While the Rangers may have played with conviction as a team  last night, the play of Gomez, Drury , Naslund and Redden only served in my mind to convict them of their duplicity in the demise of Tom Renney.

You can’t tell me that Jim Schoenfeld’s method acting strategy, having the players lay on the ice and imagine themselves pucks, made such a difference in scoring production.  The simple fact of the matter was that the “leadership” on this team finally decided to show up and play hockey.

It doesn’t hurt that the Rangers defeated one of the worst teams in the NHL. With 57 points on the season, the once mighty Avalanche are in line for the 3rd pick in the draft.  They have lost all the games they have played so far on their east coast road trip. A Ranger team with it’s present talent should absolutely beat a team like the Avs, no less run up  a score of 6-1.

In a way it’s too bad that the Rangers have no more games before the trade deadline to showcase  Gomez, Drury, Naslund and Redden. It diminishes the chances of  Sather moving one of these slackers and getting a big contract off the books.  No trade and limited movement clauses be damned, the only way Sather can redeem himself in my eyes is to move or buy out one of these guys either now or after the season is over.

Finally, last night’s histrionic displays by some of the players and by Jim Schoenfeld was just enough of a smokescreen to placate the fans in the stands who believe the team lacked heart under the Renney regime. What some of the players on this team lacked under the Renney regime was a spine.

 What some of the players on this team lacked under Renney was the loyalty they were shown by their coach. So, if Gomez, Drury, Naslund and Redden think they can slack under the new regime, they should waive their no trade/limited movement clauses now and get the hell out.

Last night may have been an aberration. Unless and until I see this team play every single game left the way they “played” last night, they aren’t going anywhere and frankly they don’t deserve too. It’s just to bad that the good kids on the team have to suffer because of the bad decisions of the few.

Posted under New York Rangers

Hopefully, this is the move Sather makes that will finally get him fired.

And, to those disloyal players currently on the Rangers (and they know who they are) who quit on Tom Renney and engineered his firing, enjoy your new head coach.  

Never mind bag skates and benching, Tortorella will call you out in the press and embarrass you publicly.

I can’t wait for the next time Torts tells Larry Brooks to go f*ck himself at a press conference.

Tortorella will throw chairs on the ice, verbally abuse officials, get fined and tossed out of games.

Sather, those players and Tortorella deserve each other. Dignity and respect has walked out the door with Renney.

This franchise is going to devolve into “Desperate Housewives”.

PS. I guess Avery isn’t in the plan after all. If he is, this will really turn into a three ring circus when Torts and his buddy Avery lock horns.

Posted under New York Rangers

Thanks Tom for all the good you have done while Head Coach of the Rangers. Good Luck in all your future endeavours. Blessings to you and your family.

Posted under New York Rangers

I’ve basically run out of things to say about the Rangers and their current situation. But being the ever diligent observer, I’ve found someone who still has something left to say. Jim Dolan, Glen Sather,  Tom Renney and  the coaching staff and most importantly the players need to hear it.

I found this entry on the HF Boards on Monday. It was written by a poster named Lion Hound. This was his reaction to the game on Sunday against the Flyers. I will quote it in its entirety. Please keep in mind that this was written with the emotions we are all feeling, hurt, anger and disappointment. Please forgive the author for any spelling and syntax errors.

“This loss hit home pretty hard for me. At points of the game, I was so angry that I found myself holding back as I was about to either say or do something that I would later regret! Had seasons in my fam for 20 years now. Today was the first time I left (by my own power) before the game was over! For anyone else that was at the game, there were quite a few Flyer fans in the garden. Right in front of me were two, that were rubbing it in pretty good. I have no problem ribbin on fans when they come into the Garden, but I keep it freindly. Today, I was so pissed that I literally had to get up and leave. What made me most angry was the couple in front of me waiving goodbye, and standing and cheering when Henrik got pulled. In my younger days I think I would have dragged the guy by his hair and thrown him out myself, but…i guess in my older years I made it clear…”You’re winning the game, you are in our arena…enjoy the victory, but don’t provoke it…cause this can and will get ugly fast!” …After I said that, I sat back and just took a breath like…”Is this really worth it?”…

But as I left the arena, I looked around at all the little kids that were there today.(Day games always have a lot of children there)…but how are they going to understand when a fan gets up behind them screaming obsenities at Wade Redden, or Tom Renney? Monkey see monkey do…and I am pretty sure that all the dads there that went to the afternoon Matinee, dumped $200-$300 didn’t plan on taking thier kids to the game to have some loudmouth cursing up a storm to have a fire sale, to where the kid turns and asks his dad what the obsenities meant, and why is that guy yelling!…But the point is not to direct this at the fans. They are paying customers…but to me it is just terrible to see the the lazy uninspired play that they left on the ice today. I am not of the doom and gloom mode and try to stay on the positive side, but todays effort was putrid. And IMO this Organiation should be ashamed at what has transpired over the last 10 games or so.”

