Final Observations on AAN

A few more thoughts on the wonderfully fun Al Arbour Night (or "AAN" as the kids call it). What, you expect us to be watching the Jets on a Sunday afternoon?

One of the great things about being part of the blog box is the post-game walk to the locker room. And one of the great things about the post-game walk is that you never know whom you might run into by chance down there. It could be a random player, coach Ted Nolan, Isles exec Bryan Trottier, or even Scotty Bowman.

The great Coach Bowman was mere feet away from me last evening as a crowd gathered around him to hear a few sagacious words from the living legend. As I was ushered past the man, was I thinking about the 9 championships, or the way he finally brought the Cup back to Detroit, or that he enabled Coach Arbour to become a legend in his own right? No, my pea-brain was thinking about how much he looks like Tony Soprano...


Separated at birth?
Another thing that struck me as slightly off-kilter last night was the music that accompanied the tribute video for Arbour. It was intended to be a sweet look back at the golden years, but came off like a funeral dirge. Let's just say it made Paul Anka music seem exciting. Couldn't the Isles hire a musician to stand at center ice and play a sad, solo flute?

However, the BEST thing about the entire evening was the building. I know, lots of people grumble about how old and small and dirty and outdated the place is. Heck, even my co-blogger thinks it prevents the Isles from attracting top free agents. I think the time will come when a new home is built for our team, but when the old barn is filled and roaring it is alive, and I love it. I LOVE IT.

I'm torn about the Coliseum just like I'm torn about Shea Stadium. They're both worn around the edges and everyone else has a newer, shinier sandbox to play in, but I'll be sad when they each go. Just like at Shea, some of my finest childhood memories happened there. The Coliseum may be a "dump," but it's OUR dump. And last night the 16,234 fans inside made the building special again.

Daylight Savings Bonus Coverage

Frisky fingers on the keyboards tonight as Okposo Net brings you a third entry in under 6 hours! As you surely know by now it was Al Arbour Night on Long Island. The legendary coach came back for one more contest to make it an even 1,500 in his career. With the double-threat of Nolan/Arbour behind the bench, how could they lose?

Sure, it got off to a bad start when the man who loves to kill the Isles, Ryan Malone, tickled the twine just 12 minutes in. But then the hard-charging Isles...oh, what's that? That *was* a goal that Tyler Kennedy just scored? And it's 2-0 Pittsburgh?

Well, it couldn't last much longer, right, with a full house and Arbour Magic? And after Trent Hunter finally put a gift carom behind Marc-Andre Fleury to cut the Penguin lead in half, things were looking up. Unfortunately, a few minutes later Rick DiPietro was also looking up...right into Sidney Crosby's elevated stick blade.

And then the worry started.

"Hey! Rick's okay, he's coming back!" we thought momentarily. Nope, he was just showing the ref the blood near his right eye. And Dubie was between the pipes. A double-minor on The Kid. The Isles efforted, then came away with nothing.

But then something happened. The Coliseum got loud. And for one magical period, it was 1980 all over again. Vasicek to Satan. Goal! Crowd injecting the team with life. Under 3 minutes to play. "Let's Go Islanders!" bouncing off the walls. Off the ice. Off the low roof. Satan in front. Rebound. GOAL! Al Arbour on the bench, waving his hands in triumph. Clock ticking down now. Opposing goalie pulled. Crowd pulsating with noise. Islanders clearing the zone. 3..2..1...THE ISLANDERS WIN THE...game.

I still don't know how they pulled it out. After the win a red carpet was rolled out. Legends of years past were paraded and recognized. A banner was hung. A full team photo was taken on the ice. You almost expected the Stanley Cup to be there too.

Soon, my friends. Soon.

ESPN Still Doesn't Care About Hockey

This is the front page of ESPN.com at around 12:15 AM this morning, about 2 1/2 hours after the Islanders win and Al Arbour's 1500th game (click on pic to enlarge).



Look at the headlines under the News heading. Now I don't expect the game and post-game ceremony to be the website's cover story, especially with all the college football upsets. But seriously, while I'm sure Scott Verplank and Stephen Ames are having a battle for the ages in golf, are you really telling me that Al Arbour coming back for his 1,500th game couldn't get a headline on the front page? Hell, I'm surprised there was any room on there for the Devils' new building and Peter Forsberg.

Then again, it's not as if it's a surprise. ABC-7 just did local sports and put the Rangers-Devils game highlights on before the Islanders. Naturally.

Update 1 AM: We get results! Just before signing off this evening, I went back to ESPN.com and the Isles are now on the front page. Now, the chances of someone at ESPN reading this post and changing things up are pretty much zero. But we'd like to think we have an infinitesmal amount of influence at the Worldwide Leader. We'd be wrong, of course.

The Banner Is Changed

The Isles came away with a hard-fought 3-2 comeback win to give Coach Al Arbour his 740th win in his 1,500th game, and just a short while ago, a new banner with "1500" was hung to the rafters of the Coliseum. The postgame ceremony was really a class effort all around by the Islanders organization, bringing in Islander legends such as Bossy, Trottier and Gillies, as well as newer Isles favorites such as Benoit Hogue, Steve Webb and Eric Cairns to help Coach Arbour raise the banner. Ken will hopefully be in later with reaction from this great evening at the Coliseum, including hopefully some reaction from Coaches Arbour and Nolan.

As for the game, it was a fun one all around with several exciting flourishes by both the Isles and Penguins during the game, and a very strong second half of the game by the Isles in coming back from a 2-0 deficit. After a plodding first 10 minutes of the second period, the Isles pretty much controlled the rest of the way, leading to an almost storybook ending. Strong efforts especially from Miro Satan with 2 goals and Wade Dubielewicz in relief of an injured Rick DiPietro (sticked unintentionally around the eye by Sidney Crosby in the second period, no word on his condition other than he is headed to the hospital for evaluation).

