On the Islanders Beat

BEST HOCKEY COACH EVER IN NY HOCKEY AND BEST NEW YORK HOCKEY TEAM EVER TO STEP FOOT IN THIS STATE.

CLASS ACT

1500 ARBOUR

740 ARBOUR

Al Arbour coaching the Isles tomorrow:

I mean, when will these gimmicks stop? I thought I saw it all when the Isles celebrated Bob Bourne Night last year, LOL.

I mean, when you can't sell tickets, you need the gimmicks.

We've already seen the Isles give aways thousands of tickets earlier this season during the "Kid's Day" game (Columbus Day)

They gave away thousands of tickets to the fire department.

They are planning on giving away thousands of tickets for firefighters day.

They sold tickets for 16 bucks last night celebrating Sillinger Night.

Now we have Arbour Night (for what, the 100th time since the guy retired). I mean, every time you look up the Isles are rolling out that four eyed fool.

anonymous -

who the hell care what you say.

what was leetch night or messier night retard!!!!!!???????

ranger trollz:

al arbour coached a proffessional team to 4 consecutive championships. that's why he's being celebrated. don't be jealous or envious, just respect the accomplishment. maybe the rangers will have their own dynasty to put into the record books one day, then no one would be able to poke fun at them ever again.

Al Arbour was already celebrated. They had a night for him a few years back and his name is raised from the rafters. Now, to sell a few tickets, they are rolling him back out there.

Face it.... this is a gimmick to sell tickets. You know it, I know it.

Oh NO!!!!!

You mean the Islanders are out to make their tickets AFFORDABLE!!!!! They are out giving tickets to people who put their asses on the line to save yours!!!!!!!

What a terrible franchise!!!!

And now they are honoring one of the greatest coaches in modern day North America Sports HISTORY by allowing to him to coach one more game. AND THE FANS ARE REALLY FREAKIN HAPPY ABOUT IT!!!!

This is madness I tell ya!!!

The sad part is that the Islanders need these type of nights. The can't sell tickets any other way. This is a franchise that went the entire decade of the 90's without reaching the teens in average attendance once. That is downright sad. The funny part is, there are very few teams that are ever not in the teens in average attendance, for any season.

average attendance figures:

http://andrewsstarspage.com/NHL-Business/NHL-attendance.htm

Not one of you punks have the nads to sign with a name.
We're is your Stanley cups coaches..
6 six foot under or for hire to run another team into the ground.
I love how your one Stanely cup coach has to keep moving from team to team.

Such hostilities gents. Yes, its a gimmick...but, rather than selling an area name to a company like Nike, having nights like this honor an icon is cool...so stop whining ranger fans. What is disturbing is the lack of physical play by the NYI's(and Rangers btw). Simon has one fight, Witts hits are nothing, Sutton is erratric. C'mon guys..Arbour must think the game has turned soft. The isles are a blue collar, overachieving type of club...they should be physical, forecheck, intimidate, annoy etc...how the heck do they get pasted at home the other night and NEVER raise a fist? Gillies, Bobby N, Bomber, Vukota, Howatt, Curan , webb, kerr, cairns...where is todays guys? yea, the game has changed but Anaheim was a throw back team and won the Cup. The Flyers tough mentality is back and look at the year over year comparrisons!! Time to juice it up boys--hits, fights, anger, passion.

whats wrong with honoring Al Arbour? Whats wrong with letting him coach his 1,500th game? If the Islanders were truly desperate to sell tickets, i think theyd do things like this every night. Teams in all sports offer one day contracts to players so that they can retire as the team they loved or for whatever reason. i think its a very classy thing to do. If it sells more tickets, then by all means thats great. It may be true that our average attendance has been relatively lower than others in the past. But thats really no different than any other sports team. The team was struggling in the 90's with seemingly no positive direction, so you cant blame people for not wanting to spend their hard earned money on hockey tickets. Now this team has some very good young players along with skilled veterans and an ownership which is willing to (in some cases outlandishly) offer money to players to come play here. All of these will hopefully usher in a new age of prosperity to the islanders organization. We dont exactly have the "star power" of the rangers (even though its not as if they are tearing up the league right now) to draw crowds in. The islanders play a much less pretty, but more grinding game of hockey. The ranger team is a very good team on paper, and the product on the ice will probaly soon match their potential, but as we have seen in cases such as the yankees and the mets, the best teams on paper are not always the best teams on the field.

