Just Our Luck

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be an Islander fan, look no further than tonight's events.

A few weeks ago, the Islanders signed Mark Parrish to a 25-game tryout deal. Parrish, of course, had his best years on Long Island and came back to his former club for a second chance. The Islanders granted his request, allowing Parrish the chance to rediscover his game in Bridgeport and work toward a potential comeback with the Islanders. It sounded like the makings of a feel-good story, one we all wanted to see happen.

Then, reality set in.

Dallas swooped in and signed Parrish to a one-year, two-way deal worth $500,000. How did Parrish repay his new employers? By netting a hat trick in his very first game with the Stars, of course. And what did the Islanders get for taking a chance on the second half of Parrish's career? Absolutely nothing.

That's what it's like to be an Islander fan. You get your hopes up thinking about the best possible scenario, only to see things fall apart in the most painful fashion conceivable. Sure, most of us are happy to see Parrish succeeding in the NHL once more. But we have to ask ourselves the question we've asked so many times - if Mark Parrish can fill a role on one of the NHL's best teams in Dallas, why exactly couldn't the Islanders find a spot for him? The same can be said for Dick Tarnstrom, Eric Godard, Denis Grebeshkov, Petteri Nokelainen, and the endless list of former Islanders who couldn't find a niche here, but ended up having decent careers elsewhere. And when was the last time the Islanders unearthed an unheralded player? That would be seven years ago, when Radek Martinek came up. That was a long time ago.

Bottom line, it's no given that Mark Parrish would have been a star once again with the Islanders. But I'm sick of seeing the Islanders do charity work for the rest of the league. They were the only team willing to throw a bone to Parrish, and now that Parrish is the toast of the town, the Islanders are left with nothing. I guess I should be used to this by now. But it's still frustrating.

Notes From My Bed, 11/6/08...

In January of 2006, I went to see the Rangers against the Lightning at the Garden. The game, quite simply, was atrocious. A 0-0 game until the Rangers game up a goal in overtime. Boring, slow, horrendously played. 

Fast forward to November of 2008, and I have two tickets to see the Lightning again at the Garden. So, holding a grudge against the team from Tampa Bay, I sold my tickets to a friend and watched from my bed with my girlfriend and my chubby little dog.

Bad game to sell my tickets! Reminds me of when I sold my tickets to a Devils game in 2006 citing reasons such as the Devils were boring and I hate Martin Brodeur. The Rangers scored 3 goals in 90 seconds in that game and won 3-2.

Good Effort

The Rangers didn't just get lucky today, they outplayed Tampa Bay. Yes, they had some bad plays. A bad line change, a few bad penalties, some sloppy defense; they overcame those flaws with solid defense the rest of the game, hard work, good backchecking, and an offense that clicked more often than not.

Power Play Ineptitude

Gomez-Naslund-Drury-Redden-Rozsival were on the power play for 80 seconds and didn't score. Callahan-Dubinsky-Zherdev get on the ice, and 10 seconds later, put the Rangers up 1-0. If I were coach (which I am not and chances are will never be), I would immediately put the line that scored on the ice first for the next power play. But what does Tom Renney do? He puts the non-performing line back on the ice.

While the Rangers PP did click today, their 5-on-3 was atrocious again, until Chris Drury was in the right place at the right time for his 3rd goal. They consistently play too close to the net, which a) doesn't tire out the penalty killers like it should and b) gives them less room to shoot and more room for the shot to be blocked. If the point men played the blue line, the shots would be deflected more, the PKers would tire out faster, and rebounds would be plentiful. Instead, when a shot is blocked, it is easily cleared.

Hat Tricks

Drury finally had a great game. His second goal was a great one-timer (of which the Rangers need more instead of "setting up the shot"). His first of the game put the soon-to-be-a-backup Mike Smith on his rear and was a great play. His third goal was just good timing and a veteran's shot. A rookie might've missed that but he nailed a low-angle shot.

However, the captain's trio of goals wasn't the only hat trick of the night. Garden fan favorite and now Lightning defenseman #22 had what will now be known as a Marek Malik Hat Trick... two penalties and an assist!

Stunning Conclusion

All together, a very enjoyable game. Isn't that why we watch? Entertainment?

No. I watch so I can dance after a goal and make my dog crazy.

