Sat 7:59 pm: As per Newsday's Katie Strang in Buffalo, the hearings have ended. Colin Campbell has told Ms. Strang that he will render his decision later and inform Garth Snow. He declined to comment about the decision however he did tell her that grudge mate games concern the league. Martin and Gillies seem to be the main targets of their ire.
One of my hockey writer friends feels that Martin will get 6 games and Gillies 4-6. None of us want to see Zenon Konopka get anything, but ofcourse, that is yet to be seen.
I will say two things: First, this is the third most unproductive day I have had this season due to having to be waiting around for hockey information and second, if Martin, Gillies and Konopka are all out of the Islanders line-up and Michael Haley gets any sort of suspension I can only implore Garth Snow to call Darryl Bootland up from Odessa. They may even have one of his old jerseys laying around.
Sat 4:10 pm: NHL suspension hearings today at 5 pm at the Islanders hotel in Buffalo. GM Garth Snow and coach Jack Capuano will be in attendance. Matt Martin and Trevor Gillies need no explaination, however, Zenon Konopka may have left the bench which is why he has a hearing as well.
According to @TSNBobMcKenzie with no word on a hearing for Michael Haley, he may not be suspended. However, the process is ongoing
In an effort to just hope for equitable treatment for both teams, I reached out to a high ranking league official. My answer was a simple "It will be what it will be." To me... that really doesn't sound like it bodes well for either.
10:29 am: Geeze guys! 725 comments! This game WAS epic! Yes, there are expected to be suspensions, fines and other unpleasant rulings coming down the pike for both the Islanders and the Penguins, but as of 10:15 am, the PR staff at the Isles has not heard from the league. Bruno Gervais, who took a puck to the leg, is said to be fine. As is Josh Bailey who had his first NHL fight last night and was ejected from the game. I did not see him in the post game media availabilty, so I wondered.
With the threat of suspsensions looming, there may be a few more Bridgeport players on the ice for Sunday's 3 pm game. More if they decide to actually TELL me what the hell is happening!
But from a fan's perspective, again, my household is torn. The Dynasty-era die-hard is happy with the game. The Islanders should not really be looking for points at this stage of the game as a high draft pick is all but guaranteed. So a little respect in the "we stick up for each other" and "you can't push us around any more" aspect seems to be what the fans wanted.
Well, they got it from just about every player. Including the ones that scored NINE goals on a Penguins team that seemed looking to once again make fun of the NY Islanders.
Didn't quite turn out that way, now did it?
Sat 12:12 am
Okay, I'm home and I'll say I'm in the minority. I wasn't happy with the game. Perhaps it's my lack of testosterone or my neophyte status as a fan, but I felt the game got out of hand.
While the scoring was remarkable; nine goals for the NY Islanders, the penalty minutes tell the story. A total of 183 penalty minutes for the Islanders and 163 for the Pens. There were SIX misconducts and five GAME misconducts issued to the Islanders squad. The Penguins had four misconducts and six GAME misconducts.
Yep, NHL disciplinarian Campbell will be very busy sorting this out. Eric Godard was the worst for the Penguins with a total of 31 minutes. Michael Haley, in his first NHL game has 39 penalty minutes and his first NHL goal.
According to @MikeCorrigan on Twitter, there will be suspensions and fines in abundance including a suspension and fine on Dan Blysma. Also, he mentions Eric Tangradi who fought with Trevor Gillies has a concussion. It looked that way.
Wonder how many injuries the Isles will report tomorrow.
Let's just put it this way. The goals were pretty. The fights were not.
More tomorrow. I need sleep
Few things: Congrats to Grabner on his point streak. Congrats to Matt Moulson on being "back on track." and donating so much to the Isles Children's Charities.
Bruno Gervais was hit with a puck in the leg and didn't seem comfortable. Wonder if he'll be the next on the IR.
The crowd chanted HALEY at the end of the game in appreciation for the call-up and what he did tonight.
And lastly -- things were so bad they had to put the iron gate across to separate the dressing rooms. It looked like that scene in Titanic where they gated off steerage. Yeah. Things were THAT bad at the barn tonight.
In game blog, unedited, unproofed and totally unreadable.
9:53 pm: this is just nuts. Totally freakin' nuts. The penalty count is in the double digits and may hit triple digits by the time we're done. Score 8 - 3 with 3:56 left to go and Letang yapping at the glass from his tunnel since he was tossed by the refs. He doesn't seem to want to go.
Spotty internet. I can't get anytihng to really load. More tomorrow.
8:45 pm: Matt Moulson gets his 20th of the season and puts the Isles up 7 - 2.
8:39 pm: Ugh!!! with spotty internet service and a set of zebras that seem to want to make the game a little more even, after the yard sale at center ice, the pens end up on the power play and score, then they end up with a two man advantage and score again.
with 7:10 left of the second it's 6 - 2 and I'm a little on the angry side.
8:15 pm: Isles 4 Pens 0 at the end of 1 and with the Pens on the Power play to start the third on a JT slashing call on Letang, Mikko Koskinen stood tall. Then JT put the 5th goal in Johnson's net. But let's add some insult to injury, not more than a few seconds later, Bridgeport call up Michael Haley made it 6 - 0 on the Islanders 19th shot on net.
So much for Marc Andre Fluery's night off. He takes the net at 16:10 of the 2nd.
After Kyle Okposo's game wining shoot out goal, I figured I'd use him as the avatar for today's game against the Penguins.
Just announced (like two seconds ago) Mikko Koskinen will face the Penguins in his third NHL game. Al Montoya should be on the bench backing him up and Joel Martin has been returned to Bridgeport. Montoya will be wearing #35 and additional Bridgeport call-up Michael Haley is wearing #59.
Guess they wanted to stay away from my "it goes to eleven" Spinal Tap reference as I was told on Twitter by @leebobb that if(and when) Al Montoya starts a game, he will be the 11th goalie in net since Rick signed his 15 year contract.
More from the game.
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