AHL & NHL Isles Connections for the Day

It's almost 10 pm and I'm thinking about the 22 people I will be hosting on Sunday. Sure, I'm watching the Bolts play the Pens right now, but mostly I have been useless.

I did stop by Islanders practice today as I was in the neighborhood for a doctor's visit. (It would probably serve me well to get a small apartment in Westbury as I seem to be pulled there by a giant magnet just about every day, hockey or not. Then I realize that would require a divorce lawyer and I just make the 45 minute drive.) I didn't stay long. There were only a few players on the ice when I arrived. Didn't look like much was doing.

I did see Martinek on the ice. With the new face hair, he reminds me of Zorro. Bruno was practicing and he said he felt good. Other than that, I didn't pay attention.

So with the news of Josh Bailey heading to Bridgeport should the Sound Tigers make the playoffs (I hope, I hope, I hope) the Islanders also announced that they have signed prospect Rhett Rakhshani to his first professional contract and will play his first game for the Sound Tigers on Saturday.

Had I not been on Twitter, I wouldn't have known. Is it a big deal? Of course not. Except that the constant talk of no coverage leads me to believe it would have been better if it wasn't just put on their website and then tweeted out. Is his mother going to put a "Tweet" in a scrap book for him? Hardly.

Also offered up by NYIC message board was an article about Kirill Petrov being invited to rookie camp this summer. Woo hoo. I do so love that rookie camp at IceWorks when it's sweltering outside. It will be nice to get a look at him in person.

Isles vs. Flyers tomorrow at the Coliseum. It's April Fool's day. Something tells me this may not end well. Will the Flyers come away with their 16th win against the Islanders? I doubt it will be any different.

However, always a gentleman, Peter Laviolette was quoted by NHL.com as saying "I know that the Islanders are capable of beating us, so we better be ready to make sure we're ready to beat them. They have a good hockey team and play hard, so it won't be easy."

That's the best they can do; just don't make it easy for them to get the two points.