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Islanders kids: How Soon is Now?

This is starting to sound like the Youths on Parade Show, but while doing site housekeeping I re-read my "How Islanders Youth is Served" post before the just-commenced jolly weekend of Islanders victories, which included this:

With two matinees on tap and injuries still the rule, it will be a busy weekend and a good chance to peek at the Islanders youngsters who will have greater roles in the years to come.

Well, how did you like the peek?

  • Jeff Tambellini: 2g, 1a
  • Kyle Okposo: 2g
  • Mike Iggulden: 3a
  • Josh Bailey: 1g, 2a
  • Blake Comeau: 1g, 1a
  • Oh, and Sean Bergenheim: hat trick

Not bad for a couple of lazy afternoon games. The Tambellini part is particularly scary, in a dare-we-be-optimistic? sort of way. Islanders fans have been through the ringer watching the AHL star's up-and-down development travel like a sine curve along with his ice time, under two NHL coaches. One of those coaches, who scratched him healthily this season, said:

"I think he's just starting to find his way around the front of the net," Gordon said. "That goal he got tonight, his consistency of finishing checks, getting traffic on the goaltender and he's getting into the right places."

Of course, the thesis behind that pre-weekend preview was how the synchronized relationship between Scott Gordon with the Islanders and Jack Capuano with the Sound Tigers is doing an organization good -- and that Chris Botta was subtly directing fans to that point in an "I told/am telling ya' so" sort of way.

Sure enough, like pre-tremors before the main event, today Botta has a fuller piece about the details of the Gordon-Capuano relationship. It reads like a how-to on organizational development and again raises the question of how much of a blind spot this was for Ted Nolan when he returned to the NHL after a decade away.

Two days -- heck, four games -- does not a success make. The kids have not yet "arrived," although reading between the lines like the Reverend Zamboni at The Palm Isle sure tells you how happy they are.

We haven't even turned a corner ... yet. But a hint of "The Plan" coming together explains why there are some bright eyes and bushy tails in Islanders Country after this weekend.

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Atlantic Standings

GP W L OTL PT
Pittsburgh 72 42 24 6 90
New Jersey 71 42 25 4 88
Philadelphia 71 37 29 5 79
New York Rangers 71 31 31 9 71
New York Islanders 72 29 33 10 68

(updated 3.21.2010 at 4:25 AM EDT)

New York Islanders Roster

# Pos. DOB W H
Josh Bailey 12 C 10/2/1989 188 6-1
Sean Bergenheim 20 LW 2/8/1984 205 5-10
Martin Biron 43 G 8/15/1977 180 6-3
Blake Comeau 57 RW 2/18/1986 207 6-1
Bruno Gervais 8 D 10/3/1984 205 6-1
Trevor Gillies 14 LW 1/30/1979 215 6-3
Jack Hillen 38 D 1/24/1986 200 5-11
Trent Hunter 7 RW 7/5/1980 210 6-3
Tim Jackman 28 RW 11/14/1981 210 6-4
Dustin Kohn 56 D 2/2/1987 200 6-2
Andrew MacDonald 47 D 9/7/1986 188 6-1
Matt Martin 46 LW 3/8/1989 192 6-2
Freddy Meyer 44 D 1/4/1981 192 5-10
Matt Moulson 26 LW 11/1/1983 206 6-1
Frans Nielsen 51 C 4/24/1984 172 5-11
Kyle Okposo 21 RW 4/16/1988 200 6-1
Richard Park 10 RW 5/27/1976 190 5-11
Dylan Reese 42 D 8/29/1984 195 6-0
Dwayne Roloson 30 G 10/12/1969 180 6-1
Jon Sim 16 LW 9/29/1977 195 5-10
Mark Streit 2 D 12/11/1977 197 6-0
Jeff Tambellini 15 LW 4/13/1984 186 5-11
John Tavares 91 C 9/20/1990 195 6-0

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