Don’t Believe The Hype

If I close my eyes, I can picture what so-called “experts” are writing and what they’re saying. “I’ll tell you what – I like this New York Islanders team.” “This is a team that will never say die.” “These Islanders do not know the meaning of the word ‘quit’.” “Last year’s Islanders team folded in the clutch. But not this year’s team.” “Opposing teams can no longer take the New York Islanders for granted.” Gag. I’m not trying to be the turd in the punch bowl here, but just about all of these quotes could have been attributed to the Islanders we saw twelve months ago. You know, the team that was hovering around .500 (or, as Howie Rose would say, “The NHL’s definition of .500″) and the eighth seed for the first two months of the season. Ultimately, as the season progressed, blown leads became blown games, the entire team got hurt, and that was that. This year has gone much the same way, but the Isles managed to not blow a couple of games. So now, I’m supposed to be excited? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Here’s the thing. Everyone else might be surprised about the Isles’ success of late and the sudden emergence of Jeff Tambellini. I’m not. Tambellini Let’s discuss Tambellini first, because he’s the easy one. When Mike Piazza left the Mets to sign with the Oakland A’s as a designated hitter, he said the hardest adjustment was keeping his mental focus when he wasn’t hitting. As a DH, all he could do was hit, and if he was hitting poorly, it was hard for him to feel confident. After all, he couldn’t pat himself on the back for catching a good game anymore. Most pure scorers in the NHL are not unlike designated hitters in baseball – they need to do their Continue reading Don’t Believe The Hype