The Final Score

I know that the new NHL schedule will allow our New York Rangers fans one fewer opportunity to perform their famous Potvin chant, but it's nice to see that the Blueshirts will have more contact with their Original Six foes.

For instance, in 2007-08 they missed the Blackhawks completely. This year, there's a home and road. And they play the Bruins, Canadiens and Maple Leafs four times each.

The one missing piece is the Red Wings. The Rangers are in the Motor City on Oct. 18 but the defending Stanley Cup champs won't come to the Garden unless both reach the 2009 Cup finals. I guess the NHL figured that NYR was the one team that didn't need the Wings to draw fans.

Being Chicago Norm, I'm happy to see the Hawks coming to MSG. But what do you Rangers fans think? Would you rather load up against the Islanders and Devils or see more of the old, historic rivals?

Wayne the Red Wings fan was all excited about flying to Chicago for the Jan. 1 outdoor NHL game between his Wings and the Blackhawks at Wrigley Field.

So he checked out the prices.

Airfare: Jackpot! $147 round trip from Islip to Midway Airport.

Lodging: Double jackpot! Surprisingly, Chicago Norm actually has people who not only don't hate him, but are willing to let him stay in their homes. (Chicago Norm's sister is currently not included among them.)

Tickets: Busted! StubHub prices are already through the roof, ranging from $449-$2,449.

(Disclaimer in case my sister actually reads this: Sorry, just kidding. It's that crazy sense of humor of mine that you love so much.)

Oh, well. Except for sitting outside less than a mile from the lake for three hours in minus-12 windchill, it would have been a blast. And I was really looking forward to going to the Cubby Bear Lounge afterwards and watching the Yuppies swill Old Style and appletinis.

The team that fired Peter Laviolette five years is looking for a coach again.

It's hard to do the math because of Al Arbour's guest appearance last year, but I think that Ted Nolan's exit marks the New York Islanders' 13th coaching change since Arbour's original farewell in 1986.

Thirteen changes in 22 years (15 if you pretend that Saint Arbour actually replaced Nolan as interim coach last year) is a pretty good indication of an organization that has some organizational issues.

Laviolette proved that point by winning the Stanley Cup with the Hurricanes just two years after getting kicked out of the Islanders' toxic dump.

The Islanders made a bold move when they brought Nolan out of exile two years ago. Only time will tell if they made a dumb one by sending him back.

Way back on April 9, Jim and I posted a debate on whether the Islanders should fire Ted Nolan, 'cause it was obvious to us that this was a marriage that wasn't going to last.

We got killed on the blog for sticking our noses in, mostly because hockey fans think their sport is some kind of sacred holy ground that only true believers (ie face painters) are allowed to comment on.

Yo, that's one of the reasons your sport is No. 5 or 6 or whatever on the U.S. depth chart. It's a sport, not a cult.

Islanders fans, I feel your pain today. This Mickey Mouse organization once again has proven it has noooooooo clue. Nice timing on the firing...after all of the good available coaches have been snapped up.

Here are highlights of the April 9 debate:

ANTHONY:
Fire Ted Nolan? Ridiculous. Give him an extension and thank him for putting up with this situation in the first place.

JIM:
The coach's status will be a cloud that hovers over the team all through next season. They don't need that, especially if they're going to be relying on their youth more and more.

Jim wins. And Islanders fans lose -- again. Pathetic.

Hell is truly freezing over, and that hell is Wrigley Field

Not only are the Cubs in first place, but it appears that their ballpark will be getting a New Year's glaze now that the Blackhawks-Red Wings outdoors game has apparently been given the green light by NHL Comissioner Gary Bettman.

According to a report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the New Year's Day game was finalized last week when Bettman met with the Mayor Richard Daley and representatives from Cubs and Blackhawks.

There had been some last-minute talk of the Rangers' stealing the game for Yankee Stadium.

A formal announcement is expected next week at the "Blackhawks Convention."

Chicago's winters are a lot more brutal than New York's, and there's a pretty good chance they won't have trouble making ice.

And with the wind whipping off Lake Michigan you can expect many fans and players resembling Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, both from the cold and whatever beverages they can sneak into Wrigley.

Ever see "Mystery Alaska?"

Good luck, guys, and wear your long underwear.

It's been an interesting few weeks for Sean Avery of the Rangers.

First he was hospitalized with a lacerated spleen and now, according to perezhilton.com, he has started an internship with Vogue magazine.

So, let me get this straight: big scrapping hockey player who makes $1.9 million a year wants to get coffee and make copies. I think I'll go watch a rerun of "Ugly Betty" and try to figure this out.

I wonder if it has anything to do with models. A lot of models. Supermodels.

On May 17, 1983, the New York Islanders won their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup by sweeping the Edmonton Oilers in four games.

