Monthly Archives: November 2009
5:30 pm - The Islanders only told Point Blank the part about MacDonald’s recall. They told Katie Strang that Brendan Witt is out Monday in Boston for personal reasons. Our best to Brendan, congrats and well-deserved by Andrew.
Spoke with Scott Gordon about his performance in the 1986 dance craze, “The Beanpot Trot.” Please check it out and react on FanHouse, the official sponsor of Point Blank.
Go here to order Brett Henning’s “Seven Pre-Game Habits of Hockey Players.”
Brett Henning was born in Huntington just 17 days before his father Lorne passed the puck to John Tonelli, who passed it to Bobby Nystrom for his overtime goal that brought the Islanders their first Stanley Cup.
Brett went on to become a very good player with the U.S. development program and was selected by the Islanders in the ninth round of the 1999 NHL Draft. Unfortunately, he suffered a career-ending neck injury during his junior season at Notre Dame.
Now 29 years old, Brett has written a book, “Seven Pre-Game Habits of Hockey Players.” Not just because his dad (now VP of Player Personnel with the Canucks) is a dear longtime friend but because Brett has a lot of terrific insight into the game, I hope you’ll consider taking a look at his book.
Just for Point Blank readers, I asked Brett Henning to write a few paragraphs about his life, his injury and his decision to write his book:
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I was born May 7th, 1980 and just over 2 weeks later the Islanders won their first Stanley Cup. I have a picture at home of myself sitting in the Stanley Cup that summer as a three-month old. (Must have been early in the day before the champagne was broken out.)
When my father became an assistant coach, I will always remember going with him to the Coliseum and hanging out in the locker room with players like Pat Flatley, Mick Vukota, Glenn Healy and Rich Pilon. Everyone was great even though I was probably pretty annoying tearing through the hallways, ripping pucks off the wall. I definitely learned a lot about hockey and life tucked into the corner of the TV room. After a while I think they forgot I was even in there.
With NHL coaching not being rock-solid stable, our family moved around a lot but we always came back to Long Island and knew it as home. Hockey was a huge part of my life. Everything was tied to missing a game or practice if I got into trouble or brought home an ugly report card.
During high school my dad became an assistant coach with Chicago and I went to play junior hockey in Canada. From there I was very fortunate to play for the USA National Development Team and then the University of Notre Dame. During my junior year I severely herniated two discs in my neck and was told I could never be hit again. My future goals and plans were erased in one sentence. That sucked.
In a roundabout way I ended up settling down in Southern California and after five years of hiding from hockey, I got back into it. Not surprisingly with all the East coast and Canadian transplants in LA, there is some really good hockey.
I was playing on a team and getting back into the swing of things when all of a sudden I was about -30 over the course of a month. My teammates were all over me. I was unusually clumsy and even with my post-college weight gain I shouldn’t have been that slow.
I got an MRI and the doctor came in with the news that I needed surgery ASAP. I had nerve damage and underwent surgery to fuse my c3 and c4 vertebrae. Over the course of those ten days I went through a battery of tests and fell into a severe mental tailspin. That experience more than anything taught me that your mental attitude affects your well-being.
That got me thinking to how many games – and not just meaningless games but big games – I was distracted by an outside source or listening to the negative voice inside my head. Those experiences as well as being a little bit of a self-help geek led me to write this book, which began as emails to a coaching friend. I can’t get those games back, but with this book I want to help parents, coaches and players approach each game from a positive standpoint – what people refer to as “the zone.”
Thanks for all your time, Islanders fans…Brett.
Go here to order “Seven Pre-Game Habits of Hockey Players.”
Comments on this post. Comment Guidelines.
Scott Gordon on rapping, dancing and splitting
Live Chat Tonight from 7:00 – 9:45 pm, moderated by CB
- (Florida Panthers Ice Dancer Judy)
Any news that could come out of Islanders camp probably won’t be until an hour or two before the team faces the Panthers tonight. You can count on Dwayne Roloson, who’s only lost a game in regulation once all season, as your starter tonight.
The Panthers will go with Tomas Vokoun, who shut down Boston on Thursday in a 1-0 shootout win. Vokoun is the best NHL goalie available in a trade, but with $6 million due him next season, that’s why Martin Biron is still going to be the best value in the netminding market in a couple of months.
Only Islanders extras from last night skated in South Florida this morning.
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From this viewpoint, the story of the day is whether the Islanders scratch Josh Bailey again. I would not think so. I felt yesterday’s decision to hold him out of the lineup was the correct one, and it took guts from Scott Gordon to do it. But if you scratch your prized first round pick from 2008 on back-to-back nights, I don’t know where you go from there.
