If Milestones are Reached in Phoenix, Can I see them?

Negative.

The smell of firewood in the air. The cold on my face, the stars in the clear black sky. Where's Dee? Fighting with the XM radio antenna in a cottage in the woods so that she can hear the Isles vs. team Gretzky game.

My knight to the rescue, and Big Angry Man gets it to work and then snickers at me for being such a dolt. But I thank the Hockey Gods for XM broadcasts in far away places, even if I have to listen to the opposing teams radio broadcasters and miss out on Steve Mears and Chris King.

Last night, you could have called it the "Mike Comrie Love Fest" on that radio broadcast. But I had forgotten that Comrie had played for Phoenix. The announcers sounded like they could have been from a college station, but to be fair, they sounded very unbiased and gave out a lot of interesting information.

I see that Sean Bergenheim is continuing his run of scoring when I can't watch him. He scores when I'm in the ladies room at the Coliseum. He scores when I am at dinner dances and now he scores when all I have is a very scratchy Satellite signal. The kid must hate me. But I'm happy that he managed to step foot out of Gordon's dog house and garner a point on his stat sheet.

Shane Doan was making his presence known in his 14th career game against the Islanders as they said "I don't know how that snuck in," as he scored on DiPietro. And B.A.M. immediately explained "Between the legs of Rick DiPietro." Yep, didn't even have to see it to know.

As I said, the announcers were very gracious in their dealing with the Islanders, "This is impressive play by the New York Islanders." But then they followed it up with something I've never heard on ANY broadcast before, "(Insert Coyote player's name here) stepped on Campoli's jock strap."

Excuse me? Is that a hockey term? What the heck does that mean? This is radio! I can't figure that one out. It didn't matter. By the time the score was 4 - 1 Coyotes, Danno was asleep and I was still taking notes and watching the TV with the sound off.

Only a few seconds after a DiPietro rebound made it 4 -1 Josh Bailey scored his FIRST NHL goal to make it 4 - 2. There was no fanfare, no horns blaring, no screaming, cheering Islanders jersey wearing crowds for the kid's long awaited first goal as it came while they were still announcing the Phoenix goal.

I can't even email anyone to talk about it. I was very disappointed. Bill Guerin and Jeff Tambellini were the assists on the goal that Josh will undoubtedly never forget. Again, the announcers were giving the Islanders respect for never giving up on the plays.

I hear how Gervais is stripped of the puck (again). I hear how Okposo gets into a scrap with Shane Doan. "Don't ruffle the feathers of Big Shane Doan! He's a horse out there."

Hey guys... Horsefeathers? That's where I ate dinner.

With 6:27 left of the 3rd, Lindstrom scores on DiPietro as he was left all alone. This must have annoyed Richard Park as he and Doug Weight made it 5 - 3 with 3:05 left. And with that, Richard Park dove into the net to retrieve the puck for team mate Weight. Another Islanders milestone is reached in someonelse's building. I am glad to say that the crowd did indeed salute Doug and his family was in attendance. This was his 1167th game for the 37 year-old who will turn 38 on January 28th. Hopefully, he's celebrating his birthday on the Island.

In the final minute, Park scored again as they refused to give up until the final buzzer sounded. At least the team who has not had very good third periods is coming around, but the points aren't.

I suppose we will take our joy in the little things. Josh Bailey's first NHL goal as an Islander, and Doug Weight's 1000th and 1001 point. Congratulations to both.