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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.
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.
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.
2007-08, Bill Guerin, Blake Comeau, Brendan Witt, Chris Simon, Jarkko Ruutu, Kyle Okposo, Mike Comrie, Mike Sillinger, Richard Park, Rick DiPietro, Shawn Bates, Ted Nolan, Trent Hunter, Uncategorized, Wade Dubielewicz
DP is back after dealing with the passing of a family member, but according to Newsday’s Greg Logan he’ll be riding the pine tonight as Coach Nolan rolls the dice with Wade Dubielewicz versus the Rangers.
Islanders coach Ted Nolan made the boldest decision of his two-season tenure this morning when he announced backup Wade Dubielewicz will be in net against the Rangers tonight at Nassau Coliseum with franchise player Rick DiPietro fresh and ready to go on the bench.
2007-08, Rangers Suck, Rick DiPietro, Ted Nolan, Wade Dubielewicz
Now that’s more like it. As has been the case many times over the years, the Islanders rose to the challenge and beat the Rangers on the road last night, ending the Rangers’ four-game winning streak and possibly putting an end to their own slump.
Jeff Tambellini, the young forward who has bounced between Bridgeport and Long Island the last two seasons, sealed the victory for the Islanders when he beat Henrik Lundqvist in a shoot-out. The Isles also got goas from Bergenheim, Hunter, and Comeau.
Wade Doobie was one of the big stories of the game, stepping in for an absent Rick DiPietro and beating the Rangers for the second time in two career starts. He shut out the Rangers in the last week of the season when DP was hurt last year. Doobie may be in net again tomorrow night when the Isles face the Rangers at the Coliseum as DP may still me on leave to be with his family.
The win, coupled with a Flyers loss, moves the Isles within three points of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 14 games to go.
2007-08, Blake Comeau, Jeff Tambellini, Philadelphia Flyers, Rangers Suck, Rick DiPietro, Sean Bergenheim, Trent Hunter, Wade Dubielewicz
Isles host the Kings tonight while a good portion of the team battles the flu.
Five Islanders - Rick DiPietro, Mike Sillinger, Bryan Berard, Andy Sutton and Ruslan Fedotenko - missed yesterday morning’s practice at the Coliseum and are questionable for tonight’s home game against the Kings. Assistant coach Gerard Gallant also missed practice with the illness. Fedotenko and Sutton sat out Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss to Ottawa.
Flu season is in full effect, I think I had it on and off the first three weeks of the new year. Although playing some men’s league and sweating it out helped a little I think. Good luck boys, drink lots of water and OJ.
[Update] The Islanders’ own Corey Witt has the morning skate update, it’s Doooooobie time tonight.
Wade Dubielewicz will get the start in net tonight. With Rick DiPietro getting over the flu, he’ll likely back-up tonight. For the Kings, expect Jason LaBarbera to start.
Ruslan Fedotenko (flu) is very questionable/doubtful for tonight’s game. Andy Sutton (flu) will be a game-time decision. Every other skater, according to Ted Nolan, is healthy and able to play.
After a short conditioning trip to Bridgeport last week, where he was 1-1 with the Sound Tigers, Wade Dubielewicz is back with the big club and gets the start for tonight’s game vs. the Carolina Hurricanes. Corey Witt has the scoop on the NYI Media Blog.
Wade Dubielewicz will start for the Islanders tonight while it looks like Cam Ward will be back in net for the Hurricanes. There were some talks that John Grahame would start tonight, but it doesn’t look that way.
Just like other players, Islanders head coach Ted Nolan said that “Dubie has earned his ice-time and deserves to play.”
The Islanders will be skating down in Carolina tonight against the Southeast Division leading Hurricanes. The last time these teams squared off, Carolina pummeled the Isles 8-3.
The ‘Canes have lost three of their last five games, falling to Columbus 4-1 on Saturday. Carolina should still be without Matt Cullen, who was crushed by Ranger Colton Orr on an open-ice hit on Wednesday. I was at that game. My sister was born and raised a Rangers fan. I know, I know. We’ve talked. Anyway, like I said I was at that game and Cullen was just leveled. Happened so fast. One second he was skating and the next he was down, not moving a muscle. He was on the ice for a couple of minutes before he skated off with a lot of help. There was a pool of blood where his head had been. Thankfully, he is expected to be all right.
Cullen is a big part of the Carolina offense. They are already without Justin Williams, who hurt his knee earlier this month. The two players rank third and sixth on the team in points, respectively.
The Isles willl again be without Rick DiPietro. The goalie should be back for the Isles first game in 2008. Dubie will get the start again. Dubie’s 3-3 with a 3.85 GAA and a .878 save percentage in seven games this season.
“We’re going to stick with our plan initially on Ricky and make sure he’s 100 percent. Right now, he’s about 95, 98 percent,” Coach Ted Nolan told Newsday. “He’s ready to go, but we know the importance of Ricky to this hockey team.”
