Click here to view the embedded video.

Well, there is a hockey tie in here – trust me!

This coming Saturday at the Islanders Home Opener, Capital one is holding a High Five Contest for fans outside the Box Office, in an area called Visigoth Ice Village (Visigoth’s are those characters from the Capital One commercials, the Vikings). I’ve been asked to take part in a panel of Judges that will also include former New York Islander Benoit Hogue!

Capital One is promoting its new High Yield Checking account by highlighting the excitement of competitive sports with a pre-game “High Five” sweepstakes at this weekend’s New York Islanders game, in addition to an online sweepstakes recognizing metro-area New York teams. Both sweepstakes give fans the chance to enter and win “five times the tickets” (five tickets) in recognition of Capital One Bank’s new High Yield Checking account, which earns at least five times the national average interest on checking.

New York Islanders fans who come to the Nassau Coliseum on October 8 before the game can give their creative “High Fives” in front of a panel of judges and enter for their chance to win five times the tickets to an upcoming Islanders game. The High Five event begins at 6 p.m. at the Capital One Bank Visigoth Ice Village, just outside the box office entrance of the Nassau Coliseum.

Additionally, metro-area sports fans can enter the “High Five for 5X the Interest” Online Photo Sweepstakes. Beginning October 8 at 6 p.m., fans can log on to http://highfivefor5X.snapfish.com and upload their favorite “High Five” photo to be entered into a drawing to win five tickets to an upcoming game of their favorite metro-area professional or college sports team. Follow @SnapfishbyHP on Twitter for updates about the online photo sweepstakes. You can join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #highfivefor5x. For more details, see official rules at http://highfivefor5X.com/a>.

I’ve been meaning to put up an announcement for quite some time now (as well as content) – but for the third year in a row I am headed to the NHL Entry Draft!

As you may already know, this years draft is located in Los Angeles, California – so it’s quite the haul compared to Ottawa and Montreal years prior.

Another difference, I am the lone Blog Boxer headed out, so it should be interesting.

In the coming days I have some exciting lead up content planned for both my site and over at Bleacher Report, where I am the Featured Islanders columnist.

I cannot wait to see who the Islanders pick up in the five slot in this years draft!

Stay tuned to my site, my Twitter feed, Bleacher Report and of course the Islanders website and Twitter feeds for constant NHL Draft updates throughout the draft!!

I didn’t get the opportunity to post up a preview for this, I got called into work on an emergency today and haven’t had much time. However, I just did a quick Islanders chat with The Hockey Guys on their radio show. Be sure to check out the site and the replay of the show when you get the chance.

Once it’s up I will post the link.

Big thanks to Anthony Curatolo, Brandon Augienello and Dustin Leed for having me on today, I look forward to appearing again!

Update!

You can listen to the show in the player below:

As an iPhone user, applications such as USTREAM allow me to stream video LIVE or upload content while on the go – so I felt this was a great solution and opportunity for me.

My first video is off center, you can only see part of my face – but the content I felt was worth a listen. I am sure it will get better once I figure out how to hold my phone and record myself.

You can check out my USTREAM page here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/islesblogger

And here is the video:

Then we had the home opener, which I didn’t really get the chance to write about – bummer.

However, I have some exciting news regarding the ability to reach a larger audience. Last week I received an email from someone over at The Bleacher Report asking me if I would be interested in becoming the Featured Islanders Columnist over there. Curious, I inquired a little bit about what was expected and for more details. I was surprised to find out that the stories I write there will not only be on the Islanders and NHL section of that website, but because I am a featured columnist – they would be shown on NHL.com, the NHL’s newsletter, B/R’s newsletter, and some of B/R’s partner websites (CBSSports.com, SI.com and FoxSports.com).

Rest assured, I plan on doing some live blogs here and keeping the place updated more now that the season is upon us – Islesblogger isn’t going anywhere anytime soon! I will also continue to contribute to Lighthouse Hockey whenever Dom asks (speaking of Dom, I met him and his wife this past weekend at the home opener – great people!).

This is just another one of those opportunities for me to get my name out there and see where it takes me. I’ve been slipping lately, so maybe this will force me to write a bit more – being they would like three opinion pieces a week.

So, without further ado – I present to you my first Islanders article at The Bleacher Report in well over a year: Islanders Future Rest in The Hands of Their Youth

If you haven’t notced already, the comment area of the site may look a bit different. I have never been happy with the format honestly, I was just too caught up in other things to bother changing it. The biggest change is the addition of Gravatars.

What is a gravatar?

A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an image that follows you from site to site appearing beside your name when you do things. Avatars help identify your posts on blogs and web forums, so why not on any site?

