Valentines Day With the Isles!

The day before the NHL shuts down for the Olympic break sees the Islanders facing off against the Ottawa Senators for an early afternoon bout. This is the third time they have met and the Sens have taken the first two contests. It may also be only the second time Matt Cullen will be skating as a Senator. Cullen was traded from the Hurricanes before the 3 pm deadline on Friday. The Senators feel they have a shot at a serious playoff run with 74 points as of Friday. They’ve been on a serious winning streak while the Islanders have been struggling to gain headway in their hunt for a playoff berth.

As this is the last NHL hockey game on the calendar for the next few weeks, I couldn’t think of a better lace to spend Valentines Day than at the Coliseum, especially since it’s my anniversary.

Now, while I don’t know too much about the Senators, I do know a little about a Canadian Hockey fan that knows a LOT about just about EVERY team in the NHL. Super Woman, Lisa Ovens, author of Hockey & High Heels, a humorous hockey caper, administrator of the website www.hockeyandhighheels.com geared towards female hockey fans of all ages, has her newest blog up and running for the Vancouver Olympics http://2010andhighheels.blogspot.com as they are in her home town of Vancouver.
Since Lisa and I were talking about hockey related Valentine’s gifts, I asked her what SHE could tell me about the Ottawa Senators.

What is something you can tell me about the Sens that most of us here on Long Island may not know?

“Their farm team’s nickname: Bingo, as in who’s getting called up from Bingo? Binghampton Senators”

And Bingo was his name, O.

What's the best nick name on the team?

“Spez.” Okay, not exactly original, but a still fun to say and probably better than Spaz. As in Jason Spezza, the 2nd overall draft pick of 2001 who earned 73 points for himself in the ’08-’09 season but was still a -14. This season, as of 2/12/10, he had 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points and was a -2.

What is the Senators best asset?
“E-l-l-i-o-t-t   (The way E.T. would say it! - tee hee)” Now, that’s really fun to say. That’s Brian Elliot, the 6’2” goalie from New Market, Ontario with 21 wins out of 38 starts this season.

What is their biggest weakness?
“CheeChoo must step it up and then be consistent.”
The rightwing the Senators acquired from San Jose along with Milan Michalek and a 2nd rounder for Dany Heatly CheeChoo is a -13.

Ex-Islander Chris Campoli seems to be suffering from one of those all encompassing “lower body injuries,” is out indefinitely so he will not be back on the Coliseum ice Sunday. Many Islander fans will be disappointed as he was certainly a fan favorite while he was here. The Senators called up Brian Lee and Derek Smith from “Bingo” for their weekend games.


Me? I'll be sitting in the stands today with my close friends and... MY DAUGHTER as my husband seems to have an upper body injury of his own and cannot attend. Pookey. Not the way I had planned it. But, as we know... the best laid plans of mice and bloggers somehow fall to shit.