Road to the cup: ROUND 2

Im sorry but that picture is just absolutely awesome!


SECOND ROUND PREDICTIONS
East
Montreal Def Flyers 6 games
Penguins Def Rangers 6 games (STRETCH)

West
Wings Def Avalanche 7 games
Sharks Def Stars 5 games

East (Round 2 bold predictions)
Thats right...I picked the penguins over the rangers. Crosby and Malkin are just awesome so far this post season and well, so has Henrik. I'll take the edge for the Penguins who are younger and quicker, with a less goalie (who did well the first round, against a high powered offense) and say that offense this match-up is the way to win.
West (round 2 bold predictions)
the only thing I got here that seems bold is the wings taking the avalanche in 7. I think the wings will win, but when you look at it, Jose T. is playing well this post season and there is so much playoff experience on the avalanche...but look across the ice Osgood and Hasek...and look at all the rest of their team, they have the experience too. Look for it to go to 7 and in the 7th game i predict a 5-1 win for the wings.

East (Round 1 justification)
In all honesty, who thought that caps were going to lose, they were the hottest team in the league, getting in, slating the third spot, that series came down to one goal. I thought that one man, A.O. was going to get it. Flyers edged them out, it was a fun series to watch.
West (Round 1 justification)
Im sorry, but I cant ever count out the last years champs in the first round...in retrospect I would have picked them even if they didnt win last year, I figured the ducks could out duel the stars.

FIRST ROUND PREDICTIONS

East

Canadians def. Bruins 5 games Winner: Canadians in 7

Capitols def. Flyers 6 games Winner: Flyers in 7

Rangers def. Devils 4 games Winner: Rangers in 5

Penguins def. Senators 6 games Winner: Penguins in 4

West

Wings def .Predators 4 games Winner: Wings in 5

Ducks def. Stars 7 games Winner: Stars in 6

Sharks def. Flames 6 games Winner: Sharks in 7

Avalanche def. Wild 6 games Winner: Avalanche in 6

Canadian College Hockey Play of The Year

Rob Hennigar has been signed to the New York Islanders to a 2 year deal. The New York Islanders have already begun reshaping a team for a new season, now mixing veterans like Guiren and Sillinger, and Dman Witt with young players like, Hillen, Hennigar, Okposo, Tambo, Campoli and Comeau, as well as many others.
Rob Hennigar is a center which is something the Islanders need pretty badly, as much as I would like to see Comrie come into his own like he said he would and score 40 and have 70 or more points. That being said I doubt the chance of this happening...
The Following Information has been taken from www.Newyorkislanders.com

Season	Team	Lge	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
2000-01	Windsor Spitfires	OHL	43	7	13	20	27
2001-02	Windsor Spitfires	OHL	67	15	32	47	51
2002-03	Windsor Spitfires	OHL	68	29	46	75	56
2003-04	Windsor Spitfires	OHL	68	32	47	79	64
2004-05	U. of New Brunswick	CIS	28	9	26	35	26
2005-06	U. of New Brunswick	CIS	28	9	33	42	32
2006-07	U. of New Brunswick	CIS	25	13	29	42	14
2007-08	U. of New Brunswick	CIS	27	15	43	58	12

Hennigar is 25 years old, and from what you can see from this he has nice hands. In 02-03 and 03-04 he was absolutely amazing. Dont get me wrong I am not arguing with 58 points in 27 games, that is also completely amazing. Maybe this years decline in games by those years by around 40 games means he couldnt get his shot going, but he certainly can pass well.
Okposo-Hennigar-Comeau
Campoli Hillen
Thats a good line...


Well Islander fans, im assuming this is going to be a very eventful off season.

Road to the CUP!

FIRST ROUND PREDICTIONS

East

Canadians def. Bruins   5 games

Capitols def. Flyers       6 games

Rangers def. Devils       4 games

Penguins def. Senators  6 games (this one im not so sure about)

West

Wings def .Predators     4 games

Ducks def. Stars              7 games

Sharks def. Flames         6 games

Avalanche def. Wild       6 games (this one im not so sure about)

Other then the 2 series I have listed, im pretty confident of my other choices. This being the first year of the site and what not lets see how bad I do and my record, im really giving you the winners, the games part was just a bonus, though I dont personally think ill get any of them right. Ill stick with this lets see if I shoul have went to Vegas...My money is on the Sharks if i was there. (These are my views, not Big c's) 

P.s. I hope you like the picture of god...I mean Mike Bossy with the cup.

And The Winner is.....

The Tampa Bay Lightning were just selected as the lottery draft winner. Lecalvier, St. Louis, Stamkos....wow. Absolutely terrifying.