How do I get a gravatar?

Signing up for a Gravatar.com account is FREE, and all that’s required is your email address. Once you’ve signed up you can upload your avatar image and soon after you’ll start seeing it on gravatar enabled sites!

Obviously to make your image show up, you need to be registered, but the benefit is that it follows you around the web which is a plus. The only caveat is that you comment with the same email address that you register your avatar with – otherwise my default Isles logo will show up for every poster without a gravatar of their own.

I also made several smaller changes. The poster’s name was always after the time and date stamp. I corrected it and gave the author name it’s own line. I then changed the date format to the correct region – it’s a pet peeve of mine. I have some other plans for the site this week and I think I finally nailed down the gallery issue too.

Check out the new comment features and give them a whirl!

I should have two large posts up in the near future, one of which I have reserved for Lighthouse Hockey. Just a reminder too, Islesblogger will be live from Montreal for this years Entry Draft!!

Last year, my first with Islesblogger and as a member of the Islanders Blog Box – I spent the entire day at Nassau Coliseum live blogging the events of the day. We were interviewed by Jim Baumbach of Newsday – whom live blogged our live blogging and even had a run in with several Pittsburgh players asking if we knew if any of them had been traded. However, because this year the Islanders do not have a game, it is impossible to be allowed access to the Blog Box for something similar. Obviously this is dissapointing – but I pledge to carry on from the comfort of my own home with access to the same Canadian television, the internet and hopefully better food then what will be available to the media and Islanders Point Blank who will be crammed into Room Six.

What’s even more exciting, is now that I have access to everything on SB Nation – I will be part of their deadline day special through Lighthouse Hockey! I will have a running post of any and all the large trades made by the Islanders and may do something similar for the division rivals. I will also have a few opinion peices in addition to updating everyone here on Islesblogger – it will be a lot of work, but Dom and I promise to bring to some great stuff tomorrow later today.

Stay tuned for the fun stuff! Remember, you can subscribe to my RSS FEED or EMAIL UPDATES as well as follow along on TWITTER if you will be stuck at work without constant access to the internet!

A few nights ago I received an email from James Mirtle over at From The Rink on SBN asking if I would like to contribute to Dominik Jansky’s Islanders blog Lighthouse Hockey. Apparently there was some talking back and forth during a meeting and my name came up as a possible contributor for Dom’s site. Trust me, if you have been over to LHH you know that Dom needs no help maintaining great content.

Mirtle has been blogging about the NHL and all things hockey for a few years now. When I first started out, he was one of the main bloggers that everyone looked to emulate. Over the summer SBN began a push to have a blogger representative for every team in the NHL – as I already mentioned Dominik jumped over to SBN to form Lighthouse Hockey to cover the Islanders. Dom is a die hard Islanders fan, only he lives out in the Mid-West and has a different perspective on things – often catching stuff even us die hard Long Islanders may miss.

Let me begin by saying this – Islesblogger is not going anywhere, I am not going to shut it down, forget my roots or walk away from my independence. I am just embracing an opportunity to contribute on an additional platform and have some fun in the process.

I am honored to be joined by such great company over on SBN, it will really open new possibilities – especially with all the great toys and stats available on the websites over there. Look for some joint content at both places, some exclusive content here as well as there and the best game day threads you can find.

Fans are also welcome to post Fan Shots, which is like a mini-blog right there for you to speak your own mind.

Check out Lighthouse Hockey and From The Rink when you get a chance!

A few weeks ago I had gotten an email about the 2008 Best Blog Awards. Here is your chance to vote on your favorite New York Islanders Blog! Voting goes from today up until the end of the month and a winner will be announced on New Years Day (January 1st). The winner will receive a banner to display on their website as well as a pair of tickets to an Islanders game.

There is only one catch (Hey, this IS New York…), you need to sign up – but it’s free, easy and only takes a minute!

The voting implemented is a positive Digg style voting mechanism (no minuses “-” or “bury”), which allows all visitors to vote for all their favorite New York Islanders blogs. Every visitor can contribute one vote per blog for as many NYI blogs as they like. The blog that gets the most votes is declared “The best blog”.

This system of voting isn’t perfect and it is subjected to some biases, and yet – we’re only doing this for fun and the promotion of the New York Islanders blogosphere. We trust that our fellow bloggers will do what they can to play fair.

