the nightmare continues

I cannot believe that nearly two months after Jokinen missed the net on the shootout, those same stinkin' Flyers are headed to the Stanley Cup finals. What a bunch of suck. In fact these whole playoffs have been miserable. One of the only upsides of missing the postseason this year was the feeling I had that I could just sit back and enjoy the games with nothing invested. But that was a crock. I had plenty invested. First off was $20 for a playoff pool of which I'm currently in last place. Next I was nearly certain it was the Capitals year. Not so much. I was also rooting for Boston, but thank God only marginally. Can you imagine being a Bruins fan this season? I'd much rather go out with a whimper during the regular season than hand away a 3 game, 3 goal lead. What a heartbreaker! And what to I get from rooting for Montreal 2 rounds in a row? Nada. Although I did get to hear the name Hamrlik every other day and it always made me giggle. As much as I love Blair Betts I just cannot champion the orange and black.

I fared a little better in the west, after all I like Chicago and now I want them to hoist the cup. I was hoping the Cinderella story would belong to Phoenix, but they had the misfortune of drawing Detroit in the first round. Otherwise it was fairly painless. Even Joe Thorton didn't disgust me the way he normally does. Hopefully the finals will go my way and maybe somethign fun will happen, like Hartnell's hair getting stuck in Toews' sideburns! Only potential problem - the Hossa curse! He's been on the wrong handshake line two years running. Not my favorite guy but please do not let it be the third year!

The World Championships weren't much better, except for the Gold medal game. I though USA had it in the bag once they invited Ranger prospect wunderkind Chris Kreider, after all he's 2-2 in championships this season, but instead USA struggled to even be included in next year's tournament. The only good news in this is that Dubinsky played great in the later stages. Hopefully he steps up like that for us next year or it raises his market value. Either way I'm happy. To be honest I only half followed the World's but I was excited that Russia was so dominent until the Czechs made the final. Love the underdog, especially when that team is headed up by Jaromir Jagr and his beautiful baby face. Congratulations #68! I miss you and love ya. Also Roszy continued his solid play for the CR. I'm pretty sure he'll be in Blue, Red and White next year, so I'm happy to see him pick up his game and sustain it through another tournament. Hopefully he'll bring that confidence back to the Garden next year.

Luckily I have the French Open to distract me. Roger Federer rolled through his first round this morning. I most want his semi-final streak to continue but I'd be ecstatic if Rog defended his title. Go Roger!

in those jeans!

3 great things happened in the Rangosphere in the last weekend before the Olympic break. 2 occured at the same time. I decided to primarily watch the opening cermonies in Vancouver because I didn't want to miss Jagr carrying the Czech Republic flag in the parade of athletes. Thanks to NBC I barely say him and these remarkable pants because they went to commercial during his big moment and only mentioned him in passing about returning to air. I need more than a glimpse of this outfit, I want all angles especially the back! Wait a minute doesn't NBC carry hockey? Curses NBC! I blame Mike Milbury.

Concurrently the Rangers were facing off against Crosby & co in Pittsburg where not only did Dubinsky say that Big Lips is "such a little baby sometimes" but we pulled out an win with Jokinen's OT goal. His face is like an added weapon in a breakaway situation a I thank him for it.

Lastly came Tampa Bay and after falling down 0-2 in the first it looked like another lackluster performance against a beatable opponent. Then man man Avery was granted a penalty shot and he made some kinda play to score the Rangers' first goal of 5. It's sheer beauty and I couldn't love him more.

Today marks the first day of the Men's Olympic hockey tournament. Good luck Cally, Drury, Gaborik, Jagr, Jokinen and especially Henrik.

Good guys wear white, right?

