Tis the season

...of suck as far as the Rangers are concerned. I hope everyone's Christmas was merry despite the terrible play by our Blueshirts. I don't know what I was paying good money to watch last night, but I definitely saw a lot of scramblely play, bad passing and week shots. Drury was -3 with 1 shot on goal. That makes me sick. I hate losing to the Devils, more especially when the names Elias and Parise keep getting shoutouts over the PA at MSG. Just hate it. Almost as much as I loathe losing to the Islanders, so it had better not happen tomorrow night. I want an effort befitting our skills and our record.

who's the man?!

Good news all around. Drury scores, Valiquette stands on his head, Roszy makes an unlikely penalty shot and then scores the game winner in OT. Oh yeah, and Sundin signs with Vancouver! Yay! Also San Jose who we head to on Saturday just lost to Detroit 0-6. Actually I don't know if that's good news or bad, but I like that they can lose. Let's double them up Saturday night! I love my team!

dreams and nightmares

Great game last night. Beautiful laser by Drury for the 1st tally of the game. Unfortunately the Ducks tied it up. It looked like the Rangers were headed for another overtime session when Dawes skated in, passed around mutant defenseman Chris Pronger, and threw the puck at the net where it just tricked through the pads. Unlikely and brilliant. Zherdev added the empty net without the puck ever crossing the line when he was tripped up by you guessed it, Norris trophy winner Chris Pronger. Nik was automatically awarded the goal with the clear breakaway thwarted. Just plain awesome. Also Henrik was fabulous and back in form. Now let's take care of Los Angeles.

As an added bonus, my subconscious gave me a Christmas present last night with a dream in which Freddie was my date to a game. We were cuddling in the stands and there was a palpable feeling of fondness between us. Maybe some inappropriate PDA, but mostly just resting my head on his beautiful shoulder.


In not so great news, Mats Sundin is supposed to choose between Vancouver and New York by Thursday. Our Swedish contingent - Freddie, Henrik and Naslund tried to romance him this past weekend by taking him out. My friend Mike asked, "Where'd they take him to, IKEA?" Also in a nightmarish preview of what could be, the MSG crew cannot help show Sundin during every break but the only footage they have is him lording about in a shadowy skybox like the evil emperor. Check out the photo to the left if you forgot how ugly Sundin is.

500 club

When Brodeur went out this season, I thought, "I don't want to lose to his backups - that would be too embarassing!" But now that it's happened, and in the most embarassing way possible I'm so happy Brodeur wasn't in net. The only good thing about Friday's game was that it wasn't Brodeur's win. That said I'm just trying to forget that game altogether.

Saturday's effort definitely helped. Although we allowed the Canes to tie it up twice the Rangers' effort was so significantly better that you can't really fault it. And the shootout was a beauty - 5 rounds - one goal- and stunning play by Drury skating in on one foot and roofing a backhand from the side of the net. And even though you could see Henrik praying for a win, you could not see his nerves, especially in the shootout where he blanked all 5 snipers. Plus Blair Betts scored off a nifty breakaway pass from my good friend Freddie. Thank you Betts. Remember that awesome end-to-emd goal you scored out west 2 seasons ago? Let's do that again in this 3 game trip to CA!

good times?

It's been a good couple of days in Rangerland. While we didn't exactly put away Atlanta, we played a solid game (thank you Colton Orr!) and Gomez came through with the GW seemingly out of nowhere 18 seconds into OT. I don't think I've ever seen as genuine a delight on his face as he has here congratulating Valiquette on the win. Good work Gomez, good work Rangers. Let's feel even better about ourselves by burying the Devils tomorrow night.

As much as I love two points, I love looking into Freddie's face even more. Got to meet Freddie, Petr Prucha, Ron Duguay, Santa and Adam Graves tonight at the toy drive. Prucha was a little preoccupied with his lady handler, but Freddie was direct, engaged and a total delight. As was Graves. Just a pure gentleman. And both of their face scars look even better in person. Lovely times.

O Canada - you suck!

I don't want to see this now familiar image of dejected Henrik ever again. Now I realize that that's unrealistic, but could the rest of the team not expose him every night? Am I asking too much?

Despite losing 3-0 there were some enjoyable aspects to the game. First and foremost were the fabulously close seats Jane procured, right behind the bench (ok a few feet back). You could see the sparkle on the ice, the spit flying & Gardenvision was actually loud. Second, my Rangers played pretty well - good puck possession, decent passes, finished checks- just no scoring to speak of. Lastly was the vintage Garden faithful chants of "Sloppy Seconds" that rang out against Dion Phaneuf at prime moments during the game. You're welcome Sean Avery. Of course I originally thought I heard, "Crosby's pregnant!" Either way I loved it.

If we lose to Atlanta on Wednesday I'm officially throwing up.

trying to forget this one

Routed at the Bell Centre. Fuck those guys -now their fans will be extra obnoxious at the Garden.

There's hardly any good news surrounding Avery these days, but you gotta love these glasses. I know Avery can be an asshole, that's one of the main things I love about him, so I'm very disheartened that he may lose his career over this. His team and teammates are such uptight sanctimonious pricks.

You have to embrace Sean for his ice magic to work. A trip to the Wolfpack is on order maybe.

Suck it Pittsburgh!

I hate to give the Pens a point, but much like the last matchup against them, this was more like taking a point away. Although our defense was a little spotty like usual (could we clear the puck boys?) we played this game with a lot of grit and a buttload of edge (thank you Colton Orr!). The fans roared every time Crosby hit the deck, which was blissfully often.

Zherdev broke the scoreless streak with a beautiful deflection and pretty Petr Prucha tied the game up with his first in nearly a year. Saving the good stuff is our Prucha. Hopefully he unleashes some more magic against Montreal and Carey Price tonight.

Just one complaint ultimately. I know our power play leaves a little to be desired, but when Colton Orr works his considerable ass off to force a double minor don't piss it away with a bench minor. It was inevitable that Pittsburgh was going to score 4on4 - hell they might have given up a shortie, but you've got to give that 4 mins your whole effort.