The above quote is exactly what Martin Brodeur said when approaching the media after what seemed like an endless day/night for me.

Honestly, I don’t blame him.

3-2 Devils victory in Double OT. I just finished my story and I’ll be heading home now, thank you very much.

I’m sure I will have much more tomorrow after a well-deserved good night’s sleep…

It’s really time for the Devils to pick it up right now. They have more shots in their first period than the last three combined.

Marty’s faced 44 shots so far after four periods and keeping the Devs in the game. MUCH better performance than Game 1.

Double OT time…

Figures when we have a late 8PM start we go to overtime.

Marty was a rock in the third period, making some HUGE glove saves.  The man-advantage at the end with Ottawa pulling the goalie proved to be difference maker.

Ottawa’s got a powerplay to start the OT, because after 19:59 of third period play without a penalty the refs decide to call a hooking minor on Brian Gionta.  Come on refs, lets be a little more consistent here.  If you’re not going to call anything ALL period, why call it at the very end?

This will be fun…

Looks like he took some Sudafed or something, but the Devils will get their captain, Patrick Elias back tonight.  Elias missed Game 1 from the lingering effects of a cold.  I still think that it was a very Slapshot-esque situation in regards to his scratch.

Just a couple of thoughts before Game 2 begins…

~Lets hope we don’t have to witness another crazy period like that first.  Brodeur needs to be sharper, like he was in the last two periods for Game 1.

~Turnovers need to be minimized by the Devils.  Ottawa’s Game 1 goals 2, 3, and 4 were all unassisted, coming off of turnovers.

~Devs need a quick start.  Ottawa came at the hard and fast and they need to counter that before it gets out of hand.

~It’ll be interesting to see how the ice holds up.  There was a figure skating show here at 12 noon earlier, therefore the ice needed to be softer for the show.  NHL ice guru Dan Craig was here to oversee that the transition went smoothly so that everything will be good for the game.  We’ll see…

~It’s 20 minutes before the puck drop and already there’s more people in the stands than Game 1 combined.  Attendance has really been an issue here.  There’s even talk of a sellout tonight.  We’ll just see if that comes true…

~A lot of fans made the trip from Ottawa.  Good to see some opposing fans in the building tonight.

Oh, and Rangers practice update is now up at The Blueshirt Scene.  Check it out!

Enjoy the game!

Well finding the MSG practice facility was pretty hard to find. They sure keep this place hidden…
This will be an interesting day…

Practice report to come on The Blueshirt Scene later…

Well last night was certainly an entertaining affair.  In a series where the thought was that it was going to be a tight-defensive series it turned out to be a high-scoring goal-fest.

Brodeur looked VERY shaky early on, and it seemed like he had a lot of trouble locating the puck.  Can’t fault him on the first goal, he had a very clear line of sight but had the unfortunate situation of dealing with TWO deflections (Once by Paul Martin and then Jason Spezza). 

You could then see he just wasn’t feeling up to par in the first period of Joe Corvo’s PP goal.  A simple wrist shot on Brodeur’s glove hand that he couldn’t handle.  Just looked like he was fighting off all the Ottawa shots left and right.  Plus it didn’t help that Ray Emery played an unbelievable first period, making some great acrobatic and point blank saves.

Second period just seemed to be a reverse of roles, as the Devils were getting the “soft” goals in past Emery and Brodeur seemed to buckle down.

It would’ve made for a great story to see the Devs come back from down 4 but a dumb Rasmussen penalty put any hopes of that away.

Game 2 should be more of the same.  Looking forward to it.

Tomorrow I’ll be pulling in double duty, covering the Rangers practice at the MSG practice facility, then heading down to Jersey and covering Game 2 for the Devils.

I’ll definitely have lots of updates to share with all tomorrow.  Until then…

It’s been a while since I’ve updated the blog, and my apologies to my readers, whoever you are out there…

As I said in my last post, I’ve been covering the Devils playoffs for NY SportScene and having a great time doing it.

The Tampa series was a fun one to watch.  Brodeur was very shaky to start the series but he REALLY clamped down for the final two games and saved the series for the Devils.

Parise is a beast.  Isles fans (including myself) are still wondering what could’ve been if they picked this kid up.

Gomez has been strong and is really coming to his own this playoffs with 2 goals and 7 assists.  Same with Gionta as well

Patrick Elias apparently will not be playing today because he’s suffering from a lingering cold.  Geez, this reminds me of the opening scene from Slapshot where Dave “Killer” Carlson is up in the press box with a cold because he “went out in the snow without his jacket on”.

Ottawa should be a fun series, and a good test for both teams.  I promise to update more often during the playoffs and will look forward from hearing from everyone.

As I sat in the press lounge of the continental Airlines Arena getting ready for Game 2 of the New Jersey Devils playoffs, I came to think of what could’ve been for the Sound Tigers if all of the injuries didn’t occur. For those of you who haven’t heard, last night the Bridgeport Sound tigers were eliminated from playoff contention last night with a 3-0 loss to Hartford and coupled with a Albany OT loss to Binghamton. The most Bridgeport can do is tie Albany in points, but unfortunately for the Sound Tigers, Albany owns the tiebreaker in the season series.

It’s been a very up and down year for the Tigers. It started with the rough opening to the year and struggling to win at home. Then the winning streak came and gone in January - six straight games and nine straight at home. That’s when the injuries started happening…Jeremy Colliton out with the shoulder problem, Brandon Nolan out with the ribs, Blake Comeau out with the ankle, Petteri Nokelainen out with the finger, Brandon Cullen not being able to go all year with the concussion, Frans Neilsen with a concussion, Eric Boguniecki, it just never stopped. Add to it with Wade Dubielewicz getting called up to finish the season with the Islanders, it was just way too much for the Tigers to handle.

