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.
Since the season ends today, we figured why wait on handing out the hardware. So, without further ado, some of my thoughts on who did right by us Isles fans this season, with a top choice and a runner-up. I also refrained from picking any one player for two different awards. I love making up rules for myself. Murph, let us know what you think, too:
MVP - 1) Rick DiPietro 2) Brendan Witt
Ricky was the obvious choice here. On a team with very little firepower and a no-name defense, DiPietro stood on his head a ton of times to keep the Isles in the thick of things before going down with the injury. His play and Ted Nolan’s coaching were the primary reason the Isles had a shot at the playoffs for most of the season. For that reason, I almost picked Nolan as the runner-up but then I thought it was lame to pick a coach. Brendan Witt personified the team’s toughness and did a very good job manning the backline until, he too, went down with an injury (I sense a pattern here). Honorable mention goes to Mike Sillinger, Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, and Trent Hunter.
Hardest Worker, aka the Jason Blake Memorial Trophy - 1) Trent Hunter 2) Bill Guerin
Both of these guys leave everything on the ice every night. I know a lot of Islander fans are disappointed in Hunter’s lack of points (just 12 goals this year and 40 points), but the guy is one of the few Isles playing physical from end to end, each and every game. He’s also the type of player who would be lighting the lamp much more regularly if the Isles were fortunate to have a true sniper on the team. Guerin is exactly what we thought he’d be. The guy works hard. He’s a little older now and maybe a little slower but it’s hard to gauge when there is just so little offensive talent around him.
The Wow He’s Actually Pretty Good Award - 1) Richard Park 2) Dubie
Richard Park! I can’t tell you how many times I caught myself getting excited at something Park had accomplished and then saying to myself, “Hey, that Richard Park is pretty o.k.” Maybe not the most ringing endorsement in the world but in all honestly it can take some time to win me over and Park is slowly doing that. The guy made a host of big plays this season and was fairly consistent. He currently ranks seventh on the team in points and leads the Isles with three shorthanded goals. Maybe that’s what won me over right there. Love those shorthanded goals. Back-up goalie Wade Dubielewicz was more than solid spot-starting for DiPietro for much of the season before DP went down with the injury. Since then he’s gotten even more time between the pipes and he continues to keep the Isles in games. He’s shown that last season’s heroics wasn’t a fluke and proven he can play at this level.
The Dumbest Play of The Season Award - 1) Chris Simon
The Jarkko Ruutu play. Totally unacceptable. Simon played hard but every once in a while the guy just went off the deep end. The Ruutu play got him a 30-game ban and a ticket off of the Island. Simon won the same award last year when he hit Ryan Hollweg with his stick and was suspended for 25 games.
The Invisible Man Award - 1) Shawn Bates
Another winner without a runner-up. Bates, you know we fell in love with you in 2002 but, man, where’ve you been? For the second straight season, Bates was pretty-much a no-show. He played in just two games this season. Makes last year’s 48 seem Ironman-esque.
The Why I Can’t Wait For Next Season Award - 1) Kyle Okposo 2)Blake Comeau
The Young Guns have shown some signs of things to come in their limited action this season and should give all Islander fans some hope for the future. The Isles need to get some help from the outside if they want to take the next step, but it’s nice knowing the cupboard isn’t empty.
As always, we look to our readers to let us know where we screwed up.
When it rains, it pours. More bad injury news from Islanders Country.
If nine NHL-caliber defenseman seemed like a crowd when the Islanders broke training camp, it’s turned out to be just enough now. Defenseman Brendan Witt has been ruled out for the next two to four weeks with the sprained medial collateral knee ligament he suffered Tuesday night against Philadelphia.
Just in case you couldn’t get enough of those FOUR Flyers’ unanswered goals on Saturday night, leading to a 5-3 Islanders’ loss, the team put on a similar matinée performance yesterday vs. the Carolina Hurricanes. Entering the third period up 2-0, the Isles allowed Carolina to come back and tie the game in regulation on goals from the unlikely combination of Mike Commodore and Niclas Wallin - in both cases, just their second goal of the season. Then under a minute into OT, with Andy Sutton sitting out on a penalty and Carolina skating 4-on-3, Corey Stillman scored the game winner for Carolina. Not even the return of defensemen Brendan Witt and Radek Martinek from injuries could save the Islanders.
Notes:
- Isles head to Carolina tonight on the back end of a home and home series.
- The loss was the Isles’ first this season after leading after 2 periods of play.
- Both games were a sellout at the Coliseum.
- DP looked a little gimpy at the end of the second period. I missed the third period, didn’t hear any further updates. Something to keep an eye on.
From Mark Herrmann, covering for Greg Logan over at On the Islanders Beat
The official word on Brendan Witt and his sprained right ankle still remains day to day. Ted Nolan said this morning that the team’s solid defenseman has made considerable progress for someone who barely could move a few days ago. Nolan gave a cryptic “we’ll see him sooner rather than later” in projecting his return. Radek Martinek still probably is “at least a week” away from returning, the coach added.
Two days and more than 200 additional responses later, the Islanders’ “What do you want this Holiday Season?” poll results are stll amazing to me. They basically haven’t changed one bit in the last 48 hours. Currently, 34% of the 982 respondents would rather get an autographed jersey or tickets to a game than witness a successful Islanders season. I might be the only person who thinks this is crazy but I can’t help myself, I tend to obsess about unimportant things like this.
DP An All-Star?
In other Islander news, Coach Ted tells Islanders.com that he believes Rick DiPietro should make the all-star team. Always nice when a coach supports a player like that. It’s also smart.
“To be an All-Star is to be valuable to your team,” explained Nolan. “And you look at the importance of Rick. Some times we’ve had trouble scoring goals, but thankfully we have Ricky in net because he can stop a majority of the opportunities against us.”
I think DP does a bit more than stop the majority of the opportunities against the Isles. He’s a freak back there who, save for an occassional over-aggressive misstep, is the team’s rock and clearcut MVP. Still, he’s going to get a lot of competition from Boston’s Tim Thomas, Henrik Lunqvist of the Rangers, and the legend that is Martin Brodeur.
Check out the latest goalie stats here.
One more thing, how about Brendan Witt’s Fu Manchu? Best facial hair of the season. Hands down. Hope he keeps it.
