Monthly Archives: April 2009
The Islanders did not medically clear Sean Bergenheim to play for Finland in the 2009 World Championships in Switzerland. The team did not medically clear Frans Nielsen to play for Denmark to play in the Worlds.
And I don’t blame the team one bit. From this corner, there is only one story worth covering in the World Championships – one I hope I never have to write.
The one about an Islanders player suffering a significant injury.
Other than that, there’s nothing there. I get that it’s a big deal in some parts, but for good reason there’s no buzz for it here. Let’s be honest: if the World Championships really mattered, they wouldn’t be held, um, during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Kyle Okposo wouldn’t be jumping on a plane on Sunday, practicing Monday, playing an exhibition game Tuesday and then beginning Team USA’s tournament play.
The World Championships are valued in the United States about as much as the World Baseball Classic. In contrast, the failure or success of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers is important. They are a team comprised mostly of players signed by the Islanders, playing together as they hope to some day in the NHL. Those playoff games, the performances of Jesse Joensuu and Trevor Smith and Jack Hillen and Justin DiBenedetto and the rest matter.
I worked for the Islanders in too many seasons when the team didn’t make the playoffs and players scattered everywhere for the Worlds. It was no consolation prize.
Great performances at the World Championships rarely lead to anything else. I seem to recall Dave Scatchard telling me that his friend Scott Walker had a real good tournament in May and it gave him the confidence to take his game to the next level the following NHL season. Yup, that’s about all I have for World Championships testimonials.
Players skip the Worlds all the time and still get picked for the Olympic Team over guys who hopped on a plane the morning after losing a 7-game series in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. As much as Teams Canada and USA say giving up your time to play in the WCs is vital, when all is said and done they’re taking the best 23 players to the Olympics in Vancouver whether you went to Switzerland or not.
Scott Gordon working with Ron Wilson at the Worlds is a story. Great experience for Scott, could lead to an Olympics gig, will definitely put him in the mix with USA Hockey.
As for Mark Streit and Kyle Okposo, as wonderfully as they may play over the next few weeks, there is only one story. There is a reason Bergenheim and Nielsen were not cleared. As much as they would love to play for their country, first and foremost they play for the New York Islanders and their fans.
Talk about this story and anything else in hockey tonight in Comments. As (almost) always, three post maximum.
Yesterday we heard from an Islanders fan who had a recent encounter with Peter Schmitt, the Republican minority leader of the Nassau County Legislature. According to the source, Schmitt said “nothing” was going on with the Lighthouse Project and the blame falls on Charles Wang for “dreaming too big.” (This is the part where we remind everyone that it’s the County that has insisted on a major development around the Coliseum property).
For the knockout punch, the Republican leader since 2000 apparently hit the Point Blank reader with this over-hand right:
If the Islanders move, they move.
I did not want to publish Schmitt’s comments without speaking to him, so late yesterday afternoon I called his office. After being placed on hold for a while, I was forwarded to the office of Christina Brennan, the minority press secretary. Brennan was extremely cordial, candid and accessible and said she would speak with Schmitt. She said either I would hear back from him, his office would email me a statement or she would relay his response to whether he said Wang is “dreaming too big” and “If the Islanders move, they move.”
About 30 minutes later, Brennan called to say Schmitt would not confirm the remarks. The minority press secretary didn’t say whether he denied them.
Brennan said Schmitt declines to comment publicly on the Lighthouse Project because it will go before the legislature again and he will have to vote on it. (Republican Kate Murray, the Town of Hempstead Supervisor, utilized the same public strategy before her ill-fated anti-project mailing and website earlier this month).
When a lease for the Coliseum development is executed by Tom Suozzi’s team and the developers, it will go before the legislators and needs at least a 10-9 vote to be approved.
Whether he declared “If the Islanders move, they move” or not, Schmitt appears to have little use for the Lighthouse Project. Over the last year, all 19 members of the Nassau County Legislature – Democrats and Republicans – received personal invitations from the developers for a private presentation of the plans for the Coliseum development. All but one legislator has come in for a meeting: Peter Schmitt.
There’s a pattern here that even a hockey blogger can spot. The Republican trail of stiff-arming Nassau County’s major project goes from Kate Murray to Peter Schmitt. Whether it continues all the way to the top to Joseph Mondello, the former Hempstead Town Supervisor who is now the Chairman of the New York State Republican Committee, is pure speculation better left to the political experts at a place like Newsday to investigate.
