NY Times is the problem, not New York Hockey

All the News that's fit to print?

Long time since we saw that mantra at the Times.

Amazing what you get on a labor day weekend for stories from papers who rarely attempt to cover home games, fail to come out to cover press conferences when coaches are hired or even when franchise players drafted have their initial press conference after 10,000 attend a draft party.

It sure does not apply to New York hockey any longer at this paper. Since Ron Dicker left the Isles beat rare Dave Caldwell game coverage and mostly hit and run articles all negative beyond the Sugden feature last year is about all we have seen unless you are counting that Mandarin broadcast feature by the Times.

The Times even had legendary dynasty writer George Vecesy surface on 5/23 to tell us it may just be hockey has come and gone on Long Island here while claiming the league's biggest money loser at the Garden going into the lockout in 2004 cutting back here is a money machine despite the same paper contradicting him and as late as August 2009 the NY Times is still reporting Msg losses from it's sports division here.

But on this day the Times came out of it's New York Islander coverage cave here here to do a feature about the Isles dwindling coverage written by Mark Messier's biographer Jeff Z. Klein.

His content included an insulting old quote from Jaromir Jagr but he did fairly recap what Mr Botta saw in his tenure with the club over twenty years and noted the draft turnout showed there were a lot more loyal Islanders supporters than most outside observers realized.

And the NY Times are outsiders now, by their own choice and this is where the problem lies.

An expert was brought in to question blog coverage content hired by a team but none of that applied to Chris Botta who won over folks with his honestly and viewpoint regardless if we agreed every day or not as he told his story about Point Blank along with team President Chris Dey who gave his side of why a former team employee was hired to write about the club and in the biggest news out of this article was quoted as saying:

" There might be an opportunity for another entrepreneur to cover the Islanders in a similar manner " which was really the only thing new from the article beyond Mr Botta's efforts to find a new home for Point Blank which he has discussed a few times recently.

Mr Botta and Mr Dey as expected did a very good job here and Mr Dey put it out there about the lack of media coverage as he needed to.

Bottom line here folks is the problem has never been the New York Islanders and it's not about any clubs record or what uniform they wore in 1996 because the Devils receive the same poor coverage regardless of how many Atlantic Division titles they win.

The Rangers have had coverage cuts also, but not nearly to the same degree.

Rangers-Islanders at Msg received only AP coverage this year from the Times (for at least one Msg game) and most Ranger road games were not covered, but the budget has been there for Mr Klein, Stu Heckel and Lynn Zinser to do many Ranger game articles and blog updates plus keep an updated European league page.

If that is the case there should be plenty of resources to cover all the local New York hockey teams regardless of record by blog or print.

This problem goes on the Times editor and their staff, a small part of it goes on a lot of Ranger fans on the print side controlling spin but all of this is old news.

This problem with the Times (and you can absolutely include Newsday, Daily News, Post and the Journal News, SI Advance) is all about selective coverage that says a lot more about their business practice and not the teams they cover.

Mr Botta's Point Blank proved the fan interest is there in New York Islander hockey so excuses by editors and sometimes the writers are about them and their own lack of knowledge.

The Times supposedly went to an SI format for all hockey teams not playing at Msg (likely because they need the Knick ad revenue) but again this goes to their judgment and not how a team performs or the Knicks would not be covered by anyone.

As for the Times, go back to a traditional format, cover all eighty two games from all three local teams and forget Europe.

New York hockey comes first and this is what New York hockey needs.

New York Islander Fan Central Twitter Page

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Active day at NYI Fan Central

Busy day at NYI Fan Central today.

Usually I do not like to write that much about it as I experiment with the page and add things in on a trial basis but some things I did today I think our visitors would want to know about.

Here's a recap:

* E-mails were sent today offering NYI Fan Central to be carried by the New York Post and New York Times on their websites. If I get a response I will let everyone know what the folks at both publications told me. I offered to post the blog free or just link to their page. I'm not interested in money or even my name published. I just want to see a blog for the Islanders at these papers to increase the club's exposure.

It will cost these publications nothing and I will just add my pre and post game comments here to those sites. If they are not interested in this blog I suggested adding someone else's Islander blog.

