Monthly Archives: October 2009
The latest from Newsday. Not much, really. Just goes round and round. Tomorrow on Point Blank: a quick chat with Kate Murray’s election opponent, Kristin McElroy.
UPDATED at 7:23 pm - In a statement from Chris Dey to Katie Strang, the Islanders President said it was “not intentional.” Got it.
7:15 pm - Rick DiPietro texted me early this evening, surprised I would think that he chose not to take part in the introduction of Islanders players at the home opener on Saturday. If you missed the minor brouhaha, many were surprised to see all injured players and scratches like Frans Nielsen, Jeremy Reich, Blake Comeau and others step on the ice during the pre-game ceremony, but DiPietro’s name never called.
The goaltender made it clear he was at the Coliseum early for the game and would have participated. “Do you really think that I would ever decline to be announced as a member of the New York Islanders,”? DiPietro said in his opening text.
We later spoke for a few minutes on the phone. Considering what I had written, DiPietro was surprisingly gentle about it and just wanted to clear the matter up for anyone who reads this blog. DiPietro did not know who made the decision to keep him out of the ceremony and he did not know the reasons why. He said his only priority these days is getting ready to play.
My apologies to DiPietro, whom I have shared a solid relationship through several ups and downs over the last decade while I worked at the Islanders and in this new life as a writer. Once again: DiPietro did not decline to participate. He was not included, although everyone else on the roster was. He has been around the team almost non-stop since the start of training camp. Just yesterday, he playfully gave me crap because I sat in his locker room stall to speak with Rob Schremp.
If it ever comes, I will await the Islanders’ reasoning on another website.
PLUS: John Tavares with a goal, assist and impressive demonstration all week of cool under pressure.
PLUS: Kyle Okposo. Wow.
MINUS: The sense, which may not go away for the entire first half, that the Islanders could have competed for a playoff berth this season if they had signed one veteran forward and one veteran defenseman with skill.
MINUS: Would have been nice if they had at least tried to.
PLUS: Trent Hunter, showing what he can do when he’s able to stay in the lineup.
PLUS: Josh Bailey’s gorgeous pass to Hunter to make it 3-2.
MINUS: Like Coach says, I’d have to look at the tape, but I’m fairly certain Josh needs to do more.
PLUS: Jon Sim, despite the -2, busted it all night. If he keeps this up, Gordon’s going to sign on as Sim Fan Club president.
MINUS: Andy Sutton is still working his way back after an injury-filled season, but he needs to throw his massive frame around.
MINUS: The scoreboard prompt in the opening ceremony telling fans to shine a light by waving their cellphones. That’s what you call a fisherman-logo-bad idea. Cool thing was the audible groan in the crowd and more than 15,000 fans declining the invitation.
PLUS: Otherwise, a first-class, well-executed opening night ceremony.
MINUS: You decide what’s more incredible: 1. Rick DiPietro, in the building, declining to participate in the player introductions when Blake Comeau, Jeremy Reich and even the surgically-repaired Frans Nielsen did. 2. Islanders management letting him get away with it. 3. Rick and the Islanders thinking their fans wouldn’t be talking about it all night or thinking no one would write about it. I’ve probably stood up for DiPietro at least 39 times in this space, but this one is unreal. Where’s the protocol?
PLUS: The Chuck-A-Puck intermission contest. Some tsk-tsk and call it minor league. Thousands obviously disagreed Saturday night.
PLUS: I’d suggest giving a raise to the executive who recommended including Bryan Trottier and Mike Bossy in the pre-game puck-drop with Tom Suozzi, but it was probably Charles Wang’s idea.
MINUS: Disappointing that John Tavares’s NHL debut was so much about the Lighthouse Project. As Arthur Staple wrote in Newsday, “I went to a hockey game and a press conference broke out.”
PLUS: Wang’s words were the proper message. Perhaps he and the Lighthouse staff felt the home opener gave them the best stage to tell their story. I can understand that.
