Isles opener a thrilling contest

It's only Game 1 and it resulted in a loss, but the Islanders put on a good show for opening night at the Coliseum.

John Tavares had a heck of a debut, scoring his first career NHL goal and recording his first assist. He also missed a key breakaway, flubbed a shot in the sudden death shootout and whiffed on two shots from the left flank on power play situations. The good thing is that he was able to get himself in those situations and through time, he'll make good on those opportunities.

The crowd was electric - more so than any other regular season game at the Coliseum in the last five years. That was expected.

As for the game, no one was expecting the Islanders to pull out a win, but for most of the contest- all while surprisingly being out shot - it seemed like they were going to prevail. But just when the win started to sink in, with 3:45 left the Penguins scored to tie it at 3. And so it goes, the Islanders will have a long season as always. It might not be as bad as last year, but don't expect fireworks.

On a positive note, Kyle Okposo looked great - no signs of a concussion from two weeks ago. The team's physicality was remarkable, especially after many ripped the organization for not going after tough guys in the off-season. There were two fights, two scrums that were almost fights and numerous big hits from Islanders.

During the game I got an email from the organization saying weekend game tickets are buy one, get one free for the first half of the season (Only if you received this special email). I don't know if that's a good thing to see, or not, but if every game was like last night's I'll be happy.

The Lighthouse

Charles Wang announced that he'll be looking into other options for the Islanders, officially after not hearing by the October 3 deadline about the Lighthouse Project. Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray said she will be having a discussion with Wang on Monday afternoon to talk about amending the proposed plan. Wang was not happy and 2015 could be the last year of the Islanders if something doesn't change drastically.

Isles weak by NHL.com preview standards

The NHL.com staff has been previewing teams for the past couple of weeks and when it came time for the Islanders to get some love - they got anything but that. Could you expect less? No, because that's how bad they really are.

The Isles were almost dead last in all major offensive categories in the Eastern Conference last season. Writing previews that hold John Taveres on a pedestal is nice for the fans, giving them hope for the future, but will he really make a difference? Let's hope so Islanders faithful.

The Canadian scoring prodigy, who broke Gretzky's records at one point in junior hockey, has the weight of the world on him - and that's no pun since Doug Weight has been his mentor with the Isles through training camp.

The Isles need to improve on face-off percentage, road wins, defensive scoring, power play and penalty kill efficiency, and just about everything in between. With thousands of tickets still available for the season-opener this Saturday against the Penguins, nothing has really changed on the island. The Lighthouse hasn't been agreed upon, the Islanders are still the bottom-feeders of the NHL and John Tavares hasn't done anything yet. Call me a pessimist or feel the pain of being an Islanders fan. Maybe things will change on Saturday.

(Photo from FanHouse)

Long Island's Scuderi brings Cup home

This might be old news, but since the Thin Ice blog did not exist over the summer when this occurred, I felt it would be good to mention ...

Rob Scuderi became the first Long Island native to bring the Stanley Cup to the island and have his name engraved on the trophy. It was raised at the Coliseum when the Islanders won in the early 1980s, but this was unparalleled when Scuderi, who hails from Syosset and attended St. Anthony's High School in South Huntington, brought the Cup all over the island, including Newbridge Park in Bellmore, where he played recreationally.

"We'd have three-minute shifts, then the buzzer would sound and that was the end of the shift -- even if you were on a breakaway," he told Newsday in July. "This is where I'm from, where I started playing hockey. I wanted to bring it back here."

Scuderi won the Cup with Pittsburgh last season, but signed with the Los Angeles Kings this past off-season.

Lighthouse zoning hearing same day as KC game

Is it a coincidence? I think not. After waiting over 25 days for the Town of Hempstead to schedule a date for the Lighthouse zoning hearing, Town Supervisor Kate Murray finally chose Tuesday, September 22 as the day. It will consist of three sessions (9:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., 2 p.m. - 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.). They will be held at Hofstra's Adams Playhouse in the middle of campus.

The catch? September 22 is also the day the Islanders are scheduled to play their pre-season game in Kansas City - also a city rumored to want an NHL team. Thank you very much Ms. Murray for pissing Islanders nation off, once again. If this Lighthouse proposal does not go through, don't expect Ms. Murray's political career to advance any further than it already has. While it's commendable that she is the first woman to serve as Town of Hempstead Supervisor, let's hope for her sake that she gains another re-election when this term is up. Only the vote will tell.

There is also a "yes or no" time stamp scheduled for October 3, for which the team needs an answer about the project. That's also opening night for the Islanders, who host the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

(Photo courtesy LighthouseLI.com)