I do know this. While Charles Wang has dropped by London, Ontario this week and may go to Brampton and possibly Sweden in the near future, he might want to consider a friendly stop to the place he called home as a child.
Queens County, New York.
Your Comments on this story and the Lighthouse here. Comment Guidelines.
With the Sound Tigers trailing 2-0 in the third period last night, the entertainment crew presented a trivia question during a broadcast timeout. Perhaps it was sponsored by the DVD Special Edition of Reality Bites. The question: when was the last time the Sound Tigers won a playoff game on home ice? The answer: 2004.
Bridgeport has lost all three home playoff games in its opening round AHL playoff series with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the first two of course at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. When they lost to the Penguins in a playoff series in 2006, the Sound Tigers dropped all three at the Arena at Harbor Yard, won Games 1, 2 and 5 in Pennyslyvania before ending the trend by losing Game 7 on the road.
The disturbing, recurring theme, as Islanders fans are all too aware, is a family thing. The New York Islanders have not won a home playoff game since 2002. They won all three home games in that memorable seven-game series with the Maple Leafs, but lost all four in Toronto.
The following Spring, they lost Games 3 and 4 at the Coliseum in a five-game series against Ottawa. In 2004, they were shut out by Tampa Bay in both home games in New York. In 2007, Buffalo won Games 3 and 4 and the Coliseum.
As the Islanders carry on with their goal of becoming a consistent contender and eventual Stanley Cup champion, winning their first playoff series since 1993 would be a logical first step. Home-ice advantage may not be what it used to be around pro sports, but winning a playoff game in front of their fans would also be a good baby step.
Comments on this post only. Guidelines.
“How could we travel all that way and not say hello?” Garth Snow said tonight.
Turns out Snow and Charles Wang didn’t just watch John Tavares play on Monday night. They met with the potential No. 1 pick after the game. “It was the first time I met them,” Tavares told Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press. “It was overwhelming to talk to NHL guys like that.”
The great Damien Cox reports that NYI assistant GM Ryan Jankowski watched Matt Duchene’s Third Star performance in the OHL playoffs last night. Or maybe Jankowski was focused on 6-3, 210-pound (at age 18) Brampton defenseman Matt Clark as a possibility with one of the team’s second round picks.
Common sense would lead you to believe Jankowski was in Windsor tonight to watch Tavares. With a few smallish, puck-moving dmen already in the system – led by Aaron Ness – wouldn’t count on the Islanders zeroing in on the magnificent Ryan Ellis of Windsor. Ellis will definitely go top 15, maybe top 10. Can’t see the Islanders trading up to take him. A skill forward yes, but probably not another “Rafalski-like” defenseman. Comments.
9:30 pm – Blake Comeau with two terrific moves and scoring chances shorthanded, but John Curry makes a pair of big stops. Curry also fights off an individual effort by Jack Hillen with a minute left. Sound Tigers fail to control puck in Penguins’ zone and are unable to pull Peter Mannino for an extra attacker until 10 seconds are left. WB-S holds on to win, 2-1.
With Games 5 and 6 in Pennsylvania, the Sound Tigers are in trouble. One thing they’ve got going for them: the visiting team has won every game in the series.
9:17 pm - Ben Walter scores from Chris Lee and Jon Sim on the power play for Bridgeport. 2-1 Penguins. Jesse Joensuu called for a tripping penalty. 3:12 left in the game.
9:10 pm – Special teams the difference in the series as WB-S has another power play goal tonight and Bridegport just failed to convert on its fourth power play of the game.
To answer some of the questions in Comments, the Sound Tigers continue to carry a lot (no really, literally a ton!) of extra players. They include from the Islanders prospect pool goalie Kevin Poulin, defenseman Mark Katic and forwards Max Gratchev and Robin Figren. Travis Hamonic was never signed by the NYI and has returned home. Ryan Duncan, signed to an ATO but not in the plans for the lineup, returned to finish college.
London and Windsor tied at 3.
8:27 pm – Still 2-0 Penguins after two periods. Original Blog Boxer Tom Liodice is sitting next to me and logging virtually everything going on in the game. There are a few other stories to chase, so I encourage you to follow the Bridgeport game via Tom’s coverage here at The Tiger Track.
