You know, I'm all for working hard and making your own luck and all that. But that third Rangers goal tonight has to be one of the luckiest deciding goals I've ever seen. Granted, that goal doesn't get scored if Nigel Dawes doesn't drive hard to the net. But still. I've only seen one more fortuitous bounce on a winning goal - the time Donald Brashear banked a shot off the face of Scott LaChance and into the net back in 1995, giving Montreal the win over the Islanders.
Speaking of luck, I can't wait for the Rangers to get the sixth seed... again... and face the Southleast winner... again. I swear, why can't these kind of things happen to my team?
Two friends. Two bitter enemies. Two obsessed fans. One Rivalry.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Exposure, ESPN, And Selling Out
I happened to catch NHL Live on the NHL Network yesterday, thanks to a week-long cold that refuses to go away. The show itself was pretty okay, but there were two topics addressed on the show that really got me thinking.
The first one came up just minutes into the show. The topic of the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A's opening up the Major League Baseball season in Japan was mentioned, and host Don LaGreca was not very impressed by this move. LaGreca said, paraphrased, "It's a joke. Major League Baseball opens up and nobody even knows about it, and nobody says a word. God forbid the NHL did something like this, you'd never hear the end of it." And he's right. You didn't hear many good words about the Ducks and Kings opening the season in England; instead, all you heard about was how miserable the teams were and how the fans wanted to see a fight. Aside from the whole flap about the Red Sox assistants not being paid, have you heard even one bad word about MLB's trip to Japan? I doubt it.
The second, and more critical point, came later when Patrick and Jonathan Roy were inevitably brought up. Both LaGreca and E.J. Hradek bashed the media, stating they only show highlights of hockey in times of a violent incident. Hradek mentioned the name of Steven Stamkos, an OHL player who may very well be the first overall pick in 2008. Stamkos scored four goals on Tuesday night and didn't get one-millionth of the publicity the Roys did. While it might be unreasonable to expect the American media to get all over some kid from Ontario, Hradek's point was well taken.
The simple truth is that the media loves negativity. Look at Britney Spears. They play her songs and keep her in the public eye, just so they can bash her. It's the same with the NHL. What stories have hit the major mainstream media over the past five years? The Todd Bertuzzi incident, the lockout, the Rick Tocchett gambling ring, the first Chris Simon incident, the Winter Classic, the second Chris Simon incident, and the Jonathan Roy incident. Of those seven things, only one painted hockey in a positive light. But what else would you expect when you don't have the promotional wing of ESPN in your corner?
Ah, yes... ESPN. Remember them? The network that used to air NHL games. Did you ever notice how, once they stopped broadcasting hockey games, they ceased virtually all coverage of the sport? As ESPN's ombudsman, the excellent Le Anne Schreiber noted last year, coverage of the NHL on SportsCenter was down 28 percent from three years prior, when the games were still on ESPN. Hmm.
It's a personal belief of mine that ESPN is out to ruin the NHL and make it look bad, just because big bad ESPN can. If you regularly visit ESPN.com, you may remember a headline on the front page about the NHL's record-low Stanley Cup Finals ratings. However, what you might not have seen a week later was the article about the all-time low rating for NBA Finals play on ABC. ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney. Hmm.
Get the picture? Get ESPN in your corner, you're gold. Turn your back on ESPN, and you're facing an extremely tough battle. Need proof? Look at Arena Football, which ESPN bought and shoved down our throats. Major League Soccer signed a new deal with ESPN in 2006 which not only got them a weekly prime-time game, but increased time on SportsCenter and more exposure on ESPN.com. And if you're wondering what the big deal is about ESPN, it's simply America's most popular sports outlet, which essentially means it dictates the sports-watching trends for America. If you're not prominently featured, you're in trouble. And that's the predicament the NHL finds itself in.
Rumors were swirling last summer that the NHL and ESPN were talking again, but it appears as though nothing came of the discussions. The NHL re-upped with Versus, and there's still a chance ESPN could come on board if Versus were willing to drop its status as the NHL's exclusive cable partner. Time will tell if that will ever come to pass.
The thing of it is, as much as the NHL needs ESPN, I really don't want them to come to terms. As much as people love to bash Versus for not being very available on cable (and, quite frankly, neither is the NFL Network or NBA TV), the network has done a great job with the NHL package. They've made hockey a real event on Versus; even if that's only because WEC Wreckage and PBR Rodeo haven't hit the big time yet, it's still impressive. Let's face it, when ESPN aired the NHL, the sport was sort of an afterthought. You got the impression that they couldn't wait for the game to end so they could throw it back to SportsCenter. And once ESPN got a hold of the NBA, the NHL really got the shaft. At least Versus programs an entire two nights around hockey, whereas ESPN would just show random games, Dodge Intermission Reports, NHL2Night, and that was about it. Come to think of it, aside from the opportunity to hear Gary Thorne calling hockey on a regular basis again, there's not much I'd welcome about ESPN's potential return.
That said, I'm all about what's best for the league. And the truth is that ESPN would do a world of good for the NHL. Not just in terms of coverage on SportsCenter and all the other frills, but for purposes of credibility as well. I think we all want the NHL to be seen as a legitimate top sport, and now's a good a time as any. The game is better than it has been at any time since the '94 lockout, and the American sporting public needs to see what the NHL has to offer. I'm sick of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin being the only two people to crack the main page of ESPN.com. I want the whole league to be embraced and promoted, the way it should be. And I'm more than willing to watch my favorite sport sell out to ESPN to make that happen. Truly, it's the only possible way.
What to Du?...
ISLANDERS POST by ZACH
With all the talk of the Islander-talk at the concentrating on Mike Comrie, Miro Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Josef Vasicek, another impending free agent's name got ignored - Wade Dubielewicz (that name is hard to type, so from here on out, we will refer to him as "Dubie" - which shouldn't be confused with "DP," unless you are reading this aloud to yourself).
Dubie makes a non-threatening $500,000 this year. For a backup goalie with little experience, that is a nice number; it fits under the cap well. It also doesn't pain a team to have a $500,000 player ride the bench like it does to have, say, $3.2M being benched every game (no offense, Ottawa or Ray Emery).
However, at one point in time, Garth Snow will have to make a decision on the man who encompasses the same warm spot on the bench he once had while Rick DiPietro played. I'm guessing that since the position of GM has already been filled, Dubie will play in the NHL again next season.
Will that be in Orange & Blue?
Last year, as we all know, the Islanders needed to win 4 straight games to even have a chance at sniffing the playoffs. With Rick DiPietro out for the rest of the regular season with concussion problems due to his own foolish play, Steve Begin, and Sean Avery, Dubie stepped up. A shootout win against the Rangers where he stopped Jaromir Jagr to win, a win against Toronto, then in Philly, then in a shootout against the Devils (where he gave up a goal with a second left to send it to overtime). His reward? The Mike Dunham Memorial Bench Spot during a first round loss to the Sabres.
This year, DP is out again, this time with the dreaded "tweaked hip." Who is there for the Islanders? Dubie. He had an impressive shootout win against the Rangers (again, this time at MSG though), then lost in the home half of that home-and-home, although he held his ground well and even DiPietro would not have saved the shots Dubie let in.
Since the beginning of March when he started playing a lot, Dubie has let in 3 goals twice, 2 goals twice, and 1 goal three times. Yet he is only 3-4, meaning the ineptitude of the Islanders has nothing to do with him. For reference, in his first game since January, he gave up 1 goal against the Panthers while the players in front of him fired 53 low-angle, direct-to-chest shots against backup Craig Anderson. He is not the reason this team is looking ahead to the Bethpage Black while it's still March. As a matter of fact, when he beat the Rangers on March 4, the Islanders were 3 points out of 8th in the East. Now, they are 11 points out and unable to make up those points with 5 games left.
Once again, Dubie has had nothing to do with the current state of the team. Injuries have piled up and some players seem to have packed it in. Yet he plays to the top of his game, day in and day out.
Since the lockout, we have seen backup goaltenders usurp the starters. Henrik Lundqvist took over from Kevin Weekes in October 2005 (although Tom Renney was reluctant to announce the change until January). Cristobal Huet overtook Jose Theodore and David Aebischer until Jaroslav Halak usurped the usurper last spring. No Manny Fernandez OR Dwayne Roloson in Minnesota - wait, who is this Niklas Backstrom? Hell, Ilya Bryzgalov played so well behind J.S. Giguere that GM Brian Burke felt bad for sitting him and let him go elsewhere.
Will Dubie ever usurp DP? Probably not, because Garth Snow and Charles Wang wouldn't let it happen. DP has a long way left to go on his contract, and another team might not pick that up for another decade. Besides, a $4.5M backup is expensive to keep around (no offense, Olaf Kolzig or Marc Denis).
Teams will come knocking on Dubie's door (or ringing on his agent's phone) come July 1. Carolina will have an open spot and would love to have a solid backstop waiting for his chance to play behind wildly inconsistent Cam Ward. Calgary can replace Curtis Joseph with the 29-year-old Wade. And Tampa Bay has Mike Smith and Kari Ramo, both unproven goalies who might play better with some competition. What about Detroit? Chris Osgood will be the main guy in net there if Dom Hasek doesn't return, but can he handle it? Think Dubie wouldn't jump at a chance to play in Hockeytown?
Monday, March 24, 2008
The Bigger Picture
As an Islander fan, you sort of get tired of your team having nothing to play for. You don't want to watch the games. You don't want to read the papers. You just sort of want to shut it down and get ready for baseball season.
This year, though, is a little different. For me, anyway.
I have to say that, despite the awful performance of the Islanders in the second half, I have probably enjoyed this regular season more than any regular season in my life. Sure, part of that has to do with going to 15 Islander games and only paying for six of them, but there's more to it than that. Thanks to the NHL Network and Center Ice, I finally felt like our beloved sport of hockey was a real sport. It no longer bothered me that ESPN stopped caring about hockey because I finally found out that I'm not the only obsessed hockey fan out there. I got to devour hour after hour of games, both old and new. My DVR is currently filled with Vintage Games, Classic Series, and Top 10 Countdowns. I can watch the Islanders at 7 PM and put on the Sharks or Coyotes as I'm winding down. For the first time in a very long time, I feel like I actually know what's going on in the league, not just the New York area.
And that's a good thing. Because this season has been extremely memorable... and I'm not quite ready for it to end. I don't want to see the Islanders' website to turn into constant Central Scouting updates just yet. I'm going to enjoy the hell out of their final six games, and then I'm going to watch as much of the playoffs as I possibly can. Why should I stop caring about hockey just because my team's out of it? I'm a fan of the NHL first; the Islanders come second.
In the end, it doesn't matter what the Islanders do. There's nothing like playoff hockey, and absolutely nothing compares to seeing a team's captain hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time in front of his home fans. The Islanders could finish in last place for the rest of eternity, and I wouldn't stop watching.
Baseball can wait. The real season starts in two weeks.
This year, though, is a little different. For me, anyway.
I have to say that, despite the awful performance of the Islanders in the second half, I have probably enjoyed this regular season more than any regular season in my life. Sure, part of that has to do with going to 15 Islander games and only paying for six of them, but there's more to it than that. Thanks to the NHL Network and Center Ice, I finally felt like our beloved sport of hockey was a real sport. It no longer bothered me that ESPN stopped caring about hockey because I finally found out that I'm not the only obsessed hockey fan out there. I got to devour hour after hour of games, both old and new. My DVR is currently filled with Vintage Games, Classic Series, and Top 10 Countdowns. I can watch the Islanders at 7 PM and put on the Sharks or Coyotes as I'm winding down. For the first time in a very long time, I feel like I actually know what's going on in the league, not just the New York area.
And that's a good thing. Because this season has been extremely memorable... and I'm not quite ready for it to end. I don't want to see the Islanders' website to turn into constant Central Scouting updates just yet. I'm going to enjoy the hell out of their final six games, and then I'm going to watch as much of the playoffs as I possibly can. Why should I stop caring about hockey just because my team's out of it? I'm a fan of the NHL first; the Islanders come second.
In the end, it doesn't matter what the Islanders do. There's nothing like playoff hockey, and absolutely nothing compares to seeing a team's captain hoist the Stanley Cup for the first time in front of his home fans. The Islanders could finish in last place for the rest of eternity, and I wouldn't stop watching.
Baseball can wait. The real season starts in two weeks.
Who Are These Guys?...
ISLANDERS and RANGERS Blog by ZACH
Tell me if these names sound familiar...
Joel Bouchard, Jozef Balej, Josh Green, Mike Green, Chad Wiseman, Cory Larose, Chris McAllister, Mike Siklenka, Richard Scott, Jamie Pushor, Ken Gernander, Ben Dusablon, Layne Ulmer.
If you are an Islanders fan, of course not. If you are a Rangers fan, they probably bring back horrific memories that you thought you forgot. I apologize.
Now, how about these names...
Steve Regier, Rob Davison, Matthew Spiller, Joey MacDonald, Tim Jackman.
The first group of names is who the Rangers finished off the 2003-04 season with, after the Lindros Concussion against Washington and the Great Purge saw names like Leetch, Nedved, Kovalev, Rucinsky, de Vries, Barnaby, Malakhov, and yes, Simon, traded away. A group of no-names (as well as Jaromir Jagr and then-rookies Fedor Tyutin, Jed Ortmeyer, and Dominic Moore) just took up places on a roster so that the Rangers could put a group on ice so they could sell $5.50 hot dogs and $8.25 Labatt Blues.
This year, the Islanders are doing basically the same thing, mostly due to injuries. Reading the morning papers and seeing unfamiliar names reminds me of the darkest days of the Rangers, from March 3, 2004 until October 5, 2005, when Jamie Lundmark, Marcel Hossa, and Jason Strudwick scored on opening night.
Did the Rangers get through it? Yes, but only after Mark Messier's final game was played with Sandy McCarthy and Dale Purinton on the ice congratulating him.
