by Ja Young

The SBU Alumni Association sponsored a great hockey outing - lunch at the Marriot, photo op with Mike Bossy, and what turned out to be a great game with the Isles trouncing the Habs 3-2 and gaining a place in the playoffs for the day.

Early lunch at 11am before the game was a mostly traditional tailgate menu of burgers and dogs with kraut - though in the far more upscale and definitely warmer Chardonnay Room at the Marriot than the die-hard fans doing it on grills in the Coliseum parking lot. 

The highlight was a visit by hockey great Mike Bossy, an Islanders All-Star during the glory years when the Isles four straight Stanley Cup wins put them in the ranks of the Top Ten Teams in NHL history. Bossy had 9 years of 50 goals or more including being the first rookie to score 50, he tied Maurice Richard's record of 50 goals in 50 straight games, he was inducted into the NHL Hall of Fame, in 1998 he ranked #20 of all hockey greats, he... ah, the list goes on and on. Read all about Bossy's record below.  

Then a short walk over to the Nassau Coliseum. Everyone should go to a game in the old coliseum before it is renovated and ruined for the little guy who can't afford ultra prime seats. At Madison Square Garden for the same priced tickets its cold metal bleachers with binoculars needed. At the Coliseum the seats are padded and comfy and although our tickets were not prime there are no seats in the Coliseum that need binoculars. 

The alumni deal was lunch and the game for $50 which was extremely good since the seats were fairly decent $95 ones. Unfortunately we were on one side of the goal and they only played that end once, and the netting means photos are not ideal, but with the Nikon's telephoto lens we could even see the smiles on the faces when Frans Nielsen won his first goal as an NHL player. Neilsen is the first Danish born and raised player to ever do so. Check them out at http://aasquared.org/gallery/Islanders022407

And the game - wow. A sold out crowd makes any game better because the excitement level rises and the raucous singing and cheering engulfs the place. Within the first three minutes Islanders Tambellini scored. Then on a Montreal power play Montreal tied. Then Isles Jason Blake scored, followed by Nielsen's first. Long Island native Chris Higgins gave Montreal another goal but they never managed to catch up. 

NY Islanders Press Box report on the game:
http://www.newyorkislanders.com/pressbox/postgame.asp?id=1435

Danish-native Frans Nielsen scored his first NHL goal and added an assist to help the Islanders pull even with Montreal in the Eastern Conference standings with a 3-2 win over the Canadiens in front of a sold out crowd of 16,234 at the Nassau Coliseum, Saturday afternoon. The win gives the Islanders 70 points, good for a spot in the seventh position with Montreal, which has played 64 games to the Islanders' 62.

"I was so pumped for Frans," said Islanders and Bridgeport linemate Jeff Tambellini. "He's the first kid to grow up in Denmark and do what he's been doing, so that's phenomenal. He's been a great friend of mine the whole year. Nielsen and I played every shift together down in Bridgeport. Whether it's PK, 5-on-5 or power play we're out there. Since we've been up, we've been doing everything together, so it was nice to be out there when he scored his first."

Tambellini and Jason Blake also tallied goals while Richard Park set-up two goals for the Islanders, who improved to 4-1 on their current seven-game home stand. Blake's goal was his 29th on the season – a career high after totaling 28 last year in 76 games. Rick DiPietro earned his 27th win of the season, stopping 20 of 22 shots. Rookie netminder Jaroslav Halak allowed three goals on 31 shots.

Rookies Tambellini and Nielsen combined for the first Islanders goal, 2:43 into the game. Nielsen's wraparound on the backhand was blocked aside by Halak, but Tambellini batted the puck out of mid-air into the back of the net. The goal was Tambellini's second this season, and Nielsen's first NHL point.

Montreal's dangerous power play evened the score at one while skating 5-on-3. Sheldon Souray's blast from the point bulged the twine with 6:06 remaining in the first period.

Blake tallied his career-high 29th goal with 4:04 left in the first period. While at neutral ice, Viktor Kozlov fed Blake, who skated into the offensive zone and scored on the backhand.

"I'm just trying to do the little things right," said Blake. "It feels good to reach a new career-high, but the team win is the most important thing. It was a good day."

Nielsen went a step further in the second period notching his first career NHL goal at 9:08. Nielsen corralled the puck in the slot and waited patiently for Halak to go down before flipping it over him. Park assisted on his second goal.

"I lost the faceoff, but Parky did a great job winning the puck back," said Nielsen. "The goalie came out, so I held onto the puck and I had an open net. It was pretty exciting."

With 3:50 gone by in the third period, one of Montreal's Long Island-natives, Chris Higgins scored to cut the lead to 3-2.

Marc-Andre Bergeron saved a goal when he blocked Alexander Perezhogin's shot headed for the back of the net mid-way through the third period.