Islander News Articles 10/19

Newsday: Greg Logan has the recap on Saturday's 2-0 loss with comments from head coach Scott Gordon on how the Islanders could not even consider letting their defenders pinch with Rick DiPietro talking about how he felt during the game and what's ahead for him.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Scott Gordon sounded a lot like Ted Nolan when he started talking about not scoring at five on five and that his players had no depth to their attack because he could not get his defense involved.

Newsday: Mr Logan's second article was on Scott Gordon changing his mind
about using a forward on his powerplay because of Doug Weight's vision and passing ability along with some repeats from his pre-game blog on Bergenheim and Mitch Fritz.

Palm Beach Post: Brian Biggane & Miami Herald: George Richards has the Panthers coverage including the beatwriter's blog here.

Los Angeles Times: Pete Thomas has a few words on the Islanders Mandarin broadcasters having trouble translating certain hockey words and phrases into the Chinese language.

Newsday: Media reporter Neil Best has an article with comments from Msg President Michael Bair trying to explain Cablevison-Msg double standards in hockey television coverage with comments from Islander president Chris Dey along with former VP of communications, Chris Botta.

Mr Best after a disclaimer he receives his paycheck from Cablevision did his Ranger dance claiming his favorite team is more popular than the Islanders but did point out Msg is not keeping it's promise of expanded coverage it made last season when it changed the name of it's Fsn station to MsgPlus.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I suppose if I owned Cablevision, kept two teams off television for months and spammed my product every single day I could come back to the public and tell everyone the team I own is more widely popular through my paid employees.

Of course it does not make it so, but it is a good way to control perception.

Rangers have been a media joke in terms of local television ratings for years and are virtually ignored in their own market come playoff time against major market clubs and that's with a lot of Islander and Devil fans watching.

Msg pays their hockey competition to limit exposure, control ratings and perception, in the process they damaged their own product.

No shock the latest President of Msg is defending a double-standard that intentionally drives down ratings so they can throw it back at the public as justification for limiting game coverage, Mr Bair made it sound like because Msg showed a team produced program (Isles-Illustrated) it was an excuse not to do a pregame.

In other words you can only have one or the other.

Mr Bair outright lied about beefing up Islander coverage on MSGNY, this team did not receive a single update from Moncton until the team returned to New York and that was from ITV with week old highlights after we all knew they would not even allow live Internet for games which Mr Best did not touch in his article.

Already we are starting to see the same double-standards in their newspaper with the signs and spin already there with the Rangers having no business getting a Newsday backpage much less equal coverage to the Islanders on any day.

I guess Lou Lamoriello did get more things from his renewed television contract than John Spano long ago.

In the end only thing Msg does is hurt hockey's exposure and their own product in the process.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps the Sound Tigers home opener with comments from Mike Iggulden, Yann Danis and head coach Jack Capuano along with what's new at Harbor Yard here and a preview of Sunday's game here against Philadelphia at 7pm.

Troy Record: Has Albany coverage.

Islander/NHL notables

Islanders website: Islanders New Vice President of Communications
Josh Bernstein comments on the new Islanders Illustrated program that will debut June 18th on Msg plus and what the long-term plans are for this permanent feature.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Good concept to have a television show for the Islanders that is long overdue. I do not want to come off negative here but the house team at Msg has constant progamming that can run for a full day and longer if necessary so I'm not sure if it's time to celebrate one program. I want to see Jiggs McDonald do half hour programs on all the great players from the franchise with highlights from their careers and the writers comments.

And the same has to start happening for the Devils.

If Ron Duguay can get something like this on Msg there is no excuse for championship winning players with multiple cups as New York Islanders being profiled as well as the entire current team along with a regular schedule of the greatest Islander games as voted by the fans. Added to that a regular lineup of pre-season games televised with some games sold to channel nine or channel four to help market the club that would normally appear on Msg plus2.

Finally repeat Islander telecasts provided a one hour edition.

When the Garden starts making television inroads like this for our team that is the day I give them credit for doing things properly and will call them a fair partner.

Partners share, not give one team ninety eight percent while splitting two percent with the other two teams.

It's helped kill exposure and ratings for all three teams and the sport in the New York market. One look at the local coverage for the finals say it all.

THN.com/several articles: Ken Campbell confirms Blake Wheeler rejected the Coyotes final offer and will be an unrestricted free agent as of June 8th with the ramifications of this.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
One of those ramificantions is the Coyotes are awarded the fifth pick in the second round which pushes the Islanders back a spot. Kyle Okposo is from Minnesota as well as Wheeler.

Someone will get a good prospect without giving up a player in return, his value in terms of contract is limited as to what can be offered so this will not be a sweepstakes.

I think it goes without saying it sure would not hurt the Isles youth movement to try and sign him along with twenty eight other clubs.

