1) Ah, the joys of watching a young team. For those of you keeping count at home, that's three games out of four in which the Islanders have blown leads of two goals or more. In two of those games, they lost in regulation. In a third game, they ended up winning in overtime; thankfully, it was against a Western Conference opponent (Columbus), so the point they gave away can't come back to haunt them. But this is starting to get ridiculous.
It's about time for Howie and Billy to dust off the old cliche we've heard so many times on Long Island: "The Islanders need to play to win instead of playing not to lose." And it's true. The Islanders have a problem keeping the pressure on in the third period, something that happens to just about every team at some point. Truth be told, you'd rather it happen earlier in the season instead of later, not just so you can learn from the whole thing, but so that these things aren't fresh in people's minds when you miss out on the playoffs. But it's a process for this team, even if it probably shouldn't be since like half the team is over 30.
If you're an Islander fan, you have to try your best to forget the egregious choke job you just saw in the third period and focus on the positives. And there were quite a few of those. You saw a number of breakaways, the defense getting in on the offense and getting back in time, and you saw Frans Nielsen have a hand in two goals on the same shift. The record doesn't show it, but things are starting to come around on Long Island. You wish the big names would start scoring goals, but it'll come. For now, even though the Islanders should have at least four more points than they actually do, there's a decent amount to be excited about.
2) Watching this Thrashers team tonight, I thought about the whole "non-traditional hockey market" thing, as I often do when watching teams like Atlanta. What can I say, I'm a dork. Anyway, the arena looked pretty desolate in the early going and, though it filled up pretty well as the night progressed (the same cannot be said for last night's Devils home game), I got a little bummed. Here, you have one of the game's best young stars in Ilya Kovalchuk, the coolest blue scansions in the entire NHL, and nobody really cares. Now, usually when people bring these things up, it's because of the area and because nobody cares about hockey in the South.
I disagree.
Look at Dallas. Is Dallas a "traditional hockey market"? No way. And yet so far this season, the American Airlines Center is playing to 96% capacity. Last year, it was 97% full. The difference between Dallas and Atlanta? Talent.
Think about all of the struggling teams in these markets that are so often ridiculed. Florida hasn't won a playoff series since their run to the Cup finals in 1996. Columbus hasn't even cracked 80 points in a season yet. Phoenix hasn't made the playoffs this century. Nashville might be better off had they not run into Detroit and San Jose every time they made the playoffs. Can you really blame the people in these cities for staying away? What do they have to cheer for?
And consider this. How many of just happened upon a hockey team? I know I'm an Islander fan because my parents were Islander fans. These teams that are playing in "non-traditional hockey markets" are teams that have been implemented over the past fifteen years. In other words, the tradition, the passing down of sport between generations, hasn't happened yet. So it stands to reason that the problem isn't the game of hockey, it's that fans just don't have a reason to get all worked up about these teams with no playoff history and no familial ties.
What does all this mean? Pretty much nothing. People are still going to dump all over the Phoenixes and Nashvilles of the world, just because they're easy targets. However, nobody gives the same treatment to the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats or the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, even though both of those teams are young and aren't top priorities in their respective cities. But as we saw in Tampa Bay just a month ago in the MLB playoffs, all it takes is one playoff run for fans to get excited. There's still hope for fans in Atlanta - even if tonight's announced attendance of 14,122 doesn't seem all that accurate.
It's about time for Howie and Billy to dust off the old cliche we've heard so many times on Long Island: "The Islanders need to play to win instead of playing not to lose." And it's true. The Islanders have a problem keeping the pressure on in the third period, something that happens to just about every team at some point. Truth be told, you'd rather it happen earlier in the season instead of later, not just so you can learn from the whole thing, but so that these things aren't fresh in people's minds when you miss out on the playoffs. But it's a process for this team, even if it probably shouldn't be since like half the team is over 30.
If you're an Islander fan, you have to try your best to forget the egregious choke job you just saw in the third period and focus on the positives. And there were quite a few of those. You saw a number of breakaways, the defense getting in on the offense and getting back in time, and you saw Frans Nielsen have a hand in two goals on the same shift. The record doesn't show it, but things are starting to come around on Long Island. You wish the big names would start scoring goals, but it'll come. For now, even though the Islanders should have at least four more points than they actually do, there's a decent amount to be excited about.
2) Watching this Thrashers team tonight, I thought about the whole "non-traditional hockey market" thing, as I often do when watching teams like Atlanta. What can I say, I'm a dork. Anyway, the arena looked pretty desolate in the early going and, though it filled up pretty well as the night progressed (the same cannot be said for last night's Devils home game), I got a little bummed. Here, you have one of the game's best young stars in Ilya Kovalchuk, the coolest blue scansions in the entire NHL, and nobody really cares. Now, usually when people bring these things up, it's because of the area and because nobody cares about hockey in the South.
I disagree.
Look at Dallas. Is Dallas a "traditional hockey market"? No way. And yet so far this season, the American Airlines Center is playing to 96% capacity. Last year, it was 97% full. The difference between Dallas and Atlanta? Talent.
Think about all of the struggling teams in these markets that are so often ridiculed. Florida hasn't won a playoff series since their run to the Cup finals in 1996. Columbus hasn't even cracked 80 points in a season yet. Phoenix hasn't made the playoffs this century. Nashville might be better off had they not run into Detroit and San Jose every time they made the playoffs. Can you really blame the people in these cities for staying away? What do they have to cheer for?
And consider this. How many of just happened upon a hockey team? I know I'm an Islander fan because my parents were Islander fans. These teams that are playing in "non-traditional hockey markets" are teams that have been implemented over the past fifteen years. In other words, the tradition, the passing down of sport between generations, hasn't happened yet. So it stands to reason that the problem isn't the game of hockey, it's that fans just don't have a reason to get all worked up about these teams with no playoff history and no familial ties.
What does all this mean? Pretty much nothing. People are still going to dump all over the Phoenixes and Nashvilles of the world, just because they're easy targets. However, nobody gives the same treatment to the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats or the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars, even though both of those teams are young and aren't top priorities in their respective cities. But as we saw in Tampa Bay just a month ago in the MLB playoffs, all it takes is one playoff run for fans to get excited. There's still hope for fans in Atlanta - even if tonight's announced attendance of 14,122 doesn't seem all that accurate.
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