From Greenburgh, the Rangers has a light practice with everyone particpating except Sean Avery and Paul Mara, who sprained his shoulder in yesterday’s game.

Towards the end of practice, some of the Rangers were hitting pucks off a piece of wood in front of the net to practice rebounds, which is something Chris Drury brought from Buffalo as part of his routine.

Tom Renney put Marek Malik back on the top pairing with Michal Rozsival, while Marc Staal skated with Jason Strudwick.

I asked the coach if these next two games, against division leaders Ottawa and Carolina, were a test and he said that they were and if they can compete with these teams, we may have better insight on how good the team is.

 

Posted under Blog

Without a doubt, tonight’s 4-2 victory at home against the Islanders had to be one of the most enjoyable experiences of this season for Ranger fans. This was the kind of game we’ve been waiting to see this team play all year long. Sometimes Sam Rosen and Joe Micheletti go a bit overboard with the compliments, but tonight, Joe wasn’t far off when he said this was Jaromir Jagr’s best game of the season. It was up there, that’s for sure. Not just because of the goal Jags scored, either.

When Jagr got hold of the puck in the offensive zone tonight, it was reminiscent of the Jagr from two years ago and even last season. He was able to do what he wanted, weaving and bobbing with his great stickhandling ability. Usually drawing multiple defenders, Jagr is at his best when he can evade the opposition for long enough so that he can find the open teammate and he did that tonight.

It didn’t hurt that Marty Straka skated quite well, too. Straka was so huge for the Blueshirts last season and he played that way tonight. He was unlucky to hit the post in the third on a great scoring chance. He played very well. The days off between the Dallas game and this contest probably did the 35-year-old some good.

I said in the last post that I believe the Rangers need to find a way to make Drury work with Jagr and Straka and I stand by that. However, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the effective way in which Brandon Dubinsky gelled with the two Czech veterans tonight.

With every game, Dubinsky is becoming more and more comfortable on NHL ice. He’s starting to do things that he may not have been confident enough to do a month ago. He’s attempting to make moves one-on-one and making runs into open ice like a player that knows what he’s doing. That’s obviously a good thing and as long as he plays the way he did tonight with Jagr and Straka, it’ll be tough to break them up.

The Jagr line aside, a lot of other Rangers did good things tonight. Some random thoughts about tonight’s game:

- Henrik Lundqvist was once again solid in goal. It wasn’t his best game of the season, but that’s okay. If his teammates play every game the way they did tonight, Lundqvist doesn’t have to be lights out every night.

- Chris Drury was very, very good tonight. Not only was he in just the right position on the ice for the rebound from Dan Girardi’s point shot for the first power play goal, he made a smart little pass to Gomez for the second (yes, that’s right…second) power play goal. His offensive contributions aside, Drury made a number of great plays on penalty kills, especially early in the game when the Rangers were spending a little too much time in the box. I’m not saying he’s worth the salary, but I don’t think he’s a hindrance to the team. If he can start scoring consistently, even if it isn’t at quite the pace he did last year in Buffalo, he’s going to be very beneficial to this club.

- Major kudos to Ryan Callahan. In my last post, I said that early in the season he didn’t play the way he did last season. Well, that’s the way he played tonight. Every time he stepped on the ice, Callahan made something happen. He made so many smart, hard-working plays in this game. The best part of Callahan’s game is that he has an uncanny ability to get the puck on net no matter where he’s situated on the ice. He literally turns nothing into something. For example, late in the game, he skated the puck behind the net and with an Islander defenseman behind him, he no-looked a backhander on net that surprised DiPietro and turned into a pretty decent scoring chance. If he keeps this kind of play up, he’s bound to get more ice time. I’d like to see him get some power play time. Forget about them being tentative to shoot. With him on the ice, the puck would find it’s way to the net a lot more often.

- I didn’t know what to expect from Marcel Hossa on the Gomez-Shanahan line, but I think he was the best of the three tonight. He threw his body around and did what he does best: win loose puck battles along the boards. He skated very well, too. If he could only shoot the puck the way he did late last season. He had one chance tonight in a scramble in front of DiPietro, but he was hooked on a horrible non-call by the officials.

- I’m glad Gomez scored the power play goal, but overall, I still find it extremely frustrating to watch him. I feel he’s always the beneficiary, usually from Avery and tonight, the likes of Drury and Hossa. He’s rarely the one making his teammates better. I’m a lot more worried about Gomez than I am about Drury.

All in all, however, a great win for this team. Tom Renney, Perry Pearn and Mike Pelino need to be on these guys to take away the lessons they learned in this game. If the Rangers can maintain this style of play, this team will have success.

