For any Ranger fan still reading, I feel your frustration and know your pain. I don’t normally watch the team’s postgame show. Watching the loss live is enough for me and the recap just seems to be icing I can do without. I did manage to catch Iron Mike’s commentary on how this team completely disappointed when it came to winning this game for a goaltender that stood on his head all night and blocked 30 shots through the first 2 periods. I probably just should have posted video of it instead of writing another long winded post from a disappointed parent’s “you’re not applying yourself” point of view… However for all their honesty, our beloved commentators still have to fill their daily quota of sugarcoating, soft soaping and homerism to keep the casual fans from working themselves into the frenzy us die-hards hit a while ago and have slowly worked into a numbing dementia that resides just beneath the surface.
Official Recap here.
Here, we can give it to you straight without fear of calls coming in from marketing teams and blowhards in suits kicking down our doors. It’s not surprising that we folded in the final moments after spending 63+ minutes doing windsprints while chasing a Hawk team that streaked up and down the ice like they had redbull exploding from every vein. Even still, though we killed ourselves to keep pace, we put a cap on their offense for most of the game. With stellar plays, rubber ligaments, and lightning reflexes... Henrik backstopped his team for the entire night and triggered a hockey version of Tourette’s syndrome for every hawk fan in the United center. Sadly it wouldn’t be enough as the rest of the team grew rather comfortable knowing he was there to erase their mistakes, and gave a soft effort in the 3rd. Why else would a trio of Rangers (including gentle giant, Boyle—Susan? , no Brian but I could be wrong) stand by and watch as the hawks top line jabbed Henrik relentlessly and buried a rebound, after he made a diving save in the crease?..... Why else would a defenseman like Marc Staal be caught too deep on a 4 on 4 against a team that feasts on open ice with their speedy offense? These are questions that may unfortunately go unanswered. We can only hope they don’t go unasked by the man behind the bench.
It’s become fairly obvious, that our team has become a mere sparring partner for teams that are stepping up. While you and I know it’s a contest... a competition. .. The team seems satisfied to provide their opposition with a training tool to test their persistence, hone their skills ... oh and practice their crushing body checks. Sadly, our one man offense that is often attributed to frivolous spending via cell phone from a fishing boat somewhere in Edmonton..should not be soley to blame. I’ll contend that even with a few more high scorers, our record might be temporarily improved but still eventually fall back to this state of impotence that has us playing our game according to whatever our opponents decide we should get away with. It’s obvious now that we have receded to being a team with no will and no resilience. We score when the opposition lets us and while we diligently await our cues from our adversaries and have success in 5 second spurts when someone on our teams flashes back to their pee wee heydays.. and it happen to coincide with momentary breakdowns in the other teams defense or line changes; we fail to force them to do anything consistently throughout the game. We have no balls with the puck. In fact, the only line that has aggressively worked the puck in the offensive zone instead of cycling it off the damn end boards is the 4th line. Hell, Brashear looked like a top line power forward on this team last night as he, Parentau and new guy, Christensen seemed like the only players with enough guts to enter what seems to be the no fly zone between the hash marks. So why is it, that the leaders on this team, branded or unbranded would rather break sticks back at the bench or approaching the tunnel after a loss, rather than acting when it counts for something during the game? Even the bright sparks of our kids, like Del Zotto hip check has dissolved as this bunch of pu$$ies hobble back to the dressing room and comfort each other after another tough loss. This mope and shake your head in confusion crap is contagious and if there’s one thing I can say about that phone wielding idiot on the fishing boat, it’s that it is time to stop being a buyer and start selling. Ok, no one wants the contracts we are saddled with…. Well then cut someone and get someone to set an example or we’ll ride this infectious funk all the way to the Olympics. In the past, it was as easy and going out and getting Sean Avery. What the hell do we do now that he’s already here and the team still found a way to lose its heart and its balls? The best option now starts with stripping Drury of the captaincy and put him on notice that its sink or swim time.
P.S. - if anyone's thinking of making a pull-string Henrik ornament, don't forget my cut.
