I came back from my All Star Break vacation just in time to watch the Rangers shellac Philadelphia 4-0. While I was gone, the Rangers went 2-2. They stumbled out of the box in Carolina on Tuesday but seem to have righted the ship tonight. 

Ranger fans are shaking their heads at the up and down antics of this team. Their inconsistancy has been just infuriating. I think the reason for tonight’s win has much to do with the amount of time each line spent on the ice. Sure, every Ranger was engaged and played a disciplined game, sans the usual parade to the penalty box.

I think that the reason for their success tonight had a great deal to do with the fact that ice time was distributed fairly equally over the top three lines. That can only happen for the Rangers when the game is played at even strength. The Ranger’s powerplay tonight was still pretty abyssmal. I could almost hear the guy that stands behind me in Section 409 yelling, “Decline, Decline”.

Straka Gomez Jagr averaged 17:30. Avery Dubinsky Shanahan 16:30 and Dawes Drury Prucha came in at an a combined average of 14:00. The fourth line were effective in providing a physical presence and killing the few Ranger penalties, having a combined 10:00 minute average.

These line combinations were the most effective I have seen this season. Sean Avery quietly had a good game despite the fact that he was crosschecked across the back several times and once high at the neck. Brandon Dubinsky is such a pleasure watch. His hustle and speed, along with Avery’s, may just be the prescription to ignite the scoring of the slower Brendan Shanahan.

When Jagr wants to play, to forecheck, backcheck, be defensively responsible, the Rangers can succeed. To Jaromir I say: Dr. Jagr, first do no harm. Marty Straka singlehandedly saved a goal by putting on the jets and making the necessary check. Even though neither player had a point, they were defensively responsible with the puck. They stuck to the game plan. It does work.

Scott Gomez made the pass to Drury for the backbreaking powerplay goal. Gomez has been the glue that holds this team. More then any other player on the team, he is proving his worth as the season progresses. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a “C” on his chest sometime in the future.

What can you say about our fourth line? They do their job night in and out. Tonight they negated the physical presence of some of the Flyer goons while staying out of the box themselves.

Finally, and most importantly, keeping Drury with the kids was a lethal combination tonight. The steady, experienced hand of Chris Drury guiding Dawes the Sniper and Prucha the Fearless may be the long awaited emergence of the Drury we were expecting since October.

The Rangers have a tough weekend coming up. They play the Devils on Friday at the Rock and the Canadiens on Sunday in Montreal. So far, the Rangers are 4-0 against the Devils and 2-0 against the Habs. Let’s hope they can continue to play 120 minutes of committed hockey against these two teams over the weekend. They badly need these points.

Let’s Go Rangers!  

I am away and will return on January 29th. I hope the Rangers can get their act together and that everyone has a great time at Leetch Night.

My internet access will be limited but I hope to check in from time to time. 

Congratulations to the New York Giants!

Let’s Go Rangers.

Why must it always comes down to this? Fanatics out there are calling for Tom Renney to be fired because: the Rangers just lost their last five games, they are at the bottom of the Atlantic division and are technically, as of today, out of the playoffs.

Let’s look at a few simple facts.

Fact - Glenn Sather signed Gomez and Drury and let Nylander walk
Fact - Henrik Lundqvist is having an up and down year
Fact - Two of the most energetic and heart and soul players, Avery and Straka, have been out injured most of the season
Fact - Jagr and Shanahan are getting older and not performing as expected
Fact - The Rangers, as presently constructed, will be lucky to make the playoffs nevermind win the Stanley Cup

Tom Renney is not here just to coach the present Ranger team. He is here to coach the future Rangers. He was hired to develop players. So far the organization is doing better in drafting and developing their youth then at any point in its history. Tom Renney stepped in to take over a job that Sather couldn’t hire anyone to do and that he couldn’t do himself. Renney has coached the Rangers since the lockout with more success then anyone had a right to expect. Lofty expectation has lead to malcontent.

Now that this team is finding its level, many fans are attributing its lack of success to Tom Renney and his coaching staff. They are screaming for Renney to be fired. Yeah, that will turn this season around. That will solve things. Scream for Renney to be fired. Let’s all slag off Tom Renney because it makes some meanspirited, moron Ranger fans feel better.

