Islander News Articles 4/4

Newsday: Greg Logan previews tonight's game against Tampa (mostly about the lottery) with Jeff Tambellini's comments.

Newsday: Mr Logan in the Islander Newsday blog writes contrary to certain contrarians, the sidebar that accompanied the Islanders game story in today's Newsday did not say that injured Kyle Okposo and Mark Streit would definitely miss the rest of the season with their groin strains. It simply suggested that it would not be surprising if that happened as he went on to clarify what happened in the press conference with head coach Scott Gordon's comments.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Of course where Mr Logan fails here is to simply not do a blog entry right after the game on Thursday and cover all angles. This is what Steve Zipay does after almost every game with his blanket coverage so why can't he do that in the only full-time paper that covers this team?

Couldn't the question to Scott Gordon on Okposo and the World Championships wait for another week or an off-day where the winger himself comments?

NY Post: Dan Martin takes his shots at the Isles being well rested because of the lack of playoff series wins while Richard Park feels next year will be different and he will see his first playoff action since he was with the Minnesota Wild that went to the conference finals in 2003.

Sault-Star: Reporter Bill Montague has comments from former Islander head coach Ted Nolan about being a general manager and a return to coaching as he dismissed owning a team. Also reported in this article was former Islander assistant Dany Flynn was named coach of the year in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League earlier this week.

AHL.com: Recaps Bridgeport's 4-3 overtime win against Hershey Friday night on Sean Bentivoglio's overtime goal to clinch the first one hundred point season in franchise history in the post-shootout era.

Joe Callahan and Joel Rechlicz did not play, nor did Robin Figren or any of the CHL players on tryout contracts.

Peter Mannino had twenty nine saves in goal.

1. BRI Fraser, (7) (Joensuu, Wotton), 3:36
1. HER McNeill, (3) (Brennan, Joudrey), 17:46
1. HER Perreault, (11) (Giroux, Lepisto), 18:23 (PP)
2. HER Reid, (2) (Gordon), 2:47
2. BRI Joensuu, (19) (Fraser, Kohn), 11:14 (PP)
3. BRI Haskins, (10) (Bentivoglio, Sim), 5:43
OT. BRI Bentivoglio, (13) (Haskins, Kohn), 0:25

1 x Hershey Bears 76 47 21 2 6 102
2 x Bridgeport Sound Tigers 77 46 23 3 5 100
3 x WBScranton Penguins 75 47 24 2 2 98

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Never say never but Bridgeport needed a regulation win Friday. Hershey plays WBS Saturday. With an eighty game schedule is almost up.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps Friday's big win with comments from head coach Jack Capuano, Sean Bentivoglio and goaltender Peter Mannino, who credited defenseman Jon Gleed for a game saving blocked shot in the third period.

Ct Post: Has the following statement from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Team President Howard Saffan not written by beatwriter Michael Fornabaio:

Howard Saffan, president of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, issued the following statement Friday:

I want to take this time to apologize to Lynn Carlotto, General Manager of the Arena at Harbor Yard, for my recent criticism of her management of the facility. I have turned what should have been a private business disagreement into a public matter. My comments were emotionally charged due to the fact that we are fighting for the number one seed in the AHL playoffs and because of the Arena's schedule we will not be able to begin our quest for the AHL championship on home ice. We are working to resolve a difference of interpretation regarding the way playoff dates are established at the Arena.

Patriot-News: Covers the Hershey Bears.

Bridgeport Qualified for Postseason Tuesday

Sorry folks, playing a little catchup but wanted to do a special entry on Bridgeport clinching their first playoff spot since 2006 behind Sean Bentivoglio's first professional hat trick with three-point games from Jon Sim and Andrew MacDonald.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recapped Bridgeport's win in Albany on Tuesday with comments from head coach Jack Capuano and Sean Bentivoglio including blog entries which include Nate Lawson named to AHL all-rookie team here.

Mr Fornabaio/AHL.com has updates on Sarnia players (Kevin Poulin PTO) and also wrote about prospect Max Gretchev.

Islander News Articles 3/23

Newsday: Greg Logan's article is on defenseman Jack Hillen and what will happen when Andy Sutton returns as soon as this week with head coach Scott Gordon's comments on the restricted free agent's game.

Newsday: Randi F. Marshall has comments from various business leaders and organizations regarding financing problems for the Lighthouse project with some recent comments from Charles Wang.

