Friday, December 19, 2008

2 promising rookies, 2 costly mistakes leading to another NY Islander loss, and I still want their RCs





Who knew that Pierre Marc Bouchard and Mikko Koivu were great dancers? Well, Kyle Okposo and Josh Bailey both know now. Both Islander forwards were danced around by Koivu and Bouchard to score the Minnesota Wild's 3rd and then 4th goals respectively to lead their team to the win this evening.

As frustrating as it was to watch both these young Islander forwards get schooled in the 3rd period, it was great to see Kyle Okposo back on the ice. Until Okposo allowed Bouchard to get by him with a nifty self pass move, I thought Okposo was one of the more energized Islanders during the game.

After Josh Bailey put up respectable numbers in his first 9 games as an Islander, I have to admit that I have seen less of his nifty moves. More recently, I have seen weak backhanded passes that are getting picked off by the opponent. Wouldn't it have been nice to see Bailey get his 1st NHL goal this evening than to see Minnesota's Colton Gillies get his?

Truth be told, these are just part of the trials and tribulations that NHL Rookies go through; Especially when playing at such young ages (Bailey is 19 years old, Okposo 20). I have seen enough flashes of brilliance from both of these players that I would only anticipate them to continue to get better. So both these players are on my wish list of RCs that I'd like to add to my collection. Hopefully they will be helping the Islanders get some wins sooner rather than later though!

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