A Rink for Stony Brook U? Let's hope so!

It was great to hit the ice at the Rinx again on Saturday. Not the team! ME!

IslanderQueen and I decided we had such a good time last week that we decided to go again this week.

I arrived just a few minutes before IQ, and after I paid my $10.50 and started heading toward the snack bar for coffee, I stopped in my tracks because I recognized Buzz Deschamps sitting at a table in the lobby.

I had met Buzz the beginning of last season, Sept. 9th to be exact, at an IBC meeting we attended. Since that date we had always exchanged pleasantries on the Coliseum concourse. He’s a real gentleman and, as his business card says, he’s an “old hockey pro.”

“Want to sign my petition?” He asked. “Sure, but what’s it for?”

“We’re trying to get an ice rink built at Stony Brook University on campus for a men’s and women’s hockey program. We have the youth to support a Division One team, Stony Brook has the best quality program on Long Island and we need the support.”

I remembered reading an article recently about Buzz, who is the head coach of the Stony Brook Seawolves, in Newsday. He has a great passion for youth hockey programs on Long Island as he was a professional player himself. He ran down the list of names of the current NHLers that hail from Long Island. We need to add a few more names to that list.

“We need to pressure the University for a rink.” That‘s what the petition is for, but there is also a website to check out the other ways to help the Seawolves. He gave me a copy of their ‘08-‘09 season schedule which begins Saturday October 4th. Since there is currently no rink on campus, all home games are played right there at the Rinx in Hauppauge. I‘m sure a little attendance support wouldn't hurt either! But check their website as well.

After we talked about the petition, he asked “So… you looking forward to this season?”

I paused for a moment thinking, this is a smart man. He‘s going somewhere with this.

“Yes, I am. I‘m pretty happy with Scott Gordon as head coach.”

“Well, Teddy was no slouch either. But if he couldn't get along….” Then he paused and looked away for a moment. “He‘s a lot like Herbie, and I knew Herbie for a lot of years.” He was referring to Herb Brooks. Yes, THE Herb Brooks. Told you Buzz was an old hockey pro! (He’s got some great stories about Trottier too, but that’s for another entry.)

“If Herbie was coach, he wanted to be GM, if he was GM, then he wanted to be something else.” I interjected.

“Ted had lost focus toward the end of last season. You could see it. I think Scott will be a real pleasant surprise.” (Dee Karl, the NY Islanders’ oldest living … cheerleader.)

“Yeah. Well we didn't have much luck with the other New England connections.” My facial expression was easy to read, “Huh?”

“You know, Milbury, Stirling. We didn't have much luck with them.”

“And Garth?” I asked with one raised eyebrow and poised to bark in defense of our GM from Mass. He chuckled, “I mean coaching.” I put my claws back.

“So, what are YOU doing here?” he asked me looking at the ridiculous pink and purple skate bag I carry my broken down hockey skates in. He was probably looking for me to be chasing after a daughter in a purple velvet skating outfit.

“I’m here to skate!”

“Good for you!” His eyes sparkle when he smiles. Okay, he was surprised.

“Hey, I don’t skate well, but so far… I haven’t fallen down. And as long as I stay off my butt, I’m happy.” I wished him well and headed to the snack bar for coffee and to wait for IslanderQueen.

She greeted me with the sad news of Paul Newman’s passing. An event we knew was coming, but sad non-the-less. However, we had a great morning at the rink, chatting, skating, laughing out loud and giggling in a corner even worse than the 10 year-olds attending birthday parties.

There was a larger crowd this week. Teenagers in tee shirts and sweat pants went whizzing by us. A very graceful older gentleman did figure 8’s in the circle while watching his niece. A very brave father held on tight to twin boys who couldn’t have been more than 4-years old as each of them hit the ice one after another. We watched about 5 minutes of a pee-wee hockey game on the adjacent rink just loving the sound of the skates on ice.

“I downloaded the sound to my iPod.” I thought IQ was kidding. She wasn’t. But time flies at the rink and it was 1:35 pm and we had to get the rest of our day going. The good thing for me is my phone doesn’t work inside the rink. The bad thing for IQ is… her phone doesn’t work inside the rink.

As soon as we hit the glass doors to the outside world…. The world found us.

A new #55

Yesterday, when I heard that NHL un-retired enforcer Brandon Sudgen was sporting the #55 on the back of his Islander sweater, I admit it. I wailed "NO NO NO" in denial. When I put forth my dismay to my contacts, I got the most amusing response which made me see the error of my judgement.

"Apparently that number is reserved for the biggest pain in the ass on the team.:) :):)"

Okay... I'll live.

photo: NYIslanders.com (Richard Stieglitz) and hopefully I don't get in trouble for using it.

Can they see the Lighthouse from Moncton? 9-25-08

Should we work backwards in our timeline tonight? Sure. Why not.

