[earthworm77]

Well, it looks like there is at least one team in NY this winter that doesn't suck........let's see......Giant's...no, Jet's....nope,,,, Knicks.....uhh,uhh......Isles......riiiiiight.......................yes, it's the NY Rangers. I have waited a long time to say that they were actually a good team. Apparently, the rest of the NHL is now taking notice in their resurrgence.


Nassau -Rangers 4 Isles 2
Great first two periods for the Rangers last night. They came out strong and outplayed the hapless Isles. Better legs, better scoring chances. The Rangers took a 3-0 lead into the 3rd before they got too complacent and let the Isles creep to within a goal. Good poise and a few good plays by Leetch, Holik and Ruchinsky deflated the Isles with goal #4. Great win in thew Mausolium. Dunham looked great.

Now, I'm a huge time hockey fan and I've never complained about the officiating until now. In the last 10 games or so I've seen such poor officiating that it is laughable. Unlike football or basketball where the ref's do not sit on their whistles, Hockey calls have been inconsistent at best. They have introduced rules into the game to make it more free flowing. It seems that they are optional calls though......either call it consistenly or don't call it ever.

One rule I can't stand is the "Diving" rule.
A player embelishes and makes a spectacle of being pulled down can be given a 2 minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Now, lately I've seen this occur....player a gets called for a trip but the guy he trips gets called for a dive, on the same play....how does that happen? Either he was tripped or he wasn't. Call one or the other but you can call both it is a damn contradiction. I play Hockey. For some it is tough enough just to stand on skates, if you have a 200lb guy take your legs out....you fall......graceful or not.

Next rule Instigator for fighting. This rule is also given to freely. Unless it is cut and dry and a player goes out of his way to challenge a guy who otherwise wouldn't have been involved in a fight......you can't call it if they drop the gloves together.

Penalty shots.....if a guy is free and clear one on one with the goalie and get's denied a scoring chance due to an infraction occuring, by all means they should be awarded a penalty shot. No ref wants to allow it but it is in the books and you have to call it. I've seen guys get them who shouldn't have and guys who without a doubt deserved a shot be denied. The calling is so inconsistent I can't take it.......sorry Vicodin rant!


Now lets talk about the Islanders. The NY Mets of Hockey. This team has no identity. Yeah, you have Peca and Yashin but they are underachievers past their prime. Their is not a player on that team to be scared of. In the past it was Bossy, Trots, Gillies and Nystrom, now nobody is all too worried about them. Milbury is awful. He has traded or waived away all of the promising players. I couldn't believe the line up I saw last night. I think he realizes his days are numbered and he's trying to pull off some last ditch effort to save his job....firing him is long over due. Good job on his part waiving Jason Wiemer, the only sparkplug that was on the team. The rest of the team has answered with 8 straight losses. 9 goals in eight games and 30 against.
You had a good young team the last two years that made the playoff's with a spectacular defense....why go fire the coach who got you there? A player or two didn't like him......that's garbage. This new coach is awful.
Peca is a shell of the power forward they brought him in to be. I didn't agree with his kneeing call last night(look at me defending and Islander)...I thought it was incidental to the play and he didn't deserve the 5 minute major...but I'll take it as my Rangers cashed in two PPG's on it. Dipietro is not the future...the future is playing on the Florida Panthers right now....Luongo.

Even Don Maloney didn't sabotage this team like Milbury has. If you are an Isles fan, how can you stand this guy?

 

[Bink]

How the Hell has Mike Milbury kept that job for nine freakin years? The Diving rule was put in to stop all the flopping around guys did as soon as touched by another guy but your right I too have seen the dual call Tripping and diving. At first I was Ok with the rule now ,come on. The penalty shot is also tricky it's like the Ump calling Balls and Strikes there is a rule on what a strike is but it's called by a person who uses his own discretion(sp).

 

[RANGERZ21]

Let's not comment on the Rangers until they make the playoffs. They can beat up on the lowly teams like the Isles who are winless in what 6 or 7 games?

The sign of a good teamis what you do against other good teams. In recent memory, two losses to Toronto and a blowout at the hands of the Devils.

They're 1 game above .500 and this is only typical for what the Rangers have done the past few years. They always seem to be fighting to get back to .500.

