Lighthouse Hockey, a New York Islanders community

These festivities are brought to you by, come on you all know his name- Mark Gandler! Wow... has it been a year already? Well, look at your calendar- its the third week of July! That, as Im sure you all know, is the traditional "Yashin back to the NHL" week. ♫♪ ♫ Its the most... predictable tiiiime of the year! ♪ ♫ For those of you interested in taking a trip down memory lane to "Yashin back to the NHL" rumors of years past while we get ready to play again this year, check the link in the title to find some previous "Yashin back to the NHL" stories that are sure to get you into the holiday spirit. Like any other traditional holiday week, "Yashin back to the NHL" always goes the same way- Yashin has a super-cool, concrete/solid/etc offer from an NHL team (usually hinted to be the Islanders, but any team will do) for (lots of?) money, comparisons are made to Jagr or some other older (preferably Russian or former eastern bloc) player(s), but then Yash ultimately decides not to take it. Sure, you know EXACTLY how its gonna go... but you know how St Patricks Day is gonna go too- and that doesnt stop you! Dont let the complete and utter predictibility of this annual holiday take away from the tradition and deep, profound meaning that is behind the "Yashin coming back" spirit. So... get out those turtlenecks and old CMC Yash jerseys, everyone! Celebrate like its 2007!

I hope that anyone from here that is going to the game gets in on this and can possibly win one!

Another pro-new arena piece. I saw this floating around on the Twitters earlier and decided to share this.

Via the NY Post: While Brooks is often off the mark with the Isles, his take on the '93 team and the aftermath of the Hunter cheap shot really hits the mark. Notable quotes: "The NHL's celebration of Dale Hunter as part of its playoff "History Will Be Made" promotion is nothing less than sickening." "Understand that a healthy, undamaged Turgeon never in a million years would have been traded to the Canadiens for Kirk Muller less than two years later in the deal that debilitated the organization."

@KatieStrangNYI Andrew Macdonald done for year with labral tear in right hip that requires surgery; Wishart recalled Weep and question the existence of a higher hockey being in comments. Link to be updated as a story becomes available.

Fornabaio and Carlin have tweeted, and above is the link to the teams "club news" page. Speculation anyone?

It just keeps getting better. Just to be clear, he hasn't played since November, and admittedly is out of shape and would need a couple of weeks to get ready. Sloppy Nabby...sloppy.

Universal Sports (www.universalsports.com), a channel and website partnered with NBC that highlights Olympic Sports all year long (formerly WCSN), will be broadcasting the 2009 IIHF Men’s World Championships at universalsports.com as well as on TV. The US is now in the semi-finals and will play Russia tomorrow at 10:00AM ET. Don’t miss out on this awesome opportunity to catch Kyle Okposo skate in the remaining rounds of the tournament!