Every single person involved in the New York Rangers organization needs to read this. They need  to  realize that Lion Hound is one of their more supportive fans. For every fan like Lion Hound and myself, there are ten times as many mean spirited, nasty and angry fans out there who want Sather and Renney fired and a fire sale to ensue.

On a personal note, I would like to wish my husband a happy anniversary and thank him for  always being there for me and putting up with all my Ranger craziness.

Posted under New York Rangers

There is much scuttlebutt around the blogosphere tonight saying that Tom Renney has coached his last game for the Rangers. If  true, tomorrow will be  a sad day.

Tom Renney has been the second winning-est coach in Ranger history.   He has coached this franchise back to respectability since 2005. The Rangers have reached the playoffs every season since he took over after a drought of 8 years.

The Rangers are currently10 games over .500. They are in 6th place in the Conference  with 29 games remaining.  His record speaks for itself:

Renney’s Coaching Record 2004 to 2009

Games Coached 318, Wins-162, Loses-96, OTL 40, Playoffs-3

Regardless of what anyone thinks of Renney, Sather is the architect of this team. Sather is the one who signed all these bad contracts. He is the one who should take the fall. We all know he won’t. He’s the Isiah of Hockey.

The Penguins lost 9 games in January. Everyone was saying Therrien had lost that team. He has Crosby, Fleury and Malkin among others. Do the Rangers have these caliber players?  The Penguins lost Hossa and Malone in the off season and Gonchar has been out injured. That’s their excuse. Therrien’s still there.

The Stanley Cup Champions just lost 5 games in a row but no one accused Babcock of losing his team. Babcock’s team is 1000% more talented then these Rangers. Babcock still has his job.

Does Renney have cup finalists on his team like Babcock or Therrien do? We all know that answer. The Rangers, as presently constructed, will  be lucky to make the playoffs.

I still say it’s the players. They didn’t give up last night. They never came to play in the first place. Maybe they are riddled with the flu but the fan base is sick of excuses.

Firing Renneywill make some fans feel better but it won’t turn things around this season. Players need to be moved or waived, starting with Gomez and Redden.

I say make Renney GM and get rid of Sather. Nine years of Sather’s malfeasance is enough.

If Renney is fired, I won’t be renewing my season subscription next year or any year until Sather is gone for good.

Posted under New York Rangers

As the Rangers ran out of gas in the third period and allowed the Penguins to run the board, you can look back at all the opportunities the Rangers pissed away in the first two periods. Both at even strength and during their three powerplay opportunities, the Rangers failed to bury the biscuit. But that isn’t where the story ends.

What really ticks me off is that the Rangers allowed themselves to be embarrassed again by the Penguins, the lesser team. The Rangers played two decent periods and got blown out in the third for two reasons. Lundqvist’s head was still in Montreal and the Rangers failed to exact pounds of flesh from the Penguins on a night when Crosby was hurting. 

If my team is down 4-1 midway through the third period, I would be telling them to pound the snot out of Crosby, Malkin, Satan and Sykora at every opportunity. When you’re down by three goals, defense first doesn’t matter. Sometimes you’ve gotta just cut your losses and say WTF . They should have started running the opposition’s talent and made them pay every time they touched the puck.

I don’t want to hear any crap like the fluky goal by Sykora, tying the game at 1-1, took the wind out of the Rangers sails. That’s weak BS. The Rangers stopped skating and stopped hitting in the third period and that’s why they lost. Lundqvist had a bad third period. So what. It happens. How many games has he saved for them this season? It’s a team game.

The problem with this team is that they rely on Lundqvist too much. They did not take responsibility for the game individually or as a team. The  entire team let the Penguins walk all over them. I don’t want to hear that they were tired after playing Carolina last night. Carolina wasn’t hitting at all last night. Physically, the Carolina game was a walk in the park . The Rangers coasted to a 3-2 win in a lightly contested game. So, no one should play the “tired card”.

This game was a test of the intestinal fortitude of the Rangers and they failed miserably to a miserable team. How many more times this season will the Rangers let themselves be embarrassed like this?  For God sake, this team needs to man up and go down fighting. They had no edge in the third period tonight. No meanness. No snarl. No discernible passion.

Maybe they do need someone like Avery back to shake them up and get under their skin and the opposition’s skin.  After watching this debacle tonight, maybe they should just cut their loses, concede Saturday’s game in Boston and save themselves and everyone else the grief of seeing them get their butts kicked again.

