Post Game.

By the beginning of the third period, the entire night just got weird on the ice and off. There must have been some sort of strained energy around tonight, because it just seemed to effect everything.

So, yes they lost, as I almost knew they would when I first drove there tonight. I had no high hopes for the game as they never have a very good showing after a few days off. I suppose this is a team that needs to find a grove and work till they drop. Too long lounging and they can't find each other on the ice.

As Sybo said, it may have been the purple tie. I can't be sure, but maybe he should retire that one till August.

I suppose then the highlight of my evening was being interviewed by CJ Papa. Would have been nice if I knew about it before hand, but that's how these things go. You just have to roll with it. Thanks Mike for taking pictures for me. CJ looks great, I look like a giant orange Yoko Ono.
(I really should have brought my hair straightener with me.) He's a very nice man, and was actually watching the game pretty intently while trying to formulate what we were going to talk about. Did you know that he DOESN't work for the Islanders? I didn't. Now I do.

And here's something interesting: CJ handed me a card about something called (are you ready?) Hockey: The musical! by Rick Wilson and Justin DeMarco. There's a preview in Long Beach on March 15th, but you can get all sorts of information on http://www.hockeythemusical.com/.

As the game ended, as miserably as it did, Mike didn't really want to go downstairs to the postgame interview. I must have looked at him like a hurt puppy, because he changed his mind and we both went downstairs. Ted must have been delayed because we were all waiting for a few minutes longer than usual. It was eerily quiet, and again Greg Logan was not there to lead the exchange. There were long pauses of silence. What could be said? Not much. I did want to blurt out "Dump the Tie!" But I didn't. I also didn't blurt out "Sean's got THREE!" I think he already knew that.... (That I was wrong and it's FOUR in 47 games!)

Ted stayed for his standard 4 minutes and then left. Everyone scurried into the locker room, I stayed back. "Are you going in?" Mike asked me. "No. I think I'll pass tonight. You go. You haven't been here in weeks." Mike left the room, and before I even had time to put my coat on, he was back. "I changed my mind. I have nothing to ask. I'll walk you to your car."

That sounded like a good deal to me, so we left without being noticed. At least it hadn't started to rain, but it did get somewhat colder. It had been so mild when I first got to the barn, but it felt like winter again, which really didn't bother me too much. I even had a chance to listen to Steve Mears and Chris King for about 5 minutes before their post game show was over. Then I listened to Home Ice on XM.

Karma. As the stars would have it, Blake also scored tonight for Toronto. He now has 10. Sean will catch up to him in no time. But there are only 31 games left to the regular season for the Islanders. They better start making it count.