I've been watching a lot of Ranger games on tv these days and noticed how bad our team is. All that money they spend on those two pricks and I'm the detriment to the team ? Nice piece on Ryan Hollweg between periods the other night. That scar on his head is hard to see on television. I didn't know he was gay. I dont think I could have played for Arbor. He wouldn't have put up with my crap. My shoulder is getting better. I would probably be playing by now if Shanny would stop riding me bare back in the shower. The queen's playing over his head right now, he's gonna give up a bad one from the blue line and that will be it for him. He gets all fu///ng emotional. Like last year when he skated off the ice in tears after you guys lit him up. He was never the same. We had to trap the rest of the year to protect him. Its like having a girl on your team and everyone has to cover for her. At least we all get to bang him.

Lets face it when Messier took the money and ran to Canucks, and failed to do anything. When his contract was up he test the free agent market and not one team bit. The Rangers signed him for 4 million only so they could get him to retire has ranger. That's not gimick??? He should be in as Oiler.
When Trots went in he went in has and Islander, even tho he won 2 cups with pitt.
Gretzky has a Ranger helmet in his HHOF display. Come that's big gimmick. He did nothing has Ranger..
The Rangers cup is a gimmick..
Who is kidding anyone the Rags are kings of the gimmick. How many hasbins have been on the team.

Lets get off gimmicks how about some stat..

NYI goal leaders
Comrie 5 goals
Guerin 5 goals
Fedotanko 4 goals
Vasicek 4 goals

NYR goal leaders
Jagr 3 goals
Rozsival 3 goals
Dawes 3 goals

Gomez and Drury 2 goals
Worth every penny
Do they have same agent as Clemens

Spezza signed a 7 year 7million deal
Scored 34 goal 2006-2007

The Islanders are paying tribute to someone who held the cup over and over again as a player and a coach "in order to sell tickets"? Well DUH! And what in the WORLD is wrong with an organization going all out to show respect to one of its heroes and to its loyal fans? What is wrong with doing something wonderful for an Islander legend? This is something that the fans- many of which never got to be there in Als glory says- will love to witness- and if it sells tickets than GOOD. I know Im going to be there!

anyone interested i have 4 tickets to saturday nights game against the penguins 105 row d i am letting them go at face value. send me an email if you are interested to dbobby1@aol.com

Funny how the Rag trolls come out talking old nonsense about trades and attendance when they can't even catch up to our team in standings/points with more games played.

Rag trolls... your a sad joke. Glad Im no longer a member of your disgrace. Flap your gums when you have a legit reason... like having a good record. LOL... that won't happen this season.

LETS GO ISLANDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AL ARBOUR IS THE GREATEST

GO ISLANDERS !!!

LOL!!! I just checked with Ticketmaster and you can still buy 10 seats together, meaning this game isn't close to being sold out. If this ArbourNight wasn't a gimmick, why isn't it a sellout. I mean, Sidney Crosby is coming to town. THis game should be soldout just based on that.

Event
New York Islanders vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
Sat, Nov 3, 2007 07:00 PM
Your Ticket(s)
Section
Row
Seats
Description
331
F
1 - 10
Price Level 10
Upper Level Seating Type10 Full Price Ticket Ticket PriceUS $50.00 x 10 Convenience ChargeUS $6.25 x 10

Live TV coverage in Europe! Isles v. Pens! Starting at midnight but I think this game is worth every penny, so I will buy some beers and enjoy it! Can't wait for it!

Does anybody know who will be playing with Vasicek & Satan? I still like the idea to let MAB play on one of our scoring lines.

Re stats posted by Isles # 22. Did Fedotenko already score four goals? Unbelievable... I am not high on him but it looks like he can surpass 15 goal mark and become solid checking forward...

Enjoy the game!!!

Yes defense wins game, but your defense isn't.. Too bad your team can't move to the south. You might have a chance.

Talk about gimmicks, what about the BS about Jagr and the BS about him scoring 50 goals. You could tell he was embarrassed by the rags making it a big deal, since he was 1 of 3. in their history.
He played along Mario it wasn't who was going to score 50 it was who was going to 60 goals.
What a joke,
He was probably thinking what a F@#king joke this club. I'm the third guy in 81 years to reach 50 goals. What's next, there going to ask me to go in to the Hall as ranger. Man it's going to cost them. I wonder what Messier got.

Again, if this wasn't a gimmick, if it was a genuine Night to honor Al Arbour, why the heck isn't the game soldout? Because deep Islander fans recognize this game for what it is................a publicity stunt to sell a few tickets for face value (not have to sell them for 16 bucks like they have been ALL season or givew them away to students, firefighters, police officers, sanitation workers etc etc etc.) Al Arbour already had a Night, it occurred a few years ago.