All this said, I would rather watch the Rangers win a “boring” game then watch them get their asses handed to them by Cindy Crosby and Crue.

Posted under New York Rangers

While the NHL  celebrates it’s big weekend freezing in Montreal, I took my  “all star break”  on a cruise to sunny, warm Mexico. Taking a winter vacation around this time insures that I miss fewer Ranger home games. In fact, I missed just the one against the Ducks but I got to see whales and dolphins instead.

I got my hockey fix in LA before the cruise. We scored two tickets 15 rows behind the Kings goal at the Staple Center on January 15th. The tickets were $75 a piece. The Red Wings spanked the Kings 4-0 with grinders Maltby and Draper each scoring goals. Swedes Franzen and Samuelson potted the other two. Ty Conklin pitched the shut out. It was like a home game for Detroit. There seemed to be more Red Wings fans in attendance then Kings fans.

The Staple Center is a beautiful venue. We saw Pat Sajek sitting in the second row of our section. The cheap seats at the Staple Center are as nosebleed as those at the Belle Centre in Montreal. They make the blue seats at the Garden seem a bargain. If the planned renovations to Madison Square Garden render it even close to the amenities offered by the Staple Center, it will be worth the price.

In the time I was gone, the Rangers took six out of a possible 8 points. Not to shabby. I am just watching the games I missed. Except for the stinker in Pittsburgh, the boys played well. Nice to see Redden and Kalinin starting to turn it around a bit. The powerplay is looking better and Chris Drury is showing what has been missing for the last season and a half.

I picked up a copy of the NY Post yesterday at LAX and now I understand why Larry Brookes was gushing about the Rangers penalty kill (especially Betts and Sjostrom). Hasenfratz and Morton should be criminally prosecuted for the game they destroyed in Chicago with their atrocious officiating. Even Tom Renney, looking as dapper as ever in  that brown suit, was steaming and spouting off like one of the humpback whales I saw off Cabo San Lucas.

I can’t wait to show off  my tan to everyone in Section 409 on Tuesday. I just hope no one tries to harpoon me. I need to drop some of the gross tonnage I put on whilst at sea. Cruising is diet suicide.

Posted under New York Rangers

Any enjoyment I might have had at last night’s game was sucked right out of me three minutes in when Kovalev scored the first goal. It wasn’t so much that Montreal got the first goal or that it was Kovalev who scored it. It was the boneheaded play of Henrik Lundqvist that allowed the goal to be scored.

When, WHEN, is Henrik going to learn to stay in his crease and stop trying to handle the puck? What does Tom Renney have to do, put an ankle bracelet on him that administers an electric shock every time he leaves the paint? What is wrong with this guy?

As good as Henrik is and has been for the Rangers, he never seems to learn his lesson. Is he that vain not to admit his weaknesses? Puck handling has never been his strong suit. I can recall at least five times in the past when Lundqvist came out of his net and failed to get back into position, resulting in an opposition goal.

After it happened you could visible see Henrik’s game deteriorate. Were I Renney I would have pulled Lundqvist immediately and put in Valiquette. No one is above the team. When any other player does something stupid like that, they should be sat. Lundqvist is no exception, regardless of his star status.

The officials did their best to ensure a Montreal win by screwing the Rangers at every opportunity . There  were some ridiculous calls against the Rangers and non-calls on Montreal.  Montreal usually comes in and pounds the Rangers unmercifully. Not so last night.

Last night they appeared to ease up on their physicality, as though they had been forewarned to reign it in. Devorski and Morton should be called on the carpet in Toronto and sanctioned for their incompetence and stupidity. If it wasn’t incompetence and stupidity then the fix was well and truly in against the Rangers.

And as a  final insult, the row behind me in Section 409 had six Canadiens fans that looked like they were the cast of the Francophone version of  “Trailer Park Boys”. There must be a lot of inbreeding in Le Provence de Quebec to produce such a  motley crew.  These same six seats seem to be for sale on Rangers ticket exchange all the time. Whoever the season ticket holder is who sells these seats to opposition fans should have his subscription revoked.

Posted under New York Rangers

Unlike the loss to the Caps where the Rangers blew a 4 goal lead, last night’s loss to the Caps was not due to a lack of effort on the part of the Rangers.  The first period was pretty much even. The Rangers killed off two penalties and failed to score on their one powerplay. No harm, no foul. 

Again, up until Prucha’s deflected goal on what was probably a blown offside call, both teams were playing an even game. That says a lot to me about the Rangers defense first system. Marc Staaal was able to rag Ovechkin. The Rangers were able to keep the Caps, who are tied for 4th place in goals in the league with San Jose, off the board for almost 30 minutes.

