It seems as though Scott Raab isn’t the only writer running afoul of a team’s PR people. According to a tweet from Hockey Night in Canada‘s Jeff Marek, Chris Botta has been banned from receiving press credentials from the New York Islanders.
Botta – founder of NYI Point Blank, a senior NHL writer for AOL’s Fanhouse, and “the team’s former longtime media relations VP – posted the following on NYIPB:
“Due to circumstances currently beyond my control, Point Blank will be closed indefinitely starting today at 4:00 pm. Could be for a few days or longer. I do not know, but will keep you posted. Thank you for the support always, and for hanging in.”
The situation has been brewing since at least Monday, when he tweeted, “I’m one of two writers at #Isles practice today and Islanders PR will not provide me with conference call info LOL.”
Botta was critical of the team’s decision to fire Islanders coach Scott Gordon.
A team spokeswoman told Business Insider “”We funded his blog for the first year. When that changed he went from reporting the news to making the news.”
We reached out to Botta and will report back when we hear anything from him.