You can still get 13 seats together, according to TicketMaster:

Section
Row
Seats
Description
314
K
1 - 13
Price Level 10
Upper Level Seating Type13 Full Price Ticket Ticket PriceUS $50.00 x 13 Convenience ChargeUS $6.25 x 13

Rest assured, to prevent embarrassment, we all know the Islanders will announce this game to save face. There are complete empty sections. There are hundreds/thousands of tickets available in the lower sections according to Ticketmaster, you can still get 5 tickets together in Section 219, LOL:

Section
Row
Seats
Description
219
L
9 - 13
Price Level 4
Lower Level Seating Type5 Full Price Ticket Ticket PriceUS $120.00 x 5 Convenience ChargeUS $6.25 x 5

Meant to say they will announce this game as soldout to prevent embarrassment.

I bet any amount of money that if the standing look the way they are now in February you will see empty seats in garden especially those seats over $100.00 in MSG just like 2001, 2002, and 2003

Last year the Isles had "Bob Bourne Night". It was a gimmick. And the Isles were red faced when there were thousands of empty seats all over the building.

WFAN's Top 20 NY Sporting Personalities, as voted by the fans:

Rank Player
1 Derek Jeter
2 Mark Messier
3 Lawrence Taylor
4 Joe Torre
5 Patrick Ewing
6 George Steinbrenner
7 Mariano Rivera
8 Bill Parcells
9 Mike Piazza
10 Don Mattingly
11 Phil Simms
12 Dwight Gooden
13 Martin Broduer
14 Brian Leetch
15 Darryl Strawberry
16 Wellington Mara
17 Curtis Martin
18 Alex Rodriguez
19 Mike Richter
20 Bernie Williams

Funny, where are the Islanders??? LOL!

No Joe Namath.
That shows what a farce this WFAN list there is not a player past 1990.
These are fans that weren't watching sports past 1990.
Shows you what the hell they know. Fans like yourself. You know nothing They about sports.

Hanna Montanan tickets are the top selling ticket right now you get any.
Will she be in the Rocking Roll Hall of Fame? NO

There is only 2 teams in NY the have owned Dynasty titles.
The Yankee and The Islanders

I hope you enjoy your Hanna Montanan show.

You stupid rag troll, knows no sense of greatness in sports.

How is the bottom looking up
and That fifty million salary??
How is Gomez, he should be arrest for grand theft, when cashes his paycheck?

The wfan list is for years they have been on the air, 20 years.

One point that no on this blog mentioned is that this coaching thing came from Nolan not a marketing guy. So it's not gimmick.

Guys, it's all been said before... the Ranger trolling and the responses are completely boring!!! We all know the facts about both franchises... saying the same things over and over, on both sides of the argument, what is the point? Can we actually talk about hockey? Do the Ranger fans have any interest in their team *other* than in relationship to the Islanders? If not, as appears to be the case for some of you, something is wrong. Go talk about the Rangers on the Ranger board! Registration/moderation of this blog cannot come soon enough!

Okay, if this isn't a gimmick, and this is a genuine, genuine effort by the Islanders to honor their former coach (even though he already was honored), well, then the ISLANDER FANS have seriously let down Al Arbour and the Islander organization. It is obvious that this game isn't close to being sold out. It's confirmed on TicketMaster. Their are scores of available seats. Way to Honor this man, Islander fans!

Speaking of Al Arbour Night is not trolling. It's an issue. THis is what will happen tonight. The Islanders will announce the game as a sellout even though their are thousands unsold (see TicketMaster). Hockey Night in Canada will 1) debate whether this night should even be occurring; 2) They will focus in on the empty seats, and pretty much laugh at the American hockey fan (Thanks, Isles fans); 3) laugh at the Isles for announcing the game as sold-out.

Dum-dum: I called for tix yesterday and the ticket agent (who had no reason to lie to me, I was already buying a ticket) said the game was almost sold out. The Islanders also usually sell something in the 1000-2000 range on the day of game.

