Monday, April 25, 2011

Torts Gets Extension

New York- As many expected John Tortorella was given a three year contract extension from the New York Rangers.  In many minds of the hockey world, Tortorella handed in a Jack Adams award winning (at least nomination) worthy season.  There is much speculation around the Rangers franchise that this deal was made months ago between the two parties.

Being knocked out of the first round of the playoffs most certainly wasn't what everyone around this organization could have been expecting, but the upside of the club shows great promise.  Tortorella has finally given this team the identity it has been searching for since the Glen Sather management Era began ten years ago.  At the start of next season, Rangers fans can be expecting to see the same hard-working group of young men who battled night in and night out in the '10-'11 campaign.  This is all do in part to the demands of their head coach John Tortorella.

The "process" Coach Tortorella has been preaching all year long is finally starting to take form for this New York Rangers hockey club.  Just like anything that is just starting out, it will take time (this 3 year contract appears to be that allotted window of time) to see if this new found approach for this hockey team will be a success.  Torts will hope to guide this Rangers team, who haven't gotten to an Eastern Conference Final in over ten years, to a period of sustained success.

-@NYRCenterIce

Sunday, April 24, 2011

“Chicago ties series 3-3, forces game 7 on Ben Smith’s Overtime Thriller”

Chicago- The 2010-2011 President’s trophy winning Vancouver Canucks seemed poised to pull off the sweep of the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks when they jumped out to an early three games to none series lead.  Three times in the history of the NHL playoffs has a team come back from three games down to win a series (’45 Maple Leafs, ’75 Islanders, and last year the Flyers), but Chicago is surely making a strong case to become the fourth.

On the verge of being swept out of the Stanley Cup playoffs the Hawks responded well with a 7-2 victory in game four, and a 5-0 victory in game five cutting the series lead to 3-2 in favor of Vancouver.

 An alarming sign for Vancouver fans had to be seeing their all-world, starting goaltender, Roberto Luongo, being pulled in two consecutive elimination games.  These types of performances would be the stepping-stones to a memorable game in Chicago on Easter Sunday.  Instead of giving the starting goaltender nod to Luongo for game six, head coach of the Canucks, Alain Vigneault, took a serious gamble by giving backup goaltender Cory Schneider his first ever playoff start. 

Vancouver started the game with a bang.  Scoring within the first 2 minutes of the opening face-off.  To no surprise it was the Sedin twins who combined on the goal with Daniel getting the pass from Henrik.  Cory Schneider was tested early and often by the Blackhawks offense, but looked very calm and under control between the pipes.  He stopped two breakaways in a row by Hawks snipers.

At the 15-minute mark of the first period the Blackhawks finally put one past the young net-minder.  Bryan Bickell capitalized on a turnover that was caused by a huge hit from the Hawks Bolland, which made the Vancouver defensemen cough the puck up right to Bickell who was sitting all alone in the slot for a gimmie goal.  The Canucks responded well with an immediate goal when Alex Burrows buried home a turnover right in the slot by the Blackhawks defense, 2-1 Canucks.

From there the physical play really stepped up.  There was some serious body banging going on to open up the second period where you could feel the intensity, and the magnitude of this game really picking up from there. The Blackhawks missed a golden opportunity with a 5 on 3 power play for 1:43 when they could not convert.  Fortunately for them they were able to tie the game 2-2 when a miscommunication between Goalie Schneider and a D man caused a turnover for practically an open net goal by Dave Bolland of the Hawks.

The third period started with wild offensive chances for both teams.  Fifty-eight seconds into the third Kevin Bieksa buried home a rebound to put the Canucks back up 3-2.  Less than two minutes later Michael Frolik was taken down on a breakaway giving the Blackhawks a penalty shot.  Frolik scored on a beautiful deeke, and tied the game at 3-3.
 