Best New York Islander Blog Awards notes

* Blog Awards are great for promoting link-love between the NYI blogs. If you write a blog and you like a certain blog then link to it asking your readers to vote for it. Link-love between the NYI blogs helps promote the whole NYI blogosphere and NYI related content on the web.
* This is the first time Yes! Islanders is running the Best New York Islander Blog Awards. Any suggestions, comments or ideas are very welcome.
* Voting starts on December 1st and end on December 31st. The winner will be announced on January 1st New Years Day. You cannot vote for any blogs before or after these dates.
* There are two professinal blogs out there, Greg Logan’s “On The Islanders Beat” writing for Newsday, and Chris Botta’s “Islanders Point Blank”. Because they are paid and also have access to priveleged scoops, they will be counted in a seperate category so there will be two awards, one being “Best Professional NYI Blog” and the other being “Best NYI Blog”.
* After further contemplation, there will be only one blog award and the “professional” blogs will be excluded from voting.
* Please help suport the awards so we can get a great turnout and bring more attention to the Islanders and NYI blogging.
* Winners will get a banner displaying their victory for their site! Sorry I can’t afford more than that, maybe next year though. Donations are welcome to give to the winner(s). Contact me if you want to be involved. Also, the New York Islanders have graciously donated two tickets to any non Ranger game this season to the winner of the 2008 NYI Blog Awards.
* You can vote on any of the blogs listed.

I decided that because I have been trying my hardest to keep up with replying to recent comments, that it would be best to optimize the site for the iPhone/iTouch environment. A quick check of my stats and I found that there are several readers browsing my site with iPhone’s as well!

From this point on, anyone who views Islesblogger will be served the optimized content automatically. It’s easy to read, loads fast and still features the same great content you are used to. The only difference is that the main color of the site is white – which I was tempted to change, but it’s so easy to read I decided to leave it be.

If anyone has any suggestions, or finds a problem – please let me know as soon as you can!

It took me countless hours to work out all the stupid errors, hopefully I never have to move to a new server – but at least next time I know a bit more about what to expect. If you go check it out, it should be working 100% and will have more photos by tomorrow night.

Mike over at Islanders 360 touched on the weather in his most recent post and I noticed the same thing when I went out to my van first thing this morning – the chill in the air. It was 52 degrees to be exact, perfect temperature to be working outside – something I do daily. It means that I don’t have to sweat ALL day, the busy season is over and that hockey is right around the corner.

Starting things off on the hockey beat, Greg Logan was doing all sorts of updates today. He had a few blog entries from camp, a live chat answering any question thrown at him and then a semi-live blog during the exhibition game against the Bruins. Busy guy that Greg Logan. Check out his blog and all of the entries over at Newsday’s site. If you are interested in the live chat recap post specifically, you can find that here.

Logan points out that he is getting similar reactions from all the veterans regarding head coach Scott Gordon – they buy into his style of coaching. While everyone is concentrating on what “overspeed” doesn’t mean – I will give you my opinion, as a hockey player.

Overspeed to me does two things, it makes your opponent make THE CORRECT split second decision and it enables you to take your game to a different level. The misconception is that the style makes slow players fast, but in reality it allows those players to make the right decisions in the little time they have. Here is a brief example:

Comrie skates up the boards and while in full stride receives an outlet pass from Campoli, Comrie continues up the wing and gains the zone – all the while his wingers and the defensemen join the rush. A quick pass here, players zipping left and right – where does the opposition go to play defense? Quick passes, quick skating, quick shots, bodies in front and constant high speed motion – these things cause turmoil and most importantly it’s tough to defend against. Greg points out the difference in shots tonight in the Bruins game – it was almost 2:1 (38-19), a game the Islanders won 2-1 in overtime, all due to overspeed.

I know I love what I am starting to see out of Gordon, just watch him yelling and pointing on iTV and you will see the glaring differences between him and Ted Nolan.

Keep an eye on Campoli, apparently he was injured during the game and those following shouldn’t need to be reminded about his recent shoulder woes.

Updates

Instead of taking up space in a second and third post I just wanted to address a few things.

First, Jim McGlynn of Greetings from Islanders Country has decided to step down from the Blog Box. Earlier this summer, Jon Jordan (now a full time Tampa Blogger for Hockeybuzz) decided he too needed to step down. I just wanted to take a second to wish them all the best in their future!

Secondly, tomorrow (or today by the time most of you read this) is the debut of Chris Botta’s new blog – Islanders Point Blank, be sure to check out Botta’s latest digs.

I have saved the best of last!

Every year since my mom passed away in 2003 – my Aunt has held a fundraiser at her hair salon Special Effects in East Hampton, NY in her honor. She sells raffle tickets leading up to and during the day of the event for prizes (proceeds going to the charity Breast Cancer Help) and also donates whatever intake from the salon as well. Last year, they managed to raise over $30,000 and the total grows every year they do it.

