The PUCK Starts Here!

Our season ended in April last year. We have been through a long, difficult off season with the only bright spot being the draft party. Personally, I didn’t think we’d get here again. The off season seems to take forever – when you end it two months before the hockey season actually ends.

September 14th, 2009 and it all starts again. Our 2009 – 2010 Season will be no less difficult, I’m sure, even with the arrival of John Tavares. There are still too many open ended questions swirling around the Islanders. So, as I told Adam Proteau of The Hockey News, I’m looking forward to the new season with trepidation. But let’s focus on tonight.

Hockey in Hockeyville! Okay, so maybe it will look more like a pick-up game rather than an NHL battle as today is really only the second day of training camp. There will likely be confusion and mistakes, but we should see basic talent and vision, considering systems can’t possibly have been cemented in 48 hours.

What we won’t see is John Tavares who, as Newsday’s Katie Strang explained has been battling the flu and just started skating yesterday. (Uh, John, that better not be H1N1 and no one else better get sick!) We also won’t see Rick DiPietro, who was seen in pads on the ice yesterday as announced on Twitter.

It’s just nice to know that the roster (right now) seems healthy and ready to go. It will be nice to see Andy Sutton back on the ice again. The oft injured Radek Martinek is also currently healthy. Shall we start taking bets on how long THAT will last?

Also in Katie’s news was the tidbit of info that John Tavares is rooming with his new mentor, Doug Weight. Ahem, just another building block in the case for that “C.” (If you haven’t figured it out by now, this is a cause I will continue to promote until we actually see who is wearing it.)
Hey, JT, you get Dougie sick for the only pre-season game at the barn and I’m going to be really, really pissed at you.

Other Islanders news for Sunday was met with much joy as MSG has decided to put Deb Placey back in her original home covering Islanders games. (Hmmm… I guess that means a friend of mine may have to vacate her dressing room.) For years, Deb worked tirelessly covering the Isles for MSG. She’d be there for the morning skate taking notes and conducting interviews then eat, nap and was right back out working with the production crews to get it all down right. Welcome back.

So, 10 pm, 10:30 pm, whatever, on MSGPlus, if we can find the channel, or any other channel it will be aired on as it is the NHL’s highly publicized and heavily sponsored Kraft Hockeyville, we actually get to see our first glimpse of NY Islanders hockey for the new season.

Get out the jerseys; grab a Starbucks, fire up the laptop. The Puck drops HERE!! FINALLY!!!