Weird Islanders: The Podcast! - Wade Dubielewicz (with guest Joe Buono)

2 years ago  /  Lighthouse Hockey

Much more than a minor leaguer. An absolute Islanders legend. Mike and Dan talk with Isles Fix’s Joe Buono about goalie Wade Dubielewicz, a cult Islanders legend with a one-of-a-kind career arc.
The diminutive goalie went from the NCAA to the AHL to the starter’s net on a mercenary Islanders team needing to do the improbable in order to clinch a playoff berth. He went on to make the most famous poke check in team history and solidify his legacy as Islander hero. But that wasn’t the ending of the story.
Mike, Dan and Joe talk about Easter Sunday Magic, Dubielewicz’s history of poke checks, waiver shenanigans that foreshadow future Islanders waiver shenanigans and much, much more as they remember the Islanders version of Yoda.
Thanks again to Joe for coming on. Follow him on Twitter at @IslesFix, and sign up for the newsletter here. It’s absolutely fantastic and will become a regular part of your day in no time.

WEIRD BONUS MATERIAL!
Gotta start with The Poke Check™️

That wasn’t the only olé in Dubie’s history. Here he is doing it to Jaromir Jagr.

Dubielewicz’s journey to the KHL is still somewhat shrouded in mystery but this old blog post Joe found has some juicy (14-year-old) gossip:

Speaking of easy to root for, Logan’s blog had a surprising revelation about Wade Dubielewicz. Logan used his blog to publish a slew of information that didn’t fit in the original Snow article. Snow revealed that a contributing factor to Nolan’s heavy use of Rick DiPietro early in the season was that Dubielewicz didn’t report to camp in great shape.
Dubie has never seemed like type of guy to slack off over the summer because he finally scored his first one-way deal. Whatever caused him to lack fitness, his subsequent high quality of play in the second half may not be enough to overcome the perception that he let the team down early on. In that light, the signing of Joey MacDonald takes on new meaning.


Here’s a run down of the entire saga from an obscure website called... Lighthouse Hockey? Sounds weird. It’ll never last.
This didn’t make it into the episode but Mike talked about it. Dubielewicz was mic’d up during a game for the Wild’s AHL club in 2010 and it’s glorious:



What makes a “Weird Islander?”
We’re always open to suggestions about other Weird Islanders to discuss. Remember the criteria. Candidates must fulfill one of the two of the following:

Played one (1) season or less for the Islanders or very short stints over multiple seasons.
Be a veteran NHLer who is not generally associated with his time on Islanders.


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