Islanders Business Club - Built for SUCCESS

Call me jaded. I’ve come to the conclusion that I am, and I shouldn’t be. But I’m used to seeing Mike Bossy, Clark Gillies, Bobby Nystrom and Garth Snow 4 ft. away from me. I no longer get that star struck look that I saw on so many faces last night at the Islanders Business Club networking event. I may no longer get it, but it’s one of the greatest things to see on others. It’s a smile from ear to ear and a sparkle in the eyes that says “Wow! I’m talking to one of Hockey’s greatest legends!” And I saw it in hundreds and hundreds of faces.

When we arrived and made our way down to the event hall, we rode the escalator with Ted Nolan. That’s where it started. As soon as we were at the main hall floor there was a line, actually two lines of people signing in and picking up their Business Club passes. There was also a security guard putting red bracelets on anyone who wanted to go into the locker room to meet Mike Sillinger and Kyle Okposo. Fellow blogger Tom Liodice laughed when the guard tried to tell me where the locker room is. I found it humorous too, but I’m too nice to laugh.

I immediately struck up a conversation with a woman who had never been to the coliseum before, but had received the email from Isles master organizer Catie Bennett. We chatted and chatted and exchanged business cards as we tried to figure out what line to get on.

IslanderQueen, Tom and I decided to see what would happen if we just walked through the doors. Of course, they let me go FIRST. Other than getting hit in the eyes with a blinding spot light that was shining on a 10 foot ice sculpture at the front of the hall, we were not stopped.

The area was absolutely PACKED decked out in blue, orange and white balloons, bistro tables, bar stools, leather chairs and black drapes. I stopped dead in my tracks and people almost fell over me. There was, much to my surprise, a Hockey star I never thought I’d see in person. It was a HANSON! YES! A Hanson! Not a look-a-like, but the real thing, Chiefs jersey and all. I had to explain to my new friend, Susan, who he was but that was okay. She’ll learn soon enough. IslanderQueen and I stopped for photos.

There were carving stations and chafing dishes set up on the perimeter of the room along with two bars that were giving out flashing Islander logo glasses. They made the room look like a disco. I stopped at the desert cart to take a photo of my next birthday cake. I was in heaven. But so was everyone else. There was wild chatter, laughter and nothing but smiles.

We found another one of our fellow bloggers, B.D. Gallof sampling the fine fare and enjoying the company of strangers. At the front of the room was a stage and someone, we don’t know who, in full goalie gear with a net. I guess the idea was to shoot on him. But the room stopped as Bossy took the stage to welcome everyone and introduce his fellow Alumni. He’s a wonderful Master of Ceremonies and the presentations were surprisingly brief from Garth and Mr. Wang.
I also had the opportunity to spend some time with arena hostess Dina who told me a great story about her night in Detroit at game 5 of the playoffs.

“I’m sitting there in this sea of red, and what’s two rows in front of me??? A guy in a RANGERS T-shirt! So my friend said to me ‘Oh, no. You’re not going to SAY something are you?’ and I told him; ‘Of course I am!’ Hey! Your team's on the golf course!” That’s our Dina. Islanders through and through, even in Detroit wearing a Red Wings T-shirt. But it was an Osgood shirt because, as she told me “I figured that would be fine if anyone saw me in it. After all… he WAS an Islander!”
IslanderQueen and the Blog Box crew finally made our way to the locker room to see Sillinger and Okposo. Mike is a pretty funny guy, but not a very observant one it seems. With B.D. and Tom behind me I asked him if he knew who we were. He answered with an absolute “No.” and shook his head. I told him we were the bloggers and tried to refresh his memory of seeing us in the locker room when ONE of my buddies, and I won’t name names said “Of course he doesn’t remember us from the locker room. He wasn’t there that much.” DOH!! Kyle got a real kick out of that. Yeah, we're nothing but trouble together.

So, once again, I’ll say the Business Club is definitely the way to go for anyone with a business or a product to sell on Long Island. Fourteen club events before Islander games, a network of potential clients and Islander tickets too! Throw in Mike Bossy as the chairman, who can beat that? And all in our own backyard. Pretty special indeed!

Oh! And the Red Wings take home the cup. The 2007-2008 season is official over. Now... when's the NEW schedule coming out???

