Eastlink TV to broadcast 10 Islanders games this season

The Charlottetown Islanders will be broadcasted live on Eastlink TV 10 times for the upcoming 2015-16 season.

The Canadian telecommunications company released its broadcasting schedule today for its program "Friday Night Hockey" which includes 24 QMJHL regular season games plus playoffs.

Charlottetown's season home-opener on Friday Sept. 11 against the Halifax Mooseheads will be broadcasted live to start the 2014-15 edition of the program.

Even though the name "Friday Night Hockey", there are a handful of games that will be broadcasted on Saturday nights. Two Islanders will be broadcasted on Saturday night.

Islanders "Friday Night Hockey" Eastlink TV broadcast schedule:
(Home games in bold)
Friday, Sept. 11, 2015 vs. Halifax Mooseheads
Friday, Oct. 9, 2015 vs. Saint John Sea Dogs
Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015 vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Friday, Nov. 20, 2015 @ Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Friday, Dec. 11, 2015 vs. Moncton Wildcats
Friday, Dec. 18, 2015 vs. Acadie-Bathurst Titan
Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Friday, Feb. 5, 2016 @ Cape Breton Screaming Eagles
Friday, Feb. 12, 2016 vs. Baie-Comeau Drakkar
Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 @ Halifax Mooseheads

Ex-Islanders forward signs extension with German club

Marco Sedlar. Photo by Jenn Ellis.

Former Charlottetown Islanders forward Marco Sedlar has signed a contract extension with EV Landshut of Oberliga (Germany 3) in Germany.

The 19-year-old, Dingolfing, Germany, native played 11 games with the Islanders during the 2013-14 season scoring two goals with a minus-five rating. Sedlar was later released by the Islanders and played four games with EC Salzburg II of the MHL in Russia and one game with EHC Munchen of the German DEL league.

Charlottetown drafted Sedlar 33rd overall in the 2013 CHL Import Draft.

Last season, Sedlar appeared in 41 games with EV Landshut of the DEL2 league in Germany, picking up two assists. He also played 12 games with EC Salzburg II scoring a goal and an assist.

The TermiNathan's 2015-2016 Season Statement

Daniel Sprong. Photo by Darrell Theriault.

Readers of Islanders Country!

Last season I had the privilege of writing for this site and being introduced to you all.  Most notably my monthly recaps, where we took a look at the team's performance based largely upon shot differential through each period, PDO, and percentages.

However, this year I want to expand even further.  I always have been fascinated with hockey statistics from a young age and with "fancy stats" and "analytics" being introduced to an audience at the national level.  I want to take it a step further this upcoming season with Islanders Country.

I will continue to do monthly write-ups in a similar fashion to last season, but we're going to step it up a notch.  This year I want to include shot numbers for: even strength, power play, and penalty kill so we can statistically see what areas the Islanders excel or need improvement instead of just overall shot totals.  We also want to look at zone entries and zone starts for players on a game basis.  I will be able to go through the game footage to capture examples to show everyone which players take the puck into the opposing teams' zone with control.  Like-wise we will able to show which defenders on the Islanders do the best job of making it difficult for opposing teams to enter our zone.  There are plenty of possibilities for ideas that can be done with this information.

Breaking down game footage is also something I'm looking at but will likely be less frequent due to my time being occupied with University and working.  But, the goal is to provide a ton of content for Islanders Country and Charlottetown Islanders fans while becoming the best damn blog in the Q.

Lastly I want to thank everyone who has watched "The Sprong Show - Daniel Sprong" on Vimeo/YouTube.  The video now has a combined 4,093 views on both sites and has been met tons of praise!  It was a lot of fun to make but it is not something I am focused on in the future.  There will likely be more videos but its not priority.

As always, Thanks for reading. See you at the rink!

Follow Nathan on Twitter
@TheTermiNathan

Islanders release training camp roster

Photo by Darrell Theriault.

The Charlottetown Islanders released its training camp roster on Thursday.

The training camp rosters consists of 46 players; broken down into 22 returning roster players, 17 prospects and draft picks, and seven free agent invites.

In a team release, Islanders General Manager Grant Sonier said the team is expected a very competitive training camp with the number of returning players and a new head coach.

"We expect all our players to show up hungry and prepared for what should be a very big year for our franchise."

Full in-depth training camp roster, click here.
Training camp roster:

Annear, Jesse
Balmas, Mitchell
Boudrais, Shawn
Briand-Briere, Guillaume
Carter, Kyler
Chaddock, Chris
Chalifour, Oliver
Chlapik, Filip
Comeau, David
Cooper, Oliver
Deschenes, Luc
Desroches, Jack
Di Meo, Elio
Drysdale, Ian
Foley, Johnny

Ex-Rocket signs with AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins

Pat McGrath. Photo by Darrell Kennedy.

 Former P.E.I. Rocket forward Patrick McGrath has signed an American Hockey League contract with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, the team announced yesterday.

McGrath, 22 - known more for his fists and fighting than for his hands and scoring - is the first local hockey player to join the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins organization.

The Shavertown, Penn., native spent parts of the 2011-12 season and the full 2012-13 season with the P.E.I. Rocket.

In 2011-12, McGrath skated in 11 games picking up 58 penalty minutes with the Rocket. He spent the rest of the season with the Summerside Western Capitals of the MHL scoring a goal and four points while collecting 186 penalty minutes. The following season, McGrath skated in 61 games with the Rocket, scoring a goal and two points while collecting 171 penalty minutes. His 171 penalty minutes was the most of any QMJHL player during the 2012-13 season.

Following the Rocket, McGrath has skated in 104 regular season ECHL games with the Wheeling Nailers scoring three goals and nine points with 422 penalty minutes.

McGrath signed a professional tryout agreement with the AHL's Penguins on Dec. 26, 2014 and appeared in two games and picked up 12 penalty minutes.

Former Rocket defenceman signs with New Jersey

Former P.E.I. Rocket defenceman Marc-Andre Gragnani signed a one-year, two-way contract with the New Jersey Devils on Friday.

The 28-year-old, Montreal, Que., native skated with the P.E.I. Rocket for four full seasons from 2003 to 2007. In 256 regular season games, Gragnani amassed 50 goals and 193 points. He added six goals and 18 points in 24 career QMJHL playoff games.

Prior to signing with the Devils, Gragnani played with Bern of the NLA in Germany where he scored eight goals and 37 points in 49 games.

Gragnani has spent time in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Rochester Americans, Portland Pirates and Charlotte Checkers for a total of 325 games with 50 goals and 234 points. He also spent a season in the Kontential Hockey League in Russia (KHL) with HC Lev Praha scoring two goals and nine points in 42 games.

He has also appeared in 74 NHL games with Buffalo, Vancouver and Carolina scoring three goals and 18 points.

Gragnani was originally a third round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2005.

McDonald signs entry-level contract with Flames

Mason McDonald. Photo by Darrell Theriault.

Mason McDonald signed an entry-level contract with the Calgary Flames, the team announced today.

The #Flames have signed @mmcdonald96 & @BigRigSmith ~ http://t.co/Nlec0iVE6s pic.twitter.com/xltAnLsz41

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) July 2, 2015

McDonald, 19, was drafted 34th overall by the Flames in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft.

The Halifax, N.S., native went 28-26 with a 3.06 goals against average and a 0.906 save percentage with the Islanders this past season. McDonald's 28 wins tied a franchise record for most wins in a season by a goaltender. He was limited to only three playoffs games due to an injury.

McDonald has been invited to the Under-20 National Junior Team Summer Development Camp which takes place Aug. 1-6 at the Markin MacPhail Centre in Calgary, Alta.