Saturday, December 23, 2006

Caribbean Odyssey Ends-Ranger's Woes Continue

Pray tell me how did this team win five in a row preceding this five game collapse. But more about that later. What a wonderful trip. Barbados, St. Vincent, Grenada, Martinique, St. Barth's, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Grand Turk's Islands. The highligts were many but standing out were Bert's Bar in Barbados, the bat cave in Martinique, the Bacardi Rum plant in Puerto Rico, the beautiful clear crystal waters of the Islands and the beautiful cruise ship the Silver Seas.

And now the collapse. It started the night after the big win in Dallas and the 46 save performance of Lundqvist. It was in Toronto and Weekes should have been in the nets and Lundqvist should have been saved for the Devils. Instead it was back with Lundqvist against Toronto with the results devastating. The last two were absolutely the worse. A two goal lead blown in the third period to Florida followed up by tonight's disaster in Tampa Bay which was predicted by Martin St. Louis prior to the Rangers blowing a three goal lead in the third period.

All aspects of the Ranger game have gone south. The Ranger defensemen refuse to use their bodies preferring stick work, best epitomized by Marek 'Lurch' Malik. I know he has been out the last few games but his spirit is emblazened into the Ranger 'D'. Jaromir Jagr, playing his worst hockey as a Ranger, refuses to shoot the puck deep and chase it so he eventually loses it to the two or three players checking him. And Henrik Lundqvist who gave up a horrible game winner seems to have hit a wall. The Rangers could almost live with the first two maladies but they cannot live with Lundqvist giving up soft goals. Frankly, he looks tired.

So what do our 'drain trusters' plan on doing to right the good ship lollypop? Why they are thinking about bringing back Martin Rucinsky. Martin Rucinsky, another 35 plus year old. The theory is that Jagr likes him. You know the drill, another Czech player, who can't check by the way. Remember when the Rangers traded Mattias Norstrom for Jarri Kurri because Gretzky like Kurri. That was a great trade wasn't it? Of course, you might add, that already have brought up Brad Isbister who has all of 100 goals in seven seasons.

How about them doing what they promised early in the year. Bring up the youngsters and play them. Yes play them, not just in practice, but in a regular game. However if they are going to get some vets then go get Tkachuk from St. Louis not Rucinsky who would be making his fourth uneventful appearance with the Rangers.

Then there is the coach. He keeps telling everyone how good the Rangers are after every loss. If the Rangers are a good team, as Renney claims, then Renney is a bad coach. I heard the Mike Keenan was in the stands during one of the past losses. So we continue the .500 roller coaster ride on our way to mediocrity.

And for this I left Paradise. Back to Bert's for a cold one and some hockey. Bert is an Ottawa Senator fan and has their games piped in on his several TV sets. After watching tonight's fiasco a Bacardi Reserve on the rocks would hit the spot right now.



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2 comments:

  • Anonymous said...
     

    They need a way to counter when the other teams put 3 guys on Jager, maybe like the article says he should dump the puck. But also regarding the defense, the penalty on polk the other night?????????? That should never been a penalty, not crying on the call, acording to the rules I guess because the other player fell down it was a penalty, But THAT IS NOT HOCKEY. In hockey you fight for the puck in front of the net.... Some of these games I can not watch, too much all over the place, I never liked lacrose

  • mike said...
     

    anonymous-They must get used to refs calling bad penalties. The team is too disorganized, no plan, no flow to their offense. They will not win with the perimeter game.

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