June 4th, Finals Game 6 & IBC Event

And of course, it's raining, so I will be hopelessly late for just about everything today.

The much anticipated Game 6 of the Finals is on tonight at 8 pm on NBC. I'm curious to which players have not recovered enough in the brief respite to make it back to the ice. It was such a battle the last game, I can't even imagine ANY of them are 100%. But that's hockey for you. Other athlete's will play if they are 100% healthy. A hockey player will play if he can breathe, i.e., Malone. With a nose packed with a fist full of gauze, he said he could breathe and just went out and kept playing. THESE are REAL men!

However, at 6:15 pm I will be at the barn to cover the Islanders Business Club event in the exhibition hall. For anyone that has a business or is part of a business that could use networking as a boost for sales, THIS is absolutely the way to go. Get to the Coliseum exhibition hall tonight and check it out. It's a great package deal, and very reasonable for what you receive. Check the Islanders Business Club website using the link from the Islanders' main site. Take a look at their list of members. It's very impressive, and worthwhile for Long Island businesses to network through a common love... The Love Of Hockey.

So if tonight goes into "overtime" for ME, I hope Garth doesn't mind the constant pestering from me to check his blackberry "What's the score, Garth? What's the score, Garth? Who is winning??"

I'm sure if I become too much of a nuisance they can just plop me in front of the TV in one of the offices and shut the door.

"Can I get a diet coke and some popcorn in here too?" I'm such a pest!

WE WANT THE CUP... at this point... I don't even care who gets it. Just make it memorable!

TOO Much Hockey?

That's what I thought when the alarm went off at 6 am today. Did it really need to go into triple Overtime? I couldn't believe I actually was sitting on the couch, desperately trying to stay awake, saying "Someone PLEASE SCORE! Anyone!"

I did pass out for a few minutes during the second overtime, but Big Angry Man told me I didn't miss anything when he came home from watching the game with his buddies at the Fire Department. They too got sucked into the continuous power struggle that bordered on 12 inning baseball torture.

The difference is extra innings baseball can be boring, and extra periods of hockey is basically WAR. And there were numerous casualties. I don't know how either team is going to be ready to play tomorrow night. It was grueling punishment for both teams, and the Penguins prevailed.

So... Maybe, just maybe, all the hype this season about it being 33 years since a come from behind a 3 game deficit team has achieved victory is warrented.

But we'll see about that on Wednesday. And for every one's sake, let it end in 60.

Pizza, Red Wine & Hockey... I'm Ready!

A Monday night in early June, and I’m planted on the couch watching what possibly may be the last NHL game of the season. Although, the Pens are not going quietly -- to say the least. But I’ll wait till the end of the game to continue that thought.

It’s been quite the day for me, so I’m actually glad that I’m alone here on the couch with the remote and the Red Wings.

It started by going to work and finding out that my brand new reading glasses that I was so incredibly happy with on Sunday that I had specifically developed for crystal clear reading worked like crap with my office computer set up. I had to spend 15 minutes attempting to rearrange my desk so I didn’t feel like I was looking through Vaseline at my computer. A blind writer is not a good thing, and every day I get a little bit closer. And I’m NOT happy!
But Okay. Enough of that.

Congratulations to fellow Blog Boxer Tiger Track Tom who was requested to do an interview with newly re-signed Tim Jackman today. It’s always wonderful when your services are actually requested. Gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling. Click his link on the side to read the report.

I was disappointed that EJ didn’t do his now famous Michel Therrien impersonation on NHL Live. It is so bang on, he could be doing call in shows, and no one would know it wasn’t him. Although, EJ is indeed funnier.

I noticed that there was mention of Rick DiPietro being a call in guest on one of my LEAST favorite radio shows, the Bubba the Love Sponge show. Of all the non-mainstream shows he could think of attaching himself to, he picked that one? Ewweee. When I had Sirius radio in my car, I tried to listen to him. And the key word is “try”. Stern is funny, Oppie & Anthony are tolerable, Bubba is just… not worth my time. Give me XM Home Ice or give me silence.

