Islander News Articles 3/2

Newsday: Greg Logan's article was on the shorthanded goals the team has allowed with Miroslav Satan's comments about playing the point on the powerplay and Bill Guerin's comments.

Newsday: Greg Logan previews the Core of the Four Celebration Sunday with comments from Lorne Henning and Duane Sutter.

Daily News: Peter Botte in his limited space reports Wade Dubielewicz will start against Florida with Brendan Witt, Bill Guerin and Ted Nolan's comments on the loss.

NY Post: Mike Puma again had the Islander beat and also reported Wade Dubielewicz will start Sunday. Brendan Witt, Bill Guerin and Ted Nolan gave comments.

NY Times: Dave Caldwell was allowed to make another Coliseum visit and covered the loss to Philadelphia with the obvious theme being the goals allowed on the Islanders powerplay.

NYI Fan Central Comments:
No excuse for the editor to not assign a writer Sunday to honor the Core of the Four.

Courier Post OnlinePhiladelphin Inquirer/Daily News Phillyburbs: Has all the Flyer centric coverage on their win.

Montreal Gazette: Red Fisher had a few words from Ted Nolan praising the job Penguins coach Michel Terrien has done with the injuries to his club as Mr Fisher praised the Islanders coach.

Miami Herald: Joseph Goodman has an article on Islander Captain/Panthers Broadcaster Denis Potvin who felt the Islander dynasty was unique and that it's record of nineteen playoff series wins in a row would probably last forever as he gives his thoughts on the Core of the Four.

National Post: Reports Ryan Smyth who scored two goals was driven face-first into the boards by Kings rookie defenseman Jack Johnson. Smyth, who stayed on the ice for several minutes before being placed on a stretcher, was conscious and walking in the locker room before being taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary reasons.

Kingston Whig-Standard: Brock Harrison has a few words on Islander prospect Thomas Marcinko.

Sound Tigers website: Reports Colin Fretter scored twice in his Bridgeport debut as they defeated the Binghampton Senators 3-2 Saturday at Harbor Yard.

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio's game coverage has Colton Fretter on the opportunity he is getting and reports Steve Regier and Trevor Smith again had big nights for Bridgeport. Jason Pitton will have surgery next week but did play against Binghampton.

Bridgeport Sound Tigers at Lowell Devils
WHEN - Today, 4:05 p.m.
WHERE - Tsongas Arena, Lowell, Mass.
ON THE AIR - No radio; Webcast and B2 Networks Internet pay-per-view at www.soundtigers.com

Ct Post: Michael Fornabaio reported in his blog Colton Fretter's strong start with two goals is a trend with a lot of Sound Tigers have done over the years. Mike Mole was at the game which indicates a goaltender could be recalled to New York, Jack Capuano comments on his new forward and the club's performance.

Press Connects: You cannot stop Michael Fornabaio you can only hope to contain him as he wrote a Senators centric article for the local paper on the loss to Bridgeport.

Islanders website: Recapped the Skate with the Greats Evening and had Mike Bossy's comments on a fantastic event. The Islanders have photo sections.

Islander Notables

Overall on paper, Islanders came out of the trip with six of a possible ten points which is what they had to do. How they got there for the most part was another matter because outside of DiPietro they were terrible in Colorado, Edmonton, Vancouver, gave up a 3-1 lead in Calgary before winning against a club playing it's third game in four days without Heatley that lost Jason Spezza in the first period.

Let's only touch on the fact Colorado was playing without two of it's best players in Sakic and Smyth and only Tim Jackman could score, Edmonton shutout the Isles for their first regulation win since early December and outside of the two horrible goals by Luongo the Isles had few chances in Vancouver.

That all written it could have been much worse and six goals and some good chances in Calgary and Ottawa could be a good sign moving forward.

Full marks to Bergeron for all the criticism he takes about his defense because without his offense in so many games this team would have about ten less points.

Barrie Advance: Jim Barber had an article on Tomas Marcinko being named captain of the Barrie Colts while he was away at the WJC.

“It’s a big honour, an I’m going to try and do my best. But there’s lots of leaders in the locker room who are going to help me,” he told Simcoe.com after Saturday’s game. “My job is just to be helpful between the guys and the coaches, and to just be a leader and try to show guys what to do on the ice and off the ice. So I’m going to try to do that to my best.”

QMJHL.com:Karl Jahnke announced former Islander Pierre Turgeon was elected to the Hall of Fame with his induction taking place on April 2nd.

Islanders at the WJC 12/27: Day Two

Thomas Marcinko had two penalties, three shots and an even rating in Slovakia's 2-0 loss to Canada on Thursday in a game he played well defensively and saved a goal.

12/26: Islanders at the WJC Day One

Kyle Okposo/Rhett Rakhshani-USA
Robin Figren/Stefan Ridderwall-Sweden
Tomas Marcinko-Slovakia

Wednesday December 26th
Group A (ČEZ Arena, Pardubice):
10:00sm EST - Sweden - Slovakia
2:00pm EST - Czech republic - Canada

Group B (Tipsport arena, Liberec):
10:00am EST - USA - Kazakhstan
2:00om EST - Finland - Russia

A video feeder for team USA has been made available and linked to NYI Fan Central
here.

To listen to Team USA's webcast of today's game click here.

Updated 1pm:
Islanders website: Jason Lockhart reports on team USA 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan. Kyle Okposo had a third period goal and an assist, Rhett Rakhshani scored game-winning goal from Okposo, both players combined for thirteen shots.

Sweden defeated Slovakia 4-3 with Robin Figren scoring a shorthanded goal, a powerplay goal and took seven shots with a penalty and a plus one. Stefan Ridderwall was the backup for Sweden.

Thomas Marcinko has a goal, a penalty and two shots and was a plus one for Slovakia.
Robin Figren and Thomas Marcinko earned Player of the Game Honors.

"Robin was the best player of the game," said Islanders scout Anders Kallur. "He was in a class by himself. He created chances, scored two goals and hit the crossbar. Every shift he competed hard and was rewarded with both power play and penalty kill time. His puck skills created many chances from the left side in the offensive end. On his shorthanded goal, he came from the left wing with good stickhandling. He took a wrister that went top corner. On the 3-1 goal he came out of the corner and scored a backhander through the five-hole.

"As for Tomas, he did not dominate, but he did some good things offensively, including scoring the 3-3 goal and hitting the crossbar. It was a good start for both of our players."

Updated 3:30pm
USA Today.com: Kevin Allen has a running blog on the WJC with his post game comments after team USA's win.

Islanders at the 2008 WJC

NYI Fan Central WJC Section has been updated and moved to the top of the blog for those wishing the follow the games and the running blog set up by the club to cover the Islander prospects. All articles on the players and special features will be part of the daily updates here until the end of the tournament.

Islanders Website: Assistant GM Ryan Jankowski checks in on his way to the Czech Republic in a blog that will run throught the tournament.

Kyle Okposo, Rhett Rahkshani, Stefan Ridderwall, Thomas Marcinko, Robin Figren, are the Islander prospects participating.