The Dark Ranger: Tucker Him Out, Sean!

Bio of TDR

TDR is a working professional in entertainment and is obsessed with the game of hockey. More fourteen years ago, this site emerged as a means (or an outlet) to tell some truth'isms about the game post-lockout, rather than the crud fed to us through knuckleheads like Jimmy Dolan and his lemmings universe. Today, there are a hundred Rangers sites and is thankful and grateful to all those that have come after him, but honorable thanks go to his fellow Dark-writers, Graying Mantis and J_Undisputed. And "Let's Go Rangers!"

Bio of General Ganz

General Ganz is a cynical yet well-informed student of the human spirit. He's a professional of sorts, with a post-graduate education, some experience working in real companies, and some limited athletic ability. The total small package. He got picked on a fair bit as a kid, and he experienced his first human-non-relation kiss in his teens. He also grew up on the other side of the tracks, thereby helping to cultivate a healthy contempt for dreamers and optimists whose rosy upbringing gave them something to smile about, even when "life produced lemons." Like it or not, his only mission is to point out the potholes you're lucky enough to miss on your drive to work. To find the blemish on your daughter's carefully-stitched (and not-yet-paid-for) wedding dress. To take that little smidgen of hope that your favorite hockey teams fill you with, and pour orange paint on it. Oh, and he is a Blueshirts fan, and takes most of his fashion direction from Ron Duguay (whose name he dropped as a way to close the deal on that first kiss).

Saturday, December 29, 2007

Tucker Him Out, Sean!

Best of luck to you, Blueshirt Sean Avery, as our well-loved pest takes to the ice this evening at the ACC in Toronto to revive one of the more interesting player-to-player rivalries in the NHL this season. Darcy Tucker of the Maple Leafs will again attempt to maintain his 'bad boy of the NHL' title this evening as the "hating hockey-loving Canadians" Sean Avery rolls into town. Oh, and by the way, the Toronto Maple Leafs are hosting The New York Rangers tonight as well.

Below is a post by Tim Bontemps of the NY Post:
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December 29, 2007 -- Ranger Sean Avery returns to Toronto tonight as Public Enemy No. 1 - for his Nov. 10 pregame fight with Darcy Tucker the last time the Rangers visited the Leafs, but also for his reputation as a world-class instigator. But while Avery's reputation as a pest precedes him league-wide, Ranger captain Jaromir Jagr takes a different view.

"The way he acts, the way he is, the way he plays the game, the way he likes to talk to people, that's what makes him, and he kind of likes that," Jagr said after practice yesterday.
"But I think hurting him the other way is people kind of forgetting how good a hockey player he is."

Jagr admitted he shared the same general opinion before Avery arrived from the Kings last season. But it only took watching Avery in one practice for Jagr to realize he wasn't a typical instigator. That's the thing . . . when people play that way, most of the time there's no other way to play for them," he said. "Most of the guys, I would say 99 percent [of] people [who] play his way, they're not able to play another way. If you don't find out how good he is, you put him on the fourth line.

While the Avery story is the headline heading into tonight, Ranger coach Tom Renney doesn't expect any problems or distractions because of it. "No, it's been dealt with," Renney said. "Sean knows the value of two points, and our team is starting to play well on a more consistent basis, and I don't think he's got an agenda otherwise.
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As lifelong Rangers fans, we are behind you Sean Avery! Kick some Toronto ass tonight and show them what a true world-class hockey player is all about.

tdr