There is one good team in New York but too bad it's actually a Jersy team. Since you added in the jets and Giants who play in NJ, let's give credit where it's due and that is to the three time champs, the New jersy Devils!

 

[earthworm77]

The Football teams will always be NY teams and nobody cares about the Devils. The Rangers losing a regular season game gets more attention than a Devils Cup win. Why? Now I'm not saying the Devils are bad, because they may be the best team in the league but they never beat the Rangers in any game that mattered....ever! And still nobody cares about them. Win 3 Cups in 9 years and can't sell out a game unless the Rangers are in town.

I guess you didn't see the Rangers beat Detroit, Tampa 2-0 who were 12-2 at the time, Tie Philly, Colorado.........you can't win them all but other than the Devils game, the Rangers have been in every one of them this season. Yes, they have not made the post season for 6 seasons but up until two years ago the Isle's drought was longer. The Rangers are beating teams that they should beat and that means they are doing their job.

 

[Jimmy]

Craig,
Its along season buddy. There is more than enough time for the rangers to choke as usual. As for 2 players not liking Laviolette It was a whole lot more than that, Beleive me. I would not have fired him either. These guys are professionals and there motivation should be the money they make and the love for the game. The whole team jumped on the band wagon to fire Laviolette and they went and cried to Mikey, how the coach was no good and his strategy sucked. Im not just making this stuff up I am fortunate enough to know this first hand. By the way I am a Islander fan.

Jimmy

 

[earthworm77]

That's just it Jimmy, Yashin and Peca didn't like the guy so they all ganged up on him. They are pros and they are paid to deal with it.
Mark my words, the Rangers get in the playoffs this season.

 

[Cast-a-way]

I hear you Earthy...

I'm thinking playoffs too...It's nice to look at their record and see more wins than losses. It's been a while. Let's not jinx them though..LOL. It's nice to see Holik earning his $$.

 

[Gary Menchen]

My views on this subject:
Worm- You're right that firing the coach was a bad move.
Bink- You're even more right about Milbury still being around. Everything starts at the top with the ownership. (Look at the Yankees year after year).
Mark- Wait 'till they make the playoffs before you get your hopes up.
Jim-More right than anyone else-The Rangers WILL fold again & again. Their last legitimate Cup was 1940 (We don't count the sleezy, Keenan year).
As I have said in the past, The ONLY good Ranger is on the trailer in my garage.
Go Islanders.
Gary

 

[earthworm77]

Gary, how can you say the 1994 cup was a sleazy cup? The Rangers won 50 games during the regular season, won the Presidents trophy for best team in the league and won the Cup, like they should have. They steamrolled through your Islanders in a 4 game sweep that was highlighted by dual 6-0 shut outs. They took out the Caps 4-1 and went to 7 with the Devils(note, the Devils have never beaten the Rangers in any game that matters) with the prediction of Messier saying "We will win" and the going out and scoring a hat trick to back it up in game 6 on the verge of elimination and then Matteau, Matteau, Matteau. The Cup should have been a 4 game sweep but Vancouver was a good opponent. That season was drama and best of all you can't say 1940 any more!

The only cup the Isles won against a worthy adversary was the last one against the Oilers.....OK, I'll give you the Flyers too but the Northstars and the halloween costyme wearing Canucks of the early 80's??? Nope!

And Gary, I was the one who brought up Laviolettes firing.....nonsense.

 

[yar]

ok craig i found the post and it's my turn to talk.LOL. the rangers are doing what they have done for the past 4+ seasons. play good hockey till all-star weekend then it's down hill. i'm not saying that they can't make the playoff this year, but lets face it dunham can't keep his pace up all season. leetch he is getting old and it show more now. don't even get me started on lindros, no team that has him will win the cup!!! i am a devils fan to hart. but i do cheer for the rangers to and also when the did make the playoff's.and your statment about the devils not beaten the rangers when it counted. i think the last 30 games the played each other the devils are 25-0-4-0 against them. and i think all of those games matter when it comes to points to make the playoff.

oh, didn't the rangers lose to TB last night 3-2. rangers are try to buy a cup and that doesn't work to often in hockey. remember last year.