This year, the Islanders have stepped up to the plate and have made a donation! While I don’t exactly know the details just yet – I am blown away by their support. I cannot thank them enough!

For those interested out in Suffolk, here are the details:

Host: Elaine Hayes & Special Effects Hair Salon Staff
Start Time: Sunday, October 12 at 9:00am
End Time: Sunday, October 12 at 5:00pm
Where: Special Effects Hair Salon East Hampton, NY

Special Effects Hair Salon
1 Osborne Lane
East Hampton, NY 11937

I know what you must be thinking, where have you been with everything going on at training camp? Good question…..allow me to explain.

Going back to July, I was informed by my friend that we would be moving servers and that this was a necessary move. I delayed this as LONG as humanly possible because of the amount of work it entailed. As you can see from looking around the place, not much has changed.

Some of the things you may notice…..

The gallery is temporarily gone, I have been toying with that on and off since Friday but the import just isn’t working the way it is supposed to. I will keep everyone updated, I should get around to adding the rest of the pictures from last season while I am at it.

All permalinks SHOULD still point to their posts. I did a quick search on Google and the older stuff still points here, there and everywhere.

Email should be back up and running soon, if it isn’t already. It takes some time for the DNS to propagate and point things to their proper locations.

I did not loose any posts or comments, I imported all the subscriptions to the older posts (I think….) as well as some of the other database stuff (like most popular posts for instance). Some of the pictures in the older posts will need to be fixed, because they aren’t in the gallery yet.

Looking around there are some images that aren’t playing nice tonight, but I will fix those too.

As far as some new content, now that I have the site on the new “box” (because it’s not really a box anymore but a cloud or cluster of servers (think BOXES!)), I don’t have to import any NEW posts from a different site…..

Enough mumbo jumbo technology talk, I have a lot of catching up to do and I apologize.

During the past year I have experienced what seems like a life time of great things and made a ton of what I consider very good friends. The Blog Box has given me an opportunity I never really thought I would have and for that I am genuinely grateful.

If I could pick a favorite moment out of everything over the past year, I do not really think I could. Between doing things like the Open House two weeks ago or even going up to the draft in Ottawa back in June – could anyone? I would just like to take a minute to thank everyone out there who regularly reads the site, links back to my content and mentions my blog – without all of you, this would be pretty pointless. It’s nice to have an audience when you are speaking about something you enjoy! Most importantly, I would like to thank the New York Islanders, for without this opportunity, I would certainly not have the reach I would.

Here are a few stats from the last 365 days!

Posts: 309
Comments: 408
Tags: 529
Unique Visits: 26,166
Total Visits: 73,212
Pages: 728,331
Hits: 1,382,259
Google Page Rank: 4

During the coming months, I really want to continue to focus on doing things nobody else is really doing. I have a bunch of ideas on stories and angles that interest me and that I fee would be an interesting read. It’s becoming more and more important as a blogger to have a close border to that of a journalist, because the content gets diluted and the readers a bit bored. I am also about to invest some serious money in some new camera lenses so I can get some great game shots. I have a bunch of photos I am yet to upload because I have not had the time to sift through them just yet, so look for that shortly.

I am open for suggestions, if anyone has any ideas of what they would like me to chase down – do not hesitate to contact me!

Thanks again for such a great year!

Per the Islanders website (excerpt):

The Islanders and the Islanders Community Events (I.C.E) Tour will open the doors to the Nassau Coliseum this Saturday morning, August 9th, and fans will be introduced to Doug Weight and Josh Bailey — two of the newest members of the Islanders family. Weight joined the Islanders in July after spending last season in Anaheim, where he had 10 goals and 15 assists for 25 points in 67 games. He needs 31 points to reach the magical 1,000 point plateau in his career. Bailey was the Islanders 1st round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft after posting 96 points in 67 games last season for Windsor Spitfires of the OHL.

As part of the Re/Max Open House, Doug and Josh will field questions from a select three-person panel. The panel will consist of members from Islander Mania and the NYI Blog Box. Weight and Bailey will also take questions from fans in the crowd. This portion of the open house is available to all fans in attendance.

As luck would have it, I was asked by the Islanders during the week if I would like to take part in the three-person panel asking the questions. Of course, I jumped at the chance!

There are a few things that I want to ask, but I wanted to take this opportunity to open things up to you guys – the whole reason why I am even blogging in the first place, a chance to get their question out there. I am limited in my questions to each player (time constraints), but fire away in either the comment section, or the contact form and I will give each question consideration.

The other two individuals asking the questions are fellow Blog Box member Tom Liodice of The Tiger Track and Islandermania message board member Son of Scissons.

