Bits: Casey Cizikas leads another win; Nabokov makes like an Islander

In NHL quarters, the Canucks muscled out another win -- Ryan Kesler scored a "look at me" goal followed by a "look at me" celebration [video below] -- which means the Canucks have a stranglehold on the series and this may turn into one of the shortest second rounds in memory.

Meanwhile, from the farm to the worlds to the hopeful future, Islanders Country rolls on...

The Kesler Goal

Nice.

The Links

Casey Cizikas scored again as Mississauga went up 2-0 in the OHL final series. Penalties cost their Owen Sound opponent, to the tune of four powerplay goals.

Profiling the WHL final series, and how Nino's Portland team got so good. (Apparently, it's not strictly due to Swissophilia.)

Second City Hockey does its report card on Chris Campoli. Heh.

Voice of the Islanders examines the Islanders playoff hopes. [Part 1 | Part 2]

Oh, did someone mention goaltending? Al Montoya faces Canada at the Worlds this morning. The official site will run a live blog at 10:15 a.m. EDT. Meanwhile, maybe Evgeni Nabokov is coming around to being an Islander after all: He suffered an undisclosed injury in the third period.

More importantly in my family tree: The Czechs take on host Slovakia today. Bring it.

Puttin' on the foil: Michael Fornabaio passes along that the Sound Tigers have retained Brett Gallant. Team report here.

Point Blank runs the L.I. Press publisher's editorial on the casino proposal. I'm not sure what to make of this, as I'm not a fan of casino developments nor a fan of me talking about the backyards of others' land. This thought resonates with me though:

"People you have never heard of in positions you didn’t know existed will never allow a casino to be built this close to New York City because it would potentially devastate the interests of the people they represent from upstate New York, Connecticut, Atlantic City and Las Vegas. I offer this, not to quell your enthusiasm but to issue a gauntlet of solidarity and self-determination: either we all get behind this, or we drop it from the start."

On the difficulty of evaluating goalies, since Dwayne Roloson is playing great, but is not this good.

The Hockey Writers ponders how good Nino Niederreiter's draft-eligible Swiss teammate Sven Bartschi can be.

Safe to say Brooks Laich doesn't think the Caps' problem is behind the bench. Safe to say Ted Leonsis thinks the problem is everywhere.

This is Roberto Luongo embellishing over and over and over.

Video Diversion [not hockey at all]: This tooth pull clip is old, but circulated recently with my redneck friend who just got the Internet yesterday. You know, we used to use the Camaro for this sort of task, but I guess a rocket will do.