Finally, the hockey world has Cindy Crosby dead to rights and on videotape. He slewfooted Callahan. He can’t deny what he did. Joe Micheletti called him out immediately during the game. Dubinsky called him out during the intermission. All of the commentators on MSG Hockey Night Live called him out during the post game show. In print Dubinsky called Crosby out for slewfooting not once but twice.

If you are waiting for Colin Campbell to review Crosby’s offenses, if you are waiting for Crosby to be sanctioned or chastised in anyway, don’t hold your breathe. After all, Crosby is Bettman’s Poster Boy. He’s God’s gift to the NHL. Even when he does wrong, he can do no wrong. Here is what should happen to Crosby but won’t:

Rule 52 – Slew-footing

52.1 Slew-footing – Slew-footing is the act of a player or goalkeeper using his leg or foot to knock or kick an opponent’s feet from under him, or pushes an opponent’s upper body backward with an arm or elbow, and at the same time with a forward motion of his leg, knocks or kicks the opponent’s feet from under him, causing him to fall violently to the ice.

52.2 Match Penalty – Any player who is guilty of slew-footing shall be assessed a match penalty.

52.3 Fines and Suspensions – There are no specified fines or suspensions for slew-footing, however, supplementary discipline can be applied by the Commissioner at his discretion (refer to Rule 28).

Since Bettman has Rule 28, he will do nothing. It is incumbent on the Rangers to target Crosby and make him pay for being the faking, diving, cheap shot artist that he is. Crosby is a dirty player who needs to be taken down a peg. Bettman and Campbell should be proud of their Poster Boy. He was created in their image, cheap and phony.

Instead of chanting Potvin Sucks, it’s time for fans in the Garden to start chanting Cindy Sucks at every game.

Posted under New York Rangers

Henrik is now and will forever be, “the King”. Tonight should put to rest any doubts about Henrik’s ability to keep the puck out of the net. He put up a 40 save shut out. Now I hope his detractors, the naysayers, will shut the hell up. This man IS the Franchise. Let there be no mistake about it. I chalk up Henrik’s inconsistent play over the last two weeks to the flu. This shut out is indicative of what a little rest (and having your team finally show up) can do.

It’s really hard to judge whether switching up the lines jump started a team that looked completely lost on Wednesday in Tampa. Consider the opponent. The Panthers, while playing better this season, currently stand at 13th in the conference. The Rangers should have no problem walking away with two points.

I think the more important stat to look at in tonight’s game is the amount of ice time doled out by Tort’s on defense. The numbers send me a clear message. Michael Del Zotto had fewer minutes then usual and deservedly so. Staal and Eminger had the most minutes on D. Don’t get me wrong. I love the kid but lately he has been guilty of some boneheaded back breaking plays. I have heard comments all over Ranger blogdom that Tort’s should cut the kids TOI. You think Tort’s reads the blogs?

Much to my surprise Eminger is emerging to be a sold “Ranger” second pair defenseman. Sauer brings the kind of mean the Rangers have been lacking for years. Gilroy has played well but unfortunately for him I fear it is he who will be sat upon the return of the Rozsival. Personally I’d rather go with seven defenseman.

The roster at forward is going to be a log jam once Drury and Propal come back. White will definitely sit but where will Torto’s put the Captain. You know they are going to try and put Prospal back with Gaborik. Let’s hope that between now and Prospals’s return, Stepan makes a case that he should be the Rangers first line center moving forward.

Posted under New York Rangers

The Tampa Bay Lightning schooled the Rangers tonight in Tampa. It’s true, our team looked like they had been dumb struck for the first two periods. But the officials once again determined the outcome of the game by making ridiculous calls and noncalls.

Henrik Lundqvist is a gentleman and  an honorable player. To accuse him of embellishing/diving is the last straw. If I were Sather, I would DEMAND that the assholes who reffed this game (Morton and Martell) officially apologize to  Henrik. I would  also DEMAND Campbell expunge the penalty from the records. The refs got what they wanted with that call. They put the game completely out of reach for the Rangers. They should be ashamed of that call on Henrik.

To some fans I say get a grip. Henrik was hung out to dry in this game. He is in no way at fault for any of the goals against. He got run by Tampa time after time and his teammates once again allowed it. The only fault I can find with Henrik is that he didn’t lay some lumber on Stamkos and Co. when they ran him.

I have had enough of Eric Christensen. It’s not only because is he not producing. He is becoming a locker room cancer. He threw Avery under the bus in the Smid incident. Tonight Avery comes to Christensen’s defense and Christensen blows Avery off. I don’t care if he leaves the team and scores twenty goals against us. He ‘s this season’s Aaron Ward.

Ranger fans have a lot for which to be thankful. The rebuild is underway and save for a couple of clunkers, the team has been very entertaining. They are 7th in the conference and 2 games over .500 with 1/4 of the season played. Conversely, the Islanders have lost their last 14 games in row and are digging  a hole from which they may not be able to emerge.