Will the Islanders? Eventually, yes. Kyle Okposo has a bright future. But next year should be a rebuilding year as well. Just like Miro Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Josef Vasicek should have been shipped at the deadline for some picks in a deep draft, next year's deadline should see Mike Comrie, Bill Guerin, Mike Sillinger, and Brendan Witt traded.
A few more years of them looking like competitor's until Christmas until they fade away will do nothing for the fan base. Who would support building a new arena or going to it if they haven't cared about the team in years? Who would support the inevitable price increase in delicious pretzel twists or crappy cheesesteaks if there is no one there to buy them?
The Rangers got through it, and the Isles can as well. They just need time to rebuild. Next season they should have already decided on doing that, and maybe the season after they could be last year's Penguins - young, hungry, and surprisingly good.
Friday, March 21, 2008
RE: An Open Letter To Bryan...
Zach,
Thank you for your proposal. I have reviewed it carefully, and I would like to share with you the thought process that went into my response.
I first thought about what it would be like to be a Ranger fan. Quite honestly, it must be so easy. It must be nice to have ownership with deep pockets that can nab any free agent they want to. It must be nice to play in the self-proclaimed "World's Most Famous Arena". It must be nice to have the talent the Rangers have, with the knowledge that there will always be quality players coming to play for the Rangers. It must be nice to be part of a large fanbase that sells out every game, even if the team is having an off year.
It's just not for me.
Zach, you know better than anybody that I'm one of the most realistic Islander fans out there. I get it. I realize that the Rangers have a very important role in the overall welfare of the NHL, and I'm more than willing to see the Rangers at the top of the league because it only means good things for the game of hockey. Selfishly, I root for a strong Rangers team because it makes for a better rivalry, but there's also a greater good involved. For example, after the Islanders were eliminated from last year's playoffs, I was pulling for the Rangers. Why? Because I believed a deep playoff run by the Rangers would have done a world of publicity for the league. Can you imagine how bigger of a deal Rangers-Red Wings would have been than Senators-Ducks? It would have put hockey on the map big-time in some very important media markets. I also thought very strongly that the NHL should have rigged the 2005 Draft Lottery so that the Rangers would end up with Sidney Crosby. Come to think of it, I'm still disappointed that they didn't. Crosby in New York would have given the NHL their best chance at mainstream acceptance since Gretzky was traded to the Kings.
So yeah, I see the many positives in being a Ranger fan. They're one of those teams that the NHL needs to be good in order for the league to thrive. Being a part of that must be fun. But for all of their top-tier talent and weekly NBC games and all of the things that come with the New York Rangers, the team still hasn't seen a conference final since Messier and Gretzky led them there in 1997. And how, my friend, do you explain that?
Let's take a walk back through the years and look at all the talent the Rangers brought in after that season - the last time the Rangers made the playoffs since the lockout. Pat LaFontaine. Kevin Stevens. Mathieu Schneider. Crackhead Theo. Eric Lindros. Pavel Bure. With the exception of Stevens, who was never the same after the '93 playoffs, these guys could all end up in the Hall Of Fame someday. Somehow, none of these guys could get the Rangers anywhere near the playoffs. I'm trying to avoid the ridiculous free agent signings like Bobby Holik and Darius Kasparaitis, not to mention the ill-fated trades for Alexei Kovalev and Tom Poti.
You called out the Islanders for their draft record, and there's no denying that the Isles let a ton of future superstars get away. That sort of thing happens when your owners either don't actually have money or restrict the team to a $15 million payroll. I'll also admit that the Islanders were no place for young players to develop their games, as they were routinely pushed into the NHL too early and given far too much responsibility. And the Islanders haven't exactly been picking like aces since their resurgence in 2002.
But what about the Rangers? Just for fun, let's look at the first-round picks the Rangers have made since 1998, which was their first year out of the playoff since '94.
- 1998: Manny Malhotra (7th overall). Missed out on Alex Tanguay (12), Simon Gagne (22), Scott Gomez (27), Jonathan Cheechoo (29), Mike Fisher (44), Mike Ribeiro (45).
- 1999: Pavel Brendl (4th overall) and Jamie Lundmark (9th overall). Missed out on Barret Jackman (17) and Martin Havlat (26). Note that Marc Savard was packaged with the 11th overall pick to move up two spots to take Lundmark.
- 2000: No draft pick. Pick was given up as part of the deal to move up and draft Pavel Brendl in 1999.
- 2001: Dan Blackburn (10th overall). Missed out on Alex Hemsky (13) and Colby Armstrong (21).
- 2002: No draft pick. Pick was given up as part of the deal to acquire Pavel Bure.
- 2003: Hugh Jessiman (12th overall). Missed out on Steve Bernier (16), Zach Parise (17), Ryan Getzlaf (19), Mike Richards (24), Corey Perry (28).
Now, these were some pretty horrendous drafts. In fact, just about all of them were awful, with the exceptions being 1998, 2000, and 2003. Still, with all of those premium picks, they couldn't have done any better? Granted, the Rangers have drafted extremely well in the later rounds - Nigel Dawes (5th round, 2003), Petr Prucha, (8th round, 2002), Ryan Hollweg (8th round, 2001), Henrik Lundqvist (7th round, 2000) - but those first round picks hold a ton of value, and it's awful that Manny Malhotra was the best the Rangers could do. Everyone loves to talk about Blackburn, but he had a GAA over 3.00 and a save percentage below .900 in the Dead Puck Era. Hell, Brendl never even played for the Rangers! And Jessiman has all the makings of a career minor leaguer.
The Rangers have made dramatic improvements since bringing Tom Renney aboard and rebuilding the right way. They truly are a model organization today. They draft well, they promote from within, and they sign the right guys through free agency. And Ranger fans, you've earned it. If you stuck within this team through thick and thin, then you deserve the right to root for a perennial playoff team. Again, it must be nice. I wouldn't know about that.
A lot of Ranger fans bash the Islanders and their fans for living in the past. Well, when the past is all you have, what else are you going to do? Like I said, I'm a realist. That said, I have hope for a brighter future. I refuse that the Islanders are going to have a twenty-year span where the biggest highlight was taking Toronto to seven games in 2002. If anything, Zach, your team has shown me that it's possible to come out of nowhere and be a force year after year. Remember, most pundits had the Rangers finishing dead last in the league just after the lockout. And look what happened! The Islanders haven't found those gems late in the draft, but there's a chance.
With that in mind, I thank you. While preparing to write this, I couldn't wait to savage the Rangers for all the mistakes they've made. I've done a pretty good job of doing that. But in reading about all of the missteps the Rangers have made, I now realize that all is not lost. Hey, you guys made it 54 years between Cups and never lost faith. I hope we don't have to wait that long. The Islanders will have their day in the sun. It's just a question of when.
Thank you for your proposal. I have reviewed it carefully, and I would like to share with you the thought process that went into my response.
I first thought about what it would be like to be a Ranger fan. Quite honestly, it must be so easy. It must be nice to have ownership with deep pockets that can nab any free agent they want to. It must be nice to play in the self-proclaimed "World's Most Famous Arena". It must be nice to have the talent the Rangers have, with the knowledge that there will always be quality players coming to play for the Rangers. It must be nice to be part of a large fanbase that sells out every game, even if the team is having an off year.
It's just not for me.
Zach, you know better than anybody that I'm one of the most realistic Islander fans out there. I get it. I realize that the Rangers have a very important role in the overall welfare of the NHL, and I'm more than willing to see the Rangers at the top of the league because it only means good things for the game of hockey. Selfishly, I root for a strong Rangers team because it makes for a better rivalry, but there's also a greater good involved. For example, after the Islanders were eliminated from last year's playoffs, I was pulling for the Rangers. Why? Because I believed a deep playoff run by the Rangers would have done a world of publicity for the league. Can you imagine how bigger of a deal Rangers-Red Wings would have been than Senators-Ducks? It would have put hockey on the map big-time in some very important media markets. I also thought very strongly that the NHL should have rigged the 2005 Draft Lottery so that the Rangers would end up with Sidney Crosby. Come to think of it, I'm still disappointed that they didn't. Crosby in New York would have given the NHL their best chance at mainstream acceptance since Gretzky was traded to the Kings.
So yeah, I see the many positives in being a Ranger fan. They're one of those teams that the NHL needs to be good in order for the league to thrive. Being a part of that must be fun. But for all of their top-tier talent and weekly NBC games and all of the things that come with the New York Rangers, the team still hasn't seen a conference final since Messier and Gretzky led them there in 1997. And how, my friend, do you explain that?
Let's take a walk back through the years and look at all the talent the Rangers brought in after that season - the last time the Rangers made the playoffs since the lockout. Pat LaFontaine. Kevin Stevens. Mathieu Schneider. Crackhead Theo. Eric Lindros. Pavel Bure. With the exception of Stevens, who was never the same after the '93 playoffs, these guys could all end up in the Hall Of Fame someday. Somehow, none of these guys could get the Rangers anywhere near the playoffs. I'm trying to avoid the ridiculous free agent signings like Bobby Holik and Darius Kasparaitis, not to mention the ill-fated trades for Alexei Kovalev and Tom Poti.
You called out the Islanders for their draft record, and there's no denying that the Isles let a ton of future superstars get away. That sort of thing happens when your owners either don't actually have money or restrict the team to a $15 million payroll. I'll also admit that the Islanders were no place for young players to develop their games, as they were routinely pushed into the NHL too early and given far too much responsibility. And the Islanders haven't exactly been picking like aces since their resurgence in 2002.
But what about the Rangers? Just for fun, let's look at the first-round picks the Rangers have made since 1998, which was their first year out of the playoff since '94.
- 1998: Manny Malhotra (7th overall). Missed out on Alex Tanguay (12), Simon Gagne (22), Scott Gomez (27), Jonathan Cheechoo (29), Mike Fisher (44), Mike Ribeiro (45).
- 1999: Pavel Brendl (4th overall) and Jamie Lundmark (9th overall). Missed out on Barret Jackman (17) and Martin Havlat (26). Note that Marc Savard was packaged with the 11th overall pick to move up two spots to take Lundmark.
- 2000: No draft pick. Pick was given up as part of the deal to move up and draft Pavel Brendl in 1999.
- 2001: Dan Blackburn (10th overall). Missed out on Alex Hemsky (13) and Colby Armstrong (21).
- 2002: No draft pick. Pick was given up as part of the deal to acquire Pavel Bure.
- 2003: Hugh Jessiman (12th overall). Missed out on Steve Bernier (16), Zach Parise (17), Ryan Getzlaf (19), Mike Richards (24), Corey Perry (28).
Now, these were some pretty horrendous drafts. In fact, just about all of them were awful, with the exceptions being 1998, 2000, and 2003. Still, with all of those premium picks, they couldn't have done any better? Granted, the Rangers have drafted extremely well in the later rounds - Nigel Dawes (5th round, 2003), Petr Prucha, (8th round, 2002), Ryan Hollweg (8th round, 2001), Henrik Lundqvist (7th round, 2000) - but those first round picks hold a ton of value, and it's awful that Manny Malhotra was the best the Rangers could do. Everyone loves to talk about Blackburn, but he had a GAA over 3.00 and a save percentage below .900 in the Dead Puck Era. Hell, Brendl never even played for the Rangers! And Jessiman has all the makings of a career minor leaguer.
The Rangers have made dramatic improvements since bringing Tom Renney aboard and rebuilding the right way. They truly are a model organization today. They draft well, they promote from within, and they sign the right guys through free agency. And Ranger fans, you've earned it. If you stuck within this team through thick and thin, then you deserve the right to root for a perennial playoff team. Again, it must be nice. I wouldn't know about that.
A lot of Ranger fans bash the Islanders and their fans for living in the past. Well, when the past is all you have, what else are you going to do? Like I said, I'm a realist. That said, I have hope for a brighter future. I refuse that the Islanders are going to have a twenty-year span where the biggest highlight was taking Toronto to seven games in 2002. If anything, Zach, your team has shown me that it's possible to come out of nowhere and be a force year after year. Remember, most pundits had the Rangers finishing dead last in the league just after the lockout. And look what happened! The Islanders haven't found those gems late in the draft, but there's a chance.
With that in mind, I thank you. While preparing to write this, I couldn't wait to savage the Rangers for all the mistakes they've made. I've done a pretty good job of doing that. But in reading about all of the missteps the Rangers have made, I now realize that all is not lost. Hey, you guys made it 54 years between Cups and never lost faith. I hope we don't have to wait that long. The Islanders will have their day in the sun. It's just a question of when.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
An Open Letter to Bryan... (updated @ 9:27 a.m.)
Bryan, I know you were born an Islander fan. I know your dad named you after Bryan Trottier. Now, I offer you this, a chance to hop on the bandwagon. This may be the only chance I get.
Let's look at your team. This is meant with as little offense as possible. I'm just stating facts.
1) Kyle Okposo is the biggest prospect the Islanders have drafted since... Roberto Luongo, Bryan McCabe, Wade Redden, JP Dumont, Cory Stillman, Todd Bertuzzi, and Brett Lindros. Okposo will not be traded. That said, he debuted to 2,500 people on the same night Sean Avery scored two goals against Pittsburgh at the Garden.
2) The best goal of the year was scored by a guy (Rob Davison) who was traded for a 7th round pick. As far as I know, they don't make 8th round picks to trade.
3) Your franchise goalie is injured in his hip for the second straight year. What's going to happen 7, 8, or 9 years from now? Hip injuries take their toll. Ask Jaromir Jagr. He hasn't been the same since injuring his hip in the 2006 Turin Olympics. Henrik won a gold medal that year. He is healthy. He is one of the top 3 goaltenders in the world.
4) The last playoff series won by the Islanders was 1993. Pierre Turgeon was their superstar then. Remember when #77 was relevant? Me neither. Since then, the Broadway Blueshirts have won a Stanley Cup, watched Mark Messier create history, watch Wayne Gretzky score a playoff hat trick, miss 7 years of playoffs, and storm back to bring President's Trophy-winning Buffalo to the brink.
