Good morning all ye faithful Long Island hockey fans. There's a home coming of sorts tonight at the coliseum. Our own Orange and Bluer than Blue Islanders are set to have their first game of their home stand against of all teams, the dreaded NY Rangers.

As if that wasn't adding insult to injury enough for my taste, there is more. I opened the paper this morning to look to see what is usually a morning article about the evening's match up. I was hoping for just a smidgen of good-natured trash talk. But what did I find in our morning Newsday? Basketball, Football and high school sports.

As I usually do in the early morning, I check this blog for stats and such. Well, this is the first time I've ever had someone take the time to ask ME questions. Very thoughtful, very detailed, VERY INTENSE questions. I figured the least I can do is have the courtesy of answering them. (As there are those I know who don't.)

when you're on the bottom that is. Well, that's where the Islanders are and they seem to be staying.

Whether it be because of staggering injuries, a lack of experience, a lack of talent, or just plain bad luck, the numbers are just painful to look at (and I work with numbers all damn day long!).

Twenty-eight points and the highest goals against in the league. Atlanta is close; probably not a distinction they are happy with.

So what did I get out of staying up past my usual work-a-day bedtime to watch this game from Edmonton?

1) The pleasure of listening to Jiggs, Jaffe & Doug Weight. What a team they were.
2) The smile I got from watching Okposo and Blake Comeau score.
3) A reason to wonder if there actually IS a conspiracy against the Islanders in the Toronto war room.

Negative.

The smell of firewood in the air. The cold on my face, the stars in the clear black sky. Where's Dee? Fighting with the XM radio antenna in a cottage in the woods so that she can hear the Isles vs. team Gretzky game.

My knight to the rescue, and Big Angry Man gets it to work and then snickers at me for being such a dolt. But I thank the Hockey Gods for XM broadcasts in far away places, even if I have to listen to the opposing teams radio broadcasters and miss out on Steve Mears and Chris King.

Last night, you could have called it the "Mike Comrie Love Fest" on that radio broadcast. But I had forgotten that Comrie had played for Phoenix. The announcers sounded like they could have been from a college station, but to be fair, they sounded very unbiased and gave out a lot of interesting information.

To the sick feeling I had in my stomach watching Trent Hunter cling to the leg of a linesman looking for help. A clean hit had sent him into the boards, but a door opened unexpectedly and it looked like to me that it got him between the shoulder blades up high. Trent rolled over on his back and when the linesman came to his aid, the look on his face made me hold my breath. Gordon looked like he was going to just puke behind the bench.

The Islanders cannot afford to lose the likes of Trent Hunter -- EVER.

It must have rattled the Islanders as well, since the Rangers scored within seconds of Hunter leaving the ice.

Please give Jackman some iron supplements or check him out for clotting agents in his blood because I've never seen such a bleeder before in this game. It's always the same spot, right above his right eye. He has tissue paper skin that just opens up and bleeds.