Once the Rangers failed to clear the puck and allowed Green’s powerplay goal less then 1:30 seconds after Prucha scored,  the Caps had the better of the play for the rest of the period. The Caps had the puck in the Rangers zone for almost the entire  4 on 4, following an improbable altercation between Gomez and Nylander, of all people.  

Valiquette was the difference between the score remaining tied until the Caps short handed goal. With about four minutes left in the period, the Caps were out-shooting the Rangers 14 – 7.  Still, the Rangers (Valiquette) were able to keep the Caps off the board. With 1:58 left,  the most dangerous time of any period for the Rangers,  the Caps took a delay of game penalty. Too bad  the Rangers can’t decline powerplays.

The Rangers worst nightmare of this season happened again. Ovechkin comes back  to score a shorthanded goal after a shot by Dubinsky careens up the boards and lands on Greens stick.  Green and Ovechkin come up ice as the Rangers are changing. Green, along the boards, passes cross ice to Ovechkin.

Ovechkin goes around Redden and takes a shot that deflects off Redden’s stick and goes over Valiquette’s right shoulder for the shorthanded goal. Would Henrik have had that? Maybe. But, if I’m Redden, I trip Ovechkin before he can get that shot off. Take the penalty. The Rangers once again fail to score on the powerplay and are burned for their 13? shorthanded goal of the season.

That’s all she wrote in the scoring department. The Rangers once again play the third period to a tie when they are down by one goal and lost based on the shorthanded goal they allowed at the end of the second period. The Rangers actually outshot the Caps 7 to 5 in the third period and continued to keep the Caps off the board. They just couldn’t put the puck behind Theodore, who played well for the Caps.

You got to see Wade, the Wimp, Redden show some fire by nearly knocking out Clark. You got to see Gomez and Nylander getting jiggy with each other. As if that wasn’t enough grit and enough fire, you got to see Renney deploy Marc Staal. Staal got so far under the skin of  Ovechkin that Ovechkin took a run at Staal in retaliation for  Staal’s clean check on Semin at center ice.

By the way, another nice double standard by the officials in this league. How was that not a charging/boarding call for Ovechkin’s hit on Staal. After Staal is hooked and grabbed by Schultz behind Theodore, Ovechkin takes at least four big strides and brings his stick up into Staal head as he slams Staal into the boards. No headhunting there? I guess a different set of rules apply to Crosby and Ovechkin when it comes to cheap shot penalties.  Too bad the Rangers only play the Caps once more. Ovechkin better keep his head up on February 11th at the Garden.

There was no dishonor in this game for the Rangers. They were in it to the end and the showed the Caps that they aren’t going to get pushed around. The Rangers still must solve their special teams issues but right now there is no use in beating a dead horse.

So, to all the Ranger fans out there who are peeved and are still calling for Renney/Pearn to be fired, players to be waived/traded etc. I ask, was this game sufficiently entertaining for you or would you rather have gotten a point or two in a shootout?

The Rangers are winning games against teams they should be beating and holding their own against the tougher teams.  This week they play four games in six nights. They need to beat the teams that aren’t playing well of late, the Penguins, the Senators and the Sabres.  The game against Montreal should be a good test at the Garden.

Let’s Go Rangers!

PS. Note to Alex Semin: If you are going to fight like a little girl, keep your jersey tied down so the rest of the league can’t see your pink underwear!

Posted under New York Rangers

Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watch lights fade from every room…

Cold hearted orb that rules the night,
Removes the colours from our sight.
Red is grey and yellow white,
But we decide which is right.
And which is an illusion?

When I got up to Section 409 tonight, I encouraged some of the Faithful to take a deep, cleansing breath and let it out. I went on to suggest that everyone should put the prior night’s fiasco behind us and to view tonight’s game with a positive attitude. I had no idea that it would actually work.

The Rangers won in a shoot out but not before letting Carolina come back to tie the game twice.  I thought Blair Betts shorthanded goal would have stood up as the game winner but the Rangers couldn’t get another goal on the powerplay or any other way.

After Friday’s track meet in New Jersey, the Rangers taking this game  to the shoot out was indeed miraculous, especially when you consider that the Rangers shut down Carolina’s powerplay.  By the time the two minute five on three was over, Blair Betts could barely skate off the ice.

But, the Rangers stayed in the game and won it in a shoot out. Another two points are in the win column. They didn’t dominate the weaker team. There was no run and gun. No fancy plays. Just fundamental and defensive hockey. It wasn’t exciting but a win is a win. Take it and move on.

The Rangers leave home on a high note for the Western road trip. Let’s hope they treat all these road games like playoff games.

Could someone please tell me why Tom Renney didn’t call time out when he had 1:28 seconds of powerplay time at 18:32 of the final frame? What is he doing, saving time outs to trade for Green Stamps?

Posted under New York Rangers