Does art no longer immitate hockey? The Islanders offensive line of Mike Comrie, Ruslan Fedotenko and Bill Guerin wasn't together long enough to inspire a creative nickname with its creative play; one month into the deal, Guerin has switched places with Trent Hunter to work with Andy Hilbert and Mike Sillinger.
But catchy, sometimes goofy old monikers for the sport's top offensive lines seem to have been phased out long ago, anyway. Even when Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy and Clark Gillies combined during the Islanders' glory days of the early 1980s, they did not carry a collective nickname. (Trottier and Bossy played together virtually their entire careers, with a different second winger occasionally rotated into the mix. Still, no special handle.)
Hockey historians can recall the "Kraut Line" of Milt Schmidt, Woody Dumart and Bobby Bauer with the Boston Bruins of the 1939-1940 season, when that trio accomplished the astounding feat of being 1-2-3 in NHL scoring.
Such a reference to players will German surnames no doubt would fail the political correctness test now. But there also was the Detroit Red Wings' "Production Line" of Gordie Howe, Sid Abel and Ted Lindsay, roughly a decade later. And the Rangers' "GAG Line"--for "Goal A Game"--with Jean Ratelle, Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield in the late '60s and early '70s. And the Buffalo Sabres' "French Connection" of French-Canadians Richard Martin, Rene Robert and Gilbert Perreault though much of the 1970s.
Also, during the Islanders' first, hapless season of 1972-73, three former members of the St. Louis Blues briefly formed a line--Brian Lavender, Terry Crisp and Craig Cameron. And a wise-acre Newsday reporter branded them the "Lavender Blue Line." Dilly, dilly. (It's from a very old song, kids.)
Meanwhile: What might possibly qualify as hard-core news is that Shawn Bates, practicing again in his return from abdominal surgery, traveled with the team for Thursday night's game in Washington but, Islanders coach Ted Nolan said, "it probably will be another week or two" before Bates sees game action.
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Final note: Crack Newsday Islanders beat reporter Greg Logan is taking a few well-deserved days off, and soon will parachute back into the fray to save the day. Even in his absence, though, Newsday editors require a blog posting on the team. All criticism of said blog are welcome--Newsday.com clearly enables that. Any comments claiming to be posted by a Newsday reporter, when they clearly are not, are decidedly not welcome, and furthermore reflect rather poorly on the cowardly soul who would attempt such a nefarious act.
Comments (29)
I seem to remember the nick name "Long Island Lighting Company" for Trots-Bossy-Gillies for lighting the goal lamp so often!!!
John:
Nice second effort! I liked the little hockey history mixed in with a current news story. And the fact the blog was updated twice in one day and specifically responded to poster concerns was also welcome. Keep it up while Logan is a healthy scratch.
I think the "Long Island Lightning Co" was the nickname for Billy Harris's old line predating Boss & Trotts, but that was a long time ago and I could be mistaken.
I catch the games on the Center Ice Package down here in Florida which means I don't get the pre-or post-game shows. It was cool to see Jiggs McDonald calling the game, but I'm not sure why he was there. Was it a guest appearance or is something up with Howie? Someone please give me a heads up.
All that was missing was "18" by his side (no disrespect to Jaffe)
Jeff, we're not lucky enough to see Howie Rose go in favor of a full-time Jiggs.
Also, I think the Long Island Lighting Company name migrated to Bossy-Trottier-Gilles, but their proper name was the Trio Grande
Much better piece, John. Are you covering the next two home games? (20th and 27th). If so, you might see this commenter there. Cheers.
Howie Rose is an awful commentator.... he's a difficult listen with his feigned ignorance of certain situations.... deferring to Jaffe as if no-one sees through his antics. It's very condescending to the listener and I feel to Jaffe or whomever his partner may be... ie. Michelleti 2 years ago.
John: If you check the blog from a couple of days back, you'll see I nick named our new line of free agents the "Beemer Line". It was obviously derived from their given names of Bill, Mike and Ruslan ( BMR). It's too bad they were broken up so soon into the season as I feel they really had a chance to jel and their point production was great the first three games. Hopefully they'll be reinstated as they're the only semblence of point production to date not counting the defenceman Campoli & Gervais.
A friend of mine called earlier tonight to say the FAN radio station in Montreal is reporting a tentative trade offer of Alex Kovalev for Miro Satan. The only thing stalling the deal is Bob Gainey's insistence that Campoli be included in the players heading to the Habs. Hopefully Garth will say no to this deal IF Campy were to be part of it. At this juncture, I couldn't see trading Campoli straight up for Kovalev because they're both heading in totally different directions. Alex has seen his best year's pass him by, his point productions have dwindled and he's reportedly a pain in the butt for coaches as seen recently when he blamed Guy for a loss to Florida when a timeout wasn't called. We just got rid of one non producing, over paid mal content so bringing in another one doesn't add up unless it was even up for our own non producer Satan.
Please... no KOVALEV!
Satan got off to a very slow start last year too. 3 of his first 4 goals were of the empty net variety. I would like to see him produce much more as well; howver at years end he always seems to come up with close to 30.
JEFF GARRIGAN:
You can get the pre-game and post games if you purchase the sports pack through DirecTV. I have that and I get all the FSNY, YES & MSG broadcasts of all programs including the games (combined with "Center Ice Package") I think it is an extra $10.00/month.
Guerin has not been great, good but not great. A few of his assists were in-direct and two of them were pucks that jumped off of his stick and happened to land on Comrie or Feds stick. Comrie & Feds have scored and produced points and Hunter has been playing great. I think it is worth a LOOK; maybe that's all it will be.