Newsday: Elizabeth Moore has a two part business profile of Charles Wang's partner, Scott Rechler with his comments on several subjects, including Lighthouse financing.

NY Daily News: Nicholas Hirshon has more from Queens politicians about bringing the Islanders to Willets Point.

The Hour Online: Mike Madar had one of this site's occasional articles on Bridgeport's win Sunday with head coach Jack Capuano and Sean Bentivoglio.

Sunday Notables/Quick Hits

Ct Post: Bridgeport lost in overtime at Portland after taking a 1-0 lead into the third. Sean Bentivoglio and head coach Jack Capuano commented who praised the teams effort.

Point Blank: Mr Botta had a few updates from Mark Streit who was not hurt after falling on his breakaway attempt in the skills competition Saturday.

* Passed on posting about the misrepresentations in Forbes and the LIBN on the Islanders but did sent David Reich-Hale the author of the LIBN article an e-mail to clarify his mistakes and omissions.

Forbes simply takes sports items this with no documentation and throws claims against the wall because teams do not supply them information. Other businesses are a different matter but Forbes has no place reporting on sports until teams and leagues decide to provide them actual numbers so they stop making estimates.

* No shock Larry Brooks had a cheap shot for Garth Snow and the Islanders, he's been overdue for a while now. Maybe Garth Snow should have put Islander training camp in NYC and really given Mr Brooks something to crow about.

Expanding the Islander fan base were some of the past reasons given for training camps in Lake Placid, Wheeling, Yarmouth, and Moncton.

Funny Larry Brooks did not write it was an insult to long suffering Ranger fans going to San Juan to play pre-season games in 2006 here which failed miserably here.

* Seems eliminating that highlight move goal competition from last year protected the goaltenders better this time. No way DiPietro has to go post to post on a wrap around which is how he got hurt.

I tend to agree with Gary Bettman if a player opts out of the ASG because of injury he should sit his next teams game unless he attends or at least represents his club off the ice.

That's a new rule that I did not know about.

The counter rule needing to be added to protect the players interest should be anyone who wants the time off all-star weekend must inform the league at the start of training camp. In that instance they should not have to miss any time when the season resumes.

Updated:
Newsday: Greg Logan in the Islanders Newsday blog wonders if the urbanization of the area of the Coliseum is enough to make it worth keeping the Islanders as he writes " In the larger picture, 100 acres hardly compares to the downtown area of the major cities where most major-league franchises are located " as he introduced earlier articles and interviews as he gives us his view of Tim Leiweke with a few words from Kate Murray about local business reaction/concerns about the project.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
It's kind of funny every Sunday during football season we watch games from New Jersey which has no cityscape to identify the location to a point everyone simply calls the teams New York or they show the New York skyline.

That view from Queens and the Bronx for baseball has been less than flattering for a long time also looking out at a junk yard or what the Bronx looked like decades ago.

A lot of pro sports teams play outside their primary city area. The Caps played in Landover for a long time and I never saw the local media treat them like the media does our team slapping the LI label on every facet of the franchise.

The Islanders themselves are just as guilty of this far too often.

This all begs the question why would the Islanders need a signature shot and why not just show the Manhattan skyline. This is a New York based team even if some Ranger media likes to push them outside of that.

A lot of city-based teams move also, Mr Logan should know and have pointed out the Rangers in the early eighties were about to be one of the teams moved before NYC bailed out the Garden with it's tax exemptions because the building was not viable by itself.

Anything can happen here with this project, including Nassau County/Town of Hempstead getting the Islanders out of this Smg lease. That's the part of this the media folks stopped talking about (thanks to Charles Wang) with even part of the gate going to this company with parking, concessions for hockey games.

Lighthouse or no Lighthouse that is the primary reason Islander owners lose money operating this franchise. If the Lighthouse is the tradeoff to supplement that revenue for Charles Wang then it makes sense.

But there are a lot of alternatives.

I find it kind of funny a Long-Island based company that operates a Newspaper and sells it within NYC limits (for a time in NYC) fails to present content about it's primary sports team in the area exactly the same way to the New York readership?

They sure have no problem marketing New Jersey football as New York City so why not a team called the New York Islanders that actually plays in New York?

Again this goes back to an old question, why has Newsday bent over backwards to present Ranger coverage at all in Long Island based Newsday?

Correction:
Someone named Matt Gagne wrote the Islanders game story after the win against Anaheim for the Daily News, not Peter Botte.

