The Dark Ranger: Still Digesting

Bio of TDR

TDR is a working professional in entertainment and is obsessed with the game of hockey. More four 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 Graying Mantis

Graying Mantis is in fact a graying legal practitioner by day (and sometimes, alas, by night). In the cobwebs of his memory, he recalls starting to follow the Blueshirts in 1970 and remembers watching pivotal playoff games against the Blackhawks on a snow-covered Hartford t.v. channel in their 1972 march to the Finals. Giacomin, Gilbert, Ratelle, and Hadfield seen skating on a small B&W TV screens always will be among his first Ranger memories. He is grateful beyond words for the opportunity to work with his colleagues here in their never ending battle to inform and entertain. Most of all, he appreciates the chance to engage with fellow hockey fans.

Bio of J_Undisputed

"J_Undisputed is an Information Tech Professional; a student, and on and off in his dreams, Mike Richter. He caught his first glimpse of Rangers Hockey when an overtime preempted his favorite pro wrestling broadcast on WWOR-9 one late saturday night when he was 5 and he's been hooked ever since. He's been watching the Rangers for 30 years despite family attempts to make him an Islander Fan (Rest easy...they're out of the will). What started as a minor annoyance has become a life long passion (and at times, a frustration...But he wouldn't trade it for anything). Lets 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).

Monday, May 5, 2008

Still Digesting

As of yet I have no words for the final game of the season for the Rangers - we were beat, fair & square, and it was definitely a physical matchup, but perhaps some pictures will illustrate how Rangers fans are thinking of the referees in this series. Most questionable was the OT winning-goal by Pittsburgh's Marian Hossa, which on second look was 100% off-sides!!!!

Gary Bettman of the NHL is certainly happy that his 'Kid Wonder' is moving forward in the series.

Nothing like a little picture-book of good 'ole fashioned hockey - take a look below: no calls against Pittsburgh, and not even a 4-minute major for slashing Chris Drury. I know, I know..."poor baby Rangers cannot take a beating..." That's right, Penguins -- wait until the finals -- LET'S GO FLYERS!!!! You will see it back in spades.

tdr

3 comments:

FAUX RUMORSMay 5, 2008 10:51 AM
1) We are making a post soon about what we think of the officiating this spring. We have no stake with any team, yet even we can see a significant deterioration in the level of officiating in the playoffs
2) As we wrote on your earlier post we saw the play as offsides as it was happening and every replay has confirmed our beief
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The Dark RangerMay 5, 2008 12:23 PM
Agreed, agreed, agreed.

Sidney the Diver doesn't have much to look forward to in this revived PHILLY Flyer squad next week. It's going to be ugly and that will be part of the Rangers' redemption. Curious to see how the refs will handle one of the most "in-season PA rivalries" as the conference final.

....despite our loss, this match is going to be bloody as it was during the season.
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The Hockey RabbiMay 5, 2008 07:45 PM
Unfortunately, the NHL has never been known to be proactive. It took the league 10 years to realize that the "trap" was ruining our sport. Many of yesterday's superstars (Gretzky, Lemieux, Jagr, etc...) were complaining for years about interference before the NHL woke up.

I'm sure we'll see the same pattern with the officiating. Unfortunately, it's probably going to take some highly publicized and embarrasing debacle for the league to take the hard steps necessary to restore credibility to the on-ice officiating. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see the Stanley Cup won/lost because of a bad call.

That being said, the Rangers weren't eliminated because of bad officiating. We lost because too many of our best players didn't play their best hockey.
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