There comes a time in every fans sports life where things just don’t go well. Your team loses, players get hurt or take stupid penalties. It just happens. Or like me, you wake up angry and you wind up accidentally breaking two different laces on your boots….. It’s not every day the teams coach comes out after the game and informs the media that he …

Episode 49. I never thought I would be almost 50 episodes into a podcast, but I am glad that I am getting to experience this journey along with all of you great fans! 2020 sucked. I mean, really there’s no getting around that. Between COVID, quarantine and everything that’s gone along with it. That said, in the same breath you can also say that hoc…

Being born in 1980, on the cusp of New York Islanders greatness is pretty cool on paper. I can say that I was alive for the four consecutive Stanley Cup wins and the core of the four, sure. I can also say that I can remember the tail end of greatness, and know for sure being present when some of the above mentioned core group retired and had their …

It’s not every day you get to record a podcast episode with your best friend and cousin – but that is exactly what I got to do today in Episode 47. It could maybe be something we do more of in the future. Twice the Schuerlein, twice the fun! Chris and our other cousin are actually working on an 80’s movie podcast – I have helped them with some tech…

Elimination games are hard, which we know the Islanders have had to have a few “do overs” since the opening play in versus Florida. The Islanders could’ve swept Florida, they didn’t – they needed an extra game and finished the series in four. The Islanders could’ve swept Washington, they didn’t – they needed an extra game and finished the series in…

This, is super – super, strange. No, not the fact that we haven’t spoken since before the world changing pandemic. Not even because it’s been 173 days since the last podcast episode. Perhaps, it’s a bit in part because we’re discussing hockey yes, but only because the league shutdown for a few months and we are now discussing playoff hockey, IN AUG…

By Michael Schuerlein

By Michael Schuerlein

By Michael Schuerlein

Episode 41 Who are the Islanders? That’s a great question and it’s something that I realize is a legitimate question later on in this episode. It’s also an important question, as it will determine what, if anything Lou Lamoriello will do to improve the roster later on in the season. The Islanders record sits at 20-7-2 with 42 points at this point o…

Episode 40, two episodes one one week – we are at mid-season form over here on The Isles Faithful Podcast. If you’re reading this in your Podcast app, please head over to our website at The Isles Faithful to learn more about the show! This episode, a shorter one – but we talk about this amazing stretch of games the Islanders have been playing. They…

It has been a whirlwind of the last two weeks for me personally, as you may know if you follow me on Twitter. I had no choice but to put the podcast on the back burner for a bit. It all started with the death of my Grandmother two weeks ago, I was running around with the family with visitation and the funeral – you know how that goes (lot’s of food…

Episode 38 comes at you fast and furious. Well, not so much. In what should be the last of an erratic schedule of recording for the podcast (I am over this cold, finally), this episode is chock full of interesting tidbits during this odd NHL scheduling quirk for the New York Islanders. The Isles have won their last 7 straight games in various fashi…

Episode 37 is a short one. In this episode, I talk about the Islanders and their .500 hockey as new kids Noah Dobson and Oliver Wahlstrom making their debuts in the NHL. We also go into detail on the power play, some of the struggles of the team and even some goaltending. Semyon Varmalov took a few games to get going, but he finally found his win o…

It’s been a long summer and offseason, hasn’t it? When we left off in May with The Isles Faithful Podcast – we were reeling in a sense, not from the season ending but more of HOW it ended against Carolina. Overall, it was clearly way MORE than we expected, but there was clearly some work to be done by Lou Lamoriello and crew. This summer saw a few …

That’s it – that’s a wrap on the 2018/2019 New York Islanders season. The Islanders swept the Penguins in Round 1, only to be swept by Carolina in Round 2. But this isn’t exactly how we pictured the Islanders season, as we’ve said over the past few episodes, it’s not how we expected any of this really. From start to finish this season has been a fu…

This is a non-traditional episode from me here at The Isles Faithful Podcast. It’s a quick one, a few thoughts as we wait the final few hours before the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I know I thought we’d be saying that 8 months ago, right? Yeah. The Islanders opponent this round – those Jerks from the Carolinas – the Carolina Hurricane…

Former New York Islander forward, current NHL Network analyst Mark Parrish has returned to The Isles Faithful Podcast for Episode 33! UPDATED 4/22/19 There were TWO audio issues that I found, made a few mistakes when I put the episode together. They are now corrected, please make sure you refresh your podcast apps to get the correct audio file! Tha…

Episode 32, a raspy voiced episode – from all the fun from games one and two at Nassau Coliseum. This episode I catch back up with most of the things that have happened through these amazing two games we’ve seen. Now it’s off to Pittsburgh to face the Penguins in their barn – always fun. To help usher in this matinee game, is Chase Williams of WPXI…