Islander News Articles 1/4: Colliton injured

AP: Recaps the Islanders 5-3 loss to San Jose.

Newsday: Greg Logan's recap of the Islanders 5-3 loss to San Jose on Saturday.

Newsday: Mr Logan also had Frans Nielsen's comments about the hit by Mike Mottau of the Devils and his leg injury.

Newsday: Mr Logan also repeated his blog entry for the print edition of the paper for Doug Weight's 1000th point and Josh Bailey's first NHL goal.

San Jose Mercury News & Constra Cost Times with SF Chronicle here.

Globe & Mail: Sean Gordon recaps team Sweden 5-3 against Slovakia.

Vancouver Sun: Had a brief update on Finland's 7-1 against Kaz.

New Hampshire Union Leader: Allen Lessels has a feature on Phil Kessel and Islander prospect Blake Kessel.

AHL.com: Reports Bridgeport lost 3-2 in overtime against Albany Saturday on the road.

1. ALB Ryan, (11) (Tifu), 5:10
3. BRI MacDonald, (5) (Bentivoglio, Lee), 11:26 (PP)
3. ALB Ryan, (12) (Tifu, Petruzalek), 18:07
3. BRI Bentivoglio, (5) (Walter, Iggulden), 19:35
OT. ALB Ryan, (13) (Rodney, Dodge), 3:38

Nate Lawson had thirty three saves, Yann Danis did not dress.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's game coverage with blog entry here has comments from Sean Bentivoglio's goal with 24.8 seconds left to get them into overtime. Head coach Jack Capuano credited his forwards as he juggled lines after the injury. Brett Skinner also comments.

Troy Record: Has coverage from Chris Fitzgerald on Saturday's game with Phil Janack in the Daily Gazette here.

Islander News Articles 12/8

Toronto already made callups for Luke Schenn and Nicklas Hagman who are out for Monday's game in Jaime Sifers and Jeremy Williams.

Monday's game preview is set for release at 1pm.

Schenn is out at least two weeks.

Newsday: Mr Logan's article has comments from head coach Scott Gordon and Blake Comeau about how well he played Saturday, why he was sent to Bridgeport and what both feel have to happen for him him to stay as Mr Logan notes Tambellini's future options after his conditioning assignment ends.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Good stuff from Gordon and Comeau here but going back to camp the new Islander coach seemed to go out of his way to put down his contribution from a year ago when everyone from the veterans to the general manager praised his play.

I hope Comeau and Tambellini are not a proposition where it's one or the other. In that instance Comeau did more in one game than Tambellini did all season by far.

Going back to last summer: Comeau, Bergenheim, Sim & Tambellini all are left wings which was written about here a lot.

NY Post: Dan Martin was given seven total sentences to quote Joey MacDonald and write about the upcoming crucial stretch starting tonight.


NYI Fan Central Comments:
The Devils who are off until Wednesday and did not play Sunday were given a full article for Mark Everson's article with several player quotes who were on the road.

Espn: Pierre LeBrun in his Espn blogs heads to Florida on what he is calling a significant Board of Governors meeting.

USA Today.com: A.J Perez has a feature article on Islander center Doug Weight who among many topics talks about misconceptions about playing here and the direction of the organization.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio recaps Bridgeport's big comeback shootout win with head coach Jack Capuano crediting goaltender Peter Mannino & his team for not giving up after the tough fights at the end of Saturday's game which Sean Bentivoglio talks about.

Rob Hennigar talked about his line with Bentivoglio & callup Dennis Packard having to play solid in all three zones.

Mr Fornabaio also had a big post-game blog here.

Lowell Sun: Has Devils coverage.

Hockey Returns: Islanders Demote/Recall Jackman

With Jiggs McDonald, his wife out of Thailand and a change of government apparently ending the protesting at the airports allowing everyone to travel safely again we will return to a hockey format immediately.

My thanks to everyone for the kind e-mails of support for Mr McDonald and his family, for me it was the right thing to do with the blog until this was settled.

My special thanks to Kevin Allen for passing the news to the hockey media.

It will still be a story here at NYI Fan Central until he arrives home in Canada but we will go back immediately to a hockey centric format.

On that end something caught my attention today.
**********************************************************
Ct Post : Michael Fornabaio reported in his blog Tim Jackman and Mitch Fritz were both recalled to the Islanders on Tuesday. Thomas Pock who cleared waivers on Monday is also still with the Islanders.

