Rangers Report Blog

For today’s post, I got an email from Adam suggesting that I take you backstage to the locker room, and give you a glimpse of what people are like. So I am going to do three vignettes about three players, without telling you who is who. Your job is to match the player with the story.

No. 1: The first time I walked into the Rangers LR it was with The Great Sam Weinman. TGSW had been covering the beat for three years and knew everyone. He was really cool about introducing me to a couple of different players and coaches. Scott Gomez, Tom Renney, Paul Mara, Henrik Lundqvist, Chris Drury and Brandon Dubinsky made small talk for a few minutes and told TGSW how much they would miss him.

About five days later I was sent to cover a game. I hadn’t seen any of them since, but when I walked into the locker room to do postgame interviews after a loss, one person passed by and said, “Hey Jane, welcome back.” I thought hockey players really deserved their reputation for being so friendly. Who was that person?

No. 2: I was covering a game in the Garden against Ottawa and doing a sidebar on a Senator (if I say who it’s a dead giveaway), who is engaged to a woman from our area. They are getting married in Westchester this summer, so I was trying to flesh out the story a little bit when I noticed the guy played college hockey in the same town as one of the Rangers.

It was a 2-1 loss and after the game I went to the locker room to get general quotes and seek out the Ranger to see if he knew the Senator. The Ranger wasn’t in there, so I asked a PR rep to see if he’d come out from a back room and he did. There was a large crowd of press who also wanted to talk to the Ranger, but he knew I’d asked for him so turned to me first. I asked if he knew the Senator given the possible connection and he said, “You called me out here for that?”

I thought possibly hockey players were not as friendly as I first thought. Who was the Ranger?

No 3: This Ranger always stays late at practice, and is one of the last guys to come off the ice. He is also pretty engaging, and will talk about one of his favorite shows, Gossip Girl, with anyone who knows him well enough to ask.

Who is the Ranger?

First one to get all three right gets a media or postseason guide. (I think Carp has an extra!) Also, I am officially on Twitter. Follow janesports to see all my updates on the Rangers, the Jets and my debillitating writer’s block which I write volumes about.

SPOILER ALERT: Due to a request I will post the anwswers up here. Dave was the first to get all three, with Justin close behind. No. 1 was Paul Mara, No. 2 was Chris Drury and No. 3 was Aaron Voros.

With Carp gone living the good life in New Orleans, you all are stuck with me for the week. I will try to get any hockey news up here, but I have a full slate of assignments so I won’t be able to monitor everything. Be kind, and send me an email (jmcmanus@LoHud.com) if I need to know about something.

Anyway, I consulted with Nasty 1 about the best way to get started this week and he suggested that everyone try to come up with a song that best describes each Ranger. I’ll give an example, Colton Orr = “More Human than Human” by White Zombie.

Just seems to fit his temperament. Or maybe that Rage Against the Machine song with lyrics unfit for a family blog.

Anyway, feel free to riff on that or anything else, and I’ll chime in from time to time. And thanks for the roller derby links. New York City’s league, Gotham Girls, will be playing all summer if you miss seeing a NY team slam someone to the boards.

UPDATE: Thanks to a poster for emailing me about the reports that Nik Zherdev broke his hand playing at the World Championships. Unfortunately, the original report seems to be in Russian, so I will see if I can get that confirmed.

And for all you non-mothers, call your mom right now and wish her a Happy Day.

Today’s my last day for a week. I can’t even come on to say hello starting Monday, and I will definitely miss you guys until I return the following Monday. Hopefully Jane will be hopping on here from time to time.

In the meantime, I wanted to say this: Dustin Byfuglien = Monster.

Why do all these other teams have these monsters?

During my week away, I am allowed to think … I think. So I will be formulating my Rangers’ summer strategy. I know that a lot of you have already checked in on that, and I’ve been sniffing around trying to get a clue as to what the NYR will do—in addition to golf meetings on the West Coast. I’m not going to tell them what they should do, but I will say what I think they might do, and I don’t think, honestly, it will be a lot.

More on that next week. Have a good week.

Hey, y’all. Down in the bayou. Had a Po’ Boy sandwich last night. Awesome.

But it’s been a tough few days. Went to a charity golf outing Thursday. No carts allowed on the course because of the wet conditions. Fine. I don’t mind walking. But the minute we hit our first shots, it began drizzling. That was funny because there was no rain in the forecast.

Sure enough, it got heavier and heavier. We had played five holes of a scramble (1-under, by the way) and were drenched and out at the farthest point from the clubhouse when it became a monsoon, and then was followed by thunder and lightning, and of course the horn that called off the event. So my foursome—my dad, my brother and a friend, and two caddies—were stuck in a cement bathroom for like an hour, and we finally had to hoof it back through heavy rain. Completely soaked.

