Monthly Archives: October 2011
By Alan Avital
With four of its top six defensemen being 33 years and older, the Islander organization realized that it was imperative to re-stock its system with young and mobile blue-liners. They have selected 12 defensemen over the past four entry drafts, including four this past June in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Robbie Russo was the third defensemen to be taken by the Islanders in June, selected in the fourth round (95th overall). While his selection didn’t receive the same fan-fare as first rounder Ryan Strome, Russo’s hope is that his steady second-half play with the U.S. National Team last spring will translate into a solid collegiate career at the University of Notre Dame and beyond.
“I believe that I am one of those defensemen who plays well with the puck,” said Russo, who helped the U.S. under-18 national team win its third straight championship this past May. “I am calm back there and I play with poise, but I know that if I want to take that next step, I need to physically get stronger.”
Standing 5-feet-11 inches tall and weighing 186 pounds, Russo believes that adding 10 pounds will be greatly beneficial to his overall play. Still, it was his offensive prowess that drew the attention of current Notre Dame head coach and former Islander assistant Jeff Jackson, when recruiting the 18-year old Russo.
“We recruited him because of his offensive potential,” said Jackson, who ironically compares his young defenseman to former Islander standout Kenny Jonsson. “Kenny was a good decision-maker and a good skater, as is Robbie. But Robbie knows that he has to get physically stronger to become a more explosive defenseman.”
Russo’s introduction to the sport of hockey began at the tender age of three, as he went with his parents to a “Free Skate” in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois.
“My parents could see that I could skate,” said Russo. “So everything escalated from there.”
Russo, who continued to play hockey for the next decade on the pee-wee level throughout the Chicago area, moved on to play high school hockey at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor, Michigan where collegiate and U.S. national scouts took notice.
“Pioneer High School was a good place to develop. It also got me a lot of exposure,” said Russo.
But it was a sub-par first half for the U.S. National Team that hurt Russo’s draft ranking, allowing the Islanders to sneak up and grab him a few rounds earlier than expected.
“Robbie was hoping to be selected in the first two rounds, but he was just average in the first half last season,” said Jackson. “He really picked up his play in the second half and played real well. You could see the instincts on the blue-line, and he is here (Notre Dame) to gain that defensive intensity.”
Through the early part of his freshman season at Notre Dame, Russo’s off-season hard work has earned the confidence of his sixth-year head coach. Jackson has played his team’s second-youngest player in even strength, penalty kill and power play situations.
“Coach Jackson is big on details, “said Russo, who has assisted on two of Notre Dame’s goals in his first five collegiate games. “He has told me to be myself, and has given me good minutes so far.”
Russo’s teammate and highly-touted Islander prospect Anders Lee also has taken notice.
“Robbie is a great defenseman,” said Lee, who himself leads the country in goal scoring with eight, including notching his second-career hat-trick in Friday night’s 5-2 Notre Dame victory over RPI to open up the brand-new Compton Family Ice Arena in South Bend. “He is playing on our power play. It is nice having him shoot the puck.”
Islander fans got a glimpse of Russo this past June when he joined Lee on Long Island for the Blue-White scrimmage.
“It was pretty cool going down to New York and seeing a lot of the guys,” said Russo, who himself eyes current San Jose Shark Dan Boyle and Detroit Red Wing and future Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom as guys he has patterned his game after. “There are a lot of good, young defensemen there (on Long Island). The competition is definitely stiff, but I am definitely excited to show the Islanders that one day I could be a difference maker.”
This isn’t the kind of game that a team is going to be able to get away with most nights. Somehow, the Islanders managed to keep this game to a one-goal game until the Panthers sealed the win with an empty net goal late in the third. The Islanders spent the vast majority of the game back on their heels in their own zone. They let up a ton of shots through two periods — getting out shot 24-10 in that time — and didn’t have very many spots of sustained offensive pressure.
The Islanders had some good pressure in the final half of the third period and certainly had their chances. Unfortunately, a 10-minute effort isn’t going to get the job done against a team that has proven itself competent thus far this season. With a 5-on-3 advantage with two minutes to go in the game and a subsequent 6-on-4 with Nabokov pulled, the Isles put a lot of pressure on the Panthers but were unable to find an equalizer.