A very fun game to watch, five goals scored, a hat trick by a Ranger on home ice, Aaron Voros with two fights including punching the goalie's mask, a good team effort, a Melrose Mullet, and some great saves by Henrik Lundqvist that guaranteed two points for the good guys. What else can you ask for?

Two Thoughts

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.

Islanders Win Game 2

Well, that was unexpected.

I sort of expected the Islanders to crap out at some point. Maybe I was just preparing myself for the worst. You sort of learn to do that every now and again when you support this team. But it didn't happen. If anything, the Islanders got stronger as the game went on.

The first period was some pretty awful hockey. In fact, let's forget it ever happened. The second was a little better, but the Rangers pretty much dominated play. It wasn't until the third period that things got going... or, to put it more appropriately, for the Rangers to shoot themselves in the foot.

Two horrendous giveaways on the power play led the Islanders to score two shorthanded goals. And while I'm still not convinced that their standing as the team with the most shorthanded goals in the NHL means anything more than that they take a lot of stupid penalties, those two goals were huge. That they came from the likes of Nate Thompson and Richard Park is quite telling. Because these are the players the make the Islanders a tough team to play against. Nobody's under the illusion that the Islanders are an extremely talented team, but when you're going against guys like Thompson and Park, you have to work a lot harder to win.

After those two shorthanded goals, the Rangers were putty in the Islanders' hands. The Rangers immediately started pressing, trying to make the perfect play. That never works. The Rangers got frustrated, as evidenced by Nigel Dawes dropping the gloves with Jeff Tambellini with less than ten minutes left in the third period. The Rangers ended up getting one to make things interesting, but the game effectively ended after the Isles' secondhanded goal.

So, who to blame for tonight's poor performance by the Rangers? Pretty much everybody. Michal Rozsival is going to get the blame for much of this loss - Billy Jaffe said it best when he said Rozsival was "guilty of not being effective" - but you can also pin some of this on the offense for not scoring, on Dmitri Kalinin for being Dmitri Kalinin, and on Henrik Lundqvist for getting beat on the second goal, which he easily should have had.

For the Islanders? Much of the team played well, even if the supposed "scorers" continued what has pretty much been a season-long vacation. The star of the show would have to be Joey MacDonald, who probably played the best game of his career. Islander fans needed to see this kind of performance out of Joey MacDonald. Going into the building of your biggest rival and coming within 100 seconds of a shutout is pretty special. Plus, his performance led to this post-game exchange between C.J. Papa and Stan Fischler...

C.J.: So, Stan, what'd you see out there tonight?
Stan: I'll tell you what I saw, and it was Old MacDonald's Farm! "And a save-save here and a save-save there, here a save, there a save, everywhere a save-save!"

Had they heard this, I think even the Ranger fans among us would have to say it was all worth it. And as someone who hears these nursery rhymes dozens of times a day, it made me particularly happy. Every MSG Plus broadcast makes me a smarter hockey fan, but a dumber person. And for that, I'd like to thank everybody involved in making the magic happen, from Howie and Billy to C.J. and Stan. You all do a wonderful job.

Anyway.

Jaffe brought up the dreaded "Ranger hangover" in the same sentence as "Thursday's winnable game against Atlanta". Gulp. Make no mistake about it, the Islanders will be destroyed by an awful Thrashers team. The Islanders have been pretty awesome lately, but it can't last forever. At least not as long as guys like Mike Comrie and Doug Weight aren't scoring goals. The Rangers, on the other hand, are facing a Tampa Bay team on Thursday that has won three straight games and are finally living up to their pre-season hype. It's about time. To be honest, the Rangers-Lightning game will be a better one than Islanders-Thrashers. But like tonight, it'll be a good night for hockey in New York.

Coach Switch...

Considering how often Tom Renney switches up lines when they are clicking (Zherdev-Dubinsky-Voros, Drury-Callahan-Dawes, Gomez-Naslund, Cullen-Prucha-Ortmeyer), why does he never switch the power play lines up?

How many times last year did Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan not score before he started throwing Petr Prucha out there? Oh, he didn't switch them up. This year, it's been Drury-Gomez-Naslund-Redden-Rozsival the whole year for about 80 seconds, then they lose the puck, and Zherdev, Dubinsky, and others take their place with 30 seconds to score.

