Happy Birthday Sean

So on Sean Bergenheim's 26th Birthday, what do I decide to do? One of the toughest entries I've had to write.

Partially because no one thought I'd actually ask him the question. Partially because I know he can be so much more than he is right now.

Just consider it a motherly nudge Sean.

So, Sean Bergenheim, A Question of Confidence at Hockeybuzz.com

Super Bowl Party with the Boys

Today there was an open practice for Season Ticket Holders at the Nassau Coliseum. Between the freezing cold, the losing streak and it being Super Bowl Sunday, it was certainly an INTIMATE gathering of fans.

While the sentiment of the players was to keep things light, you could tell by the faces of some that the extended losing streak is taking a toll.

Marty Biron, the only Islander goalie with a recent win, was back on Long Island and sharing a net with Roloson and DiPietro for a final shoot out drill. On very little sleep today after last night’s dinner-dance, it was all just a blur to me.

I decided to leave the tough questions about the Islanders’ current slump to the Main Stream Media types in attendance. Katie Strang corner Garth Snow in the runway. Brad Kurtzberg grabbed Scott Gordon as soon as he left the ice. I hung back and asked questions about – The Super Bowl!

(Seriously, do you think I’m going to be able to garner valid answers about what’s going wrong and why they can’t score? Hardly.)

So the little survey I did about today’s big “day of stupid American fun”, as I heard it called on the news today, garnered me a few interesting answers.

“Are the Patriots in it? Then I have no interest in it. I’m gonna go see a movie.” That was Massachusetts native Scott Gordon’s response to me about today’s “big game.” That sort of shot me down real quick.

Sean Bergenheim told me that the team would be hanging together to watch the Super Bowl. When I asked him what his favorite football watching munchies is, he hesitated. “Oh, I try not to eat too much junk, but I would say maybe a hot dog.” That would certainly qualify as “junk.”

I wanted to see what everyone thought of the commercials that mean so much to Super Bowl Sunday, so when I asked Sean if there were any Super Bowl commercials that stood out for him over the years, “The commercial with the kid when he’s on the computer and there’s a clown. That one.”

Bruno Gervais, as big of a foodie as he is, favors wings. “Bar-b-cue or mild. That’s a classic. Everything though, hot dog, burgers. If you’re going to do it -- do it right.” He felt there are a lot of good commercials out there and did like all the Budweiser commercials. But wait, last year there was a baby commercial. You know, those Car insurance, the baby – with the clown. Yeah. That was a good one.“ When I asked if he felt that half time and the amount of promo spent on the commercials takes away from the actual game he said “No, the game is fun.”

Rick DiPietro will also be spending tonight with the team “Where ever they go, I go.” (Sorry Cassandra. Not sure if the wives are invited or not.) The man who spent his free time learning to cook said he’d have to go with Buffalo wings as his favorite game time munchie. When it came to commercials, Rick said there was a funny one that he liked, “No, there was one I really liked, but I totally forgot what it is. So obviously it wasn’t that good."

Rick didn’t think the half time show or the commercials are more important than the actual game. While he wasn’t really interested in seeing the Who at half time, he wouldn’t mind seeing Janet Jackson again. (Funny, I got that from a lot of the guys… Gee, I wonder why? Ha!)

Jeff Tambellini’s favorite munchie is Nachos and his favorite commercials were the Budweiser frogs. When I asked if the commercials and halftime spectacles took away from the game, Jeff had a well thought answer off the top of his head. “I think the event, as a whole, is so good, because it’s not just one thing. Instead of flipping the commercials off, you actually get to watch them. I just think it’s so much fun to watch through the whole day.”

We had another vote for Nachos from Jon Sim who ALSO voted for “those little baby commercials. I like the talking babies. They’re hilarious.” I think he was teasing me when he said the half time show and commercials were indeed the best part of the Super Bowl because he ended with “Unless it comes down to the fourth quarter.” Especially when you have money riding on the outcome.