The power play was the only unit that was really able to get anything going. A minute into the game, the Isles went on the power play and almost immediately Mark Streit fired a shot from the point that beat Jose Theodore, putting the Isles up 1-0. Midway through the second period, the Isles would get their second power play of the game and again Streit fired from the point, a shot John Tavares would deflect home. It was practically identical to the first goal, except John Tavares for the deflection that gave Tavares his sixth of the year.
The problem was that in between those goals — roughly 30 minutes of game time — the Islanders weren’t on the ice. They managed only 10 shots in the first two periods and barely held the puck in the Panthers end for long stretches. Meanwhile on the other end of the ice, the Panthers basically skated through the neutral zone, over the blue line and did just about whatever they wanted.
The team finally seemed as though it would wake up after the Panthers took a 2-1 lead in the second, which is what led to a penalty and ensuing Tavares power play goal. That was more or less short lived, as the ice seemed to tilt back towards Nabokov’s net after the tying goal.
As for Nabokov, he had a solid game again. Nothing amazing but solid considering the amount of shots and pressure he faced. He had a few bad rebounds, one of which led to Matt Bradley’s goal although Steve Staios is equally to blame for not being able to find the puck under his feet. The third goal was not his fault at all, with a few defenders standing around and watching the play.
One of the lone bright spots for the Islanders that didn’t reach the score sheet was Michael Grabner. Although Grabner was unable to convert a breakaway on backup netminder Jacob Markstrom in the third, he was flying around the ice in one of his better performances of the season.
Now the Islanders are 3-3 heading back to Long Island for a home-and-home with the Penguins next week. They’ve played well in three and they’ve played poorly in another three. We’re going to get a very good idea of this team’s character and how they respond to adversity when they play a tough division rival after some bad losses on the road.
After a disappointing loss on Thursday night in Tampa Bay, we’re yet again wondering exactly who this Islander team is. There have now been a couple of disappointing efforts so far this season and a few really excellent performances. But this is the modus operandi of teams projected to finish in the middle of the pack, especially one so young and inexperienced. There are nights when they put on a show, inspiring lucid dreams of what could be. And then there are nights such as Thursday night with snow angels of disappointment on the Internet in .gif form summarizing the effort. For now, we’ll have to take the good with the bad. Eventually, we’ll have a clearer picture of who these Islanders are. A win over the team that embarrassed them on opening night would certainly be a step in the right direction.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BLAKE COMEAU
The biggest small story of the season, Blake Comeau, will be back in the lineup tonight after a two-game hiatus. Brian Rolston has gone home to be with his wife who is expecting (congrats), so Comeau and Trevor Gillies will both have a lineup spot tonight. All of the above reported by Newsday’s Staple, with the extra note that Comeau will be playing LW.
It remains to be seen how Capuano will juggle the lineup, potentially mixing lines that have yet to be mixed this year. Having to plan around Gillies’ 3-ish minutes of ice time — a serious liability against teams without enforcers — may be more of a wrench in the lineup than help tonight. All remains to be seen but I would suspect we’ll see another rotation on the bottom two lines as we did on Thursday.
THE OPPOSING VIEW
Prior to opening night, I talked with Donny from the excellent Panthers blog Litter Box Cats.
SNY Why Guys has a post on why it was inevitable that John Tavares would become a franchise player.
CLICK HERE to read it.
Prior to the October 29th game against the San Jose Sharks, the Islanders are hosting a charity game for the Nassau and Suffolk PBAs at 1pm. The Islanders have reduced ticket prices in certain sections for this event, which includes access to a pre-game family skate on the ice at 4pm and tickets to that night’s Islanders/Sharks game at 7pm. That’s right, not only can you help support the families of local police killed in the line of duty but they’re rewarding you for doing so with tickets for that night’s game, and a pre-game skate. I’ll let Officer John Kannengeiser explain further:
We, as fellow Police Officers and hockey players have the unique opportunity to combine our love of the game with an inherent need to help the families of our fallen brothers.
The proceeds will be donated to the families of Nassau County Police Officers Michael Califano and Geoffrey Breitkopf and Suffolk County Police Officer Glen Ciano, who were all tragically killed in the line of duty over the course of the past two years. These three exemplary officers left behind wives and a combined seven children, many of whom are very young. It goes without saying, the difficulties these families are experiencing each and every day as they try and move forward with their lives.
