NYIFORLIFE.com chat with Sound Tigers' beat writer Mike Fornabaio

Michael Fornabaio has been with the Connecticut Post since 1997 and has covered the Sound Tigers for their entire seven-year existence. We recently had a chance to ask Mike a few questions about the Sound Tigers, the Islanders prospects, and what a beat writer's daily ritual is like.

We here at nyiforlife.com want to thank Mike for taking some time to help us out. At the end of this post will be some links to Mike's work at the Connecticut Post.
--Bill


NYIFORLIFE.com--I think some people must think that covering a pro team is mostly watching games and writing about what happened. Can you give us an idea of what your average day is like covering a Sound Tigers home game?

Mike Fornabaio--Well, I watch the game for two and a half hours, and the other five and a half, I spend on the blog.

No, home games, it kind of depends. If I need to get something, or if something's likely to be going down, I'll make a point to be at the morning skate, 10 a.m. If not, or if I've arrived home from Hershey at 4 a.m., I might not. Then home, usually, and if there's something then to be written up, maybe get it done then, or maybe a little later. Call a few people to (I hope) make sure the world isn't ending behind my back.

Either way, off to the barn to be there two, two-and-a-half hours before the puck drops. Checking in with lots of people -- front office, hockey ops, maybe the other team there if they haven't skated in the morning, the broadcasters, other writers. Just see what's what, maybe chase some whispers. Get set up, check around the Internet for important news and/or for blog-ticker stuff. And if I have to send an early something, send it. And then get down to it: Barring something crazy going on, I want to be in place by the start of warmup, to count heads, to get lineups, to make sure Dennis Bonvie and Chris Thompson don't start jabbing at each other. That's about 40 minutes before the puck drops.

So, yeah, then there's a game. Then there's a 10-minute cooling-off period. Then we go and talk about it for 10-30 minutes, depending on time constraints. For a 7 p.m. start, given no overtime (and given our new, thankfully later deadlines), I'll probably have around 45 minutes to decipher my notes and churn out a game story. Then it'll take me 10 minutes to try to get it to the office before I cave in and e-mail it (The phone lines are quirky at AHY.) Then get down to the postmortem for the blog, which became the norm very quickly two years ago. I've tried to cut back on the endless posts -- I was spending half my life deconstructing three-on-three rushes there for a while -- but still, depending on what else is going on in the world, that can take a while.

Update the stat files I keep, and I'm usually home by about 11:45, or if it's late in the season and we're waiting on scores, 12:30.

NYIFORLIFE.com--Lots of Islanders fans wonder where all the goals went when Jeff Tambellini played for the Isles versus when he played in the American League. What do you think Jeff needs to do to make himself successful at the NHL level?

Mike Fornabaio--Every time Nigel Dawes had a couple of visible shifts for the Rangers recently, I'd think back to early in the year, when he couldn't crack the lineup and was putting up sick numbers in Hartford. I joked to someone in January that the Islanders and Rangers should be done with it and trade Dawes for Tambellini, so maybe they'd both get a shot.

Like for Dawes, I wonder if it's just a matter of time for Tambellini. He came back down in December and was doing all the work-the-boards, go-to-the-net things they wanted him to do, and it paid off here. I haven't seen enough of the Islanders' games to get a great read on what changes up there, but he has too much going for him to think the right fit won't happen eventually.

NYIFORLIFE.com--Jack Capuano. Your impressions on the job he did this past season. I'm thinking it is tough not knowing who will be on your team with all of the injuries and callups this past year.

Mike Fornabaio--Well, his primary job is development, and the Islanders appear to be happy about that. It seems as if the guys who go up fit in pretty well. He's quick to credit assistants Pat Bingham and Bernie Cassell for their work, too. As far as wins and losses, given the inexperience on the blue line, and given the lack of scoring at times from guys not named Tambellini, and given the carousel of call-ups down the stretch, they did all right.

And of course most importantly, the whole staff is great with the media.

NYIFORLIFE.com--Who aside from Okposo and Comeau do you think is ready to compete for a NHL job from the Sound Tigers?

Mike Fornabaio--Depends on what kind of jobs are open. There are some in the organization who would be thrilled to go with a very young lineup. There are others who shudder at the thought. But probably everyone who went up this year could at least compete for a job, given the right role. It seems to be universally felt that Dustin Kohn and Trevor Smith, if they continue to develop the way they have, will inject themselves into that conversation by the end of next season.

Thanks again, Mike. We appreciate it.

Mike's Soundin' Off Blog is great for all of your AHL and Sound Tigers news.
Mike's Archives at the Connecticut Post.