So, What's New?

So, it’s been almost a month since I was let go by the Islanders and I’ve been doing a lot thinking over the past few weeks.

But first things first, I would like to thank Greg Logan for his blog entry. It was very touching and personally meant a lot to my family and myself.

Second on the agenda: Part of my lost in thought moments over the past few weeks is what I was going to do with my blog. I’ve always enjoyed writing. I started with the Islanders as an intern writing for the team’s website and publications. When I moved over to Public Relations, I didn’t have the opportunity to do the free-form writing I was doing previously. When I started this blog, I was able to start writing again, but was still limited by my position with the team.

But now, with most of those restrictions and strings no longer attached, I’m going to give it a shot. I don’t know the ultimate direction that I’ll take or how long I’ll write for. I have some pieces that I wrote when I was still working for the team, but never published. I’ll throw those on and go from there.

What I won’t be doing right now is trying to break any news and trying to scoop anyone or anything. I’m just going to take the opportunity to write and comment on a few things around the League that I wasn’t sure if I could before.

So, we’ll see where this goes and see what happens.

MORNING SKATE: Sens at Isles

After a nice weekend off for everybody other than Rick and Chris Botta, the Islanders swing back into action tonight at the Coliseum versus the Ottawa Senators… Here are some notes from the morning skate.


- Rick DiPietro will be in goal for the Islanders and after missing practice yesterday, Ray Emery will take a back seat to starter Martin Gerber. DiPietro is 2-0-0 versus Ottawa this season and has a 1.44 GAA.

- Ted Nolan announced that Andy Sutton is under the weather and is a game-time decision. He did not specify if Bryan Berard or Aaron Johnson would go in his place if need be.

- Aside from the injured Dany Heatley, Patrick Eaves looks to be a scratch for the Sens along with Cody Bass. Nick Foligno has been recalled by Ottawa for tonight's game.

- Former Senator Mike Comrie enters tonight’s game two points away from 300 in his NHL career. In the first three games of the season series, Comrie has a goal and two assists versus Ottawa.

- Newsday’s Greg Logan is off until Friday, so Mark Herrmann is covering for them tonight.

ROAD TRIP BLOG: Day 2 / Isles at Avs

Saturday, January 5


The Islanders face-off against the Colorado Avalanche, who will be sans Joe Sakic and Captain Colorado Ryan Smyth, tonight at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO. The Islanders will use the same lineup as they did on Thursday night. Here are some other notes:

-----

The big talk at the morning skate was the altitude – and yes you really do feel it. Ted Nolan said the game plan would be for guys to take quick shifts of no more than 30 seconds. According to the local media, teams don’t feel the altitude’s effects until the second period when the Avs take advantage. Of their 115 goals scored this season, 49 have been netted in the second period. They have scored 27, 37 and 2 in the first period, third period and overtime, respectfully.

-----

Wade Dubielewicz returns to Denver for the first time as a player since his colligate career at Denver University. Dubie won a couple of WCHA goaltending titles here and was a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.

-----

Newsday’s Greg Logan tried tracking down Smyth, but was unable because of Colorado’s team policy of not allowing injured players to talk to the media. Someone should have reminded them that the New York media doesn’t care about his injured ankle. Logan did speak with Nolan and GM Garth Snow and is a resourceful reporter, so he should have something on his blog or in a story later at Newsday.com.

-----

(Corrected, thanks to Peter Botte of the NY Daily News... I added an extra "0".. opps.)

Miles traveled yesterday: Roughly 1,800 from Long Island to Denver.

Miles to be traveled tonight/tomorrow morning: Roughly 1,036 from Denver to Edmonton.

MEDIA: Logie’s Coverage

Moncton, NB – With all the talk of blogs today, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Greg Logan, his coverage in Newsday and his Newsday.com blog.

Greg provides excellent coverage on multiple levels for the Islanders on a daily basis.

If it wasn’t for the success of his blog, the NYI Blog Box idea might never have come up. Did you know Neil Best reported on Newsday.com that the Islanders Blog gets the most hits on the website.

Greg travels by himself to cover the Islanders and is away from his family just as long as the team is, if not a little longer sometimes.

From all NYI fans out there, thanks Greg for the coverage.

OK, enough of all of this "thanking" for now...