Continuing from yesterday's blog, I am behind the scenes at Thursday's Islanders vs Rangers game. I spent the game in the Islanders' Blog Box covering the game along side my brother, esteemed Islander blogger B.D. Gallof. The game has ended and we are about to head on down into the locker room and press area…
In case you missed
Part 1 –
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Our troupe is lead down the tunnel, we pass by a few security checks I boldly show off my media pass and walk by… the first time in my life actually unimpeded. We gather in a small room, not much bigger than my living room. There is a small podium behind a curtain that has the Islanders' logo smothered all over it. There's an assortment of camera crews and reporters, Islanders' officials, Islanders' bloggers and… me.
Of course Newsday's staff writer Greg Logan was present. I wondered what he thought of the fun we had with the dish he left. It was a ceramic dish which Greg Logan and his wife brought dessert to B.D.'s Blog Box cocktail party back last Friday. We used the dish in
Tuesday's Sibling Rivalry as I pretended to hold it ransom to gain access to the game. B.D. packed the dish with us up to give back, but Greg insisted they purposely left the dish for B.D. and his wife to keep. Well one ransom note down the drain… I'll have to try a new method to worm my way back into the Blog Box for April’s Rangers vs Islanders game.
We're all in press room waiting until finally someone shouts out, "he's coming!" a few seconds later Islanders' coach Ted Nolan steps into the room and smoothly walks over to the podium. Instantly dozens of people turn on voice recorders and place them all over the podium, the television cameras all turn their lights on and crowd in. Nolan patiently waits for everyone to get situated and waits for the first question.
Greg Logan fires off first, most of the questions were concerning Nolan's choice of starting back up goaltender Wade Dubielewicz over Rick Dipietro. Nolan basically answered that he felt Dubielewicz had the hot hand, and that it was fruitless to second guess yourself. He also said that they would be riding DP from here on out.
It was a relatively short session; I thought Coach Nolan would have been more animated and upset. Not that it was based on any thing I have seen of him, just a preconceived notion I had. I was expecting a steamed coach; instead Nolan seemed very cool and collected.
Once all questions were satisfied Nolan nodded to everyone and left the room. The rest of us all were herded back out of the room and out into the hallway. A few doors down from the press room was the Islanders' locker room, we all filed in as Islanders' captain Bill Guerin waited.
The locker room itself was not all bigger than the press room we were just in. Equipment was scattered about, and all the cubbies had the players' names on them. Above the cubbies was a collage of Islanders great moment photos from their 4 cups that looped across the room.
Guerin was dressed in his all blue Islanders' long johns, he didn't look happy. In fact he looked like a man that was just told they were going to remove one of his testicles. The cameras were up so close to him and microphones were just right in front of his face, I felt like it must feel so awkward for a hockey player to answer questions like this, but then again they are all probably very used to it.
When asked about the power play, the same power play that completely failed to convert during the game, including a 51 second 2 man advantage, Guerin replied, "It's #%$@# awful. We've tried to figure it out. We've tried to do different things every game. I don't know what it is." Guerin then talked about having to win most of the games left and that no one was quitting on the team. After the questions we all shuffled to the other side of the locker room to wait for Wade Dubielewicz.
It was at this point Islanders blogger Michael Schuerlein who I met at B.D.s cocktail soiree turned to me and exclaimed, "Get that smug smile off your face right now!" I chuckled at him, not even realizing I even had one. To be perfectly honest I wasn't even thinking about the fact that it was my beloved Rangers that was caused all the agitation I was seeing the consequences of. I just was more in awe of the entire situation, here I was a hockey fan all my life, and I'm standing in an NHL locker room watching players get interviewed. It was just simply mind numbing.
Goalie Wade Dubielewicz walked over wearing a shirt and tie. As he walked by me, I didn't even realize that was him, he looks more like an every man and I mistook him for just another Islanders official when I spotted him walking up in the corner of my eye. As Dubie started answering questions on the game I thought to myself I wonder what he’d think about the rollercoaster height requirement joke I made in the
live blog. The truly ironic thing was that he still stood about an inch taller than myself, so if Wade couldn't ride said rollercoaster, well neither could I.
Wade answered some questions about the game and his performance. I was thinking to myself it really wasn't his fault. The Isles' defense really hung him out to dry and the Rangers were just simply dominating play in both the first and third periods. Wade finished up and walked off.
We stood there waiting for the next player to come out. I relaxed a bit wondering who the next player would be, I looked around and everyone was looking at me. B.D. motions at me. I whirled around and there standing right behind me was a shirtless, heavily tattooed Brendan Witt. I quickly moved out of the way as the cameras, writers and bloggers converged on him. Apparently my husky frame was blocking the way.
Witt who spent most the game grinding back and forth with a certain Sean Avery, looked like he hasn't smiled since the Reagan administration. Witt commented on Shanahan's break away goal which pretty much set the pace of the game right in the beginning of the first period. He took responsibility saying, "It was just a bad read. I should have known he
was there." Witt answered a few more questions and quietly left the room.
After Witt sauntered off, we were told no more players would be coming out. B.D. loudly asked so the whole room can hear if I wanted to measure Dubielewicz's pads and pointed to the pair of goalie leg pads sitting right next to me. I demanded to see a tape measurer and I would get to the bottom of things. No one had one, so we wrapped up our stuff and headed back out into the hallway. B.D., myself and his fellow Blog Box compadres, Michael Schuerlein
(Islesblogger.com), Kenneth Dick
(Okposo Net), Dee Karl
(NY Islanders 7th Woman) and Tom Liodice
(The Tiger Track... who called me "evil Ranger brother" in his blog *wipes tear*) all conversed for a while near the stair well. Then we headed out into the night to hike back to the car. Thus ended my first NHL behind-the-scenes experience.
Again, I'd like to express a big thank you to Chris Botta and the entire Islanders organization for allowing me to do this. You have to respect what the Islanders have done here allowing the "new media" actual access. I only hope that other bigger market teams, *cough cough* Rangers *cough* will follow suite. And, I don't say that just because my bulbous rear would be vying to be getting into one of those seats, but more so, I feel to give something like this to the fans is just good for the sport of Hockey.
Here's looking to Sunday's game against the Bruins who will be looking to take back 6th place. Hopefully they will leave Madison Square Garden very disappointed, much how the Patriots left the Super Bowl.
~Scott Gallof
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