there are several reports today of an impromptu video presentation given yesterday by ny islanders GM mike milbury.
the toronto sun
cbs sportsline
these 2 stories all depict generally the same scene: milbury in the isles dressing room with reporters and video equipment. milbury was offering commentary on a video that was running showing various refereering infractions which added to the fortunes of both the maple leafs and the isles, but a little more for the leafs. he expands on his idea to explain how there may be a push amongst the refs to help the leafs along in the playoffs.
first off, though the officiating was certainly not perfect, i find it hard to discern how milbury sees such a pro-toronto slant to the game. yes the isles did recieve a few more calls, but they were also playing a much more aggressive game. the isles have outhit the leafs only be several checks, however the islander checking has been of a much higher quality. whether it is right or not, when you play such a game you are likely to incur more penalties. in my experience, such has always been the case.
milbury has always played to the media, made a large scene whether it be from his mouth or via numerous blockbuster trades that he made which continued to drive the club into the ground, (that is until Computer Associates ownership arrived with money in tow). as such, his accusations of a pro-toronto slant are not surprising. he is grabbing the media's attention. he did the same thing when he was blowing the incident between scatchard and corson at the end of game 1 way out of proportion.
in short milbury comes off looking like a guy who knows that his team is in trouble and is now using whatever means he can, in a desperate grab for life, to stave off elimination. if he were smart he would realize his exuberant, young team is heading home to a playoff starving crowd. he would realize that the isles aren't that far off being up 2 games to none themselves as in reality they have had overall better play than the leafs. what the isles organization should be doing, evne coach laviolette who got into the media fun after game 1, is focusing on helping the playoff inexperienced isles to understand they need to execute late in their games. as it is the leafs have scored all 5 of their goals in the last 15 minutes of each of the first two games.
[This message has been edited by kobayashi (edited 04-22-2002).]
the toronto sun
cbs sportsline
these 2 stories all depict generally the same scene: milbury in the isles dressing room with reporters and video equipment. milbury was offering commentary on a video that was running showing various refereering infractions which added to the fortunes of both the maple leafs and the isles, but a little more for the leafs. he expands on his idea to explain how there may be a push amongst the refs to help the leafs along in the playoffs.
first off, though the officiating was certainly not perfect, i find it hard to discern how milbury sees such a pro-toronto slant to the game. yes the isles did recieve a few more calls, but they were also playing a much more aggressive game. the isles have outhit the leafs only be several checks, however the islander checking has been of a much higher quality. whether it is right or not, when you play such a game you are likely to incur more penalties. in my experience, such has always been the case.
milbury has always played to the media, made a large scene whether it be from his mouth or via numerous blockbuster trades that he made which continued to drive the club into the ground, (that is until Computer Associates ownership arrived with money in tow). as such, his accusations of a pro-toronto slant are not surprising. he is grabbing the media's attention. he did the same thing when he was blowing the incident between scatchard and corson at the end of game 1 way out of proportion.
in short milbury comes off looking like a guy who knows that his team is in trouble and is now using whatever means he can, in a desperate grab for life, to stave off elimination. if he were smart he would realize his exuberant, young team is heading home to a playoff starving crowd. he would realize that the isles aren't that far off being up 2 games to none themselves as in reality they have had overall better play than the leafs. what the isles organization should be doing, evne coach laviolette who got into the media fun after game 1, is focusing on helping the playoff inexperienced isles to understand they need to execute late in their games. as it is the leafs have scored all 5 of their goals in the last 15 minutes of each of the first two games.
[This message has been edited by kobayashi (edited 04-22-2002).]