Second, why do you care? The team's lease at NVMC is through 2015 -- not going anywhere -- and Charles Wang is clearly committed to rebuilding the franchise as well as the arena. Look at the Mets' attendance -- it was below 2 million for the year for much of the 90s, and as low as 2.1 million in 2003 (26k per game), just 4 years ago. This past season they drew 3.8 million (48k per game). Why did the Mets attendance nearly double in 4 years? Because they started winning again, and they showed the fans a commitment to winning. And it still took a few years to build the attendance up. Are Mets fans bad fans? The Yankees have the same pattern... are they bad fans? The Islanders went through ownership problems far worse than any team in the history of NY sports (Spano, Gluckstern/Millstein, et al.). Never before has a NY team sold/traded off talent because they simply were not willing to maintain a competitive payroll. So the Islanders' DECADE of ownership problems devastated their relationship with fans. It is taking time to rebuild it. As of LAST YEAR (hiring of Snow/Nolan) the Isles have a good front office for the first time in at least a decade. Give it a little time...

And by the way, if this is all you've got, it's pretty sad.

The rangers announced their home opener was a sellout months in advance. The day of the game I had no problem finding tickets on ticketmaster lol. Go back in the archives and you'll see someone posted it on the Rangers blog. When asked why the Rangers announced a sellout if there were still tickets available, all the rag kiddies could respond with was that the islanders had the worst attendance in the league. Nobody answered the question.

I'll add one more thing... I am quoting from page 16 of the October 25-31, 2007 issue of TimeOut New York: "The cheapest tickets to a Ranger game are $40.50 each through TicketMaster for mezzanine seating and are readily available."

Yet every single game is reported as a sellout. Care to explain that?

Merrick, LL, Nick, MetalChick and others going to the game tonight: I'll be in section 117 and wearing an olive green baseball cap that says "Forest Hills." See you there...

LETS GO BOYS!!!!who gives 2 s**ts what the attendance is. show up and your doing your part. enough of the bs pickering back and fourth about the attendance. any word yet on who there calling up for 2nites game to replace bergy? anyways lets 2 to points 2nite and take out that p**sy crosby. c ya at the game boys!!!!

Sad I will miss it........I will be watching and rooting hard from Mass.....Have fun!

Duuuuuhhhhh,................ the Rangers through Ticket Master have Ticket Exchange where season ticket holders can put their seats up for sale for any given game that they cannot attend. So there will always be someone selling their tickets: http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/805991/&CAMEFROM=NHLRANGERS?brand=nyrangers

Now with the Islanders, you can still purchase entire rows. Take this row for example:

Section
Row
Seats
Description
314
K
1 - 13
Price Level 10
Upper Level Seating Type13 Full Price Ticket Ticket PriceUS $50.00 x 13 Convenience ChargeUS $6.25 x 13

Islanders fans just look ridiculous. They say this is such big Night to honor a great coach, yet there are scores of seats available. Again, the Rangers through TicketMaster have TicketExchange where season ticket holders, if they cannot attend a game, can put their seats up for sale. It's a great idea.

I'll tell you what............ go to TicketMaster and try to get 13 seats in a row for tonights Ranger game. Go ahead. You can get that for tonight's Isles game.

Schooled!

Tell me, why do the Isles not offer Ticket Exchange to their fans on their web site? See, the Rangers know every game is sold-out, so if fans cannot attend a game, they allow those fans to sell them. The Isles can't do this, because they have sooooooooooo many tickets available every game, why would they want to help their fans sell tickets they can't use? That would just hurt them in their attempt to sell.

Marketing 101 for you Islander fans!

Plenty of tickets for tonight's rangers game guys in case anyone is interested. I'm sure dolan will announce a sellout though as usual.

Hey Anonymous, the rangers ticketexchange tickets are listed SEPARATELY from the ticketmaster.com tickets. Here is the link for the ticketexchange:

http://teamexchange.ticketmaster.com/html/eventlist.htmI?l=EN&team=rangersnhl

Those are listed SEPARATELY from the single game tickets for sale through www.ticketmaster.com. HAHAHAHAHA, nice try kid.

It says this at the top of the page of your rangers ticketexchange page:
-------------
Buy tickets directly from season ticket holders.
If you don't find the seats you want here, be sure to check Ticketmaster for other individual game tickets.
----------------------

hahahahaha, marketing 101? If you don't find someone selling their season tickets on the ticketexchange page, then you should check the ticketmaster site for OTHER INDIVIDUAL GAME TICKETS.

Sorry ranger fan kiddie, you got SCHOOLED!!