* This blog may or may not have been added to the league's website called Kulak's corner who has a fantastic site. I contacted Paul Kukla last week and asked if he would like to have an Islander blog on his page because they do not seem to have any Islander blogs? I got a response saying he liked this blog a lot and was planning to add it to his site, however at the bottom of his response he told me there was a problem because the blog box has some site called Hockey Buzz as a sponsor that I think engages in rumors that he does not wish to associate with because of it's ownership. I just do not know anything about that site or is it my business and I'm not sure if this blog was added as of today.

* I did reply to Mr Kukla and thanked him for his kind words about this blog and made it clear NYI Fan Central has no affiliation with that website and does not engage in the breaking rumors or news. I'm not even sure what they do so I cannot even guess.

* I opened a New York Islander Center for the World Junior Championships today with links to the International Ice Hockey Federation, team USA and will be expanding on those links as the tournament date comes closer with more coverage just above the prospect center.

* I'm not too sure what a widget or gadget is but I added one for Michael Fornabaio's blog to the Sound Tigers section today as well as one for the NHL.com section. There may be a few repeats but I noticed the NHL feeder and gadget box each had some different content.

Islander News Articles 11/4: DiPietro update

Newsday: Anthony Rieber has reaction on an incredible night and Rick DiPietro's eye injury.

"It was an electric atmosphere," Trent Hunter said. "It was a lot of fun for the guys. We were grateful to get that win for him."

"It feels really great," Arbour said afterward, "but I didn't really do that much."

Newsday: Mark Herrmann blogged at 1:40am, reported on DiPietro and wrote the tribute was dynamic and not a museum piece that made the game anticlimactic. He felt current players and today's fans were an active part of the show, not just witnesses with Pat Lafontaine
saying on his way to a reception afterward, we have not seen the likes of this anywhere else in sports.


Newsday: Former Islander Patrick Flatley tells some incredible stories about Al Arbour and how hard he pushed him to make him a better player that falls along the lines of the Arbour/Potvin bus story in 1975.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I never heard these stories before on the Arbour-Flatley relationship, fantastic stuff.

Newsday: Mark Herrmann does an article on what Al Arbour means to the Islanders along with a lot of great quotes from former teammates and Scott Bowman.

NY Times: Joshua Robinson covered the game for the Times.

NY Post: In a big shocker Larry Brooks covered the Islander game and put up a good article and praised the Islanders for putting on a great show. He praised Al Arbour, the alumni and talked of the history but as always Brooks fails to understand the Islanders are not the problem, the New York Post and their poor hockey coverage in the New York market is the problem. He questioned if DiPietro had vision problems before quoting the teams statement on the goaltenders health.

"For me, being an Islander now, this represents what the organization has done, and what we're capable of doing as we go forward," said captain Billy Guerin. "We're all happy to be here, we all want to play here. This is a franchise with such a rich tradition. We all want to do our part in carrying it forward.

"We wanted to win this one really badly. We wanted to win this one for him."

NY Post: Larry Brooks in the no good dead goes unpunished department of course does not talk more of Al Arbour in his regular Sunday NHL column but instead questions why Neil Smith's contract status with the Islanders still has not been settled.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Larry Brooks national past time and one of his favorite kinds of articles. Shots at Gary Bettman, a little airing of dirty Islander laundry on a day that it's not an updated story and not single quote from anyone with new information. This could have been written at any time in the last year so why now?

Daily News: Mike Lupica writes
Al Arbour was the same model of class and consistency and excellence when he was winning four Stanley Cups with the Islanders as Joe Torre was winning four World Series with the Yankees.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Absolutely true, but make no mistake, the New York Islanders did not have a two hundred million dollar payroll advantage to slaughter most of the competition long before the games were played on the field. Joe Torre was a model of class long before he became Yankee manager. Al Arbour could have went to a lot of teams on the rise after his first tenure as coach and written his own ticket and won more Stanley Cups but the Yankees will never be anything like the family concept that the Islander franchise is all about which is why he came back and why Joe Torre has moved on to another team again.

Point Blank: Chris Botta Saturday in his blog tells a wonderful story from the heart on Al Arbour attending his father's funeral days after Al Arbour's retirement night in 1997 and the pin which I still have from that night.

Daily News: Peter Botte covered the game and reported DiPietro told Ted Nolan by telephone before he arrived at the doctor's office that he thought he'd be fine in very limited space.

