10/5/07: Islanders 6, Sabres 4

The Islanders traveled to Buffalo last night and, for one night at least, answered the questions of the doubters who said that this team was destined for the cellar. One game does not make a season, but there were plenty of pegs for the Islanders to hang their hockey hats on:

• Against a team known for its skill and speed (even without Drury and Briere), the Islanders found a way to win a high-scoring game on the road
• After the midway point of what was a wide-open game, the defense kept the Sabres off the scoresheet the rest of the way
• The power play was 3 for 4 with Berard still unsigned
• The Islanders outshot the Sabres 34-26
• The shiny, new top line of Fedotenko, Comrie, and Guerin dominated

Tonight is the rematch back on Long Island. I will be there along with my Blog Box colleagues and 16,000+ pumped up Islanders fans. It's a great day for hockey!

Not Quite a Media Blitz, But It's Something

The Islanders received a double dose of attention from Neil Best in his column for Newsday today. First, Neil catches up with Jiggs McDonald, who was headed south from his summer residence in Ontario Sunday morning with Long Island as his destination. Somewhere along the way, Jiggs and his wife realized that the Mets were not going to come through, and Howie Rose would be free to make his transition from bats to sticks immediately. The McDonalds continued on straight to Florida. For many of us, Jiggs is the voice of the Islanders. I enjoy listening to Howie (despite his past affiliation), which is a good thing considering he does my teams' games year round. But any opportunity to hear Jiggs back behind the mic for an Islanders game is a treat for me. According to Best, we should have no fear because Jiggs will once again be here. He is scheduled to join the broadcast of the October 13th game against the Flyers.

Later in the column, Best reveals that the Islanders will have far fewer pre-game shows this year. However, they will finally be granted full post-game shows on a regular basis thanks to "MSG's Hockey Night Live." I'm not totally sold on this new setup. For one thing, MSG's Hockey Night Live will often be dividing its time among three teams. Also, post-game interviews are subject to the results of the game and the moods of the players and coaches. If the Isles have a bad game, all we're likely to hear out of the locker room is "We have to work harder, stay more disciplined, finish our chances, and improve our special teams play." I find that pre-game, players and coaches are more relaxed, more engaging, and more likely to give fresh quotes. Additionally, if a special feature is scheduled to run before the game, it can't get bumped if the game runs long.

Lastly, the Islanders finally got an article about them published in the Times today. I wasn't surprised to see coverage of the Devils and Rangers first, but the Times had an article about the Ducks the other day. On the positive side, it's a nice look at Bill Guerin and how he represents the kind of team the Islanders hope to be. And with that, it's almost time to drop the puck in Buffalo.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Coliseum

Hey, first multiple-post day. Something HUGE must have happened. Well, no. But funny story! By the way, if you're planning on playing fantasy hockey through ESPN Fantasy Games this year, you might want to look into alternatives.

So, I had my fantasy hockey draft tonight. I can't say that I went into it all that enthusiastically. It has been years since ESPN made any improvements, or even changes, to its fantasy hockey system. My friends and I just haven't been able to break the habit. The baseball and football systems have received fancy new front ends and injections of back-end customizable feature performance enhancers. And those games are now free. Fantasy Hockey did get a front-end makeover this year so that it looks like the others, but under the hood it's exactly the same. And costs $29.95.

The first sign that we might be in for some trouble came in ESPN's "Your live draft is in 24 hours!" e-mail. Near the bottom, inconspicuous in its placement, was a note stating that the Java version of ESPN's live drafting system would not be available for hockey this year. Mind you, they have been using this technology for at least 8 years. But, no, we would have to use the straight HTML version of the live draft, which is a really great way to do it if you're drafting in 1997 (grab Palffy!). At this point, it's obvious that hockey is no longer just on the back burner. It's the carbonized crumb behind the stove that was flicked off the back burner.

Normally, you are allowed to enter an ESPN fantasy draft "war room" 30 minutes before the scheduled time. During those 30 minutes, there was no evidence that a draft would take place. Finally, at the appointed time, the draft went live. Only there was no discernible method of selecting players. I watched Sidney Crosby go #1 overall and wondered what I would do when my pick came up at #5. Thornton went #2. And then Crosby went again at #3.