I've spent a lot of time with Canadians this week. The Rangers faced off against Toronto twice, taking both contests and in between I faced off against a bunch of drunk Canucks at Joel Plaskett's Brooklyn gig. I think the Canadians took that one because they were 8 feet tall (2.4384 meters) and I was at their mercy all night while they pushed me out of my spot and talked, shouted, and sang through every song. Joel was of course a delight, which highlights my problem with Canada. Love the musicians, comedians, filmmakers, not so fond of the people. This is especially true at the Garden when the opposition scores and suddenly hordes of enemies stand and cheer. Usually I haven't even spotted the traitor sitting so close to me, but when they celebrate I just want to take them out, figuratively of course!
Fortunately we didn't give Leafs fans much to cheer this week. 3 goals to 11 is a healthy margin, so I'll let their celebration pass. Not to gloat because I know that eventually we'll be on the losing end too, and it doesn't feel nice. Right now though I'm loving this team, loving the way they play. Dubinsky's goals last night highlights how much better the Rangers are today than exactly a year ago. Dubi's breaking in 3 on 2 and instead of passing, he just wrists it right into the net. As long as we have this type of energy and attack I will even stomach another team beating us, because hopefully that's what they'll have to do. Also this Del Zotto kid is a gift. He' got one more game before he's officially a full time Ranger, but I think he's the real thing. I just don't foresee him falling apart. Tapering off maybe, because right now he leads all defensemen in points. Way to go rookie!

Tomorrow my boys are back in blue against the Sharks. My fuzzy touch socks are all clean and ready for another run. I wonder if that Ortmeyer guy from 4 seasons ago will be in the house shouting for his guy? I loved ya Jed, but I won't be rooting for you or Pickles come tomorrow. I'm greedy, I want number 8!

head shakes not handshakes

Has that Mexican bastard Gomez infected the team with swine flu? What the fuck happened to this team over the last two games? I always knew Brashear was evil, but now it's seeping out of his body in the form of a Hollywood Hulk Hogan beard. Blackbeard took out my beloved Blair Betts with a high elbow to the head yesterday. There goes the PK, which of course is exactly what happened. Morrisson tried to give Dubinsky rabies. Henrik was shelled for 5 goals, 2 PPGs. Ugh. Although the calls were beyond egregious we brought a lot of this misery on ourselves, first by benching Avery for game 5 than proceeding to play the game like zombies. Next Torts gets himself benched, then they sit Orr in the one game where his might and protection could have really made a difference and at least would have given the throng something to cheer about.

One high point was the comedian sitting behind me. He worked a soviet theme throughout the game and it was damn hysterical, "How many rubles did it take to pay off these refs?", "To the gulag Ovechkin", "Check his passport!" I'm sure I missed some other ethnic gems. At least he had some passion unlike my rowmates who wouldn't even stand for the 2nd and 3rd Ranger goals. I'm there to root for my team, so sue me if I want to sing the goal song when all hope is lost. Actually I really liked Staal's goal with 5 seconds left. I think it bodes well for Tuesday's decider at Verizon Center. Henrik seldom if ever has 3 ordinary games in a row, so I'm cautiously hopeful for game 7 - even without Betts and Dubinsky foaming a little at the mouth and skating blindly in one direction.

been caught stealing aka 15 to go!

So yeah, maybe the Rangers weren't the best team on the ice Wednesday night, but they were the ones that went to the locker room up 1-0 in this series and that's what counts. Actually this game went pretty much according to the script I laid out. Both teams played well, we just played a little better where and when it made the most difference. To me the Blueshirts' advantage was both Henrik in goal and our previous playoff seasoning. The team didn't panic when the Caps tied it up. Our best effort came in the 2nd half of the 3rd - that last Philly game already paying dividends with our confidence. Dubi's goal was sick. And I gotta give Gomez credit - he promised to turn it on and he certainly did burying a goal and setting up the 2 PPGs. Thank you Scottie!

Now I know tomorrow's game is gonna be different. Avery will not have the same room to work his slightly dirty magic that he was miraculously afforded in this one. Henrik is gonna have to be as sharp if not sharper. Cally's still gonna hit everything, but hopefully the net too. I have high hopes and high blood pressure. Are the playoffs fun, or just hard? Please let it be fun.