On Monday Mike Sillinger was officially recalled from Bridgeport, Jeremy Colliton was sent down with Jackman.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
Reading between the lines seems something is up or someone got hurt. You send down two and recall three that's one too many by my math.

In effect they sent Jackman up and down in less than twenty four hours, this is not the end of last season where they are scrambling for bodies to put out a lineup and Bridgeport has a game on Wednesday.

Unless someone else got hurt in practice combined with Kyle Okposo not ready to return they have too many bodies even if Pock cleared waivers and can be assigned to Bridgeport.

If Okposo is ready to play they have two extra forwards and Bruno Gervais out of the mix with Jeff Tambellini stuck on zero goals and his father the Oilers general manager.

The numbers suggest something has to happen and I did notice the Edmonton professional media sources report here that the Oilers are poised to complete a significant trade and/or fire coach Craig MacTavish, likely this week.

We all know the Islanders historically do a lot of trades with the Oilers.

Robert Nilsson is out with an injury but Rob Schremp was recalled today
here for anyone trying to get a read on the Oilers.

Aside from that nothing major but congratulations to Joey MacDonald for being named NHL third star of the month. Islanders really overworked him and he did a fantastic
job regardless. Danis has to be given a few starts as things move forward now that he got some work.

Could be something or nothing but somewhat unusual on the surface unless a player is getting a seat in the stands or someone else got hurt. Tambellini played well Saturday from what I observed.

Updated:
NYI Point Blank: Mr Botta reported from practice Martinek, Okposo, Thompson not skating or somewhat banged up.
****************************************************
A few other updates:
Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio had a Monday feature on defenseman Dustin Kohn.

Ct Post: Mr Fornabaio also had the Sound Tigers weekly which at the time included Thomas Pock clearing waivers, Jackman-Colliton assigned to Bridgeport, Sillinger recalled and a Q A with Sean Bentivoglio among several items and upcoming games.

Espn: Scott Burnside in an article on NHL general managers and where they came from (specifically new Leaf gm Brian Burke) credited Garth Snow for getting the Islanders in one playoff and having them in contention this year to date despite his unusual ascent to the general managers job.

Tsn.ca/NHL.com: Reports Islanders goaltender Joey MacDonald was named third start of the month by the league. MacDonald posted an 8-5-1 record with a 2.64 GAA and .916 save percentage. He led all goaltenders in games (14) minutes (842) and shots faced (439), and shared the lead in victories.

Bad News is the Sports Business Journal reports the Islanders ranked in the bottom five of the Turnkey Team Brand Index only ahead of the Knicks, Nets and Indiana Pacers here.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
When I looked at this a year ago Islanders were among the top in terms of head coaches which helped improve their rating in this survey.
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In terms of the blog a new poll was released and the blog header tweaked to put all the players in the third jerseys as we hope Blake Comeau receives a recall but put him in the more traditional look. Brendan Witt takes a break with Mark Streit now in the picture.

DiPietro and Martinek are in their 2006 retro jersey's for now for those looking close.

Islander News Articles 10/6

NY Times: Matt Higgins has the story of Brandon Sudgen's release from the Islanders with his story and comments along with those of Brendan Witt.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
I think the bigger shock was the Times doing anything New York Islander releated in it's print edition if they cannot be bothered to cover the new coach being hired.

Of course best of luck to Brandon Sugden and his family. Classy work by the writer in Syracuse, Mr Botta in getting out his message for reinstatement, deputy comissioner Bill Daly, the teams changing their votes (the Rangers) to allow him to attend camp.

Sun-Sentinel: Steve Gorten previews a Panther club with twenty six roster players at this time and a lot of lingering injuries themselves as they play their only home preseason game tonight at BankAtlantic Center.

Miami Herald: George Richards also previews a Florida club with three players fighting for roster spots.

Delaware Online.com: Staff reports announce the Philadelphia Flyers have released former Islander Bryan Berard.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reports on Bridgeport's final preseason game where head coach Jack Capuano discusses how he is trying to get the players used to Scott Gordon's overspeed system and how the process will go in terms of cuts and practice as he credited the extended roster that played several games in the last three days with a lot of lingering injuries and felt some players could make his squad.

Sean Bentivoglio is quoted in the article.

A second brief note is made on the number twelve as it relates to the club here.

Updated 6pm Monday:
Mr Fornabaio has the first wave of cuts from Bridgeport here and is waiting for the Islanders moves which are expected tomorrow.