Jiggs Recalled on an Emergency Basis

Howie Rose will be on NY Mets duty this week and Islanders fans will have the pleasure of (Hockey Hall of Famer and all around great guy) Jiggs McDonald partnering up with Billy Jaffe in the TV booth for the next three games.

The original plan was to have Howie call the Mets' season opener in Cincinnati today for WFAN 660 AM and then have him fly to Carolina on Tuesday for the Islanders game on MSG-Plus (it's an off-day in the Mets-Reds series). He was then supposed to fly back to Cincinnati for the remainder of the series. Jiggs was prevously scheduled to call the games for MSG at Pittsburgh and home versus Philadelphia. Howie would then rejoin the telecast for the season finale.

However, heavy rain in the forecast puts today's Mets-Reds game in doubt. If and when the game gets rained out, Howie would have to stay in Cincinnati to call the make-up game tomorrow. Instead of playing it by ear, MSG made the call yesterday to let Howie stay in Cincinnati regardless tomorrow and fly Jiggs in a game early.

Howie will rejoin Billy in booth on Sunday versus Boston.

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Islanders Bedeviled to MSG Plus 2

With the return of Martin Brodeur, MSG Plus 2 (or the Ocho) will carry the Islander/Toronto game tomorrow night. The Devils have been switched over to MSG Plus 1.

CJ Papa nor Iceburgh, the Penguins mascot, had any influence on this decision. But the picture was taken tonight prior to CJ's first intermission interview with Trent Hunter.

Discuss this post at IslanderMania.com

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.

So Long, Kev

Since 1987 (for the most part), Islanders games that were broadcasted on Sports Channel, FSN NY and MSG have been produced by one man: Kevin Meininger. He falls into the category of people who fans never heard of, but are an integral part of the Islanders extended family.

Meininger received a promotion from MSG two weeks ago and is now the Sr. Coordinating Producer of the NY Knicks, NY Liberty and NY Rangers telecasts on the MSG Network.

Mike Santini, who produced NY Mets broadcasts for MSG, has been named his replacement.

Meininger was one of the reasons that the broadcasts of the Islanders have won multiply NY Emmy’s over the past few years and the organization owes a lot to him for helping promote the team. Over the past few seasons, Kevin became a good friend of mine and he will be missed by many in the organization.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about John McComb passing away. Meininger actually took over producing Islanders games for him in 1987.

Congratulations Kevin. But remember…Now you’re part of the enemy!

Catching up from Moncton

Here are some much belated notes and thoughts from training camp so far:

As I alluded to last year, from a media standpoint, Training Camp is used to get the major in-studio sit-downs out of the way for MSG-Plus, Islanders TV and Game Ops.

For instance, MSG-Plus gets a lot of their sound and video for the season-preview show in camp. All those videos you see at games with players answering questions gets recorded by Game Operations in camp. Islanders TV also records a plethora of video that appears on the website and also on the scoreboard. Game Ops and MSG-Plus also recorded their video headshots the night before we left for camp – which seems like forever and a day by now.

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I’ve been really impressed with Scott Gordon so far – but I’m not talking about his presence on the ice. Dealing with media, Flash has been confident, honest, endearing and open. It’s a great combination and a PR guy’s dream.

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The news of Jussi Markkanen’s son passing away has hit the team hard. Few Islanders know Jussi personally, but goalie coach Mike Dunham does. The thoughts and prayers of the entire Islanders family goes out to Jussi and his family.

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I for one am really excited for Chris Botta’s blog starting tonight/tomorrow at Midnight. I’m sure he and Greg Logan will keep each others on their toes from time to time. And that will be great for the fans.

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One player who has surprised me in camp so far is Mike Haley. He played in the rookie game against the University of Moncton and was a player who really stood out. You could really notice him on the ice and he might get a look in an upcoming pre-season game.

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Jack Hillen has showed the same poise he showed in those final two games versus the NY Rangers last season – and not just on the ice, but off it as well.

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You don’t really appreciate Mitch Fritz’s 6-foot-8 frame until you see him standing next to 6-foot-3 Trent Hunter and 6-foot-6 Eric Cairns. I’ve never seen Hunts appear as small as he did then at that time.

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At 37-years old, Doug Weight’s youthful enthusiasm makes me feel like I’m 50. I’m really in my 20s.

R.I.P John McComb

John McComb falls under the category of someone in the extended Islanders family that fans probably never heard of.

For about 30 years, John was involved in Islanders telecasts. From producing games for Sports Channel to directing to stage managing for MSG-Plus, he was at nearly every Islanders home game along with games at the Garden and in New Jersey.

Last month, John suffered a stroke and passed away this past week.

He will be missed by the entire Islanders family.

Getting Jiggy with it Tonight

With Howie Rose on Mets duty tonight, Hall of famer Jiggs McDonald will be calling the action on MSG Plus. Howie Rose will rejoin the team for the final two games versus the New York Rangers later this week.