Draft Update and History

Tonight is a very important night for the Isles future, it is the NHL Draft Lottery. It will be televised on VS at 8pm tonight, and we will keep you informed as to who gets what pick. As I have previously written Steve Stamkos is the most talented player in this years draft and is likely to go number one overall. To read more on Stamkos click the tab at the bottom of the post that says Steve Stamkos. He is not the only talented player in this years draft though, many "experts" are saying this is one of the most impressive draft classes in a while. This is good for the Isles because they will select a quality player (hopefully) in the first round, and still pick up a quality player in the second round. As of right now the Isles are penciled into the 5th draft slot, but that could all change depending on who wins the lottery.

NHL Draft Lottery History:
- Only twice since 1995 has a number 5 slot move up to the number one overall pick
- The Islanders were the first team to do it in 2000, they selected Rick Dipietro
- Only four times since 1995 has a number one overall retained their number one overall pick
- The most common draft lottery winner is the third overall pick moving up to the top, this has happened 4 times since 1995.

Notable First Overall Picks (since implementing draft lottery)
- Joe Thornton
- Vincent Lecalvier
- Rick Dipietro
- Ilya Kovalchuk
- Rick Nash
- Alex Ovechkin
- Sidney Crosby

The percent chance the Islanders have of getting the first overall pick: 8.1%

The 2008 NHL Draft date: Friday June 20th (first round)

Last Notes:

Good News:

Mike Bossy will be the Islanders representative.

Bad News:

Mike Milbury will be in the building covering the draft for VS, so something is bound to go wrong for the Islanders.

End of the Season

The season is over, but I witnessed the true end of the season. This came when the Rangers visited the Coliseum, not this past time, but the time before that. The Isles were only a point out of eighth and were a little banged up, but playing very hard. This was the controversial game in which Ted decided to start Dubie over Rick, for his second straight game against the Rangers. The plan backfired and Dubie was shaky in net, although the offense also did not help him. This was a horrible game for numerous reasons, 1) the Isles got smoked by the Rangers and, 2) I wasted a ton of money on a terrible game. The Isles started falling apart after this game, with injuries and just a steady decline in overall play. Can anyone remember how many 40 + shot games there were since after that Ranger game? Here is a simple answer: Too many.

So now that the season is over and the last game has been played and the Isles are not enjoying playoff hockey, what are Islander fans supposed to look forward too? While we have seen a whole young slew of players wear the Isles uniform in the last few weeks, I would not expect to see them all on the team next year. This is because of a couple of reasons, 1) most need more time to fine tune their game in the minors, and 2) there just are not that many open roster spots. You also have to factor in the Isles at least signing a few free agents this offseason to further cut down on roster spots.

Biggest Surprises This Year:
- Josef Vasicek's offense
- Blake Comeau looking very promising
- Richard Park playing very consistent
- Injuries
- Seeing 19 year old Kyle Okposo playing in the NHL
- The invention of the Long Island SoundTiglanders

Biggest Dissapointments:
- Miro Satan's lack of offense
- Dipietro's hip
- Injruies
- Mike Comrie even though he lead the team in points
- Lack of fights
- Islanders not making the playoffs

So my fellow Islander fans, it has been a fun season, but a season that ended in disappointment again. The future looks bright and I'm excited to see this team grow, as should all of you. Goodbye 07-08 season.......

Why Did This Not Happen Sooner?

Jack Hillen is now a New York Islander. We signed him the other night before the Devils game. Frankly I want to know why this did not happen sooner. I think it was because Colorado College which is where Hillen was before this signing was in the Final 5 of the NCAA Tourny. (read 'final 5' from an interview with Hillen on the Isles website) That does not say why he waited to sign, it just said that his team was in there. Assuming they got knocked out, he looked for a contract. This was his last year, he went un-drafted which would be a great story for him and the Islanders if he becomes a top line Dman. I can hear it now...10 years, 7 time all star....Howie Rose "Which Islander on the team now, went un-drafted in college, and was signed with 3 games left in the regular season" Jack Hillen...Heres some good trivia...I don't know about other sports, but i know hockey players I guess the good ones keep in touch with each other. I guess because in America its rare to find other players, I understand its not hard when your in the system, but its still always good to know someone. Hillen called new Islander Kyle Okposo to see how the Island was. Okposo had nothing but good things to say about everything, the staff, the towns, the players, the fans...Thank you Kyle, for 2 reasons, playing here and getting us other great players to play here. In 2007-2008 his standout year, he had 37 points (6 goals, 31 assists) in 41 games. I hope he is an offensive catalyst, now that we lost Bergeron, we might have another great power play QB. How sweet is the fact that he gets to play 2 big games against the Rangers and then has an off season to learn about the bigs, and to meet his team. He wont be the newest Islander I bet by the start of next season, hopefully he will be comfortable by now. Its a 2 year contract for the 22 year old, and im pretty sure these next 2 games dont count. Hopefully hes good and he sticks around.