Blair Betts technically has scored more times than Chris Drury, yet Drury goes out time and again to swipe at pucks and miss. (I saw "technically" because while they both have 2 goals, one of Drury's was barely a goal and he hardly touched it before it deflected in from behind the net.) Rozsival has one PP goal. In tonight's game against the Islanders (currently in the 3rd period), he has been responsible for more SH goals than that. Embarrassing.

Am I saying Betts is the answer? Obviously not. But why not have Nik Zherdev, Brandon Dubinsky, and Aaron Voros get a crack at it? Prucha would love some PP time. So would Ryan Callahan.

For Pete's sake (not Prucha's), Joey MacDonald is a career backup goaltender who the Rangers are making look like Dominik Hasek, not the guy who backed him up for 8 games in Detroit two years ago. They are making him look like an All-Star with their low angle shots that go right into the crest on his jersey. 

10-3-1, 10-4-1, 11-3-1, 10-3-2, whatever they end up after tonight, their power play is atrocious and while Renney keeps telling reporters he's going to change things, I'm very skeptical about it.

Finally, Something Good to Happen in Jersey...

Traditionally, the loneliest jobs in the NHL are backup goalies to Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur. Kevin Weekes took the job in Jersey, and probably never saw himself as the Devils' starting goaltender. Since 1995, the least amount of games Brodeur has played is 67, and in every other season he has played in atleast 70. 

Yes, it was curious when Weekes signed on in New Jersey, considering he still saw himself as a starting goalie. Well, now he has the chance to prove himself.

A lot of outlets are predicting the Devils make a trade, and they are saying they should get Dwayne Roloson from Edmonton. Two problems with this...

1) They are guessing. They have no clue. Lou Lamoriello runs a tight-lipped ship in Newark and there are historically very few leaks and rumors to come out of there. People are estimating, and since Edmonton has 3 goalies, they are attaching Roloson's name there in hopes of being right.

2) Roloson is on a roll and is the starting goalie in Edmonton. Nearly traded last year at the trade deadline, he is now higher than Mathieu Garon on the depth chart in Oilerland. 

Anyway, personally, I think the Devils should run with Weekes, but when they falter, they shouldn't blame him. The team there has been living on "the system" and Brodeur for the past three seasons. This year, the system isn't all there, and Brodeur is now gone. They don't have the forwards to put 4 goals in every night, and now they won't have those 2-1, 1-0, 3-1 games anymore.

However, I won't go further right now. There are more pressing issues at hand: a national election, and more importantly, a Ranger-Islander game at the Garden, where the Islanders always come out flying.

The Rivalry: Game 2

Leave it to the NHL to schedule one of the biggest draws of either local team on a night when nobody will be paying attention.

Tonight's Islanders-Rangers clash will take a back seat to another battle; of course, that would be the battle for the White House. And even though New York will be a blue state pretty much no matter what, focus on the Blueshirts might be limited, even at the Garden. And that's a shame. Because the Islanders are playing their best hockey of the season, which means they should give the Rangers a pretty good run for their money. The Rangers, in spite of blowing a two-goal lead in remarkable fashion on Saturday, still have the league's best record and the second-best penalty kill.

What to expect tonight? Hard to say. Both of these teams have experience in blowing leads lately, with the Islanders losing three-goal leads in each of their last two games. This may mean a decrease in the rough stuff, as neither Tom Renney nor Scott Gordon is going to want their players taking dumb penalties. That said, look for Mitch Fritz to dress for the Islanders and for him or Nate Thompson to be involved in at least one fight, probably with Colton Orr. It should be an exciting game, one that both teams will get up for.

And for my prediction? 5-2 Rangers. The Islanders will come out strong, but fade as the effect of playing on back-to-back nights starts to kick in. The Rangers, having learned their lesson from Saturday night, will stay all over the Islanders until the final buzzer. The score won't really do the game much justice, as the Islanders will put up their best fight in the third; however, they're just not good enough to compete with a well-rested Rangers team.

Enjoy the game.

(Crappy) Hockey Night In Canada

How do you describe what happened to both New York teams last night?

The hour between 8:30 and 9:30 last night was one of the more surreal I can recall. I was at Hooters with some friends. The Islanders were on many of the TVs, but our table had the Islanders and Rangers side-by-side. Things were looking good for both teams; the Islanders were playing really well and had taken a 4-1 lead, while the Rangers were blanking the Maple Leafs behind the goaltending of Steve Valiquette. Suddenly, things took a turn for the bizarre.