Yahoo sports: Released an uncredited team report which is basically a summary of recent Islander events with some speculation on their own free agents along with a few old comments from the Isles website.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It is what it is, take it as an uncredited overview. I debated posting it at all here but Ross McKeon does some good hockey reports for this site.

Finally a horrible day for the entire NHL family and all of it's fans with the death of Cauncks prospect Luc Bourdon in a motorcycle accident. Bourdon played in Moncton under Ted Nolan and Danny Flynn when they reached the memorial cup final.

Mr Botta, call the NYC sports editors again.

New York Observer: John Koblin has a fascinating article to me about life covering Madison Square Garden's franchise team with quotes from several of the folks who used to cover the New York Islander beat (Alan Hahn, Marc Berman) and the Garden's politics with reporters.

“I think it’s fair to say that Jim [Dolan] is aware of, and a part of, the shaping of the media policy,” said Barry Watkins, the senior vice president of communications for the Garden. >Garden policy has meant that before and after every game, there is a media relations official—a minder, really—with a BlackBerry in hand who furiously types away while listening to reporters’ conversations. The notes that the official takes are then e-mailed up the chain of command.

“It’s Madison Square Garden, it’s New York City, it should be one of the top beats in New York,” said Newsday beat reporter Alan Hahn.

Instead: “It’s maddening. What it should be and what it is—it’s a shame.”

“Some of the things they practice here are completely against what you’d expect a normal team to do,” said Mr. Hahn, a second-year reporter on the beat who said that he now misses his old job as a hockey reporter covering the provincial New York Islanders. “They come up with things all the time. There’s zero access to players. They would rather you don’t even write.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter what they do to us, the beat guys,” observed Mr. Hahn. “But you’d think they care a little more about presentation when other reporters come to town. They don’t.”

“I’m in shock now,” said Mr. Berman. “The sexual harassment trial was bad enough, and then to have a November like this, when you’re a national joke, for someone covering the team it’s depressing ’cause you want to write positive stuff. Soon the readers aren’t going to care anymore.” His voice got quiet. “In December, who’s gonna read my stories?”

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Some may ask why is this about the New York Islanders?

Msg as everyone knows owns the Islanders, Devils and Buffalo Sabres broadcast rights and FSN. If they control the print media people this much I can only imagine how tough it is on the paid employees hired to call games.

This is the same Garden controlling the hockey spin coming from the Ranger writers in the local papers. No wonder Larry Brooks had to do a public back step recently after he was critical of Brendan Shanahan and the over the top defending by John Dellapina for Sean Avery who can fight his own battles.

I get the impression from his comments over the years Mr Botta works very hard to fight the sports editors for Islander coverage and does all he can. This is an opportunity to once again ask the city sports editors and even the publisher what it will take for more Islander coverage and some blogs in the city papers as well as Westchester and New Jersey. No doubt the Islanders will allow all the access the media wants without the political climate Msg is apparently placing on it's beat writers considering it has bloggers in it's lockeroom because the club needs more coverage.

It's an opportunity for New York Islander Hockey to expand it's coverage and get more folks attending games by reading about them. As Mr Botta wrote recently we want the Daily News, we need the Daily News.

New York Islanders also want and need the Times, Post, Sun, Ganette, SI Advance, Newark Star Ledger, and the club needs to reach out to it's tri-state area fanbase and tone down the Long Island mantra placed on everything which does not help coverage in New York City where a percentage of the fan base lives.

If the Islander p.r department has to drive into Manhattan and do a face to face sitdown with Leon Carter and the Daily News publisher if necessary to improve the coverage that's what has to be done. Then a trip the Post publisher followed by one to the New York Times, a stop over at the New York Sun, followed by a stop at the SI Advance, Newark Star Ledger before a trip to the Westchester Ganette.

Worst they can say is no, right?

Fascinating stuff from the beat writers and the garden because what I just read was unprecedented from the collective beatwriters who usually are in competition with one another.

As for Alan Hahn, I wonder if he misses Alexei Yashin now?

3pm Islanders update

So far all quiet on the Islanders/Berard front and no annoucements of player reassigned to get down to the twenty three man limit.

Many teams are going with twenty three players.

Best bet for the first one to find out and tell the fans is Michael Fornabaio's blog in the Ct Post. I would also suggest checking Newsday's main page (see links section of this blog) and maybe TSN.CA who does not have a hockey exclusive rss feed.

Longshot is also the NHLPA website that sometimes has salary updates before the media
here.

In other news it looks like Bill Guerin and Mike Comrie could be the only hockey players representing New York at the league's launch party Tuesday night here as apparently Msg needs another lawsuit to humiliate themselves further.

Lindy Ruff reports to UsaToday that Sabres forward Ales Kotalik is expected to miss Buffalo's season opener because of a knee injury.

