Haven’t heard any updates on DP’s hip, but his mask continues on in the Tournament of Logos Blog Best Goalie Mask Brackets. After narrowly defeating the Av’s Peter Budaj by just 20 votes, DP faces Tim Thomas of the Bruins and his mask. It’s another nail biter and voting ends on Sunday.
Speaking of polls, the HockeyFights.com 2007-08 Awards are now open for voting as well. Where else can you vote for “Fight of the Year“, “TKO/KO of the Year“, “Best Team Feud“, or “Best Punching Power“? All those official NHL Awards are for sissies!
The Isles are not very well represented here, in fact they’ve been nominated for “Least Enforcing Team“. But you will find the NYI/NYR Pre-season brawl, and Simon stomping on Rutuu in the “Most Old-School Moment” category. You can browse the categories and videos, but you’ll need a HockeyFights.com forum username and password to vote.
DP’s mask has advanced to round three of the NHL Tournament of Logos blog best goalie mask poll. If he wins this round and he’ll be in the final four.
The polls opened up on Tuesday, so I’m a little late posting this…but DP needs you more than ever. It’s a barnburner - as of this morning, Budaj has a 19 vote lead. Poll closes tomorrow. Vote here.
OK, not really…DP and the boys are making the turn at Bethpage right now. BUT…DP’s mask has advanced to the second round of the Tournament of Logos Blog Goalie Mask Tournament. After disposing of the Duck’s Jonas Hiller in round one 60-40%, DP’s mask takes on another backup goalie, the Devils’ Kevin Weekes. If DP’s sweet mask keeps facing these backup scrubs, it might just cruise all the way to the finals!!
The Tournament of Logos Blog goalie mask competition moves on. After Doobie’s Fishstick mask got crushed by The Bulin Wall 61-39%, it’s time for DP’s Armed Forces Tribute mask to take on Jonas Hiller of the Ducks…Duck Mask. Vote early, vote often as DP’s mask is 100% Fishstick Free.
Apparently I know more about NCAA hockey than I do NHL hockey…or I’m just a lucky f*ck. Melt Your Faceoff ran a NCAA Frozen Four pool and when the dust settled, the Boston College Eagles and yours truly stood atop the pack. That should make up (a little) for my 19/20 finish in Mirtle’s Yahoo NHL league this season. New website next year…Hofstra Army!
In case you missed the (yawn!) oh-so-exciting news out of Toronto last night, the NHL held the 2008 Draft Lottery last night in Toronto. Absolutely nothing changed - Tampa Bay ended up with the #1 pick, Islanders the #5. What was the point of last night again?
Anyways, Sean Leahy’s got some humorous pictures from last night and fake Bossy quotes on his blog. Check it out.
The NHL Tournament of Logos blog has graduated from logos and is moving onto determining the “best goalie mask” with a series of polls. Today’s matchup pits the Isles’ own Wade Dubielewicz vs. Nikolai Khabibulin. Sorry Doobie, but I H-A-T-E that stupid %$#^@&*! Gordon’s Fisherman logo with a passion…I had to vote for “The Bulin Wall”. Get your vote on either way, and check the Tournament of Logos blog often to see how the voting turns out.
We haven’t covered the possible Yankee Stadium NHL outdoor game very much here this season, despite talks about the game coming closer and closer to reality. That’s because every article about the game has the Rangers scheduled for the game in permanent marker, while the list of possible opponents is written in pencil, with the Islanders at the bottom of that list. The NHL (and NBC) suits feel a NYI/NYR outdoor game is too NYC-centric and won’t draw any interested outside of the metro area. It’s really not looking good for the Isles to take part in this game if it happens. However, the Isles now have one notable supporter in their corner - ESPN’s “Bucci” - John Buccigross makes a case to include the Islanders in his latest blog column. We’ll take all the support we can get, even if half of Bucci’s support is based on pity for our fallen franchise.
The Rangers-Islanders rivalry would light up a rink, burst through the television screen and earn very good ratings. It is one of those regular-season games that truly feels like a playoff game. Thats what makes any outdoor game better. A hard-hitting, meaningful battle is the cherry on top of all the Yankee Stadium marketing the game will receive.
You might find two other U.S.-based teams with a rivalry close to Islanders-Rangers, but you wont find a better one. And having the game in New York makes the most sense if its Islanders-Rangers, as much sense as a Blackhawks-Red Wings game in Wrigley Field or a Penguins-Flyers game at Penn State.
It is good sense and would help a franchise in need of a little help, a franchise that has a passionate owner who had a passionate-GM-turned-good-television-analyst make very bad trades. Sports are meant to be played, watched and experienced with passion, but administered with cold, calculating thought. The Islanders learned that the hard way.
Cmon, NHL, give the Islanders a break. Give them a reason to believe, some faith, some hope. Everybody will win. Even Oleg Kvasha.
James Mirtle has tallied the official NHL injury reports to determine the number of games lost to injuries this season for each team. It shouldn’t be much a surprise (Sim, Sillinger, Bates, Witt, Satan, Campoli, etc…) that the Islanders are currently in 4th place, right behind the Bruins. The Bruins however are the only possible playoff team near the top of this list.
Rk Teams Games Lost NHL pos.
1 Florida 362 22
2 Chicago 330 24
3 Boston 305 14
4 N.Y. Islanders 302 26
5 Edmonton 291 21