By now it was obvious that the wonky system was making Auto Pilot picks for everyone. Fleury went #4. I got Heatley at #5. Heatley went again at #7 (I'm trying to work out a deal where I get him Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays). Then Fleury went again at 8, 9, 10, and 11. This was going to be some league!

After the first round, the system stopped repeating picks but continued to make our selections for us. We had no way to intervene, which led to some interesting rosters. One team has 9 defensemen, all of them good. Toskala is my #1 goalie. I have no idea if this draft is going to be preserved. If it stands, I'll have a lot of work to do. I doubt we will get our money back, and receiving a free team under current conditions is hardly just compensation.

But the funny part? Amidst all the chaos, guess who the system gave me as my 21st and final selection?

Jeff Tambellini.

The Final 23

My immediate reaction to the release of the final roster was shock. Eight defensemen, none named Berard. Thirteen forwards, no Tambellini. I really think this team needs another dynamic element on the blue line, and giving up on Berard at this point just looked shortsighted. Fortunately, we may not have all of the relevant information yet.

My Blog Box colleague B.D. Gallof, who has much better contacts than I do (I have none), tells us that the Isles may be working on a trade that will open up roster space and accommodate the signing of Berard. So there is some intrigue left before the opener at Buffalo on Friday.

As for Tambellini, he was the one player (formerly) on this roster that I was looking forward to watching this year. He was on my late-round-sleeper-pick list for my fantasy league. Mostly, I thought he was ready. I was looking forward to reading columns from around the U.S. and Canada giving different variations of, "The Islanders may really have something there in Jeff Tambellini." He certainly proved that he can be a top player in the AHL. Let's hope he goes back down to Bridgeport and does whatever is necessary to prove that he deserves a regular shift on the Island.

In other news, the Islanders have invited the twelve members of the Blog Box to attend not just the home opener, but also the Columbus Day matinee and the nationally televised Wednesday night appointment with the Rangers. Being invited to the first three home games goes well beyond my expectations for this role. Great job by the team in that regard. I will definitely be at the home opener and I should be able to work out attending one of the other two games as well. Hope to see lots of you there!

A few quick notes...

It's great to be able to watch the Isles on TV again, even if it is a preseason game and the Rangers' broadcast. I won't be able to catch the whole thing, but here are just a few notes from the first half of the game:

• Nice job by Joey McDonald surviving early pressure and keeping a clean sheet through 20 minutes in front of a lineup heavily populated with Sound Tigers.
• Berard is not one of the "regulars" in the lineup tonight. At first, I interpreted that to mean that the tryout phase of his preseason was over and he's made the roster. But when I realized that so many vets were sitting this one out, that interpretation seemed less reliable. Saturday and Sunday may still be make-or-break time for Bryan. I know a lot of you are hoping that Berard has nothing to do with this team come next Friday. I'd really like to see him make the team and carry the power play. If he proves unable to do so, let's just hope that the contract ends up signing is easily digestible.
• Any signs of life from Bergie are welcome. If he can contribute consistently on offense, this team will be at least a notch ahead of expectations. How great would it be to see him make an impact on the league and give the other teams fits? Who was the last young player to do that for the Islanders? Anyway, great to see Bergie find Lundqvist's five-hole with that backhander. Even if it hadn't found its way in, it was a good, low, hard shot that likely would have produced a rebound.
• I'm surprised that the white sweaters don't look as bad as I thought they would. Seeing the entire uniform helps them look stronger, mostly because the blue pants create a nice contrast. The numbers on the front continue to seem mostly pointless. They are too small to be visible during normal gameplay. You can see them when the camera zooms in, but then you can also see the players' faces so you know who they are anyway. The one thing the organization really got right was putting the (too narrow) horizontal stripes at the very bottom of the shirt hem. The teams that have the white shirttail hanging below their stripes look odd, at best.
• Halfway through the 3rd, it's still 4-1. Once Morrison replaced McDonald, it looked like the floodgates might open. The result of this game has negligible value, but it's never fun to get embarrassed. Let's hope the kids finish it out strong.
  