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

Sean Avery had wrist surgery today at 5:30 and the Islanders came in an hour and half later.

The Isles went to a six round shootout last night beating the now slumping Ottawa Senators and may be tired for the game at the Garden.

But these are the Rangers they are playing and the Isles tend to play up to the Rangers.

As for the lines, Marcel Hossa played on the second line with Scott Gomez and Brendan Shanahan and Ryan Callahan is back on the third line.

As for Avery, no word on how the surgery went but we may have more of a word after the game.

Right now, as I press send, Jaromir Jagr just scored to make it 1-0 Rangers,

Posted under Blog

The Rangers announced Sean Avery will have arthroscpic surgery on his left wrist tomorrow, before the Islander game, so he will be out for the near future.

Avery said to me after the last Islander game at the Garden, he hurt the wrist in the “Tucker Fight” as he was leaving. HE then had a puck hit it in Tampa.

After having a Cat Scan, it was determined that surgery was necessary to clean it out. So expect Ryan Callahan to slot right into the lineup as a replacement.

The Rangers will miss Avery though. They were 17-6-6 with him last season and 9-4-1 this year. Without the forward, the Rangers stuggled to a 4-5-1.

Now there’s no telling until after the surgery how long he will be out. He said to reporters in Greenburgh today a “week or two,” but he said that to me a week after his shoulder was seperated and he was out a month.

Posted under Blog

I guess Ranger fans should be thankful for the fact that the team is doing well, just four games out of first place. Still, it’s hard for anyone who follows the team closely to deny that there are problems. Some of these problems are underlying, while others seem to be coming to a head lately. The usual early-season excuses are getting old with over a quarter of the season already gone. I suppose it’s fitting, then, that it’s the Islanders that the Blueshirts face next, Thursday night at the Garden. The team from the Big Apple will try not only to work out their own issues, but look to finally defeat the surprisingly good Isles after an 0-3 record so far this season against their biggest rivals.

Before I go any further, I just want to take the time to introduce myself. My name is Eric Faynberg and I’m a young journalist trying to make my way through the tricky, treacherous realm of sports journalism. I’m a student and I have covered several local sports teams. I love the sport of hockey and as you’d have probably guessed already, I’ve been a hardcore Ranger fan for most of my life. This is my first crack at covering the team through the blog format and I’m hoping I can do an effective job. I can guarantee only two things. For one, I’ll update this blog frequently. Secondly, I’ll try to be as objective in my coverage of the team as possible.

I’ll talk more about myself eventually as I get on a roll with this blog (not too much though), but for now, I’ll stick to the important stuff. We’ve all grown accustomed to hearing how each game is important. Trust me; I’m just as tired of that phrase as you are. Unfortunately, I can’t help but truly believe that this game is actually quite important for the Rangers.

There is no hiding the fact that this team can’t score goals. All season long this hasn’t been a problem because of how stellar the defense has been, not to mention a certain Swedish guy in goal. However, we’ve seen a couple of times now what can happen if King Henrik is not on his game, most recently in the team’s last game, the 3-2 loss at home to the Dallas Stars. The Rangers were by far the better team, outshooting the Stars, 40-18. As has become commonplace, though, they just couldn’t seem to put the puck in the net. They got a lucky break when Jagr’s pass attempt deflected in off of a Dallas defenseman’s skate, too. It’s also hard to win a game when you’re 0-for-6 with the man advantage, while your opposition goes 2-for-3.

Yes, chemistry takes time to forge. Unfortunately, when you’ve made the kind of moves the Rangers did this summer, you don’t have that kind of time. The loss to Dallas should have been a message to Tom Renney and his coaching staff: get your stars to start scoring, because if Lundqvist or the defense start to struggle, you’re going to have some big, big problems.

What’s worse, the latest news from the team is that Sean Avery will undergo wrist surgery. Paul Mara had similar surgery before and was fine after two weeks. However, Mara’s surgery took place in the off-season. Expect Avery to be out for a little longer than that. That’s not the worst thing in the world, except when you factor in that the Rangers are 9-4-1 this season with Avery, but only 4-5-1 without him. The numbers are even more impressive for Avery when you factor in last season’s success with him in the lineup. Yes, sometimes he causes unnecessary problems, but if you watch closely, you’ll see that Avery’s hockey sense has been the centerpiece in a number of key plays this season. They’ll miss him.

They’ll be hoping that part of Avery’s contributions can be replaced by the return of Ryan Callahan. Callahan has been out over a month, injured in a loss to the Penguins. Callahan played in eight games before being injured and honestly, he wasn’t quite as impressive as he had been last year. Still, he’s shown what he’s capable of and you can bet that Renney and friends are really hoping that Callahan can play the way he did at the end of last year. Furthermore, he’ll likely be playing with Drury and Prucha, another couple of guys who the team desperately needs to start scoring goals.

