Newsday story

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Okposo carted off on stretcher in Isles' loss
September 18, 2009 By KATIE STRANG  caitlin.strang@newsday.com

CALGARY, Alberta - In a sobering moment for the Islanders last night, forward Kyle Okposo was carted off the ice on a stretcher after he suffered an apparent head injury during the second period of the Islanders' 5-4 shootout loss to the Flames.

Okposo, who was leveled by a vicious open-ice hit by Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf, was motionless for several minutes as he was attended to by the team's medical staff. He eventually was lifted onto a stretcher and carted off the ice.

He was seen moving his hands and talking as he was put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital.

Okposo skated out of the Islanders' zone with the puck near the right boards. Then Phaneuf blindsided Okposo in the neutral zone; Phaneuf crossed over from his right defense position and knocked him to the ice as his shoulder connected with Okposo's head.

The hit, clearly questionable given that Okposo was in a defenseless position, incited a heated scuffle between the two teams and even prompted both goaltenders - Martin Biron and Miikka Kiprusoff - to skate to center ice.
Islanders prospect Pascal Morency immediately jumped over the bench after the hit and tried to get to Phaneuf. Morency received a double-minor and a game misconduct.

Phaneuf, who refused to drop the gloves, got two minutes for roughing. He didn't receive a penalty for the hit on Okposo. Biron and Kiprusoff received two minutes each for leaving the crease.

Several Islanders were upset that after hitting Okposo, Phaneuf refused to engage them.

"I don't know he's going to put a guy on the stretcher like that and not step up to the challenge," Blake Comeau said.
 
"From my point of view, it looks like he left his feet when he went to hit him," Biron said, "and did it in a way that the league is trying to prevent."

Biron added, "We have a long memory, and we'll see them Saturday in Saskatoon. If you're going to play that way, you have to respond when challenged."

While last night's incident was by far the most troubling this preseason, the Islanders already have been the victim of some bad luck on the injury front. Doug Weight and Sean Bergenheim suffered groin strains in Wednesday's preseason game against Edmonton and are listed as day-to-day. Frans Nielsen, who injured his right knee during practice Tuesday, has flown to New York to undergo an evaluation on the knee.>>

 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

Okposo

Flames radio:

Okposo apparently ok--meet up with team at airport to fly back to Saskatoon.

Haven't they ever heard of Ryan Church?

 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

Flames 5, Isles 4 (Shootout)

Flames win the game in a shootout after Jokinen's pp goal waved off at OT buzzer.  Theo Fleury (yes, him) had the only goal of the shootout.

Big story of course is the condition of Kyle Okposo -- haven't seen anything further but the hit he took was one for the ages.

Kevin Poulin played the 2nd half of the game in goal (replacing Biron) and apparently played very well.  He'll spend this season in the QMJHL.

 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

Link to Phaneuf hit on Okposo

http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2009/09/17/kyle-okposo-taken-off-on-stretcher-after-devastating-hit-from-di/
 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

Okposo carted off on stretcher!

From Katie Strang's tweets: (most recent on top)

* Jokinen hacks away at a loose puck in the crease for a PP goal that pulls the Flames within one3 minutes ago from web     
* Both goalies 2 min for leaving the crease4 minutes ago from web     
* Pretty sure Morency jumped the bench to fight; he got a double-minor and a game misconduct4 minutes ago from web     
* On stretcher now getting carted off the ice, Biron skated with him as he left the ice6 minutes ago from web     
* Even Martin Biron came to center ice to fight...huge scuffle on the ice10 minutes ago from web     
* Very scary moment: Kyle Okposo jsust got leveled in open ice by Dion Phaneuf. He's on his back now and they are bringing out the stretcher 

Isles lead 3-2 in 2nd.  As far as I can tell, game is only available in Calgary area on flames.com

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

Extended area telecast schedule

If you live in one of those areas that only gets some of the Islander games (upstate NY being the primary area), here are the 41 games that will be seen in your area.

Sat 3-Oct Pittsburgh at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Thu 8-Oct ISLANDERS at Ottawa 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Sat 10-Oct ISLANDERS at Boston 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Fri 16-Oct ISLANDERS at Buffalo 7:30 7:00 MSG Plus 2
Sat 17-Oct San Jose at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Fri 30-Oct ISLANDERS at Washington 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Sat 31-Oct Buffalo at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Wed 4-Nov ISLANDERS at Buffalo 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Fri 6-Nov ISLANDERS at New Jersey 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Wed 11-Nov ISLANDERS at Washington 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Fri 13-Nov ISLANDERS at Carolina 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Sat 14-Nov ISLANDERS at Florida 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Fri 20-Nov ISLANDERS at Minnesota 8:00 7:30 MSG Plus
Sat 21-Nov ISLANDERS at St. Louis 8:00 7:30 MSG Plus
Thu 3-Dec ISLANDERS at Atlanta 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Sat 5-Dec ISLANDERS at Tampa Bay 7:30 7:00 MSG Plus 2
Wed 9-Dec ISLANDERS at Toronto 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Wed 16-Dec ISLANDERS at NY Rangers 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Sat 19-Dec Montreal at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Mon 21-Dec Tampa Bay at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Sat 26-Dec ISLANDERS at NY Rangers 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Tue 29-Dec Columbus at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Wed 6-Jan ISLANDERS at Colorado 9:00 8:30 MSG Plus
Fri 8-Jan ISLANDERS at Dallas 8:30 8:00 MSG Plus
Sat 9-Jan ISLANDERS at Phoenix 8:00 7:30 MSG Plus 2
Sat 16-Jan Buffalo at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Sun 31-Jan ISLANDERS at Florida 5:00 4:30 MSG Plus 2
Sat 6-Feb Carolina at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Tue 9-Feb Nashville at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Wed 10-Feb ISLANDERS at Pittsburgh 7:30 7:00 MSG Plus 2
Tue 2-Mar Chicago at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Sat 13-Mar New Jersey at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Wed 24-Mar ISLANDERS at NY Rangers 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Thu 25-Mar Calgary at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Sat 27-Mar ISLANDERS at Columbus 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus 2
Tue 6-Apr Montreal at ISLANDERS 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Thu 8-Apr ISLANDERS at Pittsburgh 7:30 7:00 MSG Plus
Sat 10-Apr ISLANDERS at New Jersey 7:00 6:30 MSG Plus
Sun 11-Apr Pittsburgh at ISLANDERS 5:00 4:30 MSG Plus 2

Those who are used to seeing every game will still get every game, 80 regular season (2 games on Versus) plus next Wednesday's pre-season games.

 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

The dreaded injury bug

Both Sean Bergenheim and Doug Weight suffered groin injuries last night and will, according to Scott Gordon's post-game (nyi.com), each miss a few days.

Apparently both suffered the injury in the first period and "tried to fight through it", leading one to wonder if they could have aggravated the injury further later in the game.

Weight played only two shifts in the final 9 minutes of the first period, but appeared to play regularly in the second period--garnering over 8 minures of ice-time.  He played the first 35 seconds of the third period before leaving the game.

Bergenheim also played more in the second period than in the first, and was on the ice when the period ended--yet he didn't play at all in the third period.

With Frans Nielsen already back in NY, the Isles have suffered injuries to three veteran forwards already-- and it's still 16 days until Opening 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