The Islanders lost 4-0 tonight in Brandon Sudgen's debut. Not his fault. (I would like to know who was repsonsible for handing him a #55 jersey though!!) He dropped the gloves twice.*(Correction: Once, and he won. This is why I wish I could have seen the damn game myself!) But the youngsters were no match for the veteran team. Of course it would have BEEN NICE if the game was audio or video streamed SOMEWHERE. ANYWHERE on the net so that we could have been a little more involved in the game. I remember listening to past pre-season games from far away places webstreamed on the Islanders website. With all our new technology and beautiful video portals ---WHY THE HELL COULDN'T WE WATCH THE DAMN GAME? We'll have to wait for the ITV version later.

I had a very nice conversation with Katrina Doell from the Lighthouse Development group late this afternoon. Katrina is Public Relations coordinator as well as the administrator of the Lighthouse Blog. I've added the link on the side bar and Webby has added a button on the NYIC website that will help you send letters to the appropriate government agencies to support the Lighthouse project.

There are seven different form letters to choose from. It really couldn't be simpler. Give it a "click" and check it out. If we want our team to have a new arena, then we need to show our support. This will be OUR arena, OUR entertainment center on OUR Long Island. If you are tired of hearing people talk poorly about the facilities you currently pour your money into at every game, then let your voice be heard.

Yes, it's a hard road. But you can help pave it. Let the town know the Lighthouse has your support. I've seen the arena areas in Columbus and St. Paul. This will make them jealous.

Okay, it's official. A new hockey blog is generated every minute and the season hasn't even started. I almost fell over when I heard on XM radio today that ex-Tampa Bay GM, Jay Feaster is now a blogger for THN. They also mentioned another blog that looks like it may be interesting during the season because it's by yet another established media name. 24/7Hockey is authored by broadcast veteran Matt McConnell.

(Okay, I'm starting to wonder. What's the deal? Leave your job, blog full time? Someone explain how that works. Does Neil Smith have a blog yet? He's been out of work how long?)

Also on XM204 today was our own "24/7" hockey blogger as Chris Botta did a guest spot on "In The Slot." As an ex-radio guy himself, he hasn't lost his touch. And as I just noticed, as I went back to his blog to get the link, here it is 10:24 pm and he already has post game comment entry up. Point Blank -- the 24 hour AP wire of Hockey. "It's the end of the world as we know it." But in a good way.

And lastly, this just made me giggle. So it seems Garth Snow wins again. All summer he mentioned that there would be a change in how the team handled the reporting of injuries. Basically, he didn't want to do it anymore. He wanted all injuries to stay within the confines of the club.

He won. It seems that during the last GM meeting, the NHL rule for disclosure was changed and now they basically don't have to say "boo."

I, for one, used to be scared to death when Garth would glare at a reporter who asked a question he didn't want to answer. Once I got over that fear, I actually enjoyed the mental chess game he would play with them. Now, with the ruling on his side, he doesn't even have to glare. He can just not answer. And I'll be in the back of the room.... smiling from ear to ear.

Certainly, as fans, this is going to be miserable for us, but from a business standpoint, I can certainly understand it. Two more points for our GM. What rule will you have changed next Garth?

A PreSeason Prediction from the Bleacher Report & Stuff

As my fellow bloggers are already keeping everyone up to date on the happenings in Moncton, and since the only preseason games that seem to air in this neck of the woods are Ranger games, I spent some time last night reading over things at the Bleacher Report.



Sure, I had NHL.com on trying to get the score of last night's game, but without being able to hear Jaffe and Mears, it was sort of pointless. It's just not the same staring at a screen hitting refresh every few minutes just to see basically... NOTHING. Thank the Hockey Gods for Greg Logan and his timely coverage. At least I was able to read about the game before I went to bed.



Wish I had known that Campoli had been injured BEFORE I gave Bryan Thiel my opinions on his Islanders article, which he posted tonight. (I hope Chris is okay!)



Glad to see the kids won tonight too. I know it's preseason and it doesn't mean anything. But what it does mean is that they are learning. And that's what they're supposed to be doing right now.



I wonder if there will be balloons and fireworks tomorrow for the arrival of Chris Botta's new website. If not balloons, I'm sure there will be "fireworks" of some sort. We're guessing he'll dish up 'breaking news' or some other super-sally-secret info that only he has access to. Either way, it's sure to be tomorrow's MUST READ website.



I hope you all received your email with your fan survey today. If not, I believe this is the link. Hopefully, they don't mind that I put it out on the net. If they do, hopefully someone will tell me. That would mean they'd have to be reading this.



Also of note on the Islanders website today is their new sales initiative called Accelerated Sales Team program. Basically, you talk your company into buying season tickets and YOU get a commission. Sounds simple enough, but from an accounting standpoint, this will be a nightmare. And I'm sure no one asked the accounting department how they'd handle this. We're always the last to know anything.

Night all. Only a few more days before Hockey returns to Uniondale.

A Woman in the NHL? Phil Esposito says "Someday!" 9-23-08

As if I needed another reason to really enjoy Phil Esposito, I got one today. I had always heard about the only woman to play in the NHL, but I didn't really know her story. As today is the anniversary of that historic event, Home Ice was recounting the story with the man who made it all possible: Phil Esposito, who at the time was the GM of the new Tampa Bay Lightening.