While I still believe that Drury needs to be on a line with Straka and Jagr, I do see the appeal of playing Drury and Callahan. All three players on the line should be able to create a lot of open ice with their efforts in the corners and along the boards. Still, there has to be someone that uses that open ice to create. Prucha is also likely to see power play time with Avery injured. In his first two years, Prucha found quite a bit of success on the power play. Maybe this can get not only Prucha going, but the power play as well.

More on the game against the Isles later…

Posted under 2007-08 Regular Season

I know this is the moment all the Ranger fans are waiting for when Marek Malik returns, but according to Steve Zipay, Tom Renney may not want to put him back in the lineup on Thursday against the Isles.

Now, he will be coming back, so expect No. 8 to be back there over the weekend. The question is where he will play.

Expect Jason Strudwick to get scratched as Malik filters back into the lineup, but it’s questionable if he will be lining up with Michal Rozsival. Marc Stall fits very nicely at the top and deserves to stay up there, while Malik, who at times can be the Garden pariah, makes some mistakes which cost the Blueshirts.

Breaking up Dan Girardi and Fedor Tyutin doesn’t make sense, so that leaves Paul Mara. Now, Mara has played much better as of late and seems to be getting his stride on. Both he and Strudwick have chemistry together and will that translate with Malik? Or does Renney put Marc Staal back with Mara and Malik with Rozsival, so they can work together.

Believe it or not, the Malik – Rozsival pair worked well together over the past few years and Malik, who has a greak reach does make up for his speed deficiencies.

Also by showcasing Malik, the Rangers may look to trade him towards the deadline and let Strudick play or even bring up someone like Ivan Baranka, who played well last week against Tampa.

The bottom line, no matter how much the fans don’t like him, Malik is here for now.

And I will be at practice tomorrow, so there will be an update from there on this blog.

Posted under Blog

I get this emailed to me by the Pack every week and I figure I will post it here so you can follow Hartford.

WOLF PACK WEEKLY: November 26 – December 2, 2007
 
The Wolf Pack celebrated Thanksgiving with a 2-1-0-0 week this past week, improving their record to a season-best six games over .500 (13-7-0-1, 27 pts.).  The Pack have won six of their last seven games and eight of their last 10.
On Wednesday night at home vs. Providence, the Wolf Pack dropped a 3-2 decision in a first-place showdown with the Bruins, a loss that snapped a season-high four-game Wolf Pack winning streak.  The Pack got back on the winning track Friday night at Bridgeport, winning their sixth straight GEICO Connecticut Cup visit to the Arena at Harbor Yard, 5-3.  Then on Saturday evening at home against Lowell, the Wolf Pack registered their first overtime victory of the season, a 3-2 triumph over the Devils.  Nigel Dawes chalked up the Pack’s first four-point game of the season in Friday’s win, with 2-2-4, and totaled 2-3-5 in the three games, and Pierre Parenteau also had a five-point week, with 3-2-5, including the overtime game-winner on Saturday.
This week:
The Wolf Pack have a three-game weekend of Atlantic Division action on tap, starting with a visit to Worcester on Friday night (7:05).  The Pack play back-to-back home games thereafter, with the Springfield Falcons invading the Hartford Civic Center on Saturday night for a 7:00 game and the Portland Pirates coming to town for a 4:00 faceoff on Sunday.

Tuesday, November 27^th – “Wolf Pack Confidential”, at the M&M Restaurant at the Hilton Hartford, on

            ESPN Radio 1410

This week’s edition of the Wolf Pack’s weekly Tuesday-night talk show, hosted by Bob Crawford, features Wolf Pack forwards Lauri Korpikoski and Nigel Dawes as scheduled guests.  The show airs live from the M&M Restaurant at the Hilton Hartford, located at

315 Trumbull St.

in downtown Hartford, from 7:00-8:00 PM.  Fans are welcome to be on hand at M&M for an exclusive opportunity to ask questions and speak one-on-one with the players.  Wolf Pack Confidential can be heard live on-line at www.hartfordwolfpack.com.

