Dan Nicolson

Great! So I start supporting the Islanders after getting into the NHL and I pick a team who are going though obvious pains. From what I know so far, our manager is a big fat numpty!

Well like I said, as a Manchester City fan I'm used to watching a team going through the bad times, thanks to an Arab that has all changed now and we are actually having some success. Tavares looks awesome from what I have seen. Thanks not not calling me a *bandwagoner* *glory fan*. I have always been a sucker for the underdog, so I'm glad I chose well. The 4 years of wins sounds brilliant in the clubs history! One thing I don't understand is why there is only 1 cup in the whole of the NHL, even in our local leagues we have a domestic cup. (in football there are 7 individual trophies a team can win in one season). How do you guys manage with that? Excuse my ignorance but I have never actually been to any country in America, I know in New York you have, Manhattan, Long Island and Cony. From what I know Brooklyn is meant to be a rough area of New York right? I also looked for a copy of NHL today and could only find NHL 04 for the PS2 for £1 which I got and will have a play on this evening.

I used to watch Manchester Storm all the time, in a 20.000 seat stadium, but lack of funds forced them to close down, and when they reformed the rink could barely hold 2000 and has been in decline since, we have a local team here which I'm trying to get involved in. I completely understand the whole *being there in person thing* I go to so many football games and nothing beats the sound of fans singing, chanting, swearing, and having banter with the away fans. Our local hockey does not have that =(. Who knows, maybe one day ill get over the pond and come to a game. That rubbish Superbowl thing came over here a couple of years ago so maybe we might see the NHL here one day too, who knows? (Off topic, so I apologize). How can you call that sport you have football? I watched the Superbowl just gone and could not make heads or tails of what the players were trying to do, so stop start! I think most of the game time was spent standing around, I love Hockey cos it is so fast paced and love the full on contact of the game. But how can you call it football when they don't even hardly use their feet? I also looked at Merchandise before, buying an Islanders Jersey would cost me £90! So is there anywhere online to buy cheap jerseys?

I have a similar feeling about the Footy world cup, I watch the Premier league and Championship season on season, and whenever England play I just want to see club football again! Although I'm looking forward to watching the Olympics It is cool when the you see all the different nations playing sports in peace together, makes you realize that not everything with the world is all bad. After a few weeks break it will make the next NHL game even better as you have been anticipating it for so long.

Thanks for the warm welcome, I'm a member of a roller coaster enthusiast forum so I'm pretty up to speed on how these things work. It has taken me a good few hours trying to find a decent Hockey forum, so I'm glad I have found a good one. I have access to a live steaming site so have been watching games till 03;30 in the morning, having some tired days but the sport is defiantly worth it. We are lucky enough to have 2 and soon to be 3 local rinks in my town so I have even got my self a pair of skates and a stick, but am still working on the skating =P. The sport isn't really big here at all, which is a shame cos football in this country has got shockingly pathetic, with how players go over every time they have a little contact. I love a good scrap and glad to see it still alive in Hockey! We have pretty good coverage of the Olympics here so Ill be cheering on Tavares for Canada. Thank you for the pointers, my next plan is to get hold of a copy of NHL for the 360 so I can familiarize myself with how things work

Hi Everyone, A friend and I both live in Blackpool, on the north west cost of England, we have both recently took an interest in Ice Hockey. I used to follow a local team called Manchester storm, who used to play in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). They ended up closing down as a club a long time ago now and reformed in a different rink under the name Manchester Phoenix, although they play in a lower division called the English Premier Ice Hockey League. As we only have 10 teams in each league we decided to have a look at the NHL, after a few weeks of looking at different NHL team I have decided to be a New York Islanders fan and this is my reasoning. Geographically They are one of the closest NHL teams to were I live and being British I'm a real islander. I am a big football fan (You know it wrongly as Soccer)! I support Manchester City, who play in blue and have recently started a franchise in New York. I also work for Blackpool Football Club who play in orange. Plus I have four big canvas style pictures on New York on the walls in my flat. (My friend supports the Calgary Flames , as he went there once and watched them on holiday). I'm posting this topic as could do with some help in understanding how to read the league tables and how come there are different divisions like the *metropolitan* Which team plays who and how to read the tables and understand the draft. (In football they call it the transfer market). I have watched the last 3 Islanders games. a 1-0 W and two loses, ill keep watching them cos as a City fan of the old days I'm used to watching teams struggle and it will be interesting to see,. Regards Dan