An uneasy moment for Canucks fans came when immediately after the penalty shot goalie Cory Schneider laid on the ice in clear pain.  Initial speculation is that he pulled a muscle as he was reaching his leg out to try and make a save on the penalty shot. He was relieved by struggling goalie Roberto Luongo.  The third period ended with the Blackhawks on their heals, but the Canucks couldn’t seem to put the game to rest in regulation.

The teams headed into the overtime period tied at 3-3 in what had been an extremely physical battle.  Both teams seemed to have even chances throughout the overtime period, slightly giving the territorial edge to the Canucks. 

Hard work by Marion Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks created space for Niklas Hjalmarsson to blast a slap-shot on net from the point.  The shot was handled terribly by Roberto Luongo, and rookie Ben Smith was sitting on the doorstep to slam home the deciding goal, 4-3 final.

The Chicago Blackhawks did not lead the entire game until the final goal in overtime to which put them up for good with a 4-3 victory.  They will certainly have their word cut out for them as they go into a very hostile Vancouver on Tuesday night to try and pull off the impossible comeback to move on to the second round.

 In no other sport than hockey are teams even given a hint of chance to come back in a best of seven series when down by three games.  It was quite understandable though that when the defending champs were on the brink of being swept, surely everyone knew they wouldn’t go away easily. 

@NYRCenterIce

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Until Next Year

Watching all 87 games of this 2010-2011 NHL season its tough to hear those words, "the New York Rangers have been eliminated."  Whether the postseason expectations set by some of us to move on past the #1 seeded Caps were more our hopes than real beliefs, we really all have to tip our hats, and give a salute to these players we cheered for all season long.

Every season is different, but this year, our NYR team finally began to lay the foundation for what seems to be the formula to success for years to come.  This hardworking, lay your body on the line, never give up type of play has become the staple of this young, "twenty-something year old", core of players.  Hopefully this team identity and resiliency we saw all season long becomes a fixture of this organization for the next decade and on.

To state the obvious...in years past the NYR would go out and try to sign every big name free agent on the market (Glen Sather-2010/2011 season marking his 10 year campaign).  To name a few Jagar, Gomez, Redden, Rozival, Drury, etc.  This clearly hasn't worked seeing as to how we haven't made it to an Eastern Conference final since the 1997 season.  Things have changed for General Manager Glen Sather as he has finally given in to the "youth movement" here on Broadway.

The fact that we got into the postseason this year was a great experience for our young guys.  Watching game 5 tonight, it was quite obvious that the inexperience was starting to catch up to our youth.  The Caps Furious start to the game seemed to catch us on our heals, and they capitalized (no pun intended) on that opportunity.

The key thing here is, now in our next postseason appearance (God-willing next season) our guys will be prepared, and know how to react in situations such as this. A good coach always told me, "you learn more from a loss than you do from a win."  Maybe those heartbreaking overtime losses, and ultimately the playoff series loss to end our season this year will teach our boys something more valuable in the long run.  Something that we as fans, rightfully so, just can't grasp at the moment.


Looking forward to next season, we wont be seeing all of the same faces from this year in Blueshirt's uniforms on the ice.  There are certain guys (that i feel shouldn't come back) that are expendable, and cutting them from the roster won't hinder the development of the young core upon their departure.  No disrespect to their game, but it seems that they no longer fit well with this team, and the style of hockey that they play.  Mccabe, Christensen, Prospal, Eminger.  Mccabe was brought here at the trade deadline for one reason and one reason only, to fix the powerplay.  A powerplay that went 1 for 19, and a very shaky postseason was not what the NYR were looking for.  As for Christensen, he always talks about how good he can be at this level, but watching his game this season it seems as though he plays only when he wants to play.  He doesn't have the same work ethic as mostly everyone else on this team, and doesn't fit in with this new "team identity".  Prospal, his age and knee seemed to really hold him back in an injury riddled season.  It seemed at times that he was more of a liability than an asset on the ice for us.  Lastly, Eminger clearly just doesn't have the support of our head coach behind him.  Aside from that he played solid and well when given the chance.