Even the infamous Richard “Shakey” Krause, Islanders Equipment manager voted for Nachos as the favorite Super Bowl snack, but his favorite commercials are the Bud Bowls. He also looks forward to the half time show and commercials. (And also wanted to see Janet Jackson again…)

So what this all boils down to is that – E-TRADE HAS THE BEST COMMERCIALS AND NO BRAND RECOGNITION!!! Hey! Madison Avenue morons, while your commercials are hysterical, you are spending millions and millions of dollars and no one knows what your product is! There is no 100% brand recognition! I had to tell each of them what the product is!

Okay, enjoy the game and the commercials. My husband will be screaming “PETE!!!” at the top of his lungs as he is a Who-Head from way back while I will be digging into the --- drum roll please – Nachos, like everyone else!

They Made It Seven!

**Note: Here's a really good one on one with John Tavares by a fellow Blog Box buddy. Check it out. http://thehockeywriters.com/one-on-one-with-john-tavares/

Much to my surprise, I was not the only yappy blogger to not attend last night's battle against Paul Maurcie's 'Canes. I waited for Tweets to come over my phone that just never did. Considering the final score, I suppose that was a blessing in disguise as I enjoyed my evening away from the rink.

After reading all the recaps this morning, it truly was a blessing. Much as the blizzard missing our little corner of the east.

The Hurricanes have fewer wins and fewer points than the Islanders. They managed to find a way to win -- AGAIN. The Islanders continue to find ways to lose.

I argued with the Islander fans at our table last night about WHY they continue to lose. It seems many feel it's all gone down hill since Rick has been reactivated. I mentioned that all our goalies have lost and that we have a considerable lack of SCORING. You can't win a hockey game with only one goal. And those who are there to score have just run dry. Can it be they are relying too much on Rick's ability to play the puck? Is Rick taking too many chances in doing so? (Can I vote yes on these?)

The question is WHY? What the heck has changed? Was the winning streak the fluke? Or is this 7 game losing streak just a glitch in the plan?

Well, it's certain that the Islanders hold many records in the NHL. Sadly, all the recent ones center around losing. Something needs to change. Somehow, the Islanders have to get back that confidence they had before this slump started to take hold.

What hasn't changed is Charles Wang's lack of communication with the Town of Hempstead. Much to my surprise, I received a text about an CBW interview. This was either spur-of-the-moment or one hell of a secret as no one knew it was coming. There was no transcript and no media time to question him before or after the interview. This was Charles Wang being Charles Wang: Bringing his story to the people in his own words.

Sadly, without a damn transcript I don't know what those words are. Maybe they'll offer one up later today. I know the "news" is there is "no news." But I suppose because everyone was wondering what was going on since there hasn't been a peep out of anyone regarding the project, he finally decided to tell the people himself and bypass the press.

The Islanders hold open practice today at the Coliseum. I will be interested to see how many of hte faithful show up on this Super Bowl Sunday when everyone is preparing for the big party, uh game.

Only the Good Die Young

My heartfelt sympathy goes out to Brian Burke and his family on the tragic and sudden loss of his son, Brandon Burke. There are never enough appropriate words in a situation such as this.

Growing Pains are Groaning Pains

The biggest problem I have with sitting on the couch watching an Islanders game with my husband nowadays is listening to him complain. I guess I’m used to sitting in silence and just complaining in my head. I did a lot of that last night watching the Isles face Tampa Bay, a team that I still harbor a lot of resentment against for screwing up my playoff plans in 2004.

With the 2004 NHL 7th Man Award winner, Dr. David Lubin, in the St. Pete Times Forum sending me text messages and hanging out on a Blogger 4-Way Cover-It-Live conversation, I found myself at first getting frustrated and then becoming disinterested. I actually fell asleep at the keyboard the last four minutes of the game. (Maybe it was the constant Kovalchuk to the Devils conversation that permeated every conversation.)

It didn’t matter. They lost their sixth straight game at 5 – 2. I had already seen the highlights long before the third period. There was the pin-ball goal attributed to Matt Moulson to give him his 21st of the season and there was the one Jon Sim fought for in front of the net to give the Islanders the lead… for about a nano-second.

I watched the Islanders nemesis, Marty St. Louis tie the game at two and promptly issued a request for someone to squish him. I resent him – I resent that he’s as good as he is and constantly has to prove it against the NY Islanders.