5) The fan favorite on the Islander team is... ? I don't know. The Rangers have Lundqvist and Sean Avery, preceded by Jed Ortmeyer.
And this is the big one...
6) In the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, the Islanders went 6th. With the 5th selection, the Penguins took Jaromir Jagr. With the 6th pick, the Islanders took Scott Scissons. Names still available - Derian Hatcher (8th), Keith Tkachuk (19), Martin Brodeur (20), Doug Weight (34), Mikael Renberg (40), Sergei Zubov (85), Robert Lang (133), and Petr Bondra (156).
Scott Scissons played 2 NHL games and never had a point. Not that the Rangers did better that year. Picking at unlucky 13, they took Michigan State's defenseman Michael Stewart, who was one of only 2 first round picks that year to never step onto NHL ice (Edmonton's was the other).
**
I know, I know. 1980. 81. 82. 83. Those were great years. But, I wasn't even born when the Islanders won the last Cup. The one thing the Islanders have over the Rangers is the pretzel twist. That's a good snack. $9 at the Coliseum gets you a nice diet soda and a pretzel twist. You can't beat that with a cotton candy stick.
So, B, what do you say? Hop on, just for the playoffs. Who knows? Maybe you'll see something you like? I'd love to have you on my team. We agree on football and baseball. Why should we fight over hockey?
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
If a Puck Scores into a Net and No One is Around, Do Empty Seats Make a Sound?...
ISLANDERS BLOG by ZACH
Kyle Okposo (they nicknamed him "Okie" ... is the K silent there, too?) makes an impressive NHL debut, Rob Davison scores from near his own goal line, and the 6,000 fans in attendance cheered loud enough so that the echos bounced off the empty seats.
C'mon, Long Island. Buy a $19 ticket, move down to the good seats, but a delicious pretzel twist, and chant "DP stands for Double Penetration!"
One bright spot: If the New York Sound Islanders are this bad next year, they can draft Johnny Tavares a #1 overall in June 2009. Tavares broke Wayne Gretzky's junior league record of 70 goals with 72, although it took him 3 more games than The Great One.
Coming tomorrow: To Dubie or Not to Dubie.
P.S. In regards to Bryan's post earlier today, I distinctly remember what he has dubbed the "Miracle of '93," and although I don't think you could call winning two series (what's the plural of series) a capitalized Miracle, I do regret to admit that I was an Islander fan that year.
The Rangers missed the playoffs that year, and somehow I got caught up in the Moment. Dale Hunter is still a punk in my book for his slash on a celebrating Pierre Turgeon, and I thought David Volek was some sort of demi-god when he borrowed Turgeon's stick to beat the Penguins in Game 7.
Then they lost to Montreal, the Rangers made the playoffs in 1994... and, well, you know the rest.
"Do you believe it!"
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
How The Other Half Lives
It's very rare that you can clearly see your lot in life. Tonight, I was fortunate enough to see mine.
I don't just back underdogs. I'm a glutton for punishment.
The Jets are more than a cursed team that will never win a Super Bowl. They're a franchise that seems to truly relish breaking the hearts of Jets fans every year. The Mets just completed a historic collapse and will surely find a new way to disappoint us this coming season. The Knicks are an embarrassment to everybody who grew up idolizing John Starks, Charles Oakley, and the rest of the Riley-era Knicks. Even my newest love, Newcastle United of the English Premier League, is fighting just to avoid being relegated to the second-tier league of English football.
And the Islanders? Well, odds are good I don't need to tell you of their plight.
Simply put, I have no idea why someone would become an Islander fan unless they were born into it. I've said the same thing about the Rangers, but at least they've been successful since the lockout. The Islanders have exactly four claims to fame since the dynasty years...
- The Easter Epic
- The Miracle Of '93
- Trading away an entire team worth of blue-chip prospects for pennies on the dollar
- Playing the Maple Leafs in one of the most brutal series of the modern era
Of course, the Isles lost the series immediately following both the Easter Epic and the Penguins series in '93, they never would have developed those prospects as effectively on the Island, and they didn't get it done against Toronto. The shame of it is, the Islanders easily could have reached the Finals in either '93 or '02 with a little luck (there was no way they were beating the Flyers in '87), and God knows how well they could have done with even half the guys they traded away.
In a nutshell, that's the past quarter-century of Islanders hockey - what might have been.
Ironically enough, it was those Maple Leafs that opened my eyes tonight. The same team that had to injure two of the Isles' best players to beat them in 2002 embarrassed the Islanders tonight. Obviously, both teams have taken major turns for the worse since then, with the Isles fighting scoring woes for much of the season and the Leafs languishing in a lottery spot until very recently. Still, in a game where the Coliseum faithful got their first glimpse at the future, the Islanders should have had this one.
It's never a good thing when your only goal tops the list for flukiest goals in a given season, but that's the Islanders for you. Toronto woke up after that, finally turned it on in the third period, and kept the Islanders' scoring chances to mostly weak attempts from bad angles. It happens, I guess. It's just hard to take when you're sitting in a half-empty Coliseum, with a team consisting largely of unrecognizable faces playing before you, and your team can't buy a break. And as much as I tried to cheer myself up by thinking about our improved draft position, or contemplating the popular Leafs fan prediction of making a playoff run that's destined to fall just short and ruin their shot at a premium draft pick, it didn't work. Especially when contrasted with the scenario that occurred across town.
My friends Tom and Kristine attended tonight's Rangers-Penguins game at the Garden. They got to sit in a sold-out building and watch the Rangers make short work of a legitimate Cup contender. They got to see Sean Avery score two goals, Henrik Lundqvist shut the door, and the Rangers move one step closer to potentially gaining home-ice advantage in the first round. Not bad, eh? Meanwhile, all Islanders fans got was another disappointing finish to what has quickly become a forgettable season.
Believe me when I say that I'm not giving up on my team. I can't stress this enough. We've been through far, far worse before. This isn't the Fishstick era, or the John Spano era, or even the Steve Stirling era. I just wish that, for once, I could be on the other side of this rivalry. I wish I could be the one supporting the winning team. I wish I could dream of Stanley Cups and marquee players. I wish I had the confidence that my team could make a playoff run and maybe, just maybe, win this thing. Is that too much to ask?
Apparently so.
Again, I'm not giving up. I just wish my faith wasn't tested so often.
I don't just back underdogs. I'm a glutton for punishment.
The Jets are more than a cursed team that will never win a Super Bowl. They're a franchise that seems to truly relish breaking the hearts of Jets fans every year. The Mets just completed a historic collapse and will surely find a new way to disappoint us this coming season. The Knicks are an embarrassment to everybody who grew up idolizing John Starks, Charles Oakley, and the rest of the Riley-era Knicks. Even my newest love, Newcastle United of the English Premier League, is fighting just to avoid being relegated to the second-tier league of English football.
And the Islanders? Well, odds are good I don't need to tell you of their plight.
Simply put, I have no idea why someone would become an Islander fan unless they were born into it. I've said the same thing about the Rangers, but at least they've been successful since the lockout. The Islanders have exactly four claims to fame since the dynasty years...
- The Easter Epic
- The Miracle Of '93
- Trading away an entire team worth of blue-chip prospects for pennies on the dollar
- Playing the Maple Leafs in one of the most brutal series of the modern era
Of course, the Isles lost the series immediately following both the Easter Epic and the Penguins series in '93, they never would have developed those prospects as effectively on the Island, and they didn't get it done against Toronto. The shame of it is, the Islanders easily could have reached the Finals in either '93 or '02 with a little luck (there was no way they were beating the Flyers in '87), and God knows how well they could have done with even half the guys they traded away.
In a nutshell, that's the past quarter-century of Islanders hockey - what might have been.
Ironically enough, it was those Maple Leafs that opened my eyes tonight. The same team that had to injure two of the Isles' best players to beat them in 2002 embarrassed the Islanders tonight. Obviously, both teams have taken major turns for the worse since then, with the Isles fighting scoring woes for much of the season and the Leafs languishing in a lottery spot until very recently. Still, in a game where the Coliseum faithful got their first glimpse at the future, the Islanders should have had this one.
It's never a good thing when your only goal tops the list for flukiest goals in a given season, but that's the Islanders for you. Toronto woke up after that, finally turned it on in the third period, and kept the Islanders' scoring chances to mostly weak attempts from bad angles. It happens, I guess. It's just hard to take when you're sitting in a half-empty Coliseum, with a team consisting largely of unrecognizable faces playing before you, and your team can't buy a break. And as much as I tried to cheer myself up by thinking about our improved draft position, or contemplating the popular Leafs fan prediction of making a playoff run that's destined to fall just short and ruin their shot at a premium draft pick, it didn't work. Especially when contrasted with the scenario that occurred across town.
My friends Tom and Kristine attended tonight's Rangers-Penguins game at the Garden. They got to sit in a sold-out building and watch the Rangers make short work of a legitimate Cup contender. They got to see Sean Avery score two goals, Henrik Lundqvist shut the door, and the Rangers move one step closer to potentially gaining home-ice advantage in the first round. Not bad, eh? Meanwhile, all Islanders fans got was another disappointing finish to what has quickly become a forgettable season.
Believe me when I say that I'm not giving up on my team. I can't stress this enough. We've been through far, far worse before. This isn't the Fishstick era, or the John Spano era, or even the Steve Stirling era. I just wish that, for once, I could be on the other side of this rivalry. I wish I could be the one supporting the winning team. I wish I could dream of Stanley Cups and marquee players. I wish I had the confidence that my team could make a playoff run and maybe, just maybe, win this thing. Is that too much to ask?
Apparently so.
Again, I'm not giving up. I just wish my faith wasn't tested so often.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Few Quick Hits...
NHL BLOG by ZACH
A few quick hits in the first day after a funeral that has kept me absent for the greater portion of this week (much like the Rangers in Florida).
1) Ah, those Rangers. Thirteen straight games with a point (although some real sloppy play, but they still managed to win 10 games), and then the predictable downfall against two out-of-playoff teams in Hockey Centr... uhhh... Florida.
Against those two weaker teams, Tom Renney should have benched Brendan Shanahan and Colton Orr in favor of Petr Prucha and Ryan Hollweg. Why bench Shanny and Orr? Shanahan is needed more for the playoffs than two games in Florida (which, they lost anyway). He has the aches and pains that come with playing hard for 20 years. His knee could use the rest. Orr is a deterrent - who is there to deter in Florida? Wade "Not Darcy Tucker" Belak? Shane "My New Team Sucks" O'Brien? Those two should have been sat for fresh, hungry legs like Prucha's and Hollweg's.
2) A note on Bryan's half of a playoff preview. He brushes off Colorado as not being able to get by Calgary, yet forgets that Colorado has played the whole year with injuries. Where would the Rangers be without Jagr, Gomez, Drury, Shanahan, and Dubinsky? Well, Joe Sakic, Ryan Smyth, Paul Stastny, and Marek Svatos have been injured off and on throughout the season. Peter Forsberg is back in his rightful spot, Colorado, and right where he left off, injured and in street clothes. Still, the Avs have held onto the end of the playoff race, and that is STILL without a goalie. Now that Jose Theodore is playing well and Peter Budaj has some competition, look out, the Avs are going to get real scary.
3) We all knew the cock-eyed schedule would result in tense divisional play for seedings once it was released. Rangers have 10 games left - 3 against the Devils and Penguins, 2 against the Islanders and Flyers. Going 6-2-2 would almost ensure them of a playoff birth, anything else might cut it close, anything .500 or less (say, 4-4-2 or 3-4-3) might wash away the whole month they just played. Not only do they have to win but they need to hold both games against Philly to regulation.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Playoff Prognostications - Volume I
With the Isles' hopes looking dimmer than ever - the team's prayers rest on the shoulders of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers - now is an appropriate time to look at the rest of the league. Who's going to win the Cup this year? Who's for real? Who's going to choke in the first round?
Glad you asked.
Thanks to the wonders that are Center Ice and the NHL Network, I'm better equipped than ever to answer these questions. Let's face it - the league is kind of hard to follow. It's not easy to keep up on all the goings-on in the NHL, particularly out West, where we might see one game a week if we're lucky. Sometimes, the standings don't tell the whole story. Not that I'll be able to fill in the blanks or anything, but it's fun to speculate.
We all know what wins in the playoffs. Great goaltending. A favorable schedule. Balance between scorers and role players. These are the things that have traditionally separated the great from the good and, while we don't know everything about the Cup contenders yet, we have a much better idea than we did before the trade deadline.
With that in mind, let's look at who's out there and what their chances are at hoisting the Cup in June. These are just guesses as to what could happen, so don't take the predictions too seriously.
Eastern Conference
1. New Jersey (71 GP, 88 points). The Devils always seem to have the same type of season every year - they're right at the top of the conference, they fire their coach right before the playoffs, then they crap out in the first two rounds. To me, the Devils are a better version of the Islanders. Their main strength is the goaltending, but they can't always score the goals they need to win every night. The Devils have the second-worst power play in the East (guess who has the worst). That won't cut it in the playoffs.
Prediction: Second-round exit
2. Ottawa (72 GP, 87 points). Ottawa has been pretty much horrendous since the first quarter of the season ended. They're truly befuddling. You look at this team and think all the pieces are in place. Nobody in the East can match their personnel. They've got every kind of player you could possibly want, and the Big Three are obviously beyond compare. The only problem - and it's a huge problem - is their goaltending. As good as Martin Gerber has been this year, do you really trust him in a big game? When the alternative is Ray "Sorry I'm Late" Emery, you could be in trouble. Not to say they can't make a run, but they seem a good candidate to fall short.