PLUS: The Islanders played inspired hockey and picked up a point against the defending champs.
MINUS: They had no answers in the third period for slowing down a Penguins team that should have been physically and emotionally exhausted after their home opener the night before.
PLUS: Scott Gordon is a good coach and teacher and his stuff can work. He just does not have a complete NHL team. Maybe next year or the year after. I didn’t like a few things Scott did last year, but if you’re coming to this blog these days for criticism of the head coach, you’ve likely come to the wrong place. Give the guy a team first.
PLUS: FMIV is a good sixth NHL defenseman. Not his fault, nor any of the Islanders’ other fifth or sixth defensemen’s fault, that the team doesn’t have a legit second or third, and maybe fourth.
PLUS: The proud feeling that the NYI Blog Box was a useful innovation because some young writers have seized the opportunity to build a career and have properly taken advantage of the privilege of team access.
MINUS: The sinking feeling that the NYI Blog Box is an abject failure because other bloggers just stand around post-game like they’re pals with players, coaches and management – getting in the way of people working and disgracing the entire enterprise. Please relinquish your press credentials to others more worthy.
MINUS: Don’t know if you saw the promotion on the scoreboard, but are the Islanders really offering Buy One, Get One Free for all weekend games in the first half of the season? What happened to premium pricing? How do season ticketholders feel? Devaluing the price of tickets, already, on the heels of a memorable event like last night?
UPDATED at 2:43 pm - The Islanders texted me on this subject: “The BOGO offer is for a limited time (til Oct. 11th) and only available to those with tickets to last night’s game as a way to say thank you to everyone for selling the place out and for supporting us through the summer on the Lighthouse.”
PLUS: By filling the barn and staying loud from beginning to end, Islanders fans continue to do their part to support the team and the Lighthouse Project.
EVEN: The Islanders played strong, committed, passionate hockey on Saturday. As is always the case coming off home openers, let’s see how the boys respond when they’re not playing the defending champs, the stands aren’t quite so packed and the emotions are not at a fever pitch. The real challenges have only begun.
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CB on FanHouse on Charles Wang’s response
6:38 pm - Wang’s Fed Up: Charles Wang sounded like a man who’s had it with the Town of Hempstead. He didn’t even have a good take on Kate Murray’s olive branch phone call on Friday, saying he told the Hempstead Supervisor that he didn’t want their conversation to end up in Newsday. Murray called Newsday and told a reporter not just her side of the conversation, but what Wang told her.
The deadline is about to pass, and apparently Wang’s patience is through, too. “Angry, disappointed, some might say disgusted,” he told reporters in a pre-game briefing. I asked him if this is the first time reality has hit him that the Islanders could be playing somewhere other than Nassau County. “It is,” he said, “and that is very sad.” Asked if he would give priority to meetings with an outside municipality over the Town of Hempstead, he acknowledged, “There is time to do both.”
I asked Wang if it’s possible Hempstead Town didn’t take his bluff seriously because he has always gone out of his way to say he wanted to make the Islanders work in Nassau County. “I guess maybe,” he said. “It’s not what I want. But it’s not like they are giving me many choices.”
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5:55 - Charles Wang to meet with media at 6:15 pm. I’ll have an update soon after. Tom Suozzi confirmed to drop the puck, flanked by Bossy and Trottier. So much for making this one night about Tavares and hockey!
1:30 - Please check out my FanHouse pre-game story with Tavares and Crosby, projected lineups and some notes. Enjoy the game.
11:30 am, NVMC - There’s a reason why they practiced in those lines yesterday. Scott Gordon says it was a tough decision, but Weight only had 6 practices in camp and cannot rush his return from a groin strain. The coach went out of his way to say Comeau was not feeling well this week. Gordon says this is not a repeat of last year, when Comeau eventually was sent to Bridgeport. Writing a Tavares-centric pregame story for FanHouse that should be posted in about an hour.
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