I also watched another Tampa super-star (and good guy) score on Dwayne Roloson after being hit with a high stick only a blink after St. Louis. (They do like to do things in pairs, don’t they?) It was quite a sight to see him skate back to his bench for congratulations from his team with blood streaming down his face from his forehead. Now THAT’S a hockey player!

Blame it on youth, blame it on growing pains as Scott Gordon did in his post game.

“We just can’t score…We hit the post on the pp, we’re not scoring on right now. It’s a hard thing to say --we gotta make sure we put the puck in the net.” They didn’t.

It was three defensemen that put the Islanders down a man and out on the PK, (Sutton, MacDonald and Kohn), the Lightning took four penalties, three from defenseman and one from Center Jeff Halpern, only the Bolts managed one power play goal. Their power play continues to disappoint the coaching staff.

Scott Gordon told Rob Carlin of MSG, “On the Power Play, you have to have guys that certainly are finishers. Right now, the guys haven’t become the finishers they will become. That’s part of the situation we’re in. Our players are still trying to become what Tampa Bay already is. It’s part of the process. These are the growing pains we’re going to have.”

The finishing part is exactly what was yelled at my big screen last night.
When Rob Carlin asked what Scott Gordon thought of Stamkos, I cringed. I wasn’t quite sure if he was going to glare at Rob the way he does sometimes in the press room when he’s asked a question he thinks he shouldn’t have to answer. “Stamkos is a hard guy to defend against. He’s obviously come into his own probably faster than they expected. Good for him.”

John Tavares was smacked around again last night. He had ONE shot on net and two missed shots. He also had his best chance clang off a post which sent him to the bench shaking his head. In comparison, Bruno Gervais had three shots on net and three that were blocked. (Think about that: Bruno, with six shots.)

There was a spark of life during the second when the Islanders managed to keep all the action in the Bolts end of the ice. It looked as if the losing streak would end at five. It didn’t. And while the losing streak continues, Gordon explained with the tight points race in the east, things can change quickly.

“Before we had these six straight losses, there were teams that were 5 points behind us. After two weeks it can change very quickly.” But the Islanders remain at only 54 points.

“I like our work ethic.” Scott continued. Yes, the work ethic is there, but “Every time we make a mistake, it’s in the back of the net.”

Yep, no matter WHO is in net.

Notes: Bailey was missed. Leave Matt on a line with JT. Jeff Tambellini played last night. Anyone notice?

Thanks to Dr. David Lubin for letting me know before I watched that the Bolts would continue to make the islanders look bad. Yeah… thanks.

Isles vs. Tampa & Cover It Live 4 Way

Big night tonight in Tampa Bay as there is a 4 way Blogging Cover it Live happening tonight and I have the 2004 7thMan from Tampa in the house for me covering the game.

He sent me this info first "Watch out if Stamkos is set up around the left circle. he's got freaking cannon shot over the right shoulder of the goalies, pinpoints it up there. You can let everyone know, if he's open on a power play, you're dead!"

Um, okay. Roloson between the pipes tonight. Let's see what happens.
http://www.coveritlive.com/index.php?option=com_altcaster&task=playaltcast&altcast_code=d2d004b7f5

And THAT is the web address of the chit chat

Finally! HOCKEY!

Ladies & Gentlemen -- The First "Schremp" jersey! I'm sure there will be plenty more. I'm calling for another goal by Robbie tonight.

Okay, three days off and the Isles hit the ice in Tampa Bay against Vinny & the Bolts and all their ownership problems. Yeah, the circus is still in FLA.

Brendan Witt was placed on waivers yesterday (a surprise to him) and Josh Bailey was deemed to need to miss the next two weeks (or four since it's olympic break) with an upper body injury.

Biron is in Bridgeport playing with the Sound Tigers and getting some game action this weekend. Hopefully that snow storm that's heading our way won't interfer with their travel plans.

There will be an all encompassing Cover-It-Live free-for-all tonight between numerous bloggers from numerous outlets covering tonight's game. When I have the address, I'll post it.

Lastly, here is the link to a post on Hockey 'n High Heels from three hockey ladies with their thoughts on the upcoming Vancouver Olympics.