Enjoy the moment, Isles505. I do this out of fairness and not because I fear that you may some day call me a cross-dressing Transylvanian, although I am a big fan of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

My first exposure to the Islanders kind of painful. I was back in (where else?) Chicago, listening to a Blackhawks game on radio. Or at least trying to do so. The Hawks' radio team was normally made up of two Hall of Fame-caliber broadcasters, Lloyd Pettit and Bob Elson.

Thing is, Elson was a Hall of Fame baseball announcer and not terribly big on hockey. And Pettit, Chicago's version of Mr. Hockey, lived in Milwaukee and commuted via his own private plane.

Well, on this day Pettit got fogged in and Bob Elson was totally alone. He started broadcasting the game between Bobby Hall (not a typo) and Stan Mikita against the "Long Islanders." It didn't take long before another WMAQ sportscaster jumped in and hijacked the broadcast.

I felt bad. Bob Elson was incredibly dull, and in this case out of his element, but I loved him. (Awww)

On May 19, 1984, Pat Lafontaine score two goals within 22 seconds.

Unfortunately for the Islanders, it wasn't enough to keep the Edmonton Oilers from winning Game 5 of the Stanley Cup finals, 5-2, ending the Isles' fabulous string of NHL championships.

I probably shouldn't boast ... okay, I will anyway ... remember who had the Rangers losing in five games?

Yes, I did.

Hey, I have to enjoy my victories, because I'm the first to admit I stink at predicting sports. (Although the standings show I'm better than Anthony.)

And, finally, one last note on the Rangers: this season has to be considered a disappointment. We discussed it last week, but now that the series is over, I just wanted to close the book on that debate.

Unless, of course, you guys and gals disagree...

And is this the end of the Jaromir Jagr era?

I definitely think so. And here's why:

Last year around this time the popular theme after the Rangers lost to the Sabres in the second round was that they were making progress, so the loss didn't hurt as much.

But if you accept that theory, then it stands to reason that losing again in the second round - and getting swept - has to be considered a disappointment. Especially after acquiring Chris Drury and Scott Gomez last summer.

Agree? Disagree? Indifferent?

I wonder if Anthony will debate me on this. I guess not.

UPDATE FROM ANTHONY, 1:12 p.m.: Jim, any season that doesn't end in a championship is an utter, bitter disappointment and a total failure.

Wait, are we talking about the Rangers or the Yankees?

Any season the Rangers make the playoffs is a HUGE success because it means extra bucks in MSG's pocket. At least that's what Jim Dolan told me.

I still have faith in the Devils, although it doesn't look good. I was banking on two things in this series: (A) the Rangers' Jekyll-and-Hyde inconsistency working against them, and, (B) the Devils' postseason experience helping them. Neither has happened.

Anthony picked Rangers in six. I said Devils in seven.

Both can still happen. We'll see.

Five minutes of research and I've learned that Sean Avery has been reported or rumored to have been canoodling with the following:
Mary-Kate Olsen
Elisha Cuthbert
Rachel Hunter
Lake Bell
That's the ones we (seem) to know about. In the past year he has also,
Been falsely accused of taunting a fellow hockey player about another player's cancer, threatened to sue for libel and got an apology;
Been accused of being in a hooker's black book;
Stopped talking to the media around the time his contract negotiations with the Rangers broke down;
Made the NHL change its rules in the middle of the playoff season because of his pestiness in front of Martin Brodeur.
I think someone needs to make a movie about Sean Avery. The guy is having some kind of a crazy life.
Thanks to isthishappening.com for the photo illustration.

Surely you saw what Sean Avery did the other night, waving his arms and his stick in the face of Martin Brodeur to distract the Devils goaltender. Here's the video, and Anthony and I will follow with a debate on whether it should be accepted practice.

My colleague, Katie Strang, did a story for tomorrow's paper on the Islanders finishing last in attendance this season. Here's the story. I don't understand this. Islanders fans come out in force on the Web, yet don't show up at the Coliseum in numbers. What gives? Secondly, I agree with the stadium expert Katie quotes. A new arena will help attendance, no doubt, but they need to produce a winner to keep the fannies in the seats.

Here's the last three years of Islanders' attendance, according to ESPN:
2008 - 559,247 total, 13,640 average, 30th in league (1,180 behind Phoenix)
2007 - 528,331 total, 12,886 average, 28th in league (336 ahead of last place)
2006 - 516,973 total, 12,609 average, 20th in league (709 behind Chicago)

BTW: If anyone wants to argue about why newspapers such as Newsday spend so much space on the Yankees and Mets compared to the other sports, take a look at the attendance. The Yankees sold 3.8 million seats before this season even began.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers finished their season on Sunday. The game featured the North American pro debut of Finnish winger Jesse Joensuu, a second-round pick in 2006. Click here to read the story from the Connecticut Post for all of you prospect-starved Islanders fans. It was written by Michael Fornabaio. Thanks to assat.com for the photo.