In Episode 31 Mike gets back to talking Islanders hockey, this time with Roger Luce – one half of the WBAB 102.3 Morning Show Roger and JP. For those that do not know, Roger is the long time public address announcer for the New York Islanders. Roger has been in that position since 1998, though since the move to Brooklyn has had to take a step back …

As I wrote on my blog, Islesblogger this week – Jack Foley, AKA Super Jack got the chance to meet his idol Robin Lehner. If you haven’t seen the post please give it a quick read. I also got to spend a good chunk of the game on Monday night with Jack and his family too. It’s a night I won’t ever forget. Here’s the Tweet heard round the world, the on…

It’s stretch time, the most exciting time of the year if your team is still in the mix – and the Islanders are very much in that mix. There’s a lot of different scenarios that can play out over the next few games, but one is the most important part. The New York Islanders can secure their bid into the playoffs with a win tonight over the Buffalo Sa…

Ten games, eleven points – that’s all that’s separating the New York Islanders from reaching their first playoff birth in three seasons. But, let’s not forget that they’re not supposed to even be where they are – by all accounts right? Don’t tell that to Barry Trotz and company though, as the coach and his staff have their team playing sound defens…

Episode 27, it’s kind of fitting that we are going to exit the 20’s of the podcast as we move down the stretch into the playoff hunt. It’s been an exciting year with a lot of great guests so far and that continues this episode with Brett Cyrgalis of The New York Post. Brett recently announced that he’s the full time beat writer covering the New Yor…

It really IS time to Trotz. We’ve talked a lot this season about what a coach like Barry Trotz brings to an organization, I’m sorry – to THIS organization (Still hard to wrap my head around at times), He’s the type of analytic thinker and teacher that gets his point across in ways that’s clear, as made evident by the great article from Arthur Stapl…

A good pilot always stays on course, so I guess one can also say that about a general manager. I know there’s a lot of you out there who are likely going to disagree with a lot of what I have to say this episode, but please give me a chance – hear me out. This week has been a tough week. I’ve just gotten over being sick and obviously with then “ups…

I’m often horrible when it comes to learning about new trends and talented people. I guess it’s part ignorance and part of my life where my free time doesn’t involve being online 24/7 (Yeah, who am I kidding….). But have you heard about Jillian Fisher? Have you heard the Islanders are first in the Metro? Allow me to explain! But here’s one of her v…

Back to back Islanders wins over the weekend, coupled with back to back episode releases by The Isles Faithful Podcast. What could be better? Not much I’d say – I mean maybe first place in the Conference, but the Isles are in first place in the Metropolitan Division, just in case you weren’t aware. Episode 22 we had our what’s becoming a regular gu…

I have really dropped the ball this week, and for that I apologize. The nine day break aside, this last week I intended to record a few times, but I was exhausted – but enough of that. The podcast is BACK folks, and it’s back in a big way. We recorded TODAY, we will be recording TOMORROW and again Tuesday and Wednesday next week. It’s going to be a…

The New York Islanders sit atop the Metropolitan Division as they start their 9 day all-star and league mandated bye-week break. Think about this for a minute. They sit ATOP (read First Place) in the Metro. Did you think for a second when the season started that the Islanders would be where they are with everything that happened? I know I didn’t. P…

Episode 20, we are out of the teens now – it’s the big time! Episode 19 got The Isles Faithful Podcast past the 5000 downloads range (and it’s still climbing!) so thank you all for the continued support and always great questions! It’s been a wild ride so far and 2019 is shaping up to be even better as we move through January here. The Islanders sp…

Hello and welcome Episode 19! This week I am joined by a co-host from Twitter @JPinVA – JP and I have gone back and forth with some spirited Islanders discussions over the last few months and it’s been some good talk. I wanted to have him on for several episodes now and we finally found a time that worked for both of us. We discuss the winning stre…

Happy New Year Isles Faithful! I hope that everyone had a fantastic holiday break! I know that I was extremely busy, I’ve been off since the Friday before Christmas, we did a lot of visiting and being visited by family. I also ate a ton of great food, maybe a little TOO much. I am certainly paying for that in the waist department -but back on that …

This is it! This is the moment many of us have been waiting for! Young stars, stud players if you will, are going to be flush in the New York Islanders lineup. Mat Barzal, the former rookie of the year has been a staple over and a breath of fresh air over the last year and a half has recently been joined by fellow puck possession wizard in Josh Ho-…

I have been going on, and on, and on – for what seems like weeks now about this power-less power play of the New York Islanders. It didn’t seem like long ago that we had a fantastic power play, but horrendous everything else….but such is life around here in Islanders country, right? We have top notch coaching now, we have top notch management and o…

