Archive for the 'Rangers Suck' Category

Isles Lose, Joey Mac Hurt, DP Done?

January 14th, 2009 by murph

What new in Islanders Country? Plenty, but none of it good. First off DP’s getting ANOTHER doctor’s opinion on his knee. The $67 Million Dollar Man has started just 5 games for us this season.

Next, one of the few bright spots this season – the emergence of Joey MacDonald as a solid netminder, hit a snag as Joey Mac was hurt just 6 minutes into last night’s game with the Rangers. There are rumors of the Isles talking to Doobie (who’s playing in Russia) about bringing him back.

And finally, another loss. To the Rangers, no less. After leading 1-0 after one period, two quick Ranger goals in the second doomed the Isles. Officially the NHL’s worst team, the Isles have just two wins since November 29th. Tavares or bust.

DP Misses Rangers Comeback Victory

December 30th, 2008 by Tom


So much for getting the Rangers at the right place and the right time. The Blueshirts buzzed the Isles with four third period goals and skated away with a 5-4 victory. The Isles fought hard for a while but were on their heels the entire third period.

The $67 Million Dollar Man sat out yet another game. Coach Scott Gordon scratched DiPietro a few hours before the game to give his keeper more time to get over his groin injury. Gordon said he didn’t know when DP would be back in the line-up.

“With a strain, you’re pushing the envelope where you can get through a practice or get through a game, but then if you hurt it, you’re worse off than when you started,” Gordon told Newsday. “So it’s not like there’s a definite timetable.”

DiPietro has played 10 periods this season. The Islanders have one win in December. They’re dead last in the league in points. Is there a silver lining somewhere with this team? Anywhere? I don’t see it.

Isles Head to Manhattan

December 29th, 2008 by Tom

This might be just what the Isles need to take their recent feisty play to the next level – a road game against the Rangers. The Rangers sit atop the division and the Isles have the fewest points in all of hockey but, the Blueshirts have a way of bringing out the best in the Coliseum Heroes, especially when they play at the Garden.

The Islanders beat the Rangers 2-1 on Nov. 4, in their only meeting at MSG this season. They are 6-2-2 at the Garden in their last 10 contests. Everything I’ve read says Rick DiPietro will be back in net again tonight, and if he’s healthy enough to play that should aid the Isles’ cause. Add to the mix the Rangers’ three-game losing streak and you might want to find your local bookie and put some green down on the OrangeAndBlue.

I’m not saying it’s going to happen but this could be one of those right place at the right time games for the Islanders. And let’s face it, they need all the help they can get.

Oh – and the Jets just fired Eric Mangini. Good riddance. The guy had promise but he never made any progress. He was awful at in-game adjustments and constantly made poor decisions in the heat of battle. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, big guy. The 2008 Jets were a monumental waste of talent. Favre and Mangini killed that team. Now Woody needs to go get Bill Cowher. OK – enough of this Jet crap.

Let’s Go Islanders!

Lowly Isles Beat First-Place Rangers

November 6th, 2008 by murph

In their own building no less. Nice work boys. Thrashers tonight.

Super Saturday, Super Hit

October 27th, 2008 by murph

The geniuses at the NHL Marketing Department were at it again this weekend, with the debut of “Super Saturday” – all 30 teams playing on one night. Great concept, poor execution. Please tell me why they picked an October Saturday with College Football in full swing, the World Series going on, and no games on Versus? As a bonus, there were absolutely no games last night.

Had a family thing Saturday night, so all I saw were the late night highlights on the NHL network. There were quite a few from the Isles/Hurricanes matchup – 57 Islander shots, 54 saves by Cam Ward, a potential game-tying penalty shot with less than 1 second left in regulation, and this…BOOM!

YouTube Preview Image

Doug Weight absolutely crushed the ‘Canes rookie Brandon Sutter at center ice with a legal hit. Sutter was knocked unconscious, and spent a couple of nights in the hospital for observation. He’s been released. The hit started a lot of debating about the legality of the hit and what the NHL can do to protect players from hits like these. It certainly doesn’t help the NHL’s image when players are knocked out and taken off the ice like this, but I don’t know how you legislate this out of hockey. Making it some kind of referee’s judgment call on “intent” or “blow to the head” is just going to make it worse. One odd thing about this hit is that Sutter (6′3″) has 4 inches on Weight (5′11″), I expected the opposite when I looked this up.

