Isles Win Home Opener, Bossy and Trots Score
October 15th, 2006 by Tom
Big Islander Win on The Big Opening Night. Day started off with my flight from Jacksonville delayed by three hours. Still managed to make it to the tailgate by 5:30. By that time the lot was about a third full with plenty of tailgaters, lots of horn-honking and “Let’s Go Islander” chants. Couple beers and a burger later, the IslandersArmy crew headed to our seats in Section 320, about two rows below the obstructed view seats, so we were happy.
Night starts off with Sparky the Dragon descending from the rafters. Sparky is so lame. I’m a Jet fan and it bothers me that the Green Guys play their home games in Giant Stadium. Bothers me a lot. But how much lamer is it that the Islanders have to offer the mascot for the Arena Football League’s New York Dragons some part-time work to moonlight as their own mascot? As far as I know, there were never any Dragons on Long Island. And even if there were, they wouldn’t be skating on the ice cause one false breath and it would all be over. I just can’t stand historical inaccuracies is all. So Sparky is on the ice, joined by two Ice Girls who like they’re going clubbing and minutes later, the PA man says give a warm welcome to Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier. I was so fired up for this going in. I mean it was Bossy and Trots. I still get goosebumps watching highlights of these guys. They spoiled us all. So Bossy and Trots come out in suits. They look smooth. Have to say here that I was disappointed with the crowd. I understand people were still filing in and it was a Saturday so the place was packed with kids, but I would have liked a more vocal reaction. There were some “Bos-sey” chants and that was fun, but overall it was kind of weak.
Onto the game, Bruins were bringing it early and the Isles looked sluggish, playing back on their heals. There was pretty much no hitting at all in the first 10 minutes of the game. Mike Dunham started his second straight game and was easily the best Islander on the ice in the first period, making several nice saves during three consecutive Boston power plays. Glenn Murray managed to sneak one past Dunham at the end of the final power play, on what might have been the Bruins’ 100th shot of the period. We go into the first intermission Islanders down 1-0.
After that it was all good guys - Mike Sillinger got it started off with a goal off of a sweet pass from Satan, putting the puck off the left arm of the keeper and into the net. One of the Army’s favorites - Mighty Jason Blake - got his first of the year with a slap shot with about six minutes left in the period. As usual Blake skated hard all night, sometimes looking a bit out of control, but you have to love the guy’s effort. Blake started off the third period on a power play by putting in his own rebound. Some kid sitting near us threatened Blake that he better get a hat trick. The kid was about 8. The scoring closed when Blake fed a perfect cross-ice pass to Tom Poti who re-directed it past the keeper. After scoring, Poti remained bent over the keeper, looked like he was staring him down, maybe even talking smack. Not sure what the hell that was about, but I dug it. Isles controlled the puck for the rest of the way and easily won 4-1. Good times.
The highlight of the night, for me, was the second intermission when the team brought back Bossy and Trottier to take part in the shootout, with each guy shooting on behalf of a lucky fan. Trots went first, dressed in the home whites, and put three of his 15 shots in. I know these guys are older and wearing button-down shirts under too-big brand new jerseys, but this still shows how hard it is to shoot a puck from the blue line into a gap about four-pucks wide in the middle of the net. If Trots gets just three, it ain’t easy. So Bossy, wearing Blue jersey (thankfully not the Orange) goes next and while I love both of these guys, Bossy’s always been my favorite. When I was a kid I seriously expected him to score every time he touched the puck. Kind of like my wife expected me to gas up the car every time I walk by the damn thing. My only care was that the BossMan not embarass himself. I couldn’t handle that. I didn’t have to worry. I lost count as the cheers started getting louder and louder and Bossy started unleashing the shots faster and faster. I would say, being totally objective, that he must have scored 32 times on his 15 shots. I know the math doesn’t work out but just trust me on this. Bossy was great. The “Bos-sey” chants started when he had about five shots left, with even Trots participating by banging his stick on the ice to the rhythm of the chants. It was great. The Old First-Liners back on the ice, getting the crowd excited, cheering each other on, and putting the puck in the net.
[murph's comments] Attendance was 14,000 and change, first time since 1999 the Isles didn’t sell out the home opener. Not bad, but I thought there would be more of a walk up. The Mets playoff game probably didn’t help much. Islanders All-Time home opener record is 22-10-1-1.
The third jerseys are nice, I do actually like them…but on a night where Trotts and Boss are right there, do us all a favor and wear some classic blue next time. The other thought regarding jerseys we had last night was that anyone walking into the Coliseum at this point still wearing the fisherman jersey should receive a brand new jersey free of charge. Give ‘em the orange one, I don’t care, just kill off the fisherman for good. I don’t know what these people are thinking when they wear that debacle to the game. I’d show up buck nekkid before I showed up wearing %$@& Captain Ahab. Off to Jersey to see the Jets…
