Saturday, May 30, 2015

R. I. P.

After it ended, number one son looked at me with that dazed look. "These are the Rangers," I said to him. No other explanation was necessary. Look it up. One Stanley Cup in 70 years. It's more years of mediocrity and frustration than there is in success. Think of a bigger game than this since that 1994 Cup and think about as dismal a performance as you saw last night.

Did anyone besides Henrik Lundqvist show up? Possibly Ryan McDonagh with a broken bone in his foot. You would think that would have stirred the troops. Nada. How could that have stirred the troops? Did you see the coach?  Did you see his press conference? It was no big deal, just another game. The guy was again outcoached. He should be fired. Isn't there a guy out there who fits between this guy and Tortorella?

Also, I think it is time the Stealth retired. Let him win the GM of the year award and then send him back to Edmonton. We need youth in the GM and coaches spot. We need new ideas from the GM and we need a coach who can be flexible on the fly and be one step ahead, not behind, his coaching rival.

There was the blabber after the game from analysts and talk show hosts how the Rangers are a player or two away from a championship team. Hey, didn't we do that recently? Isn't Nash the scorer we desperately needed and wasn't Yandle the power play specialist who would lead us to the promised land? And wasn't St. Louis the seasoned vet, with a Cup, supposed to be our guiding light? I thought that this was the championship team.

BTW, if any of these comments are new to any of you, go back in the files, go back over the seasons and you will see it's the same old shit. It is always we need one or two guys, then we get them, and then it's the same. It's in the genes and basically comes from the top. How do you come out flat in a game seven? How do you win the President's Trophy and then lose three out of four on your home ice, two of them shutouts? How are you the coach of this and don't have any ideas during the game to change things?

So now the PR campaign to let the Ranger fans know that the team had a successful year and is only a legitimate scorer away. Nash had 42 goals in the season. Isn't that a legitimate scorer? Oh, goes the line, we need a scorer who can score on his own. On his own? Sorry guys, Gretzky is retired. Gotta sell the tickets for next year. Gotta get the suckers to buy into the most expensive seat in town. Get ready for another revival of the '94 Cup Team. Hey, that's a thought. Messier for GM and Graves, Leetch as coaches. At least we have some fire and not business as usual.

So, it's the same ending at the end of the year. Unless we change at the top we will have the same endings for years to come. The fish stinks from the head and this story is getting fishier and fishier. 2015 game seven for the Eastern Conference title shall live in infamy as the worst big game the Rangers ever played. I only absolve two people from the disaster: Lundqvist and McDonagh. And I damn the coaching staff and The Stealth GM for the no show performance.



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5 comments:

  • Unknown said...
     

    Mike, I always enjoy your posts. I could not have said it better myself.
    Let's go Rangers.

  • Unknown said...
     

    This comment has been removed by the author.

  • Wes said...
     

    Right on, very disappointing.

  • Scotty Hockey said...
     

    This one hurt. Of all of the emotions this team has made me feel, this is the first time I felt betrayed. They made us believe that they were actually trying to win the Stanley Cup, until they didn't. They didn't try at all.

    In Game 7.

    Of the Eastern Conference Final.

    At MSG.

    Unforgivable.

    And I thought it couldn't get worse after last year ...

    But thanks, as always, Mr. S. Love reading your recaps. Hope you have a nice summer, filled with good health and the smiles of your family.

  • mike said...
     

    Sorry guys but that is the way it is. Like I told number one son, "These are the Rangers." Its never going to change. It will always be we need a tough big forward. We need a big tough D man who can clear the crease. So when we get them what do we do with them. The tough forward gets 6-8 minutes and the tough D man gets 8-10.

    We need a change at the top. Alain Vigneault is the new Roger Nielson. He can't win the big one.. Messier saw that with Nielson. There is no one strong enough to call that shot on this team. And the Stealth has got to go. He has done nothing but bring us to the top of frustration.

    So get used to it. My favorite all time team the 1950's Rangers went down to Detroit playing all seven games on the road. Maybe this team should have stayed on the road. Needless to say we were doomed when we didn't even have the guts to show up for 0ne of the biggest games in franchise history.

    And the press is compliant. The press in this country is corrupt. Its corrupt in national and local politics and its corrupt in sports. Its stories are jaded.

    So root for this team if you will but remember you will only get small rewards not the big one. You will also get many a night of less that sixty minutes of hockey. I've lived through many a year of frustrations, disappointments and out right disgust. But if you want to be a Ranger fan learn to live with mediocrity.

    So there it is. Thanks for reading the posts of a very frustrated old man.

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