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New York Islanders One-Game Wonders, Part 3

Many men chase the NHL dream. Some make it for just one game. These are the New York Islanders who have done just that since the last NHL lockout.

UNIONDALE, NY - APRIL 08: Jamie Doornbosch #29 of the New York Islanders skates in his first NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Nassau Coliseum on April 8, 2011 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Today our series concludes with several more familiar names, capped off with at least one who shouldn't remain on this list for much longer.

2008-09 Jamie Fraser

Jamie Fraser was an undrafted defenseman who the Islanders signed in 2007 and assigned to Bridgeport. He can be pretty much summed up as the second coming of Cole Jarrett. After a solid but unspectacular junior career, he played for the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL following his overage season. He caught the eye of AHL and NHL teams after posting 28 points in his first 23 games and was nabbed by the Islanders.

He played the rest of 2007 with Bridgeport and the following two seasons. He posted back-to-back 20-point seasons, but seemed to be there more to help bridge the gap then to be a long-term player for the Islanders. Much like Jarrett, his one game seemed to be more to reward him for his work in Bridgeport then anything else. It was an April game at the end of a bad season. Jamie Fraser got a passing mention from some Blahgger, a single sentence.

Fraser signed with the Wild following the 08-09 season and was quickly assigned to their AHL affiliate the Aeros. He played 81 games for them and was demoted to the ECHL in his second season. Ironically he followed in Cole Jarrett's footsteps and for the last two seasons has been playing in Austria. Last season he was on Ljubljana Olimpija HK and this season he is playing for the Vienna (copyright infringement) Capitals.

2008-09 Sean Bentivoglio

Sean Bentivoglio was an undrafted Left Wing who spent 4 years at Niagra University. During his senior year he was captain of the squad and named CHA player of the year. After graduating he was signed by the Providence Bruins, for whom he made an immediate impact. He notched 14 points in the final 15 games of the regular season and went on to tally another 9 points in 13 playoff games good for second on the team.

He signed with the Islanders/Bridgeport for the 07-08 season. Although he never went on the same tear that he did to start his AHL career, he was a dependable scorer with the Sound Tigers. He had back to back 30 point seasons with the Sound Tigers in 07-08 and 08-09 and then a career best 45 points in 09-10. Although his one game played came in April of 08-09, it probably was more for a tryout then a reward. Either way someone hardly noticed him during his 11 minutes of ice time.

Following the 08-09 season he jumped to Europe and signed in Germany with the Augsburg Panther (my sources don't have that plural, don't ask me). Last season he played in Italy with HC Asiago and had 43 points in 44 games. Not sure if he's playing anywhere this season as of yet.

2009-10 Anton Klementyev

To Islander fans, Anton Klementyev will always be an enigma. Drafted in the 5th round of the '09 Draft, as of right now he looks like the biggest bust of the Islanders picks that year. Klementyev was signed as a 19-year-old and brought over to play in Bridgeport. For whatever reason though, he only played 28 games in his first year at Bridgeport. In his second season, with the Bridgeport and Islanders defenses falling apart due to injuries he played all of 50 games including his one NHL game.

How bad was it? Dom at the time was recommending the team just run with 5 defenseman instead of actually calling anyone up from Bridgeport. Had Dustin Kohn not been suffering from one of his ill-timed injuries he probably would have gotten called up. Instead it was Klementyev who got the call. As Dom mentions in the game follow up, Mark Streit proceeded to play 36 minutes that night, while Klementyev played 11.

Klementyev, who played in the KHL for Lokomotiv, was heavily affected by the Lokomotiv tragedy. With the Bridgeport defense finally taking shape that year, the Islanders wanted to re-assign him to the ECHL for more playing time. Klementyev refused assignment and was released by the team. He signed with the reforming Lokomotiv and is supposed to be a part of their organization this season.

2010-11 Shane Sims

The first of the infamous #55 Defenseman trio from the 2010-11 season that played the last three games of the year on one-game ATO contracts. Shane Sims was the only one of them with actual ties to the organization, being a 5th round pick from the '06 Draft. Sims played all 4 years of college hockey at OSU, averaging about 20 points a season.