Sometimes the fanatics on all the Ranger messageboards remind me of the boys marooned on that South Pacific Island in “Lord of the Flies”. Ungrateful, shortsighted, spoiled, obnoxious, selfish babies. They can go ahead and boo, spout obscenities, scream for Renney to be fired and players traded. True fanatics. If Sather and Dolan pander to these morons, they deserve whatever bad things happen. If MSG hasn’t fired Isiah Thomas, they damn well better not fire Tom Renney.

I have been a Ranger fan since the late 1960’s. In my opinion, Tom Renney is the best coach the Rangers have had since Fred Shero. After his success in Philadelphia, Shero came in to coach a Ranger team that was at rock bottom. He took a bunch of kids and a few veterans and brought the Rangers to within three wins of a Stanley Cup in 1979.

I would like to thank Tom Renney for everthing he has done to make the last two seasons more enjoyable and memorable then anyone had a right to expect. I only hope that Tom can weather the storm of anger and criticism that the “mob” of fanatical Ranger fans would like to rain down on him and the team.

Some of the opinions I have read make me sicker then the game I watched last night. I think I’ll take that negative and turn it into a positive. I’ll take my anger at these fanatics and raise my voice in a supportive cheer.

Let’s Go Rangers! No Surrender! Renney Stays!

Lately, rather than watch the Ranger’s season implode, I think I would prefer the stomach flu. I know that after tonight’s game, I couldn’t feel any sicker to my stomach. People don’t understand why I feel this way. They tell me to get a grip. It isn’t the end of the world when the Rangers lose.

I have my health, as does my family. I have a roof over my head and a reasonably comfortable middle class life. There are far worse things to contemplate in this world. There is a war going on in Iraq. There is genocide in Darfur. 

Why do the misfortunes of the New York Rangers matter so much to me? Why am I so absorbed by what happens to this team? I must have some psychological disorder to be emotionally effected by the win/loss record of the New York Rangers.

I didn’t think it was possible for the Rangers to fall any lower this season. After Ryan Hollweg scored the first two goals. I thought the Rangers would take this game from the Flyers handily. Of course, the officials did everything in their power to help the Flyers by calling two bogus penalties at the end of the first period on Dubinsky and Drury.

The All-Star break will soon be upon us. I am going to Hawaii, part business/part vacation next Friday for two weeks. I thought about bringing my laptop with me but I think I will leave it home. I think I will just enjoy the trip and try and put the Rangers and the season out of my head for a while.

That is my prescription for my “Rangeritis”. I suggest everyone do something they enjoy and tune out the New York Rangers for a few games to preserve your sanity. Maybe Leetch Night and the All Star Break will help the Rangers refocus their game.

Last night I was sitting in Madison Square Garden in my season subscription seats in Section 409 trying to watch the game. I was unable to do so because the couple sitting in front of me chose not to be curtious and follow proper etiquette. They kept getting up and down while play was ongoing.

In fact, the man stood in front of me for over a minute trying to sort out how he was going to hand his girlfriend a tray of beer and food. I missed the entire sequence leading up and including Tampa’s second goal. I received no apology for this inconsiderate behavior. After these people kept getting up and down while play was going on, I spoke to them in a stern manner and said “Look, you must wait for the whistle before exiting and returning to your seats. You are interfering with everyone’s line of sight.”

They both started to give me an argument culminating in the man saying “I have been to many hockey games. You don’t have to wait for the whistle”. The women was angry because she felt I was being rude for chastizing them for their boorish behavior.

I know the subscriber of these seats. He’s a nice guy and a great Ranger fan. I told the man I would advise the subscriber of their behavior and that in future the subscriber should reconsider selling or giving his tickets to people who have no concept of proper hockey viewing “etiquette”.

I also felt that, had I been a man, the situation could have become ugly. Both the man and the woman had consumed several beers and this altercation started to become more animated and vocal then it needed to be.

Season Subscriber’s need to be mindful that the policy of Madison Square Garden is that if a subscriber sells or gives away their seats, they are responsible for the behavior of the occupants. A subscriber can lose their seats if said occupants cause trouble by being argumentative, combative or use foul language.

