Along with comedian, podcaster and new author John Cullen, we remember Rob Davison, who had one major moment against a marquee opponent in his very short stint on Long Island.<\/p>\n
Like a lot of defensive defensemen, Rob Davison was not a player most people would remember. His job was preventing goals, not scoring them, for a very good San Jose Sharks team in the early 2000\u2019s. When he was dealt to the Islanders at the tail end of the 2007-08 season, it barely registered with the fanbase and was more about filling a giant injury hole than anything else. He arrived late to his first game and would eventually leave the team after that playoff-free season.<\/p>\n
BUT! In those 19-games, Rob Davison – of all people – scored a goal so crazy, so unbelievable, so memorable that we\u2019re still talking about it 25 years later. In an otherwise pointless game at Nassau Coliseum between two teams going nowhere, Davison launched the puck 190-feet down the ice and ended up with one of the most ludicrous shorthanded goals in NHL history, forever tying him to former Sharks teammate Vesa Toskala in a moment of infamy no one who watched it will ever forget.<\/p>\n
Instead of finding a Sharks fan to talk about Davison, we asked John – a fan of the hated Maple Leafs – to talk about that game, that goal and Toskala\u2019s legacy in Toronto. Ironically, we all find a degree of sympathy for the goalie who faced an impossible play and whiffed on it the way just about anyone would have. We talk about his reaction to his friend Davison scoring a goal like that on him, and about how trading Davison helped the Sharks draft an upgrade, who has a goofy connection to the Islanders decades later. We also enjoy a rarely remembered fact about that famous game (that the Islanders still lost).<\/p>\n
What makes a \u201cWeird Islander?\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019re always open to suggestions about other Weird Islanders to discuss. Remember the criteria. Candidates must fulfill one of the two of the following:<\/p>\n