Dubie or Die
By Zach Weinstock
Five down, one to go.
A dramatic string of three Islander wins and two Montreal losses at the end of the 2008-07 season had Ted Nolan's Isles on the cusp of a must-have six-game combination jackpot, and through 55 minutes of the last game at New Jersey, the final mission appeared the simplest yet.
An opponent with nothing to gain, resting future hall-of-famer Martin Brodeur for the upcoming playoffs, the Isles needed two points, any way they could get them.
A Long Island invasion of the Meadowlands and a spine-tingling "LET'S GO ISLANDERS" chant in the pre-game darkness created a scene which no one who was present will ever forget.
The Islanders had a 18-12 shots advantage through two periods and a 2-0 lead late in the third.
Followed by a slight adventure.
An ill-advised pinch. Poor transition coverage. A slick tip by Devils grinder John Madden at 15:47 cut the Isles’ lead to 2-1.
An uncontested clearing attempt was flubbed with 19 seconds to go.
The teams were scrambling; the Devils working it around. The Isles were inexplicably outnumbered in the low-slot, five players to three.
Madden flipped home a rebound with eight tenths of a second remaining! The game was tied at 2-2.
So the final mission wasn't that simple after all. But at least it fit right in with the rest of this crazy season.
Up in Toronto, where the fate of their Maple Leafs hinged on an Islander loss of any kind, blood pressure was no doubt elevated. Isles nation was already desensitized to this sort of turmoil. The 2006-07 season had long since settled into a predictable pattern of unpredictability, with the same tropes appearing on repeat.
Anyone can be anything. Anything can happen. Expect the unexpected.
With that torrid streak the Isles flipped their former-teammate-turned-boss from a potential trade deadline seller to an emphatic buyer. Snow declined offers for high-scoring Blake, then added the most coveted player on the market, Ryan Smyth.
Smyth settled on a line with Blake, and the duo clicked. The Islanders continued collecting points. Everything was magnificent… until it all unraveled, abruptly, in one painful moment on March 13, 2007.
That was when DiPietro collided with Canadiens forward Steve Begin - at the blue line, of all places - and suffered a concussion.
Rick's value was best demonstrated by what transpired in his absence. Veteran Mike Dunham took over and the Isles lost three straight in regulation. DiPietro returned and went 2-0-2, but was forced back to the sideline with post-concussion symptoms. The Islanders instantly dropped another pair of games. A season which seemed so promising was now in crisis, with Coach Nolan scrambling to find someone – anyone – to tend goal. His starter was in the infirmary. His initial backup was in the general manager's chair. His backup-backup was struggling. It was time to look behind Door Number Four.
Everything about Wade Dubielewicz was adorable, from his undersized build to his oversized equipment and pugnacious, adolescent-like energy. He had his nickname "Dubie" painted on the front of his mask and Yoda from Star Wars painted on the back, a wink at his own appearance. "I don't really look like a goalie," he explained, "and Yoda doesn't really look like a Jedi Warrior."
If you showed 100 people a picture of the scrawny, balding British Columbian and asked them to guess if he was a pro athlete or a high school math tutor, survey would say the latter and it wouldn't be close.
In other words, Dubielewicz was the underdog of underdogs. This perception was hardly erased in his first start of the season when – despite 42 saves on 46 shots – the Islanders were steamrolled at home by the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on March 31, dropping all the way to 10th place in the Eastern Conference with a measly four games to play.
The next morning Nolan cancelled the scheduled Sunday off and called a no-nonsense team meeting. The time had come, he said, for the Islanders to stop feeling sorry for themselves and to go out, have some pride, compete, and see what happens.
It helped that Tuesday's opponent would be an easy one to "get up" for, as the Isles would host the hated – and red hot – New York Rangers, needing a win to stay alive.
"Wade Dubielewicz is writing quite a story for himself," declared play-by-play ace Howie Rose on the home telecast roughly midway through another impressive showing by Dubie, who stopped 34 of 36 shots through regulation, including a handful of beauties.
