State of the Minnesota Vikings

Since my Islanders are at home relaxing watching how the playoffs work out, I have decided to switch gears and talk about another team I love.  The Minnesota Vikings:

Woodward and Bernstein video

This is a video package I shot when Woodward and Bernstein visited Hofstra University on March 20th, 2012

The New York International Auto Show

                                                         On Wednesday April 11th, 2012 I traveled into New York City to attend the annual New York International Auto show.  People walked around and were in awe with all the different types of cars on display.  However, in my opinion even though all the cars were beautiful, there were 10 that really stood out.  Heres the list of my top ten cars.  (Listen to the podcast above to learn more about each of the top 10 vehicles):

DODGE VIPER SRT-10

BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT V8

LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO

ASTON MARTIN DBS

MERCEDES-BENZ SLS AMG

AUDI R8 SPYDER GT

LEXUS LFA

MCLAREN MP4-12C

SPYKER C8 SPYDER T

BUGATTI VEYRON SUPER SPORT

Buyers start your bidding!

Senators overule Islanders

Senators celebrate one of five goals (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images

          After going on a roll, winning five of six games, the Islanders suffered their second consecutive loss, falling to the Ottawa Senators 5-1.
          After the two teams traded goals in the first, the Senators pulled away, scoring three goals in a span of ten minutes in the second period. 
          The Islanders did take the early lead in the first.  Defenseman Mark Streit jumped up on the play and took a pass from behind the net, from center John Tavares, and buried a snap shot past the Senators goaltender, Craig Anderson.  The goal was Streit's seventh of the year.  About ten minutes later, at the 16:40 mark, center Kyle Turris would score his first of two goals, burying a wrist shot over the sprawling Isles goaltender, Al Montoya, to tie the game.
          The second period was all Senators.  Starting at the 3:09 mark when defenseman Sergei Gonchar would bury a one-timer by Montoya, to make it 2-1.  The goal was Gonchar's fifth of the year.  Just about three minutes later, at the 6:00 mark, left winger Milan Michalek would bury a backhander by Montoya, to give the Senators the 3-1 lead.  The goal was Michalek's thirty-fifth of the year.  The Senators would pile on, when at the 13:21 mark, left winger Nick Foligno dove for the rebound left by Montoya, and buried it into the back of the net, to make it 4-1.  The goal was Foligno's fifteenth of the year.  
          The rout would continue into the third.  At the 7:00 mark, the Senators would net the last goal of the game, when Turris would get his own rebound and relentlessly swing at the puck before it finally went in.  The goals were Turris' eleventh and twelfth of the year. 
          The Isles have only three games left, with two on the road and one at home.  They play one of those road games against the Devils on Tuesday.  Puck drop is 7 PM.       

Bruins roar by Islanders

Bruins celebrate one of their six goals (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

          The Islanders three game winning streak, and hopes for the playoffs, were broken after a 6-3 loss to the Boston Bruins.
          The Islanders were keeping up with the powerful Bruins through the first two periods.  However, the third period saw the offense explode for the Bruins and stall for the Isles.
          The first period stayed scoreless until the last two minutes.  The Bruins broke through first, at the 18:11 mark, when center David Krejci scored the first of his two goals.  Krejci took a pass from his linemate, left winger Milan Lucic, and blasted a one-timer over the pads of Isles goaltender, Al Montoya, to make it 1-0.  The Isles would strike back under a minute later, at the 18:40 mark, when right winger Kyle Okposo fired a wrist shot over the glove of the Bruins goaltender, Marty Turco, to tie the game.   The goal was Okposo's twenty-first of the year.  Okposo has been on a tear recently as this was his sixth goal in the last five games. 
          The second period would be much of the same, with the Bruins taking the lead and the Isles fighting back.  It started at the 4:58 mark, when center Chris Kelly fired a wrist shot over the glove of Montoya to give the Bruins the 2-1 lead.  The goal was Kelly's twentieth of the year.  About ten minutes later, at the 14:26 mark, the Isles would claw their way back.  Center John Tavares would place a beautiful cross ice pass on the stick of right winger, P.A. Parenteau, who would easily tap the puck into the empty net left by Turco.      
          With the game tied to start the third, once again, the Bruins would fire the opening salvo.  At the 3:13 mark, left winger Brad Marchand would dance his way through the Islander defense, then bury a wrist shot under the pads of Montoya to give the Bruins their third one-goal lead.  The goal was Marchand's twenty-seventh of the year.  About seven minutes later, at the 10:37 mark, center Tyler Seguin would bury his own wrist shot, from the left wing boards, by Montoya to give the Bruins the 4-2 lead.  The goal was Seguin's twenty-seventh of the year.  The Islanders would inch closer about four minutes later, at the 14:53 mark.  Left winger Matt Moulson would pass one in front of the net to Parenteau, who would bury his second goal under the glove of Turco.  The goals were Parenteau's seventeenth and eighteenth of the season.  After that the Bruins would run away with the game in the final five minutes.  Starting at the 16:19 mark of the period, when center Patrice Bergeron would gather up a rebound left by Montoya and bury into the empty net.  The goal was Bergeron's twenty-first of the year.  Just twenty-four seconds later, at the 16:43 mark, Lucic and Krejci would hook up again, as Krejci would nab his second goal of the game, taking a Lucic pass and burying it by Montoya to make it 6-3.  The goals were Krejci's twenty-second and twenty-third. 
          With the loss the Islanders have been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs.  
          They will look to finish the season strong as they next take on the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, puck drop is 3 PM. 

