Monthly Archives: October 2009
This is the first of a regular feature I’ll be writing for FanHouse called DraftWatch 2010. This first installment includes my interviews with Kirill Kabanov and several top scouts, along with a very preliminary list of the top five prospects and a rising young player to watch. Please read and comment on FanHouse. Thanks for the continued support over there. AOL has single-handedly kept PB ticking…CB
Breaking News: Mikko Koskinen is out 8-10 weeks after suffering a torn labrum in his hip. This would seem to indicate that the Islanders do not feel surgery is needed for the first pick in the second round of the 2009 draft. Koskinen had only played in two games so far for Bridgeport, while Nathan Lawson and Scott Munroe had each played four.
Pat LaFontaine played junior hockey in Verdun, so we have a natural Montreal connection for tonight’s game!
The Point Blank fundraising drive continues all week to support Pat’s Companions in Courage and donate mobile XBox 360 kiosks at Winthrop Hospital and Nassau University Medical Center. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so far. Here’s the whole story.
Between online donations and checks, the drive raised over $4,000 over the weekend - not bad at all for our little hockey blog, but we are far from finished. With the marathon on Sunday, we ask that you please make your donations in the next few days.
As an added bonus for Point Blank readers, if you donate $50 prior to October 28 at noon, you will be eligible to win four grandstand tickets at the finish line of the New York City Marathon on November 1.
As an alternative to the online donation link, readers can send a check to CiC Foundation, P.O. Box 768, Huntington, NY 11743 (ATT: PB). If you have any other questions or would like to make a donation different than what is requested, please send an email to Jim Johnson at jjohnson@CiC16.org
*
If the Islanders win tonight in Montreal, it makes Saturday’s overtime loss a little more palatable and eases the sting of the disaster in Montreal on Thursday. If the Islanders fall to 1-5-4, well…
Doug Weight still not strong enough to make the trip. This is the lastest example of how things don’t go as planned. I thought Mark Streit was the right choice for captain, with Weight a solid second option. The positive spin for the choice of Weight was that he was the best veteran to get the Islanders through any adversity one year at a time. I did also wonder a little if the captaincy would affect Streit, who was outstanding last season.
So what happens? Streit doesn’t get the captaincy and he has not been in peak form. The Islanders, in need of leadership, will play their fifth game tonight without their captain.
*
Justin DiBenedetto had two goals and an assist yesterday for the Sound Tigers in their 4-1 win over Albany. Bridgeport is now 6-4. No one is tearing it up. Of the Islanders’ prospects, Trevor Smith is 4-3-7 in ten games to lead the youngsters. DiBenedetto’s two goals on Sunday were his first of the season. After a mediocre camp, Jesse Joensuu has one goal in 10 games. Joel Rechlicz was a scratch for the Sound Tigers on Sunday.
Matt Martin has four assists and 27 penalty minutes and has been okay. Robin Figren, a scratch for four games, has one assist in six games. Goalie Mikko Koskinen, the 21-year old, seemingly more advanced prospect the Islanders banked the first pick of the second round on, has been pretty good but has only played two games. Nate Lawson and Scott Munroe, not major NYI prospects, have more starts than Koskinen. Why there are three goalies in Bridgeport is inexplicable.
The bottom line is that there are no bonafide answers down on the farm if the Islanders ever feel the need to shake up the lineup.
*
No live chat tonight. I’ll be away on assignment. Next one I have planned is Friday for the road game in Washington.
Please keep our charity drive in mind and give what you can. Enjoy the game.
The future Hall of Fame columnist for the Post becomes the first mainstream writer to put in the newspaper what we’ve been saying for months. Forget about the Lighthouse – if a shovel was to hit ground tomorrow, it’s still years away. Stop giving longshot political candidates free advertising on your scoreboard when fans are paying to watch a hockey game.