Friday, November 30^th at Worcester (DCU Center), 7:05 p.m.
·         The Sharks currently stand fifth in the Atlantic Division, nine points behind the Wolf Pack, at 8-7-1-1 for 18 points.  Since a 4-0-1-0 start, Worcester is 4-7-0-1 in 12 games.
·         Mike Iggulden is the Sharks’ top offensive threat, having struck for 10-11-21, good for a tie for ninth in the AHL in points.
·         The Wolf Pack have taken the first two clashes of the season between these two teams with a pair of one-goal wins, a 2-1 triumph in Worcester October 27^th and a 4-3 verdict in Hartford November 2^nd.
·         Radio – live with Bob Crawford on ESPN Radio 1410, and on the web at: www.hartfordwolfpack.com, or watch on B2 Network!  Go to www.harfordwolfpack.com for details.
 

Saturday, December 1^st vs. Springfield at the Hartford Civic Center, 7:00 p.m.
·         This is the second meeting of the season between the Wolf Pack and their I-91 rivals the Falcons.  The Pack scored a 2-1 shootout win in the first game of the season series, October 26^th in Hartford.
·         The Falcons were on a 5-0-1-1 run before a pair of losses in Norfolk this past weekend, 4-2 on Friday and 6-2 on Saturday, dropped them to 10-7-1-3 for 24 points.  Springfield is tied with Portland for third place in the Atlantic, three points behind the Wolf Pack.
·         Patrick Thoresen leads the AHL in goals with 12, and he and Rob Schremp (4-15-19) are tied for the Springfield team scoring lead at 19 points apiece. 
·         Radio – live with Bob Crawford on ESPN Radio 1410, and on the web at: www.hartfordwolfpack.com, or watch on B2 Network!  Go to www.harfordwolfpack.com for details.
 

Sunday, December 2^nd vs. Portland at the Hartford Civic Center, 4:00 p.m.
·         Fans are encouraged to bring their skates to this game, as there will be a post-game skate immediately following the game.
·         This is also another Wolf Pack “Family Value Night”.  Fans can purchase Family Value Night packages that include tickets, hot dogs or pizza slices, sodas and a Wolf Pack souvenir and start as low as $39 per family.  To purchase your Family Value Night pack, call the Wolf Pack ticket office at 860-548-2000. 
·         The Pirates are currently three points behind the Wolf Pack in the Atlantic Division standings, tied with Springfield at 24 points (11-8-1-1).
·         Portland leading scorer Andrew Ebbett (6-18-24 in 21 GP) is tied for second in the AHL in assists and sits tied for fourth in the league in points.
leading scorer Andrew Ebbett (6-18-24 in 21 GP) is tied for second in the AHL in assists and sits tied for fourth in the league in points.·         This is the Pirates’ first visit of the season to the Hartford Civic Center, but they and the Pack have already split two battles in Portland.  The Pirates won, 2-1, on November 11^th, and the Wolf Pack came back with a 4-3 triumph November 18^th.
·         For all remaining Wolf Pack Wednesday, Friday and Sunday home games, college students and members of the military showing ID at the Hartford Civic Center box office can purchase tickets at a special discount rate of $10 each (limit four tickets per ID).
·         Radio – live with Bob Crawford on ESPN Radio 1410, and on the web at: www.hartfordwolfpack.com, or watch on B2 Network!  Go to www.harfordwolfpack.com for details.
 

Recent Transactions:
Greg Moore – recalled by the New York Rangers from the Wolf Pack November 20^th and returned to the Wolf
Pack November 26^th..
Ivan Baranka – recalled by the New York Rangers from the Wolf Pack November 20^th and returned to the
Wolf Pack November 24^th.
Nigel Dawes – returned on loan by the New York Rangers to the Wolf Pack November 20^th.
Miika Wiikman – recalled by the Wolf Pack from Charlotte (ECHL) November 21^st.
Matt Zaba – Reassigned by the New York Rangers to the Wolf Pack from Charlotte (ECHL) November 22^nd.
Matt Waddell – signed to a Professional Tryout (PTO) agreement by the Wolf Pack November 23^rd.
 

Practice:
All Wolf Pack practices are open to the media at the Hartford Civic Center or Champions Skating Center in Cromwell.  As schedules are subject to last-minute changes, please call the public relations department at (860) 246-7825 before attending a practice.
Tue., November 27        11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, Champions Skating Center
Wed., November 28       11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, Champions Skating Center
Thurs., November 29     11:00 AM – 1:00 PM, Champions Skating Center
Fri., November 30          10:00 – 10:30 AM, Champions Skating Center (Game at Worcester)
Sat., December 1          10:00 – 10:30 AM, Hartford Civic Center (Game vs. Springfield)
Sun., December 2         Game vs. Portland
Mon., December 3         No practice
 

Pack Tracks:
Wolf Pack players Tom Pyatt and Mike Busto will be appearing at the FYE location in Bristol this Tuesday, November 27^th from 4:00-6:00 PM, to help promote the release of 96.5 TIC’s Acoustic Café Volume 7, the proceeds from which benefit the Hartford Wolf Pack Community Foundation.  Also, the afternoon of this Wednesday, November 28^th, several Wolf Pack players will be visiting patients at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center.
The Wolf Pack’s home game Friday, December 7^th vs. the Lowell Devils (7:00 faceoff) will feature a winter accessories drive, with the Wolf Pack collecting donations from fans of gently-used winter-weather essentials such as hats, gloves, scarves and new white tube socks for those experiencing homelessness in the Hartford area.
 