 

[RANGERZ21]

Ranger fans always fall back on three things...

1. The Devils haven't beaten the Rangers in a playoff series. Well, that's tough to do when the Rangers don't even make the playoffs.

2. We don't sell out the swamp. The swamp holds 19,040 which is one of the larger seating capacity arenas. When you look at the overall average attendance, the Devs are in the middle of the pack even with their higher ticket prices.

3. We have our Championship celbration in a parking lot. Who cares where you hold it as long as you have a celebration to hold!

All I was saying was not to count the chickens just yet. We're only 25 games into an 82 game season. A lot can happen.

 

[earthworm77]

Ok-
Leetch is playing very well and we shouldn't make fun of the elderly becasue Mess is still chugging along to the tune of 10 goals already. Leetch single handedly beat the Isles. Ray, although the Devils have so many of the meeting these teams have played, the Rangers did manage to beat them last season during the regular season...your 25-0 and whatever is incorrect and like I stated, do not matter.
The Devils do not come close to selling out and in the playoffs don't sell out....sans cup. And yes, any team that has a celebration in itsd parking lot is Mickey Mouse as Gretzky stated. The Devils play an awesome system and they get by. Broduer is an excellent goalie that thrives by getting 16 shots a night......many other goalies would be as good with that system played in front of them for the last 1000 games.
As for #88, one thing I can say is that although he is not his former pre concussed self, he tries hard, is a team guy and shows flkashed of brilliance. I'm not going out on a limb to say that the Rangers will even get far into the playoffs but they will be there.

Although the Devils have won 3 cups in the last 9 or 10 years, this is a team that should have broken all the records as far as dynasties go. Each your they are right there, it doesn't matter who they get rid of or acquire.....awesome system! I can't say I hate them, definately respect them.

 

[Pugs]

Broduer is an excellent goalie that thrives by getting 16 shots a night......many other goalies would be as good with that system played in front of them for the last 1000 games.

Take it from someone that has played that position, facing 16 shots a game is most definitely harder than facing 30-40.
The more shots you face the more you're in the game. When you don't see any action for several minutes at a time your mind tends to wander. You don't position yourself well and you end up chasing saves.
Most goalies would tell you that what he does is much more difficult to do year in year out.


Pug

 

[Pugs]

I forgot....

Oh yeah, The Rangers. They'll never win with the system that they have in place. A system of no rebuilding. A system of trading their youth away. A system of bringing in high priced "stars" that are either past their prime or happy to collect that big paycheck.
I read an article last year as to why the same teams seem to always be at the top of the league. Detroit, Colorado, New Jersey. All these teams have one thing in common. They have and use very effectively, role players. Guys that may only score maybe 10-15 goals a year and play defensive smart hockey.
The Rangers don't want that. They want Broadway. They want names. It's amazing that across the river is one of the best hockey teams in recent memory and the Rangers haven't learned one thing from them.

PS I stopped watching them when they refused to sign #11 and gave Patrick Ewing a fat contract. Now how many years later is it and #11 is your captain again? Bad management.

 

[earthworm77]

Pugs- you are 100% right on.

PS I stopped watching them when they refused to sign #11 and gave Patrick Ewing a fat contract. Now how many years later is it and #11 is your captain again? Bad management.


That was a disgrace. I disagree about the Redwings though...they are exactly like the Rangers...the only difference is that they win.

 

[yar]

criag, the redwings aren't like the rangers. the stars on that team are role players that can score 20 plus goals.when they play, they play as a "TEAM".

and as pugs had said it is much harder for a goalie to see only 15 shots then 25-35 shots a game. i have played that position back in ther late 80's for some of my mens leagues team. and you should know that to being a fellow hockey player to.

the few shots that boduer gets are hard shots and i don't think most goalies would do good in that postion! and also he plays about 90% of the season. i think he has the record for most 30+ wins season! and again if it's a parking lot or a dead end street as long as it's for stanleys cup it's all good .

 

[earthworm77]

Ray, these guys are Pros. They have to perform despite facing 15 shots. It isn't pick up hockey like we play...I assume when you suited up you faced a ton of shots. Broduer is a great goalie but plug anyone in on that team who is half way decent and they would be as good. Broduer on a less defensive team would not be as effective.