kings about his WJC experience and the possibility of being traded which he talked over with gm Bob Green.

"Personally, I don't think I could have dreamed for the tournament to go any better."

"I absolutely want to stay here. I am very comfortable both with the hockey and the city. I feel like I am developing the way I need to be everyday," said Figren. "I don't want to go anywhere."

"We've spoken to Robin and he's very happy here and he wants to remain an Oil King and, from our part, it's important to have a player of that quality around," said Green.

"He brings a lot culture-wise to our organization. He's great for the younger guys."

Islander News Articles 12/26

Newsday: Greg Logan has an article on Jason Blake's return to New York which is mostly backround with some quotes from earlier this season.

Mississauga News:Gerry Timbers reports Islander prospect Luch Aquino leads the IHL in scoring with 15 goals and 32 points in 25 games for the Fort Wayne Komets.

Toronto Sun: Mike Zeisberger has a few words from Jason Blake after the writer makes sure to put down the Coliseum atmosphere where he also gives his side of contract negotiations last year.

"It should be fun but I hope they don't boo," he admitted. "That would be tough."

"I didn't want to leave, and I didn't want them to trade me," he said. "That was the point I was trying to make but it was portrayed the wrong way in some circles."


"It was a difficult place to leave," he said. "The organization was great.
The owner and management were good to me. "I haven't thought about being back too much but people have been talking about it alot. It should be exciting."