The Islanders now head into a six day break for All-Star Weekend festivities. John Tavares is headed to the show this weekend. It’ll be nice to see the Islanders young face of the franchise taking part in the limelight on Sunday. With a goal against Toronto Tuesday night, Tavares is 20-29-49 in the season’s first 48 games. There hasn’t been such a deserving Islander in the ASG in quite a while. By the way, check out this short story on how following JT’s attitude can work toward changing the Islanders’ and it’s fanbases’ attitudes towards the team, each other and the game. And it’s really true.
In youth, I was a swimmer and there was a clear divide between the kids on the school team who were recreational and those that were on hard-practicing private club teams (as is probably true in many youth sports). The rec swimmers didn’t care how they did, stayed up late and ate as they pleased. The exact opposite was true of the club kids — all military attitudes and sticking to strict diet and lifestyle plans. Tavares is the epitome of the kids from the club teams; many days walking into practice with a backpack on and protein shake or water bottle in hand, he’s focused on the task at hand and understands the ‘all encompassing’ nature of the hard work he needs to get to where he wants to be. Whether through yoga, eating healthy or working out, he follows through on everything off the ice to improve on the ice. That attitude clearly pervades through every aspect of his day. If only that could be bottled up and passed around to everyone, organization and fans alike. But now I’m getting side-tracked…
PLAYOFFS? Continue reading →
On Wednesday the Sports Business Journal published an article on the NHL’s local TV ratings, detailing the top and bottom five teams in a number of categories. The Islanders came in 2nd to last in the league in ratings with a .23, down from a .32 last season.
Here’s a rundown of the team’s TV ratings on MSG over the past few years.
2011-12 (to date): .23
2010-11: .32
2009-10: .36
2008-09: .17
Those numbers are percentages of the total number of homes in the local area that are tuned into the Islanders. They seem to be fluctuating quite a bit and obviously a 23% drop this year is not good news. In fact, it’s completely irrelevant news. Continue reading →
At the New York Times, Chris Botta has an exclusive look at “the Science of Hockey,” which will debut on NBCSN this weekend during the All-Star Game. There’s a video of Matt Moulson’s segment over there (pictured above), so give it a look.
Photo courtesy NBC Sports
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Rundown
Jeff Klein, NY Times joins the show in studio
Rangers/Jets
Potential Rangers moves
Pierre McGuire from NBC calls in
The latest on the Devils and potential roster moves
John Tavares and Nino Niederreiter
Rangers at the deadline
Chris and Jeff Isles/Leafs and NHL officiating
Brian Compton of NHL.com calls in
The crew answers fans questions
Around the NHL News and Discussion
Ovechkin suspension and more
Washington Capitals forward Joel Ward’s ascension onto the National Hockey League scene could definitely be looked at as an unconventional one. In spite of beginning his hockey career nearly 15 years ago as a member of the Owen Sound Attack in the Ontario Hockey League, it was a resurgence a few years later playing roller hockey at Hot Skates in nearby Lynbrook that paved a pathway back to the NHL and onto a four-year, $12 million contract in the nation’s capital.
For New York Islanders prospect Rhett Rakhshani, his route to the NHL hopes to follow a similar path as Ward. Yet, it was his love to flow freely in his hometown of Huntington Beach, California on roller skates as a five-year old that gave him the impetus to make the transition onto the ice just a few short years later. Continue reading →
Outsiders tend to wonder why Islander fans have such a chip on their shoulders. This is a fanbase that has seen its share of bad owners, GMs, players and a million other things over the last few decades so there are a lot of scapegoats. If you’re looking for evidence as to why this these chips exist, this 120 minute farce of unpenalized Toronto play over the past two nights is precisely one of the reasons why. Nights like these where there is no respect, no explanations to the coaching staff and a four-point gift handed to the Maple Leafs courtesy of the zebras. It’s swept up under the rug because ‘it’s Long Island, they’re low in the standings and won’t make a ruckus.’
If you’re an outsider reading this blog, that all may sound like sour grapes in the face of back-to-back losses. I understand that. If you take a quick look through the archives, you’ll also notice that very rarely do I write such strongly worded statements.
There’s no denying what happened on the ice tonight — and we’ll get to the good and bad of the Islanders’ play in a moment — but first let’s relive some of the greatest non-calls of the night (illustrations provided for the class). I’d love to make a full photo album of all the penalties that weren’t called, but I don’t have an album with infinite pages. Continue reading →
Please submit your questions in the comment section below or on twitter to @chrisbottanhl for tomorrow’s SNY Metro Pucks Podcast. CB will be talking tri-state hockey with guest Jeff Klein of the New York Times.
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