When training camp opened in September, Islanders defenseman Brendan Witt was almost unrecognizable after shaving off his long surfer’s locks in favor of a crewcut hairstyle. But now, Witt is back to his hirsute pursuits, having sprouted a Fu Manchu-style mustache in about the time it takes a Chia Pet to grow a thick covering of greenery almost overnight.
Coach Ted Nolan obviously got a kick out of Witt’s latest look today at practice, but what really impressed the coach about Witt was the way he battled through illness to play in the Isles’ 3-2 overtime win Saturday night at Tampa Bay. Witt was more like “Flu Manchu” that night. He couldn’t keep his food down and he was suffering from intestinal problems, but he gutted it out.
Once again, Nolan plans to play seven defensemen Wednesday night in Buffalo, but it’s more of a precaution because Witt was in good health at practice today. “I want to state again how gutsy a performance it was for Brendan Witt last game,” Nolan said. “I think he only had an order of toast in two days. He had the flu real, real bad. That’s why we had seven defense [at Tampa Bay], and we’ll continue to do the same. He looks like he’s got his color back, and he’s got his little Fu Manchu growing so he looks good today.”
The Isles have room for a seventh defenseman because forward Ruslan Fedotenko remains out with his shoulder injury and did not make the trip to Buffalo. However, Fedotenko skated near the end of practice today and worked on his conditioning. He’s listed as day-to-day and could return as soon as Thursday night against Phoenix at the Coliseum.
“It’s one of those injuries where you’re better off taking a day than risk taking a couple of weeks,” Nolan said of Fedotenko. “He’s pretty close to returning.”
Comments (23)
(carried over)
Nick, I think what it is, and maybe I didn't really spell it out, is that teams in general and historically this team especially are products that succeed or fail based on their quality.
I think there are plenty of ready fans here on the island. They are very savvy and knowledgeable and are more than willing to support the team, but the team has not yet had enough success for them to believe they are for real.
When the team plays well, and people believe it is a good team, fans show up. Get that key there, the part about belief? Its critical because it goes a long way toward the fan's decision to spend money to go and see the team in person. When the team is strong, and playing well, and you have reasonable expectation of a positive entertainment experience by going to the game, its very easy to make the decision to go. When your team is at or about the lowest scoring in the league (a league supposedly retooled for offense and its entertainment value), there exists a pretty good chance that you're gonna lose and fans don't want to spend their hard-earned money to see that. Frankly, even when they win games these days they just aren't playing exciting hockey... I appreciate the greatness of a flawlessly executed defensive system that relies on opportune offense, but it simply isn't any fun to watch, and certainly isn't what the league is trying to promote to draw more fans.
This team has goaltending in spades, and plenty of defense. It lacks speed and skill up front. By adding scoring, the team would, presumably, score some goals, which would, in turn, lead to some more wins, which might eventually get people believing this is a good team again, which would almost certainly put some more fannies in the seats.
See? Simple.
See, its reading things like THAT that make you love having Brendan Witt on your team!!!
(carried over from previous thread:)
I agree that in the NY area, winning is the biggest determinant of attendance, but it takes time for success to bring people around again. As I have posted before, the Mets' attendance DOUBLED from 2003 to 2007. Literally doubled in 4 years, as the team showed a renewed commitment to winning and some success on the field. But it takes four years or so, not one. The new regime on the Island has only been in place for a little over one season. And we've already seen significant attendance growth relative to last year. If the Isles have another couple of strong seasons, they'll be selling out the building by the 4th year of the Snolan administration.
And remember the Islanders are trying to recover from more than a decade of severe ownership problems, losing hockey, terrible marketing, etc., etc. (unlike the Mets who had had more recent success and stable ownership). People need to have a little patience. They're doing the right things and Wang is committed long-term to making this succeed. It's going to happen.
I've said it a hundred times and I'll say it again -- Brendan Witt is a direct descendant of William Wallace. Do you think Braveheart would have let a little flu bug keep him out of a battle? Also, how about that Sutton hit in the Tampa game -- Brendan/William must have been mighty proud.
NYIhockey16 -- So true. Can we just all agree now that Witt's nick on this board is Braveheart?
You people keep spewing the same stuff over and over again that most regulars have said a thousand times. I realize it has been a few days since they have played, but wait for something original to talk about. These topics have been beaten like a dead horse:
Smyth trade (bad)
no goal scoring (obvious)
poor fans (organization has been poor)
draft (must we bring up how bad? MM to blame)
avg talent (other than DP, and a few D men, they are below avg.)
Now let's just see what pops up in the news to talk about. The team will most likely finish in last place due to the poor team constructed yet again. So the only question is will we have a smart fire sale in Feb. and get something for the few role players we have?
U DO NOT KNOW IT ALL
GO ISLANDERS !!!
If Fedotenko is out today, now I think it's time to insert MAB to first line and see what he can do!
Tough game tonight. Go back and look at games 1 and 2....High Scoring. Can the Isles keep up????
Two very needed points to stay out of the cellar!
must get two points tonight or we are done as done.