Invest in skilled hockey players. Stop making excuses. Stop creating self-fulfilling prophecies. Stop selling Joey Mac and Yann as the problem last year. Stop talking about prospects who are either nothing special or 2-3 years from having an impact. Take advantage of the gifts of John Tavares (el foldo ’08-09 + lottery win) and Kyle Okposo (drafted while Neil Smith was GM). Put some players around them. Run a professional hockey team. Okay, Larry might not have said all of that. I am.
Point Blank’s fundraiser with Pat LaFontaine for LI hospitals. Please show your support!
This is the post-game story I wrote for FanHouse. The story contains a pair of revealing quotes about the Islanders from Capitals veteran Brooks Laich. Please read and react on FanHouse.
9:40 pm - Writing post-game column for FanHouse tonight, but hopefully our traditional home game Plus/Minus gets the conversation started. The Islanders coughed up another late two-goal lead tonight and lost to Washington 3-2 in overtime at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Minus: How’s this for analysis? Change the personnel, change the strategy. We’ve seen this movie too many times. Do something about it. That’s why you’re called “hockey people.”
Even: We told you this morning every game Bruce Boudreau coaches in the NVMC goes to overtime!
Plus: The Islanders played with piss, vinegar and an edge – like a team opponents could work up a little hatred, instead of the friendly bunch we saw the first eight games.
Minus: Alexander Ovechkin and Co. got so tired of the abuse, they were motivated – and have the skill to do something about it.
Plus: The Islanders held the Capitals to seven shots on goal in the first 30 minutes of the game. Even when it looked like Washington might have something, the Islanders clogged lanes and blocked shots.
Minus: The breakdowns by the home team in the final 10 minutes of regulation were not befitting a professional hockey team – at any level.
Plus: Jeff Tambellini going to the net and making the deflection, looking like he’s learned from Matt Moulson.
Plus: The last three Islanders forwards without points this season – Tambellini, Sean Bergenheim and just-returned Frans Nielsen – getting on the scoresheet.
Plus: Conservatively, the Islanders won 80% of the one-on-one battles.
Minus: I wrote that note above around 9:00 pm.
Plus: Bergenheim to Okposo to Tavares late in the second period, drawing a Washington penalty.
Plus: Radek Martinek hitting Alexander Ovechkin.
Plus: Ovechkin, the superstar who hits back.
Plus: Martinek going back at Ovechkin.
Plus: Nice highlight reel of the best of Martinek vs. Ovechkin shown mid-third period on Coliseum scoreboard.
Minus: Even in the big-bucks NHL, there should be a merit system. Especially when you’re 1-4-3. Especially when you’re not deciding between Cecil Fielder and Darryl Strawberry here. Anyone watching the last few Islanders games could tell you it was unfair that Freddy Meyer was the healthy scratch on defense tonight. In the grand scheme of things, is this a big deal? Probably not, but one hopes the message is always that the best players play.
Plus: This was Dwayne Roloson after today’s morning skate: “Me personally, I play a lot better when I play a lot more.” To be certain, the veteran wasn’t complaining – only stating facts. “I have to take advantage of each opportunity I get.” Abused by shots, Caps crashing the net and screens by his own players – all late in the third - Roloson did everything he could tonight.
Plus: From the press box across the barn, the crew in Sections 329 and 330 could be heard getting the crowd into the game.
Even: A brief sample study of 51 games doesn’t show Nate Thompson as a dirty, knee-on-knee player. He’ll just want to make sure he doesn’t get a reputation.
Even: Since not a single fan is waving their cellphones when the Islanders ask at 7:00 pm to “Light It Up,” what is it the fans are supposed to light up? (No, I can’t say it). Maybe they should put that on the scoreboard before the start of the third period.
Minus: Even if the Yankees played tonight, fans attending tonight’s Islanders game could have been been home by the fourth inning. Turns out the baseball game was rained out. That was one frightening crowd, announced as 11,541, for Ovechkin-Tavares on a Saturday night.
Not blaming the potential ticket-buyers – we all know the ticket prices and the 1-4-4 record – and sure as heck don’t want to hear it’s about the uncertainty of the Lighthouse Project. It just is what it is – brutal.