It was 1992 and Espo was trying to actually fill TWO team rosters. He said today he was inviting all sorts of free agents to camp, but that he had seen this little goalie playing in a junior league game, and liked what he saw. He asked to be introduced and was a little surprised when the mask came off.

"All of a sudden my mind started racing." he said today. "Maybe it was a publicity stunt. Maybe not. I invited her to camp."

So this young girl became the first woman invited to an NHL training camp. Phil said he knew she'd be able to handle it. But of course there were complications. She needed her own room, she needed her own locker room space, her luggage was lost so she needed clothes, and even worse than that.... the trainer was afraid to touch her.

Who would ever have thought that Phil Esposito was a pioneer for women's rights? Certainly not I! But it seems like he was.

On Sept. 23, 1992 Rheaume played half an exhibition game for the Tampa Bay Lightening against the St. Louis Blues.

"I knew she wouldn't embarrass herself or the team. I knew she's be able to hold her own." Phil said. She did, stopping 7 of 9 shots. The 10,000 seat arena was almost completely sold out. Stunt or not, Phil knew that it was history in the making.

"It's going to happen. The day will come that a woman will be in the NHL and I can tell you it will probably be a goalie. They have the reflexes and the agility. If they have the size, maybe 5'10" and 165 lbs, it will happen!"

He said that Manon played for their minor league team and did very well but could never put on enough weight to "get bigger." Manon struggled but didn't get past the 120 lb mark. She played in the minors and even won a Silver in the Olympics for Team Canada.

So today let's thank Phil Esposito for not being one of the boys club and realizing that women do have a place in this game. And Thank you to Manon Rheaume for opening the door. Now if we can just get a few more women to take a peek at what's on the other side of it!

Monday’s Roundup from the Couch 9-22-08

It was a Payroll Monday at work today, and yet I still managed to find a few things hockey that may have eluded your keen sense of web surfing.

Unlike my fellow Blog Boxer Tom Liodice, I don’t have any quotes from camp. Hell, I’m not even getting any emails from camp. (Ahem, ahem….) So what could I possibly come up with that relates to Islanders Hockey considering that EVERYONE (okay, almost everyone) is in Moncton? Not much, but what the hell, here goes:

First, NHL Live is back on the air but not on the NHL.com website as of yet. But it did premiere today on XM radio’s Home Ice 204. That in itself was cause enough for me to smile, but something very heartwarming happened during the broadcast.

It seems that “Miriam, an Islanders fan” called up because she was asking what TV station the Islanders broadcasts were going to be on. She would usually listen on the radio but because they have moved stations for this coming season, she didn’t’ think she was going to be able to get reception. Now, I believe she said she couldn’t see, and I started to wonder if it was the same “Miriam from Forest Hills” that Chris Botta had brought to an Islanders game a few years back. I wondered.

Well, the guys of NHL Live offered her up a brand new XM radio so she wouldn’t miss a game. She was shocked and at first didn’t know what to tell them. “My building doesn’t allow Satellite dishes.” she told them. But they explained she’d have no problem with this one. Nice work EJ and Don. Good way to start your new season.

Speaking of Mr. Botta, he’s posted some details of what to look forward to in his forthcoming Islanders Point Blank blog and website. All I can say about it is: Hey Eklund! I think you’ve just met your match! Considering the scope of what he’s proposing, there won’t be enough time in the day to catch up to everything that will be available.

Also coming my way today was the disappointing news that Jim McGlynn has decided not to continue in the NYI Blog Box. This is the second inaugural member that will not be returning this season.

Earlier this summer, Jon Jordon, of HockyBuzz, decided that he was better off just blogging about the Lightening since he WAS the Long Distance Islander. No one who hasn’t done this this type of "blogerism" (basically journalism without money) realizes how much work actually goes into it. It is not only time consuming but emotionally draining at times. It’s the hardest non-paying job you could possibly love.

But as I’ve told both these talented writers, we will forever be connected in history as the founding members of this experiment that turning a handful of verbose Islanders fans into a blogging network of friends. An experience I’m all too grateful for.

Oh Captain, My (5 &) Oh Captain! 9-22-08

Our (t)earful trip is done; The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won (Not really); The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting...

And they were as the last game to be played in Yankee Stadium ended with a Yankee win, a lot of fanfare, great memories, and much disappointment.

Derek Jeter didn't get the final home run in Yankee Stadium, he didn't add yet another hit to his new record breaking count, but he did play until the 9th inning. He was awarded a Waterford crystal bat and ball, gave a final off-the-cuff speech and was as classy as ever. But you have to know he was disappointed with his at-bat stats for the night. A night that was filled with smiles and tears.

This was an excellent job by the Yankees organization on their pomp and circumstance, but I personally do NOT like the way ESPN handled the game. Too many times there were interviews that were running well over the game. It should have been carried on YES, and not ESPN.

But it's done now, and all we have left are the memories and the 100s of articles that will hit the presses, the airwaves and the net. There won't be enough time to read them all.