Back to Reality - Back to Hockey

Yep. I took a vacation. I headed to my usual home-away-from-home, as far north in the US without needing a passport to cross the border. That's why it was so difficult to stay on top of the West Coast games last week. Okay, that and the fact that I can't stay up until 1 am when I am the type that gets up at 6.


So back to reality, back in New York and back to hockey, even though I would SO much rather be back on Hampton Beach watching the sun rise.
Last night I did post something at HockeyBuzz.com regarding Scott Gordon. Some readers took it as my taking pot-shots at Gordon. That's not the intent. I personally don't think Scott Gordon should go anywhere. But I think they need to rethink the way they handle certain roster issues. Something has gone seriously wrong since early October and they need to find a way to turn that around NOW.

Is this extensive losing streak strictly because of the loss of Andy MacDonald? Do they need a new eye doctor to come in and figure out why so many shots are going wide of the net? What went wrong here? There was such high hopes for this team just a few weeks ago, even with the loss of Mark Streit and Kyle Okposo.

And what happened to the new-improved Josh Bailey? Is he playing with some sort of tweak that we don't know about? With ten straight losses and the record set at 12, they need to start putting points on the board or indeed Garth Snow will be the first one to walk to the podium in June of 2011.

Side Note: Interesting conversation on Islanders Point Blank and an ESPN Sunday recap, regarding Rick DiPietro's ability or the organization's desire to have him play for the Sound Tigers. If Scott Gordon is continually saying that Rick has to "shake off the rust," what is so repugnant for them to send Rick to Jack's bench for a few games? maybe he could get a win or two and regain his confidence. Wouldn't that be a HUGE mental boost for a man who is trying to hard to return to form but isn't quite there yet?

PS: Um, if it was good enough for Garth Snow to get shipped to Bridgeport for a few games, how come it isn't good enough for Rick who had a pretty good record there when his career first started?