The win puts the Isles at 7-4 on the season and they must be feeling good about having truly put the 8-3 Carolina abomination behind them (and lord, was that awful). With a stretch of seven straight division games that began tonight, the Isles have a chance to put the rest of the division and league on notice.

In the meantime, in honor of Al Arbour Night, please enjoy a classic Islanders moment.

Clean sheet...with help

Finally! Last night we saw the DiPietro that we know is in there, and frankly by now, have come to expect. I'll keep this an abridged version of the game events; for a detailed liveblog of last night's 4-0 win over Tampa I'll direct you to Mike Gasparino's Still Drivin' website. As mentioned, he liveblogged, as opposed to what I do during games...stand there and pretend to know what's going on.

Anyway, DP recorded his first shutout of the season (12th career) with a little help from his friends. Yes, the defensemen helped, but last night his more ferrous friends (the posts) saved him at least twice. One shot, by Paul Ranger (is that his real name or did he just make it up for the trip to NY?) rang so loudly the people smoking outside the building heard it. But, 4-0 is 4-0 and the win improved the Isles to 6-4-0 on the young season.

Guerin, Vasicek, Fedotenko, and Hunter were your goalscorers. Al Arbour was in attendance (on his birthday). The crowd (11,008) sang to him.

A few random notes:

- An oversized gallon of milk appeared in our section of the arena. Unfortunately, I couldn't get its attention or any of the Ice Girls'. The latter hurt me more. The last time I saw a giant milk carton was at the Metrodome in 2004. That one was larger, stationary, and didn't hand out 50 cent discount coupons.

- The PA music...much better last night for some reason. Sure, they still worked in the Fall Out Boy and Finger Eleven for the kids, but at least we got The Doors and Soundgarden for the adults.

- Postgame player interview was Josef Vasicek. We learned that he is considerably taller than I (he's 6'5") and he is from Havlíčkův Brod in the Czech Republic (I looked that up). I asked him a question but not the one I REALLY WANTED TO ASK. I blathered something about players checking the internet (it's clear by now that they DON'T) but I really wanted to ask him:

'Joe, being Czech, have you ever been to Bohemian Hall in Astoria, Queens? It's one of my favorite places in the world and while it has gotten super-popular in recent years, it's still lots of fun.'

Actually, I wanted to ask him if he would join me there, but I think that would draw the ire of Messrs. Botta and Witt, who oversee the interviews.

But Josef, the invitation is out there now. So when you get moved into your new place and are settled and eventually read this, I would like to buy you a Krušovice (or other beer of your choice) at Bohemian Hall. Just two guys having a beer and talking hockey. I await your reply!

OkposoNose Knows Spooky

Happy Halloween! As I watch the Former Islanders around the league rock the net, I cannot help but feel excitement for the pending arrival of some of our big prospect names. First, Islanders fan need not worry about the standings. No team has played fewer games than the Isles (9) who are above .500 at 5-4-0. This season is going okay thusfar. Now to the future:

* I know for fact that fans are dying to seeing Jeff Tambellini back on Isles ice. Tamby! Tamby!

* Frans Nielsen is burning it up in Bridgeport with 6 points in 7 games.

* Rhett Rakhshani a native of Orange, CA (represent), is helping burn it up for #7 University of Denver Pioneers hockey with 4 assists in 4 games.

* Kyle might be struggling a little bit but our boy Okposo will turn it out soon enough. He has 1 goal and 2 assists in 6 games for #8 University of Minnesota Golden Gophers.

* Jesse Joensuu is trying to help his struggling hometown team Assat (Pori) of the Finnish league with 7 points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 18 games.

* Blake Comeau is trying to shake off some early season rust and overcome his slow start to energize the Sound Tigers. He has only 2 points so far this season.

Why all the rambling, you ask? My point is that these prospects will find their way to Islanders center stage and for many fans we hope sooner rather than later. Chris Campoli should be the icon for current Isles prospects. Drafted 227th overall in 2004, Campoli is third on the team in points with 9 in as many games and he is a defenseman! All good things come in time. So keep plugging away Kyle, Rhett, Blake, Frans and Jesse. And, oh yeah, let us get Tamby back up to the NHL where he belongs. Please.

Okposo, Where Art Thou?

Checking the fresh Minnesota hockey news this week, we found that those lovable Gophers had moved up to 8th (previously 10th) in this week's NCAA men's hockey rankings. This is the 96th straight week that UM has placed in the top 15 of the poll. While that's good, there is a somewhat disconcerting item hanging over the team right now. Two members of Minnesota's top line are just not scoring.

Admittedly, it's *very* early to call someone out about their play, but one has to notice that Kyle has been completely absent from the scoring sheet since Opening Night (6 games). Even coach Don Lucia has voiced concern, recently saying his Minnesota squad "can’t be the type of team we want to be without [sophomore forward] Jay [Barriball] and Kyle scoring."

Maybe we're getting too worked up about nothing. Kyle could be be distracted by some off-ice issue. Maybe he has just been unlucky. Perhaps his scoring touch is just in a bit of a down cycle? Whatever it is, we want Kyle and his fans to know that we are rooting for him, and we're hoping he breaks out in a big way this weekend against conference foe Denver. Minnesota will host Friday night and Sunday afternoon games at Mariucci Arena so as to thoughtfully not interfere with Saturday's Al Arbour Night on Long Island. Thanks, guys!

Check back often for Isles/Gophers/Kyle news as it happens this weekend, and good luck to all three.