Islanders Army

Sunday’s Biggest Upset - Isles Down Sens in Ottawa

January 14th, 2008 by Tom

 

While underdog lovers everywhere were salivating over two huge upsets in the NFL playoffs yesterday - the Chargers dethroning a shocked Colts team and the Giants stepping on the throats of an equally surprised Cowboys club - the biggest upset of the day may have taken place on the ice in Ottawa, where the Islanders beat the number one team in the conference 3-1.

The Islanders knocked the Sens senseless. They were faster, stronger, and smarter and won on the strength of nine power plays. That’s right. They got nine power plays on the road against the top club in the East. They had to be doing something right.

It helped that all-star sniper Dany Heatley missed the game with a shoulder injury and high-scoring forward Jason Spezza was taken out of the action early by a crushing hit from Freddy Meyer. Still, the way the OrangeAnd Blue played with passion for 60 minutes, I think they probably would have skated away with a win no matter who suited up for the Senators. They were that good.

And being that good in Ottawa is a rare occurrence for the Isles. In fact, it was the team’s first win in Ottawa since 2003 and just its third since 1996. To put that in perspective, the Yankees have won more World Series over that span (four) than the Isles have won road games in Ottawa (three).

It’s been sort of a rollercoaster first half of the season but Islander fans have to be happy with where the team is after 44 games - all alone in eighth place, just six points off the division lead. All the problems that have dogged this team are still there - an often punchless offense, lackluster defense, and stretches of bad penalties - but the Islanders seem to have recaptured the grit of the early season that catapulted them to the playoffs last season. They need to hold onto that.

Next up, three big games against conference foes Montreal, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.

 

   Post in 2007-08, Dany Heatley, Freddy Meyer, Ottawa Senators    3 Comments

Heatley Should Be Eating Chicken Right About Now

November 28th, 2007 by Tom

James Gordon of the Ottawa Citizen ran a Q&A between fans and Senator scoring machine Dany Heatley today. Nothing earth-shattering in there but it’s definitely an enjoyable read. I’ve always thought it was a good idea to have a give and take between fans and players, particulalry the kids. See below for an excerpt from James’s article and see here for the rest of it.

Here’s hoping the Isles do something to slow down Heatley tonight. The guy has 17 points in 16 career games against the OrangeAndBlue, including 11 goals.

Several people wanted to know what Heatley’s schedule is on game day.

Dany Heatley: Generally you just come to the rink in the morning…obviously pre-game skate (usually at 10:30 a.m.). We usually have our penalty-killing meeting in the morning. Morning skate usually takes 20-25 minutes.

Just usually stretch it out in the morning, just kind of get the body loose and then the best part of the day is the pre-game meal.

You have some sort of pasta and chicken or fish. Then usually around 2-4 is nap time. Usually wake up around 4 p.m. and usually from 4, that’s when it’s time to really start thinking about the game. Get to the rink around five-ish.

I do a lot of sticks before the game. For about an hour, I get my sticks ready. Then we have our meeting about an hour and a half before (the game).

James Gordon: What would you talk about in that meeting?

DH: That would be the team coming up. You do special teams in the morning and then the team plan in the evening, and then you’ve got about a half-hour before warm-up, so usually I do a little warm-up routine in the weight room, get stretched out and get ready to go.

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