The Canadiens scored to make it 4-2. Toronto scored to make it 2-1. And that's when all hell broke loose. It was literally back-and-forth. Every time you looked up and saw the Canadiens celebrating a goal, you'd look a few feet over and see the Toronto fans going wild after a goal in their game. All in all, Canadian teams outscored New York teams in the third period by a score of 9-0. And it was really unfortunate because I wanted to rub it in to Ranger fans that they'd just let up five goals in five minutes. Of course, since the Islanders had just blown a three-goal lead, so I couldn't say a word. Worst lead in hockey? You bet.

Thankfully, we all had a mutual reason to be happy later on in the night - we found out Martin Brodeur got hurt. At least we can all agree on something.

Draft Day Blunders In New York

Looking for a laugh today?

Well, here you go. Today, the Rangers traded away former first round pick Hugh Jessiman to the Nashville Predators. What do the Rangers get in return, you ask? That would be the classic "future considerations", which can be anything from a crappy overpaid player to a bucket of hockey pucks to a nice meal the next time the Rangers go down to Nashville. Apparently, Jessiman struggled with a high ankle sprain for much of his career. Now, those of us who play fantasy football know that a high ankle sprain is one of those injuries that affects you for a long, long time. That said, Jessiman was drafted five years ago, and you can only blame injuries for so long.

There will be no stones thrown from this glass house. We all know Jessiman never played an NHL game, the only first-rounder chosen in 2003 with that distinction. Of course, that same year, the Islanders passed up the obvious choice of Zach Parise in favor of Robert Nilsson, he of the nineteen career goals. While the link above makes light of the Rangers' awful first-round draft record, the Islanders don't exactly have anything to brag about. Remember the 1999 draft, when the Islanders had four first-round picks? Taylor Pyatt, Tim Connolly, Branislav Mezei, and Mike Rupp barely combine to form one above-average player, let alone the four star players the Islanders thought they drafted. Let's not forget about Raffi Torres with the #5 pick in 2000, the Jason Spezza debacle in 2001, and of course, the selling off of 2004, 2006, and 2007 first-round picks for Ryan Smyth and two playoff home games. Hell, aside from Kyle Okposo, the best player the Islanders picked in the first round was Petteri Nokelainen in 2004, and he got dumped off to Boston for Ben Walter. Walter and Jeff Tambellini, point-a-game players in the AHL but horrendous players in the NHL, will combine to provide an extremely capable scoring line for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers for many years to come.

So, having said all that, let's just agree that neither of our teams can draft well in the first round and leave it at that. Okay? Okay.

The Worst Organization in Sports...

On this blog, I have often called the Florida Panthers the worst organization in all of sports.

Well, kudos to the Panthers. Various sources are reporting that they laid off ten workers citing a bad economy. Somewhere, however, they found the money to sign Jassen Cullimore to a one-year deal.

Cullimore, for those who don't know, is the lazy player the Blackhawks and Canadiens both desperately tried to trade after realizing that his $1.9M salary was way too much to be giving away for free.

No word yet on the terms of the contract, but let's say it's atleast $650,000. Sounds like to afford that, 10 or so jobs would need to be cut. (EDIT: It's $830,000.)

Viva Las Vegas?

I don't know much about life. But there is one thing of which I'm absolutely certain. There is no such thing as a coincidence. Everything happens for a reason. And in the sports world, everything outside of the games themselves are done for a reason.

After reporting that the Islanders were a little too aggressive in promoting their Lighthouse Project last Thursday, I just assumed it was the Islanders shoving this thing down our throats. After all, that's what they've always done. But the next day at work, additional pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place. A co-worker said that fans were chanting "Go To Vegas!" at the Islanders, with the backstory being that Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer was interested in moving an NHL team to Las Vegas. Apparently, Bruckheimer's interest in Vegas has cooled, but that's a city that's dying for a pro franchise; hockey could be the sport to get it done. After hearing that, I thought back to last Thursday's episode of NHL Live. E.J. Hradek was talking about the Islanders and mentioned how the Lighthouse Project was taking forever and that Charles Wang couldn't lose money on the Islanders forever. Then, to top it all off, Mike Milbury was on Hockey Night in Canada on Sirius on Friday. While talking about the Islanders, he intimated that hockey on Long Island could be a thing of the past, not just because nobody goes to the games, but because hockey isn't a big enough of a youth sport on Long Island to sustain interest in the Islanders.

