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    If Anna Quindlen wrote about New York Rangers Hockey, maybe it would read like this blog. Some facts, some emotion and some common sense for Ranger fans from a heart that’s True Blue.

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Whale of a Game

This afternoon’s debacle should put an end to Tortorella’s claim that all of the Ranger’s better players are currently on Broadway.

The only reason his two pets Christensen and Wolski, both complete wastes of space so far this season, are on Broadway and not Hartford is to score in the shoot out. They can’t even get that done! Wolski gets two assists and then takes the worst possible penalty. I hope he gets Shanabanned for a couple of months.

This loss is on to Tortorella and his ace coaching staff. They stood there and watched his team blow a three goal lead with 10 minutes left in the game. They had no answer. NO F*CKING ANSWER. Tortorella didn’t even call a G*DDAMN time out.

They had no answer last night either. The Rangers played a great first period. They then proceeded to lose their home opener in their semi-new building  in embarrassing fashion to that perennial door mat, the Maple Leaves.

It’s October. We are 9 games into the season and already I, usually the voice of reason and patience, am cursing like a trooper and screaming for heads to roll. We can’t even blame it on the yutes. The only rookie on the team is Erixon.

Maybe Ken Gernander can do a better job.  He couldn’t do any worse then what Torts and Sullivan are doing right now. Last night some of the fans in the blue seats on the 7th Avenue end of the building hung a huge banner over the balcony that read:

“16 Avery – Torts to the Whale”

They are right. I really don’t give a damn if Avery comes back or not, as long as Torts is gone. The sooner, the better! Someone needs to send Sather a telegram and let him know what’s going on. Any one know where he fishes lately?

P.S. Tom Renney has his young Edmonton Oilers at the top of their division with 14 points and a 4 game winning streak.

 

 

 

Posted under New York Rangers

This post was written by m hurley on October 29, 2011

Embarrassed By Henrik Lundqvist?

When I got in the car early this morning on my way to the gym I heard the talking heads on the NHL on XM say “and the Vancouver Canucks were embarrassed by the New York Rangers in a 4-0 shutout”.

The Canucks were not embarrassed by the New York Rangers. If anything, they were embarrassed by Henrik Lundqvist. In what was (in my estimation) the most masterful performance of his career, Henrik Lundqvist proved that without his services the Rangers would have been picking number one in the draft for the last seven years. Without Lundqvist, four Vancouver goals would have been in the net before the first period was over. And, the Vancouver Canucks have nothing to be embarrassed about. Their fans (and I use that term loosely) DO!

I’m surprised they didn’t empty the building and start setting cars on fire and rioting like they did when their team lost the Stanley Cup to Boston in June. Roberto Luong did have a bad night stick side but that is no reason to boo a guy that has been their star goalie and a two time Vezina candidate. Henrik had the hotter hand last night. Had the shoe been on the other foot, I would be screaming at anyone in the Garden who would have the audacity to boo Henrik Lundqvist after he has cared the franchise on his back for the last seven years.

Despite last night’s 4-0 shut out, offensively the Rangers are a hot mess. They have gone 0 for 16 on the power play in the first four games of the season. They had only 19 shots on goal. They were only 42% on face offs. When the best offensive plays of the night were made by a rookie defenseman, there’s a problem.

Not that I have a problem with Ryan McDonagh. The kid had a great game last night. He did it all and buried the biscuit to boot. Fortunately, the penalties didn’t bite the Rangers in the ass the way they did at the Mausoleum last Saturday night. Earth to Brendan Prust! Holding the stick in the O zone is a terrible penalty. Tort’s benching must have given Prusty pause because he had two assists. He needs to be on the ice not riding pine.

Lastly, would someone on the team call Avery and get Shanny’s private number. Why wasn’t what Bieksa did to Dubinsky not considered boarding? It was a late, cheap hit and Bieksa deserves to be fined or suspended for it. What ever happened to penalizing the coach who sends his goon out at the end of the game to run the other teams players when the game is out of reach? Have the officials forgotten the old rules because the are too busy looking to call the newer, sexier ones?

Let’s hope the Ranger can roll into Calgary and keep on not embarrassing their opponents. They have a hard enough job not embarassing themselves.

Posted under New York Rangers

This post was written by m hurley on October 19, 2011

Don’t Shoot Me, I’m Only the Messenger

After attending the Islander/Tampa game on Thursday night, on Friday I made the following prediction about yesterday’s Ranger/Islander game on my favorite message board at The HockeyRodent:

“No Staal, no Sauer = Icelander victory. Sorry but what with the schedule and the injuries (and now with less Avery) the Rangers will probably be on the losing end tomorrow night. The Icelanders embarrassed Tampa last night. The only chance the Rangers have is to come out flying and to pound the snot out of the Fish. Can you realistically see that happening?

The Rangers have absolutely no cohesiveness as a team right now. They had nothing but Lundqvist standing on his head against really good teams like the Ducks and the Kings. From watching the Islanders after Capuano took over, I’d venture to say the Icelanders will play better for him then the Rangers will play for Torts. The Rangers always tend to take the Icelanders lightly. If they do that tomorrow, a loss is just about guaranteed.

