Though I am not ordinarily a superstitious person, I have a good feeling about tonight’s game. After skating for an hour and a half this morning, I came off the ice feeling good. I had some success today on something I have been working on for along time. In fact, I was hitting things fairly consistently all morning. I was really feeling the ice. 

I won’t bore you with the technical figure skating terms. Just suffice it to say that my positions were square and checked when I took off and landed my jumps. My spins were well centered and my edges were long and flowing.

How the  hell does all this relate to hockey and the tonight’s crucial game seven, you ask? Hear me out. Last Monday I turned up at my least favorite local rink, Dix Hills Park, to skate on the morning of Game 3. I got there and paid my $10. to skate on their crappy, blade killing ice.

I was just getting warmed up and Dan, the hockey coach, told me that two buses  full of school children would be arriving for an outing. The ice became cluttered with little bodies falling all over the ice. I skated for a half hour and left feeling unfulfilled and annoyed. It put me out of sorts for the rest of the day. It was like walking under a cloud. The Rangers lost Game 3

What a difference a week can make. Today I had my best day in a long time.  As I was getting off the ice, I thought back to last week and the negative way last Monday had started and finished. Today was so much different. I had a great morning. The ice at Superior Rink in Kings Park is always, um, superior and the weather was beautiful outside. This was a good omen.

As I was leaving the rink I said goodbye to my friends and proclaimed that I had had a great skate. Mark, ice maintainer extraordinaire and JV hockey coach at St. Anthony’s, said that my great skate might just be a good omen for the day and for the Rangers. He verbalized what I had been thinking.

Mark and his players are in the midst of a playoff battle with Sachem High School. His team lost 3-1 last night but they played well. They are in a best two out of three series. He told his players to be positive. They were in the game right to the end. They beat other good teams to get as far as they have.  He told them to look forward to the next game and stay positive.

After all that has happened in this series with the Washington Capitals, the Rangers need only win one more game. If good omens or karma have anything to do with it, the Rangers will win. After all, no Ranger has bitten any Cap or delivered a cheap, potentially career ending hit on any of the Capitals.

Washington is the team with the bad karma. The Rangers need to wipe the taint of Capitals and the last two games off them and play smart, puck possession hockey. They need to go back to their muscle memory and channel what Tom Renney taught them for 2/3 of the season.

They need to get their defensive game back and shut down the Caps because they can. They need to play boring, Tom Renney style, defensive hockey for just one more game. That and  Henrik Lundqvist needs to regain his kingly form and stop giving away the top of the net. 

Haven’t the Rangers been up and down all season, win two, lose one, win one, lose two. Well folks, the Rangers are due for a win and tonight has to be the night because there is no tomorrow.

Let’s Go Rangers

Posted under New York Rangers