Finally, Islanders Outsider would like to extend its sincere condolences to Ted Nolan on the loss of his brother, Richard. According to this notice, Richard Nolan was a founder of the Ontario Native Firefighter Society and served as Garden River fire chief. May the Nolan family find comfort in its time of sorrow.

Isles Presence at Shea

Not much to say about the 6-1 loss to the Devils in Lowell tonight. From the looks of it, the Devils had a much better lineup out there. I guess you could say that the kids who received an opportunity to show the coaches something came up a little short. Of course, I say that only based on the brief recaps I have read. I'm not sure if this game was shown on Islanders TV, but I was unable to catch it if it was. So, the one thing I'd really like to know is how Berard looked tonight. If you can contribute anything in this area, please do so in the comments or shoot me an e-mail. After the 3-assist performance against the Rangers, I figured Berard just needed one more solid showing to solidify his spot on the roster. I have my doubts as to whether he was able to give that tonight.

So, I was at Shea tonight. I certainly don't have anything good to say about that result, so I'll leave the commentary to the Mets bloggers. However, early on in the game I noticed someone sitting a few sections away wearing the royal blue '72-'73 replica sweater. It looked really sharp. Kudos to you, Mets/Islanders fan for promoting the team in such refined hockey garb.

About midway though the game, the video board (is it still technically DiamondVision?) showed a couple of the Ice Girls and a joyful bunch of Isles fans. That's when I remembered that it was NYI365 Appreciation Night at Shea. (I was there with a friend and our wives, obviously not with the group.) Anyway, I hope that all of you full season subscribers were shown a good time by the Mets despite their daily pitching implosion. At least we had something to cheer about for 4 innings. And, if I heard the PA correctly, the t-shirts shot into the crowd by Mr. Met and the Pepsi Party Patrol during the 7th Inning Stretch were Islanders t-shirts. All in all, good night for Islanders publicity, bad night for Islanders hockey and Mets baseball.


Update: I just read on Corey Witt's blog that tonight's game was not shown live on Islanders TV due to bandwidth limitations at Tsongas Arena. That should severely limit the Berard contributions. Will we all be rushing to watch the archived broadcast tomorrow? I'll have to stick with my original plan of watching the season premiere of The Office.

Emotional Reactions

The following is a little rant I posted for friends on a private message board on July 2 of this year:

Dark days ahead for the Islanders. I fear we are headed for a replay of the abyss that was the mid-to-late 90s. Laughingstock of the league. I can't wait for all of those game recap references to the "hapless" Islanders to return. From 1995 through 2000, you would have thought that was the name of the franchise: the New York Hapless Islanders.

I don't know how Snow and Wang expected Ryan Smyth to re-sign with no one to play with. After a five-year revival, the Island is once again a place where no quality NHLer will want to play. It was fun while it lasted. Now we can look forward to a top line of Hunter-Sillinger-Satan. That's a solid 3rd line on a good team.

Congratulations to the Rangers for pulling off the Drury-Gomez double. I don't know if the chemistry will work, or if the money will work long term, but it was a crushing blow to see the Rangers and Flyers bring in the class of the free agent class while the Islanders replaced Smyth, Jason Blake, Tom Poti, Alexi Yashin, Richard Zednik, and Viktor Kozlov with Jon Sim. That's a lot of roster spots to fill, and a lot of goals to make up for, and there's not much left out there from which to choose.

Maybe Garth's Plan B was to go with the kids if he couldn't bring back Smyth. Maybe Nolan will get the best out of Bergenheim, Nokelainen, and Bentivoglio. If he doesn't, Garth's first full off-season as GM will have been a complete disaster. He doesn't even have a viable roster right now, and I'm not sure the team even meets the salary floor. It's sad that the only thing I'm excited about right now are the rumors that Ziggy Palffy might come out of retirement. But he'd probably sign with the Rangers too.