Islander News Articles 9/29:

Virtually nothing from the city on last night's game aside from writer blogs. The Times, News did not do a game article, the Post did a Ranger centric article while the Devils continue to receive daily coverage and had a Saturday article. The Journal News in Westchester did not do an article for the paper and one ticker/ap report had Dubielewicz in goal for the Islanders when he did not dress.

Newsday has an article on the game from the Islander perspective confirming Sutton was fined for an elbow and that Ted Nolan is expected to return to the club on Sunday for the preseason final in Boston.

* The 6-5 Sutton admitted his elbow came up too high when he hit the 5-11 Callahan but said the height difference was a factor.

"Whether you're 6-6 and [the opponent] is 5-8, it doesn't matter," Campbell said in a conference call. "So as far as a legal blow to the head, that wasn't legal. But there was no injury, and I don't think he made complete contact."

* The Islanders' lineup had the minimum of eight regular NHL skaters, including goal-scorers Sean Bergenheim and Trent Hunter, rather than risking another free-for-all like Monday's game.

* After the game the other night, top-line forward Ruslan Fedotenko said..

"you don't want anything stupid to happen and have a player get injured with a lot of young guys running around."

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Almost sounds like a negotiated deal from Colin Campbell. Sit out Simon, Sutton and DiPietro and Sutton gets off with a fine. Given Downie only left his feet to deliver a hit here in open ice and got twenty game it seems the usual cryptic decision making from Colin Campbell that has no real standards or set parameter (aside from a player getting hurt or popular opinion) will continue to have fans and team executives wondering what's going on with someone who clearly is over his head in his job and has been since he was hired.

The kicker for Downie is the AHL can choose or not choose to honor the suspension or change the amount of games. Does it go back into effect if he becomes a full time NHL player at some point?

I'm still wondering how Colin Campbell did not suspend Gary Roberts from charging Kenny Jonsson from center ice and driving his head into the boards so hard with his hands his helmet broke and even with a five minute penalty was not suspended in the 2002 playoffs. You listen to him now vs his words and comments in 2002 here and it makes you wonder why he still has a job.

Michael Fornabaio's blog here has the lineup and box score with some comments on Bridgeport's 2-0 win against Providence Friday. Ct Post had articles on Maxime Ouellet and Mike Mole efforts in the win and an article on Sean Bentivoglio.

Sound Tigers website has a game article on the win and a picture of a Bruins goalie pads that actually outdo Rick DiPietro.

What's a day without a lawsuit with Msg involved? This time Msg is suing the National Hockey League and the Cablevision/Garden of all organizations is lecturing the league about illegal business practices here with a straight face.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Cannot make this stuff up gang. So let's get this straight, the NHL has a monopoly on how thirty teams advertise, do their websites/promotions/merchandising and a monopoly like Cablevision that sets standards and practices inside their monopoly does not understand this?

Good for the league to fine the Garden until it conforms, Islanders conformed during the summer with their website as did the other clubs.

This die hard hockey fans did not even know the season officially starts tomorrow with a featured two game set between Anaheim and Los Angeles in London starting at 12pm EST on Sunday on Versus going head to head with the NFL here.

Can you say Mr Bultarsky....zero point zero ratings. (animal house)

Prospect Robin Figren who was in Islander camp injured but apparently one of his skates was not sent back with him Edmonton Journal has his comments on his camp, his health and the bizarre circumstances with a skate being lost.

Is ESPN Killing the National Hockey League?

Negative Press: Is ESPN Killing the National Hockey League by Influencing Public Attitudes?

I'm presenting this here and now because Espn is doing the exact opposite and trying to set the fan agenda with a sport they do own the rights to, MLS soccer here.

Good set of articles back in July on Espn and how they only serve to promote the sports they own while doing all they can to ruin hockey because the league signed with versus here.

ESPN ombudsman Le Anne Schreiber here claims during the NHL's regular season, the only time hockey came up was when there was "some egregious brawl" or it was being "dissed" by some on-air talent. "It was dissed for its invisibility — because it's no longer on ESPN."

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Good reading. The soccer article specifically mentions in 2002 New York,
Spanish-language radio broadcasts of the New York Mets were already getting better ratings than the Devils and the Islanders, what it fails to mention is Msg controls the Islanders content and exposure and that's why the ratings are low.

Islander rating in 2002 was 0.31, Devils 0.18. Last season Islander ratings were around 0.12 for anyone wanting reference.

Espn plays it's games to influence the public, Dolan and Msg are infamous for it and now that they own the Islanders television rights they will never allow our club top billing over Msg teams because they hate competition so they pay to control it.

Of course what Dolan has not figured out is by limiting hockey, he limited his own teams exposure to a point they are irrelevant even in the playoffs with television ratings similar to the Islanders in 2002.