The New York Islanders have been kind enough to help out by hosting this event. The Islanders have secured sections in the Coliseum for which tickets will be sold at a discounted rate. Certain $84 tickets will be reduced to $40 and certain $40 tickets will be reduced to $30 for this event.
Please note, the discount only applies to tickets bought in advance. Walk-ups will not be discounted. To purchase tickets, contact Cliff Gault at (516) 501-6763 or mail in this form. Alternatively, you can contact the Suffolk PBA Office in Boheima (631-563-4200) or the Nassau PBA Office in Mineola (516-294-6230).
The Islanders fell to Tampa Bay 4-1 tonight.
Michael Grabner scored his second goal of the season from Mark Streit and Brian Rolston.
Al Montoya stopped 26 of 30 shots. Tampa Bay backup goalie Mathieu Garon stopped 16 of 17 Islander shots.
The Islanders next game is Saturday against the Panthers.
Through the first four games the Islanders have scored 11 goals with eight of those coming from their first line of Matt Moulson (2), John Tavares (5) and PA Parenteau (1). The others came from Michael Grabner (1), Frans Nielsen (1) and Andrew MacDonald (1) — with some very strong assists to Mark Streit’s shot-pass (It’s the Chuck Norris of Islanders Hockey: completely unstoppable and devoid of reasonable explanation). Once the Islanders get deeper into the season this team is certainly going to need to get more scoring from its second and third lines.
The second line of Grabner, Nielsen and Kyle Okposo has played strong and has two goals on the year. They’ve had a ton of chances but haven’t converted on probably as many as we would like them to.
The concern is especially high for Grabner, a 34-goal scorer last season. The 24-year old Austrian is a known slow starter — it’s part of the reason the Islanders were able to grab him off waivers last season. He’s on the score sheet, sure, but it was for a tap in of an Okposo shot. Grabner has only registered five shots on the score sheet so far this year, including a goose egg on Saturday night against the Rangers. He was third on the team in shots a year ago, with more than 200, behind only Tavares and Moulson. Right now, he’s tied for 10th on the team behind everyone else on the top two lines, Matt Martin, Brian Rolston and two defenders. The good news is that we know that Grabner starts off slowly. He should come around eventually but it would be easier for everyone if that wasn’t the case.
There’s also a concern for the third line, which unlike the first two is a bit different than a year ago. In is veteran Brian Rolston who has been paired with returners Blake Comeau and Josh Bailey. Rolston, while not on the scoresheet himself, has played well and taken a lot of shots. The question mark here is how Rolston on the left wing has — or hasn’t — affected the play of Comeau.
Comeau is typically a left wing but flipped wings to accommodate the veteran Rolston. Both Bailey and Comeau have had good and bad games thus far. The consistency isn’t there yet and as time goes on, we’ll have to see how much patience Coach Capuano has for it. With the return of Trevor Gillies, Comeau was benched on Saturday night against the Rangers as a not-so-subtle hint as to who the low man on the pole currently is. Although the coach wouldn’t talk about it at practice on Monday, I’d have to believe he thought Comeau was the poorest performer through the first week of the season. At least that’s my theory.
Gillies will likely rotate in and out depending on the opponent and the play of other teammates in the coming weeks. The Islanders won’t have a serious decision to make until Nino Niederreiter (groin injury) is ready to go. With only Gillies, Martin and defenseman Travis Hamonic on two-way contracts Snow and Capuano will have an interesting decision to make as to who the odd man out is at that point. It won’t simply be for a seat in the press box but for one in Bridgeport or, although a trade is unlikely, a different team entirely. The complete discussion on that, however, is for another post… For now, let’s see if these guys can put a few in the net this week.
NEWS AND NOTES
+ The Islanders will bring all three goalies to Florida, no word on who the starter is for tonight just yet. Milan Jurcina traveling with the team as well, Nino will stay behind. Read into their playing statuses as you will, since that’s the most detail we’ll have until someone is in the lineup or a roster move is made.
+ LHH has an early evaluation on Steve Staios (Warning: Small sample size does apply).
+ Ladies and gentlemen, behold the John Tavares Jack-o-lantern.
THE OPPOSING VIEW
Last week, I talked to Damian Cristodero who is on the Bolts beat for the St. Pete Times.