Overall, it was a GOOD year for the Sound Tigers, I think, but it could’ve been much better.  It was a lot of bad luck just tumbling in the Sound Tigers direction and it was too much at once.

It’s been a fun year, my first FULL season covering a team and I took a lot out of it.  I’d love to thank Mike Fornabaio, I learned a lot by just watching him work.  He’s one of the best writers in the AHL and it shows.  Also I’d like to thank Patrick Williams as well for helping me get my first paying job up in Binghamton.  It meant a whole lot to me and he really played a big part in me getting my start in this industry.

It’s onto the NHL Playoffs and covering the Devils now.  Lightning tied the series 1-1 so it’s looking to be a helluva series.  I’ll be back tomorrow as Mother Nature destroys NY with rain for more NHL Playoff thoughts.

Take care guys.  Thanks for reading

Well, what can be said about watching the New York Islanders miracle playoff run but WOW. I’ll be the first to admit that my playoff hopes for the Isles were almost as dim as Paris Hilton, but somehow I held out hope, and who would’ve known that that hope would come in the form of the GENEROUSLY listed 5′10″ Wade Dubielewicz?!

As a writer who covers the Sound Tigers regularly and getting to see Wade Dubielewicz perform on a regular basis, you could see that there was something special, yet very unusual about Dubie. He’s pulled out a couple of 50+ save winning performances this year and has completely impressed the AHL media and me in general with his unusual style, yet steady play.

As a fan, I couldn’t be any more proud of Wade for coming this far and defying the odds and help propel the Islanders in the playoffs. I must admit, I nearly had a heart attack when eating Easter dinner, my phone was inundated with messages from friends venting frustration that John Madden scored with 0.9 seconds left, forcing me to keep track of the shootout on my phone via the web. Even when I got home, I watched the last five minutes of the game, and even though I knew what happened, I was on the brink of calling a paramedic.

All in all, this has been a special New York Islanders season. There have been so many ups and downs this season, all which I will list in chronological order:
~The Neil Smith/Garth Snow GM controversy
~The Rick DiPietro contract
~The first ever 0-3 start in franchise history
~Alexei Yashin’s best hockey on Long Island and his instant chemistry with Jason Blake.
~Alexei’s knee injury which would keep him out for half the year
~Clawing into first place (albeit for a short time) with a four-goal performance by Viktor Kozlov against the Rangers
~The six-game losing streak
~The unbelievable post-All-Star break (Points in 19 out of 21 games)
~Acquiring the one-two punch of Marc-Andre Bergeron and Ryan Smyth
~The Chris Simon incident followed by the infamous “No-Goal” vs. the Rangers
~The Rick DiPietro concussion
~Rick DiPietro’s return
~The Rick DiPietro concussion
~Mike Dunham’s horrid play
~Signing Todd Simpson to bolster a lowly defense, only for the NHL to uphold a freaking German league suspension
~Wade Dubielewicz’s performance against the Rangers top-three guns in the shootout
~The Isles improbable six-step run to the Stanley Cup playoffs

I said this on Hockey Night on Long Island on this Easter Sunday (which by the way, you should check out! Thanks again Alex and Steve!), this is a proud time to be an Islanders fan. This season is probably more special than the 2001-2002 season just because of the sheer amount of roller coaster emotions that fans were feeling. Even if the Islanders don’t a single playoff game, making the playoffs is a victory in itself.

Be proud, Islanders fans….be proud.

Providence Bruins - 3
Bridgeport Sound Tigers - 4

SCORING
First Period - No Scoring

Second Period - BRI, Wotton 8 (Smith, Comeau), 4:35; BRI, G. Johnson 7 (Berry, Desharnais), 14:49

Third Period - PRO, Thompson 8 (Bentivoglio, Krejci), 2:56; PRO, Trevelyan 27 (Bentivoglio, Krejci), 5:19; BRI, Wotton 9 (Comeau, J. Johnson), 6:14; PRO, Bentiviglio 3 (Dempsey, Lashoff), 11:34

Overtime - No Scoring

Shootout - Providence: Krejci G, Walter NG, Bentivogilio NG, Trevelyan NG, Lashoff NG
Bridgeport: J. Johnson G, Rourke G, Regier NG, G. Johnson NG

PENALTIES
First Period - BRI, Bench Minor (Illegal Lineup), :10; BRI, Rourke (Holding), 3:08; PRO, DiCasmirro (Hooking), 6:26; BRI, Desharnais (Tripping), 16:50

Second Period - BRI, G. Johnson (Hooking), 11:47

Third Period - BRI, Rank (Major - High Sticking), 6:54; PRO, Bentiviglio (Slashing), 7:15; BRI, Regier (Slashing), 11:03; BRI, Wotton (Misconduct), 11:34

Overtime - None

GOALTENDING
Priovidence-  Toivonen (26 shots, 23 saves)
Bridgeport - Thompson (40 shots, 37 saves)

SHOTS
Providence - 11-10-17-2 = 40 shots
Bridgeport - 3-11-8-4 = 26 shots

A - 3667

THREE STARS
1. Mark Wotton, BRI
2. Sean Bentivoglio, PRO
3. David Krejci, PRO

OFFICIALS
Referee:    Francois St. Laurent (38)
Linesmen: Kevin Redding (16), David Spannaus (2)