Sutton Smash!
Adam Malmut | Nov 17, 2009 | Comments 4
Andy Sutton crushing Ales Hemsky (Oilers).
The New York Islanders began the season a little soft on defense – not anymore.
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The towering defender you see above is Andy Sutton. He stands at 6′6″ without skates and there is one word that perfectly describes his play this season – Nasty. In about every game after the mid-point of October 2009, Sutton has dished out huge hits and has shown he has an exceptional mastery of the old school hip check.
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Sutton has been criticized in the past and even at the begin of the season by his latest coach, Scott Gordon, for not throwing his weight around as much as he should. Well it would seem that Sutton is taking matters into his own has and has stepped up his physical play big time (no pun intended). He has even shown some scoring touch this year, exemplified by his goal over Atlanta netminder Pavelic. Here is the Sick goal by Sutton.
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Big Andy has three goals this season on 14 shots. If he turns up the volume on the amount of shots he takes, he can really begin show that he is a complete player. Along with many of his teammates, Sutton is playing near play-off level hockey right now.
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Despite the loss of D-man Radek Martinek (out for the season), the Islanders squad of Sutton, Hillen, Meyer IV, Witt, Gervais, and Mark Streit have been moving the puck well and putting rubber on net. Some credit must be given to head coach Scott Gordon for the success of this squad. They’ve all bought into the system and it shows.
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Catch Andy Sutton and friends this Friday (11/20/09) as they travel to Minnesota to challenege the Wild @ 8pm est.
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Filed Under: New York Islanders
Sutton has been a beast this year. Especially the past 10-15 games. Lets just hope he keeps this up and earns a contract extension from Snow. If he is able to play like this everygame, then he will continue to be a huge asset to this team. We need the size on D so its nice to see him playing so well.
Couldn’t agree more CT. If he continues this play into the new year, he should be golden in getting a contact extension from Snow.
I’ve seen Sutton play just one game this year but your picture is from that game. Against the Oilers he caught both Horcoff and Hemsky with big time hits. His hit against Horcoff knocked him out for four games shoulder injury. The way that guy hits he is just a beast out there.
The funny thing, Ryan, is that this style of play came as if from no-where. This is what Isles fans have been looking from Sutton and he’s finally healthy enough to deliver.