PS, of course we had all sorts of Seinfeld lines going: “Where’s dad?” … “He’s in the Bathroom!”

Next morning, off to N.O. JetBlue was fine—except that they charge pretty much for everything now. They’ve got a great new terminal at JFK, including a Cheeburger, Cheeburger place. And get this—I never saw anything like it—a vending machine where you can buy an iPod and accessories.

So we get down here and it’s 90 degrees and humid, of course, and we’re staying with relatives on a house on a lake. Beautiful. Except that the air conditioner broke in the middle of the night. So it was a tough night.

But it sure beats working.

I also wanted to tell you guys that as of Monday, I’m going to be totally unavailable for a week. So I will not post for seven days. I’m going to ask Jane to put up something here or there, or somebody in the office to just give you guys a blank post so you can have your own discussions.

See y’all tommorow.

Sorry for the technical difficulties. I’m sure you guys had to find something to do with the time away from the blog … like work or something.

Anyway, I’m en route to New Orleans and I’ll check in tonight or tomorrow morning.

Before I forget, Congratulations!!! to the inaugural Paul Mara Rangers Report Playoff Beard Extravaganza Contest (etc.) winner and runners-up.

Contestant #4: you win the free beard trim at Sal’s Hair Station in White Plains. I don’t know if he does wool, though. You might have to work that out with him.

I need the following contestants (below) to please e-mail me their mailing addresses and e-mail addresses in case we can dig up some other prizes. Send you addresses to: rcarpini@lohud.com

Here are the official top results:

Contestant 4, 1544, 28%
Mike G., 1165, 21%
Noah, 796, 14%
Contestant 20, 457, 8%
BrooklynDomi,  357, 6%
Sally, 309, 6%

There, I took your suggestion for a headline, CCCP. We aim to please here at the Festivus Blog.

In other news, Josh Thomson (photo on the right side of the page) is no longer 26.

Finally, don’t forget—you ballot-box stuffers—that today at noon is the deadline for the Paul Mara Rangers Report Playoff Beard Extravaganza (OK, I got a little carried away with the title).

Cast your last-minute ballots here.

I was really happy with the participation in terms of number of beards and the number of votes cast.

Today I have a long, long meeting with Mr. Titleist again, including dinner. So I may not check back in until late tonight. On Friday, I’m going to New Orleans for some R&R, and will also do some RR (Rangers Report) from the road. So I’ll post instructions for the winner(s) to claim their grand, grand prizes.

Since this is a hockey site, maybe I should add some hockey here. But I’ve got nothing except: These playoffs have been phenomenal so far. Great games, great players, great passion. Maybe next year your NYR can hang in there a little longer, because that would really be fun for me, and for all of us here.

The headline has nothing to do with the post. I just wanted to write that.
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In case you missed it, the Phoenix Coyotes have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Gee, how did we not see that coming? Hockey didn’t make it in Glendale, Ariz.?

Anyway, here’s the statement from the NHL last night:

STATEMENT BY NHL DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BILL DALY REGARDING THE PHOENIX COYOTES

NEW YORK (May 5, 2009) – National Hockey League Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly issued the following statement regarding the Phoenix Coyotes:

“We have just become aware of today’s Bankruptcy Court filing purportedly made on behalf of the Phoenix Coyotes. We are investigating the circumstances surrounding the petition, including the propriety of its filing. We have removed Jerry Moyes from all positions of authority to act for or on behalf of the Club. The League will appear and proceed before the Bankruptcy Court in the best interests of all of the Club’s constituencies, including its fans in Arizona and the League’s 29 other Member Clubs.”
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Can I tell you something about the Yankees game last night? Two people in the expensive seats (which seats  aren’t?) behind home plate were hit by foul balls because they were talking on the cell phone. Doesn’t that say it all? One was a woman in the little cafe area. The second was a guy on the phone, with an umbrella, and the ball nearly hit him square in the crotch. His umbrella went flying, but he never stopped talking on the phone, even though he was obviously shaken up by the direct hit and now he was getting soaked by rain. Idiot. It kind of made my night.
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Polls close in 24 hours (or less, depending on when you read this).

So get out and vote for the most Mara-like Playoff Beard by noon Thursday. The winner gets his/her choice of a beard trim at Sal’s Hair Station in White Plains or a pack of disposable razors, autographed by me and Jane. We may have some surprise awards, too.

