While one might think that is Hockey Cliché #8, as my friend Brad Kurtzberg from Inside Hockey had told me, it is indeed the term each interview answer included.

Roloson’s saves? Huge.
Nielsen’s game winner? Huge
Getting two points at home? Huge.
Robbie Schremp’s first NHL goal? Huge.

Wait, what? Yes. This was Robbie Schremp’s first NHL goal. And as he put it, for a guy who is used to scoring goals, it was a difficult wait.

When the game was over and I was walking down the stairs with my friend Brad, he asked me if I was going to go directly to Robbie in the locker room considering I have been his biggest supporter. I thought about that and realized – he was right. I seriously have been his biggest proponent. For weeks I’ve asked Gordon, “When will Robbie play?” I never thought I would be able to get near him in the locker room considering.

Oddly, when I walked in there, all the Main Stream Media were dispersed around the room. I didn’t know where to go first. I spent two seconds with Matt Moulson. Mr. Fifteen Goals! And reminded him I need five more. “Five? Until when? January 1st? How many more games do we have?”

Ten, Matt. There are ten more Islanders games before January 1st. I doubt we’ll be able to sneak the January 3rd game into this equation. I told him I had faith in him that he could do it. He smiled at me and mumbled into his hockey bag. “So do I.”

I looked across the room and Robbie Schremp was in the far corner all alone. I didn’t understand that. Being the non-reporter-reporter, I asked the Media Director if I could talk to him. He gave me that look of surprise coupled with confusion as to why I would even ask and just said two words. “GO NOW.”

“Robbie! They finally let you play!” He gave me a big smile, or as big as he could with a mouth full of gunk. “I didn’t realize this was your first NHL goal. How do you feel about it?”

“Neat-o.” I couldn’t help but laugh. But he played in one game and garnered an assist. Played in a second and pots his first NHL goal. I asked if everything was finally clicking. “It’s making the best of your opportunities.” He apologized while he carefully and skillfully cut a soda can into a spit cup. I was fascinated. “It’s just a matter of opportunity. They’ve said all along, not to get frustrated, but there are other players here and they’ve explained to me that I have to wait for my chances. It’s not like they’re holding me down. There are other guys who have proven themselves here. So I have to earn my spot as well. “

The cup trick so totally threw me off my game; I had a hard time asking another question while I had the chance. “How much longer do you think he’ll (Gordon) will let you play?” (Great Dee, like he’d know.)

“I don’t know, I guess as long as guys are out… Hold on a second.” He removed the wad of guck from his mouth. “As long as the guys are out, I guess it’s my opportunity to step up and play. So, as long as that goes, I’ll roll with it.”

Lights, Camera, ACTION! Like ants on a sugar cube there were now a dozen arms with tape recorders and microphones surrounding me and Robbie and the camera lights illuminated his blue eyes. He was fine. I was suddenly claustrophobic.

He was asked about his goal celebration that looked like it was going to take out Mark Street. “That was from juniors. I pulled that out from London Knights days. I was excited and it was good to see the puck go passed the line. I haven’t scored a goal in almost a year so… for a guy who is used to scoring goals, it’s kind of a relief I guess. “

Newsday’s Katie Strang asked how important this win was which earned her the cliché response. “It was huge. Obviously, we need points. We played more games away than anyone else in the league. To finally get a chance to come home and play in front of our fans is a big opportunity and we need to make it hard for teams to come in here. Especially like teams like Boston who have been playing well. We proved that we could play against an elite team.”

Dwayne Roloson is also happy to be playing in the home rink. He said he’s spent so much time on the road; he had to use his GPS to find the Coliseum. Nyuk, Nyuk. Roloson doesn’t usually make jokes in the locker room for the media.

“To get a win here -- it’s huge.”

There it was again. “It’s nice to be back and play here especially in front of great fans that have been supporting us. To get a win at home, it’s always big.”

Roloson didn’t have to make as many saves as he did in that Toronto game that still has him twitching, but they were outshot 32 – 19. “We didn’t give up. As a team, we just kept on going and believed that we were going to win the game. Great play by Combs (Comeau) at the end. The guy hasn’t been playing much the last little while and he played an awesome game tonight and he created the game winner.”

It was Blake Comeau that set up the play that brought Fans Nielsen to the net to end the game at 3 – 2 at 24 seconds into the overtime frame.

So the two players who have spent the most amount of time off the ice made huge contributions to tonight’s win. There it is again – Huge.

Scott Gordon started his postgame with the same sentence when asked how important this win was. “It was huge. Record wise, it’s the top team in the league and how they’ve been playing the last eleven games; it’s certainly their best game against us. And it’s probably a little bit of payback from the first game where we felt we deserved the two points.”

So yes… it was huge.

And I suppose, in this context, it certainly works.

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