Extremely different writing style by John but I liked it. As referenced in another post; there may have been a parking lot toke on the pipe prior to writing the first blog. Maybe first time jitters. I think the vocabulary used confused the Ranger fans and sent them scrambling for their thesaurus.
Too much time between games on the upcoming schedule. They have a full week off after Saturday's game. I thought only Logan got that much time off.
John sorry for the harsh words before. Friends?
Wow, a coherent entry this time! I was expecting an blog entry on freeze-dried ice cream and its history in the NASA program, circa 1970.
Glad to see you back on the meds this time, John.
I think Alex Kovalev is better looking than Miro so that trade should be made. Will it happen soon John?
kovalev????? i think we could get more for Miro
Wasn't the Bossy-Gillies-Trottier line nicknamed the "Trio Grande" line? I remember reading that in Stan Fischler's book about the Islanders, that Pride and Passion book.
Listening and watching those long-ago games, I remember the Long Island Electric Company. Nicknamed because they lit up the island. Also Trio Grande. I think the two nicknames were created and used by different sets of the media.
???
What's in a name... Bossy-Trottier-Gillies were just the simple BTG line... if referenced by a name at all.
The Isles definitely need to shake up the lines, but there may be a little more than just shaking the box necessary. The ballsy move of removing MAB proves that they are willing to do what it takes to improve. Maybe that means shopping the cannon for a winger that can hit the net. I'm guessing that no Islander (or sound tiger) is beyond being someplace else come Xmas.
well... except for DP (now that Milbury is gone I don't think we have to worry about that)
Until we something appreciably better, I'm sticking with the "Beemer Line". Hopefully it will be reunited before long and hopefully the Montreal talk show rumour from yesterday of Kovalev for Satan comes true ( without Campoli!!!!!)
And while we're on the topic, let's give Tambellini a REAL chance by playing on a line getting reglaur shifts of ice time for a dozen games. It's the only way of knowing whether we should cut the cord with him or not.
John,
Good job filling in, but I'd rather see detail on the team than interesting antidotes regarding naming lines.
Just my opinion.
Good luck,
CJ
"Over paid non scoring losers"
We signed Gomez?
The Trottier-Gillies-Harris line was known as the LILCO line; although the term BTG line was used when Bossy replaced Harris, the better-known name was "Trio Grande."
http://www.hockeydraftcentral.com/1974/74004.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946234,00.html?promoid=googlep
"Nope,just Guerin and Satan"
OK, I was worried we traded Guerin's six points for Gomez's...what does he have now...two? Coming along nicely.
I always remembered it as the "Long island Lighting Commission" the line of Harris-Trottier-Gillies and I still thinkk I have the Topps (R) Hockey Card. However, Wikipedia calls it the LILCO line after the LI Lighting Company and who can argue with Wikipedia?
As for the "Beemer Line", I think they have to be together for more than 20 minutes to get a name and the name should match the character of the line. With Beemer, I think of a shiny object that you paid way too much for, but which gives great service over time and ages well, reetaining its value far beyond its years.
I dunno if Comrie/Fedotenko/Guerin matches that description. We'll see.
Lets get two point tonight boys.......Get some Capital payback!
As for the genius that goes by the name of our goalie......Please worry about your own team and the fact Lundquist simply cannot beat the Isles or the Senators!
p.s For the first time I went to the Rangers blog and read some of their points of view. Absolutely Hysterical!
Mookie as a Rangers fan, even you must be embarrassed. It's two homers talking to themselves.
??? I think Miggsey's in Toronto, but since I've been here, Steady's always been in Mass. Methinks our Ranger friend with the DP jealousy is somewhat appropriately doing his best imitation of post-concussion syndrome.
Steady,
Whats up! I have fallen back from posting here. Still read and watch but, it's just too much. The trolls and kids games on both blogs. I am a Rangers fan. Embarrassment comes easy. Your a Mets/Isles/Jets fan you know the feeling...little jab there ;)
You can certainly see the different styles of writing. I think it adds a lot to the Blog. Hopefully there can be two writers more often.
Anyway, lots of people dumping on certain players. I think Guerin has played well and been a darn good captain. He sticks to his role on the team and that's all you can ask of a player.
Usually a single player doesn't make that much difference, but I read more into Nolan's comments on losing Sim. I think Nolan felt he had his top line locked up going into the season and could just fine tune the other lines. Now he has to start all over. So I think there will more of the same line juggling and moving players up and down from the farm team.
Personally I hope the Kovalev rumors are true. He's the kind of player that can take over a game and he can still do it. Montreal media and fans can be brutal, so bring it on. As for what we would give up, bye bye Satan.
Kevin T.
I hear yah Mook.
Torre just told the Yanks to go BLOW !!! Good for him. Classy guy that deserves better!! Met Fan Talking!
HUNTER needs to step up. Enough of the hits that although effective, really do not put fear in anyone. We need points from him. I predicted he would step up and play like Ryan Smyth. Well Smyth is putting up points right now, which is what we need from Hunter!!!! Get it going !!!
Lets get two tonight boys!
Actually, in the late 70's & early 80's the Bossy-Trottier-Gillies line was known as the "Best Thing Going" which it, without a doubt, was - perhaps the greatest line ever assembled in the NHL! As an Islanders fan since the team's creation, I have been following them from many different places (O'side LI, Lehigh U, NYC, LA, SF & Napa, CA) and would bet that if any old Newsday articles were checked the line's name would be found.