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By Bryan Berg  October 3, 2009, at 11:27 pm  The Islanders lost tonight in a shootout against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The cynic in me thinks that these are the same old Islanders who can’t hold a lead against a good team. That part of me is legitimately crestfallen after this loss. After all, this was one of those nights that just seemed too perfect to screw up, and we won’t have many of those nights this season, especially with the specter of the Lighthouse Project looming large.
Having said all that…
How can you possibly be upset about tonight’s game? The Isles looked pretty awesome for much of the game. John Tavares made his debut in just about as grand a fashion as you could imagine, and that’s the biggest thing. For those who attended the game, his first goal is a memory that will never be forgotten. From a practical perspective, it’s great that Tavares got all of his firsts (first point, first goal, first shootout attempt) out of the way in one night. Hard to knock that kind of performance.
I’m not saying wins and losses don’t matter. What I am saying is that this season is about developing young talent, and we saw significant evidence that John Tavares is ready to contribute to this team right now. If the Islanders focus on developing Tavares and his young counterpart, the wins will come soon enough. Good teams always get the lucky bounces, as tonight’s shootout showed. Someday, the Islanders will get those breaks.
For now, we have four days to reflect. Not on the loss or the expiration of Charles Wang’s “certainty” deadline, but on the spectacular debut of John Tavares and what other tricks he may have in store for us. If Tavares is even half the difference-maker he was tonight, we’re in store for a special season, regardless of the Isles’ win-loss record.
By Bryan Berg October 3, 2009, at 1:59 pm Finally, we’re here. October 3. Opening Day… and Charles Wang’s “certainty” deadline.
It comes as no surprise that Wang’s deadline was not met by the Town of Hempstead. Bad news, sure, but not at all unexpected, and that’s good. Because this should not be a sad day for Islanders fans.
Instead, it should be a celebration. Tonight should be a celebration of what we still have. We get to watch this team play instead of worry about the future. We get to spend the night in Nassau Coliseum; warts and all, it’s one of the few remaining arenas with a real home-ice advantage when the crowd’s involved. We get to reacquaint ourselves with pretzel twists, easily the greatest arena food available anywhere. Most importantly, we get to welcome John Tavares to Long Island.
On many occasions, I’ve tried to put into to words what John Tavares means to the Islanders and their fans. I’ve failed each time. You never want to give a player the dreaded “savior” label, and it’s not fair to give it to Tavares. However, it’s okay to admit that Tavares is a bigger deal than just about anybody the Islanders have brought in since Pat LaFontaine. He’s the kind of player the Islanders would never have a prayer of signing as a free agent and the kind of player they’d never be able to trade for, and yet John Tavares begins his NHL career as a New York Islander. Even better, he’s a very willing and happy New York Islander.
It’s a night to forget all the Lighthouse stuff. It’s a night to cheer and to finally be proud of the Islanders. That’s something no politician can take away.
By Anthony De Franco October 3, 2009, at 12:37 pm Jason openly criticized UFC referree Herb Dean for his non-stoppage at the end of the first round of last week’s match on The Ultimate Fighter. Now, MMA Weekly caught up to Dean to ask him about just that.
MMAWeekly: Firstly, Roy claimed that you didn’t stop the fight in the first round because of Kimbo’s status on the show. How do you respond to that?
Dean: Well, it’s not that complicated. I’m there to protect the fighter’s safety. Kimbo got up after that round pretty quick and spry, right? If I stop a fight it’s because I believe a fighter’s not fighting back, because he can’t. And there’s reasons why a fighter can’t fight back. One is a positional reason like Roy had on Kimbo. It was positional. Could (Kimbo) handle blows and continue to fight? He did. He made it to the end of the (first) round and continued to fight. If the blows were any less, I would have actually stood them up. The blows were strong enough to warrant being on the ground, but they weren’t strong enough for me to stop the fight.
MMAWeekly: Were you looking at the clock at all and weighing the force of the blows with the time left in the round?
Dean: Most definitely. I believe that if (Roy) has position on him in the beginning of the round, that means that he’s going to stay there for the whole round, obviously Kimbo couldn’t solve that position. But with those blows, was he not fighting back because he was hurt? No, he was fine. So I didn’t have any reason to stand or stop the fight. If the fighter is not hurt, why should I stop the fight?
MMAWeekly: So you felt the blows that Kimbo was taking in the second round were, whereas the ones in the first round weren’t?
Dean: Well, I believe that the blows were solid blows. In the first round, they were solid blows, just like in the second round, but in the second round, it was the beginning of the round that he was down there. I can’t allow him – he was not going to improve his position, he was not going to solve it – I couldn’t allow him five minutes of that in the second round. Could I allow him to take it for 30 seconds in the first? Sure.
I’ve always thought that Herb does a pretty good job. I tweeted during the fight that Kimbo did seem to be down there in that crucifix for a pretty long time, but upon watching it again, I think that I actually agree with Dean. Kimbo wasn’t really in any real danger during that first round. In all honesty, I don’t know how much danger he was in during the second round, but as Dean said, are you going to let him take unanswered shots to the face for four minutes?