That's when I got really worried. And that's when I made a prediction for which I'll hate myself should it come true: Within the next five years, the Islanders will be playing in a different city.

Don't believe me? Scroll up to two paragraphs ago. That should be all the proof you need. Why would the Islanders suddenly start shilling the Lighthouse Project on MSG Plus unless there was a reason for it? It's not like C.J. Papa came in on Thursday and said, "You know what? I don't have much to talk about in my intermission report. Why don't I constantly bring up the Lighthouse Project?" It doesn't work that way. My theory is that Charles Wang instructed MSG Plus to prominently feature the Lighthouse Project in Thursday's broadcast in order to put pressure on the Nassau County legislators, who have done a remarkable job in delaying this thing, to finally approve the project.

And if that's not enough for you, this one should erase any doubt in your mind. Just for fun, I went to the Lighthouse's website earlier today, just to see if it said anything particularly notable - as in, anything that would validate my blackest fears. I was greeted by a cheesy rock song and a wonderful graphic of the entire project as it's currently drawn up. However, I wasn't satisfied, and so I dug deeper. And sure enough, buried in the FAQ section of the website, came this nugget...

Q: Will the approval of the Lighthouse project ensure that the Islanders will not move?
A: As part of the proposal submitted by Nassau County Legislature, the New York Islanders would extend their current lease agreement at the Coliseum until 2025. The Islanders are Long Island's only major league professional sports team.

You can interpret this question in one of two ways. You can either see it as Charles Wang and company preying on the fears of Islander fans in order to get them more involved in seeing this thing through. Or, you can see it as Wang being as bluntly honest as he's always been. And when it comes to these big companies and big PR firms, you have to look for what they're not saying. As in, by saying that the Lighthouse will ensure that the Islanders don't move, what they're really saying is that if the Lighthouse Project is rejected, the Islanders will be forced to move to another city.

Now, before you get upset with me for saying this or for Charles Wang for thinking of cutting his losses, ask yourself this question: Can you really blame him?

Look at the situation Charles Wang finds himself in. He's stuck in a bad building with a horrible lease. He's got a team that many have earmarked for the bottom of the league. He's got a fanbase that would rather stay home than come out and support what they feel is a losing product. And that last one is key. It's hard to fight the good fight and convince Charles Wang to keep the Islanders on Long Island when last Saturday, with no significant competition and a 2-for-1 ticket promotion, they drew 11,219 fans. Even the Rangers' visit to the Coliseum on Monday didn't sell the building out. At the same time, pretty much everyone on Long Island is broke; even a great team wouldn't guarantee the sellouts that are needed to pump revenue into the organization.

It's a total Catch-22. But it sort of explains a lot. It helps to explain why the Islanders have been so hesitant to embrace a youth movement, as much as the Islanders have desperately needed one. If you want to take it back a little bit, you could even make the argument that the Ryan Smyth trade was made in order to make a Cup run, which would then make this whole Lighthouse Project a lot easier to sell to the politicians. After all, it'd be a sold-out building they'd be upgrading, and that's a lot easier to stomach than one that's half-full. Now that the Islanders have committed to youth for the foreseeable future, it's very possible that this is the last chance the Islanders, as they currently exist, will have to rebuild. If this current crop of youngsters doesn't work out and the Islanders are still getting killed on their current lease, with no Lighthouse in sight and no fans in the current seats, Wang might have to move on.

It's a tough thing to think about. And I'd love to be wrong about all of this. But I definitely think there's reason to worry. I also think there's a lot that we, as Islanders fans, can do about this. We can make our voices heard. Maybe we can try to get to some more games. Maybe we can wear our Islanders gear with a little more pride. We all know that no matter how bad Ranger fans give it to us, it's nothing compared to the pain we'd feel if the Islanders went off to some other city. Especially because you know that's when they'd finally start to get good.

Let's do our part to avoid such a scenario. I don't want the Islanders to be some franchise that moves because the fans don't care enough. That would be a shame. Let's do our best to give Charles Wang a reason to stay, Lighthouse or no Lighthouse.