Around the rink…

  • Islanders 3rd jersey unveiling tonight at 5pm before the NYI/NYR game.
  • DP out for tonight. He’s being checked out by team doctors today, and then the Isles will come back and tell us nothing. Unless they have to do something drastic like amputate a limb, he will be listed as day to day.
  • And finally, speaking of new jerseys check out these sweet new sweaters for this year’s Winter Classic. Funny thing is, Chelios wore the same jersey in his rookie year back in 1926.

A Bunch of Bossy Jerseys and a Bag of Pucks

August 8th, 2008 by murph

Friday night, the Yanks don’t play until 10p, so how about the Islanders Army “Bag of Pucks” link dump makes an appearance this summer?

  • First up is a cool site for all sports fans, not just hockey. Above is the handywork of JerseyDatabase.com a site with a database of replica jersey graphics for all the major sports including soccer and yes, even lowly hockey. You can search by player and see every jersey they ever wore, like I’ve done with The Boss – Isles, All-Star, Team Canada, they are all there. At the site you can make iPhone/iPod Touch Wallpaper and website banners which I think are pretty cool for your FFL/FHL league teams. They’ve got EVERYBODY in the database – even Dave “Killer” Carlson and Ogie Oglithorpe.
  • Next up is the Islanders Open House on Saturday, along with the Ice Girl tryouts at Islanders Iceworks

    Doors open to the Coliseum at 10:00 AM. Fans will also have the opportunity to look at seats for season and partial plan tickets for the upcoming 2008-09 season. Any fan that purchases a full or partial plan on Saturday morning will have the opportunity to have an exclusive lunch with Doug and Josh that very same day at the Coliseum. Also, for one day only, any fan who purchases a ticket plan at the open house will receive a free gas card worth up to $100 in value.

    Ice Girl auditions for the 2008-09 team will be held this coming Saturday, August 9th at 9:30 a.m. at the Islanders Iceworks facility in Syosset.

    The tryout is open to all women 18-years-of-age and older. You should wear form-fitting athletic clothes, come with your make-up complete, and be sure to bring your own figure skates. Please also remember to bring a resume and headshot to the audition. These tryouts will be taped for IslandersTV.

    Since I mentioned the Ice Girls, I have to run a picture or the Internet Police will come and arrest me. Rules are rules.

  • A new Islanders blog has popped up – Islanders Gameday and they’ve used the Internet Archives to take a look back at how the Islanders website has changed since 1999. I tried to do a search for NHL.com, but they’ve blocked the site from indexing them. Bettman strikes again and kills the fun.
  • And finally, Yahoo’s Puck Daddy drops TWO Islander links on us today, without a single mention of backup goalies or fishsticks. Kyle Okposo got some love in HockeysFuture.com Calder Cup preview, then P. Daddy finds some video of Ricky D chillin’ on LI, going to practice, getting a haircut, and the Islanders bowling team. Nice quality on that Hulu.com video, if the NHL posts more stuff over there, I will drop the You Tube embeds faster than Yashin at a turtleneck sale.
  • Oh by the way, did you hear about the J-E-T-S JETS! JETS! JETS! ?

NHL To Give MSG The Boot?

June 19th, 2008 by murph

Too. Good. To be true.

The NHL filed court papers Wednesday that included a draft letter from commissioner Gary Bettman proposing discipline against Madison Square Garden, L.P., that could lead to suspension or termination of its ownership of the Rangers.

In its court filing, the NHL asked a judge to agree Madison Square Garden breached its contract by challenging league rules.

This may be the best move Gary Bettman has made in his entire tenure as commish.

HockeyFights.com 2007-08 Awards

May 23rd, 2008 by murph

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.

Last One Out…Shut The Lights

April 3rd, 2008 by murph

Last home game tonight for the Islanders as they start a home and home with the Rangers. After tomorrow night’s game, it’s off to the golf course early Saturday morning. Hopefully the Rags will get bounced in the first round and join us on the links the following weekend. Disappointing end to a season that started off pretty good. This home and home series was supposed to have major playoff implications (like keeping the Rags OUT of the playoffs).

Hey Garth, what do you think of the Rangers?

 
Amen brother, amen. They can make the playoffs but we all know they still suck.

Bucci On Board for Isles/Rangers at Yankee Stadium

April 2nd, 2008 by murph

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.