We are back with another episode, Episode 15 – and this time we sat down for a chat with the Author of the soon-to-be-released book “We Want Fishsticks”, Nick Hirshon. Before I get into the book talk, I offer a rundown of all the games over the Thanksgiving break and some hard hitting analysis as always. I got pretty amped up this week, as the Isla…

Hello there Isles Faithful! We are back with another episode where we talk puck, coffee (a podcast staple) and a slew of other topics. Episode 14 features Wayne Cafariella of Kings Coast Coffee, a local small batch coffee roaster who tells me his caffeinated goodness is enjoyed by Islanders players and broadcasters alike. Earlier this week I notice…

It’s been a bit since we’ve last spoken and a lot has transpired in that time. The Islanders would go on a five game win streak and catapult to the top of the Metro Division, but would eventually lose in a shootout to the Montreal Canadiens and last night in regulation to the Lightning. They have a respectable record of 6-2-2 over the last ten game…

It’s been a tough week in Isles country, there’s not many ways to sugarcoat it. It started last weekend with a tough loss to San Jose, the last of the West Coast trip. That game was a tough, physical grind that saw the real Sharks team that many thought they would be when the Islanders shut them out a week prior. It had everything, physicality, dra…

Episode 11 is upon us! I decided to switch things up this week with something I have hinted at the last few weeks – The Discord Channel! Special thanks go out to Isles Reddit user Nick, for all the help setting up permissions last night! The Discord channel allows users to essentially listen in to the podcast LIVE and even PARTICIPATE if they would…

I am sure there’s a saying for this – but, current events get old really quickly when you don’t get it out fast enough. I guess that’s why other aspects of the media are so quick to push out content without much fact checking or even editing. Not here, though. Here at The Isles Faithful we like to sit on pre-recorded content to the point that it so…

Episode 9 has been an absolute blast to put together. Over the summer, Former NHL’er and New York Islander Mark Parrish was nice enough to answer some questions for a story I wrote about John Tavares – this was way before I decided to start a podcast. I reached out to Mark to see if he’d be interesting in coming on an episode – and boy did he provi…

Two episodes this week! The floodgates have opened! In this episode, I talk about some of the preseason moves the Islanders have made, roster cuts and give my opinions on everything that’s transpired so far. We speak about how players have played, the PTO given to Luca Sbisa and the controversial fourth line of Komarov, Filppula and Kuhnhackl, the …

Welcome back to another episode of The Isles Faithful Podcast! In this episode, our 7th episode already – we talk to Jim Baumbach of New York’s Newsday as he has been covering the New York Islanders arena stories since the very beginning. Jim and I actually go way back to 2007, back to my time when I covered the Islanders on a regular basis over on…

This week, we were blown away with a bombshell by new Islanders goaltender Robin Lehner. Turns out, the last few years he has been suffering through an addiction, and mental illness. This all came out yesterday, in a story he wrote himself for The Athletic. It’s worth a read, and – there’s no paywall for the article. It’s so important that they hav…

September is HERE! That means that NHL camps are just about to start, the weather is beginning to turn around and Pumpkin Spice is about to be everywhere and in every product. With hockey just about back, we are going to be cranking up our coverage and it starts with Episode 5! This week, we sat down with Former AHL Defenseman Steve Wood, whom I ha…

In episode 4 we speak to Mike from @Islesmeetup_CLT and he tells us about his group down in North Carolina – its a rabid group of transplanted New Yorkers. They’ve sold 106 tickets to the Islanders-Canes home opener down there, hooked up with Yes Men Outfitters for a custom shirt for the occasion too. We’re giving away one of those shirts here as w…

In this week’s episode (episode number three!) we talk to Reagan King of www.corsisles.com and also Devin from Yes Men Outfitters. Reagan (@ReaganKingIsles) tells us everything we need to know about fancy stats, we go into details on how stats are recorded, what they mean and some of the history behind the numbers. We also go into detail about what…

The Culture Club No – not the Boy George led band of the 1980’s and not even the awesome Club in Downtown Manhattan that bares the same name. We are talking about the culture club WITHIN the New York Islanders. Let’s take it back a few months here. Clean out Day, April 9th 2018 – An unshaven and honestly disheveled looking Garth Snow feebly address…

Show Notes: Good evening. today is July 28th 2018 and welcome to the pilot episode of The Isles faithful Podcast! I am your host, Michael Schuerlein – and you may know me best from my Twitter @islesblogger and my blog, www.islesblogger.com. For those of you that may not know me, I have been blogging about the NHL and the New York Islanders since 20…