Now that was a serious overreaction. I apologize for my impatience. The free agency period is longer than 24 hours. In the end, Garth did a respectable job filling those roster spots. Jon Sim looks like he could be a big contributor playing in an appropriate role. Bergie is trying to prove he deserves more than 4th-line minutes, Nokie is gone to Boston for Walter, and Bentivoglio will have the opportunity to develop at the Bridge. And if you can take comfort from the observations of Evan Grossman, we have a hard-working, focused, and united club making the trip back to Long Island from Moncton.

As the season begins and progresses, I will try to avoid taking too many reactionary positions. But visit any team oriented message board, and that is what you will find: heat-of-the-moment, reactionary, and emotional declarations. Such is the life of the sports fan, who lives and dies with agony or ecstasy daily. And, if we're being honest, sometimes we only nod approvingly at the ecstasy and scream our heads off at the agony.

I'm just thankful I haven't had to blog about the Mets over the past month.

Blog Box in the Press

Neil Best gave the Blog Box a brief mention at the end of his column for Newsday today. After noting that Monday's preseason game against the Thrashers was the first of its kind to be streamed live exclusively on the Internet, and recognizing the adoption of Islander Mania as the team's official message board, Best had this to say about the Blog Box:

That is unusual, but not as unusual as this: the NYI Blog Box, in which select fans are chosen not only to blog - they already are doing so on the site - but to blog in a designated area at games.

I'm pretty sure I'm not eligible for that.

I've been wondering how the mainstream media will perceive and react to this little venture of ours. I certainly don't think reporters and columnists will be, or should be, threatened by it in any way.

As for live-blogging games from the Blog Box in the Coliseum, I've heard whispers that we won't be permitted to do that. Live-blogging the games was never really a major draw to me anyway. Can you picture 12 blogs all featuring the following entry?

7:48 PM: Sparky just tripped over an Ice Girl's squeegee and got his snout caught in one of the photographer cutouts along the glass.

I am, however, definitely looking forward to blogging about the experience of watching games from the Blog Box.

The Blog Box Opens Its Doors

Welcome, Blog Box readers! I'm thrilled that the Blog Box has finally gone live and initiated the official launch of Islanders Outsider. I've been holding back a little on posting until this day arrived. I hope you will take the time to look around and read the old entries before they get bumped to a second page. Please feel free to comment as you see fit, and look for more frequent updates soon!

--Ken

Boomer Not Aboard

On yesterday morning's Boomer & Carton in the Morning show on WFAN, Boomer Esiason spoke excitedly about NHL training camps opening this week. His partner, Craig Carton, did not seem quite so enthused. As I noted earlier, I'm really not familiar with Carton's work. I thought that his time at WIP in Philly was an indicator that we could look forward to some hockey talk on WFAN's morning drive show. It may be that he's simply not jumping up and down at the thought of training camp starting. However, based on the exchange I heard yesterday, we may have to look to Boomer to bring the hockey.

But here's the kicker (or, in this case, the quarterback): Boomer Esiason, raised in East Islip, NY, is not an Islanders fan. Perhaps this is common knowledge, and if I think about it, I can even picture him on TV at MSG. But it is disappointing to get that confirmation. I was looking forward to having a Long Island native on a high-profile sports talk show pumping up the Islanders. Instead, he roots for the high-profile city team. Call me deflated.

Six Years Later

One of the great challenges of writing is overcoming the fear that what you want to write has already been written by someone else, and he or she has written it more eloquently than you could ever hope to write it. Sometimes it is best to acknowledge this reality and share it.

On this solemn anniversary, I invite you to read the thoughts and feelings of a fellow Blog Box member, B.D. Gallof.

The End of the Summer

And so we have reached the unofficial end of the summer. Although my favorite weather generally occurs in spring and fall, I don't relish the transition from summer to fall. The end of winter signals three seasons of light and warmth to come. Labor Day sounds the alarm that those three seasons have been reduced to one, and it is the one that leads us back to cold days and long nights.

Growing up, Labor Day meant going to the U.S. Open and then back to school. In college, Labor Day had little significance because we were already back in school and didn't get the day off. These days the first Monday in September represents a return to normalcy in NYC. Starting tomorrow commutes will be longer and more crowded, mornings with light traffic will be the exception, and movies will be sold out before you even think of going. There's something to be said for summer in the city.

