Jr Islanders Prepare For Quebec Tournament
The team plays first game together at Madison Square Garden
Before the Islanders took care of business against the Rangers on Tuesday by the score of 4-3, the Junior Islanders took part in their first exhibition game before traveling to Quebec in February to participate in the 2007 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament.
The Junior Islanders traveled to New York City to compete against the Pee Wee Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Playing in their first game together, the Jr. Islanders Dawned their brand new Islanders jerseys, complete with numbers and names, the Jr. Islanders played a hard-fought 45 minutes of hockey.
The Islanders fell behind in the opening minute, but goaltender Ronnie Sartena of the Freeport Aeros, was in the zone the rest of the way, stopping every shot before being replaced mid-way through the second period.
"I was really psyched going into the game," said Sartena. "I read this book called Winning State Hockey that has helped me to stay better focused throughout the game. I just concentrated on staying focused and I was all good from there."
Jacob Smart replaced Ron in the second period and also played superbly in goal, allowing only two goals.
"We were a little nervous at the beginning, but our goalies played well and kept us in the game," said head coach Steve Webb. "After we got the jitters out, we started working hard and generated some offensive opportunities."
One of the best opportunities came from Long Island Gull, Chris Sabanos, who nearly put one in during the second period after beating the Rangers netminder. However, the puck clanked off the crossbar and stayed out.
"I got a great pass from defenseman Nolan Pues and I one-timed it," said Sabanos. "Unfortunately, it hit the post."
Despite playing with no checking the game became as intense as most games are between the NHL Islanders and Rangers. Defender Dana Trivigno threw her weight around knocking a number of Rangers forwards down. Coach Webb was pleased with her physical play.
"Dana showed some heads-up playing out there," said Webb. "She was leading by example and playing with some high energy. Overall, our defense played really well."
Despite allowing the early goal, the Islanders' goaltending and defense allowed only three goals, effectively clearing pucks and bodies from the front of the net.
The final score may have been 3-0, but Webb thought it was a good first game together as a team.
"It was our first game as a team, and I thought it was a pretty good effort overall," said Webb. "We gelled well later on in the game. We had a number of scoring chances, but we just didn't capitalize on them. By the third period, we were getting in the other team's face. The more we play the better we're going to get."
After the game, the Jr. Islanders stayed at the Garden to watch the Islanders defeat the Rangers 4-3 to complete a full day in New York City.
The Jr. Islanders will play again on January 30 at the Nassau Coliseum, prior to the Islanders-Detroit Red Wings game. From there, they will travel to Quebec to compete in the international tournament from February 8-18.
Assisting Webb with this year's responsibilities is Dan Bedard, who has been a part of the Jr. Islanders program for 12 years, helping to coordinate and coach the team along with Bob Nystrom and Jerry Hart.
"Every year we seem to be developing better talent," said Bedard. "We used to be excited if we won 25% of our games at the Quebec tournament. Recently, we went all the way to the finals and there were over 12,000 in attendance watching that game."
The players know this was only an exhibition game. It's the tournament in Quebec that they're most worried about. They might just get another chance to show their cross-river rivals who's better when it really counts.
"I've been looking forward to the tournament up in Quebec for a few years," said Sartena. "I've been preparing for this for a while."