Prediction: Conference finals exit
4. Pittsburgh (71 GP, 87 points). The wet dream of every NBC and NHL executive is for Pittsburgh to make a deep playoff run. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen. Call it instinct more than anything. There are two things working against Pittsburgh here; believe it or not, neither of them are named Ty Conklin. Their biggest concern is Sidney Crosby and his continuing health problems. Ask anybody who's ever played fantasy football - high ankle sprains linger for a very long time. Not only do you have a player whose health can't be relied upon, but also a player who will mess with Pittsburgh's line combinations and gameplans. He won't be as big a distraction as Eric Lindros in 2000, but he won't have a seamless transition into the lineup. Their second issue is that they haven't had one of those gut-wrenching, character-building playoff losses yet. This is an extremely young team, one that doesn't know what it takes to win it all. It's a shame, too, because their opportunity window will never be higher than it is with Marian Hossa in the lineup. But this isn't their year. If you're looking for a big-ticket upset in the first round, look no further than the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Prediction: First-round exit
5. Montreal (72 GP, 87 points). On the other hand, if you're looking for a Cinderella team, Montreal could very well be who you'd want to go with. If the Stanley Cup is going to come back to the East, it'll either be Ottawa or Montreal. No other team even comes close to being able to compete with the West offensively. Everyone knows Montreal can score and that they have a ridiculous power play, but they're also pretty underrated defensively. And Carey Price seems like he has what it takes to make The Leap in these playoffs. More than anything, what a team needs to advance is a hot goalie, and Price seems like he's up to the task. He's going to need it - Montreal plays six of its remaining ten games against Boston, Ottawa, and Buffalo. Odds are good they won't receive a favorable seed. Price is going to need to be huge early and often... but the Habs are for real, and this could be their year.
Prediction: Stanley Cup Finals
6. NY Rangers (71 GP, 83 points). The Rangers have performed significantly under expectations for much of this season; however, they seem to have found their legs for the stretch run. Good timing. As Zach said the other day, the Rangers will go as far as their seeding will take them. They're currently sixth, which is great, but should they slip any further than that, they could be in trouble. Hell, even if they move up, they could still end up playing the Canadiens or Penguins. It's tough to say what to expect for the Blueshirts in the playoffs, especially because Henrik Lundqvist has been extremely human over the second half. Still, this Rangers team has enough firepower to win at least one round, but a deep playoff run might be out of the question at this point in time.
Prediction: Second-round exit
Sleeper: Buffalo (9th in East, 72 GP, 77 points). No, the Sabres aren't going back to the conference finals. But they could make life very difficult for anyone they play in the first two rounds. Ryan Miller is capable of stealing a game if he has to, while their offense hangs 7's and 8's on other teams seemingly once per week. If they get in - and that depends largely on getting back the half of their team that's injured - they're going to stretch at least one series to seven games.
Western Conference
1. Detroit (71 GP, 100 points). For much of the season, Detroit has been the league's best team by a long shot. They gave us a bit of a scare in February, including a stretch where they earned just four out of a possible 24 points, but it looks like they're back now. After winning their last five straight, they're ten points ahead of San Jose, and that's including their horrid February. Not bad, eh? On paper, it's hard to take the goaltending tandem of Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek seriously, but they've been great so far. Will they finally be exposed in the playoffs? Not in the first round, anyway. But Detroit has to be careful not to get too complacent - aside from one game against Colorado, all of their remaining games are against non-playoff teams (though three are against Nashville, just two points out). The Wings would be smart to not do anything stupid, like rest all their players once they lock up the President's Trophy - we've learned countless times in the NFL that it never works. Detroit is certainly beatable... I just can't think of any team who can beat them four times out of seven.
Prediction: Stanley Cup Finals
2. San Jose (70 GP, 90 points). I'm watching the Sharks on Center Ice as I write this, and they're just toying with St. Louis. Just 13 minutes into the game, they were up 4-0. The Sharks make me wish I lived out West; they're easily my favorite Western team to watch. The problem with the Sharks has nothing to do with their talent, or their goaltending, or anything else. Sure, they're a step behind Detroit, but they could certainly give the Wings a run for their money. The real issue is that they may have already peaked. Assuming they polish off the Blues, that'll be eleven straight wins. As we all know, it's most important to be at your best in April and May than it is to be unstoppable in February and March. I'm extremely high on this Sharks team... right now. I just get the feeling we're seeing their best hockey right now and they'll be ripe for an upset in the playoffs.
Prediction: Second-round exit
4. Dallas (73 GP, 89 points). A lot of people are loving Dallas and spouting off their Stanley Cup qualifications, but I'm not seeing it. I haven't seen a ton of Dallas this year, but I don't see what makes them better than any of the other West contenders. Brad Richards doesn't put this team over the top in my eyes; a healthy Sergei Zubov will do more for the Stars than Richards down the stretch. What it comes down to for Dallas is Marty Turco. He was awesome last year in the playoffs, but he'll have to show it wasn't a fluke. Dallas could very easily draw a team like Anaheim in the first round, and in that case, Turco is going to have to steal it for Dallas to advance. Call me crazy, but I don't see it happening.
Prediction: First-round exit
5. Anaheim (73 GP, 88 points). It's been a tale of two seasons for the Ducks - they were awful before Scott Niedermayer came back, and they've been good since he returned. Now that Teemu Selanne is back and playing to his highest capabilities, the team is getting ready to peak in the playoffs. The Ducks would do very well to secure home-ice advantage for at least one round; while they're under .500 on the road, they've got the best home record in the league. It never hurts to play at home, even under the worst of circumstances, let alone when you've only lost eight regulation games there. While the Ducks have plenty of guys who can score, they're also an above-average team on defense... and, as the cliche says, defense wins championships. However, if Chris Prongers ends up missing significant time due to suspension, they could be in trouble.
Prediction: Conference finals exit
Sleeper: Calgary (7th in West, 71 GP, 82 points). Phoenix is one of the most fun teams to watch in the West, and Nashville might be a better team, but Calgary is the one team that can make something of a run. They've been there before, they have a goalie very capable of getting hot, and Mike Keenan can convince this team that they can do the impossible. They're not going to beat a Detroit or anything, but if they end up meeting Dallas or Colorado... don't say you weren't warned.
Glad you asked.
Thanks to the wonders that are Center Ice and the NHL Network, I'm better equipped than ever to answer these questions. Let's face it - the league is kind of hard to follow. It's not easy to keep up on all the goings-on in the NHL, particularly out West, where we might see one game a week if we're lucky. Sometimes, the standings don't tell the whole story. Not that I'll be able to fill in the blanks or anything, but it's fun to speculate.
We all know what wins in the playoffs. Great goaltending. A favorable schedule. Balance between scorers and role players. These are the things that have traditionally separated the great from the good and, while we don't know everything about the Cup contenders yet, we have a much better idea than we did before the trade deadline.
With that in mind, let's look at who's out there and what their chances are at hoisting the Cup in June. These are just guesses as to what could happen, so don't take the predictions too seriously.
Eastern Conference
1. New Jersey (71 GP, 88 points). The Devils always seem to have the same type of season every year - they're right at the top of the conference, they fire their coach right before the playoffs, then they crap out in the first two rounds. To me, the Devils are a better version of the Islanders. Their main strength is the goaltending, but they can't always score the goals they need to win every night. The Devils have the second-worst power play in the East (guess who has the worst). That won't cut it in the playoffs.
Prediction: Second-round exit
2. Ottawa (72 GP, 87 points). Ottawa has been pretty much horrendous since the first quarter of the season ended. They're truly befuddling. You look at this team and think all the pieces are in place. Nobody in the East can match their personnel. They've got every kind of player you could possibly want, and the Big Three are obviously beyond compare. The only problem - and it's a huge problem - is their goaltending. As good as Martin Gerber has been this year, do you really trust him in a big game? When the alternative is Ray "Sorry I'm Late" Emery, you could be in trouble. Not to say they can't make a run, but they seem a good candidate to fall short.
Prediction: Conference finals exit
4. Pittsburgh (71 GP, 87 points). The wet dream of every NBC and NHL executive is for Pittsburgh to make a deep playoff run. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen. Call it instinct more than anything. There are two things working against Pittsburgh here; believe it or not, neither of them are named Ty Conklin. Their biggest concern is Sidney Crosby and his continuing health problems. Ask anybody who's ever played fantasy football - high ankle sprains linger for a very long time. Not only do you have a player whose health can't be relied upon, but also a player who will mess with Pittsburgh's line combinations and gameplans. He won't be as big a distraction as Eric Lindros in 2000, but he won't have a seamless transition into the lineup. Their second issue is that they haven't had one of those gut-wrenching, character-building playoff losses yet. This is an extremely young team, one that doesn't know what it takes to win it all. It's a shame, too, because their opportunity window will never be higher than it is with Marian Hossa in the lineup. But this isn't their year. If you're looking for a big-ticket upset in the first round, look no further than the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Prediction: First-round exit
5. Montreal (72 GP, 87 points). On the other hand, if you're looking for a Cinderella team, Montreal could very well be who you'd want to go with. If the Stanley Cup is going to come back to the East, it'll either be Ottawa or Montreal. No other team even comes close to being able to compete with the West offensively. Everyone knows Montreal can score and that they have a ridiculous power play, but they're also pretty underrated defensively. And Carey Price seems like he has what it takes to make The Leap in these playoffs. More than anything, what a team needs to advance is a hot goalie, and Price seems like he's up to the task. He's going to need it - Montreal plays six of its remaining ten games against Boston, Ottawa, and Buffalo. Odds are good they won't receive a favorable seed. Price is going to need to be huge early and often... but the Habs are for real, and this could be their year.
Prediction: Stanley Cup Finals
6. NY Rangers (71 GP, 83 points). The Rangers have performed significantly under expectations for much of this season; however, they seem to have found their legs for the stretch run. Good timing. As Zach said the other day, the Rangers will go as far as their seeding will take them. They're currently sixth, which is great, but should they slip any further than that, they could be in trouble. Hell, even if they move up, they could still end up playing the Canadiens or Penguins. It's tough to say what to expect for the Blueshirts in the playoffs, especially because Henrik Lundqvist has been extremely human over the second half. Still, this Rangers team has enough firepower to win at least one round, but a deep playoff run might be out of the question at this point in time.
Prediction: Second-round exit
Sleeper: Buffalo (9th in East, 72 GP, 77 points). No, the Sabres aren't going back to the conference finals. But they could make life very difficult for anyone they play in the first two rounds. Ryan Miller is capable of stealing a game if he has to, while their offense hangs 7's and 8's on other teams seemingly once per week. If they get in - and that depends largely on getting back the half of their team that's injured - they're going to stretch at least one series to seven games.
Western Conference
1. Detroit (71 GP, 100 points). For much of the season, Detroit has been the league's best team by a long shot. They gave us a bit of a scare in February, including a stretch where they earned just four out of a possible 24 points, but it looks like they're back now. After winning their last five straight, they're ten points ahead of San Jose, and that's including their horrid February. Not bad, eh? On paper, it's hard to take the goaltending tandem of Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek seriously, but they've been great so far. Will they finally be exposed in the playoffs? Not in the first round, anyway. But Detroit has to be careful not to get too complacent - aside from one game against Colorado, all of their remaining games are against non-playoff teams (though three are against Nashville, just two points out). The Wings would be smart to not do anything stupid, like rest all their players once they lock up the President's Trophy - we've learned countless times in the NFL that it never works. Detroit is certainly beatable... I just can't think of any team who can beat them four times out of seven.
Prediction: Stanley Cup Finals
2. San Jose (70 GP, 90 points). I'm watching the Sharks on Center Ice as I write this, and they're just toying with St. Louis. Just 13 minutes into the game, they were up 4-0. The Sharks make me wish I lived out West; they're easily my favorite Western team to watch. The problem with the Sharks has nothing to do with their talent, or their goaltending, or anything else. Sure, they're a step behind Detroit, but they could certainly give the Wings a run for their money. The real issue is that they may have already peaked. Assuming they polish off the Blues, that'll be eleven straight wins. As we all know, it's most important to be at your best in April and May than it is to be unstoppable in February and March. I'm extremely high on this Sharks team... right now. I just get the feeling we're seeing their best hockey right now and they'll be ripe for an upset in the playoffs.
Prediction: Second-round exit
4. Dallas (73 GP, 89 points). A lot of people are loving Dallas and spouting off their Stanley Cup qualifications, but I'm not seeing it. I haven't seen a ton of Dallas this year, but I don't see what makes them better than any of the other West contenders. Brad Richards doesn't put this team over the top in my eyes; a healthy Sergei Zubov will do more for the Stars than Richards down the stretch. What it comes down to for Dallas is Marty Turco. He was awesome last year in the playoffs, but he'll have to show it wasn't a fluke. Dallas could very easily draw a team like Anaheim in the first round, and in that case, Turco is going to have to steal it for Dallas to advance. Call me crazy, but I don't see it happening.
Prediction: First-round exit
5. Anaheim (73 GP, 88 points). It's been a tale of two seasons for the Ducks - they were awful before Scott Niedermayer came back, and they've been good since he returned. Now that Teemu Selanne is back and playing to his highest capabilities, the team is getting ready to peak in the playoffs. The Ducks would do very well to secure home-ice advantage for at least one round; while they're under .500 on the road, they've got the best home record in the league. It never hurts to play at home, even under the worst of circumstances, let alone when you've only lost eight regulation games there. While the Ducks have plenty of guys who can score, they're also an above-average team on defense... and, as the cliche says, defense wins championships. However, if Chris Prongers ends up missing significant time due to suspension, they could be in trouble.
Prediction: Conference finals exit
Sleeper: Calgary (7th in West, 71 GP, 82 points). Phoenix is one of the most fun teams to watch in the West, and Nashville might be a better team, but Calgary is the one team that can make something of a run. They've been there before, they have a goalie very capable of getting hot, and Mike Keenan can convince this team that they can do the impossible. They're not going to beat a Detroit or anything, but if they end up meeting Dallas or Colorado... don't say you weren't warned.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Lost Points Highway...
RANGERS BLOG by ZACH
As of today, the Rangers have 83 points and are in the 5th seed. The 5th seed is the worst seed since the 7th seed. Anything 4th or over gives you home ice advantage in the first round, while the 6th seed gives you the opportunity to play a team you might be better than.
