Ex-Isle Eric Goddard finds himself in Pittsburgh this season in case anyone gets a little too close to Sid the Kid. Last night he threw down with Riley Cote of the Philadelphia Flyers in an furious, entertaining fight via HockeyFights.com.
What’s with the helmets boys? You guys new to this fighting thing? Goddard played for the Flames last year, I would think he would have picked up a thing or two from Jarome Iginla. Iggy and Willie Mitchell showed everyone how it’s done a couple of days ago.
Speaking of former Islanders, I often joke about the “Ex-Islanders All-Star Team” around the league. Bertuzzi, Luongo, Bertuzzi, Redden, Chara…the list goes on and on. Which is why I am so pissed that I did not think of the following idea first - the Former Islander Watch blog. Great site, daily updates on former Isles around the league, a list of the top former Isles on each team (DYK? Only CAR, DAL, and NASH don’t have former Isles on their roster). The blog’s been around since last year - no idea why it took so long for me to find out about it. Check it out…try not to cry too much. Just remember, Mad Mike is gone.
The bad news just keeps flowing around here like the cheap beer in Pittsburgh. Saturday night at the home opener Radek Martinek got hit and stayed down in the first period. It was at the opposite end of the ice from where I was sitting. It looked like he got sandwiched by two Blues players, or he was expecting the hit to come from one side and got popped from the other. Either way, he went down, left the ice and didn’t return. The Isles haven’t said a word about him since, until this afternoon.
New York Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek will be out four to six weeks because of an unidentified upper-body injury suffered during a game last weekend, the club said Tuesday.
Martinek was knocked out of the Islanders’ home opener in the first period Saturday night after he absorbed a hard hit behind the net. He was evaluated by doctors that night and didn’t play in New York’s 7-1 loss to Buffalo on Monday.
The Islanders revealed the length of time Martinek is expected to miss, but still declined to provide any information about the injury.
P.S. This NHL injury disclosure policy is a J-O-K-E! JOKE! JOKE! JOKE!
Ahh, Kid’s Opening Day at the Coliseum. A beautiful afternoon. School is out. Free Guerin jerseys. A dozen or more fuzzy mascots acting silly. A perfect way to make some new young Islander fans.
Five game misconducts. Brendan Witt’s head bleeding on the ice. The Isles leaving Joey Mac in there to get shellacked 7-1 while DP keeps the water bottles full. Were the Isles trying to make fans for life, or just scar the kids for life?
No game highlights worth showing. Just video of yesterday’s shennanigans via HockeyFights.com.
As if the Islanders 7-1 thrashing at the hands of the Sabres wasn’t enough to bring you down, Forbes.com has reminded us that the Islanders have all the attributes of a team that needs to find a new home (thanks to our friend The Shoe for pointing this piece out).
We don’t agree. How could we? But Forbes make the following case:
What do the Minnesota Vikings, Buffalo Bills, Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Islanders and New Orleans Hornets all have in common?
Dreary stadiums they don’t own and stalling businesses eager to rake in more cash. In other words, they’re all ripe for a move. And that means city or state governments around the country can expect them to come calling for help financing a new venue.
Based on franchise valuations, revenue and attendance trends over the past few years, the most stagnant team businesses – those with the greatest likelihoods of hitting the road at some point – are those stuck in outdated arenas and stadiums. While market size drives local sponsorship deals and TV money, souped-up venues that drive revenue through high ticket prices, luxury suites and corporate packages are the order of the day. You don’t have that, you’re not in the game.
Talk of the Isles moving is old hat. There have been calls for it and outrage against it for years. I fall on the outrage side. The Islanders need to find a way to make it work on Long Island. It all starts with the product on the ice. The Isles can’t afford another few years of sub-standard hockey. If the team goes through another 90s-type of slide, I can’t say with any confidence they’ll be around.
Improve the team, get a better venue, make more money, and stay on the Island. I’m no businesss school major but that makes sense to me.
And, of course, the loyal fans need to continue to support the club. But it’s hard to ask people to shell out cash for tickets, parking, food, and merchandise when the economy is in the tank and families are shrinking their budgets.
OK +1 for NHL.com videos - they are available online waaaaay before the YouTube versions. Here’s last night’s highlights. Go Isles!! Nice game by Hilbert, and Joey Mac’s been very solid in both games. Second period diving glove save was awesome.
Alright, let’s see what works and which looks better…
The good ol’ YouTube Highlights from Isles/Devils Friday night.
Next let’s see if the NHL.com video embeds work on the blog this year…
[Update] Cool! The NHL.com embeds work this year. Let me know which you like better. Personally, it’s kind of a toss-up - NHL.com seems to be higher quality, but the YouTube is a little bigger and easier to watch. If/when YouTube gets around to allowing the higher quality videos to be embedded, I’d probably go with them. YouTube has better quality videos, but you have to actually go to YouTube.com to see them.
LCS Hockey had some choice words for the Caps’ enforcer Donald Brashear after his opening night scrap with the Thrashers’ Zach Bogosian. The “child abuse” line is hysterical and just another reason I love LCS Hockey so much.
Brashear is a punk. Always has been, always will be. Jumping an 18-year-old rookie in his first NHL game is despicable. Brashear should be ashamed of himself, as should anyone who ever refers to Brashear as a “tough guy.”
There’s simply no defending Brashear’s actions. There’s a code, Donald. Respect the code. And even after he perpetrated child abuse, Brashear had the nerve to skate off the ice and mock the Atlanta bench, motioning with his hand that all they do is talk.
So Def Leppard is going to rock out and play the NHL’s official season opener (sorry Rangers) in Detroit tonight. Def Leppard. I liked these guys a lot when I lived in the 80s. But wait, the NHL has a little 90s juice in there, too, with Alanis Morissette (a Canadian!) playing via a live feed from Montreal. So, to review - the NHL selected Def Leppard and Alanis Morissette over pretty much any relevant current band. The NFL has been doing it for years. Now the NHL has its own piece of the lameness.
C’Mon C’Mon C’Mon. I fear the song is going to live in my head for a while. Crap.
Are you ready for some hockey? I am! Shoulder surgery went well and I will be at the Isles’ home opener on Saturday night. Woot!
From Greg Logan’s blog, here is the finalized Islanders roster for Friday night’s opener vs the Devils. Logan has listed the lines from practice, but they are likely to change.
Forwards
Jon Sim-Doug Weight-Bill Guerin
Sean Bergenheim-Josh Bailey-Kyle Okposo
Jeff Tambellini-Frans Nielsen-Trent Hunter
Richard Park-Mike Comrie-Andy Hilbert
Blake Comeau
Defense
Brendan Witt-Radek Martinek
Thomas Pock-Freddy Meyers
Jack Hillen-Mark Streit
Brett Skinner-Bruno Gervais
Goal
Rick DiPietro
Joey MacDonald
Injured reserve list – C Mike Sillinger, D Chris Campoli, D Andy Sutton
Players sent to Bridgeport – (Forwards) Jeremy Colliton, Trevor Smith, Tim Jackman, Kurtis McLean, Mitch Fritz; (Defense) Chris Lee; (Goal) Yann Danis.