Click here to cast your vote.
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AFTERNOON UPDATE: 2:44 P.M.: Here is the story from NHL.com in which Gary Bettman said the NHL is committed to the Phoenix franchise.

And here are the NHL Players Association’s finalists for the Lester B. Pearson award, which goes to the union’s choice as the most outstanding player. The finalists are the same as the NHL’s Hart Trophy (MVP) finalists.

I was wondering what the mighty Canadian media, especially that redneck Don Cherry, thought about the three finalists for the Hart Trophy (MVP) being Alex Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk and Evgeni Malkin?

What do those three have in common? Hmmmm. Well, all three are still playing in the playoffs. Anything else?

It’s actually funny that they are listed as finalists, since all the voting is done by the end of the regular season. In other words, one of them has already won the MVP, and the others have already finished second and third. But it’s a nice way to hype the awards show in Las Vegas—the NHL just the latest to suddenly embrace Sin City.

But it’s got to be Ovechkin, right? I mean, Malkin’s great and Datsyuk is the most complete forward in the game, but it has to be AO.

He’s got a pretty good playoff beard going, too. 

Speaking of which, you have until Thursday at noon to vote for the inaugural (unofficially Paul Mara) Rangers Report playoff beard contest. We’re still in the process of fixing a couple of things, and attaching names to the photos. So if you’d like your actual name, or your screen name, up there with your photo, please e-mail me which you’d prefer at rcarpini@LoHud.com.

And you can view the ballot and vote by clicking here.
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Just got this from Cycle Like The Sedins: What the Rangers might try to do with all that extra Naslund cap space.
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AFTERNOON UPDATE, 12:37 P.M.: The Rangers just signed Jordan Owens. Here’s the release:

RANGERS AGREE TO TERMS WITH FORWARD JORDAN OWENS 

           New York, May 5, 2009 – New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the club has agreed to terms with forward Jordan Owens.

            Owens, 23, skated in 67 games with the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League (AHL) this season, registering 12 goals and 25 assists for 37 points, along with 66 penalty minutes.  He established career highs in goals (12), assists (25), points (37), and penalty minutes (66).  Owens ranked fifth on the Wolf Pack in assists, tied for eighth in points and tied for ninth in goals.  He also finished fourth on the team with a plus-17 rating.  The Toronto, Ontario native recorded a career-high, seven multi-point performances, including a three-point effort on April 3 at Providence (three assists).  In addition, Owens tied for fifth on Hartford in playoff scoring, registering one goal and two assists for three points in six post-season contests.

The 6-0, 189-pounder has skated in 110 career AHL games with Hartford, recording 19 goals and 32 assists for 51 points, along with 110 penalty minutes.  Owens notched his first professional point with a goal on October 6, 2007 vs. Bridgeport.  He also recorded three goals and 10 assists for 13 points, along with 28 penalty minutes in 20 games with the Charlotte Checkers of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) during the 2007-08 season.  Prior to turning professional, Owens appeared in 192 games with the Mississauga IceDogs of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), registering 69 goals and 84 assists for 153 points, along with 143 penalty minutes.  In 2005-06, he led the IceDogs in goals (26), tied for the team lead in points (54) and ranked fourth in assists (28).  He established OHL career-highs during the 2006-07 season with 32 goals, 42 assists and 74 points.

OK, folks. Time to vote for the inaugural (unofficially named for Paul Mara) Rangers Report Playoff Beard contest winners.

You can click here to vote, or go to this link:

http://www.polldaddy.com/p/1593076/

Let’s put a time limit on this. So we’ll say Thursday at noon will be the cutoff. OK?

Anybody who is in: If you want your actual name or your screen name used instead of Contestent No. X, please e-mail me at rcarpini@lohud.com and let me know A) which one you are, and B) what name you want listed.

Talk to you all later. Hope this goes smoothly.
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It’s official. Naslund announced his retirement this afternoon. Good guy who was once an excellent player, doing the decent thing … and one of the few athletes who isn’t completely consumed with his paychecks. Good for him.

I was watching the Blackhawks the other night and their pest Martin Havlat—pretty darn good player, but annoying—reminded me of an incident when he was first up with Ottawa.

A game against the Rangers had been decided and in the third period Mark Messier found himself with Havlat behind the net. Of course, Havlat had bugged him all night, and now Messier was in a rage,  punching him, whacking him, elbowing him, really going overboard even after the officials arrived. I think Messier was thrown out of the game, either that or he got a misconduct and there were less than 10 minutes left, but his night was done.

Afterwards, an Ottawa reporter asked Messier, “What were you thinking there with Havlat?”

His answer: “I was thinking what else I could do to him.”