Icelanders 4 – Rangers 1

Fish fans get more Wendy’s Chili”

Damn it, I hated to be right in this instance but I will say I told them so. Part of the benefit of having a friend share his company’s Icelander tickets with me is that I get to scout both the Icelanders and the teams they play.

After finishing last season with 103 points, it came as a complete surprise to me to see Tampa go down to the Fishsticks by a score of 5-1 on Thursday night. I knew the Bolts were going to loose because I got to shake Marty St Louis’s hand and wish him luck after the warm up.

Sure enough doesn’t Tampa wunderkind and 2009 first round draft choice Victor Hedman punch the puck into his own goal, giving the Fishsticks the first goal of the game 36 seconds in. That’s the kind of crazy stuff that happens when I go to Icelander games. What’s the moral to this story? I should stay the hell out of the Mausoleum. Next time Fred offers to take me to a game I think I will graciously decline.

Lastly, how is what Matt Moulson did (turning his body toward the boards and faking the boarding) not a penalty under the new Shanahan rules.

I guess the refs missed to Shanny Video explaining how if a player deliberately puts himself in a vulnerable position he is just as responsible as the player who hits him.

How was that a goaltender interference penalty on Callahan who was on one foot when he crashed into Nabokov and could not possibly have stopped himself.

How is what Boyle did a delay of the game? He never closed his hand on the puck?

As usual the morons reffing this game, Kozari and Banfield had their heads up their asses.

PS. I have a friend who is an Icelander fan. He thinks the number one goaltender for the Fishticks should be Montoya. He has no idea who Nabakov is. He actually was upset when he found out it was Nabakov in net last night. I guess Nabakov showed him and the 5000 other Islander fans in the building who should be their number one. You can’t make sh*t like that up.

Posted under New York Rangers

This post was written by m hurley on October 16, 2011

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

Perhaps the reason Avery was waived isn’t as obvious as the Ranger’s organization and the NHL wants us to think. Sean Avery has been the raspberry seed in the wisdom tooth of the NHL his whole career. You can blame Torts for squelching Avery. You can blame Sather for pandering to Torts. Or, you can look deeper. Perhaps burying Avery in Hartford may have been part of a back room deal that got the Rangers into the Winter Classic. Makes ya go Hmmmm?

Perhaps Gary picked up the phone and asked Dolan to deep six Avery in exchange for the Rangers being part of the Winter Classic this season. Think of all the revenue Dolan will gain from the whole “Classic” experience. Dolan needs that revenue for the reconstruction of the Garden. We all know that the HBO cameras would have focused on Avery, maybe almost to the exclusion of the other “stars” on the team. Hmmmm?

Combine my theory with the fact that no sooner does Sather waive Avery but the very next day Sather tells the press that he would “leave the door open” and might call Avery back up in the future. Yeah, he’ll probably call Avery back up after January 2. No team claimed Avery off  waivers as he was sent down.  Avery is so universally hated around the league, it’s not likely anyone will pick up this pariah on re-entry waivers. Perhaps that’s what Sather is counting on. Hmmmm?

Perhaps it’s why Sather is okay with Avery playing in Europe. He doesn’t want the player who came into camp in the best shape to get out of shape. Who knows? Maybe Avery is going along with this because Glen and Jim have promised to “take care of him”? Maybe Avery wants to attend fashion week in Milan? Hmmmm?

I hope Avery eventually writes a book before I die. I’d like to know how this all went down. I’d also like to know what Avery said to Fatso to get him sooo pissed off.

Posted under New York Rangers

This post was written by m hurley on October 6, 2011

MDZ-This Season’s Peggy Sawyer?

From 42nd Street:

After the star breaks her ankle, the coach producer must find a replacement from the chorus line who knows the part and can carry the show. He turns to young Peggy Sawyer.

Julian Marsh: Sawyer, you’re going out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star!

With Mark Staal out with post concussion syndrome and Michael Sauer nursing his shoulder, the Rangers are going to start the regular season without two of their top four defenseman. Now more then ever we need Michael Del Zotto to be our Peggy!

So far Michael has shown some improvement over last year. But has he improved enough? Sure the Rangers seem to be loaded for bear on offense. Not only are Brad and Gabby showing some gelatatation on offense but Dubinsky, Anisimov and Callahan seem to have carried over some of their last season’s magic. The Rangers might be rolling three scoring lines for the first time since before…since 1994.

But, as they say, the best offense is a good defense. Sure most of the forwards can kill penalties and be defensively responsible with the puck. But that will never make up for a first pass, puck hauling defenseman. The Rangers need someone behind the blueline to lead the offense and quarterback the powerplay.

This afternoon the talking heads on the NHL on XM, Mike and Mick, are picking the Rangers to finish 4th in the East. They are picking the Rangers to go further in the playoffs. They have Henke penciled in for the Vezina. That’s a veritable kiss of death. I hate it when they taut the Rangers. It makes it all the more painful to hear them rip the Rangers a new one when the season doesn’t pan out according to their predictions.

The Rangers aren’t going anywhere without a decent defense. If that means Michael Del Zotto has to put on a pair of tap shoes and get out there and do a buck and wing, so be it.

John Tortorella: Michael, you’re still going out there a youngster but this time you’ve GOT to come back a first pair defensemen!

Posted under New York Rangers

This post was written by m hurley on October 3, 2011

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