But elimination still appeared imminent, particularly when the Rangers went on a power play in overtime. Thanks to some quality shot blocking and one last Dubie-dandie, the Isles hobbled to the final horn. Their season now dangled from the fingers of a career minor league goaltender in hockey's ultimate mano-y-mano exhibition.
When it came to cachet, the Rangers' shootout roll call was the "anti-Dubie," with high-scoring Michael Nylander, hall-of-famer Brendan Shanahan and all-time great Jaromir Jagr manning the pucks and another legend, Henrik Lundqvist, in net.
Nylander calmly strolled through center without a worry in the world, until – surprise! – Dubie jabbed him with a perfect poke check.
Next, Sharpshooting Shanahan took aim at Dubie's top shelf, and Wade tipped the rubber away – barely – with the edge of his blocker.
With the Isles up a strike, the evening came down to a duel between Dubielewicz and Jagr, one of the best to ever play.
Dubie went for another poke check. Ever alert, Jagr pulled the puck back and shoveled a forehand at Wade's five-hole. Dubie went full split, blunted the biscuit with the top of his pad, punched it away, jumped to his feet and sprinted into the arms of his teammates like a little boy.
"DUBIE DUBIE DOO!" exclaimed Isles color man Billy Jaffe.
The Rangers' Empire was toppled by the Islanders' Yoda! Now the question was, could Wade's "Hokey-Pokey" help the Isles turn themselves around?
In order to make the playoffs, Nolan's Nassaumen would need five positive results in a span of four days – three wins in their own three remaining games, plus a pair of Montreal losses, including at least one in regulation time.
Asked to handicap those odds, Nolan estimated "a million to one."
But Islander fans kept the faith, as Dubie's antics became a rallying cry. Hence, signs reading "Always Believe," "Never Say Die" and "Still Breathin' Still Believin'" roamed among the masses ambling into Nassau Coliseum for the final home game of the regular season on April 5.
Dubie doused a potent Maple Leafs attack with nine difficult saves in the first period - inspiring hymns of "Dooooob" from the stands - and a determined Smyth forecheck, setup and rebound finish gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead late in the frame. The Leafs tied the game and drew consecutive penalties late in the second period, but in a dramatic turn of events, the Islanders killed both, then buried a power play goal of their own, a Sillinger snipe off a tic-tac-toe passing play with 25 seconds left.
After Toronto equalized early in the third, Jason Blake delivered one of his signature works, circling the Leafs' zone past three would-be-defenders before shelving a 55-foot wrist shot to become the first Islander to reach 40 goals since Zigmund Palffy, and more importantly, reclaim the lead.
Enthusiasm grew when word of Montreal's 3-1 defeat made its way through the crowd, and the fans jumped out of their shoes when Arron Asham fired home a long range missile to make it 4-2 Islanders.
Chants of "DU-BIE" and "WE WANT PLAYOFFS" echoed throughout the arena. By the time Miroslav Satan sealed the matter with an empty net breakaway, the math was crystal clear. Just one more Canadiens loss and the Isles would control their own destiny. Suddenly it all felt doable.
Or more precisely, it felt Dube-able.
Next up was a 1:00 p.m. matinee against the Flyers in Philadelphia. The Islanders oozed confidence en route to a quick 3-0 lead, but a pair of pretty goals brought the home side within a whisker of spoiling everything. Star sniper Simon Gagne had a glorious opportunity with 40 seconds left, but Sillinger ruined his low slot one-timer with a frantic stick check, leading to an Islander clear. Smyth retrieved the puck in the right wing corner and spoon-fed Tom Poti for an empty net layup while Rose crooned "Get your televisions ready for 7:00 p.m.!"
Indeed, that evening's episode of Hockey Night in Canada was poised for record ratings in the Long Island market. And in keeping with the theme of the season, the feature match between Montreal and Toronto turned all kinds of bonkers.
The Canadiens erased an early 3-1 deficit with four straight goals in a 13-minute span, each a dagger in the esophagus of the Islanders pulling for the Leafs while resting for their game at New Jersey.