Thanks for the info, KH. I'm in 123x, wearing my new blue DP jersey and a cream-colored cap that says "US Open: Oakmont"

Let's get 2 for the Coach

i ll be at 309....and out at the beer garden during periods wearing my 16 sim jersey.....lets get 2nite for Al

Nope. FACT. The tickets quoted above by Islander fans are tickets that can be found on the Ticket Exchange you cited. Thank you for proven my point. SCHOOLED!

http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D003EEFEE096D47?artistid=805991&majorcatid=10004&minorcatid=9

Look at the tabs at the top of the page. "On sale now" or "buy from fans." They're two different options. They're listened separately you moron. The game never sold out.

my sister just brought 4 tix to the rag game tonite...just so rags now ..you might be able to see your team actually play

NHL network is showing the Final game of Isles vs Rag in 84 playoff.
Ch 215
I just saw an ad for 94 for rags cup dvd, love hearing Rosen saying this will last a life time. I hope does, because it will take another life time, to see another.

1 cup 67 years

I take my HHOF, 4 time Stanley Cup champ, picking his nose,
Then hired hand, carpet bagging, haven't won anything in the last 14 years Keanan, picking butt

For tonight's Rangers-Devils game - still plenty of seats left. The pathetic rangers can't even sell out when they're playing a rival:

Your Ticket(s)
Section
Row
Seats
Description
85
B
1 - 4
PRICE LEVEL 2
LOGE LEVEL SEATING
CLUB SEATING
Type
4 Standard Admission

Ticket Price
US $254.50 x 4

Convenience Charge
US $14.45 x 4

>>Look at the tabs at the top of the page. "On sale now" or "buy from fans." They're two different options. They're listened separately you moron. The game never sold out.

There seperate options that combine, moron. The tickets on Ticket Exchange can also be found on the Ticket Master web site. Duh. The very seats posted by Islanders fans via Ticket Master are also found on Ticket Exchange. Duh. You're proving my point, LOL!

Sorry gary, they're listed separately. Two completely separate options, two completely separate listings. You're wrong. Too bad the rangers claim to sell out every game yet there's always tickets available.

Plenty of seats available for Al Arbour Night. 5 hours before game time, can still buy entire rows:

Section
Row
Seats
Description
312
K
1 - 13
Price Level 10
Upper Level Seating Type13 Full Price Ticket Ticket PriceUS $50.00 x 13 Convenience ChargeUS $6.25 x 13

I posted all the tickets in 215 available, plenty of seats also (5 at a time) in 217:

Section
Row
Seats
Description
217
L
7 - 11
Price Level 4
Lower Level Seating Type5 Full Price Ticket Ticket PriceUS $120.00 x 5 Convenience ChargeUS $6.25 x 5

If you want to check out the Isles ridiculously low attendance figures for the last decade plus, see this link, LOL:

http://andrewsstarspage.com/NHL-Business/NHL-attendance.htm

Nice way to spend your weekend Rag loser....Talking about the Isles attendance. You have hit a new all time low in your life.

Walk out of your hovel into traffic and just end it!

Nothing defies the Islander fans better than the 93-94 season. In 92-93 the Isles made the semi finals,the next year they barely averaged 12,000 a game. Sad, just sad.

Wonderful article about Al Arbour in today's NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/03/sports/hockey/03vecsey.html

heres the whole deal, rag fans listen up

one: attendence has nothing to do with your team and how they play hockey

two: they cant not say anything bad about our team b/c we have been playing good

three: this is the reason why they come over here..and troll..so what we may not sell out all of our games...the last decade: doesnt matter b/c we are in 2007..ATTENDENCE MEANS NOTHING WITH HOW YOUR TEAM PLAYS. NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR YOUR FAKE SELLOUTS..YOU DO HAVE SELLOUTS BUT CORPORATIONS OWN 75% OF YOUR SEASON TICKET SALES.. IF YOU WANT TO COME OVER AND TALK HOCKEY GO AHEAD..BUT YOU ARE MAKING YOURSELF LOOK STUPID

four: you sold a lot of tickets this year b/c you signed 2 top free agents which so far have got you nothing..but time will tell.

I just read this thread and I'm stupider for having done so ...

Islander fans ...I think we all realize that most Ranjerk fans are rediculous people - so why are you responding to them? Just ignore them ...and by "them" I mean the same person using multiple names to try and act like he's got supporters.

Lets focus on the team and talking with those who want to have conversations about hockey.

Ask yourself this ...who's worse - the Ranjizz trolls who are over here acting like ....well....Ranjizz fans OR us Islander fans who take the time to validate their idiotic ramblings?

----------
Posted by ray | November 3, 2007 14:38 Nothing defies the Islander fans better than the 93-94 season. In 92-93 the Isles made the semi finals,the next year they barely averaged 12,000 a game. Sad, just sad.
----------
Why is this moron babbling about Islander attendance from fifteen flippin years ago??? How stupid can one person possibly be? This guy has got to be breaking some kind of record.