Unfortunately, when you sit up in the “Blue Seats” you are hard pressed to find security or ushers to enforce the “Wait for the Whistle” rule as they do downstairs in Madison Square Garden. I am sure this inconsiderate behavior occurs all over the league. I have seen public service announcements in some NHL arenas where the host team’s players ask the fans to behave appropriately. MSG should think about playing it right before the game starts. It couldn’t hurt.

I swear to God being a Ranger fan and reading the blogs has more drama than the Britney Spears story. All over the messageboards, intemperate fanatics are calling for Tom Renney to be fired because of this past road trip. Renney isn’t going anywhere, nor should he. Fire Renney and you throw out the baby with the bath water.

The response to fire Renney is a typical Ranger fan, impatient, knee jerk reaction. Does anyone think the Rangers were seriously going to make a Cup run this year? Why? Because Shanny and Jagr said so at the beginning of the season? What were they supposed to say “We are here to try to improve the entertainment product but no one can seriously think the Rangers are going to beat the elite teams and win the Stanley Cup!”

The fact that the Rangers made the playoff for two seasons straight post lockout was a complete surprise and a bonus to Ranger fans. That they went deep into the second round last season sweeping Atlanta and almost dumping Buffalo was miraculous. The morons out there calling for Renney’s head would complain that the Rangers success was purely on the backs of Lundqvist and Jagr. Please.

Because the Rangers don’t have 50 points and aren’t leading their division and conference, Renney should be fired? Because they lost all three games on this last road trip, Renney has to be fired? Because the Rangers are 3 games over .500 and are in the thick of their divisional race, NOW is the time to Fire Renney!

Let’s put this road trip behind us, move forward and work towards winning the division. It can be done. One step at a time. If the Rangers don’t make the playoffs, the fanatics will have every right to start bitching.

For God sake, people need to stop the insanity and get a grip!

Maybe it was for the best that I had no television service in my home this past week. Because Dish Network couldn’t provide repair service in a timely fashion, my husband decided it was time to give the Dolan family more of our money by switching to IO Cable. Service was restored just in time for me to watch the Rangers lose their third straight game on this Western road trip to the Edmonton Oilers.

I listened to the other two games against Calgary and Vancouver on the radio and the only thing I can say in defense of the Rangers is that the teams in the Western Conference are light years better than those in the East. You have only to look at the stats and the standings to come to this concluson.

Posters on the other message boards I frequent are screaming about last night’s Ranger loss. How could they lose to the lowly Edmonton Oilers? Garon isn’t that good. The Oilers are 24th in the league in team defense and 22nd in offense according to the Hockey Rodent’s RealStats:

Real Offense http://hockeyrodent.com/R1954.HTM2

Real Defense http://hockeyrodent.com/R1954.HTM3

Maybe these same people should look at these stats for the Rangers. The Rangers are 30th in the league on offense and an amazing 6th in the league on defense. The Edmonton Oilers are 18-21-3 and have 40 points. Calgary, the team the Rangers lost to 4-3 on Wednesday, have 51 points, are 7th in the league in offense and 22nd in defense. The Vancouver Canucks, who shut out the Rangers 3-0 on Thursday, have 50 points. Vancouver is 20th on offense and 2nd in defense as per the Hockey Rodent. Every team in the Northwest Division has more points then the Rangers (45) except the Oilers (40).

Put all these statistics into context and you draw the following conclusions: Next to the Southeast, the Atlantic Division is the weakest in the league; and, the Rangers at 3 games over .500 would be among the cellar dwellars of the Western conference teams, specifically the Northwest division teams with whom they just played.  

Should the fact that the Rangers only managed to garner 1 point in their last three games send some Ranger fans off the deep end?  Of course not. The Atlantic Division is a five horse race. With half the season left, The Rangers will not see another Western Conference team on the road. The Ducks, Sharks and Kings will play the Rangers at the Garden. Only San Jose is the clearly superior team to the Rangers.

The rest of the season starts Tuesday back home in the Garden against Tampa.  The Atlantic Division is a horse race with only 4 points seperating the Rangers from the first place Devils and 1 point seperating the Rangers from the last place Islanders. The Rangers need to take care of business at home. If after the All Star Break the Rangers are still struggling, then I will be more concerned.

After all is said and done about this road trip, I have but one burning question for Coach Renney. Tom, what were you thinking about starting Avery in the shoot out against Edmonton?