At the Wolf Pack’s home game Saturday, December 15^th against the Manchester Monarchs, there will be a Teddy Bear Toss when the Wolf Pack scores its first goal of the game.  Fans are asked to bring soft toys, which will be donated to local charitable organizations.  Also on December 15^th, the first 5,000 fans will receive a free Wolf Pack ski cap.
The Hartford Wolf Pack Community Foundation will be holding its annual Bowl-a-Thon to benefit Special Olympics Connecticut Eastern Region on Sunday, December 16^th at AMF Silver Lanes in East Hartford.  Teams of four bowlers raise pledges to bowl alongside a Wolf Pack player.  Space is limited, so interested participants are urged to call soon for more information or to sign up.  Call Danielle Nardi at the Wolf Pack office at (860) 246-7825, ext. 350.
Individual tickets for Wolf Pack games are on sale now at the Hartford Civic Center Box Office and all Ticketmaster locations including Macy’s at the Buckland Hills Mall and at the Westfarms Mall.  Tickets may also be charged by phone at (860) 525-4500, (203) 744-8100, (203) 624-0033 or (413) 733-2500 or online at www.Ticketmaster.com.  Season tickets, five, 10 and 20 game packages and group tickets are also available.  Contact 860-548-2000 for more details.
 

 

 

Posted under Blog

Greg Moore was sent back to Hartford today to make room for Ryan Callahan, who is expected to play against the Islanders on Thurday.

With Callahan in the lineup, the Ranger forwards will be fully healthy for the first time since the first game of the year, but also presents a problem on who gets scratched.

Marcel Hossa is the probable candidate, since he has no goals and three assists and seems like he took a step back this year. But also Petr Prucha could be scratched as well, yet that seems unlikely since the Rangers do like him, although he isn’t having a good year [2 goals and 5 assists].

They also could scratch Ryan Hollweg or Colton Orr, but that fourth line played very well so far, so why mess with the one consistant Ranger line.

Coach Tom Renney will have a decision to make in the next few days, but at least there may be a consistency to the Ranger lines over the next few weeks.

Now if they can get the power play working. After an 0-6 yesterday and 3-for-39 over the last eight games. Renney has tried a number of different combinations, including just rolling lines out there. Nothing has worked.

“Believe it or not, it’s better than it’s been,” Renney said after yesterday’s loss. “I thought tonight we showed good puck movement, I thought we had some chances. We still need to shoot more, naturally. That certainly is an area we have to improve upon, and work habits are a part of that.

If our power play doesn’t get clicking, if we beat ourselves, which may have been the case tonight, then the statistics will bear out where we belong. Every team is a work in progress, but at some point in time there is a level of excellence that is acceptable, and only that, and we’ve gotta make sure we continue to strive for that.”

One bright spot about Thursday. The Islanders may be a little tired since they have a game at home against the now slumping Ottawa Senators.

Posted under Blog

If you go to www.newyorkrangers.com right now you would see that it now part of the NHL network. As you may know, the Rangers were fighting the league over the control of the site and last month lost their case.  

John Dellapina reported last week the Blueshirts signed an agreement with the NHL to turn it over by the 26th, even though their injunction is in appeal.

To me, it’s pretty much the same site with all the same bells and whistles.

Also, if you now look at the game stories, they are written by Jim Cerny, who is a former New York Times scribe and former radio voice of the Islanders. His summer job is spent as the assistant general manager of the Newark Bears and if you follow the Atlantic League, you know the Bears won the championship last season.

Cerny is one of the good guys in the business and helped me get my start back in 1994 by credentialing me for Bears games and letting me interview the players, including Rickey Henderson who was playing for Newark that season.  

Posted under Blog

Ok it’s not that epic, but the Stars come into the Garden for the first time since the 2003-04 season.

With backup goalie Mike Smith in the Rangers need to capitalize. Three of four point on the road was great but the Garden is home of the 8-3 record.

Besides the Lundqvist brothers, Sergei Zubov comes back too. He and Alex Kovalev are the only active member of the 1994 team left.

Posted under Blog