Congratulations to Chris Botta for making it into what is absolutely the weekly Hockey Bible, The Hockey News. CB’s article is featured in the June 10th issue. Of course, if you live on THIS side of the hockey border and you don’t actually have a subscription to this thing, you may as well be looking for a unicorn. Luckily, I have friends in Northern places, and some well placed bribery and a few bucks in an envelope should score me a copy or two.

And on a really personal note, this is what I do when left to my own devices for meals. While most women would just grab a pint of ice cream or a bag of dove chocolate when they don’t have to cook for anyone else, I go for making myself custom pita pizza. Certainly the ice cream would probably have fewer calories, but what the hell. I can’t resist making a cheese and vegetable creation in my 52 year old Chamber’s stove’s deep well oven. Yep… Very unique, just like me. It’s the same stove that Rachel Ray has in the background on her show. The difference is, I use mine every day and it’s one of my absolute prized possessions. It’s over 500 lbs of enamel, chrome and metal. It’s built like a ‘57 Chevy, but it cooks like heaven.

Game tied at 2 in the 3rd. This may get interesting! Ok… back after the final buzzer!

THE END IS NEAR....

Of the 2007-2008 Hockey Season that is. As I went to bed at 11:30 last night, I couldn't help but think "Mon- day... that's it." So, Red Wings in 5. I just hope Chris Chelios can find some way of getting his ancient butt on the ice so he can be there to carry the cup one more time.

Yep. Watching last night's game, that was indeed entertaining, you couldn't help but think "If the Pens couldn't score on the 5 on 3 power play, they were done. Well, they looked like the Islanders for the two minutes. They just couldn't make it work, no matter how hard they tried. And they did try.

Read a really wonderful entry on ESPN.com by John Buccigross while I was watching the game, and Big Angry Man was snoring on the couch. It's called "Travelling to the 'Burgh..." http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2008/columns/story?columnist=buccigross_john&id=3419326, and it really is a special piece of work. I had a heated discussion with another hockey writer over the quality and caliber of Bucci's hockey writing, but I only know him from his written word, not his on-air ESPN stints, and I've loved every chapter. Every entry is painted with a master's brush that does nothing but evoke emotion. If you have some time, check it out.

At the end of the game, a member on the NYIC board posted Greg Logan's 10 pm article "Dubie, other free agents, won't be back." It was sad to see, but no surprise to me at all. As fellow Blog Boxer Frank Trovato had said to me one night at the table "He's done. He's going to be some team's number one next season."

I guess this time, he was right. (He's still wrong about Blake, but he's right about Dubie.) I'm just glad this means Dubie will have to get that mask painted again. I really had a bad feeling when I saw the Fisherman style lighthouse on it. It gave me the creeps.

I had a feeling about Satan and Tank too back in April, but I'm surprised about Big Joe. They really liked him and he did have sparks of greatness. They were just few and far between.

My mother-in-law is going to be very upset. She fell in love with Kozlov last season and was devastated when he wasn't back on the ice. Ruslan was an acceptable substitute with the same Russian good looks and rosey cheeks. I will have to explain to her that this is what it means to be a hockey fan. That every season you have the potential of having your heart broken as your favorite player is sent packing. (A passionate sport evokes passionate heartache.)

Joey Mac will get the nod as Ricky's bench warmer, I mean back-up. I'm perfectly content with this move, although it means I will have to get used to his Leprechaun-style voice during locker room interviews. I'll also have to make a point of not staring at his feet and the amazing amount of space there is between his toes. (The first time I saw them, I had a hard time looking away. They are just that unusual.)

So, as I turned off the TV at 11:30 and woke my husband, I announced. "Wings won, Yanks are tied at 6 in the 12th and Dubie is a goner." That was my condensed version of the 11 o'clock sports.

On another note: Sorry that some of my writing may be a little unintelligible of late. I've been functioning in a cloud, and it doesn't seem to be lifting yet. My friend Dean used to have a saying for it. "I'm in a dither." I think "dither" only applies to a short period of functioning stupidity. This fuzzy period is more "I'm functioning... but my head is up my butt." It's almost like "pregnancy stupids." (And any mother will know what I mean!) Hopefully things will improve soon. Although with the eminent end of hockey.... withdrawal symptoms should start pretty soon.

Oh crap... this isn't going to be pretty.