After graduating he signed the ATO and played one game (the final game of the season) with the team. He did look the best out of the three, but the Islanders decided not to keep him around. He played last season in the ECHL for the Gwinnett Gladiators, posting 18 points in 45 games and a +5. No word on where he is playing this season yet.

2010-11 Matt Campanale

Unlike Sims, Matt Campanale also got a few games with Bridgeport at the end of the season. An undrafted defenseman who had just graduated from the University of New Hampshire, he had a relatively quiet college career. He totaled 24 points and 3 goals across his 4 seasons with the team. I remember watching the game he was in and I still remember nothing about him.

He signed last season in the ECHL after signing a try out deal with the Binghamton Senators. For the Bakersfield Condors and Elmira Jackals he totaled 66 games and 22 points, along with another 10 playoff games and 1 goal for the Jackals. Quick interview with him about playing in his first NHL game.

2010-11 Jamie Doornbosch

My favorite of the trio, mostly because of his last name. Unfortunately he played all of 8 shifts for 5 minutes of ice time, mostly in the first period of his game. Dom doesn't even mention him in the recap, but if my memory serves me he did something really dumb during his first shifts that lead to a goal and he basically never saw the ice again.

Otherwise he appears to have retired. I can't find anything on him. In the OHL he played 3 seasons for the Peterborough Petes and his overage season for the Kitchener Rangers. He totaled 147 points in 264 games but was negative +/- in every season. If you really wanted to get a good look at him, there appears to be a youtube account run by a relative of his, given that it's name is hdoornbosch and it appears to have every video about him available.

2011-12 Calvin De Haan

This is the most interesting of the current one-game wonders. Most likely Calvin De Haan has a long career ahead of him and won't be remembered for just one NHL game played during the 11-12 season. But doing this has shown us a little bit of everything: promising youngsters whose careers went off the rails, gritty hard working players who worked their way up for one taste and finally those who were rewarded an NHL game for their work within the organization.

In his first professional season De Haan got his shot in a December 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars. Although his 13 minutes of ice time was lowest of all defenseman that game (40 seconds less then Dylan Reese) he finished the night +1 with 2 shots. Although Mike didn't mention De Haan in the recap, sometimes not standing out is better then screwing up so we remember.

It will be interesting to see how history plays out. Will De Haan be little more then a footnote in Islanders history next to such glorious names as Masi Marjamaki, Neil Hawryliw and Shane Sims? Or will he be a part of the franchise for years to come? That's what makes looking back at history like this so much fun.

Bonus One-Game Wonder

Even more rare is the player who has only played in playoff games. There are a total of 26 players whose whole NHL playing career is during the playoff games. Of those, only 12 players are one-game wonders in the playoffs. Of that group, only one of them notched a point in their appearance, our final one-game wonder.

1976-77 Playoffs: Dave Salvian

Dave Salvian was drafted by both the NHL and the WHA. For the WHA he was a 4th round (60th overall) pick by the Houston Aeros. For the NHL he was drafted by the Islanders in the 2nd Round (29th overall). At the time he was coming off of back-to-back 90+ point seasons for the St. Catherine's Blackhawks of the OHA. In his first pro season with the Islanders affiliate Fort Worth Texans of the CHL he racked up 59 points as a 19 year old good for fourth on the team.

The leading scorer for the Texans that year was Bob Bourne, who was quickly promoted to the Islanders. In Fort Worth Salvian put up another 60 point season, this time good for 3rd on the team. The Texans would go on to the playoffs, and Salvian would have 3 points in 6 playoff games, but what was more memorable was his playoff appearance for the Islanders.

That year the Islanders played in a preliminary best-of-three round against the Chicago Blackhawks. Salvian had an assist, helping the Islanders to dump the Blackhawks in just 2 games. The following season though he scored only 34 points in 68 games for the Texans. The next season he split time between the IHL (3 points in 14 games) and the Texans (24 points in 56 games) but seemingly lost his scoring touch. He signed with the Dallas Blackhawks of the CHL, had a solid season (43 points in 76 games) and retired at the end of the season at 24 years old.