Especially if the Islanders continue to win, as they should be favored to tonight against the perennial is-the-the-year? Panthers.
After rushing Kyle Turris into the NHL, the Phoenix Coyotes this season decided to re-evaluate his development and their decision-making and sent the skilled center to the AHL. Do I picture the Islanders doing that with Josh? Not any time in the near future, no.
I believe the Islanders wanted to give Rob Schremp more chances to show what he could do in games before making a decision on him. That said, I just can’t see the Islanders scratching Bailey again. Josh may just be 3-2-5 with only 23 shots in 18 games, but the very talented and dedicated young man needs to be playing hockey. At this stage of his career, he should not be going a week between games.
After tonight, the Islanders are in Boston on Monday and then come home for a few days before playing in Minnesota on Friday.
See you tonight for the live chat. Comment Guidelines.
Since the chats on Wednesday and Friday each featured more than 1,200 readers, we will go for it again on Saturday when the Islanders are in Florida to face the Panthers. Thank you to everyone for their participation…CB
Live Chat on Point Blank moderated by CB tonight
Reader Comment of the Week: Ken – “”Kyle is such a beast, I think it’s more like the swine flu had a case of Kyle Okposo.”
Live Chat: Huge reader and comment numbers on Wednesday for the shootout game in Washington. Let’s do it again tonight when the Islanders visit the Hurricanes. Comments logged slowly Wednesday, but I believe I have found some solutions. It’s from 7-9:45 pm tonight. See you then.
Lineup Update: Kyle Okposo has re-joined the Islanders, skating this morning with the also-returned Blake Comeau on an extra line at practice. The four main lines were the same from the shootout loss in Washington on Wednesday (Moulson-Tavares-Park, Bergenheim-Nielsen-Hunter, Tambellini-Bailey-Sim, Thompson-Schremp-Jackman).
I called Islanders spokesman Seth Sylvan at 1:45 pm and he is looking into Okposo’s status. If I have anything, I will update it in this space. Figure on Okposo being a game-night decision and Comeau sitting one out.
Martin Biron is in goal. Speaking of Biron…
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Big Haul for Biron?: Just as I was writing for FanHouse about all the Martin Biron trade rumors and how the goalie deals with them, Pierre McGuire drops a monster note in his column for this week’s Sports Illustrated.
(Sports Illustrated is owned by Time Warner, which is the parent company of AOL, which owns FanHouse, which owns Point Blank. Take that, Cablevision and Newsday!)
McGuire suggests that Rick DiPietro will return (in a day or 30) and if the Islanders acquire “the right top-six forward” for Biron, “they can make the playoffs.” I’m not here to debate the playoffs part; we’ll know in a few weeks how realistic that may be. But a present-day, top-six forward?
Pierre has been a dear friend to me for every day (except one, lol) this decade. He went above and beyond offering advice, references and suggestions during my Coyotes-like summer of 2009. But I have to disagree with him here. If Garth Snow can prod a 20-goal, 50-point second-line forward – I assume it would be a wing - for Biron, Michael Farber may have to name him SI’s GM of the Year for the second time in four years.
Biron was passed over by many teams in the summer and signed a one-year deal with the Islanders three weeks after the UFA market opened. The view here is that many teams will be interested, but none will offer or have the luxury of offering a significant roster player for Biron. A solid prospect or draft pick, maybe. Maybe even both. But take someone out of their lineup who could crack the Islanders’ top six and immediately contribute to a playoff run? Seems like a stretch.
Here’s hoping Pierre is right. Would love to see Marty get big minutes with a contender, and the Islanders add a legitimate top-six veteran wing. I just can’t put money down on that one.
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The Hurricanes have lost 13th straight. They are without Cam Ward, who keeps them in just about every game. Secondary scoring? The Canes do not much firstiary scoring. If the Islanders don’t want to sweat this out, they have to come at Carolina hard, fast and early and pound any spirit out of the Hurricanes and their home crowd. With or without Okposo, this is a game the Islanders should win.
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If you’re wondering what the delay for today’s pre-game was all about, I just came back from two hours at the AT&T store in Rockville Centre looking to resuscitate my crapped-out Blackberry. The phone from my Islanders era was done. The old SIM card was able to retain Alan Hahn’s number from his beat days, but the chances of saving hundreds of new numbers were bleak.
I know the phone company and personnel can be easy and deserving targets, but selfishly I have to thank Mitch and Maryanne at the AT&T store for giving me two hours of their day and working on my phone as if it was theirs. Thanks to them, I still have Anze Kopitar’s phone number.
Comments.
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