Saint, last time I checked a game in December against a non-divison rival does not make or break a season...GO ISLES
one way or the other, tonight should be a good game. And even though, they may not be the odds on favorite this evening, I've got a sneaking suspicion the Islanders will find a way. Hey! It's the Christmas season, you've just got to BELIEVE.
Come on- we all want the Isles to win another game tonight, but to say they are "done" if they dont is pure melodrama.
I'd like to see Walter up here again instead of 7 D. He looked pretty good earlier in the year, and he was in the unfortunate position of having to play between Simon and Simon Prime (Jackman). Walter and Park would be a combo I wouldn't mind seeing out there.
Buffalo's coming off a loss to Boston, so Lindy will have them fired up, probably. No dump and change tonight...can't give this team that kind of time to set up a breakout. Other than that, Miller against Boston looked a lot like DP did against Atlanta - not necessarily bad but definitely not quite himself, so maybe he's a little tired or is struggling a bit. Hopefully the Isles take advantage...that and the D is notorious for making dangerous passes in front of their own net...Sillinger usually reads plays like that well.
Frei, I think we misunderstood each other in the beginning. From your original post I thought you were talking about simply trying to build up the team with a total blind eye to fan creation. Listen, I agree 100% that a winning team will send people running back to the Coliseum, and that the team plays a bit of a boring brand of hockey. However, reality check: we don't have the assets to acquire the sort of dynamic offensive players that could allow this team to play a more exciting brand of hockey. We can't sit here and say we want them to get a Lecavalier, or a Richards, or a St. Louis, or anyone else in that vein, because a) who doesn't want people like that on their team?, and b) how could we legitimately get them? I advocated acquiring Schneider because Burke is completely hamstrung right now. Everybody knows he absolutely has to unload salary, and we already saw him give Bryzgalov, a legitimate starting goaltender, away for free. I figure that if he wants to avoid Perry getting an offer sheet the way Penner did, he might want to unload Schneider for ANYTHING to free up the cap space to do that (remember, you can't sign someone to a multi-year deal this year if it doesn't fit under your cap for NEXT year). I was merely saying we need to be realistic and concentrate on a guy like Ryder, who clearly needs out of Montreal, or Cheechoo, who may be wearing out his welcome in San Jose (or who could just be recovering slowly from his hernia surgery in the off-season).
I don't want to hamstring the team for the future (AGAIN). If the team falls far out of contention I'd be willing to show just about every veteran short of Witt and possibly Hunter the door to stockpile draft picks. However, if the team is still sniffing contention and needs scoring, we need to build smart and get more high-ceiling guys like Ryder, as well as giving Ben Walter, a guy who could score 20 in this league at least, a shot. In the meantime, I think it's fantastic the Islanders are increasing their visibility in the community because we need to get back into the public consciousness on all fronts.
On second look, I don't think we're disagreeing. The winning in 01-02 brought the fans back, as well as the renewed optimism. However, with Yashin and Peca gone, many people may see the Isles as back to square 1 (such as this guy in the last game I went to that screamed to move the team to Kansas City because they happened - GASP - to be losing that game). In that sense, you need to build your fan base out WHILE building an exciting and competitive team on the ice.
I just hope Snow and Nolan do the right thing this year, whatever that ends up being.
And back to my thought from the previous thread, if we're going to deal with Vancouver, what about Ryan Kesler? He's an agitator-type player, but with some size and talent. He'd look pretty good on this team. Thoughts?
Tonight is a barometer.
A win would be a good indicator that this team will compete for a decent playoff position. It means they're still capable of stringing some wins together against even the better teams in the league.
A loss, especially a one where they're significantly out-scored, would at best indicate that they'll only be competing for the last playoff berth - along with a pretty large group of teams that are also mediocre.
Just my opinion, of course. But I think this one is big.
Regardless if we are competing for an 8 seed or a 1 seed, I would say it's better to make the playoffs. With DP in goal the Isles are capable of putting together a run and knock off some teams.
drop simon off at the canadian border tonight and bring up walter, at least he can get into fights and skate hard
Love the original thought that went into Peace's post. I seriously have not read any of those points before anywhere. Go on an Islander board and rip on attendance? Brilliant! You, sir, are a true comic genius.
I didn't realize this... but I just read on TSN that the Islanders are 9-1-1 this year in games in which they score at least 3 goals. THREE GOALS. Guys, that's really not setting the bar exceptionally high... given our defense and goaltending, if the boys could figure out a way to generate a reasonable amount of offense, this could end up becoming a pretty decent season...
Peace:
I'd like to know which team is too far ahead of the Islanders? Just 5 points seperates every team in the division. Have you even looked at the standings?
Blah blah blah attendance... blah blah blah usual crap. I won't spit out the usual anti-Ranger fan garbage as I am not sure this guy is a Ranger fan, but he sure does sound like one.
what is the deal with Simon? Why is he getting power play time? I really do not understand. I know the Nolan connection but we do have other players that should be out there. Try Bergy, try tambs but please do not have simon on the PP tonight. Bring up Walter
MAB is in tonight
Meyer is sitting