Minus: Not one, but two plugs for Hempstead Supervisor candidate Kristen McElroy. It’s too late for the campaign that had no pulse. What a wasted opportunity, when so much could have been done since August with a candidacy built around Lighthouse advocacy. And whatever happened to “Let’s play hockey”?
Plus: The sound in the crowd after Mike Green closed the gap to 2-1 with 14 minutes left in the third – that unmistakable sound of, “Uh oh, here we go again.” (Yes, and, “Sit the heck down, you Capitals front-runner.”)
*
The Point Blank fundraising drive continues all week to support Pat LaFontaine‘s Companions in Courage and donate mobile XBox 360 kiosks at Winthrop Hospital and Nassau University Medical Center. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so far. Here’s the whole story.
Between online donations and checks, the drive raised over $3,500 in the first 24 hours – not bad at all for our little hockey blog, but we are far from finished. With the marathon just over a week away, we ask that you please make your donations in the next few days.
As an added bonus for Point Blank readers, if you donate $50 prior to October 28 at noon, you will be eligible to win four grandstand tickets at the finish line of the New York City Marathon on November 1.
As an alternative to the online donation link, readers can send a check to CiC Foundation, P.O. Box 768, Huntington, NY 11743 (ATT: PB). If you have any other questions or would like to make a donation different than what is requested, please send an email to Jim Johnson at jjohnson@CiC16.org
Writing a post-game story for FanHouse. Will link as soon as it’s up.
3:45 pm - Chris Botta on FanHouse: Boudreau defends Ovechkin, plus notes on Semin and Tavares.
Noon – Alexander Ovechkin says he met John Tavares once. “He’s a great guy,” said Ovechkin. “He loves hockey – which is the most important thing.” Asked what he thinks of Tavares as a player, Ovechkin said he hasn’t seen Tavares play yet this season but, “He was taken first overall – he has to be good.”
11:36 am – Bruce Boudreau on John Tavares: “He knows what to do with the puck. Instincts that you can’t teach people, he has in spades. That’s why he’s going to be a great player in this league.”
*
10:35 am - That didn’t last long. Kyle Okposo, John Tavares and Matt Moulson have been reunited. Frans Nielsen centers Sean Bergenheim and Jon Sim. Third and fourth lines stay the same. Rob Schremp likely out. Doug Weight not on the ice for the morning skate. Mark Streit and Bruno Gervais may also be reunited, with Freddy Meyer out. Stay tuned.
With the team having yesterday off, today’s morning skate has at times looked more like a practice.
*
The Point Blank fundraising drive continues all week to support Pat LaFontaine’s Companions in Courage and donate mobile XBox 360 kiosks at Winthrop Hospital and Nassau University Medical Center. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed so far. Here’s the whole story.
Between online donations and checks, the drive raised over $3,500 in the first 24 hours – not bad at all for our little hockey blog, but we are far from finished. With the marathon just over a week away, we ask that you please make your donations in the next few days.
As an added bonus for Point Blank readers, if you donate $50 prior to October 28 at noon, you will be eligible to win four grandstand tickets at the finish line of the New York City Marathon on November 1.
As an alternative to the online donation link, readers can send a check to CiC Foundation, P.O. Box 768, Huntington, NY 11743 (ATT: PB). If you have any other questions or would like to make a donation different than what is requested, please send an email to Jim Johnson at jjohnson@CiC16.org
*
Dwayne Roloson starts tonight for the Islanders, Jose Theodore for the Washington Capitals.
Break for the Islanders tonight as they face Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals without ace forward Alexander Semin. Mike Knuble takes his place on the first line with Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Ovechkin is coming off his first subpar game of the year. He was pointless and and yet the Caps still won 5-4 in Atlanta. Without Semin again, it will be fun to watch how he bounces back.
