Kane and Able

So the streak of twenty-something Captains winning the Cup continues as the Chicago Blackhawks doubled the number of wins over the Philadelphia Flyers to take the 2010 Lord Stanley Cup last night.   Congratulations to Chicago for earning it, over the course of the entire season and for not allowing thugs to bully take-the-Cup from your grasp!

Official recap here.

Blackhawk's Captain Patrick Kane scored what will be a historic 'under-the-radar' overtime 'goal winning goal', literally under the radar of the goal light, the goal referee - through Flyer goalie Leighton's five-hole undetected by anyone wearing orange & black, while Kane skated theatrically pumping his fists and stick in the air, embracing the hesitating Hawk bench, defying what the officials or the Philly bench deemed "upon further review."  He knew.  There was nothing to review.  It was over for Philly.

NY Rangers fans across the globe felt elated at that very moment toward those responsible for ending our season prematurely - they would not drink champagne from the cup, they would not stand taller in the Atlantic Division, and they would no longer remind us that it could have been us.  We lost to Philadelphia in a skills competition and it ended our season, but toward the end of regulation we were on a winning streak, the team started to come together, not all that different than a path the Flyers took which brought them to the finals.   We were jealous during the playoffs, we felt down on our Blueshirts - but not now.

Losing the Cup when it's standing before you, in front of the fans that have continued to show up over two horrendous seasons, unable to close the dream and make your home city proud is worse than not making the playoffs.  As a fan, you have to live with that 'empty' for the entire off-season.  Go home Flyers and enjoy your vacation.   Nice job.  Now you have more to prove next season because second best doesn't cut it.

We know it hurts.  We visualize Lundqvist missing that shootout game to a fifth-stringer goalie named Boucher in the final-deciding-playoff game.  But you all probably feel much worse than we do, so have a couple of Yuenglings and cheesesteaks on us.  As the City of Brotherly Love, Hartnell and Carter can go back to hugging each other's wives, 'bully-camp' or whatever it is thugs do with time in your hands. 

We'll see you at the Garden in October ready to pick it back up where we left things....

Happy Off-Season Hockey Fans and Players.  It's been quite the ride and we'll see how things go with the approaching draft and July 1 free-agent day.

tdr

"Cam" You F****ing Believe It? Rangers 0, Hurricanes 4

The Atlantic Division first place New York Rangers dropped a bomb on the fans tonight at MSG as they were shutout by Carolina Hurricanes' goalkeeper Cam Ward, 4-0. Our "Hyde Blueshirts" showed up this evening, the coach wasn't present and once again the All-Stars this time left the rookies to arrive on ice and play a poor game of hockey. Here is an official recap because I don't have the patience to cover the basics after sitting next to my 'Canes-fan-friend through this tragedy at The Garden.

Where to begin? The guy next to me halfway through the second period screamed "THROW YOUR PURSE AT HIM, MALIK!!!!" which, somewhat, explains where the evening began. Not that Malik was responsible for the loss tonight - he wasn't, but the skating two-by-four (a.k.a. "Lurch") was non-present and looked bored and/or injured. Just as we witnessed in Ottawa on Saturday, Malik mishandled the puck everytime he was near it, a scared girl terrified of analyzing where he might pass it, but instead choosing to hit it as hard as he can just to clear it. I blame Marek Malik for setting the tone. Get him off my team.

His first fumble led to a turnover of the night and the first Carolina goal on Henrik Lunqvist - an unstoppable goal. The second goal on NYR, on a defensive turnover, could not have been stopped. The first period showed a complete breakdown of the system, no leadership, players not communicating to each other, non-present veterans, newbies turning over pivotal plays and no coaching. A really bad game overall.

The last Carolina goal is symbolic of our Blueshirt team philosophy, one that continues to be built around Jaromir Jagr. One example of this came toward the end of a shift in the third period when the Rangers were down 3-0, Jagr set up a play and broke his stick. Unable to continue playing as the point person on the shift, the entire Ranger defense line froze - youth unable to comprehend what to do next - and the undefended loose puck, frozen in time, sat for David Tanabe at his own blueline to carry it forward to score on Henrik Lunqvist to finally end the hope.

Sigh.

Jagr, Shanny, Gomez & Drury were once again invisble. They must have read in the papers and The Dark Ranger's blog how they are finally getting it together and the chemistry they have been seeking all season has arrived at last. Not even a point tonight and I doubt there were even any valuable fantasy hockey pool PIMs or PPPs to count on.... Not even Colton Orr or Ryan Hollweg dropped a glove.

A boring loss at that.

tdr