Strange Days Indeed

First, the New York Islanders learn goalie Rick DiPietro has some concussion symptoms and will be out the rest of the season.

Then, over on Jersey, the "Hockey Boss," Lou Lamoriello, axed Claude Julien just three games before the playoffs, naming himself coach.

If that's not enough, Ranger net minder Henrik Lundqvist mixed it up with some of the Islander Ice Girls on Tuesday when the Blueshirts and Isles faced off.

As you can see, totally strange.

Ok, let's begin with Slick Rick. After taking Steve Begin's skate to the temple back on Mar. 13 in Montreal, the 15-year man came back after just missing two games. Although he played well, he wasn't well and on Mar. 25, he took a Jaromir Jagr shot off the mask and ended up of the wrong end of a Sean Avery pile-on.

Needless to say, the concussion came back.

Now there's a good chance DiPietro just wasn't forthcoming with the severity of the injury and it wouldn't be the first time something like that happened in hockey. The Islanders are still responsible. It's their job to protect their investment - even from himself - and shutting him down at the first site of the 'C' word was the only option.

Remember, 15 years is a long time and this is just Year One.

And if DiPietro lasts the length of the contract, he would still be short of Lamoriello's tenure with the Devils. Heck, Lou may still be running the club in 2021.

If there was any doubt whose team the Devils are, it was answered again on Monday as Lamoriello axed another coach as the season was about to end. For those scoring at home, that's a Steinbrenner-esque 14th coaching change in 20 years. And unlike Lou, George never named himself Yankee manager. [He had Billy Martin for that].

It's hard to argue with Lamoriello, since he turned a desolate franchise into a three-time Stanley Cup winner and this type of move worked before when Robbie Ftorek was replace by Larry Robinson back in 2000, which led to the franchise's second championship.

But if the Devils go out in the first round this year, owner Jeff Vanderbeek needs to start thinking the unthinkable and possibly look to replace his President.

Lamoriello's track record of winning is impeccable, but as President of the organization, he's done a very poor job of selling this product.

Currently, Jersey is 26th in attendance averaging a little over 14,000 a game for a 73.9 percent capacity. Those numbers are just unacceptable for a team in this market having the season it's having. Yes, they will tell you about the Prudential Center opening up next season and how thousands of Jersey residents will flock to the inner streets of Newark to see the Devils.

That's the Kool-Aid talking. The truth is unless the Devils change the way they market the team, after a small boost next year - because of the arena - the numbers will go back to normal.

What the Devils lack is star power, and that's the way Lamoriello likes it. They have very marketable players in Martin Brodeur, Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta, but the Devils' Czar always wants concentrate on the team.

Fine, hockey is the ultimate team game, but when it comes to selling sports, it's the stars that put the fannies in the seats.

Look at the Yankees. Only after they acquired A-Rod did they Bombers start drawing 50,000 a game and the Mets became relevant again when Pedro inked a contract. In hockey, the Rangers always sell-out because the stars - like Jagr and Brendan Shanahan - come to Broadway. Also, don't forget the buzz on Long Island as Ryan Smyth made his debut over a month ago.

But Lamoriello is just happy to put out his shingle saying, "Hockey Played Here Tonight." Yet, the Devils would probably gain more fans if they marketed an Italian-American in Gionta or a Latino-American in Gomez. And Hall of Fame goalies always sell; you just need to let the people know about them.

Sales is the name of the game in this sport and that's something the 'Hockey Boss' hasn't learned.

The Islanders, though, actually have some salesmanship, when they recruited young girls to clean the ice a few years ago. These ladies - who wear scantily clad outfits to the cheers of the mostly male crowd - clean the ice around the goal creases during the TV time outs. There never has been a problem with this practice until Tuesday night.

Ranger goalie Henrik Lundqvist has his own routine of standing in the crease, bent over, and in full concentration during those breaks. Apparently one of the girls bumped into the netminder with her squeegee, to which Lundqvist tapped the cleaning instrument back with his stick.

According to Newsday, which put it on its front page today - apparently a slow day for news - another one of the skating team claimed one of the Rangers from the bench threw water on her and later, when the linesmen got involved with the crease cleaning, Lundqvist and Sean Avery used foul language.

Ok, let's begin from the top. When Lundqvist was struggling in the beginning of the season, he got out of the doldrums when he sat down with mental skills coach John Phelan, who told him to just concentrate on the next shot. So it makes sense he goes into full concentration mode and anything touching him will set off a reaction.

All season, Lundqvist has been staying in the crease without incident and after dealing with him for the past two seasons, it's hard to believe the stick tap had any malicious intent. Also, all we have is the word of the girl, who hasn't given us any reason not to believe her. But as we know, there's two side of any story.

As for the water incident, if any player threw water on someone - male or female - on purpose, there's no excuse. All we know, though, is this girl claims her back was wet as she want off the ice. She didn't see who the culprit was, and unless someone comes forward, we will never know.

Now for the cursing, which was directed at the linesman and not the girls... Come on! This is hockey... on Long Island. I am sure these young women heard worse in their lives. Heck, The Departed just got an Oscar for using the F-word over 300 times.

But maybe those girls have never seen an R-rated movie, just like there was no way a hockey player could get knocked out in a fight.

It's been a strange few weeks.
 

Joe McDonald covers the New York Rangers for TheFourthPeriod.com. He is also the publisher of NYSportsDay.com and managing editor of NY Sportscene Magazine.