Based on this morning’s skate at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, here is the Islanders’ lineup:
Moulson – Tavares – Okposo
Bergenheim – Nielsen – Sim
Tambellini – Bailey – Comeau
Thompson – Park – Jackman
(Schremp, Weight)
Streit – Gervais
Sutton – Martinek
Witt – Hillen
Meyer
Roloson
Biron
*
One side effect of the Islanders having no practice on Friday, or not making any news: although they have a home game in Uniondale tonight against a mighty opponent, the Islanders did not get any coverage in today’s print edition of Newsday or last night online. While Katie Strang had a deserved day off while coming back from Montreal, the paper did assign John Jeansonne to cover on Friday. No practice, no news. On the other hand, Steve Zipay had a half-page article on the Rangers, who play tonight in Montreal.
*
Capitals-Islanders notes, courtesy of Caps PR:
Washington is 4-0-2 against the Islanders under Bruce Boudreau. The Islanders are one of three teams Boudreau’s Caps haven’t lost to. The others are Nashvile (4-0-0) and Tampa Bay (11-0-0). Attention, scamdicappers! The three games Boudreau has coached in Nassau Coliseum have all gone to overtime. Ovechkin had both OT winners last season at the NVMC.
Ovechkin has been named one of the game’s Three Stars in seven of nine games this season. He shares the NHL lead with 9 goals and 16 points and leads the league with 65 shots.
More updates after the skate. Comments on tonight’s game. Please do not forget our fundraiser for Companions in Courage and the children’s wards at Nassau and Winthrop hospitals. Details below. Thank you.
Purely coincidental timing, what with all this talk of paying for web content and all, but I’d like to ask Point Blank readers for their consideration on a charity initiative so we can do something kind for children in Long Island hospitals.
Point Blank has partnered with Pat LaFontaine’s foundation Companions in Courage on a fund-raising drive to donate mobile XBox 360 kiosks at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola and Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow.
Pat, the former Islanders great and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, is running in the New York City Marathon on November 1. Through this joint venture with Point Blank, we are raising funds to honor Pat and his foundation at the marathon. Pat will be motivated on his run by the more than 40,000 children per year who now have the chance to play on these units or to visit one of the 8 Lion’s Den rooms that the CiC Foundation has built from Montreal to Florida (including one at Huntington Hospital).
On a recent Lion’s Den Room visit Dr. Mehmet Oz said, “When kids get sick, we have to remember that they’re still kids. They still want to have fun doing the same things they did when healthy… How better to do that than in a safe environment where they can play with other kids around the country who are facing similar challenges?”
From first-hand experience, when my young son Cole had open heart surgery two years ago, I saw how playing video games and being in a relaxed atmopshere after surgery helped in his recovery at the hospital.
Said Pat LaFontaine: “On behalf of the kids in the hospitals, I want to thank all of the Point Blank readers for your generosity and support. It can be pretty scary for these kids when they are admitted to a hospital. But when they can connect to the outside world with these XBox kiosks and our Lion’s Den rooms, you see their faces light up. You are making a huge difference in the lives of all these kids when you make a donation today. I know that I will feed off the hopes and wishes of those patients during my marathon run. Thanks for letting them know they are not alone as they go through the scariest time of their lives.”
A donation of $26 can make a huge difference – although don’t be dissuaded from contributing more if you are fortunate enough to have the resources.
With the marathon just over a week away, we respectfully ask that you make your donations in the next few days.
****As an added bonus for Point Blank readers, if you donate $50 prior to October 28 at noon, you will be eligible to win four grandstand tickets at the finish line of the New York City Marathon on November 1.
As an alternative to the online donation link, readers can send a check to CiC Foundation, P.O. Box 768, Huntington, NY 11743 (ATT: PB). If you have any other questions or would like to make a donation different than what is requested, please send an email to Jim Johnson at jjohnson@CiC16.org
If this goes as well as we hope, we’ll have to celebrate with an Islanders game Point Blank viewing party at RC Dugan’s. Heck, maybe even Patty can stop by. (I just volunteered Dugan’s and Pat).
Please help Point Blank and Pat LaFontaine in our efforts for Winthrop and Nassau hospitals.
Thank you so much for your consideration…CB
← Older postsNewer posts →
