Rob McGowan

"Off The Post: Inching Closer to the Future"

Long Island, NY • United States • 25 Years Old • Male

We Have a Series!

It's been a little dry here on the Island, despite the continuous rainfall that has me worried about my upcoming weekend get-a-way to Montauk in two weeks, thus making it a tad difficult to find something to talk about in regards to the Isles.

I typically try to stay away from the Lighthouse talk. I share the same concerns and opinions of most of my fellow bloggers, but I will openly admit that I am not very well versed in the realm of Long Island politics and sometimes I have to sit back and try to figure out who is from what party and how the dots connect.

BD Gallof at www.islandersindependent.com and Chris Botta at www.islanderspointblank.com both cover the on-going saga with great detail and explanations (that is if you're politically impaired like me). You may want to stop by both sites later this afternoon since Kate Murray, Tom Suozzi, and Charles Wang have sat down to drop the glo- ...I mean discuss the Lighthouse Project, together.

So I'll keep it to what I like to talk about most: the hockey. After the first two games of the Stanley Cup finals, I was pretty worried that the Pens weren't going to put up a fight, but they have done just that in their two-game home stand.

Malkin and Crosby are starting to contribute to the stats sheet, which is obviously a necessity if this team is going to win the cup. Throw in that Fleury seems to be stronger in net over in Pittsburgh than he is in Detroit after letting up some weak goals in the first two games.

Home-ice seems to be the deciding factor of the series, and if that's the case we know how this story will end. If the Penguins want to win, they're going to have to want it more and overcome the flying octopus's and howling fans of Detroit.

Who am I rooting for? I have to go with the Penguins. I'm not a big fan of Sidney, and I can't really say I have any emotional ties to players like Fedotenko or Satan winning the cup. I would be happy if Guerin gets another one being that he was always a classy individual in the Isles locker room and was a valuable leader to a young Islanders team. That's not to say that Satan and Fedotenko weren't, (I wasn't a member of the blog-box when they were on the Isles, so I never had the chance to meet them) I just feel that Guerin has worked harder for it.

So why root against the Wings? I've been a die-hard Isles/hockey fan for the past eight years now. The first full season that I followed the Islanders (with Chris Osgood as our starter) began in 2001, and by 2002 in June the Red Wings were holding the cup over their heads instead of Ron Francis and the Carolina Hurricanes. Since then, and dating back further than my fan-hood, the Red Wings have been consistent contenders with what I call lucky drafting with them picking players like Zetterburg and Datsyuk so late in their respected classes. I'm not knocking Detroit's scouts, but it just seems to always work out perfectly in Detroit. Therefore, I think it's time for a change, and a rising young team like the Pens will hopefully walk away as champions at the end of the year.

Plus I don't want Hossa to win the cup. It really bothered me that he left the Penguins to sign with Detroit, the team that just beat him and his team in the finals. I doubt that he was thinking all along 'I'd rather be wearing red than black right now,' during last years series, but that's the kind of kick to the mid-section I felt when he signed that contract. I'm sure Pens fans felt it more so. Yet, if Detroit does win, I will be very happy for Ozzie. I was a big fan of him in his first year with us and was always glad to see he got his game back on track after his second year fall out in 2003.

With the series heading back to Detroit for Game 5, I will be rooting for the Pens to leave home ice as champs after Game 6.

-Rob McGowan