We as "die-hard" fans need to learn to be patient with our younger players who either played well, or even struggle  down the stretch. We need to give them the time, as well as the support they need to develop.  New York is a very sports savvy, what have you done for me lately kind of town, but in order for this type of team, with these types of players, to succeed, patience is what needs to be preached.

Guys like Anisimov (22yrs, 18goals), Stepan (20yrs, 21 goals), Wolski (25yrs, 12 goals/lots of potential), Ryan Mcdonagh (21yrs, and one of the most impressing rookie defense men of the NHL), Gilroy (26yrs, as long as he resigns/gets offered a contract), Sauer (23yrs, made a big name for himself playing greatly alongside co-rookie defense men Mcdonagh), and Brian Boyle (26yrs, 21 goals). These are the players that have such a great upside for the Rangers.  None older than 26 years of age, these guys can/have been developing the necessary experience that will make this team more and more relevant league wide in the years to come.

Not to mention the young-guns who play like veterans Ryan Callahan (26yrs, 23 goals in an injury shortened season), Brandon Dubinsky (24yrs, 24 goals), Mark Staal (24yrs, All star defense men), Dan Girardi (26yrs, best shot blocker in the NHL), Brandon Prust (27yrs, NYR extra effort award winner), Henrik Lundqvist (29yrs, top 5 goaltender in the
NHL year in and year out), and lastly Marion Gaborik (29yrs, 22 goals).  These are the players that have cemented the foundation towards this team's identity.  Young bodies that play like old men in this league is a hard thing to find, and they are the guys who can/have been doing that for this team.  In these up-and-coming years as this team continues to develop, we as fans will lean heavily on these guys for the production and leadership that we expect them to provide. 

Staal and Girardi are rocks on the defensive end, Mcdonagh and Sauer look to be heading in the same direction.  Marion Gaborik needs to rebound from this season and regain that 42 goal form he showed in 2009/2010.  A healthy Callahan is always a plus to have in the line-up as we know he is the next-in-line captain of this team.  Dubinsky, at times this season, proved he can carry this team on his back.  Henrik time and time again reassures us all that he is still the world class goaltender we all know him to be.

The players we lose this year can be replaced by a combination of testing the free-agent market as well as through some promising prospects that can make a great impact for this team.  The main target for the NYR in free agency is Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars.  Richards won a Stanley Cup under head coach John Tortorella, and is one of the most dynamic center men in the entire NHL.  Michael Del Zotto suffered a minor setback this year with some inconsistent play, but still shows a great upside for being a successful player in this league.  Michael is still only 20 years old, and is a first round draft pick of the NYR.  One bad season at the beginning of his career is not something that should be judged very critically.  Mats Zuccarello who split time with the Rangers and their AHL affiliate the Connecticut Whale shows some serious promise.  Despite his 5ft.7in. frame, he's a dangler who can be an asset in the shoot-outs, and shows a good upside to being a goalscorer in this league.  Chris Kreider of Boston College is a pure goal scorer with blazing speed.  Chris won a national championship at BC, and will be making a decision to go pro or stay as an amateur very shortly.  Christian Thomas, a second round draft pick, who put up 54goals and 45assists this year for the Oshawa Generals of the OHL could be that big time scorer we've been searching for.  Dylan Mcllrath of the Moosejaw Warriors (WHL) who saw a few games with the Hartford Whale, is a bone crushing, physical defense men we drafted in 2010 with the #10 overall pick.  Evgeny Grachev, has been showing great promise for the NYR with his last two seasons in the AHL.  We'll certainly be seeing these guys playing under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden very soon within the next couple of years as full time players.

These are, and soon will be our core players that will have a huge impact on this team for years to come.  The bright side in New York is looking very good for these Rangers.  We as fans need preach the "stay the course" mentality that coach John Tortorella has implanted here, and continue being patient as we watch these guys develop right in front of our eyes.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and this team is no different. This team could be very special, lets give it the time it deserves, and most of all, LETS GO RANGERS.


@NYRCenterice