Tavares debut

There is a link on NYI.com set-up for tonight's webcast from Edmonton.

Game time is 9:00 ET.
 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

ex-Isle O'Marra looks to re-start career

This part of the Smyth trade has worked out so far for the Isles --- O'Marra has really struggled...

O'Marra's stock takes a tumble
 
Former first-round draft picks hopes to revive career after two dismal seasons
 
By Jim Matheson, Edmonton JournalSeptember 16, 2009
 
How did it get so far off the rails for Ryan O'Marra, who played in two world junior hockey championships for Canada, the last one with current Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews as his linemate?

How did a kid who was traded for Ryan Smyth and was supposed to have lots of game in junior and wore the "C" on his jersey, get to where he was scratched for 20 games last season with the Springfield Falcons in the American Hockey League?

What happened to the 15th player taken in the 2005 NHL draft, nine spots ahead of St. Louis Blues forward T. J. Oshie--who might make the 2010 U. S. Olympic team--and 10 before the Edmonton Oilers called out the name of O'Marra's world junior teammate Andrew Cogliano? How did it get to where he scored one goal in 62 games with the Falcons?

He's big (207 pounds), has fairly nice hands and never had a reputation in junior as a guy who avoided traffic, yet he has three goals and 18 points in 93 AHL games.

While the Oilers see O'Marra as a shutdown-type centre with some edge (he had 149 penalty minutes one season in junior), you still have to score a little. Three goals and 19 points are the kind of numbers sluggers put up.
O'Marra, who turned 22 in June, has so much ground to cover, there are no guarantees he'll even play in Springfield because the Falcons have lots of forwards. He may have to play in Stockton in the East Coast Hockey League.
"I have to kick my career back into gear ... it's been two dismal seasons," said O'Marra. "I have a chance to make a new first impression with a different set of coaches here, and even though Rob Daum came in halfway through last year, it's nice to have a clean slate there(Springfield) to show a different side of me."

How bad was it for O'Marra last year?Defenceman Bryan Young, the ultimate stay-at-home guy who may play in tonight's exhibition game against the New York Islanders, had three goals. Tough guy Guillaume Lefebvre scored four goals and had more points (13-10), playing eight more games (70 to 62).

Were there nights when he wanted to bang his head on the crossbar because he was so flummoxed with the puck on his stick?

"Yeah, when I missed three open nets in the span of three games. ... I was snakebit like I've never been in my entire life," said O'Marra, who actually had four goals in only eight games with Bridgeport, the Islanders'AHL farm club, in 2006 after his OHL junior season ended in Erie.

Obviously, this isn't where O'Marra thought he'd be today? How did it get to this?

"You ask that question a lot," he admitted. "I try not to think about it too much. It's very disheartening. I'm just trying to keep my head down and work hard. I'm only 22 years old. I'm trying to focus on having a good season and, hopefully, things will fall into place."

The Oilers asked for forward Kyle Okposo in the deal for Smyth but got a firm no, so went for the package of Robert Nilsson, a first-round draft (they took defenceman Alex Plante) and O'Marra. They didn't consider O'Marra a stocking stuffer in the package. He was good, but they have never given him any special treatment because of who he was.

"They made it very clear to me that it didn't matter if I was a first-round pick ... they made a point of telling me I wouldn't be getting anything (different treatment than other kids)," said O'Marra. "It didn't matter to them that I was traded for Ryan Smyth. That's the way this organization works. Players earn their ice-time. I don't, but hopefully this year I do."

"In world juniors, I played more of a defensive, physical role ... that's the aspect the Oilers liked the most. They asked me to do that at the next level, and that's the American Hockey League. Rightly or wrongly, I haven't earned the right to play on a nightly basis," said O'Marra.

O'Marra was also a linemate of Cogliano's when he played in the world junior championship in Vancouver and Sweden.

"That seems like a long time ago,'" he said, wistfully.

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 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Rechlicz loses it in rookie game

He seemed like such a nice guy when he visited my son's camp this summer :)

<<Islanders rookies handle Huskies in exhibition play
Darren Zary, Saskatchewan News Network; Canwest News Service
Published: Wednesday, September 16, 2009

An exhibition contest -- part of the New York Islanders' training camp this week in Saskatoon -- saw a collection of rusty blades converge on the Art Hauser Centre.

While Steven DaSilva put on a goal-scoring clinic through 40 minutes for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, the Islanders rookies replied with a deadly power play on their way to a 5-3 victory here Tuesday night before a crowd of 2,402 fans.

"We came out a little shaky," said U of S forward Brad Erickson, his team's honourary captain. "We didn't know what to expect, but it ended up OK."

Three straight power-play goals by the Isles proved to the difference. And more.

"Their speed and support for the puck was far better than us," said U of S head coach Dave Adolph. "There were lots of situations where we got exposed ... The tempo was far better than the past two weeks of practice."

Many of the Huskies, like the Islanders rookies, were seeing their first action of the pre-season. Saskatchewan battled hard for two periods and kept within striking distance of New York, which finally pulled away in the third.
Slovak Tomas Marcinko had one goal and two assists for the Isles, who outshot the Dogs 39-26.

