20 years ago
tonight (1995) – When you hear the words “May Hockey” it almost always means
that your team is having a pretty good season.
Except when
it was the lockout-shortened 1995 season.
In the only
regular season May game the Isles have ever played, they concluded that season
with a 15-28-5 record with a 2-0 loss to the Flyers.
Mikael
Renberg and Eric Desjardins had first period goals in what turned out to be the
last game in their present positions for two very popular members of the
Islander family.
Lorne Henning
coached his final game in his only “full” season; he has replaced Al Arbour
after Arbour retired (again) the previous summer. He was replaced by Mike
Milbury (and we all know how that worked out). Henning would later serve as the interim head coach at the end of the 2000-01 after Butch Goring was fired.
Jiggs
McDonald called the game with Ed Westfall – it turned out to be the final game
of his career as the regular voice of the Islanders. He would return to the team to serve as a
substitute for Howie Rose in the 2006-07 season – a role that the “retired”
McDonald continues to serve.
As regular
readers know, Jiggs got me involved in Islander telecasts when I was a senior
in high school. For 33+ years, I’ve
worked regularly with only two broadcasters (the first 13+ with Jiggs and the
last 20 with Howie).
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| With Jiggs and Howie in 2011 |
Jiggs is
already in the Hockey Hall of Fame as a Foster Hewitt award winner. Someday hopefully Howie will join him.
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| Jiggs hosted the Coliseum closing ceremonies on April 11, 2015 |
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