Road Whites at Home

The Islanders will be wearing the white jerseys at home tonight.

Why?

It has to do with the Toronto Maple Leafs wearing their blue jerseys tonight.

You see, tomorrow night is Mike Gartner Night in Washington, DC. The Capitals asked the Leafs to wear their dark uniforms so they can go with their classic whites on the special night. And instead of the Leafs having to pack two sets of jerseys – very cumbersome for a two-day trip – they asked the Islanders for the switch. And the Orange & Blue said they’ll be the Orange & Blue & White tonight.

Joe Callahan’s Trip to Nashville

With Andy Sutton out, Joe Callahan got the call from Bridgeport. But with the inclement weather in the northeast, it didn’t make the birthday boy’s trip to the south an easy one. No. 26 in the programs tonight turned 26 today.

Joe had to leave the greater Bridgeport area at 5:00 AM in a car service which took him approximately 160 miles in some sloppy roads to Philadelphia where he was able to get a direct flight to Nashville.

Would Joe have taken a connecting flight if it meant leaving from one of the NY airports or Boston or Hartford? Yeah, he would have. Were any available? Nope, all sold out.

So Joe got to the hotel at around 1:30 PM, got a quick bite to eat and is probably napping right now. Oh and that was also after Bridgeport defeated Springfield 4-1 last night. Joe was scoreless with one shot on goal.

Changes to All-Star Weekend?

TSN's NHL Insider Darren Dreger has this nugget about changes to the Skills Competition night of All-Star Weekend.

Click here to read.

Seems like the NHL is on the right track here.

And it's too bad that Frans got hurt because I think he might have been ticketed for the Young Stars game.

No word yet on if Versus will use a seven-second delay this year...

Top Plays of November

If you tune into the MSG-Plus (2) pre-game show tonight, you can see the Islanders top plays from the month of November. Rumor has it there might be a play or two from Islanders of the Month Joey MacDonald, a goal scored twice (Mr. Campoli) and one of Bill Guerin’s all-time greatest goals when he O’Burned the net in Montreal.

The highlight package will also be shown on Saturday’s pre-game telecast when the Islanders are on plain old regular MSG-Plus.

For a listing of where you can find MSG-Plus, click here.

B. Witt on HNiC Radio

Brendan Witt will be a guest of Kelly Krudey and Jeff Marek on Hockey Night in Canada Radio this evening at 5:30. On Sirius, it’s channel 122.

Getting the word out

Ah, kids these days.

Just a week after he was on the cover of the SportsBusiness Journal for the very same topic, Josh Bailey brought up Facebook in his media scrum this morning when discussing with the media that he’s staying an Islander for the 2008-09 season.

(See above: In their Nov. 17-23 issue, SBJ ran a headline that read “Can Facebook Change Sports?” and there was an image of Bailey skating through a Facebook page.)

The fact that Bailey had his photo on the cover had nothing to do with the story. It could have easily been Kyle Okposo, Patrick Kane or Greg Oden.

When asked by a reporter this morning how he told his former teammates in Windsor that he would not be rejoining them, the 19-year old Bailey said that he sent the team a Facebook message last night.

The SBJ article talked about how sports leagues and teams are using social networking websites to reach out to fans. But another way these types of websites are being used in sports is for athletes to keep in touch with each other. Almost every Islanders prospect has a personal Facebook page and after they meet at the summer mini-camps, they all keep in touch with each other online. It’s a friendship and bond that’s being created that wasn’t there 10, 15 or 20 years ago. The next generation of future Islanders are already teammates online.

I guess the art of the mass text message is out like Clear Pepsi.

How times have changed.

From the Stat Wizards at the Elias Sports Bureau

(Courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau and the NHL...)

The Islanders’ Joey MacDonald is 7-3-1 in 11 games this month following his 4-3 shootout victory over the Canadiens in Montreal last night. MacDonald’s seven wins in November are the most by any NHL goaltender. Boston’s Tim Thomas and Minnesota’s Niklas Backstrom are tied for second with six wins each this month.

“A”

With the return of Brendan Witt to the lineup comes not only one of the team’s top defensemen, but also one of their on-ice leaders.

Brendan will be wearing an “A” on his jersey for both home and away games for now. Richard Park will wear an “A” for road games and Doug Weight will wear the “A” for home games.

A Fritz Family Affair

There will be a Fritz Family Reunion on Sunday in Montreal. And no, “Fritz” isn’t French for “Big Man”.

With Mitch being recalled this afternoon by the Islanders, the 6-8 tough-as-they-come forward will be able to take in some football north of the border on Sunday. Sunday happens to be the Grey Cup, which is the championship game in the Canadian Football League. The game just happens to be in Montreal, the same the day the Islanders have a day-off there. The Islanders play in Montreal on Monday versus the Canadiens.

Why is this important to Mitch? Well, his “smaller” brother Luke, who is 6-6 and 300 pounds, just so happens to play for the Montreal Alouettes who are not only hosting the Grey Cup, but participating in it as well.

Mitch confirmed today that his brother is playing in the game and that his family will be in the area. Luke is in his 7th season in the CFL, all with Montreal. In fact, Luke had a tryout with the NY Jets in 2004.

The last time Mitch was up with the Islanders, he was looking at the schedule and noticed the Islanders would be in Montreal the day of the Grey Cup. He knew at the time that his brother was one win away from being in that game and that they would be the favorites to make it. He was hoping to be around for it.

Well, getting in the (way too early) holiday spirit, it looks like it’s a Festivus miracle… or you might be able to say Fritzivus miracle. (Sorry about that one...)

Mac on HniC Radio

Joey MacDonald is scheduled to be on Hockey Night in Canada Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio this evening at 6:05. On Sirius, it’s channel 122.