Today is the big day but hopefully not the only big day this weekend for Islanders prospects Anders Lee of Notre Dame and Brock Nelson and Jason Gregoire of North Dakota. The games are televised and Web accessible if you're charmed:
ESPN2 (HD) and ESPN3.com show Notre Dame - Minnesota Duluth at 5 p.m. EDT, and North Dakota - Michigan at 8:30 p.m. That link is also a "5 Burning Questions" bit. ... Here is a breakdown with insight from coaches who have faced these teams. ... and here is SBN's Western College Hockey Blog, which has a bushel of links to coverage. Plenty of coverage also at College Hockey News,
Plenty of other mostly Islanders-related links after the jump.
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LHH regulars, please sample and brainstorm/give feedback: Idle hands are the devil's toys, and Mark (WebBard) and Keith put together an initial podcast, "The Flashlight," to test things out and see where to go from here. You can listen and reply in that Fanshot.
- Calvin De Haan: Hometown love for the Islanders prospect who has risen from Junior A to NHL first-round pick to a key to Oshawa's playoff run in what will surely be his final OHL season.
- Nino Niederreiter: Portland loves Nino.
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The Skinny from last night, including: Michael Grabner has now passed Bryan Trottier for the second-highest rookie goal total in Islanders history. Don't think he's going to catch Bossy. Also: Grabner's just the fourth rookie in NHL history to get six shorthanded goals (Madden, J. Staal, Minor).
- No matter how you shake it, the Sound Tigers are going to finish loooow. Fornabaio with the math.
- SNY/Point Blank interview with Bob Nystrom [SNY-Point Blank]
- Rodney Dangerfield must wear an Islanders jersey. [Eyes on the Isles]
- With the season coming to a close and a sellout tomorrow night, a rallying cry for the fanbase [The Hockey Writers]
- A fun attempt to quantify how many goals are a bit of luck and how many are all skill [Behind The Net]
- Terrible News: R.I.P. E.J. McGuire, who will be missed by so many.
- Not hockey but relevant: On concussions, football players, mortality, and how much fans and players are willing to tolerate [Globe & Mail]
- Pretty insightful look into rating this June's top picks. [Copper & Blue]
The NCAA final is Saturday night at 7 p.m., televised on ESPN (Uno) and ESPN3.com. For purely selfish reasons, I hope it's an ND-ND occasion.
Tomorrow is Isles-Pens and the final home game, so we'll have plenty to look at both later today and tomorrow.