So I am left to fight the feeling of good things slipping away. How does one do that? Fortunately, there are countermeasures that may bring just the necessary thrill. If your rooting interests lie in the correct corner, October baseball may await you. If you are an angler, the next 2-3 months are your surfcasting playoffs. And the best thing about Labor Day? The opening of training camp for the New York Islanders is only 11 days away.

Soon we will be treated to daily updates from Moncton. The exhibition schedule commences September 17th. October 5th and a rematch with the Sabres is barely more than a month away. The days may grow shorter and colder, but a full season of Islanders hockey brings with it all of the hope and excitement necessary to warm the heart through a long winter.

And you know what else? While you're speculating on line combos and who will survive the last cut, don't forget that the unofficial end of summer is truly that. Summer doesn't end for another few weeks. September and October are beautiful months. Whether your preference is Montauk Point, Jones Beach, Cape May, or the local park, get out and enjoy the sunshine!

Note: If your musical tastes permit, End of the Summer is just one of several great albums by contemporary pop-folk artist Dar Williams.


Update: I just read that Chris Botta has sworn off including "culture things" in his NYI Point Blank blog, so maybe now that I've done that once, I'll try to do more of it here.

Predictions

Predictions for the upcoming NHL season are starting to surface in various print and online publications. Much like last year, the early consensus has the Islanders finishing last in the division, last in the conference, and last in the Academy Award voting for Best Live Action Short Film. You know, any excuse to put the Islanders last. Here's why I don't care:

1. Garth Snow has once again put together a team that can thrive under the leadership of Ted Nolan.
2. Making predictions is mostly a worthless exercise. I suppose it takes up column space. It can even be informative and entertaining. But, in the end, predictions have very little value.

Let's look at point #2 first. One of my favorite stories from last year's baseball season is a prime example of the futility of making predictions. ESPN.com published the predictions of its baseball experts for the 2006 postseason right after the regular season ended. Nineteen experts participated, including all of the big names: Gammons, Neyer, Olney, Kurkjian, Karabell, Stark, etc. Not a single one of them picked either the Tigers or the Cardinals to even make it to the World Series. Not a single one of them picked Detroit to make it out of the Division Series. Only one of them picked St. Louis to advance to the NLCS. It was the biggest prognostication whitewash I've ever seen. The baseball gods said, "Ha!" And it continues to amuse me to this day.

I know there are some Islander fans who are upset at the lack of respect being shown for the team as indicated by the various last-place predictions. I say forget about the predictions. Let's just drop the puck and see what happens.

Which brings us to point #1. Ted Nolan's reputation is based on his ability to get the most out of his players. Fedotenko, Comrie, and Vasicek are precisely the kinds of players whose talents should best be served by a coach who knows how to motivate individuals (which, by the way, was one of Al Arbour's great strengths as a coach). There are certain players who simply will not fulfill their potential without the proper environment. We've had to watch several of them struggle on Long Island when it was the wrong environment. I'm expecting good things from this group. But I'm certainly not going to make any predictions!

The New Uniforms, Part II

islanders.nhl.com

Well, they're here. Initial reaction: Not what I wanted. Don't totally hate them. The official site has additional pictures and more articles than you'll need.

The good:

• The crest remains untouched and sits prominently in the center of the jersey
• Horizontal stripes are retained at the bottom of the jersey
• No trendy, slanted, unnecessarily modern font is used for the numbering and lettering
• Numbers and letters have a traditional looking, one-color border

The bad:

• Overall, its a very busy look
• No switch back to royal blue
  
• I don't hate the numbers on the front, but given the choice I would probably leave them off. Apparently the broadcasters appreciate them. That either makes a lot of sense or it's a long way to go for a justification.
• The orange upper-arm accents just aren't necessary. They do look much better on the blue jersey than the white, and in that case they remind me of a traditional design worn by a lot of college teams and the Red Wings. In the picture of Brendan Witt in profile on the official site, I even kind of like the orange upper arms. But I only like them from the side.
• The horizontal stripes that ring the bottom of the jersey could be thicker.

