Gordon Tapped, Cammi Heads for US Hall

The Islanders just earlier today named Scott Gordon as their new head coach for the upcoming season. The AHL coach of the year will not return to Providence to defend his coaching title, moving up the ranks for his first big league job. I’m sure Garth Snow is hoping that Gordon will grow with this young Islanders squad, and there’s no doubt this team will be going through some growing pains, although Doug Weight was signed to make the transition easier for the kids. The 45-year old Gordon beat out Paul Maurice and Bob Hartley for the job. Reading Snow’s comments, it seems like there won’t be any “philosophical differences” between the two, unlike the strenuous relationship he had with former coach Ted Nolan. Asked about what type of system fans should expect to see come October, Gordon has emphasized a defense-first system, although I wonder how he’ll accomplish such a thing without a marquee defenseman. Brendan Witt and Andy Sutton are serviceable shut-down guys, but they’re not considered top-pairing calibre players. However, they do have Trent Hunter, whom I believe is one of the most underrated two-way players in the game today. I also wonder if this means that Mark Streit will be asked to be more defensively responsible than he has in the past, which may lead to lower offensive production.

The Hockey Hall of Fame has caught fire in recent years for turning a blind eye towards female hockey players and their contributions. The US HHOF named their four inductees today, headlined by Cammi Granato, making her the first woman to be ever inducted into the Hall. Granato, arguably the most famous female American hockey player led the Americans to an upset over a heavily favoured Canadian squad at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, capturing their first and only gold medal in Olympic competition. She currently works for NBC’s hockey coverage and a partner of BelaHockey, a hockey manufacturing company that caters exclusively to female hockey players. She will be inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame on October 10 at the University of Denver along with Brett Hull and former Ranger teammates Brian Leetch and Mike Richter. Take a page out of their book, I say.