Up with Peeps, down with Caps!

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by and supported the Peepitals. Most especially a huge thank you to Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy for giving the project the national shine we were aching for. He's by far my favorite voice in hockey, and now I love him even more. Thanks also to Tarik at Capitals Insider for reciprocating a shoutout. Lastly I want to make sure to give respect to Mike Dudolevitch, fervent Caps fan and master diorama constructor, who was a co-creator and instrumental in making the Peepitals come to life.

Now, the Peepitals wouldn't have been possible without a heavy dose of love for the Capitals and Ovechkin in particular. In fact the Washington Capitals are my second favorite team in the league. My playoff plan was to support the Caps full stop if they went further than my beloved Blueshirts, but all my plans have gone to hell. We meet in the first round, and unfortunately my second team is just that, coming in second and golfing early if I have my way (Sorry Mike!)

Not that it's gonna be easy. The Rangers are gonna have to give A game and beyond and may just squeek through. They have a lot of areas that need improvement: power play, scoring, protecting a lead and winning on the road. Luckily, the Rangers managed all these things with aplomb in the very last game of the regular season taking it to Philly in Philly on Sunday. I thought the game didn't mean much originally, but it pocketed Henrik his record 38 win and instilled a lot of confidence in the team. I would have been happy enough with Dubinsky ruining the Flyers shot at finishing the season without giving up a shorthanded goal. His two on one shortie was a beauty, but when the Flyers retook the lead I thought the game was over. After all they had home ice to play for, but my boys Avery and Betts came through with 3rd period tallies. Then there were hugs all around. Now onto DC, and I just hope everyone plays well, and that the Rangers prove to be a little bit better than the Caps.

Devils go down

When the Rangers were touting Aaron "AV" Voros, a fourth line nobody, as Avery's replacement this season I thought the organization was selling me a load of crap. Thankfully I was totally wrong. AV has far exceeded my expectations, and I imagine his own as well. While his antics on and off the ice are not quite as enjoyable as Avery's, Voros' ability to score and mix it up certainly is. He had his best game so far Monday night against those bitchass Devils. Avery must have left him some notes because he did everything - picked on Brodeur, yapped at Clarkson, gloated to Colin White and scored 2 goals. I'm sure he called Gionta a midget - I didn't see it, but it must have happened. Keep it up AV, prove me wrong all season.

My other favorite moments of the game (and there were a lot because nothing is
sweeter than beating the Devils) were Brodeur just getting his glove on - but not catching - Dubinsky's goal. Gomez roughing it up with Langenbrunner. Just feel it the hate Gomez. It's ok, you bleed blue now, not black. And lastly Callahan's empty net goal. Love that kid.

Now on to Buffalo. 5-0 feels great, but 6-0 would be even better.

Presidents' Trophy here we come!

So yeah, I hope y'all had a great summer. There wasn't much to like or to report about my decimated Rangers, so I said, "Fuck it!" and haven't written in nearly 3 months. Even the start of training camp was too dull to cover. The interviews were unbelievably bland (I'm looking at you Henrik with a sparkle and a wink, which YOU clearly left in Sweden!). The MSG season preview skipped anyone with personality. Sather keeps dangling Shanahan over our heads with the possible promise of someone handsome, charming and angry representing the team. The Rangers couldn't even win a preseason game without J and myself in the audience. Thank god for Europe (the region, not the band). Winning will heal most grievances and we swept our four game trip overseas, so thank you Rangers for pulling it together. Maybe we won't need personality if every postgame is a celebration. It definitely feels good to be at the top of the league even if it's only for a few more days.