Rangers 4, Islanders 2: A Live Report

It's a fun tradition in my life. Every time someone buys me tickets to a sporting event for my birthday, things usually go horribly wrong. For my 25th birthday two years ago, my brother got me tickets to Game 7 of the Mets-Cardinals NLCS. A crushing ninth-inning home run ended the Mets' season. The next year, my brother got me tickets to the Mets-Marlins season finale, which was interesting for all of ten minutes before Tom Glavine secured the Mets' ticket to collapse immortality. This year, I told my brother to put the kibosh on sports tickets. But that didn't stop my friend Leslie, she of the half-season ticket plan, from offering me a game for free for my birthday. Ignoring my previous history with birthday tickets and the heartbreak that inevitably follows, I chose tonight's Islanders-Rangers game.

Whoops.

The evening started out innocently enough. Unfortunately, there wasn't time for parking lot hockey or pre-game boozing, but there was time for Checkers. We brought it to the parking lot, where we saw an obscene amount of Ranger jerseys. Uh-oh. Fortunately, a car of Islander fans pulled up next to us. They brought Coors Light, a weak choice, but I had to let it slide. Even when they drilled my car with the football they were throwing around, I was totally fine. After all, one of them had an old-school wavy jersey, just like the one I was wearing. I went with my Zigmund Palffy throwback; Leslie wore her Trent Hunter RBK Edge jersey.

We headed into the Coliseum, still aghast at the number of Ranger jerseys we saw on the way in. Immediately upon entering, we were handed a pamphlet full of Islanders propaganda along with a flyer showing the team's new third jersey, which had just been unveiled about 90 minutes prior. I got a press release in my e-mail from Corey Witt, but I ended up getting an even better view of the jersey...

Clearly, this was going to be a good night.

We decided to head down for warmups, something Zach got me into doing when we went to an Islanders-Coyotes game last year. The first goalie we saw was Yann Danis, which was a pretty clear sign that Rick DiPietro wouldn't be playing. Warmups were fun enough, but even more entertaining were the scores of bad jerseys I saw throughout the Coliseum. Particularly notable jerseys included, but were not limited to: Garth Snow, Mattias Weinhandl, Chris Simon (Islanders), and Dan Blackburn. There were some impressive ones too, including Rich Pilon, Aaron Voros, and Henrik Lundqvist's Swedish league jersey.

Finally, it was gametime. Much of the crowd hadn't found their seats by the time Chris Drury opened up the scoring with his first goal just 56 seconds into the game. But the Islanders ended up being the better team for much of the first period, with Kyle Okposo's goal being pretty much the first thing he's done all season for the Islanders. After the first period, we headed down to Knucklehead's at Gate 20. The former Dom's Deli locations are now called Knuckleheads, serve a variety of exotic beers (including Bluepoint), and have tables and a nice atmosphere. I ended up going with a Sly Fox Pilsner, which wasn't all that great; fortunately, the pretzel twist that went with it was exquisite. I swear, there is no better arena snack in the entire world than the Nassau Coliseum pretzel twist.

We got back to our seats just in time for the second period, which was pretty uneventful. It was nice to see a fight between these two teams. Even though it wasn't the best fight, it was something to get things going. After the second, we watched the in-arena entertainment, which quite honestly sucked. The new arena interviewer asked Mike Comrie perhaps the dumbest question of all time: "What do you need to do in the third period to tie up the game?" Um, how about, SCORE A GOAL?!? The insanity didn't end there, as there's now a thing where you can text anything you want to some number and the text appears on the scoreboard. Leslie's text ("Marry Me, Hilbert!") appeared on the scoreboard; my text ("Buy a pretzel twist") didn't. You could also vote on which song the Islanders would come out to as the third period began. All three choices were pretty cliche choices, as was pretty much all the rest of the music we heard tonight. Or, at least, that music which wasn't of the emo persuasion. Ugh.

Anyway, the third period told the story of the game. It also shed some light on the significant gap between the two teams. Though they performed admirably for the first 40 minutes, the Islanders just didn't have what it takes to hang with the Rangers for a full 60 minutes. Even before taking a ton of dumb penalties, the Islanders didn't show a great deal in the third. The Islander fans in attendance, on the other hand, did show quite a bit in the third period, resulting in a number of fights in the crowd. These proved to be more entertaining than the game. Of particular note during the Islanders' denoument was the time the Islanders gave the Rangers a five-on-three, resulting in a Chris Drury goal just moments later. But to me, the moment that told the story was when Aaron Voros nearly beheaded Jack Hillen by dumping him into the boards. Bill Guerin immediately jumped all over Voros, knocking him to the ground and punching him. Honestly, Guerin probably deserved a fight instigator and game misconduct, but it never happened. What's important, though, is that nobody else bothered to defend Hillen. The game ended without incident and, thanks to Scott Gordon waiting until there were ten seconds left to pull Joey MacDonald, the Islanders never stood a real chance of coming back.