"It was a really good game," said Marcinko. "It had a fast pace. Guys played well. Those guys from the university have a really good team. It was really hard to play against them. We're glad that we won."

New York opened the scoring when Tony Romano finished off a two-on-one break with linemate Pascal Morency after U of S rookie D-man Brett Ward got caught up ice in the neutral zone. Romano had three whacks at the puck before getting it past U of S netminder Jeff Harvey at 4:03 of the first period.

The Dogs answered at 15:22 of the period on a dandy one-timer by Canadian Interuniversity Sport MVP DaSilva, whose blast picked the top right-hand corner after a feed from Chad Greenan during a two-man advantage. DaSilva's goal came four minutes after Islander enforcer Joel Rechlicz -- who had 68 penalty minutes in just 17 NHL games last season -- lost it on DaSilva in the corner.

Rechlicz received an interference penalty, a five-minute cross-checking major and a game misconduct when the ice chips settled.

At the end of the first period, more fireworks erupted. Myles Zimmer of the Huskies fought Mark Katic before young U of S rookie Cody Hobbs took on Islanders winger Michael Haley.

"The first period, we didn't know what to expect and it took us some time to get involved, get to the way we wanted to play," said DaSilva. "There was some stuff in the first period we tried to move on from. The second and third were more of an actual hockey game."

Just 23 seconds into the second frame, the Isles jumped ahead 2-1 on a shorthanded marker by Tyler Haskins, who beat Harvey up high during a partial breakaway.

DaSilva once again answered for Saskatchewan, pouncing on a turnover by a New York defender before streaking in from the right side and rifling a shot high to the stick side.

With D-man Jesse Zetariuk sitting in the penalty box, the Isles capitalized with a late power-play goal to go up 3-2. A weak shot from New York blue-liner Anton Klementyev fluttered by Harvey after slightly changing direction off a sliding Huskie player.

In the third, Matt Martin and Marcinko added power-play goals before Brennan Bosch answered for Saskatchewan, also with a man-advantage.

As expected, John Tavares was not in the Isles' lineup. However, fellow NHL draft first-rounder Calvin de Haan was.
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 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Tavares to debut tonight

Katie Straing reporting that Tavares will make his debut against the Oilers tonight in Edmonton.
The Oilers are streaming the game; remains to be seen wether it will be available in NY area.

 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Pre-Season Webcasts

The Isles will play 4 more games in Western Canada this week, beginning tomorrow night in Edmonton.

The Oilers will be streaming that game (as well as their game vs. the Isles in Saskatoon) on their website:
oilers.nhl.com   

The website notes that the stream is only available in Western Canada, but tonight's game against Calgary is available on LI.

The Flames will also stream their game in Calgary against the Isles on Thursday night.

 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Can't tell the players without a scorecard

Here's the Islander training camp roster:

1 G Mikko Koskinen
2 D Mark Streit
3 D Calvin de Haan
4 D Mark Flood
7 RW Trent Hunter
8 D Bruno Gervais
10 RW Richard Park
11 C Nate Thompson
12 C Josh Bailey
15 LW Jeff Tambellini
16 LW Jon Sim
17 C Jeremy Reich
20 LW Sean Bergenheim
21 RW Kyle Okposo
24 D Radek Martinek
25 D Andy Sutton
26 LW Matt Moulson
27 C Greg Moore
28 RW Tim Jackman
30 G Dwayne Roloson
32 D Brendan Witt
33 G Scott Munroe
36 D Travis Hamonic
38 D Jack Hillen
39 G Rick DiPietro
40 RW Joel Rechlicz
41 RW Robin Figren
42 D Brett Westgarth
43 D Martin Biron
44 D Freddy Meyer
45 RW Tyler Haskins
46 LW Matt Martin
47 D Andrew MacDonald
48 LW Anton Klementyev
49 D Jyri Niemi
50 C/RW Tomas Marcinko
51 C Frans Nielsen
52 G Nathan Lawson
53 C Casey Cizikas
54 RW Tony Romano
55 RW Pascal Morency
56 D Dustin Kohn
57 RW Blake Comeau
58 LW Jesse Joensuu
59 C/LW Micheal Haley
60 G Kevin Poulin
61 D Jared Spurgeon
62 RW Greg Mauldin
67 LW Sean Bentivoglio
68 LW Bobby Hughes
70 D Jan Piskacek
71 D Mark Katic
77 D Trevor Smith
81 LW Justin DiBenedetto
91 C John Tavares
93 C Doug Weight

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Pre-season TV

Tonight's game is airing on a 30 minute tape-delay due to the Blue Jays game (really!) It's a Rogers SportsNet production.

I can confirm that we are televising the home pre-season game next Wednesday night vs. New Jersey.  That game will air on MSG+.

Somebody asked me this morning whether it is the first time the Isles have ever telecast a pre-season game (in past years, several games against the Rangers have been telecast, but they were Ranger telecasts).

There has definitely been one -- in 1995, I worked an Isle-Ranger pre-season game (Howie's first Islander telecast).  That might be the most recent one.

 Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick