Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Ahh it’s great to be back!  Erik did a great job of catching everyone up the other day, so I won’t add on too much.  But, I will echo Erik’s apology.  We do regret the way we left things at the end of the season, we hope that slowly but surely you guys will start coming back to the site and checking in with the NYRangerscast.  That being said, we are back!  Erik mentioned that there are going to be some new blog features, well, I’m here to tell you about those.

Basically, we want the site to have a little more structure.  The 82 game season is a long one, even for bloggers.  So instead of Erik and I debating who’s going to write today’s blog about a lack of secondary scoring, we will have specific topics that we cover each week.  It will help us stay fresh, and hopefully help you know what you can expect from the site on a day to day basis.  We are going to do our very best to stick with these things, but as Erik mentioned, we are both trying to find gainful employment, so once that (hopefully) happens, we may have to change things around.

But, for now, here are some of the new features you can expect from the blog…(Oh, and if you think you can add to the list, email us at hosts@nyrangerscast.com)

What’s New?

-Links of the Day: This will be a daily post giving you links to other Rangers outlets to see what everyone is talking about in Rangersland.  We’ll link you to the beat writers, bloggers, and team websites.

-Meet a Ranger/Down on the Farm: We’re going to start profiling players on a weekly basis.  That will either be a Rangers player or a Wolfpack(er?).  This will be a good way of keeping up with individual performances rather than just the themes of the game which we usually touch on in the podcasts.

-Fan Post Friday: I think this is the coolest addition to the blog.  Erik talked about it in his post, but it’s your turn to write for the NYRangerscast.  We saw a lot of comments while we were absent about people who said they could run the blog.  Well, now’s your chance.  Send in a blogpost to hosts@nyrangerscast.com, make sure it’s not obscene or offensive, and we’ll post it on Fridays.  If we get a good response for this, we could expand to more than just one day.

-Grade the Game: Speaks for itself.  The day after a game, we’ll grade the performances of the offense, defense, goaltending, and coaching.

-@NYRangerscast: We want all of the NYRangerscast faithful on Twitter.  So, at the end of the week, Sunday’s most likely, we’re going to post some of the tweets that mention @NYRangerscast.  It’s a good way for you to get some more followers to your account.

Alright, so that’s good enough to start you off.  We have some other ideas up our sleeves that we’ll post in the coming days.  I know Erik wants to get a Fantasy Hockey segment going as well.  But, that’s the general idea of what we’re going for.  More stuff.  We’re going to get you a podcast this week, but the new blog features will officially start on Monday.  Let us know what you think, or if you have any ideas yourself.

(Insert joke here). Eric and I have been talking a lot about this over the past few weeks to figure things out. Before we start to unveil some of our new ideas, we owe you all an apology. I won’t bother with excuses as to why we left off with the Rangers missing the playoffs on the final day of the regular season in a shootout and that was it. Bottom line is we’re sorry we never formally addressed this to everyone at any point.

The good news is Eric and I have decided to continue the NYRangerscast and we have thought up some new ideas to make it more consistent, more fun and more interactive with you, our loyal listeners and readers. For starters, here’s a little background on the two of us over the past few months:

Eric and I both successfully graduated from Syracuse University in May. It’s safe to say it was a very bittersweet day for both of us and we miss being students at SU. I spent the past summer interning at ESPN and had a great time meeting a lot of interesting people and getting some valuable experience. I’m now back in Albany for the time being doing some local radio and television work. Eric is back in Cincinnati where his beloved Reds just forgot to show up in the playoffs, but hey, at least they made it right? After both shuffling a lot of things around and figuring out a number of different possibilities, we’re both still looking for something full time. It has been hectic, but we’re excited to continue the NYRangerscast to stay connected with each other, with you and to have fun doing something that we enjoy, even when the Rangers make it so hard to enjoy.

So with all that said, we hope that you will all continue to be great fans and contributors of this blog. Here are some of the ideas we have in store for the season:

Podcasts: These will continue to have a similar format. Our goal is to make sure we do one podcast a week. Given the distance between us, we will no longer be able to do these podcasts in person. There may be some weeks that we are able to do a second show, but we are planning on one show per week for now.