Last season, for instance, the Rangers came in 6th with 94 points and played the 3rd place Thrashers, who had 97 points. Tampa Bay, with 93 points, came in 7th and had the displeasure of a first round matchup against New Jersey, who had 107 points. The Islanders, 92 points, got the luck of playing Buffalo and their 113 points.
Ottawa is two points (and one game) ahead of the Rangers. Pittsburgh, 1st in the conference (today), has 87 points, as does Montreal. New Jersey, even in games with our heroes, have 3 points more.
If the Rangers end up one point behind Ottawa at season's end and don't get home ice advantage, or they get usurped by Boston and end 7th, they will have these games to blame...
October 18, 20, 23. The lost to Atlanta, who had an 0-6 record at the time, 5-3 on the road. The game wasn't even that close, but a few late goals made the score halfway respectable. Then, they lost 1-0 games against Boston (picking up a point) and Pittsburgh. Lundqvist gives up one goal in 2 games and the Rangers managed 1 point.
November 6 vs. Islanders, up 2-1 in the third, and they fall apart in the third period of their 4th game in 6 nights.
December 6 vs. the Maple Leafs, they lost 6-2 in an awful game against Toronto.
Nearly every game against the West, particularly the 5-0 loss to Phoenix, who was worse then than they are now, 3-2 to Dallas where the defense was atrocious, 4-2 to league-worst LA, 4-1 to Anaheim at MSG, 3-0 to Vancouver, and the loss to Calgary where Henrik let up a few softies as the comeback train was rolling. The Marion Wild game also was bad. The only games against the West they did well in were the game in Edmonton where Drury scored with a few seconds left to bring it to overtime, and the game a few weeks ago where they held off the Sharks at MSG.
The other two games they should be kicking themselves for - and no, not the 6-5 loss to the Canadiens where they were winning 5-0, because they got thoroughly outplayed that whole game and just got lucky scoring 5 goals - are the 3-1 loss to Boston in January at the Garden (which they will regret if Boston overtakes them) and the 3-1 loss to Carolina January 29 where the Canes scored quickly in the second to break a 1-1 tie.
A few years ago, there were many games where the Rangers would have the lead and not be able to finish, thus eliminating them from the playoffs in early March. However, this year, they have shown an ability to comeback from deficits and to hold on to leads. Let's hope the games I mentioned above don't come back to haunt them.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
A Silver Lining
Leave it to the Islanders to finally score four goals in a game now that their playoff chances have all but vanished. Of course, in that same game, the other team scored eight. That other team, as it turns out, was the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that is hardly the 1984 Oilers.
Truly, the Islanders need more than a miracle at this point. Even selling their souls to the devil might not do the trick.
Again, I can't stress enough that now is the time for the Islanders to look toward Bridgeport to give some young players a chance. Say, Kyle Okposo would sure look good in orange and blue, wouldn't he? After all, the only thing we're playing for at this point is draft position. The Islanders are currently in 26th place in a 30-team league where there are, at most, five really good teams. The Devils have scored more goals than us. Let's face it - this team isn't even close to the team it was last year; a playoff run this year would have lasted for five games at the most. Why not try to turn this negative into a positive, get the young guys some experience, and see what's in store for next year?
Now, I would never encourage any team to tank their season. But this upcoming draft is said to be extremely deep and a good draft position can only help this team rebuild. The Islanders could easily find themselves with a top-ten pick this June, which could be an extremely valuable commodity. That pick will probably end up becoming a can't-miss prospect, but it may well end up as a significant trade chip. Perhaps Garth Snow can turn that pick into the scorer we've craved all season long. Whatever happens with the pick, it's a good problem to have.
After the Islanders lost to Buffalo last year, I believed it was the best possible scenario for this team. They weren't going to beat Buffalo no matter what, but they were able to lose with dignity and could blame the refs for the two home losses. This year isn't quite the same, but can be seen with the same sort of cockeyed optimism. We were never going to be a threat for a deep playoff run under any circumstances, and we'll at least get a premium draft pick for our struggles. Sure, the two games of playoff revenue would have been nice, but far from essential given the team's room under the cap and Charles Wang's deep pockets.
So it turns out that our Islanders not only can't make the playoffs, they can't even beat the second-worst team in the league. Worse, we're not that far ahead of them. But maybe there is a silver lining to all of this. Maybe we'll be better off for our struggles this season. That hope is all we have left to hold on to.
Truly, the Islanders need more than a miracle at this point. Even selling their souls to the devil might not do the trick.
Again, I can't stress enough that now is the time for the Islanders to look toward Bridgeport to give some young players a chance. Say, Kyle Okposo would sure look good in orange and blue, wouldn't he? After all, the only thing we're playing for at this point is draft position. The Islanders are currently in 26th place in a 30-team league where there are, at most, five really good teams. The Devils have scored more goals than us. Let's face it - this team isn't even close to the team it was last year; a playoff run this year would have lasted for five games at the most. Why not try to turn this negative into a positive, get the young guys some experience, and see what's in store for next year?
Now, I would never encourage any team to tank their season. But this upcoming draft is said to be extremely deep and a good draft position can only help this team rebuild. The Islanders could easily find themselves with a top-ten pick this June, which could be an extremely valuable commodity. That pick will probably end up becoming a can't-miss prospect, but it may well end up as a significant trade chip. Perhaps Garth Snow can turn that pick into the scorer we've craved all season long. Whatever happens with the pick, it's a good problem to have.
After the Islanders lost to Buffalo last year, I believed it was the best possible scenario for this team. They weren't going to beat Buffalo no matter what, but they were able to lose with dignity and could blame the refs for the two home losses. This year isn't quite the same, but can be seen with the same sort of cockeyed optimism. We were never going to be a threat for a deep playoff run under any circumstances, and we'll at least get a premium draft pick for our struggles. Sure, the two games of playoff revenue would have been nice, but far from essential given the team's room under the cap and Charles Wang's deep pockets.
So it turns out that our Islanders not only can't make the playoffs, they can't even beat the second-worst team in the league. Worse, we're not that far ahead of them. But maybe there is a silver lining to all of this. Maybe we'll be better off for our struggles this season. That hope is all we have left to hold on to.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Frozen Out
According to Steve Zipay, the Rangers are among the favorites to play in the next Winter Classic... and they're not likely to face the Islanders. Ugh.
There's already opposition from the baseball world against giving the Rangers the nod, mainly because some purists feel Yankee Stadium's final act shouldn't be a hockey game. Well, better a hockey game than another first-round exit, right? Besides, does it really matter? Trust me, if the Yankees win the World Series, nobody will be complaining about a hockey game being played two or three months afterward.
The big issue, at least from an Islander fan's perspective, is the fact that the Isles are far from a favorite to be included. Rumor has it that the NHL and NBC both want an Original Six team; Zipay says Red Sox owners are pushing for a home-and-home between the Rangers and Bruins. That would ruin the Winter Classic more than the Islanders ever could. However, it's more than a decent possibility, thanks to the one force that nobody can fight in the sports world.
You guessed it. ESPN.
That's right. The same network that is trying its best to kill the NHL could be the most influential figure in the destination of the Winter Classic. We all know that, in ESPN's world, only three teams matter - the Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Patriots. Every other sports team in the world is tied for fourth. As such, ESPN would love nothing more to fellate itself one more time to the proverbial porn that is the Boston-New York rivalry. Horrid imagery aside, the truth is that ESPN would promote the hell out of this thing, just to shove the whole Yankees-Red Sox dynamic even futther down our throats. Even if it means actually acknowledging hockey as a legitimate sport.
In such a scenario, the Islanders would be on the outside looking in. And you know what? They kind of deserve to be.
I know, I know. When I first read the news about the Islanders potentially missing out on the opportunity to play in the Winter Classic, I was pretty upset. Offended, even. After all, the Islanders are the ideal opponent for the Rangers; certainly, the Islanders are the most hated of the Rangers' many rivals. Why would the NHL forgo an ideal opponent for another tired rehash of the New York-Boston rivalry? Or, even worse, some other Original Six team that has no beef with the Rangers?
However, if you really think about it, it's clear why the Islanders aren't high on the NHL's list and, more importantly, even futher down on NBC's list. The reality is that the Islanders just don't draw. They only sell out on weekends, holidays, and when the Rangers come to town. Their TV ratings, while significantly improved, are still rather dismal. Not only did they not get on NBC's Sunday schedule before falling out of the playoff race, but they weren't even considered to be part of NBC's flex schedule. Get the picture?
The sad part is, if the Islanders had even won one playoff round this year, they might have a very strong case for inclusion in what has already become the NHL's showcase. The NHL is very big on promoting individual superstars these days - just look at the aggressive marketing of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin for proof of that. Rick DiPietro, if he had an above-average supporting cast, could conceivably join that group. He has all the makings of a star; the one thing he's missing is a deep playoff run to cement him as an elite goalie in the minds of hockey fans everywhere. If the Islanders had that run this year, the whole team would have gained a ton of stature with the general public and might have had a shot at moving up to the next level. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.
Ultimately, the Winter Classic isn't a game intending to please hockey fans. Instead, it's the NHL's best effort to convert new fans. And, while hockey fans might love to see Isles-Rangers in Yankee Stadium, the average sports fan who doesn't care about hockey is far more inclined to see the Rangers play the Bruins, Flyers, or any of the other large-market, recognizable teams out there. It's a shame, too, because the Islanders could put on a great show if given the opportunity. However, they ruined their own chance to do so.
There's already opposition from the baseball world against giving the Rangers the nod, mainly because some purists feel Yankee Stadium's final act shouldn't be a hockey game. Well, better a hockey game than another first-round exit, right? Besides, does it really matter? Trust me, if the Yankees win the World Series, nobody will be complaining about a hockey game being played two or three months afterward.
The big issue, at least from an Islander fan's perspective, is the fact that the Isles are far from a favorite to be included. Rumor has it that the NHL and NBC both want an Original Six team; Zipay says Red Sox owners are pushing for a home-and-home between the Rangers and Bruins. That would ruin the Winter Classic more than the Islanders ever could. However, it's more than a decent possibility, thanks to the one force that nobody can fight in the sports world.
You guessed it. ESPN.
That's right. The same network that is trying its best to kill the NHL could be the most influential figure in the destination of the Winter Classic. We all know that, in ESPN's world, only three teams matter - the Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Patriots. Every other sports team in the world is tied for fourth. As such, ESPN would love nothing more to fellate itself one more time to the proverbial porn that is the Boston-New York rivalry. Horrid imagery aside, the truth is that ESPN would promote the hell out of this thing, just to shove the whole Yankees-Red Sox dynamic even futther down our throats. Even if it means actually acknowledging hockey as a legitimate sport.
In such a scenario, the Islanders would be on the outside looking in. And you know what? They kind of deserve to be.
I know, I know. When I first read the news about the Islanders potentially missing out on the opportunity to play in the Winter Classic, I was pretty upset. Offended, even. After all, the Islanders are the ideal opponent for the Rangers; certainly, the Islanders are the most hated of the Rangers' many rivals. Why would the NHL forgo an ideal opponent for another tired rehash of the New York-Boston rivalry? Or, even worse, some other Original Six team that has no beef with the Rangers?
However, if you really think about it, it's clear why the Islanders aren't high on the NHL's list and, more importantly, even futher down on NBC's list. The reality is that the Islanders just don't draw. They only sell out on weekends, holidays, and when the Rangers come to town. Their TV ratings, while significantly improved, are still rather dismal. Not only did they not get on NBC's Sunday schedule before falling out of the playoff race, but they weren't even considered to be part of NBC's flex schedule. Get the picture?
The sad part is, if the Islanders had even won one playoff round this year, they might have a very strong case for inclusion in what has already become the NHL's showcase. The NHL is very big on promoting individual superstars these days - just look at the aggressive marketing of Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin for proof of that. Rick DiPietro, if he had an above-average supporting cast, could conceivably join that group. He has all the makings of a star; the one thing he's missing is a deep playoff run to cement him as an elite goalie in the minds of hockey fans everywhere. If the Islanders had that run this year, the whole team would have gained a ton of stature with the general public and might have had a shot at moving up to the next level. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be.
Ultimately, the Winter Classic isn't a game intending to please hockey fans. Instead, it's the NHL's best effort to convert new fans. And, while hockey fans might love to see Isles-Rangers in Yankee Stadium, the average sports fan who doesn't care about hockey is far more inclined to see the Rangers play the Bruins, Flyers, or any of the other large-market, recognizable teams out there. It's a shame, too, because the Islanders could put on a great show if given the opportunity. However, they ruined their own chance to do so.
Sabres Game Wrap and the Dreaded Three-Point Game...
Rangers Post by Zach
Despite the best efforts of the referees tonight, the Rangers beat Buffalo in the infamous 3-point game.
Now, I don't mind giving the bonus point to Buffalo, because the Rangers got the deuce, but I'm sure Philadelphia fans, Islander fans (like my counterpart with the Islanders namesake, Bryan), and Bruin fans all care about it.
Imagine the voting for the Oscars are going on. Someone loves the overrated Juno, but they also think the No Country for Old Men was excellent. So they vote once for Juno but then they also give a half of a vote to No Country. Meanwhile, Michael Clayton is running strong and is only trailing No Country by a few votes for first place. How is Michael Clayton supposed to feel knowing that when someone likes his movie, he only gets one vote, but when a member of The Academy is undecided, he or she can give an extra half-vote to the team ahead of them.
Get it?
I think a win in regulation should be worth 3 points, a shootout or overtime win worth 2 points, a loss in those two situations worth 1, and a regulation loss worth nothing.
The only drawback would be that if a team is up 2-0 or 3-1 with 10 minutes left in the 3rd, the Trap would make its return (although don't be fooled, teams playing in Newark and one of the Twin Cities still use this method). That is why this scoring method wasn't - and will probably never be - brought into use after the Lockout.