(NOTE: Zach informs me that the Islanders were trying to get MacDonald over to bench for some time, only MacDonald wasn't paying attention and only got the message when the Islanders started banging on the boards. To be honest, I'm not sure which is worse - MacDonald not paying attention, or Gordon taking way too long to pull the goalie for like the fifth game in a row. Whichever truth you believe, it's not good.)

That Guerin/Voros play was the key to the game. Here, you have your captain and a leading scorer from last year fighting the physical battles, the kind of things your enforcer should be doing. And that's the Islanders' problem. They don't have any purely physical forces to intimidate the opposition. They also don't have a sniper that changes the way opponents organize their defenses. The Islanders aren't just a young team, they're a young team with no identity. They should look at their rivals and learn some hard lessons about life in the NHL. You need to be able to play every style in order to be a successful team. The Rangers can plug in size if they need size, speed if they need speed. Tonight, the Rangers sensed that the Islanders didn't have the horses to play the physical game these teams usually play, so they threw Petr Prucha in there. Not that Prucha made the difference or anything, but it shows the difference between these two teams. One team can give a number of different looks; the other can only hope to play their "system", whatever that is.

Leaving the Coliseum, we talked about all of these things while simultaneously noting that these Islanders-Rangers games are sort of getting old. We estimated an approximate 60-40 split, with the Rangers' faithful being the dominant group. Now, most times, road team fans keep to themselves and stick to cheering for their team. Not so with Ranger fans. They stuck it to Islander fans every chance they got, which is the fan's reward for winning. Still, it's annoying to come out, support your team against their biggest rivals, and get crapped all over for doing so. This whole "Garden East" reputation isn't going anywhere until the Islanders get better, which could take a while. I guess it's just another thing us Islander fans are going to have to deal with.

After the game was over, I head to Miller Ale House to watch Monday Night Football with some friends. While at the Ale House, I saw a ton of Islanders and Rangers shirts, jerseys, and hats. Maybe hockey isn't dead after all. That sort of made me happy.

The rest of the night? Not so much. Tonight served as a sobering reminder that the Islanders are light years behind the Rangers and that Ranger fans by far outnumber Islander fans on Long Island. But hey, if you're an Islander fan, it can't get much worse. You're fifteen points behind the Rangers. They have the best record in the league; you have the worst. You've already hit rockbottom in October, so the coming months should only bring better things. And if you're a Ranger fan, you might dismiss tonight's game as "only" a victory over the Islanders. But you also went on the road and beat a team that always plays you tough. You outlasted their best efforts and not only found a way to win, but to win convincingly. That's impressive.

So Round 1 of this season's rivalry goes to the Rangers. Congratulations, Ranger fans. I guess.

On that note, I'm going to go drink some more. I leave you with this question. Suppose Joey MacDonald, after taking a slapshot off his mask, ended up with a concussion and had to miss some time. Would the Islanders still publicly proclaim his concussion as an "undisclosed injury"?

Rangers Win Rivalry Game #1...

Since Bryan was actually at the game whilst I sat on a red plush couch in my house eating cold pasta and rubbing my dog's fat belly, I'll make my notes quick.

But I would like to say congratulations to Chris Drury for finally not being awful. His first goal wasn't a great goal, but credited to his nonetheless. His second goal, however, was a great blast.

The officiating tonight was horrendous, but atleast they called bad calls on both teams. I'm all for bad refereeing, as long as it's fair. For instance, when Bruno Gervais "took down" Nigel Dawes and got 2 minutes, that was a very bad call. However, when Markus Naslund was repeatedly cross-checked from behind, no call was made. Interesting to say the least.

The Islanders didn't play bad today, regardless of the score. Injury-depleted and filled with marginal NHLers (there is a reason Thomas Pock didn't make the Rangers' squad this year or last), they put up a fight but couldn't solve Henrik Lundqvist more than twice. A few bad penalties (those simultaneous high-sticking calls were the fork in the cake) and some great saves (especially those early on against Trent Hunter) were their downfall.