Blogs: Instead of having sporadic blogs that tend to get rather redundant over the course of such a long season, we are going to come out with a structured plan. We will have designated days that will have designated blog topics/ideas. For example, Wednesdays could be “Meet a Ranger” blog day where we highlight a specific individual. Eric and I have been coming up with ideas and will release those within the next few days once we have it finalized. Before we do that, we also want to give you the opportunity to throw us your ideas by e-mailing hosts@nyrangerscast.com. Maybe they could even just be a one time thing, instead of all being a weekly blog. Our ultimate goal here is to spice up the blog posts so that they are interesting and not so repetitive. We also want to be more interactive with you and give you a voice. To that end, if you ever have something on your mind that you want to write a paragraph or two about, feel free to send those to us in an e-mail as well instead of just posting a comment under a blog post. We plan on having fan blog posts to spark some discussion and get your thoughts on the page instead of just ours.

Twitter/Facebook: These will continue to run similarly. We will try to post links to all shows and blog posts on these sites (@NYRangerscast on Twitter, NYRangerscast on Facebook) to help you keep up to date with what’s going on at the site. Smaller/quicker thoughts may also be posted to Twitter that might not be on the blog, so if you don’t have a Twitter account, create one! It’s free and another good way to interact with everyone.

Live Blogs: I know we took a lot of heat for not doing these all the time. Unfortunately, it’s just not always feasible with conflicts coming up and what not. However, I know I still really like them, especially when we have a bunch of people in the forum. We will have Live Blogs as often as we can and we will make sure we provide you with some notice in advance so we can get a good crowd in each of our Live Blogs. They aren’t that fun to do when we don’t have a bunch of you commenting.

In summary, Eric and I are sorry for leaving you on an island. We hope that you will continue to follow us and our blog/podcast because it’s fun and we all know there isn’t a whole lot of hockey content out there, especially Rangers specific. We’re not here to break news because we do not have the access a beat reporter does, but we will certainly talk about all the hot topics. You guys are what really makes it fun for us, so we really want to make this season as interactive as possible. Thanks for bearing with me on this long post and let’s hope the 85th anniversary brings a reason to celebrate. Stay tuned for our blog ideas schedule coming out and our first show of the season! Oh yeah, we’ll get that “About” page squared away as well with an updated picture!

Let’s Go Rangers!

So who didn’t see yesterdays shoot-out loss to the Flyers coming from a mile away?  Shame on us who gave this team a chance to come up in a big spot when they needed to make the playoffs.  We should have known better.

The tumultuous 2009-2010 Rangers season came to a fitting conclusion yesterday in the form of 2-1 SO loss to Philly.  It was a game where we saw the Rangers get dominated in every facet of the game, except goaltending.  The Blueshirts were out shot 47-25 in a game that was a win or go home scenario.  The Rangers are now home.

On our last podcast, Erik and I talked about how even though the Rangers were on a hot streak, you could never put it past this team to fold like a cheap suit.  They did it all year.  Everytime it looked like the team was on the brink of turning things around, they reminded us harshly that they didn’t have the fortitude to do so.   Yesterdays game was another one of those instances.  Needing a miracle with 10 games remaining on the schedule, the Rangers did well enough to put their fate in their own hands.  Yet, they come out against a far inferior goaltender and lay and gargantuan egg.

Now, the team gets to play golf (or intern at fashion magazines), while the rest of us sit here and wonder if this is the beginning of the end.  This team took a drastic dip this season under new coach John Tortorella and GM Glen Sather.  Will they be the two leading this club in 2010-2011?  Will it be The Captain taking over the reigns?  Only time will tell.

What we know right now is this team needs A LOT of work.  Henrik and Marian are a good start, but they need much more help than that.  In a conference as week as the East, you should be canned if your team doesn’t make the playoffs.    I can’t say my hopes were ever that high with this team (I picked them to finish 8th at the start of the season), but with the way the conference shaped out, its truly embarrassing that the Rangers could find themselves in the top half.

Erik and I will have more on our season wrap up show.  Erik is out of town until Wednesday, so expect more ranting after that.

Okay, so a lot of people thought the Rangers were done a long, long time ago. I didn’t really completely give up on the season until last week. And then what do they do? Continue to be the enigma they’ve been all season long.

Nine out a possible 10 points in the last five games. The Rangers haven’t really beaten any top tier teams in that stretch, but they’ve been doing something they hadn’t for most of the season – win games they’re supposed to win.

With a game on hand and only two points behind a miserable Philly team right now, the playoffs…yes playoffs, actually look a whole lot better than they did after an atrocious loss in Boston a couple Sundays ago. Again, I don’t want to go too nuts over this long-awaited spurt of good play, but it’s hard not to get a little excited to finally see something coming together.

I want to reserve my optimism a little at this point, but the Rangers are clearly in the driver’s seat for a playoff berth. If they win, they will be in because of those final two games against the Flyers. Games against Philadelphia are always more of a brawl than a hockey game, but can you imagine the intensity that there will be in both contests if the final playoff spot is on the line?

Say what you want about hating this team, not even wanting this team to make the playoffs, them being bad, etc. I want to see those games mean something and I want the Rangers to make it into the postseason. Do I think the Rangers will make noise in the playoffs if they get there? No. But I love playoff hockey, especially when my favorite team is still in it.

Call me crazy, naive, whatever. Let’s just hope this wasn’t the ultimate jinx and the Rangers don’t go out and lay an egg against Florida tonight.

I would be a fool to start talking about how the Rangers could make a late push and make the playoffs, right? I think so too. Although, desperation can be dangerous and their final two games are against Philadelphia. I’m just saying…

Anyway, should the Rangers not make that unexpected late push and actually make the playoffs, they should seriously consider doing some spring cleaning. Unfortunately, we know what they should do and what they actually do are generally two very distant and different things. I obviously want to see Sather gone just like everyone else does, but I’m by no means sold on the idea that the Rangers missing the playoffs means Sather’s gone. I don’t buy into the notion that Dolan hasn’t fired him in year’s past because they made the playoffs and he made his money. If he gets fired and that’s the said reason, then great. But I don’t think anyone could say they would be shocked if the Rangers don’t make the playoffs and Sather is still smoking a cigar in his private box. Why? Because it’s the Rangers.

As for Torts, I’m ready to say so long regardless of what the Rangers do. I will be surprised if he keeps his job. He really seems to have no control of this team whatsoever. At some point, enough’s enough with all the line changes. The players just flat out haven’t responded. You can blame the players if you want, but ultimately it will be Torts who is held accountable, and I have no problem with that.

This season has been one of the toughest ones for me to swallow in recent memory, especially if (when) the Rangers don’t make the playoffs. Inconsistency has plagued this team all year and that’s why it has brought us on such a rollercoaster.

The Rangers take on the Islanders tonight. Should they win? Yes. In fact, they should win the rest of their games except against Buffalo and two against the Flyers. If they were to somehow manage to do that then those two games to close out the season against Philly could be pretty interesting. I’ll hold off any talk on that until it comes, because right now there’s just too many prayers the Rangers need to have answered.

Unfortunately, the best thing to look forward to at this point is probably the end of the season…

…+5 in the last 10.   That’s what it’s going to take for the Rangers to make it into the playoffs after losing to the Bruins on Sunday.  The Blueshirts sit in 10th place in the East, 4 points out of 9th, and 5 points out of 8th.  The Thrashers have picked up back-to-back wins to make it that much harder for New York.

The season isn’t technically over…but it’s over.  Show me a point in time this season where the Rangers have been able to muster a substantial amount of wins in a row when it counted.  Sure, they started off 7-1 this season, but that’s so far away from where the team is now.  The team will go up against the Islanders a couple more times, Flyers as well, and have a mixed bag of games with the Devils, Sabers, Maple Leafs, etc.  It’s not looking good.

I know many of you threw in the towel a long time ago.  I’m throwing mine in today.  Call me overly optimistic for waiting this long.

I’m also throwing in my towel on John Tortorella.  I was a huge proponent of Torts coming to the Rangers after Tom Renney was fired.  But, it has become clear that with the current personnel on the Rangers, Tortorella cannot be successful as a head coach.  And it is much easier to change the coach than it is to change the team.

Make no mistake, I still like Torts.  I think he is a good coach.  But this just isn’t his team and it would take years to restructure the roster in such a way that would make his brand of hockey successful in MSG.  Obviously the blame falls on him as well as GM Glen Sather.  And we all know how the NYRangerscast feels about Slats.

Is it time for Messier to take over the club?  I don’t know if that’s the best solution either, but something has got to happen up top.  This is a train going in the wrong direction.  Bloated contracts, aging leaders, lack of scoring…it’s not a recipe for success.  It’s time for a change.  And hopefully missing out on the playoffs will usher in that change.

Hopefully.

Alright, alright. Sorry for the lack of action lately. Eric is without internet and I have had it sparingly. All excuses aside, let’s talk hockey.

As it stands now, I think it’s pretty much a race for the 8th and final playoff spot. Barring a collapse by Philly or Montreal, the top seven teams seem pretty well set. That leaves the last spot the only one left, with the Rangers three points behind the Bruins. I would be surprised if that eight seed goes to anyone other than the Bruins or Rangers based on the current standings and remaining schedules.

Atlanta: 5 points back, 13 games remaining, remaining schedule includes @ Philly, 2 @ Washington, @ Pittsburgh, vs. Pittsburgh…that’s enough for me to say goodnight.

Tampa Bay: 6 points back, 13 games remaining, next two games vs. Buffalo, vs. Washington, also have a four game road trip @ Boston, @ Buffalo, @ Columbus, @ Pittsburgh…see ya next year.

Islanders: 7 points back, 12 games remaining, impressive 3-game win streak but too little too late…still two more games out west (@ Anaheim, @ LA) plus Philly, Ottawa, Montreal, @ Pittsburgh, @ NJ, Pittsburgh to finish out the season…they’re coutin’ on a miracle.

So that leaves the Rangers and Bruins. At this point you can’t expect anything from this team except inconsistency. I saw the game against the Thrashers and was very impressed with how they played. I didn’t see the Flyers game but was pleasantly surprised to see they put together two solid performances. Then we see the team completely not show up against Montreal and get outshot 35-20. In other words, same old, same old.

At this point, the Rangers have a lot of ground to make up. Boston has a game in hand plus three points. There is only one head to head meeting between the two remaining and that comes on NBC this Sunday. If the Rangers don’t come to play in that game, they don’t deserve to play in the playoffs. They have to treat that game like a play-in game. If they lose a game plus two more points on the B’s, you can probably kiss New York goodnight.

We could sit here and compare schedules, but all it comes down to is the Rangers need to win every time they step on the ice. They need to show some sort of consistency in the final 12 games.

Keep running your thoughts through here. Eric and I will get a podcast in once we get back and we’ll try to get some live blogs going down the stretch.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day…cheers to a 12-game win streak…or something like that.

…points that is. The Rangers are in the midst of a three game losing streak, but have managed to pick up two points in two of those losses. While salvaging a point is nice, especially last night against Buffalo, it’s not enough. New York has one big thing, among a lot of other things, not going for itself — time. As it stands this afternoon the Rangers have played 66 games, leaving 16 remaining, and stand in 9th place in the conference, two points behind Boston. Just about every team in the conference, including Boston in front and Atlanta behind, have at least two games in hand on the Blueshirts. The only team to have played more games than the Rangers is Montreal, which has played 67. What does this all mean? Time is running out — and more importantly, the Rangers need to start winning, not salvaging one point.

Having said that, the loser’s mentality says the Rangers managed to get four points in four games since the Olympic break against four clearly superior teams. Not great, but not terrible. Does this make me feel great about things? Not a chance.

One thing I will say, and you can criticize me for being overly optimistic all you want but I’m just laying it out there, is that the Rangers have made it through the toughest part of their schedule. They will earn their way either in or out of the playoffs come April. The Rangers only play three games the rest of the way against any of the top five seeds in the conference, two against a struggling New Jersey team and one against Buffalo. No more Washington, Pittsburgh, or Ottawa, so that’s not too shabby. What’s left are a bunch of games against teams just ahead or behind New York in the standings.

Even better? 10 of the 16 remaining games are on the road, and yes, that’s a good thing.

Now I would be naive to say that this means we should expect the Rangers to rip through the remaining schedule and easily clinch a playoff berth. Post-season hockey at MSG is still very much in doubt.

A couple of thoughts to finish up: does this team actually play differently with Gaborik in the lineup? In four games without Gabby, New York has scored 14 goals. In the two games since he’s been back, the Rangers have only scored two goals. This makes absolutely no sense. To think an NHL team could actually take the foot off the pedal a little bit because its star player is back on the ice is absurd. However, numbers don’t lie…and I don’t know what else those numbers are trying to tell us.

Wade Redden. Why? Why is he even in the NHL anymore? He stinks. He’s on the ice for a limited time until his atrocious play gets him benched. Then he just gets in the way of a fan or two who have front row seats behind the Rangers bench. If someone can give me a rational explanation I’m all ears.

Consistency. It doesn’t exist, nor does it appear it ever will with this team. The Rangers are a broken record playing the same tune over and over and over again. One period with flashes of excitement and brilliance, four periods without a goal. Let’s not hold our breaths in expecting this to change.