But isn't it very infuriating when an exciting game is tied 4-4 with 9 minutes left in regulation, and the action stops? No team wants to take a chance until they get their guaranteed Christmas bonus point.
Anyway, just my thoughts for today. I'm happy with the system as it is if the Trap never comes back as prominently as it was in the Dark Days of the NHL, aka June 2004 and before.
Look at the Past Month and a Half...
RANGERS POST by ZACH
On January 20, I had the great displeasure of being at The World's Most Famous Arena to see the Rangers put up a stinker, a near-shutout against the Boston Bruins. If Brandon Dubinsky didn't score in the final minute of play, it would have ended 3-0 Boston. The Rangers were in a funk, with the loss dropping them to 2-6-2 in the last ten. In fact, they only had two wins in January until this point, home wins against Buffalo and the Canadiens.
Since that time, the Rangers have gone 14-3-3.
The losses - The loss to Carolina after the All-Star break wasn't an awful game, but would have been a huge two points, especially at the time. Brendan Shanahan scored early on with a power play goal, but Carolina scored twice in two minutes in the second to break the game open. The Rangers had a second period letdown which cost them the game.
What was taught: Stop having second period letdowns. This lesson has not been learned yet. See: Win over Islanders, 3/6/08.
Then they put two stinkers up right after the comeback win in Montreal on Super Bowl Sunday. In another game I wish I wasn't at, they lost to LA 4-2 and then 4-1 to Anaheim, in a game I turned off on TV because I was so disgusted. Both games were awful but showed a big flaw.
What was taught: The Rangers can't win against Western Conference teams. The lesson might have been learned as the Rangers beat San Jose two weeks later.
Since then, they've lost once in overtime, a Mike Green power play goal in overtime. The Capitals 2nd goal was scored with 15 seconds left in the 2nd period with the 4th line on the ice. Hollweg then took a penalty near the end of regulation.
What was taught: Don't have Ryan Hollweg on the ice in crucial situations. Lesson learned. Hollweg (of whom I happen to be a big fan, regardless) has only played once since acquiring Freddy Sjostrom on Deadline Day, rendering my #44 jersey useless in March.
They had two shootout losses since the stinker against Boston in January. One was the meltdown against Montreal, the other the comeback game against the Islanders where 2 of the 3 goals against them were fluke bounces.
What was taught: They were taught that no matter the score, you could always lose. Lesson learned, as they came back from down 3-1 against the Islanders to bring it to overtime.
Moral of the Story: Learn from your losses.
***
Regarding today's matinee against Boston, it was another 1-0 shootout win, which would have been a scoreless tie circa 2003-04 and before. They had a ton of chances today but couldn't finish. Jagr, Drury, Dawes, Straka, Dubinsky, they all had golden chances but couldn't jam it home.
What would the score of the game had been if Zdeno Chara had played?
On January 20, I had the great displeasure of being at The World's Most Famous Arena to see the Rangers put up a stinker, a near-shutout against the Boston Bruins. If Brandon Dubinsky didn't score in the final minute of play, it would have ended 3-0 Boston. The Rangers were in a funk, with the loss dropping them to 2-6-2 in the last ten. In fact, they only had two wins in January until this point, home wins against Buffalo and the Canadiens.
Since that time, the Rangers have gone 14-3-3.
The losses - The loss to Carolina after the All-Star break wasn't an awful game, but would have been a huge two points, especially at the time. Brendan Shanahan scored early on with a power play goal, but Carolina scored twice in two minutes in the second to break the game open. The Rangers had a second period letdown which cost them the game.
What was taught: Stop having second period letdowns. This lesson has not been learned yet. See: Win over Islanders, 3/6/08.
Then they put two stinkers up right after the comeback win in Montreal on Super Bowl Sunday. In another game I wish I wasn't at, they lost to LA 4-2 and then 4-1 to Anaheim, in a game I turned off on TV because I was so disgusted. Both games were awful but showed a big flaw.
What was taught: The Rangers can't win against Western Conference teams. The lesson might have been learned as the Rangers beat San Jose two weeks later.
Since then, they've lost once in overtime, a Mike Green power play goal in overtime. The Capitals 2nd goal was scored with 15 seconds left in the 2nd period with the 4th line on the ice. Hollweg then took a penalty near the end of regulation.
What was taught: Don't have Ryan Hollweg on the ice in crucial situations. Lesson learned. Hollweg (of whom I happen to be a big fan, regardless) has only played once since acquiring Freddy Sjostrom on Deadline Day, rendering my #44 jersey useless in March.
They had two shootout losses since the stinker against Boston in January. One was the meltdown against Montreal, the other the comeback game against the Islanders where 2 of the 3 goals against them were fluke bounces.
What was taught: They were taught that no matter the score, you could always lose. Lesson learned, as they came back from down 3-1 against the Islanders to bring it to overtime.
Moral of the Story: Learn from your losses.
***
Regarding today's matinee against Boston, it was another 1-0 shootout win, which would have been a scoreless tie circa 2003-04 and before. They had a ton of chances today but couldn't finish. Jagr, Drury, Dawes, Straka, Dubinsky, they all had golden chances but couldn't jam it home.
What would the score of the game had been if Zdeno Chara had played?
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Looking Toward The Future
After watching tonight's stinker against the Flyers, it seems safe to say that it's over. There will be no miraculous charge to the eight seed, no Wade Dubielewicz pokechecks in an Easter Sunday shootout. Instead, there will only be a scene we're all too familiar with - observing the playoffs from an outside perspective and getting an early start on preparing for the draft. For the umpteenth consecutive year, the highlight of the spring for the Islanders will be their draft party.
Why should we have ever expected anything else? If you saw tonight's game, you saw everything you needed to see. An anemic offense and stupid penalties are not the recipe for a deep playoff run. The games Rick DiPietro stole in the first half are now the games where the Islanders get blown out. Need proof? The Flyers had four power play goals tonight. The Islanders have only scored three in their last twelve games.
So, if this season is a wash, now what? Good question. Because the truth is, for a team that says all the right things about rebuilding, there really isn't a ton of depth in the organization. The majority of this team is grizzled vets, with a few prospects here and there. While it's wonderful that Sean Bergenheim and Blake Comeau have made tremendous strides this season, that's really about all the Isles have left in terms of young players. Jeff Tambellini is just starting to learn the NHL game, and Jeremy Colliton and Frans Neilsen are too green to judge fairly.
However, what is clear is that the Islanders, despite having had some favorable draft picks, haven't done all that much with them. This is a team that drafted Robert Nillson in 2003, forgoing future stars such as Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, and Corey Perry. Whoops. They also could have gotten Andrej Meszaros in 2004, but settled for Petteri Nokelainen. Remember him? While they did manage to get Comeau in the second round of that 2004 draft, the fact remains that the Isles should have more to show for their mediocrity over the past five years. Doesn't it seem like the Isles should have more to show for their first-round picks this decade than DiPietro and Bergenheim?
Of course, there is Kyle Okposo, their 2006 first-round selection. And that's where the Islanders should be looking - not just for the future, but for the rest of this season. We all know the Isles aren't going anywhere, so why not bring up Okposo for the final twelve games? Take one of the many unproductive veterans, tell him to sit in the press box, and send Okposo a one-way ticket to Long Island. Why not? He won't lose his rookie status, and he'll only benefit from seeing some action on the NHL level. You can always send him back down to Bridgeport for the playoffs (they'd be the eighth seed if the season ended today). It would the best possible scenario for all parties involved - Okposo gets valuable experience, the organization saves face with the fans, and the fans get a look at the team's future.
Will the Isles do the right thing and bring Okposo up? Probably not. But they really ought to consider it. What else do they have to lose?
Why should we have ever expected anything else? If you saw tonight's game, you saw everything you needed to see. An anemic offense and stupid penalties are not the recipe for a deep playoff run. The games Rick DiPietro stole in the first half are now the games where the Islanders get blown out. Need proof? The Flyers had four power play goals tonight. The Islanders have only scored three in their last twelve games.
So, if this season is a wash, now what? Good question. Because the truth is, for a team that says all the right things about rebuilding, there really isn't a ton of depth in the organization. The majority of this team is grizzled vets, with a few prospects here and there. While it's wonderful that Sean Bergenheim and Blake Comeau have made tremendous strides this season, that's really about all the Isles have left in terms of young players. Jeff Tambellini is just starting to learn the NHL game, and Jeremy Colliton and Frans Neilsen are too green to judge fairly.
However, what is clear is that the Islanders, despite having had some favorable draft picks, haven't done all that much with them. This is a team that drafted Robert Nillson in 2003, forgoing future stars such as Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, and Corey Perry. Whoops. They also could have gotten Andrej Meszaros in 2004, but settled for Petteri Nokelainen. Remember him? While they did manage to get Comeau in the second round of that 2004 draft, the fact remains that the Isles should have more to show for their mediocrity over the past five years. Doesn't it seem like the Isles should have more to show for their first-round picks this decade than DiPietro and Bergenheim?
Of course, there is Kyle Okposo, their 2006 first-round selection. And that's where the Islanders should be looking - not just for the future, but for the rest of this season. We all know the Isles aren't going anywhere, so why not bring up Okposo for the final twelve games? Take one of the many unproductive veterans, tell him to sit in the press box, and send Okposo a one-way ticket to Long Island. Why not? He won't lose his rookie status, and he'll only benefit from seeing some action on the NHL level. You can always send him back down to Bridgeport for the playoffs (they'd be the eighth seed if the season ended today). It would the best possible scenario for all parties involved - Okposo gets valuable experience, the organization saves face with the fans, and the fans get a look at the team's future.
Will the Isles do the right thing and bring Okposo up? Probably not. But they really ought to consider it. What else do they have to lose?
Friday, March 7, 2008
The New York Islanders Drinking Game, Version 1.0
Note: In no way is this an advocation of drinking, especially drinking and driving. This is just a great way to document the nuances of our Islanders, both in person and on TV. You don't have to drink to enjoy this one. However, if you're so inclined (and you're not driving), take a piece or two of this, grab some beers, and have fun!
PRE-GAME ON FSN NY
- If Billy Jaffe is staring somewhere besides the camera... 1 drink
- If Butch Goring looks like a leprechaun... 1 drink
- If Deb Kaufman talks out of one side of her mouth... 1 drink
- If there's a cheesy promotion going on that night... 2 drinks
- If the cheesy promotion played a factor in your decision to not attend the game... 5 drinks. Hey, you're not driving - enjoy yourself!
- HIP Injury Report... 1 drink
- GMC Goalie Matchup... 1 drink
- Any other sponsored items... 1 drink
- If Hockey Night NY Live! actually mentions the Islanders... 3 drinks
- If that mention is a tacked-on blurb during "Short Shifts"... 2 extra drinks
GAME
- If Wade Dubielewicz is starting... 2 drinks
- If Ted Nolan is wearing a hideous tie... 1 drink
- If Rick DiPietro unnecessarily touches the puck... 1 drink
- If you yell at Ricky to stay in the net... 3 drinks
- If the TV/scoreboard shows a close-up of Mike Sillinger, a.k.a. "The Pigeon"... 2 drinks
- If Mike Comrie passes up an open shot in favor of making a pass... 3 drinks
- If you find yourself saying out loud that the Islanders need a scorer... 2 drinks
- If you find yourself asking out loud when was the last time Satan/Fedotenko/Vasicek/just about anybody did anything of note... 1 drink for each player you consider
- If you find yourself wondering if Alexei Yashin is available, whether it be out loud or in private... chug the entire bottle
- If the Islanders have a ridiculously high number of shots but only one or two goals... 4 drinks
- If the Islanders let up a shorthanded goal... 3 drinks
- If the Islanders make yet another defensive blunder... 2 drinks
- If Brendan Witt leaves the ice in pain... 1 drink
- If the young guys are the only players who are actually doing anything... 2 drinks
- If a power play comes and goes without as much as a shot on goal... 4 drinks
BROADCAST STUFF
- Do you see in HD? If so, take 2 drinks to level the playing field.
- If Howie Rose makes you legitimately laugh... 2 drinks
- If Billy Jaffe sounds like a homer... 3 drinks
- If either Billy or Howie makes a bad segue... 3 drinks
- If either Billy or Howie breaks off a segue you still can't believe five minutes later... 5 drinks
- If they show that stupid Warren Wallace Geico commercial... 2 drinks each time
- If they show an ad you've already seen 500 times on the NHL Network... chug until you're satisfied. If you don't get the NHL Network, just be thankful you don't understand this one.
- Bring back family time with... a Panasonic Digital Replay! 2 drinks each time. Be careful with this one!
- Any other sponsored items... 1 drink for each
- If Billy and Howie talk about the Hummer Metro Ice Challenge like it actually means something... 2 drinks
- If the trivia question is something ridiculous... 2 drinks
- If Howie calls out producer Larry Roth for making up such a ridiculous question... 1 extra drink
- If you secretly wish they kept trivia statistics like the Rangers do... zero drinks. They really should.
- If Jiggs McDonald is filling in for Howie... 3 drinks
- If you find yourself marvelling over Jiggs' preparedness... 2 drinks
- If you find yourself praying for an Islanders goal just so you can hear him say "He scooooores!" one more time... 1 drink
- When that goal never comes... 10 drinks
INTERMISSION
(all applicable rules from the pre-game remain intact)
- If Deb Kaufman creepily smiles at the interviewee... 1 drink per second of creepy smiles
- If Deb Kaufman asks a stupid question... 2 drinks
- If the player doesn't address the question at all... 2 drinks
- If the player says "Um"... 1 drink per "Um"
- If the player makes eye contact with Deb... 1 drink per instance
- If the player uses cliches... 2 drinks per cliche
- If the previous period's highlights consist of a number of mediocre plays... 3 drinks
AT THE GAME
(all other rules apply)
- Everybody Clap Your Hands! 1 drink per each instance of this chant.