Tomorrow we need to recall all the blessings we have in our lives, including our young Rangers, and be thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted under New York Rangers

Very interesting to hear all four panelists on Hockey Night Live tonight skirt the issues on the Colin Campbell Email Embarrassment. These four guys are either idiots or carefully schooled about what to say about CampbellGate. Either way, their commentary was a complete whitewashing of the case against Campbell. I am particularly disappointed in Daneyko. I had Ken for a straight shooter.

Only Trautwig even tried to pick at the issue while Duguay, Danyeko and Weekes backed Campbell unconditionally. Daneyko basically dismissed it as a tempest in a teapot.  They proclaimed Campbell a good guy doing a decent job and undeserving of all this criticism. Neither of these points are germane to the issues involved in Campbell’s situation.

Campbell’s emails clearly show extreme prejudice and favoritism. They have nothing to do with suspensions or doling out punishment (which the panel seems to think is Campbell’s only job.) As head of officials, he cannot taint the process by telling the Refs which players/teams should be targeted for punishment or preferential treatment.

The commentators agreed that perhaps a three man panel should be doing Campbell’s job. Instead of lumbering Campbell with all the responsibility (which in turn produces too much criticism for poor Collie), the league should get a guy like Shanahan and another guy to help Campbell to review calls, suspensions and disciplinary actions. Recommending Shanahan might be one of the two intelligent things I have ever heard Duguay say. The other escapes me now.

I’d like to nominate Joe Michelletti as the panel’s third man. Dave Maloney can replace him in the broadcast booth with Sam. That’s a win-win. Chico Resch need not, however, apply for the panel job. Instead of 90% of calls favoring the Devils it would be 100%.

Posted under New York Rangers

Jeez, take a few days off and all hell breaks loose around the New York Rangers and the NHL.

Gaborik scores a hat trick against the struggling Oilers. Pittsburgh and their Refs get their comeuppance in overtime at the hands of Brandon Dubinsky. And finally, some prima facie evidence that Colin Campbell is biased and corrupt.

The last thing I wanted to see was Tom Renney and his Oilers come in and get shellacked by the Rangers. Did I want the Oilers to win? Certainly not! But, at the same time, I didn’t want to see the Oilers embarrassed either. As Tom said in one of his interviews, half his team is younger then his two daughters. Boy, do I know that feeling.

Hang tough Tom, young Oilmen. Under Tom’s tutelage the young Oilers will surely come around.  The Ranger youth  Tom had a hand in nurturing while he was  in New York are coming up trumps. Here’s hoping Tambellini and Lowe have more patience then Wang and Snow.

Moving on. God, I wish Ryan Callahan would have cold cocked Crosby in the mouth. He’s such a cheap little POS, pulling Henrik’s feet out from under him. This was a shining example of how one sided a game the  Refs in this league are capable of calling. Justice did prevail in the end. Henrik did put his team to disadvantage with that unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. But, I’ll take Henrik getting fired up to passivity every day of the week.

And how about Brandon “Datsyuk” Dubinsky and his bosom buddy Ryan Callahan deeking MA Fleury out of his shorts? How about “Datsyuk ” Dubinsky setting up Mark “Lidstrom” Staal? All good stuff. Too bad Mary Crosby and his girls even got a point out of that one. They didn’t deserve it, just like they didn’t deserve…..Oh, never mind.

And now on to the single most important scandal in the NHL since Sloppy Seconds. Sloppy Soupy. Colin Campbell’s email advising certain officials to target a particular player (Markov) because Campbell doesn’t like him? Bias. Campbell takes a referee to task in an email because of unfavorable calls on his son?  Favoritism. The NHL ‘s response to all this? Send out the memo to all NHL media outlets and team commentators to whitewash the whole incident. Typical. The WWE has more credibility.

To all my fellow bloggers who have called out the officiating and Campbell, revenge is a dish best served cold. Let’s hope this whole embarrassing incident helps facilitate the demise of Colin Campbell and  Gary Bettman. Bettman, Daly and Campbell stink. A triumvirate of disingenuous demigods. Move the War Room down to 6th Avenue and make Shanahan Head of Officials. Do it now.

Posted under New York Rangers

After Otter is beaten up by the Omegas, Dean Wormer and the Student Council close down Delta House:

Otter:

Dead! Bluto’s right. Psychotic… but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards… I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part!

Bluto:

We’re just the guys to do it.

After the Frolov’s waived off goal, every Ranger fan in the building should have gotten up and walked out like the Deltas after the kangaroo court in Animal House. Then, en masse, the entire team should get on their bus (over which they have scrawled RANGER DEATHMOBILE) and drive it through the window of the NHL Store.

The fans need to get the attention of Sather and  Dolan. The Rangers as a team and their fans need to get the attention of the Bettman and Campbell. Until they do, the bullshit officiating will continue to go on because the fans and the players let it.

Shanahan is now working for the League and trying to make improvements to the game. Here’s an idea Brendan. Quit screwing with the game and get some goddamn decent officials, who know what the fuck they are doing, on the ice.

Posted under New York Rangers

For two nights in a row Ranger fans have witness the most inconsistent, nay, the most ridiculously incompetent officiating by NHL officials in this young season.