Okay, I'm just going to do this once and then I'll let it rest. What follows are some quick modifications I made to the new look. In the first photo, I removed the orange upper-arm panels from both jerseys as well as the front number on the white jersey. In the second one, I gave the same treatment to Brendan Witt. I left the shoulder piping alone because it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would.






It's just a much cleaner look in my opinion. I always thought that the Islanders looked very powerful wearing a clean, white sweater. The orange sleeves detract from that. And I like orange. I was happy they used it as the primary color for the now defunct 3rd jerseys. I might have taken a different approach to the rest of that design, too, but it would have definitely been based on orange. With the white jerseys now being worn on the road, I don't mind the added color as much. But if the league ever switches back to white at home, I'd really like to see a change.

Finally, just a thought on how the organization presented the unveiling online. As you may know, the home page of the Islanders features five main news stories. Today, all five touted the new uniforms and were chock-full of testimonials and marketing talking points. It did seem like the team came out with all of its guns blazing in anticipation of backlash against the new design. A quick survey of Internet chatter suggests fan reviews are very mixed, which is to be expected, but opinions weigh in favor of a less busy and more traditional look. For now, I get the feeling that a lot of us are wondering why the team seems to go out of its way to give us exactly what we don't want. The decision to give us what we do want seems so simple. But when you're in the business of selling hockey, do you please the existing fan base, or try whatever you can to widen it?

The Islanders, I'm sure, spent a lot of time on this. In the organization's best case scenario, a "new and exciting" design translates to increased merchandising revenue. The team just has a different point of view than the longtime fan, which is typified by this statement: "The Islanders’ newest jersey design combines the heritage of the team with its magnificent logo, along with a unique trendy appeal." For people like me, heritage is important. Trendy never even enters the picture.

Two-Minute Minors

Posts under the "Two-Minute Minors" heading will give me the opportunity to catch up on some quick-hit items that aren't related and don't necessarily demand their own posts.

Brent Sutter

It will be strange to see Brent Sutter behind the bench in New Jersey this year. When the Islanders began looking for a new coach during the 2005-06 season, I was really hoping they could somehow lure old #21 back to Long Island. But none of the comments coming out of Red Deer suggested that the timing was right, and I quickly gave up on the idea of seeing Brent back with the Islanders. Fortunately, we have Ted Nolan. I hope he has a long and distinguished career with the Islanders. That being said, I'd like to see the day when this particular Sutter finds his way back to the organization. Perhaps after Ted wins a Stanley Cup and retires with nothing more to accomplish.

Mike Milbury

I was glad to see that Mike will be replacing Brett Hull on NBC's NHL telecasts for the upcoming season. Mike always had interesting things to say and gave frank answers to questions that many coaches and GMs would have deflected with clichés. There were times when Mike was the only reason that the media paid any attention to the Islanders. That, of course, simply calls attention to the poor performance of the team under Mike's leadership. I'm looking forward to being entertained by Mr. Milbury without having his commentary inextricably linked to the fortunes of the team.

WFAN

SportsRadio 66 WFAN has announced that Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton will take over as permanent hosts of the morning drive show. I'm not sold on Esiason as an everyday, four-hours-a-day, go-to personality, but I'm curious to see how he does. All I know about Carton is what I've read in the papers the last few days. I find it odd that WFAN hired someone who has been criticized on more than one occasion for exactly the type of comments that resulted in Don Imus getting fired. But my real disappointment here is that the station didn't choose to pair Boomer with Chris Carlin. In the parade of guest hosts that covered the morning shift this summer, I found Carlin to be the most entertaining and pleasant to listen to. I imagine he will continue to have a significant role at the station. Maybe he will be the update guy on Esiason and Carton in the Morning. Carlin would surely add a worthwhile element to the show.

Now to bring this back around to the Islanders, WFAN's new morning show is being characterized as sports-focused and in line with the rest of the station's programming day. Here's to hoping that it's a hockey friendly show. To me, that means that hockey isn't only discussed when Gary Bettman hands out a 20+ game suspension.