Last Night’s Islanders Star of the Game
October 6th, 2006 by murph
I give it to Jiggs because none of the guys on the ice deserve it. It’s great to have Jiggs back even if it is only temporary, until the Mets are finished and Howie Rose is free.
[Update 1] From NewYorkIslanders.com, here’s Jiggs’ thoughts on his return to the broadcast booth.
It’s Good to Be Back Home
The nerves already started getting to me while making the drive south from Ontario. I’m so excited to be stepping in for Howie Rose on the FSN Islanders broadcasts while Howie is busy with the Mets. I’ll be there as long as they need me and will cherish every moment I get to go back behind the mike for the franchise that played a huge part in me getting to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
On Tuesday night I had the privilege of attending the Islanders Family kickoff dinner. I have to tell you, in all my years of being in sports, I had never seen a team event like the one Charles Wang hosted on Tuesday on the bay at Chateau La Mer in Lindenhurst. Everyone in the organization was there with their families. Suzi Schopp and the Islanders TV crew produced a short film on what it means to be an Islander that was simply incredible. From what I understand, the team will show it from time to time at games at the Coliseum. Wait until you see it.
There is so much enthusiasm around this team and I’m pretty confident you will see it on this four-game road trip. For me, the biggest proof that Ted Nolan has pulled this team together can be found in the smile of my friend Viktor Kozlov, whom I got to know well when doing the radio broadcasts for the Panthers. Viktor is looking like the happiest guy in the world right now, and so are all of his teammates. I give a lot of the credit for that to Ted, of course, but I also think Rick DiPietro has something special that you don’t usually find in a goaltender. In the last few days as I have tried to get to know the team better, it hasn’t been hard to notice the positive impact that Rick’s play and attitude has on his teammates.
Please join us at 9:30 pm EST tonight for the pre-game show. My teammates, including our producer Kevin Meininger, director Larry Roth and our new color commentator Billy Jaffe (who’s going to be a real good one), have a great broadcast planned. Oh man, my nerves get going just thinking about it. I don’t want to let anyone down.