How in God’s name can four officials be on the ice, see a NJ player deliberately bat the puck over the glass and not call a delay of game penalty. Why didn’t they call it ? Could it be because the Rangers were on a power play and they didn’t want to give the Rangers a two man advantage?

It was clearly a violation of the rules. As such it must be called. If the on ice officials in this game, referees Leggo and Rooney and Linesman Barton and Nowak are not called on the carpet for this deliberate subversion of the rules, NHL fans should just burn their tickets, turn off their TV’s and start watching college hockey.

Last night John Tortorella complained about the hits on Callahan and Fedotenko not being penalized. When asked about the the officials failure to call the blatant delay of game penalty tonight, he said something to the effect that he’d better not comment because he was already in trouble for what he said last night. Apparently he has been chastised for his post game comments by the NHL hierarchy. More Bettman Bullsh*t.

Torts should speak his mind now and take the fine or suspension. Dolan and Sather can afford to spot him the dough. Refs who fail to do their job honestly  should be sanctioned. Bettman and Campbell really need a smack in the face.

Sing out Torts!

Posted under New York Rangers

Carcillo leaves his feet, hits Fedotenko with an elbow to the head and no penalty. Really, Mr. Joannette? Really, Mr. St Pierre? And, when Fedotenko calls you on it, you tell him “you should have ducked”. Un-f*cking believable.

I am glad Tortorella reigned the boys in to conserve their energy. They have to play tomorrow in New Jersey. NHL teams and coaches cannot leave the ice in protest when blatantly biased officials hand  a game to the other team. But, they can go through the motions, finish the game and not dignify the host team, their moron fans or the officials with their effort. Good move John.

These refs called Mark Staal for hooking but let Ville Leino nearly drive Ryan Callahan’s head through the boards.  No call. They don’t make the boarding call at the beginning of the game and it sets the tone for the entire game thereafter. The Flyers were allowed to commit holding, interference, picks and countless other penalties with impunity. There was no interference called when a Flyer’s entire body was totally in the paint on Betts’ goal. Leino is lying on the puck delaying the game. No Call. Zherdev takes his stick to Prust (no call) and Prust gets called for punching the little punk in the face in retaliation.

Then to add insult to injury, MSG has the worst commentators in the NHL in Michelletti and Keenan. Really Mike? The Flyer defense was so much better? The two guys in stripe shirts handed the game to them on a silver platter. You don’t need a defense with Joannette and St. Pierre calling the game.

At the ten minute mark in the period of every New York Ranger home game, half  a section or more up in the Blue Seats screams out in unison “Shut Up, Michelletti”. Joe proved tonight that they are right and should be encouraged to continue doing so. No one wants Joe to turn into that unlistenable homer, Chico Resch. But, for God sake Joe, stop drinking the NHL’s koolaide. This game was an officiating travesty from the get go. Call a spade a spade. Grow a set and blame the officials for not calling a fair game. To try and peddle that it was anything otherwise is disingenuous and makes the fans hate you. Clue up.

Lastly, I remember when my dearly departed friend and fellow Ranger fan, Frank Sola, used to get enraged by biased officiating against the Rangers. He espoused the idea that a group of Ranger fans should work over some of the more egregious refs in a dark  alley after some games. At the time I thought he was crazy for thinking such things, no less saying them. Frankie, you might just have had something there.

I’m not holding my breathe to see if Soupy and Buttman call Carcillo on the carpet tomorrow. With Briere out, they’ll probably let Carcillo slide on the Fedotenko hit, just like their incompetent/biased refs did tonight. F*ck them, too.

Posted under New York Rangers

What an incredible effort by the the Callahan Anisimov Dubinsky line against the Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks tonight at the Garden! I think they should play James Brown music every time these boys are on the ice. The hardest working man in show business singing  for the hardest working line in hockey.

Dubinsky and Callahan seem to be pushing each other toward greatness. It’s like one kid is trying to out do the other. Anisimov’s skill compliments them both. They’re like the Three Musketeers out there, one for all and all for one! And, when the HWL wasn’t on the ice, the other boys were getting it done.

We have seen concepts that we thought were alien to this organization being displayed out on the ice game in and game out this season. Self-sacrifice, 100% effort, comebacks, teammates sticking up for teammates, hustle, hitting and, dare I say it, snarl. Gotta love Boyle facewashing Toews for taking a shot at Staal.

Their energy and aggressiveness seem to be infecting their teammates, too. I saw a team of heroes out there tonight. There were no goats, no slackers. It really begs the question as to what to do when Drury and Prospal come back. If Torts breaks up the HWL line, he’ll be tarred and feathered on 33rd Street. Who sits? Who plays? Will they have to earn their spots back? Hell, where are they going to put Gaborik when he comes back?

If this is the youth movement at it’s best, it begs the question, why didn’t we start going with the kids sooner? Players are developing and so is that all elusive thing called chemistry. It will be interesting to see how Torts handles the return of Drury, Prospal and Gaborik.

Here’s to the Hardest Working Line in Hockey:

So good, so good, we’ve got you!

James Brown GFOS

Posted under New York Rangers