Aww.
Drinking game rules ARE in effect tonight, at least where I am. Follow along at your own pace. Tonight's wild card - every time you see the "hole in the throat" voice-box guy, drink. If he concludes his commercial with a line drenched in self-pity (i.e. "I am always afraid of bad news", "I used to love swimming"), chug. Again, sucks for that guy, but these ads are a bit much for my tastes. We don't need to see these five times a game.
Enough about that guy, though. We've got live hockey coming up tonight! Islanders and Devils! Let's get started with some random notes...
- I wore my Mike Comrie shirt to work today. Part of my motivation was for tonight's game, but there's something more. It was also to commemorate what was approximately my 10,000th viewing of his MVK NYC commercial. Let's make every ticket count! On a serious note, that's a pretty good cause Comrie has aligned himself with. If people would donate their tickets instead of bolstering the considerable profits of StubHub every time they couldn't make a game, maybe the game could grow a little more.
- As you watch the Devils tonight, keep this tidbit in mind, because it absolutely blew me away. Apparently, the Devils have a policy on their uniform numbers. Players only get to choose from numbers one through forty, with the only exceptions being marquee players. I found this out from, of all places, Kevin Weekes' Wikipedia page. Initially, I dismissed it as just another bogus Wikipedia fact. But then I thought about it, and I couldn't remember a Devils player ever wearing a number higher than 40 aside from Alexander Mogilny. Curious, I e-mailed noted Devils fan Greg Wyshynski. His response? "Absolutely true." He also pointed out that Doug Gilmour was another player who got to wear a high number because of his stature as an elite player. How about that?
- We're not entirely sure what to expect from tonight's broadcast, with one notable exception. Deb Kaufman/Placey is out as sideline reporter. Her replacement is the infamous C.J. Papa, formerly of the "C.J. Papa Intermission Report" which aired between periods at the Coliseum. It usually consisted of an awkward interview and some barely audible insight into the previous 20 minutes of play. Anyway, if you want a sneak preview of what to expect, check out this blog written by someone who claims to be C.J. Papa. We can only hope it's an impostor. Anyway, Deb is headed off to the greener pastures of MSG, NY, following in the hard-to-fill footsteps of Jonathan Coachman.
- Wonderful news, Islander fans! Since the Rangers are playing on MSG and the Devils' broadcast will be on MSG Plus, the Islanders' broadcast will be on the true home of hockey. That, of course, would be C-Span 2. Check your local listings to see if you even have this channel.
- Your former Islanders count for tonight is at a robust three - Michael Rupp, Kevin Weekes, and Brent Sutter. Drink one for Sutter, who was a total d-bag throughout the Isles' 2006 search for a head coach, swore he'd never leave Red Deer, then left for the Devils' job within a year.
- MSG is showing the Rangers' pre-game. MSG Plus is showing the Devils' pre-game. MSG Plus 2, as C-Span 2 is affectionately being called tonight, is showing speeches from the U.S Senate. From Thursday. Oy.
- As long as we're dumping on Sutter, let's point out this tidbit - the Devils, for all of their "run and gun" talk last year, actually scored fewer goals than they did in the 2003-04 season.
- Breaking news from the Devils' pre-game - Rick DiPietro is OUT for tonight. Joey MacDonald gets the start. Gulp.
- Interesting highlight package from the Devils' crew. They did a package of their returning players, highlighted by a Bobby Holik package in which he scored on Eric Fichaud and the fishermen-clad Islanders.
- 7:00 rolls around... and we still have political talk on C-Span 2. Yuck. Thankfully, we've already started drinking.
- The Devils introduce their lineup to an absolutely dead crowd. Seriously. You can't even hear a pindrop. Judging by the look of the crowd, there are plenty of great seats available, as always.
- The puck drops and the action is fast and fairly furious. Richard Park, wearing the "A" in the absence of Mike "The Pigeon" Sillinger, rings one off the iron. Or, as Doc Emrick says, "the pipe". By the way, C-Span 2 is still showing highlights of the Vice Presidential debate.
- Elias gets a sweet pass in the slot and almost beats MacDonald. We go to our first commercial break and, in the shocker of the century, we still have no Islanders telecast. I bet Howie Rose doesn't have these problems when he calls Mets games on WFAN.
- Panasonic Digital Replay! That's a drink for those of you playing along.
- Here's something I heard last night on Versus that we haven't heard about yet. They aren't going to be cutting to commercial breaks after icing calls anymore. Apparently, coaches figured out the TV timeout schedule and knew they'd be getting a minute to rest if they iced the puck at the right time.
- "It's a power play goal!" Oh wait, wrong home-team announcer. Mark Streit and Doug Weight get their first points as Islanders, as Weight puts one in front of the net, Bill Guerin whiffs on the deflection, but the puck goes off Paul Martin's skate and into the net. 1-0 Islanders! You can bet Martin Brodeur will be whining about this one later on.
- Ten minutes in... and no Howie and Billy yet. Ugh.
- Paul Martin gets his revenge! His slapshot from the point ends up on the stick of Zach Parise, who backhands it in for a goal. We're all tied up. Bah. At least both goals were on the power play.
- Kyle Okposo gets a breakaway chance, but gets held up... PENALTY SHOT!