The good times started for the Rangers with two exhibition games in Switzerland. I propose that the fabulous showing there was kharmically predestined by Swiss super athlete Roger Federer winning the US Open. Now the two things don't have much to do with each other, but in my sports world July was ruined with Sather's dismissal of my favorite players and Federer's loss at Wimbledon, so obviously I view Roger's dominence at the Open (thanks to me in Arthur Ashe I'm sure) as heralding a positive shift in sports mysticism. I think because I was able to witness Roger kissing the beautiful Open trophy this fall (and perhaps 08-09) will be blessed with all good things. Is this too new agey?

So yeah, Switzerland. After scoring 2 goals in all 6 North American pre-season games and going 1-5, the Rangers rout the Swiss team 8-1. Everyone on the teams scores, it's beautiful. Then the Rangers crush the hopes of Russian champions Metallurg Magnitogorsk by rebounding from 3 zip down to win 4-3 with the beauty Callahan game winner clicking in at 19:39 in the 3rd. The Russians are crying and I'm not sure if it's because they lost out on $100,000 bonuses or because the
KHL (read KGB) plan to hurt their families because they lost!

In a move than can be seen as both classy and dickish, Drury and Gomez decided to let Russian Rangers Zherdev and Kalinen accept this trophy. It's pretty ugly, but it makes a great logo, especially when it used as a Charlie's Angels style wipe during the broadcast. I was just happy to see Zherdev's face because the Rangers hide him away like his lack of English is a major deformity. He's obviously well formed and MSG and the Rangers should know by now that foreigners speaking English poorly is a comic delight and a thrill for fans all over this great nation. Why deny us? I think Zherdev may be my favorite new player aside from Henrik. I'll know for sure when I hear his accent, so get on it John Giannone!

On to Prague. Drury's named captain, and despite his blandness I think he'll make a good one. I'm hoping for great, but we'll see what happens. In my mind I've made him the Atticus Finch of the NHL. I think he's gonna be the a quiet but supportive dad to this team. He's gonna personally teach Zherdev to read, write and speak English, he's gonna convince Dubinsky to abandon his rough trade look (which is somehow worse this season), He's gonna learn Colton Orr scoring touch, and he's gonna keep Redden off the pipe. What a guy- go to it Drury!

We went on to win our first two games that count against Tampa "We'll buy any player available" Bay. The Ace of Base mojo works for fellow Swede Naslund because he scored just moments after "The Sign" shuffled onto my Pod. Thank you Naslund, thank you Pod gods. Henrik played great keeping his GAA nice and low. Thank you Henrik.

Dubinsky, Redden and Gomez chipped in with the other goals. Notice his teammates avert their eyes from Gomer's face. He can perform, but jeesh he's no looker!

The team's looking solid despite a surplus of forwards (note to Sather: Please don't dump Freddie! We love him). Onto the home opener against Chicago. J and I will be in the house. I'm hoping to stay at the top of league for as long as we can manage - shooting for April, hoping for June. Let's go Rangers!

Forget the NHL, Root for Sweden!

I'm sure I foisted this clip on everyone before, but I cannot get enough of Henrik's Gold Medal celebration dance 2006. Now he's minding the net for Sweden again in the IIHF World Championships and today is the first round of single elimination games. Will he dance in 2008? I felt the need to give him a little shoutout. First up are the Czechs. Luckily he only faces teammate Michal Roszival, not the entire Ranger Czech contingent. Also I can still be patriotic and cheer for Team USA as they play in the other bracket facing the Finns this evening. Go Dubie! And Russia, go Tyuts! Ultimately for me though it's all about the Tre Kronor. Go Sweden!

my final curtain

I think this may be my last post. Not because the Rangers lost last night (Ugh. But it happens. At least it wasn't a shutout, and at least Colton Orr — and Brandon Dubinsky! — fought, and at least Nikki Sixx was there) but because I apparently (and unwittingly) sold my soul to a large corporation for a very tiny sum. Pathetic.

I will still keep updating my stars, and commenting on Dollie's entries. And before I go, I must say — have I said this before? — that people who yell "Let's Go Rangers!" during the National Anthem should be sent to Iraq to be used as human shields.

The end.