Cronin savors coaching post with Islanders

For New York Islanders fourth-year assistant coach Greg Cronin, the former University of Maine assistant and interim head coach, life couldn’t be much better.

The Islanders are the talk of the NHL after entering Tuesday night’s game against Florida with an Eastern Conference-leading 18 points.

The Islanders, who won just 69 games over the previous three seasons, had eight wins, a tie and an overtime loss for their best start in the franchise’s 30-year history.

“I have to pinch myself sometimes,” said the 38-year-old Cronin. “It’s been awesome. It is always an honor to work in the NHL. We had been bruised and banged up the three previous seasons and we had ownership problems which led to inferior rosters.”

Cronin said the losing took its toll on him because he had been accustomed to winning after coaching Maine, Colorado College, the U.S. National Junior team and the U.S. Under-18 Development squad.

“I felt like I had taken a beating emotionally and psychologically,” said Cronin, who played at Colby College.

But new owners Charles Wong and Sanjay Kumar have provided the capital and enabled general manager Mike Milbury to obtain veteran free agent centers Alexei Yashin and Michael Peca. Veteran goalie Chris Osgood was picked up off the waiver-wire.

“Ownership dictates success. It’s a game of dollars. If your ownership is willing to absorb [financial] losses by spending money on inflated salaries, you can win,” said Cronin.

He said Wong predicted he would turn the franchise around by spending millions of dollars and that he wanted to “make the [Nassau] Coliseum an enjoyable place to go and watch the Islanders.”

Cronin said Osgood’s goaltending, composure and decisions with the puck have been the biggest key to their success and former Maine goalie Garth Snow has been a quality backup.

“His expectations got crushed when we picked up Osgood. He went from being the number one to the number two guy. But Garth has been awesome. He still works hard. He still stays out late after practice. The players love him. He has a contagious personality. Some guys would have sulked but Garth has been very professional,” said Cronin.

Cronin’s responsibilities include the penalty-killing units, helping to run practices and monitoring games from up above, communicating via headsets with assistant Kelly Miller and first-year head coach Peter Laviolette, the brother-in-law of former Maine baseball player Billy McInnis.

Cronin said the guy he has been happiest for is Milbury because “he bore the brunt of abuse from the media and the fans. The New York media is ruthless.”

He also said Laviolette reminds him of late Maine coach Shawn Walsh.

“He isn’t as fiery or as charismatic as Shawn but he is just as intelligent and just as calculating,” said Cronin who is married to the former Carol Morneault of Van Buren. She is the regional manager of Viva International.

Better play off the ball needed

The caliber of Eastern Maine schoolboy and schoolgirl soccer has improved significantly over the last 10 years.

But the next step for Eastern Maine players in an attempt to catch up to their western Maine neighbors is to improve their play off the ball.

Two simple tips: One, after passing to a teammate, make a run so your teammate has you as a passing option.

Two, run to a pass intended for you. It is human nature to wait for the ball but by doing that, you risk having the pass intercepted.

Larry Mahoney’s column appears every Wednesday. He can be reached 1-800-310-8600, 990-8231 or via e-mail at lmahoney@bangordailynews.net.