Ironically, the evening turned on a reckless high-sticking penalty by Steve Begin, the very man whose equally reckless blow-up with DiPietro had set the Isles on this long detour in the first place. The Maple Leafs scored twice on the double-minor for a 6-5 advantage.
From there all three invested fanbases – Montreal, Toronto and New York - assumed high alert, with nearly a period to play in a game that was averaging a goal every four minutes. But somehow the next goal never came.
The Maple Leafs held on, and all eyes in hockey turned to the New Jersey Turnpike, specifically Exit 16W, where the Islanders would meet the Devils for the final regular season game in historic Meadowlands Arena.
Thousands made the pilgrimage through surprise Easter Sunday snow flurries to come cheer for the visitors, cramming the box office with blue and orange Islander jerseys hours prior to the 3:30 p.m. start. When the lights went out and the teams readied to take the ice, thunderous chants of "LET'S GO ISLANDERS" drowned out the Devils' special home finale presentation.
The first two and a half periods belonged to Dubie and Richard Park, who beat New Jersey goaltender Scott Clemmensen in the first and again in the third for a 2-0 lead.
But elation gave way to nerves after Devils sparkplug John Madden cut the lead in half with four minutes to go, and to sheer dread when he tied it at the buzzer.
"OH NO!" cried Jaffe.
In mere moments the Islanders' two-goal lead was squandered. And now their next mistake could be their last.
Thus every movement of the ensuing five-minute overtime felt like a matter of life and death.
Dubielewicz fended off the grim reaper with a clutch shoulder save on a rush by the great Patrick Elias. Clemmensen answered with a point-blank robbery of Miro Satan, pulling the Islanders and their hungry fans to the depths of the unimaginable - another shootout! - this time with the whole season on the line.
A week's worth of stressful viewing would culminate in the most stressful viewing possible - the pantheon of panic - a skill competition to determine a playoff berth.
"I can't believe it," Jaffe guffawed. "I cannot believe that it's going to come down to this!"
Surely the oxygen deprived audience agreed.
The Islanders' first two shooters, Satan and Viktor Kozlov, buried snappers without much resistance. On the other end, Zach Parise had it just as easy, freezing Dubielewicz with a sweet forehand-to-backhand shimmy.
If anything, Parise's dance around Dubie was so smooth and convincing that it left Wade with little choice but to amend his approach. Heck, if you're going to play with a goal-stick twice your own height, you might as well use it.
So Dubie went back to what had worked for him in the past, his patented poke check.
Brian Gionta cruised in confidently. Dubie picked his pocket with a sneak attack, giving the Isles the lead through two frames.
After Clemmensen got the better of Ryan Smyth, Sergei Brylin stepped to the dot, the last man standing between the Nassaumen and the postseason. "And now the pressure will fall on Wade Dubielewicz," Rose proclaimed.
Brylin tried the same move as Parise, a leg kick to feign a shot followed by a deke to the backhand.
This time Dubie wasn't waiting.
"With how bad Parise burned me," he explained, "I had a feeling Brylin would do the same thing."
As soon as Brylin faked the shot, Yoda took out his magic blue Reebok Lightsaber and said, "The poke's on you," jousting the paddle forward like a shuffleboard cue.
Brylin carried the puck directly into the baton, and away it bounced. The crowd and the visiting bench erupted! Dubie darted ahead! The players jumped for joy! The coaches hugged! Nolan tap danced across the base of the boards, arms raised like Rocky Balboa!
"The New York Islanders are headed to the Stanley Cup Playoffs," exclaimed Rose, "in as dramatic a fashion as you can envision!"
Twenty years after the "Easter Epic," the Islanders had filmed the perfect sequel. They survived one of the most volatile emotional roller coasters in club history, on the shoulders of a man hardly tall enough to ride.
"A million to one," as Nolan had put it.
But as Jim Carrey famously explained in Dumb & Dumber, "a million to one" is still a chance.