My Experience at the Islander Game

Alright, so I get to the Coliseum around 6:50 and get a decent parking spot. My buddy got these print out ticketmaster tickets from his boss which looked ridiculously fake. We get frisked (which still makes me feel dirty) and are waiting on line to get into the Coliseum. I take out the piece of paper and the lady tries to scan the bar code and the scanner starts beeping, she does it again, and again, and does not say anything than, "already used." How am I supposed to know what that means? After a few seconds of awkward standing around she tells us to go to the box office.

We get to the box office and the dude working the window looks at me and my friend like were speaking Japanese. Ten minutes later he actually got out of his chair to try and solve this problem. So there we are me and my friend standing at this now empty window, with a line building up behind us. During the 7 minutes it took the box office guy to figure out the problem two different people approached us, one trying to sell us tickets, and the other trying to give us tickets, but only one.....what good would that do guy?

The ticket man comes back and is talking to my friend, I couldn't hear a word he was saying, but apparently our tickets were indeed fake. Here is the funny part, they still let us in. We go to a different scanner person and are let in on the first try. We get to our section and give the tickets to the usher and he says, "There's someone sitting in your seats" he takes our ticket walks down to the people and asks to see there ticket, they were identical. He tells us to just sit next to them, awkward, but we got into the game with fake Islander tickets so whatever.

As for the game, what a snoozer. There was a time in the game when the Devils were on the powerplay in the first period and Joey Mac made about 300 saves in 5 seconds. He looked really good, even the Devil fan next to me was praising Joey Mac. There were no fights, which really upset me especially after seeing Kip Brennan in person because he is HUGE. I thought he was going to drop the gloves with Colin White at one point, but it didn't happen.

Game Highlight:
- Me receiving a text message that Pedro Martinez was injured, I was devastated.

One game left in the Coliseum this season. I can guarantee you one thing, I won't be there. My record at Islander games this year is 0-3....ugh. I know what you may be thinking, "Only three games what kind of Islander fan are you?" I'm a college student, I'm broke, get off my nuts.

There Will be Blood

The Devils Jersey's will not be the only red you see tonight. I have a feeling there will be many fights and hard hits. Basically the whole entire Bridgeport team got called up for this one. Two names I guarantee (yes guarantee) will drop the gloves are Kip Brennan and Drew Fata. Another guy to keep an eye on will jacked-man Tim Jackman, who also got called back up. The only thing I am not looking forward to watching though is Joey Macdonald in net, although he has been known to drop the glove and blocker and throw some punches, with already taking part in four fights this season for Bridgeport. To see a clip of Joey Mac fighting click here.

I am particularly interested in this game because I will actually be going to the game, do not worry though I did not pay for the tickets. I will do my very best to get the, "weareallislanders.blogspot.com" chant going, but it never seems to catch on. This is probably why I am hoping there will be a ton of fights, because the Devils are probably going to run over the Islanders. This has not happened all season, but with more than half of the team consisting of Bridgeport players, I think the Isles luck against the Devils might be running thin tonight.

In other news Anthony temporarily shut down the site and said the only way I could get it back up and running was if I walked to Brooklyn and got him a piece of cheesecake. This is what I have been doing since Friday.

If you see me at the game tonight feel free to say hello. I'm approximately 6'2 with no body fat, a chiseled 6 pack, perfectly pearly whites, long flowing brown hair, and Carribean Ocean blue eyes. At least that is how I would describe myself to a blind person.

In this marathon...We should have sprinted some of it

Well folks, its the last 3 games of the season, and I am sad to see it end. As much as the Islanders beat the "experts" and did not end up last overall, they still disappointed their fans. After a Cinderella story ending to last season, and getting knocked out of the playoffs on some (bad officiating) calls. It seemed like they had something to prove, like how they were picked to be last, last year as well. So we got 3 games, and its for the Metro Ice Challenge Devils, Rangers, Rangers.
I hope you enjoy my picture, it is obviously golf, which is what the Islanders will be doing this time next week.
The future looks bright for us, I LOVE our "kids". Its funny, our "kid lines" who are labeled immature and undeveloped, looked stronger then our veterans. They had more drive and skill then the veterans.
DRAFT!
1. Kings
2. Lightning
3. Thrashers
4. Blues
5. Islanders

Tonight the Islanders play the Devils. My prediction, 3-1 Islanders, Okposo 1st star with a goal and an assist.