- If you secretly get excited for Billy Jaffe's Keys To The Game... 2 drinks
- If Jaffe asks for crowd participation in his Keys To The Game... 1 drink each time
- If C.J. Papa's intermission report makes you wish for a replay of Billy Jaffe's Keys To The Game... 3 drinks
- If you hear the words grit, character, and heart and immediately want to gag... 3 drinks
- If you're dumbfounded by the intro that plays on the scoreboard... take one drink for each minute you spend trying to figure out why Ted Nolan becomes a cop.
- If Sparky The Dragon pays a visit to your section... 2 drinks
- If you complain about how the people in the cheap seats never win any of the giveaways... 2 drinks
- If you're out of breath after climbing to your top-row seats... take as many drinks as necessary to get your wind back. It should take quite a few.
- If you were smart enough to eschew the $7 Bud Light in favor of the twice-as-big Labatt Blue for $7.25... take one drink to your good fortune.
- If you find yourself wishing you could buy pretzel twists at the supermarket... 2 drinks
- If you express regret for NYMEX for having sponsored the power play... 3 drinks
- If you think the question posed in the NYI Text Poll is the dumbest question ever asked... 4 drinks
- If the response to the NYI Text Poll makes you lose your faith in humanity... 3 drinks
- If the main reason you want the Islanders to win is so you can honk your designated driver's horn all the way down the Meadowbrook... no drinks necessary. That truly is the best part!
PRE-GAME ON FSN NY
- If Billy Jaffe is staring somewhere besides the camera... 1 drink
- If Butch Goring looks like a leprechaun... 1 drink
- If Deb Kaufman talks out of one side of her mouth... 1 drink
- If there's a cheesy promotion going on that night... 2 drinks
- If the cheesy promotion played a factor in your decision to not attend the game... 5 drinks. Hey, you're not driving - enjoy yourself!
- HIP Injury Report... 1 drink
- GMC Goalie Matchup... 1 drink
- Any other sponsored items... 1 drink
- If Hockey Night NY Live! actually mentions the Islanders... 3 drinks
- If that mention is a tacked-on blurb during "Short Shifts"... 2 extra drinks
GAME
- If Wade Dubielewicz is starting... 2 drinks
- If Ted Nolan is wearing a hideous tie... 1 drink
- If Rick DiPietro unnecessarily touches the puck... 1 drink
- If you yell at Ricky to stay in the net... 3 drinks
- If the TV/scoreboard shows a close-up of Mike Sillinger, a.k.a. "The Pigeon"... 2 drinks
- If Mike Comrie passes up an open shot in favor of making a pass... 3 drinks
- If you find yourself saying out loud that the Islanders need a scorer... 2 drinks
- If you find yourself asking out loud when was the last time Satan/Fedotenko/Vasicek/just about anybody did anything of note... 1 drink for each player you consider
- If you find yourself wondering if Alexei Yashin is available, whether it be out loud or in private... chug the entire bottle
- If the Islanders have a ridiculously high number of shots but only one or two goals... 4 drinks
- If the Islanders let up a shorthanded goal... 3 drinks
- If the Islanders make yet another defensive blunder... 2 drinks
- If Brendan Witt leaves the ice in pain... 1 drink
- If the young guys are the only players who are actually doing anything... 2 drinks
- If a power play comes and goes without as much as a shot on goal... 4 drinks
BROADCAST STUFF
- Do you see in HD? If so, take 2 drinks to level the playing field.
- If Howie Rose makes you legitimately laugh... 2 drinks
- If Billy Jaffe sounds like a homer... 3 drinks
- If either Billy or Howie makes a bad segue... 3 drinks
- If either Billy or Howie breaks off a segue you still can't believe five minutes later... 5 drinks
- If they show that stupid Warren Wallace Geico commercial... 2 drinks each time
- If they show an ad you've already seen 500 times on the NHL Network... chug until you're satisfied. If you don't get the NHL Network, just be thankful you don't understand this one.
- Bring back family time with... a Panasonic Digital Replay! 2 drinks each time. Be careful with this one!
- Any other sponsored items... 1 drink for each
- If Billy and Howie talk about the Hummer Metro Ice Challenge like it actually means something... 2 drinks
- If the trivia question is something ridiculous... 2 drinks
- If Howie calls out producer Larry Roth for making up such a ridiculous question... 1 extra drink
- If you secretly wish they kept trivia statistics like the Rangers do... zero drinks. They really should.
- If Jiggs McDonald is filling in for Howie... 3 drinks
- If you find yourself marvelling over Jiggs' preparedness... 2 drinks
- If you find yourself praying for an Islanders goal just so you can hear him say "He scooooores!" one more time... 1 drink
- When that goal never comes... 10 drinks
INTERMISSION
(all applicable rules from the pre-game remain intact)
- If Deb Kaufman creepily smiles at the interviewee... 1 drink per second of creepy smiles
- If Deb Kaufman asks a stupid question... 2 drinks
- If the player doesn't address the question at all... 2 drinks
- If the player says "Um"... 1 drink per "Um"
- If the player makes eye contact with Deb... 1 drink per instance
- If the player uses cliches... 2 drinks per cliche
- If the previous period's highlights consist of a number of mediocre plays... 3 drinks
AT THE GAME
(all other rules apply)
- Everybody Clap Your Hands! 1 drink per each instance of this chant.
- If you secretly get excited for Billy Jaffe's Keys To The Game... 2 drinks
- If Jaffe asks for crowd participation in his Keys To The Game... 1 drink each time
- If C.J. Papa's intermission report makes you wish for a replay of Billy Jaffe's Keys To The Game... 3 drinks
- If you hear the words grit, character, and heart and immediately want to gag... 3 drinks
- If you're dumbfounded by the intro that plays on the scoreboard... take one drink for each minute you spend trying to figure out why Ted Nolan becomes a cop.
- If Sparky The Dragon pays a visit to your section... 2 drinks
- If you complain about how the people in the cheap seats never win any of the giveaways... 2 drinks
- If you're out of breath after climbing to your top-row seats... take as many drinks as necessary to get your wind back. It should take quite a few.
- If you were smart enough to eschew the $7 Bud Light in favor of the twice-as-big Labatt Blue for $7.25... take one drink to your good fortune.
- If you find yourself wishing you could buy pretzel twists at the supermarket... 2 drinks
- If you express regret for NYMEX for having sponsored the power play... 3 drinks
- If you think the question posed in the NYI Text Poll is the dumbest question ever asked... 4 drinks
- If the response to the NYI Text Poll makes you lose your faith in humanity... 3 drinks
- If the main reason you want the Islanders to win is so you can honk your designated driver's horn all the way down the Meadowbrook... no drinks necessary. That truly is the best part!
At Wit's End
After coming home from last night's debacle, I was too upset to write. Too upset to do much of anything, in fact. My wife said to me, "You sound so upset." I couldn't explain to her the way I felt. I had tried once before; it didn't work then, either.
It was September 30, 2007. I had just come home from a Mets-Marlins game at Shea Stadium. It is now better known as the day the final nail was hammered into the coffin that was the Mets' season. I had just spent the previous three hours with 57,000 other diehards watching Tom Glavine blow any chance the Mets had of avoiding a historic collapse. However, the difference between myself and many of them was that while they maintained hope, I was assured that the Mets would fail. I came home after that game and hugged my wife, who responded with a derisive chant of "Jose! Jose! Jose!".
Fast forward to last night. It wasn't nearly the same situation, but the game stirred up similar feelings. Except this time, before the opposition took the wind out of the crowd's sails, I had total faith in my team. I believed Wade Dubielewicz would steal another game, that the Islanders would take it to their rivals one more time. Instead, all I saw was a sea of red, white, and blue celebrate each Rangers goal, effectively taking over the Coliseum without much of a fight. It was a truly embarrassing evening, and I wanted so badly to take it out on the Rangers fans who filled the Coliseum.
But the truth is, they weren't to blame. As much as I want to hate Rangers fans, I just can't do it. These people came out to our building, rocked the place, and stayed for autographs. These were the people who gave their team a standing ovation after losing to Buffalo in last year's playoffs; meanwhile, Islanders fans littered the ice with garbage after each of their losses. These Ranger fans sell out their building every night, while the Islanders have to resort to promotions like "Kids Day" and "Hockey And Heels Night" to bring the attendance over 10,000. No question, I hate the Rangers... and yet, I totally envy them.
As I left the Coliseum last night, I wished so badly that we could have that same support, that same hope that the Rangers bring with them. But it's not going to happen until the Islanders put forth a real team on the ice. And by a "real team", I mean a team that doesn't consist of 18 grinders and two goalies. At the end of last night's game, Brendan Shanahan was pushing around one of the Islanders, pretty much just because he could. And why was that? Because no Islanders would take him to task for it. Just like there are no scorers on this team, there are no fighters, no enforcers. There's nobody to stand up for each other, and that's necessary. People say you can't have an enforcer in the new NHL, but despite all their star power, the Rangers have two. Meanwhile, the Islanders have four lines of third-liners; guys who work hard but can't do much else. That's not the core of a winning team; hell, that's not even the core of a mediocre team.
The moral of the story is that until the Islanders get some personnel, we're going to have many nights like last night, where a "home" game turns out to be anything but. That means I'm going to have quite a few more depressing nights where even Neil Smith referring to Rob Davison as Tom Poti on NHL On The Fly can't cheer me up. I'm sick of the inferiority complex with the Rangers. I'm sick of having a team that has no chance of getting past the first round of the playoffs, if they're even lucky enough to get there. And, no matter what the results of the Hummer Metro Ice Challenge or the head-to-head series are, I'm sick of being on the losing end of this rivalry.
It was September 30, 2007. I had just come home from a Mets-Marlins game at Shea Stadium. It is now better known as the day the final nail was hammered into the coffin that was the Mets' season. I had just spent the previous three hours with 57,000 other diehards watching Tom Glavine blow any chance the Mets had of avoiding a historic collapse. However, the difference between myself and many of them was that while they maintained hope, I was assured that the Mets would fail. I came home after that game and hugged my wife, who responded with a derisive chant of "Jose! Jose! Jose!".
Fast forward to last night. It wasn't nearly the same situation, but the game stirred up similar feelings. Except this time, before the opposition took the wind out of the crowd's sails, I had total faith in my team. I believed Wade Dubielewicz would steal another game, that the Islanders would take it to their rivals one more time. Instead, all I saw was a sea of red, white, and blue celebrate each Rangers goal, effectively taking over the Coliseum without much of a fight. It was a truly embarrassing evening, and I wanted so badly to take it out on the Rangers fans who filled the Coliseum.
But the truth is, they weren't to blame. As much as I want to hate Rangers fans, I just can't do it. These people came out to our building, rocked the place, and stayed for autographs. These were the people who gave their team a standing ovation after losing to Buffalo in last year's playoffs; meanwhile, Islanders fans littered the ice with garbage after each of their losses. These Ranger fans sell out their building every night, while the Islanders have to resort to promotions like "Kids Day" and "Hockey And Heels Night" to bring the attendance over 10,000. No question, I hate the Rangers... and yet, I totally envy them.
As I left the Coliseum last night, I wished so badly that we could have that same support, that same hope that the Rangers bring with them. But it's not going to happen until the Islanders put forth a real team on the ice. And by a "real team", I mean a team that doesn't consist of 18 grinders and two goalies. At the end of last night's game, Brendan Shanahan was pushing around one of the Islanders, pretty much just because he could. And why was that? Because no Islanders would take him to task for it. Just like there are no scorers on this team, there are no fighters, no enforcers. There's nobody to stand up for each other, and that's necessary. People say you can't have an enforcer in the new NHL, but despite all their star power, the Rangers have two. Meanwhile, the Islanders have four lines of third-liners; guys who work hard but can't do much else. That's not the core of a winning team; hell, that's not even the core of a mediocre team.
The moral of the story is that until the Islanders get some personnel, we're going to have many nights like last night, where a "home" game turns out to be anything but. That means I'm going to have quite a few more depressing nights where even Neil Smith referring to Rob Davison as Tom Poti on NHL On The Fly can't cheer me up. I'm sick of the inferiority complex with the Rangers. I'm sick of having a team that has no chance of getting past the first round of the playoffs, if they're even lucky enough to get there. And, no matter what the results of the Hummer Metro Ice Challenge or the head-to-head series are, I'm sick of being on the losing end of this rivalry.
One-Year Anniversary...
This is both a Rangers and Islanders post by Rangers writer Zach.
After I saw Borat and Superbad, I got depressed. Not because I hated both movies, but because I believe I will never see a comedy as funny as either of those two movies were. In all of my cinema-adventuring years, I have never seen another movie I thought were comedic gold quite like these two.
I had the same feeling last March, after a home-and-home series with the Islanders and Rangers. The games in question were the March 5th game at the Garden and the March 8th game at the Coliseum, both won 2-1 by the Rangers. (For NHL.com recaps, click the links.)
March 5 - Rick DiPietro makes 56 saves, an Islander-record. Admittedly, many of those saves were bad-angle shots or shots that Marty Straka shot right at the logo on his jersey. However, some were incredible stops, including one he made with his head that no goalie short of Jesus Christ himself should have stopped. The lone regulation goal was a rebound by Petr Prucha on a Jed Ortmeyer shot from the hash marks. Carolina's-own Matt Cullen scored five-hole in the shootout, and then Henrik Lundqvist stopped Randy "Not Luc" Robitaille for the win.
As a strong opponent of DiPietro, saying that this was all his game kills a little piece of me inside. But, as a smart hockey fan (after all, I am a Rangers fan), I have to admit that he played spectacularly. Yes, like I said before, some of those saves were ones my Shooter-Tutor could have made. However, DiPietro stood on his head, figuratively, and in some instances, literally. The shootout was a perfect end to one of the most exciting regular-season games I could remember.
March 8 - Forever tainted as the "Chris Simon Game," where he Paul Bunyon-ed Ryan Hollweg, this game stood on its own as a fantastic match. Simon happened to score the lone Isles goal that game, and 8 minutes later, newly-acquired Paul Mara's howitzer from the point tied it up.