Canadian Press: Reports Islanders spokesman Chris Botta said DiPietro did not suffer a severe eye injury, but was taken from the arena to the office of team ophthalmologist Dr. Bruce Zagelbaum for an evaluation and remained in the building until post-game ceremonies honouring Hall of Fame coach Al Arbour were completed.

Nolan hugged DiPietro before the goalie left the building.

"I just asked him how he was and he said he was all right," captain Bill Guerin said.

Updated 12:15am:
Islanders website: Reported Rick DiPietro received the news from the team's medical staff that Rick DiPietro did not suffer any permanent damage to his eye but a facial contusion and cuts near the right eye. An examination late Saturday evening with team ophthalmologist Dr. Bruce Zagelbaum confirmed DiPietro did not any serious damage to the eye.

For now, DiPietro will be listed as day-to-day and the team expects to have its next update on Monday afternoon.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette: Dave Molinary wondered if it was like old times from the Pens side of things on the night Arbour made a 60-minute comeback predictable.

"Maybe it was the hockey gods," Penguins forward Ryan Malone said.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette: Dave Molinary also had quotes from defender Rob Scuderi who is from Syosset about Al Arbour.

Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Rob Rossi has the Penguin centric coverage and knew very well about the Islanders history against Pittsburgh.

Sound Tigers Website: Has full recap on the game.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports on the Sound Tigers 4-1 win against the Hershey Bears Saturday night. Jeff Tambellini had a goal and three assist in the win.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's blog talks about how many shots Bridgeport gave up for the win tonight.

Patriot News: Has the Bears centric coverage.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Sound Tigers again face Steve Stirling's Norfolk Admirals Sunday at home today in a 4pm start which is their third game in three days.

Islander News Articles 10/5: Berard not with club

Newsday: Greg Logan's article centers on Satan having to replace Jason Blake's numbers this season and will see more pp time while the club could not sign Bryan Berard and he did not accompany the club to Buffalo.

Greg Logan's Newsday blog: Updated Berard status and clarified the situation regarding Aaron Johnson and Bruno Gervais and why they have to clear waivers with two-way contracts.

NY Times: Dave Caldwell wrote what will likely be only a handful of Islander articles all season at best. Quotes from Guerin, DiPietro, Nolan and Comrie.

NYI Fan Central Comments:

At least we finally have an explanation on Johnson and Gervais because there has been a lot of conflicting information on why they had to be placed on waivers.

Berard situation has officially turned into a distraction.

What was the point of having Berard at practice centering the number one pp unit Wednesday (and maybe Thursday) if the club is not going to sign him? Brendan Witt is one of the leaders on this club and talking about him as if his shot will make a difference and now someone else who should have been getting those minutes and workload will be put into the role? This is now a distraction for the club and one they did not need.

You either sign Berard and make room for him or you give his minutes to someone else and have this settled a week ago. This either reflects poor management by Snow and Nolan (or are trying to hold onto everyone) or Berard's agent is being unreasonable in negotiations which on the surface seem unlikely.

Things should never been allowed to linger for this long and the club merits the criticism in this situation because day before the season opener, the person who has been the pp quarterback through most of camp and the preseason is not going to be there.

You put a player on waivers if you want Berard in your lineup or make a trade, it's that simple. Now they are out a player who was in a primary role and another player is forced into his role at the last minute.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio
writes about the Sound Tigers young defenders, their ability to move the puck and does a feature on Jeff Tambellini.

Nichael Fornabaio's Ct Post blog: Updates new rules in the AHL and some Sound Tiger notes.

Hartford Courant: Bruce Berlet had a preview of the Sound Tigers and how tough the club us. Jack Capauano is quoted on the state of his team.

Sports ticker and several media outlets: reported former Islander prospect Ryan Caldwell came up and played in the Coyotes season opener.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
So Phoenix found a roster spot for Caldwell while the Islanders and Bluejackets did not give him a chance. Granted it was a call up because of injury but where is Eric Boguniecki these days?

The Journal Gazette: Justin A. Cohn reports the Islanders have assigned Luciano Aquino to the Fort Wayne Komets, who open training camp in the new International Hockey League on Monday.

Finally in the last and least department:
NY Post: Dan Martin threw together a three paragraph summary as a preview for the Islanders while Brooks and Everson had two article previews on their clubs yesterday. Everson did travel to Tampa to do a game article for the Devils while Brooks of course did his Ranger article today. Post did not travel to Moncton unlike last year.