John Tavares with a goal and assist as London has a 3-2 lead while trying to stay alive in their OHL playoff series with Windsor.
8:04 pm – Jeff Taffe, on the power play at 1:25 of the second period, makes it 2-0.
7:40 pm – The Penguins opened the scoring with a goal by Chris Minard (fourth of the series) with three minutes left in the first period. Jeff Taffe’s slapper from the point missed the goal, caromed off the boards and landed right on Minard’s stick. He slid the puck past Peter Mannino.
The game has been a physical battle, with every player on both teams finishing every check and following it up with a face-wash or shove in the back. Blake Comeau has been running every Penguin in his path. Justin DiBenedetto has shown some offensive creativity. As he told us himself, he has to keep his feet moving.
Shots on goal: Penguins 12, Sound Tigers 9.
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7:00 pm, Bridgeport - Good evening from the Arena at Harbor Yard, where – per your assignment by a vote of 118-4 - I’m blogging from the press box. “Sesame Street Live” is not booked this week, so the Sound Tigers can now play their home games, ya know, at home. Your Bridgeport lineup:
Trevor Smith – Ben Walter – Justin DiBenedetto
Jesse Joensuu – Jeremy Colliton – Blake Comeau
Sean Bentivoglio – Tyler Haskins – Jon Sim
Pascal Morency – Rob Hennigar – Micheal Haley
Joe Callahan – Jack Hillen
Andrew MacDonald – Dustin Kohn
Mark Wotton – Chris Lee
Peter Mannino
Nathan Lawson
I will update goals and write short posts at the intermissions and immediately after the game. Post-game, I’ll speak with some of the key participants and have a follow-up story. I’m also working on a Tavares Hedman Duchene Lighthouse Project story.
Comments.
A must-win for the Sound Tigers tonight is now an even more compelling watch for Islanders fans. NHLer Blake Comeau makes an early return from a banged-up wrist, Jeremy Colliton – one of Bridgeport’s MVPs – is off the injury list, and Islanders prospect Justin DiBenedetto has his Connecticut premiere after a good showing in WB-S on Sunday in his pro debut. Comment on this here, Tavehduchmania in the next thread.
Islanders prospect Robin Figren was teammates with 2009 draft sensation Victor Hedman on Team Sweden at the 2008 World Junior Championships. This season, Figren faced Hedman as opponents in the Swedish Elite League. By popular demand after Justin DiBenedetto gave us his take on John Tavares, we called Figren on his cell for some background on Hedman.
“For starters, I should tell you that Victor is just a really good person,” Figren said from Bridgeport, where the Sound Tigers host the Penguins in Game 4 tonight. “Everyone likes him because he’s down-to-earth and he really cares about his team and about winning. He loves hockey and he’s real serious about it. He’s also a very calm guy off the ice, and you’ll see that’s how he is on the ice. He is always under control.”
The only knock on Hedman in some quarters is that he doesn’t use his 6-7 frame to his advantage, that he does not play as physically as he should.
“That’s not what I’ve seen, as his teammate and then playing against him four times in Sweden this year,” said Figren, the Islanders’ third round draft selection in 2006. “He’s definitely not soft. He plays the body all the time. Because of his size, everyone wants to compare him to Chris Pronger. I think that’s fair, and I think Victor can definitely become that kind of player in the NHL.
“The thing you’ll see about him is, he’s huge, but he skates and handles the puck so well. Maybe people need something to criticize so they talk about his physical play. I don’t see that being a problem at all. To be honest with you, Victor doesn’t have any below-average aspects of his game.”
You can’t talk about a possible Islanders player without wondering how he would fit into the team’s style of play.
“Oh, I think he’d love the style the Islanders play,” said Figren, who played this season for Djurgardens of the SEL. “He’s a defenseman who really likes to join the offense. There’s no question in my mind he’d be an excellent fit in this system.”
I mentioned to Figren how Hedman seems determined to come to North America right away and play in the NHL next season. He didn’t know that for certain about his friend, but said the defenseman with Modo of the SEL would make the adjustment with little difficulty.
“At 18 years old he played in the Swedish Elite League this year and did not look at all like a young kid,” said Figren. “Sure, he can handle the NHL right away. He’s such a smart, skilled defenseman. I have no doubt Victor’s ready for The Show.”
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