With the score tied 1-1 in the third, Hollweg hit Simon into the boards, Simon swung his stick at Hollweg's face, and Petr Prucha scored on the 5-minute power play to give the Rangers the lead. With 20 seconds left, Trent Hunter thought he scored the tying goal. One of the longest video reviews I can remember followed. There were 16,234 people in the Nassau Coliseum that night, and 8,117 were chanting "GOAL!" with 8,117 throwing in a "NO!" before it. The ruling: Inconclusive Evidence. The puck might have crossed the line, but the War Room in Toronto had no evidence and had to stand with the referee's initial decision. If the ref had initially ruled a goal, that decision would have stood also.
The parking lot was ripe that night. Ranger fans chanted "Inconclusive Evidence," "Eighth Place," and "No Goal!" Islander fans griped - rightfully so - about the now-infamous No Goal call.
And I questioned whether or not we will ever see such passionate, intense, well-played hockey again.
Of course, we would, and we wouldn't have to wait long. From a Rangers standpoint, every game in the sweep of Atlanta was great. The 7-0 game stands out, but it was a far cry from the home-and-home. I would put Games 3 and 4 of the series against Buffalo up there, where Michal Rozsival slapped home a double OT winner in Game 3 and another no-goal call went the Rangers way with 17 seconds left in Game 4. However, that was the playoffs. Playoff hockey is a whole different beast.
The current home-and-home just finished were good games, with the Rangers getting 3 out of 4 points and moving into 6th place in the East. This March's series did lack the excitement of last March's games, though. I guess we will have to wait to this year's playoffs to see if we can find some more games as exciting. Hopefully for New York, both teams will be in there.
Maybe comedy movies like Borat and Superbad are the regular season of movies. Great, great movies like those two games last season. I might never see a funnier movie than those two like I might never see better regular season hockey games than I did in March of 2007. However, there are better movies that have been made, just not better comedies, movies like Braveheart and American Beauty. Those are the playoffs of movies. A different standard, a different level.
Playoff hockey. I can't wait.
After I saw Borat and Superbad, I got depressed. Not because I hated both movies, but because I believe I will never see a comedy as funny as either of those two movies were. In all of my cinema-adventuring years, I have never seen another movie I thought were comedic gold quite like these two.
I had the same feeling last March, after a home-and-home series with the Islanders and Rangers. The games in question were the March 5th game at the Garden and the March 8th game at the Coliseum, both won 2-1 by the Rangers. (For NHL.com recaps, click the links.)
March 5 - Rick DiPietro makes 56 saves, an Islander-record. Admittedly, many of those saves were bad-angle shots or shots that Marty Straka shot right at the logo on his jersey. However, some were incredible stops, including one he made with his head that no goalie short of Jesus Christ himself should have stopped. The lone regulation goal was a rebound by Petr Prucha on a Jed Ortmeyer shot from the hash marks. Carolina's-own Matt Cullen scored five-hole in the shootout, and then Henrik Lundqvist stopped Randy "Not Luc" Robitaille for the win.
As a strong opponent of DiPietro, saying that this was all his game kills a little piece of me inside. But, as a smart hockey fan (after all, I am a Rangers fan), I have to admit that he played spectacularly. Yes, like I said before, some of those saves were ones my Shooter-Tutor could have made. However, DiPietro stood on his head, figuratively, and in some instances, literally. The shootout was a perfect end to one of the most exciting regular-season games I could remember.
March 8 - Forever tainted as the "Chris Simon Game," where he Paul Bunyon-ed Ryan Hollweg, this game stood on its own as a fantastic match. Simon happened to score the lone Isles goal that game, and 8 minutes later, newly-acquired Paul Mara's howitzer from the point tied it up.
With the score tied 1-1 in the third, Hollweg hit Simon into the boards, Simon swung his stick at Hollweg's face, and Petr Prucha scored on the 5-minute power play to give the Rangers the lead. With 20 seconds left, Trent Hunter thought he scored the tying goal. One of the longest video reviews I can remember followed. There were 16,234 people in the Nassau Coliseum that night, and 8,117 were chanting "GOAL!" with 8,117 throwing in a "NO!" before it. The ruling: Inconclusive Evidence. The puck might have crossed the line, but the War Room in Toronto had no evidence and had to stand with the referee's initial decision. If the ref had initially ruled a goal, that decision would have stood also.
The parking lot was ripe that night. Ranger fans chanted "Inconclusive Evidence," "Eighth Place," and "No Goal!" Islander fans griped - rightfully so - about the now-infamous No Goal call.
And I questioned whether or not we will ever see such passionate, intense, well-played hockey again.
Of course, we would, and we wouldn't have to wait long. From a Rangers standpoint, every game in the sweep of Atlanta was great. The 7-0 game stands out, but it was a far cry from the home-and-home. I would put Games 3 and 4 of the series against Buffalo up there, where Michal Rozsival slapped home a double OT winner in Game 3 and another no-goal call went the Rangers way with 17 seconds left in Game 4. However, that was the playoffs. Playoff hockey is a whole different beast.
The current home-and-home just finished were good games, with the Rangers getting 3 out of 4 points and moving into 6th place in the East. This March's series did lack the excitement of last March's games, though. I guess we will have to wait to this year's playoffs to see if we can find some more games as exciting. Hopefully for New York, both teams will be in there.
Maybe comedy movies like Borat and Superbad are the regular season of movies. Great, great movies like those two games last season. I might never see a funnier movie than those two like I might never see better regular season hockey games than I did in March of 2007. However, there are better movies that have been made, just not better comedies, movies like Braveheart and American Beauty. Those are the playoffs of movies. A different standard, a different level.
Playoff hockey. I can't wait.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Let There Be Blood
It's been a while.
It's been a while since this rivalry has reached the next level. It's been a while since something has happened to really spark things between the Islanders and the Rangers. It's been a while since we've seen a good bloodbath. And, even though the playoffs are possibilities for both teams and these two games mean a lot, I hope that changes this week.
Last season, we saw Chris Simon whack Ryan Hollweg. Say what you want about the cleanliness of that play, but it was definitely something to get the blood boiling in the rivalry. However, since it was so close to the end of last season, the big payoff occurred in the pre-season. Hard to get excited about anything that happens in the pre-season, even if it's a series of brawls that even the goaltenders get involved in. Since then, the teams have focused mostly on playing, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It's just that we haven't had a big donnybrook in a long time. The last big brawl I can recall between the Islanders and Rangers occurred at the Garden in 2002, when Alexei Yashin had a hat trick in the first period and broke Tomas Kloucek's nose in the second. That was a pretty awesome moment, particulary if you're an Islander fan. But since then, there haven't been many fireworks. Even when the Rangers beat the Islanders six times out of six in 2004, the Isles never dropped the gloves to start something. That's a shame.
Yeah, the games have been excellent in recent years. We had the first game after the lockout that went into a shootout. We had DiPietro's 56-save performance last year. We had last year's mad dash for a playoff berth, one that both teams (and their fans) won. But there hasn't been that singular moment to push this rivalry over the edge. Simon's thuggery should have done the trick last year. Let's hope some of that bad blood still remains twelve months later.
Remember, the NHL knew exactly what it was doing scheduling two home-and-home series between the Islanders and Rangers in the final month of the season. As much as the NHL loves to pretend it hates violence, that's exactly what it was asking for with their scheduling. They want these two teams to beat the crap out of each other as they vie for playoff berths. They want this to get ugly. They want something to happen to get these teams on the back pages, even if it might give the league a black eye of sorts. After all, any publicity is good publicity, especially with a rivalry as heated as this one.
It's been a while. The NHL wants it. The fans want it. Let's see some rough stuff in these two games. If we can't both have the playoffs, let's make sure we have something to watch for as the season winds down.
It's been a while since this rivalry has reached the next level. It's been a while since something has happened to really spark things between the Islanders and the Rangers. It's been a while since we've seen a good bloodbath. And, even though the playoffs are possibilities for both teams and these two games mean a lot, I hope that changes this week.
Last season, we saw Chris Simon whack Ryan Hollweg. Say what you want about the cleanliness of that play, but it was definitely something to get the blood boiling in the rivalry. However, since it was so close to the end of last season, the big payoff occurred in the pre-season. Hard to get excited about anything that happens in the pre-season, even if it's a series of brawls that even the goaltenders get involved in. Since then, the teams have focused mostly on playing, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It's just that we haven't had a big donnybrook in a long time. The last big brawl I can recall between the Islanders and Rangers occurred at the Garden in 2002, when Alexei Yashin had a hat trick in the first period and broke Tomas Kloucek's nose in the second. That was a pretty awesome moment, particulary if you're an Islander fan. But since then, there haven't been many fireworks. Even when the Rangers beat the Islanders six times out of six in 2004, the Isles never dropped the gloves to start something. That's a shame.
Yeah, the games have been excellent in recent years. We had the first game after the lockout that went into a shootout. We had DiPietro's 56-save performance last year. We had last year's mad dash for a playoff berth, one that both teams (and their fans) won. But there hasn't been that singular moment to push this rivalry over the edge. Simon's thuggery should have done the trick last year. Let's hope some of that bad blood still remains twelve months later.
Remember, the NHL knew exactly what it was doing scheduling two home-and-home series between the Islanders and Rangers in the final month of the season. As much as the NHL loves to pretend it hates violence, that's exactly what it was asking for with their scheduling. They want these two teams to beat the crap out of each other as they vie for playoff berths. They want this to get ugly. They want something to happen to get these teams on the back pages, even if it might give the league a black eye of sorts. After all, any publicity is good publicity, especially with a rivalry as heated as this one.
It's been a while. The NHL wants it. The fans want it. Let's see some rough stuff in these two games. If we can't both have the playoffs, let's make sure we have something to watch for as the season winds down.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Wanted: Goal Scorers
While at Saturday's game, sitting next to a Flyers fan, I noted how our "team full of third-liners" couldn't score goals. I was half-kidding about the third-liners thing... sort of. A day later, after watching 53 shots yield zero goals, it was evident to everybody that the Islanders are in serious trouble.
I'm big on hockey cliches. To me, the most important one is "Put the puck on the net, and good things will happen." Turns out that isn't always true. Let's look at the Isles' last four games.
- 2/26, vs. Pittsburgh: 52 shots, 2 goals
- 2/28, @ Atlanta: 37 shots, 5 goals
- 3/1, vs. Philadelphia: 34 shots, 1 goal
- 3/2, vs. Florida: 53 shots, 0 goals
Noticing a trend here? Shots don't always translate into goals. That's what happens when your top two lines are full of grinders, role players, and Mike Comrie. And, of course, the Isles did nothing at the trade deadline, so we're stuck with this bunch until April. What part of April depends on whether the Isles get bounced in the first round or if they miss the playoffs altogether.
Just about every analyst who has been asked about the Islanders has given a universal answer: "It's going to be impossible to outwork the Islanders. Ted Nolan will make sure they give it their all, and Rick DiPietro can keep them in just about any game. However, their anemic offense will make sure they don't score enough goals to be considered serious playoff contenders." We've all heard this one before; maybe earlier in the season, we dismissed it as hearsay. Now, it cannot be denied - this team simply cannot score goals.
And here's the bad part - goal scorers need great playmakers to get them the puck. Aside from Comrie, who's going to do that? In this decade, we've seen Alexei Yashin and Miroslav Satan be rather ineffective compared to their prior stops due largely to the lack of a supporting cast. With Satan a likely goner after this season, it'll be time to bring in the next big-ticket scorer. Think about this - if the Islanders somehow manage to land Marian Hossa on July 1, can we even be certain he'll be three-fourths as effective?
We're seeing some positive signs out of the young guys, a.k.a. the only players on the team who are doing anything. In time, Jeff Tambellini could be a 30-goal scorer and Blake Comeau could be a great power forward. But, for now, the Isles are going to be looking at some lean nights offensively. And with the playoffs looming, and with two games coming up against the red-hot Rangers, the Isles are in serious trouble.
I'm big on hockey cliches. To me, the most important one is "Put the puck on the net, and good things will happen." Turns out that isn't always true. Let's look at the Isles' last four games.
- 2/26, vs. Pittsburgh: 52 shots, 2 goals
- 2/28, @ Atlanta: 37 shots, 5 goals
- 3/1, vs. Philadelphia: 34 shots, 1 goal
- 3/2, vs. Florida: 53 shots, 0 goals
Noticing a trend here? Shots don't always translate into goals. That's what happens when your top two lines are full of grinders, role players, and Mike Comrie. And, of course, the Isles did nothing at the trade deadline, so we're stuck with this bunch until April. What part of April depends on whether the Isles get bounced in the first round or if they miss the playoffs altogether.
Just about every analyst who has been asked about the Islanders has given a universal answer: "It's going to be impossible to outwork the Islanders. Ted Nolan will make sure they give it their all, and Rick DiPietro can keep them in just about any game. However, their anemic offense will make sure they don't score enough goals to be considered serious playoff contenders." We've all heard this one before; maybe earlier in the season, we dismissed it as hearsay. Now, it cannot be denied - this team simply cannot score goals.
And here's the bad part - goal scorers need great playmakers to get them the puck. Aside from Comrie, who's going to do that? In this decade, we've seen Alexei Yashin and Miroslav Satan be rather ineffective compared to their prior stops due largely to the lack of a supporting cast. With Satan a likely goner after this season, it'll be time to bring in the next big-ticket scorer. Think about this - if the Islanders somehow manage to land Marian Hossa on July 1, can we even be certain he'll be three-fourths as effective?
We're seeing some positive signs out of the young guys, a.k.a. the only players on the team who are doing anything. In time, Jeff Tambellini could be a 30-goal scorer and Blake Comeau could be a great power forward. But, for now, the Isles are going to be looking at some lean nights offensively. And with the playoffs looming, and with two games coming up against the red-hot Rangers, the Isles are in serious trouble.
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