Well the FHNL season kicked off today with a bang and the Islanders lived up to their game 1 jitters with a no show on offense once again getting outplayed in every facet of the game by an improved Florida Panther squad. A 0-6 result in your opening game of the season is probably the worst way you can start a season morale wise; you wait, prepare, put in the work in the offseason only to look like a minor league team when the puck drops. The Islanders second line should take the brunt of the blame as the experiment to give young center Cross Hanas a chance to anchor a scoring line ended with a -4 result. Even though the young center put up 4 shots and a couple of hits which is nice to see he took a stupid cross-checking penalty at the end of the second which lead to the 4th goal being scored on the Panther powerplay early in the 3rd. One game into the young season is a bit of an overaction to warrant writing an article but this is a big year for GM Marnix to take a step in the right direction after a couple of really disappointing seasons. "You put so much work into getting a team ready to take a step forward and you never see the needle move, and you wait for that moment where things will eventually gel but the wait feels like a lifetime, I just hope the money we invest into our core players will start paying off at some point else we may have to look at a new core in a few seasons."
6/16/2026 - 414 words
