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.