Billy G. = Winner

In the year and a half I worked with Bill Guerin, we didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but more than 95% of the time we did. He’ll always be one of players that I’ll look back to and remember him for teaching me a few things about the hockey community.

I’ll also remember Billy G. as a winner. Looking back, that other 5% that I spoke of before probably had to do with winning or lack thereof at that particular moment.

Billy would take every loss harder than most others and it would take him a little bit longer to get over one. Maybe a winner shouldn’t be judge on victories, but how he handles losing. And how Billy dealt with losing, showed what type a winner he is.

I have zero doubt that the Penguins would not have won the Cup if it were not for the Islanders’ former captain. The same could be said about Dan Bylsma and dozen other Penguins. But I’m positive Billy taught that team how to win and maybe even more importantly, what losing really means.

If you had asked me in December if this was Billy’s last season, I would have guessed yes. And I was surprised when he told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he plans on playing next season. Who knows, this could all change.

But what I do know is that Bill Guerin in a winner on and off the ice. He did so in a small way with helping me (and I wasn't the only one like this) and he did so in a big way helping the Penguins.

Even if Billy doesn’t retire this summer, plays more hockey and doesn’t win another Cup before he hangs up his skates, he’ll go out a winner no matter how or when he decides to leave the game… whatever the circumstances are when he chooses to do so.

Photo courtesy of Pittsburgh Penguins

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.

Guerin’s being honored for work in LI communities

In my six years with the team, I never saw a new player come to the team and embrace the local community like Bill and Kara Guerin have. It’s obvious the Islanders are reaching out to the community more than ever with the I.C.E. Tour debuting this summer. But that outreach and the connection the team makes with the community and its fans couldn’t be done without the participation and support of the players.

And Bill Guerin is a perfect example of that. Bill and his family clear their schedules to make room for community appearances.

For his outstanding work in just his first 10 months being an Islander, Bill and Kara are being honored at the Long Island Children’s Museum on May 30^th.

Part of the evening will include a live auction, which Bill and Kara are offering up the opportunity for 12 children to play a game of street hockey at their Long Island home with Islanders captain.

To purchase tickets to the event, click here or call 516-224-5813.

Bill and Kara really stepped up this year with their involvement in children’s charities. Sometimes athletes only get mentioned when they did something wrong or bad. Although they don’t seek the attention, Bill and Kara deserve to be recognized for this.

Mores pics from Bristol

Here are some more pictures of Bill Guerin at the ESPN studios.

Another ESPNews Hit Added

Billy G will stay at the ESPN campus for a little bit longer and will do another ESPNews hit at 11:00 PM. That should wrap up his big day at ESPN.

So, that makes segments at 7:50, 9:30 and 11:00.

The picture on the side is of Billy with his ESPN ID badge on him... Photo courtesy of Josh Bernstein and his BlackBerry.

More on ESPNews

Bill will appear twice more on ESPNews today. Once at 7:50 PM and again at 9:20 PM (UPDATE: It's actually 9:30 now...).

The digital media was for ESPN.com’s video player and Verizon Wireless broadband.

A+ for the Captain

I thought Billy Guerin did a great job on ESPNews with Barry Melrose. He really opened up and became more comfortable as the segment went. People say he might have a career in coaching after he hangs up the skates, but I wouldn’t rule out TV.

And going on the assumption that Billy wasn’t prompted on which teams Barry Melrose played for prior to going on air, he might be the only person in the world to know the correct answer!

Guerin will do more hits on ESPNews later on, so keep an eye on it.

ESPN Ditigal

Prior to going on ESPNews with Barry Melrose, Billy G. sat down with Barry to do some digital media interviews for ESPN.com. Josh Bernstein sent this picture via his Black Berry. I know it's riveting, but it's something. Technology...

REMINDER: Guerin on ESPNews

We're told the segment will run a few minutes late, but he'll be on with Barry Melrose. Enjoy.

We'll provide more updates once we get them from our people up in Bristol with Billy.

ESPN.com Chat with Billy

So the radio interview got cut (really) short due to poor cell phone reception while Bill was headed up to Bristol. But hockey did get a good segment on national radio… Look at the positives…

Bill is still set to conduct the ESPN.com chat. Click here to log on.

