Fanshots

Now Can we get a REAL Mat Barzal Update??

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Seriously, no more guessing by the press and fans. Season is here, when is he signing?

Howe-Mowe

You Enjoy Myself

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"I enjoy playing hockey."

Thomas Greiss in Newsday

NHL Playoffs: Jagr came back for this.

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"You could see it all over the league when you watch the games. It’s crazy, nobody really understands. If you’ve never ever been involved in an NHL playoff game, you don’t really understand how great it is."

Great quote from Jaromir Jagr in Newsday on how great the playoff experience is.

Was Billboard an Omen?

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The Easter Epic between the Islanders and Capitals was on April 18–19, 1987. The Islanders last game 5 win was in the division final against the Flyers on April 28, 1987. Both games are connected to last night... with the length of the game and it being a game 5 win and all. I was thinking about HOW long ago that really was. I wasn't even in high school yet. Then I looked to see what the #1 album was at that time. According to the Billboard 200 archive- when the playoffs started, and right up to the date of the Easter Epic (April 18, 1987), the #1 album was: Licensed to Ill - Beastie Boys How funny is that? No Sleep Til Brooklyn haha.

http://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/1987/billboard-200

John Tavares has no time for the Hockey Maven's jokes

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"Very serious - veeeery serious," Fischler said. "I found that out the hard way, at the Coliseum two years ago. I heard one of these guaranteed jokes. I know jokes that are guaranteed, where you can't go wrong.

"I said, 'John, I want to tell you a joke.' I might as well be talking to that picture over there on the wall."

Stan Fischler on John Tavares, in a story by Neil Best in Newsday

The Foreshadowing of Strait-Zidlicky

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"It was good to start to learn his tendencies and have him learn mine," Strait said. "We've got to get up to speed pretty quick here."

The Newsday piece referenced in the Tuesday bits. Deserves separating and pinning since the punchlines, and the storm clouds, flow from within.

"Al was the kind of person who everybody really liked and gravitated to, but really respected."

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"You have to earn respect. Al was the kind of person who everybody really liked and gravitated to, but really respected. And the game of hockey is not the same today without him. Just a good man."

Wayne Gretzky on the respect given to Al Arbour and the Islanders teams he coached.

Arbour: Ahead of his time and man of the people

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He pretended to be hard-boiled, but the truth is he had a heart as soft as a jelly doughnut. He peeled the paint off the locker-room walls with his thunderous voice and a slam of his fist when the team needed a kick in the pants, but he cared about his players and loved most of them. When he was told that Jean Potvin, a pet defenseman, had been traded, he wept.

Former Islanders beat writerPat Calabria writes about the Al Arbour he watched and knew off-the-knew

"You want to talk to them."

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Through it all, Arbour never thought the story was about him. He would answer the questions when the game was over, and then if you tried to get more out of him, he would smile and point to the locker room and always say the same thing. "You don't want to talk to me," Al Arbour would say. "You want to talk to them."

Mike Lupica of the Daily News on Al Arbour and the dynastic Islanders teams he lead.

Lee now leads all NHLers in Pizza/60.

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Lee went golfing in the Hamptons, watched Fourth of July fireworks by the Brooklyn Bridge and took in Billy Joel’s final show at Nassau Coliseum. He even went to pizza school in Manhattan and learned how to make an authentic pie.

Islanders winger Anders Lee made himself at home on Long Island during the offseason, according to this profile at the team site