Bailey, Islanders keep rolling against Penguins

Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo celebrate one of five goals (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

          When center Josh Bailey entered the Nassau Coliseum last night, he entered with a purpose.  And then he left the Coliseum with a bang.  Bailey posted five points, having a part in all the Islanders' goals, in a 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
          It was the second consecutive game the two teams played against each other, with the Islanders winning both.  Ironically or not both games the Islanders outplayed one of the elite teams, and won both by the same score of 5-3.
          One player in particular came ready to play this Penguin team.  Josh Bailey was having a good season before these two games, having eleven goals and twelve assists, for twenty points.  In these last two games against Pittsburgh, Bailey posted two goals and six assists, for eight points.
          The Islanders are red-hot, coming off a five-game road-trip in which they won four of them, the Islanders continued their stellar play.  Now the Islanders have won five of their last six games, and have only five more left to play.  Though the Islanders have a very slim, and unlikely chance of making the playoffs, sitting nine points out, they are doing their best to fight their way in. 
          The first period saw the Islanders take their first lead eleven minutes into the game.  At the 11:07 mark, center Marty Reasoner finally broke through and scored his first goal as an Islander, putting a wrist shot through the pads of the Pittsburgh goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury.  That lead would hold into the start of the second period.
          Pittsburgh would tie it up at the 8:37 mark of the period, when right winger Pascal Dupuis scored a short-handed goal with a wrist shot past the glove of Isles goaltender, Al Montoya.  The goal was Dupuis' twenty-fourth of the year.  After that the period belonged to the Islanders.  Starting at the 16:36 mark, when right winger Kyle Okposo would take a shot that would ricochet off the skate of Pittsburgh defenseman Deryk Englland, and past Fleury to make it 2-1.  Exactly two minutes later, at the 18:36 mark, Josh Bailey would get his first goal of the game, burying a breakaway backhand, while the Isles were shorthanded.  
          The Isles would extend their lead at the 5:52 mark of the third period, when Okposo finished off a one-timer pass from Bailey, to make it 4-1 Isles.  The goals were Okposo's nineteenth and twentieth of the year.  Pittsburgh would claw their way back with two goals in ten minutes.  It started at the 8:20 mark, when center Jordan Stall would split two Islanders defenders and bury a backhander past Montoya, to cut the Isles' lead to 4-2.  The goal was Stall's twenty-fourth of the year.  Ten minutes later, at the 18:29 mark, center Evgeni Malkin would bury his own wrist shot, to cut the Isles lead to one at 4-3.  The goal was Malkin's team leading forty-seventh of the year.  The Islanders would halt the comeback and pad their lead at the 19:55 mark, when Bailey buried the puck into the empty Pittsburgh net, to seal the game at 5-3.  
          The Isles have five games left to play, and the first of the five will be on Saturday.  The Islanders will play their first of their last three home games, against the Boston Bruins on Saturday, puck drop is 1 PM.
         

Top 20 on the Islanders: #4 Frans Nielsen

Nielsen scores in the shootout against the Washington Capitals (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

          Next up on the top twenty list is a center whose consistent play the last couple of years made him a good player.  However, he has come into a zone this year and is quickly becoming one of the top players on the Islanders.  The number four player on the Island is, center Frans Nielsen.  
          Nielsen was drafted in the third round (87th overall), by the the Islanders in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft.  Nielsen was touted by scouts, who were saying he was one of the best players in the Swedish Elite League.  
          It's there where Nielsen got his start as a young sixteen year old player.  He played for a team called the Malmo IF for his first four years, and then for a team called Timra IK his last year.  While there Nielsen played in two-hundred sixteen games, compiling twenty-five goals and thirty-four assists, totaling fifty-nine points.  
          He was then drafted and started playing for the Islanders.  He played in fifteen games his first year, getting a goal and an assist.  He was then sent down to the AHL (American Hockey League), to play for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, where he could get more seasoning.  
          While playing for Bridgeport Nielsen competed in one-hundred-two games, compiling thirty goals and fifty-two assists, for a total of eighty-two points.  
          Nielsen was then called up to the Islanders at the end of the 2007-2008 season, and he hasn't looked back since.  Since returning to the NHL, Nielsen has played in two-hundred ninety-eight games, compiling fifty-three goals and one-hundred-seven assists, for a total of one-hundred-sixty points.  
          Nielsen has really come into a zone this last season, and is quickly rising to stardom.  He is one of the best shooters in the shootout, scoring on more than sixty percent of his chances.  With his continued growth on this young team, the future is not only bright for Nielsen, but for the Islanders as well.