New Years Eve road games are always tough. Players often lose focus and just want to get back home to their families and friends. Hopefully, the Isles will make the trip worthwhile and take advantage of a Carolina team that isn’t playing its best hockey right now. This is a very winnable game for the OrangeAndBlue, but they’ll have to earn it.
Happy New Year everyone! Have fun celebrating tonight and be safe. Murph, that counts for you double.
Wow. What a crazy game last night, lots of good and bad to talk about. Fan-Favorite (for the most part) Jason Blake returned to Long Island for the first time after signing a free-agent deal with Toronto last summer. Blake was a “love him or hate him” Islander - you either loved his speed and hustle, or you hated his tendency to hog the puck and occasional turnovers that came with it. We here at Islanders Army were strongly in the “love him” category, as evidenced by our top secret plan to clone Blake and dominate the NHL with five 40-goal scorers on the ice at once.
It was all business and $$$ that led to Blake leaving. He wanted a longer deal than what the Isles were offering and after a career year with 40 goals, he found someone else willing to give it to him. The Toronto Maple Leafs opened the checkbook for a 40-goal scorer for 5 years, and so far have 5 goals and 16 assists to show for it. The Isles showed their appreciation for the 6 years Blake played for us with a short pre-game video tribute.
I missed the first two periods and the Islanders “offensive explosion” of 3 goals in the first. Considering the difficulty the lsles have had scoring 3 goals in 60 minutes, 3 in the first 20 was quite the feat. The excitement of those goals quickly wore off at the start of the second period when Wade Dubielewicz came out of the tunnel and into the net in place of Rick DiPietro who apparently hurt his knee in warmups and wasn’t able to finish the game. DP is getting an MRI on the knee and will miss tonight’s game at Ottawa. Joey MacDonald has been called up from Bridgeport to backup Doobie. With Doobie in net, the game took a more defensive tone - 14 Islanders first period shots turned into just 4 second period shots. Still the Isles held a 3-2 lead after 2 periods.
An early 3rd period Islander powerplay backfired into a shorthanded goal and a 3-3 tie. It stayed that way through regulation thanks to the heroics of Doobie, Toronto goalie Andrew Raycroft and some goalposts. Both teams had some great chances down the stretch, including Mike Sillinger getting stoned on the doorstep twice by Raycroft with less than a minute left in regulation.
Richard Park got called for hooking in OT and it looked like the Isles were doomed on the 4-on-3 powerplay. Doooooobie to the rescue with some awesome saves and it looked like we were headed to a shootout, until this….
Richard Park (aka The “New” Jason Blake) pick-pocketed the “Old” Jason Blake at the Isles blueline and turned it into a 2-on-1 because of a Toronto line change. Park’s shot was deflected by the defenseman, stopped by Raycroft, but then a uncovered Mike Comrie came along and banged in the rebound with just 10 seconds left in OT for the 4-3 Islander win. Tic-Tac-Toe, three in a row for the Orange and Blue.
Blake’s miscue is sure to send Leafs Nation into a frenzy. After the game Blake defended his actions, while his coach wasn’t buying it.
“We’ve only got so many seconds left in overtime,” he said of his extended bout of stick-handling. “I was trying to make a play. [Park] made a great play by poke-checking it.”
Blake’s coach, Paul Maurice, was not impressed.
“He turned the puck over an awful lot tonight,” Maurice said. “You can’t turn it over there at any point in a game.”
Sorry Blakey…it was all just business last night.
2007-08, Jason Blake, Mike Comrie, Rick DiPietro, Toronto Maple Leafs, Wade Dubielewicz
There’s nothing like having a top-tier keeper to guide your team through extended stretches of the long NHL season. The Isles have that in Rick DiPietro. The problem is everyone needs a day off sometimes, and unfortunately for those Isles fans in attendance against the Thrashers, last night DP took a vacation day. Enter Wade Dubielewicz, one of the late season heroes last year when the Isles made their playoff push. Last night was Dubie without the magic. The result - four first period goals and a game the Isles never really had a chance to win.
Can’t put the blame on anyone in particular here. It was just Dubie’s second start of the season and just his first appearance since a victory in relief on Al Arbour night on Nov. 3. More than most athletes, goalies need action to stay sharp. A well-rested goalie is rarely a victorious goalie. And you can’t blame DP, cause like I said, the guy needed a night off. And you can’t blame the coaching staff for giving it to him.
If there is any blame, it can be placed on an offense that couldn’t register a single goal. The offensive drought is moving from an interesting storyline to an area of legitimate concern, nearing the epidemic stage. The Isles have now scored two or fewer goals in 12 straight games. You don’t win much when you can’t light the lamp with any consistency and the Isles haven’t, going just 4-8 over that stretch.
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