Blue and White with a future so bright

When I saw the rosters for the Blue and White scrimmage on Long Island yesterday, I thought, wow.  The islanders must have one of the top prospect pools in the NHL.  I had no idea how much fun the 5,235 of us were going to have watching them.

When I looked at the Blue roster and then saw Kabanov, Strome and Niederrider with de Hann and Mayfield on defense, I was in awe.  Team Blue seemed like the early favorite to me.

Per Islanders site, the line up was as follows:

Blue Team Lineups:

Forwards
37 Kirill Kabanov - 8 Ryan Strome - 25 Nino Niederreiter
62 Tyler McNeely  - 53 Casey Cizikas - 56 John Persson
64 Ben Thomson - 28 Johan Sundstrom - 61 Mitchell Theoret
42 Max LeSieur  - 54 Tony Romano - 6 Max Capuano

Defensemen
* Will rotate with seven men
3 Calvin de Haan - 63 Scott Mayfield
71 Mark Katic - 41 Robbie Russo
33 Benn Olson - 58 Bennett Schneider
50 Teigan Zahn

Goaltenders
52 Chris Rawlings (First period)
34 Nicola Riopel (Second period)

On team White,  I saw the great Rakhshani, Nelson, DiBenedetto, Trivino and College star Anders Lee and thought, OK, we will have ourselves a spirited game here.  The defense that stood out was Donovan, Ness and Kichton.  I was interested to see how Anders Nilsson was progressing in net as well.

White Team Lineups:

Forwards
18 Justin DiBenedetto - 45 David Ullstrom - 49 Rhett Rakhshani
58 Anders Lee  - 11 Brock Nelson - 56 Cody McNaughton
63 Danny Linell - 38 Corey Trivino - 62 KJ Tiefenwerth
61 Dan O'Donoghue - 37 Ben Rosen - 64 Stephen Alonge

Defensemen
* Will rotate with seven men
24 Aaron Ness - 29 Matt Donovan
42 Andrey Pedan - 41 Brenden Kichton
33 Art Bidlevskii - 6 Mike Marcou
50 Mei Ushu

Goaltenders
34 Cody Rosen (First period)
52 Anders Nilsson (Second period)

The game was to be two, 25 minute periods with a skills competition afterwards.  All penalties were settled via the penalty shot and the spirit was loose and fun, until the puck was dropped.  Both teams seemed focused and knew that this would be their chance to impress.

The surprise was how team White played a high energy first period and just out worked their Blue counterparts, entering intermission with a 4-2 lead.  They padded their lead, scoring two more to start the second and final period just as they left the first, with a something to prove.  Goals were scored by Ullstrom, Lee, Strome (penalty shot), Lee (ps), Sundstrom and Pedan.

Team Blue was not to be outdone so easily.  Down a stunning 6-2, they mounted a statement-like surge though the second half of the period, but fell short with their goalie pulled.  The final of the game portion was a White victory of 6-5.  The early deficit was too much to overcome, despite a heroic effort for the men in Blue.  They would have to rally and outplay their teammates in white during the skills competition.  Goals in the second were scored by O’Donoghue, Ness, Strome, de Hann and Kabanov (ps).

The skills competition consisted of:

 The hardest shot, won by Matt Donovan at 95mph.

The rapid fire contest, Anders Nilsson stopped all 6 shots he faced.

The shootout, always the favorite.  The great saves and barely missed attempts had the crowd on the edge of their seats.  The goals weren’t bad either.  Ryan Strome stole the show amid a plethora of fun goals. 

http://video.islanders.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=756&id=120924

The breakaway contest went to the Blue team, giving them an overall 9-8 victory of the day on a goal by Nino Niederreiter.

Surprises came my way as I watched the prospects compete to wear the Islander crest.  I was impressed to see that they indeed did fit the mold of fierce competitors already that was forged and solidified in the second half of last year.  There was a high skill level to match throughout the bulk of both rosters.  Isles '09 draftpick, Anders Lee was just as dynamic as he was in the Frozen Four national tournament.  Players like Ushu from Japan worked enough to make himself noticed in a group of high draft picks.  Actually, all of the camp invites brought their game and worked hard.  No one looked like they were way out of place.

I enjoyed seeing the latest progress of players like Niederreiter, Nelson, Cizikas, Kabanov, de Haan and Katic.  It was great to watch players like Strome, Mayfield, Sundstrome, Theoret, Perrson, Pedan, Kichton and Russo show what management saw in them at this year’s draft.

Islanders General Manager Garth Snow came down to make an announcement towards the end of the night to a loud cheer from the fans assembled.  He read a prepared statement on his appreciation for the fans and how the steady rebuild has taken time, but is showing the results they hoped for.  As he continued, it was obvious by the breaking of his voice and trembling of his hand of what he was feeling. Garth Snow spoke from the heart.  He mentioned the ownerships commitment to the people of New York and of Long Island and how a new arena was necessary for the county to enter the future.  The arena would mean a new home for the Islanders and a place for all of Long Island to gather and thousands of jobs.

I watched my normally calm, cool and well rehearsed GM show me something.  He showed me how hard this must be on Ownership and Management and how uncertain the future of the team is at this time.  It showed me that the new arena vote on August 1^st isn’t just something the organization wants to promote to be competitive in the free agent market or boast about a state of the art facility.  It showed me how much it meant personally to Garth Snow, the man, because of what it meant to the fans of the New York Islanders. 

It reminded me of what the Islanders mean to me each and every day.

Please vote Yes on August 1^st.