Lots of negative to talk about once again, but still only two points out of the playoffs with 16 games remaining. That means the torture will continue, but hey, maybe something will give. Would sure be better late than never…

On a side note, did anyone attend the “Fire Sather” rally yesterday? I would love to hear about it. Also, be sure to check out our post-Olympic break podcast. As always get your comments/questions in at hosts@nyrangerscast.com.

Seen any good hockey games lately?

Seriously, if you’re a player in gold medal game, how do you go back to the NHL?  There is no question that the game on Sunday will be the peak of those players seasons, maybe even careers.  Has to be tough getting motivated to finish out a lackluster NHL season if you’re Chris Drury or Ryan Callahan. But they must, and they will.

Rangers get back to work this week, still trying to make the post-season.  They will be doing so with an actual backup goaltender. The team claimed goalie Alex Auld off waivers from the Stars.  Auld has a record of 9-6-3 this season with a 3.00 GAA. Not great numbers, but he provides experience in the net that Chad Johnson could not offer.

The Blueshirts have 20 games in the next 41 days, beginning with Ottawa tomorrow night.   They are still hurting a bit. Michael Del Zotto, with 50 stitches in his side, is questionable for the game.   Corey Potter was called up just in case. With the Swedish team not making it to the medal round, Henrik Lundqvist has had a couple days to rest.  Although I’m not sure if he knew what to do with himself during that time.

If you want to predict how the Rangers will do IF they make the playoffs?  Tune into the four games after Ottawa to find out.  Penguins, Capitals, Sabres, and Devils all in a row. Talk about coming back to a rough schedule. No time to readjust after the layoff.  Should be a fun 41 days.

…then take a seat on the couch and enjoy. Today boasts the most exciting slate of matchups of the Olympic games. Russia vs. Czech Republic, Canada vs. USA and Sweden vs. Finland, in that order. All six teams are medal contenders and could be playing for gold a week from today. The only potential contender left out of that bunch is Gabby’s Slovak team, but let’s not get too caught up in that.

I’ve been fortunate enough to see a couple games so far this Olympics, including Canada’s shootout win over Switzerland. Being at a Canadian game reminded me of a college hockey atmosphere. As much as I love the Garden and its environment, it’s still a professional arena. You have your businessmen after a day’s work, your die-hard fans, your families, etc. Here a Canadian hockey game feels like you’re in an arena with a bunch of rowdy college students at a Cornell hockey game — and that’s only having seen a game against Switzerland. Needless to say, today’s crowd will be electric and bragging rights are on the line. My shifts should allow me to make it to Russia/Czech and Canada/USA, so that’s what I’m hoping for.

While much of the spotlight is on the Canada/USA game, and rightfully so, don’t lose sight of the other two games. The early game boasts the arguably the world’s greatest player in Alexander Ovechkin and a hungry Russian team after getting upset by Gabby’s Slovak team. It’s also another chance to check out the ageless Jaromir Jagr, who hasn’t seemed to lose much pep in his step even at the ripe old (almost) age of 38. Ranger fans, and any fan of hockey for that matter, can appreciate what he has done over his career and this is (or should be) his final Olympic hoorah.

After the Canada/USA game, it’s a rematch of the 2006 gold medal match with Lundqvist and Sweden against Jokinen and Finland. Both teams are 2-0 and looking for a top seed heading into the elimination round. I got a chance to see Sweden against Germany and I wasn’t overly impressed. Hank got the 21 save shutout, but the Germans missed a couple of great chances to score. With that said, the Swedes still managed to win and not yield a goal even while not playing their best game. Definitely don’t sleep on them because the team is absolutely loaded. Finland looks like it’s also for real.

I know there has been some talk about stopping the NHL season to have the players in the Olympics, and that Gary Bettman hasn’t yet committed to Sochi. I love the idea of it though. I’ll take this over an all-star weekend any day. I know it creates a longer break and can make it difficult with scheduling, but it only happens once every four years. Today’s games are enough to make me want to see it again in Sochi. Every single team playing today could win the whole tournament. The fans are certainly into it, and the city is going nuts over it. If the only medal Canada won this Olympic games was gold in men’s hockey then I’m pretty sure this city, and country, would still be beside themselves with pride and excitement.

Whether you like the Olympic break or not, enjoy the three games today. It’s going to be fun.