A quote from my favorite Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler song, “Sultans of Swing” basically says it all.  The Devils season is now over after what seemed like a lifeless 3rd period from  New Jersey.

It was kind of an emotional time for me, because I knew that this would be the end of my hockey-covering season.

I noticed something in the Devils locker room today, that probably will stick with me for a long time.  It was Zach Parise…he was sitting in his stall with all of his equipment on, head against the wall, staring at the ceiling.

I just looked at him for a minute, wondering what was going through his head.  He knows the season’s over.  He knows his chance at the Stanley Cup is over.  But he doesn’t want  to leave.  The game ended at 10:32.  It was now 11:00, and he still had his equipment on.  It’s not like he had the media constantly asking him questions and he didn’t have time to take off his equipment.  I think we all wanted to let him be, because that was the most dejected I’ve ever seen a hockey player so far after a loss.

I understand how he feels right now.  This was my first shot at a big time event like the Stanley Cup playoffs, I know it’s not going to be my last, but I didn’t want to see it end.  It was a memorable experience, I met some great people, and (my friend Maria would love this) it made me care about the Devils and change my opinion about them and their style of play.

But alas, a season is done.  That doesn’t mean this blog is done either.  I’ll try to update intermittently, and whenever some big hockey news (Isles, Devils-related) comes around.  But don’t worry, you’ll hear from me.

Thanks to all the readers out there wherever you are.  I’m very appreciative of every one of you who took the time out of your schedules to read this.

You’ll hear more from me soon.  Have a great weekend everyone.

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…

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…

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.

Just  a quickie update tonight after a little layoff so you’re probably not going to get the witty banter.  Tonight saw the return of Bruno Gervais to the Tiger, which looks to be a little rehab stint to get him back in the swing of things.  Unfortunately for Bruno and the Tigers, they were blanked by Philadelphia 3-0.

Fortunately for the Tigers, Springfield got a late third period goal by young Jacob Micflikier to lift the Springfield Falcoins to a 3-2 victory.

The Tigers and River Rats are still tied for the last playoff spot in the East Division and it looks like this is going to go down to the wire.

That’s all for now.  I’ll be at the Isles game tomorrow night, if anyone else is going to be there and would like to say a quick hi, i’d love to meet you!

Anyone remember the famous SNL skit “Jingleheimer Junction”, where Will Ferrell and the gang are in a children’s TV sho about friendship? They try to play “Mix-mash-mix-em-up” and almost spell a four-letter word that I’m sure Isles and Sound Tigers fans are saying to themselves right now as the injury woes continue to bite both clubs in such a crucial point of the season. They’re almost forcing me to bring back the M*A*S*H reference again…
So there have been a TON of roster moves lately. Just got the official word from the Sound Tigers organization, so let’s run them down…

On Recall to the Islanders:
–Steve Regier (emergency unless Smyth or Hilbert cannot play)
–Wade Dubielewicz
–Jeff Tambellini
–Allan Rourke

Joining the Sound Tigers:
–Mike Mole, recalled from Pensacola
–Sergei Ogorodnikov, recalled from Pensacola
–James Sixsmith, signed to ATO
–Kyle Rank, signed to ATO
–Steve Crampton, signed to PTO (Las Vegas)

Currently out day-to-day:
–Frans Nielsen (minor concussion)
–Eric Boguniecki (sickness)

Released from PTO:
–Dustin VanBallegooie
–Cam McCaffrey

On to business at hand now. Sound Tigers are in Bridgeport tonight hosting the Hartford Wolfpack on the tail end of a home-and-home. Your guess will be as good as mine on what line combinations Dan Marshall and crew are going to throw out tonight, but I will be on it when I find out.

Finally, here are the current playoff standings. Albany plays Manchester tonight for those who are going to be scoreboard watching. Those in bold have obviously clinched playoff spots. Binghamton has officially been eliminted.

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Well it looks like the Sound Tigers split their two-game set with the Pirates today as they lost 5-2.  I was not on hand unfortunately because I’m back in Hershey (surprise! surprise!) covering the Binghamton Senators.

Sens lost AGAIN in the third period, this time it was kinda close 3-1.  Coach Cameron was definitely not happy tonight.  Odd, he was nice with me after they lost 6-1.  Maybe blow-outs are preferred?

Kelly Guard played pretty well today, as did the B-Sens defense until those two late goals.

Met Ed Gonser from the AP today.  Doubt he will be reading this, but if he does, it was very nice to meet him and I hope to run into him soon.

If anyone hasn’t seen Dubielewicz’s new goalie mask, it pays tribute to past Isles history and it’s a BEAUT!  I only saw one side of the mask, which was laying on his lockerroom shelf, that had an image of Denis Potvin lifting the Stanley Cup from the Isles first cup victory.  But on the forehead?  The dreaded FISHERMAN!   It reminds me a lot of Eric Fichaud’s infamous fisherman mask.  Brilliant idea by Dubie to say the least.

Tough Isles loss to the Rags today.  As usual, the goaltending was spectacular and that damn Straka-Jagr-Nylander combination bites the Isles again.  This puts them tied with the Hurricanes and the Habs for the final playoff spot in the East.  It’s not gonna get any easier so the Isles need to take any points that come their way.

That’s all for now…time for the long drive back home.

Until then…