By Anthony De Franco October 3, 2009, at 8:00 am I’ve never really been all that big a fan of One More Round’s clothing. I don’t know if it’s just that Matt Hughes was there poster boy for awhile or what, but I’ve just never been all that enamored with their designs. However, this last bunch has been awesome, and I’ll be highlighting the best of the bunch over the next few days.
This one is pretty cool. It reminds me a lot of the UFC 101 Anderson Silva walk-out shirt by Silver Star, which is still my favorite MMA shirt of all time. The color combination is awesome, and rather than that stupid graphic of the fighter on the stool holding up one finger, they go with a simpler design. This is by far the coolest OMR shirt I have seen so far.
MMA Warehouse is the place to get it at a price of 39.99.
For more great MMA gear, Check out The 3rd String Store.
By Anthony De Franco October 3, 2009, at 4:07 am I am getting really excited for UFC 104. I think that this fight between Shogun and Machida can be an instant classic. There’s an article on the way telling you why, but for now, just enjoy the UFC’s extended preview.
Can’t wait for the 24th.
By Zach Schiff October 3, 2009, at 1:27 am The Rangers did something today they haven’t done since before the lockout – they lost their season opener.
Of course, the difference between this year and the past 4 years is the quality of the opponent they played. Since the lockout, they haven’t played any teams that made the playoffs that season for their first game. They beat, in order, Philadelphia, Washington, Florida, and Tampa Bay. This year, not only did they have a team that will make the playoffs, they faced a team that won the Stanley Cup.
So, how have those teams who played the defending Stanley Cup Champions done when they got to see the banner raised?
Last year, defending champions Detroit played Toronto on the night they raised the banner, who missed the playoffs for the 4th straight year.
In 2007, defending champions Anaheim played Boston when they raised the banner (they played their first 2 games vs. LA in Europe, then went on a road trip, then played Boston in their home opener). Boston snuck into the playoffs but lost to Montreal in the first round.
In 2006, Carolina played Buffalo in their home opener when they celebrated winning the Stanley Cup. Buffalo had a fantastic start, a great year, and lost to Ottawa in Game 5 overtime to be eliminated from the playoffs in ‘07.
In 2005, Tampa Bay had a delayed celebration at home against Carolina. Carolina had a dream season and won the Stanley Cup.
In 2003, New Jersey played Toronto. Toronto wound up losing to Philadelphia in the 2nd round (the Flyers were very good in those playoffs, and the only reason they didn’t go on to the Finals that year is because Keith Primeau couldn’t play every shift and Brad Richards played the game of his life in Game 7).
In 2002, the Red Wings played Montreal, who missed the playoffs and ended up 5 games under .500.
Which will the Rangers be more like? Will they be #1 in the league like Buffalo and run out of steam in the Conference Finals? Will they miss the playoffs like last season’s Toronto and Montreal of ‘02? Will they win the Cup like Carolina did in ‘06? Probably not any of those scenarios. They’ll probably go hot, go cold, and then fight for a playoff spot in mid-March. They’ll clinch in early-April, and then have a 2nd round exit like Toronto in ‘03.
Of course, I’m hoping it’s different. But I’m also realistic.
I could be wrong. John Tortorella’s system could be good. Marian Gaborik looked very good vs. Pittsburgh in Game #1, and he might score 45 goals. Brandon Dubinsky even looked good last night. Plus, the defensive pairings I wanted were put on the ice tonight (Staal/Girardi; Redden/Gilroy; Rozsival/Del Zotto).
I’m not going to dissect last night’s game. You probably saw it. Sure, there’s a lot I can talk about – poor officiating; an excessive amount of odd-man rushes on Henrik Lundqvist; Mike Del Zotto being in the right spot twice but not being able to get good wood on the puck; Wade Redden’s $6.5M body check on Evgeni Malkin; Redden being near the net and playing physical until he sucked the last 6 minutes of the game; Marc-Andre Fleury’s game-breaking save on Vinny Prospal. But it’s a long season.
And with 5 more games against Pittsburgh, expect plenty of confusion about phantom penalties called in favor of the Penguins. (I say “in favor of the Penguins” instead of “against the Rangers” because for years, this site has been saying that the NHL doesn’t have a bias against any one team, but they do have a bias for Pittsburgh.)
It was an exciting game. They had some good chances. Gaborik can be incredible. Ales Kotalik and Prospal played good. Sean Avery can help a lot and hopefully will soon. But there were way too many odd-man rushes against Hank is too many. He is a great goalie, but he shouldn’t have to be the hero every game. And what are you going to do when he isn’t playing that game?
I’m also disappointed Alexei Semenov didn’t sign with the Rangers. Having a 7th d-man is a luxury they haven’t had in a while. Jason Strudwick was good in the locker room a few years back, but he wasn’t a great player. Last year, no d-man was help accountable because there was never a threat of benching one player. A veteran 7th man would mean a struggling player could take a seat, or a rookie with nerves could watch a game from up high one night to get his bearings back.
Anyway, it’s a long season. It’s been nice to start the season with 2 points every year, but there are 81 games left.
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