After a hard fought game against the Washington Capitals on Saturday night, the Islanders were scheduled for a Noon practice and a 2:30 pm flight to Montreal. This was a classic game of “Beat the Clock.”

I arrived at Iceworks at 12:05 pm since I had to be in Nassau County any way. The team was on the ice, but the rest of the rink was oddly empty. There weren’t the usual peripheral employees wandering around getting things done and no visible media reps.
Newsday’s Katie String had already confirmed on Twitter that Doug Weight was not making the trip to Montreal, so I decided to use that information to my advantage and locate the Isles PR Director by sending him a text message questioning Weight’s health. I thought that would be far more professional than a text that simply said “HEY! Where IS everyone??? I’m out here alone damn it!”

I parked myself on the bleachers but never took my camera out of its case. Scott Gordon was not on the ice. The practice was being run by Scott Allen and Dean Chynoweth. Just as I was wondering where the head coach was, he walked through, said hello and headed upstairs.

I was relieved to see Sean Bergenheim skating with the team after last night’s 10 second scare. I was also happy to see Trent Hunter actually participating in the drills with his team mates. That must mean he is getting closer to returning.

I watched a particular drill that had me puzzled and decided I needed to speak to Scott Allen about it. He had each player take a pass from the opposite zone, skate with the puck to the blue line, take a shot on the goalie, then move in and position himself in front of the goalie as a screen as another player took shots.

Now, I’ve read “Hockey for Dummies” but I didn’t quite understand this drill. I needed to ask. As Allen was heading off the ice, I tapped on the glass and motioned that I wanted to speak with him. I met him at the door to the locker room.

“First of all, as a Red Sox fan, I can’t talk to you if you’re wearing that jacket.” He said scoffing at my white satin Yankee jacket.

“Well, I could take it off, but it will do you no good since I’m wearing a Jeter jersey under it.” I wasn’t kidding and he decided he’d speak with me any way. I asked him to educate me on the drill I had seen and why he had them ‘blocking’ shots.

“That’s not blocking.” Without being condescending or annoyed by my ignorance, he smiled wide. “It’s redirecting.” For a Red Sox fan, this guy is pretty nice. I asked him how he felt about having to get back on a plane and head back to Montreal so soon.

“I think we’d rather get right back at it while it’s still fresh in our minds -- The outcome of the last time we were there."

I asked what they had done today to prepare for the rematch. “We worked on some flow today -- Get the puck moving. We didn’t want to go long, just get a few things done with purpose, and I think we did that.” I let Coach Allen get back to getting ready for the trip.

While I was waiting for Sean Bergenheim to finish change so I could speak with him, I was lucky enough to engage GM Garth Snow in conversation. I kept my tape recorder in my jacket turned off. We talked about the Yankees, we talked about this morning’s articles, and we talked about the trip to Montreal. He is very liberal with conversation when he knows it won’t be repeated. And it won’t.

When Sean emerged from the locker room, I was summoned over to speak with him. “I’ll let you go work.” Snow said as if HE was keeping ME.

Bergenheim looked no worse for the wear of last night’s game, but I had to ask anyway. “It was nothing. Just a bruise -- It wasn’t anything too bad.” Considering that the stick to the ribs sent him back to the bench doubled over and being looked at by one of the trainers, I figured it would have been worse.

Sean managed to take a few more shots in last night’s game. This is something that Scott Gordon has been impressing on him, but many of those shots are being blocked. I asked if he was becoming frustrated. “It is, but it’s something I have to do a better job of too. Right now I feel when I get a shot opportunity; I have to find the net more. It gets blocked a lot right now. It’s something that will come. Hopefully, SOON!”
I asked him his feelings on the Montreal rematch so soon after the Thursday debacle.

“It’s good. We have so many bad feelings from the last game that it’s good that we can go back there and show we are a better team than what we showed them." They were certainly a better team on Saturday night. “That’s how we have to play; more like that than the Montreal game. It was a good comeback for us from the game before. Hopefully, we can keep it up.” Sean smiled and headed toward the team bus for the drive to the airport.

With luck, the Islanders will take a different attitude with them. The attitude that they can play against teams that are far better on paper and sometimes on the ice. Every game is a learning experience, but they aren’t worth anything if they can’t take what they’ve learned and put it into practice. I guess that’s why they keep practicing.

Show us what you’ve learned boys. Game time Monday 7:30 pm on MSG Plus.

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