When Josh Ho-Sang was called up on March 2nd, many fans
were excited as to what he might bring to the Islanders. Under Doug Weight, the Isles are now 14-6-3 after last night’s 4-1 win in Edmonton against the Oilers
and sit in the final playoff spot, 8th in the east with 73 points. Ho-Sang
scored his first NHL goal (Hickey and Prince) on a blast from the point, beating
Cam Talbot to open the scoring for New York. Per Eric Hornick, it was the first
win (0-5-1) for the isles in Edmonton since 2003. It was also a goal that the 21-year-old
has been waiting for since he started playing hockey as a young kid in Toronto.
"There are no words to describe it," Ho-Sang said sporting the
vintage leather jacket given to the player of the game. "It's such a
relief to score and makes you feel like you belong and that things are
possible. All of your dreams are coming true in front of your eyes, which is
cool. It was a very special moment." – Per Cory Wright. Growing up,
Ho-Sang watched his heroes and found an appreciation for the game Mario Lemieux
brought as a legendary player for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Rivalry aside, you
have to speak of Lemieux in a similar breath to that of Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky
was inducted into the hall of fame immediately after his retirement in 1999 and
his number 99 was retired by the NHL league wide, the only player who has been
bestowed such an honor. Even the likes of Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, Jean Beliveau
or the Islanders’ Mike Bossy have not been so honored.
It is customary for teams to retire numbers or jerseys of
their most revered players. The Islanders have given that honor to six players
from their dynasty era. Denis Potvin’s number 5, Clark Gillies number 9, Bryan
Trottier’s 19, the afore mentioned Mike Bossy’s number 22, Bob
Nystrom’s 23 and the great Billy Smith’s number 31, can never be worn by
another Islanders player. A fitting tribute to some of the great players that
brought 4 consecutive Stanley Cups to Long Island, New York. While Mario Lemieux’s
well-known number 66 has been similarly retired by the Penguins, another player
on any other NHL team could select 66 if they chose to do so
much like the number 5, 9, 19, 22, 23 or 31 of any of the Islanders’ greats.
One could argue that Mario Lemieux could have eclipsed
the accomplishments of the Great One, Wayne Gretzky if he had not missed so
much time battling a type of cancer called Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. The Pens had won
2 consecutive cups before falling to the Islanders in the 93 playoffs. Lemieux
missed a lot of time in his career due to nagging back injuries and health
problems. He played 915 of a possible 1,428 regular season games. He retired
two different times over his career due to health issues, including a forfeiture
of the entire 1994-95 season due to cancer. Mario Lemieux maintained a high level
of play throughout his career, even after his return from his battle with
cancer. “I’ve faced a lot of battles since I was really young, and I’ve always
come out on top,” Lemieux said.” I expect that will be the case with this
disease.” What am I trying to say? Basically, I feel that Lemieux could have arguably
been known as “the greatest” if he hadn’t had to overcome a terrible disease as
well as playing at a level few could even hope to attain. He is well respected as
a man and a player, and justifiably so. It’s also important to remember for the purpose
of this article that his number was not retired league wide by the NHL like Gretzky’s
99.
Enter Josh Ho-Sang. A Canadian ice hockey player who like
so many other kids around the world, saw Lemieux as an idol. The Islanders’ 28th
overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Ho-Sang was seen as an elite hockey talent
who suffered from what some called a bad-attitude. This reputation is probably
what prevented him from being selected in the top 10 in his draft year. The Islanders saw Ho-Sang as a risk worth taking. He had his problems over the last
few years, including missing day 1 of their 2015 training camp and got a one way demotion back to
juniors. But that was then and recently, he has shown that the rumors of his
elite pedigree may have been well founded. With his play in the minors, for the Islanders
major affiliate, Bridgeport Sound Tigers, Ho-Sang was recently named AHL rookie
of the month after an impressive 10 assists and 15 points while registering a
plus-9 rating in 12 games last month. That was enough to get the attention of
the Garth Snow and the Islanders again, who recalled Ho-Sang with intentions of
giving him a shot on the big club. Ho-Sang wanted to wear number 66. A number he
has worn since his time in juniors with OHL Windsor, and has continued to wear it as a pro with the Sound Tigers. Apparently, it pissed some people off. They saw it as
disrespectful to Mario Lemieux.
It’s not a common number in the NHL. The Caps, Milan Novy
was the first NHL player to wear No. 66. The Flyers, Yanick Dupre and Canucks’,
Gino Odjick also wore it while Lemieux was an active player, according to the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette. Calgary’s T.J. Brodie wore it for 3 games in 2010-11, but later
changed his number 7 the following season. After Ho-Sang came up, some of the
NHL media and fans seemed to take offense that he would dare to wear Lemieux’s
66 as an NHL player. SI & TSN's Michael Farber tweeted, “Josh Ho-Sang can wear any
number he likes, but 4 and 9 are regular hockey numbers. No. 66 is a vanity
license plate.” A vanity license plate? I call it a show of respect. In my
stellar roller-hockey goal-tending career, I wore 31 in honor of my idol, Billy
Smith. Watching Smith made me an Isles fan. He impacted me in such a way as a
kid, that I immediately became a passionate fan of the Islanders and have
remained so ever since. To Josh Ho-Sang, Mario Lemieux made a similar
impression. "Just wearing the number because I looked up to the man,"
Ho-Sang said. "I think he's an unbelievable, unbelievable player, and just
the way he's managed the game and everything. He had his ups, his downs in his
career and he came back better. That's just a tribute to the person that he is.
That's something that inspires me. And, on a regular basis, he had probably
more hardship than most great players and he dealt with it, came back better.
And that's something that no one can ever take away from him, and for me,
honestly, it's something to look up to."
I, like many, can’t believe this is a thing. Especially
since Ho-Sang explained that it was meant as a show of respect to one of his
boyhood heroes. He even said if Lemieux asked him not to wear it, he would
consider his heroes request. Well that pissed some people off even more.
Consider?!? How insulting.
Seriously?
"It's just interesting, even people who just take
the time to say stuff about it, I mean, I think I made it pretty clear that,
for me, it's no disrespect. If anything, it's the ultimate respect, I
think." – Ho-Sang.
I agree Josh. Just keep doing your best and we will keep
cheering for you.
The Fans.
#Free66
Isles Notes:
Anders Lee matched a career-high in goals last night, now
at 25; good enough for the lead for the Islanders.
With the win against the Oil, Eric Hornick points out, “hat's
22 wins for Thomas Greiss -- joins @HDumpty39 as only #isles goalie in Post-Cup era with consecutive
ssns with 22+ wins. (DP: 4 yrs).” Thomas Greiss is now 22-13-0-4 in 40 games
with a 2.53 gaa and a .918Sv%.
Shane Prince left the game with an undisclosed injury.
Per Cory Wright, “Ilya Sorokin with 20 saves today in
CSKA's 4-2 win over Lokomotiv. Sorokin now 5-0 in KHL playoffs.”
I posted earlier today on Twitter: “Think #Isles fans should get #Free66 trending to show how ridiculous hate
for Ho-Sang wearing a # Mario apparently has eternal rights for.”
No comments:
Post a Comment