It is an exciting time to be an NHL hockey fan with a number of tight Stanley Cup playoff series and a red hot local squad – the Colorado Avalanche. Add a host of former DU hockey players to the playoff mix and first-year coach Jim Montgomery winning his first playoff series for the Dallas Stars and you have compelling story lines.
But many of us have our eyes on the New York Islanders. Yep, that’s right – the Isles.
Journalist Sasha Kandrach, a former LetsGoDU feature writer, is now on the Islanders beat as a reporter and social media coordinator living out her ‘dream job’. And, we couldn’t be more proud of the Islanders first-year journalist.
“When you win it once, the hunger is always there to win again. You know how hard of a battle it is to get there and how rewarding it is to win a cup." -Nick Leddy
Isles Utilize Insight From Former Stanley Cup Winners https://t.co/3vudwEUxKD via @NHLdotcom
— Sasha Kandrach (@KandrachSasha) April 23, 2019
The Islanders are a historically hapless team that has not qualified for the playoffs six of the last ten years. But this season they are very good and they are a franchise on the rise. During the 2018 off-season, the Islanders announced that former New Jersey Devils and Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Lou Lamoriello would run the Isles hockey operations. Additionally, Barry Trotz was hired as head coach of the Islanders. Trotz resigned from the Washington Capitals one month prior after coaching them to their first Stanley Cup championship.
In the 2018–19 season, the Islanders split their home games between Barclays Center and their former home, Nassau Coliseum pending the completion of a new 18,000-seat arena at Belmont Park. The Islanders enjoyed success throughout the 2018–19 season, clinching a playoff berth at home for the first time in 17 years, and have advanced to the second round against the winner of the series between the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes.
You can follow Sasha’s stories on NHL.com/islanders/news or follow Sasha on Twitter.
Go Sasha and go Isles!
Congratulations to a well deserved win! Also I can’t believe how well the Islanders are doing.