It should be a fun filled Saturday for sure, so check back in the afternoon for photos of the event.

As always, there will be plenty to do for the kids, as the Islanders RV, inflatables and other interactive games will be set up for them to enjoy. The Islanders will also be giving away free Islanders street hockey sticks to all kids in attendance – so get there early. Doors open at 10:00 AM and fans should enter through the Coliseum’s Box Office on the Marriott side of the building.

See you there!

Friday Morning: Islanders TV interview/blog. Time: TBD You should be able to view it sometime tomorrow night!

Friday Afternoon/Evening: Tom and I will be talking to Steve and Tony from Islesnation on their internet radio show broadcast live from the Draft Party at the Coliseum. Time: TBD

Saturday Afternoon/Evening: Tom and I are scheduled for a special Draft-Weekend-Edition of Hockey Night on Long Island. The show starts at 3:30pm EST, and I believe we’ll be on right at the top of the show.

Be sure to visit both sites and call in with your questions! If anything else gets added to our schedule we will be sure to update everyone on the latest!

Tom and Michael had spoken to each other about attending this year’s draft during downtime at the Coliseum at the draft deadline in February. Chris Botta, then the Islanders VP of Media Relations, when approached liked the idea and began working on securing the credentials. In an unexpected turn of events, Botta resigned on May 6th, leaving both Tom and Michael unsure whether they should follow through with their idea. After discussing things a bit further, they decided to push forward and asked Corey Witt, the Islanders Media Relations Coordinator, to continue where Botta left off.

Just one week after asking Witt to continue the process, he delivered the great news – the NHL approved credentials for the pair. Rushing to book flights and a hotel for their first “road trip”, Tom and Michael are excited for this opportunity to bring Islanders fans a behind the scenes glimpse of what it’s like at the draft. Tom will be live blogging and shooting video and Michael will be live blogging and taking pictures of the event. You can expect the pair to provide up to the minute updates of whatever is happening involving the Islanders, be it trades, draft choices or general Islanders talk around the event.

Stay tuned to www.islesblogger.com, www.thetigertrack.com and www.newyorkislanders.com for all the latest draft info and updates!

One thing is for certain, between the Blog Box covering the Draft Day party at the Coliseum and Islandermania holding a tailgate party – there will be plenty of exciting things happening around Islanders country on June 20th!

New content below this post, this post has been stickied!

I have a great announcement that I have been wanting to talk about since Monday, although I have touched upon it in a few of my recent posts already so it’s not entirely a surprise.

This coming Tuesday, February 26th – is the annual NHL trade deadline day, one of the most exciting days next to the post season and July 1st for a hockey fan. Looking back no further than last year, the deadline was especially exciting for Islanders fans as the team traded for Captain Canada – Ryan Smyth, in a move nobody in the hockey world saw coming. It proved that the rookie GM Garth Snow wasn’t afraid to tango and make a splash on one of hockey’s busiest days.

You may have been following the day on many of the great rumor websites, the streaming broadcast on TSN, Sportsnet’s ticker or even on Greg Logan’s blog. This year, you can add several more sites to your list of websites to frequent. Islesblogger.com and several of the other Blog Box websites were invited to the Coliseum to experience deadline day in a behind the scenes fashion. Coverage will begin at 10:30 AM for morning practice, exclusive interviews with Garth Snow and we will be providing you with up to the second information on what we are seeing and hearing around the organization and leading up to zero hour when the deadline passes. The Islanders are also taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins that night, so it will be a long fun filled hockey day!

In order to cover this event in the best possible way I can, I purchased a new laptop specifically for Tuesday so I can live blog, upload pictures and even watch the latest developments on TSN and the NHL network through my Slingbox! This is truly a first of it’s kind development for the Blog Box and it should be worth all of the excitement!

However, there are no guarantees that the Islanders are sure to make as big of a splash as they did last season, but it doesn’t mean there won’t be moves made. The Islanders have a laundry list of platers nearing unrestricted free agent status who will be valuable to playoff contenders.

Who will stay and who will go? Who will the Islanders add? Stay tuned to Islesblogger.com Tuesday to find out!

Trade Deadline Poll

Just wanted to bring the poll from the beginning of the week back up to the top!

Everything should be fixed now, there was a bit of a memory problem with the server that has been addressed so it shouldn’t happen again (well for a while at least). The funniest part about this ordeal (if there even is a funny part to begin with) was that I was informed the site may be moved to a brand new server in the coming weeks just two days ago.

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience – such is life when it’s the internet I guess. If anyone runs into a problem, feel free to contact me!