Not only was the Islanders' affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, eliminated from playoff contention Saturday night, but they were eliminated by the Hartford Wolf Pack -- the Rangers' affiliate. Ouch.
So now Charles Wang and Garth Snow's youth movement will not include a postseason for the Islanders' hot young prospects who play for Bridgeport. That's probably going to mean it'll take longer for those top prospects to flourish with the big club next season. But since they are all so talented it will only be a minor setback, I'm sure.
If you'd like to ready the gory details from our sister paper, the Hartford Courant, here you go. It's more of a Wolf Pack story than a Sound Tigers story. Thanks to thisisct.net for the photo.

So Baumbach waits until after Game 1 to predict that the Devils will win in seven. Before the series, I predicted Rangers in six. Want to change your predicition now, Jim, or wait until after Game 3?
Maybe we should bet something. Any ideas, Jim? Or should we wait until the Rangers-Red Wings Stanley Cup Finals?

Rangers beat Devils, lead best of seven series, 2-0. Ouch.
But for all of you Islanders fans out there who are hopeful about Charles Wang and Garth Snow's youth movement, we here at The Final Score are introducing a new feature: Bridgeport Sound Tigers updates.
Since the Islanders are home, we thought we'd keep you up on the latest with the Sound Tigers, home to many of the Islanders' prospects.
The Sound Tigers soundly thrashed the Lowell Devils on Friday, 5-1. But a win by the Hershey Bears put the Sound Tigers in jeopardy of not making the playoffs.
The Sound Tigers have a home-and-home with the hated Hartford Wolf Pack (Rangers affiliate) Saturday and Sunday. Here's the full Saturday story from the Connecticut Post. It's by Michael Fornabaio.
Look here for more Bridgeport updates!

Mike Schuerlein is one of the Islanders blogger friends I made while spending the NHL trade deadline in the Islanders blog box. He's one of the few people who will wear an Islanders jersey and also say good things about me (I think).

Anyway, on to far more serious matters. He just messaged me about his latest blog post, and it's a sad story - his friend's brother-in-law has an incurable blood cancer. So Mike is helping his friend's family raise money to go toward research for a cure.

Here's the link to Mike's blog post, which has all the info you'll need to help.

Well, that might be giving us too much credit...

But, hey, anything to get Islander505 fired up, eh?

Anyway, here's the link to Greg Logan's story in today's Newsday. GM Garth Snow says his relationship with coach Ted Nolan is "good, great" and tries to dispel talk of a possible coaching change by saying he doesn't "see any reason" why Nolan doesn't return. "He's our coach," Snow said.

He did say he will be meeting with Nolan soon to talk about last season and the team's future. I'm interested to see how that meeting goes down. No doubt they will discuss whatever player differences they have and Nolan's contract status...

I'll be spending all day in the Islanders blog box at Nassau Coliseum to cover the trade deadline festivities with Islanders bloggers. Craziness surely will ensue...

4:21 p.m.

Okay, I'm going to send some videos I shot of Garth Snow and then call it a day. I had fun. I hope the bloggers had fun. And no one has thrown anything at me for that Al Arbour column. (Not yet, at least.) Hope to do this again, sometime...

4:14 p.m.

Garth Snow just met with reporters (and bloggers). Said there was one big trade he was really close to doing but it fell through. He would only add that the player he was trying to get never was traded. So go ahead and start your guessing.

3:31 p.m.

We're wanted in room 6. News????

3:26 p.m.

ANOTHER ISLANDERS TRADE!

Marc-Andre Bergeron to the Ducks for a third-rounder.

Reaction from bloggers:

"He kind of dropped off this year, as opposed to when he was picked up last year," B.D. Gallof of the The Bouncing Puck says. "He and Berard are a lot alike, and it seemed like one of them would be expendable. Bergeron had more value, so they probably got good value from someone who was more valuable. Makes sense that they got the stay-at-home defenseman from San Jose now that we know they were trading one of defensively unreliable players."

"Either him or Berard were going, and there's been a lot of frustration with Bergeron's game," Tom Liodice of The Tiger Track says. "What he had on offense he lacked on defense."

"I felt his play had come around as of late, and while he was inconsistent at best I feel the Islanders got good value for him because of their mistrust," Mike Schuerlein of IslesBlogger says.

Just made plans for tomorrow's NHL trade deadline. I'm going to cover the happenings - or non-happenings - from the Islanders' blog box all day. I'll even bring my video camera.

Here's how it's going down: The team is opening its blog box at 10:30 a.m. - many, many hours earlier than normal - so they can blog about the Islanders' activity (or inactivity) from inside Nassau Coliseum. And I'll be there with them, blogging away.

(FYI: No, that's not me in the picture, thank you. It's just something I found on Google. Just wanted to point that out.)

No, wait, that was Al Arbour.

Powell is going to take part in a ceremonial faceoff before the Islanders game Monday.

And earlier in the day the former U.S. secretery of state is going to be available to reporters so he can voice his support for Charles Wang's Project Hope, which sets out to to provide educational opportunities to young Chinese athletes.

Colin Powell is not related to Newsday's Shaun Powell, I don't believe.