Friday, February 4, 2011

Billy Smith would be proud

The Islanders can’t even win a goalie fight


This hockey post, for those of you unaware, is referring to the New York Islanders hockey club. They're pretty terrible. As of this writing, they are dead last in the Eastern Conference with a record of 16-28-7. Lousy.


So nothing seems to go right for the poor Islanders. Over the last 5 seasons, they've had miserable luck with injuries, free agent signings, a disastrous contract for goalie Rick DiPietro, suspensions (See Simon, Chris), and draft picks (Aside from John Tavares....he's been totally decent). All of this calamity has resulted in 3 consecutive last-place finishes in their conference, a couple coaching changes, and a sense of non-stop rebuilding for a once dominant NHL franchise.

Well, all of this rebuilding is not without its frustrations. Occasionally, frustrations in hockey boil over, resulting in some fisticuffs on the ice. On extremely rare and special occasions, these fights will develop into a full line brawl, where even the goalies get in on the action and drop the gloves. Such an occasion was Wednesday night when the Islanders were playing the Pittsburgh Penguins. Oft-injured Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro clothes-lined a Penguins forward, sparking a rumble during which Penguins backup goaltender Brent Johnson saw fit to skate the entire length of the ice to scrap with the Isle's netminder. DiPietro Didn't Exactly Finish What He Started. Poor Islanders...there's always next year.



UPDATE! As of 1:30PM, Islanders Goalie Rick DiPietro Will Miss 4-6 Weeks of action as a result of facial fractures suffered in this "fight."

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