Game #18: Minnesota Wild at Detroit Red Wings, Friday November19, 2010 at 6:00pm CST, Joe Louis Arena [GAME PREVIEW]

In a normal world and on a normal game day, I would talk about the game at hand.  However, times are not normal in the National Hockey League right now.  Plus considering tonight’s opponent, I’m not sure what I can say that we haven’t heard before.  Not only do the Wild have to play the Detroit Red Wings, but they also have to play them at Joe Louis Arena, a rink that has not been kind to the Wild.  Add the opponent and looking at their numbers, one is quickly filled with trepidation.  In fact, I’d rather not think about it.

Controversy seems to be the word of the day this week in the National Hockey League.  First and foremost is an issue that effects all 30 teams.  That bit of controversy stemming from some released e-mails between Colin Campbell, the NHL’s Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations and then NHL Director of Officiating, Stephen Walkom.  In the e-mail exchange, Marc Savard was accused of be a “little fake artist.”  What brings further scrutiny to this situation was the failure to discipline Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke on his hit on Savard just this past March that still has Savard sidelined.  Campbell claims there is no bias toward Savard, nor his past interactions with Savard are what kept Cooke, a sometimes dirty player himself, from being suspended from that hit.  With the e-mails having been leaked, there are those that are calling for the resignation of Campbell.  It appears that Campbell is going nowhere as he has the full, public support of NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman.  It will be interesting to see if anything else comes of this situation.

While there is some definitely juicy gossip in the league offices, that is nothing compared to the soap opera of epic proportions that is playing out on Long Island.  As if things couldn’t get worse for the often hapless New York Islanders, it appears that the latest kerfuffle is of their own making.  Instead of focusing on the troubles on the ice, it appears that Islanders General Manager, Chris Snow and owner Charles Wang have chosen to direct their frustrations and blame their ineptitude on a blogger than themselves.  

In the blogosphere, the voice of the New York Islanders has been that of Christopher Botta.  Botta is not your average fan who starts a blog.  He just happens to be a guy with a blog that actually spent two decades working in the Islanders organization, ironically as the team’s Vice President of Media Relations.  On Wednesday, Botta left a note on his blog (Point Blank) that the New York Islanders had rescinded his press credentials.  The Islanders are within their right to do so, however it appears that there was some spite involved as Botta tended to write articles that were critical in the direction of the team.  Let’s face it, when speaking of the Islanders, the first thing that does not come to mind is positivity.  A team that continues to struggle year after year after year is going to take a considerable amount of criticism.  What makes this issue even worse for Islanders management, is that in a sports rich New York City metro area, the Isles are often the butt of jokes.  If you read any of the comments coming from Islanders fans on any of the message boards, even they realize that the identity of the Isles doesn’t even register in the media.  With their lack of success they’ve become inconsequential.  In the world of sports, lack of media coverage is almost as detrimental as failure on the ice, field, court.  Fans have also commented that Botta’s blog was one of the few sources out there that actually cover the Isles.

What makes Botta’s situation that much more interesting is the stance that the NHL has regarding bloggers.  It is up to the individual teams whether they wish to grant press credentials to bloggers.  For example, the Minnesota Wild are one of the teams who do not extend credentials for bloggers (trust me, we at The State of Hockey News have tried in the past).  I do not wish you to take that as bitterness on my part.  I can understand their policy, as it could easily get tight up in the Al Shaver Press Box.  Also, having seen some of the Wild blogs out there that masquerade as such, they have a right to demand quality, and some of them lack just that, quality.  However, I have a feeling that the Wild make an exception to their “no blogger policy” when Greg Wyshynski, aka “Puck Daddy” is in St. Paul.  In fact, the Wild would be shooting themselves in the foot to deny that particular request, as the Yahoo! blog is probably the most read hockey blog in the blogosphere.

Botta is fortunate in one way.  He is a member of the Professional Hockey Writers Association.  They, along with league officials will most likely have to step in and mediate this dispute.  Like Wyshynski mentioned on his blog about this mess, Botta’s situation raises the question about what individual teams can really do to members of the media (both mainstream and bloggers) when they write less than glowing reviews of the team and that team’s front office.  I don’t know about you, but if a team is falling down and refuses to get up, I don’t want a sugar-coated, excuse-laden fluff piece.  I want to read something hard-hitting, and on occasion “take no prisoners” type of reporting.  For those of you who have read The State of Hockey News for any length of time, you know we’re not afraid to question and challenge the decisions made by players, coaches, and management.  If you were a reader during the Doug Risebrough and Bob Naegele, Jr. years, you know we’re not afraid to speak our minds.  Sure, we try to temper our thoughts, as it’s best to do that in a professional tone than in a typical, obscenity-laced fan reaction.  Besides, we know a season ticket holder who isn’t afraid to speak to Wild owner, Craig Leipold during games, has passed on our URL to Leipold.  It seems that Leipold reads the message boards and blogs to gauge the feeling of fans on the direction of his team.

So while the soap operas are “far” away, the Wild fans are well aware that drama can easily rear its ugly head in St. Paul.  We’ve experienced enough drama in the past three or so years to last for a while.  I have the greatest of sympathy for the fans on the Island.  Having attended a Wild game at Nassau Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum during the Wild’s inaugural season, I know they love hockey, but unfortunately have been dealt a bad hand.  I can only hope that someday that they will get ownership and management that will right the ship.  Lord knows they deserve it. 

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