- Okposo's penalty shot results in a glove save. This results in Chico Resch orgasming, shouting about how nobody should ever go glove side on Martin Brodeur ever again. Whatever. By the way, I'm convinced Chico is wearing a toupee.
- We end the first period with a 1-1 tie. The score is identical over at the Garden. We get an intermission report. I get to feed the baby. She's a lot more cooperative than C-Span 2 has been. STILL no Islander game over there.
- Just by chance checking in on C-Span 2, we have hockey! Our first sighting of Howie Rose and Billy Jaffe, and not a moment too soon. We gladly trade in our HD picture for the dulcet tones of our home team.
- The Devils score! Blast. Patrik Elias practically bowls over Joey MacDonald and shoves the Isles' goalie into the net; the puck goes in with it. The Devils play "Rock & Roll II". That's not our goal song anymore. Thank God.
- The Isles desperately need a fight. Bill Guerin and David Clarkson were jawing before, but they probably won't go. The Isles never got the enforcer they needed. What a surprise. If Mike Comrie leads the team in fight majors again, I might become a Rangers fan.
- Howie and Billy makes us realize how much we missed them. Billy says something about Howie being up for 21 straight hours. Howie's response: "That's 21 hours of sunshine, baby!" We drink to that one. Gotta love Howie Rose.
- Speaking of drinking, we're on our third beers of the night. The drinking game hasn't gone that well because of the lack of Howie, Billy, and DP, but as Leslie says, "This is the kind of game that will make you drink no matter what."
- The Isles hit the post twice on the same shift. Ugh.
- Jeff Tambellini takes a penalty. Tambellini needs to impress, and soon. He's dangerously close to getting typecast as a career minor leaguer. Or maybe it's just a coincidence that he's well over a point-a-game player in the minors, yet has had seventeen points in 79 NHL games.
- Andy Hilbert blows an odd-man rush by whiffing on a nice pass. That never happens.
- Seems like we've been seeing a lot of minor penalties tonight. Maybe the officials are cracking down on obstruction again. Speaking of things that are different, the goalie pads do seem like they're thinner across the board. Thank goodness. As much as I enjoy people referring to goalies as "Michelin Men", smaller pads can only do good things. It'll separate the good goalies from the bad; plus, we'll see more goals.
- Tambellini takes a great chance in front of the net and blows it. Jaffe calls him out on it. Good.
- Not a lot going on in this second period. Just a bunch of failed power plays for both teams. The best part of the second half of this period would have to be a nice shot of Brent Sutter aggressively picking his ear. Leslie wonders aloud if there's buried treasure in there.
- End of the second. We cut to the C.J. Papa Intermission Report... oh wait! We're back to C-Span! Damn.
- Bouncing around the free Center Ice preview during the intermission... Carolina is beating Florida 4-3. Columbus and Dallas just started. No score in Buffalo. Atlanta is beating Washington 4-2... wow. A ton of games are on intermission. Figures.
- The third period ends... and the Islanders are on the power play. I actually laughed out loud when they said that. Of course, two seconds later, Joey MacDonald decides to wail the puck down the ice and over the glass. And two seconds after that, Mike Mottau takes a penalty. 4-on-3 hockey. Maybe now would be a good time to use that speed we heard about all summer.
- The Isles pass the puck around on their 4-on-3, just like we knew they would. We're actually seeing some pretty good up-and-down hockey when the teams are at even strength. The power plays almost seem to be a detriment to the Islanders, because it forces them to play in a specialized way as opposed to open play, when they can do anything they want.
- We're starting to see who's playing really well tonight. I'd include Jon Sim on that list. He deserves the accolades. Also up there are McDonald, Freddy Meyer, and Richard Park.
- Jaffe regales us with about Brendan Witt stepping on a stingray in Nicaragua. This is the same person who told us that he likes pain because it lets him know he's alive. If he can fend off a stingray, he can surely do the same with the Brian Giontas of the world.
- Jaffe, on a roll, mentions the new icing rule. I'm sure that would have come earlier had they, you know, aired the Isles' feed in the first period. Howie is on board with the rule change. So am I. So is Leslie. Apparently, so is Gary Bettman. Crap.
- If this live blog seemed like it lost steam towards the end, don't blame me. Blame the Devils, for completely ruining the offensive flow of the game. The Isles couldn't get MacDonald to the bench in time and they couldn't get any decent shots on Brodeur. Devils win, 2-1. And now, the Rangers are six points ahead of the Islanders.
- The Islanders didn't play awfully tonight, they just didn't play as well as the Devils. It happens. At least the Isles play a winnable game tomorrow night against St. Louis. Now, if they lose that one, it's still not time to worry - they're implementing a new system, and that sort of thing takes time. Hopefully, we see DP tomorrow night, we get a W, and all is well with the world.
Good night!
Weekes went from 80 with the Rangers to 40 with the Devils to 1 with the Devils.
ReplyDeleteJason Krog is another Tambellini. Led the AHL in points, couldn't stick in the NHL.
Did an enforcer make the Isles? I was rooting for that Sudgen guy.
I don't think any enforcers end up making the team. They had like three guys trying out for the job in camp; none of them made the team. It's also worth noting that the team made this big spectacle out of keeping Josh Bailey on the big club, yet he's been a healthy scratch for the first two games.
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