Guerin’s Schedule

Bill is now on his way up to Bristol for his ESPN tour and here’s a tentative schedule of what’s going on.

2:00 PM – LIVE Interview with Mike Tirico on ESPN Radio
3:35 PM - ESPN.com Chat
4:00 PM - Digital Media on ESPN.com (updated at 12:45 PM)
4:50 PM - Hotlist on ESPNews
7:50 PM – More ESPNews hits

More to come and possibly to be added…

Guerin’s ESPN Media Blitz

Due to some crafty work by Islanders TV head man Josh Bernstein, Islanders captain Bill Guerin will be doing an ESPN media blitz today.

Billy G. is scheduled to be on The Hot List, ESPNews PreGame, ESPNews Gametime, ESPNews Postgame, The Mike Tirico Show (ESPN Radio), and in an ESPN.com chat.

There’s also a chance he will appear on SportsCenter pending schedule formatting.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day.

RADIO: Bill and Kara Guerin on KJOY Tomorrow

Islanders captain Bill Guerin and his wife Kara will be the guest of Kim Burke and Jim Douglas tomorrow morning on KJOY 98.3 FM.

The interview, which was pre-taped Monday morning, will air between 5:00 AM and 9:00 AM. Since the window is so wide, KJOY has offered up to give us a copy of the interview, which we will make available online as soon as possible thanks to the show’s producer Neil.

Amongst the topics discussed is: how the family has adjusted to life on the Island, Tuesday night’s game against the Flyers as well as Kara’s participation in the fashion show which will take place during the second intermission of the game.

Check back for updates…

MORNING SKATE: Kings at Isles

The flu bug hasn’t hit the NYI Media Blog (yet, knock on wood..), so here are some notes from the morning skate…

- Wade Dubielewicz will get the start in net tonight. With Rick DiPietro getting over the flu, he’ll likely back-up tonight. For the Kings, expect Jason LaBarbera to start.

- Ruslan Fedotenko (flu) is very questionable/doubtful for tonight’s game. Andy Sutton (flu) will be a game-time decision. Every other skater, according to Ted Nolan, is healthy and able to play.

- Islanders assistant coach Gerard Gallant made his return to the team after battling through the stomach flu/virus.

- At 12:15, Islanders defenseman Bruno Gervais will be guest of Billy Jaffe on the radio show, NHL Live. You can find it on XM 204.

- Dan Rosen from NHL.com came to the skate this morning. Amongst the Islanders players he spoke to were Bill Guerin and Blake Comeau. Expect a feature on Comeau soon.

- Longtime Islanders radio analyst Chris King will take part in his 1,000th Islanders radio broadcast. That includes time as the engineer, intermission/post-game host and in-game duties. Congratulations, Kinger!

- Amongst the hot topics with the media this morning was Britney Spears being admitted for psychiatric treatment. Islanders radio play-by-play man Steve Mears admitted that her 2002 concert in Louisiana was the best concert he’s ever been to. Really Steve? Really? ...

BID ON GUERIN’S JERSEY

On January 11 in Calgary, Islanders captain Bill Guerin wore a special jersey with a Hockey Fights Cancer patch next to his “C”.

Fans can now bid on the jersey at NHL.com with the proceeds supporting national and local cancer research institutions, Children’s Hospitals, player charities and local cancer organizations.

Hockey Fights Cancer is a joint initiative founded in December 1998 by the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association to raise money and awareness for hockey's most important fight. It is supported by NHL Member Clubs, NHL Alumni, the NHL Officials' Association, Professional Hockey Trainers and Equipment Managers, corporate marketing partners, broadcast partners and fans throughout North America. To date, more than $9 million has been raised to support national and local cancer research institutions, Children’s Hospitals, player charities and local cancer organizations.

To bid on Billy’s jersey, click here.

To find out more information on this specific program, click here.

ISLAND SNAPSHOTS: Guerin’s Goal

Last night versus the Phoenix Coyotes, Bill Guerin scored his second period goal as can be seen here by the above angle shot. (Photo credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Click picture to view entire image