Nik Zherdev had an assist, but other than that, a weak game. I noticed no real quality scoring chances (I could be wrong there but I didn't see anything) and plenty of bad giveaways, including but not limited to a behind-the-back pass to an Islander in the slot in front of Lundqvist.

The Rangers did have a power play goal, yes, but their 5-on-3 is very weak. They keep collapsing the point men so they can get close shots, but they aren't tiring out the penalty killers by doing that. If they passed from the point to down low and back again, the 3 penalty killers would be like mice in a maze and get worn down quickly, setting up for a great shot. However, there is little movement by the defending team, keeping them fresher.

That's it for me. I hand it over to Bryan. Aside from Bryan talking about $6.50 Bud Lights, parking lot hockey with a mini-net, and delicious pretzel twists, I'd also like to know the breakdown between Ranger fans and Islander fans and who was sitting on the Isles' bench as back-up goalie because I didn't notice.

The Rivalry: Game 1

So here we are - finally, the Islanders and Rangers face off.

It's been a while for these two teams. In fact, they didn't even play in the pre-season. The last time the Islanders played the Rangers, the Isles fielded an AHL-caliber team and beat the Rangers in a shootout in the Islanders' final game of the season. The night before, the Rangers and their fans made the Coliseum their own, clinching a playoff spot in enemy territory. But it's the two games that preceded the final two that are particularly noteworthy.

After Jeff Tambellini's shootout goal against Henrik Lundqvist silenced Madison Square Garden, the Islanders sat just three points back of a playoff spot. We all know what happened two nights later. Ex-coach Ted Nolan decided to play Wade Dubielewicz instead of Rick DiPietro, the Islanders got killed at home, the Islanders lost their next five games, and that was pretty much the season. The Rangers, on the other hand, proceeded to go 7-3-4 to finish out the season and made it to the second round of the playoffs.

Even with that background, it seems like a tepid buildup to tonight's game. These two rivals barely have any animosity these days. Part of that is because their respective talent levels are so far apart. Part of it is the lack of villains on either side, with both Chris Simon and Sean Avery playing for other teams. And with Rick DiPietro likely out for tonight's game (he's currently nursing a... oh wait, I forgot the Islanders don't disclose injuries anymore), it's almost like these teams have no mutual emnity.

I, for one, don't expect the Islanders to come away with a victory tonight. More than anything, I'd like for them to spice this rivalry up a bit. I don't even know if Ranger fans would consider the Islanders their biggest rivals anymore, which is a shame. The Islanders always play the Rangers tough, and they always play the Rangers physically. We could have a Mitch Fritz sighting and hopefully a fight or two. Forget the score. I just want to see some fire in this team. And the Rangers are the only team that can bring it out of the Islanders.

Enjoy the game. I'll be there, though I'm not Blog Boxing tonight. Pending sobriety, we should have more thoughts later.

Kudos to Doug Weight...

I forgot to mention this on my earlier post, and as a Ranger fan, it's tough for me to praise the Islanders. However, if life were a MySpace blog post, I would give "2 kudos" to Doug Weight for his hit on Brandon Sutter Saturday night.

Brandon, son of Devil's coach and all-around nice guy Brent (does sarcasm come out well online?), is a cheap-shot artist himself who has never seen a dirty hit he didn't like.

Am I saying that Weight's hit was dirty? Absolutely, positively not. He never left his feet. He didn't hit with an elbow. It was just a rock-hard, solid hit. It was the kind people praised Scott Stevens for when he delivered them.

I'm also saying Sutter deserved it. Now, I'm not one to root for the injury of others, and indeed, Sutter didn't have any injuries suffered. But he is a Ryan Hollweg-type player, going for the hit regardless of the situation, regardless of the safety of the other player involved. Witness him doing a Raiden-esque Torpedo (you know, from Mortal Kombat) on Alexei Cherepanov for no reason other than to injure. Maybe his revered hockey family never taught him that leaving your feet to hit someone is illegal. (Oh, wasn't dad coaching?) And injure he did, as Cherepanov didn't play in another game in the 8 game series (the hit was in Game 2).

Once again, I'm not rooting for the injury of Sutter. But I am saying that this completely legal hit was a fantastic moment on Super Saturday in the NHL. People are calling for Weight to be suspended, for the league to look into this matter because it was a head hit. Hey, if Weight was shorter, it would have been a check to his shoulders. You can't fault a man for being tall.