Thursday, July 28, 2011

Boyle and Babs Hit the Ice Again

Brian Boyle in a recent interview with Jim Cerney for BlueShirts United, said that he is again working out this offseason with figure skating champion Barbara Underhill.

Barbara Underhill was a Canadian pair skater. who skated with partner Paul Martini. Underhill and Martini were the 1979-1983 Canadian national champions, the 1984 World champions, and the 1978 World Junior champions. They represented Canada at the 1980 Winter Olympics, where they placed 9th, and at the 1984 Winter Olympics, where they placed 7th.

In 2009 Underhill skated with former NHLer Ron Duguay in the Canadian television show, Battle of the Blades. They placed sixth out of eight teams in the competition.

Underhill worked for 16 years as a skating commentator until 2006. She then began working with hockey players to develop their speed and power, taking advantage of her background in figure skating. Underhill was named in the 2011 edition of The Hockey News's list of the 100 most influential people in ice hockey due to her power skating coaching.

Here are a couple of very good videos that show Underhill coaching and using video software to emphasize proper skating technique.



From 2010:



related:
Wall Street Journal [Nov 20, 2010]:
Figure Skater Refines This Ranger's Stride
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ICINGS:

Barbara Underhill has the full attention of Brian Boyle and Mats Zuccarello at MSG Training Center, June 29, 2011

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Getting Your Burka on in Dagestan

Put this story in the category of how Alex Ovechkin is spending his summer vacation. How many people have heard of Dagestan?

Russian Machine Never Breaks blog:
Photos and Video: Alex Ovechkin Honored with Hat and Burka at Halftime of Russian Soccer Game --

For a lot of us, Makhachkala, Dagestan would have been a pretty safe answer to the question “Where in the world will you not find Alex Ovechkin this summer?” Apparently, a lot of us would have been wrong, as Alex the Great made a surprise appearance during halftime of a soccer match between the Russian Premier League club Anzhi and the defending Russian champions Zenit Saint Petersburg. The local team, Anzhi, honored their guest by presenting him with a traditional Dagestani burka (cape) and papakha (wool hat), as well as the Anzhi supporters scarf...

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It should also be noted that since the NHL is now a global brand don't be surprised if Gary Bettman asks for another raise --
Think Brian Campbell is overpaid? How about Scott Gomez? Or even Dion Phaneuf?

Well, none of those players is earning as much as Gary Bettman. In a published report in

SportsBusiness Journal
...it was revealed that the National Hockey League commissioner took home US$7.5-million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. That was more than the Art Ross, Hart, Norris and Vezina Trophy winners each made last season.
If he were a player, Bettman might be bought out, buried in the minors, or traded to Florida by now...

Monday, July 25, 2011

How the NY Rangers are spending their summer vacation


Twitter / BrandonPrust8:
My dad snapped this pic, me getting a massage from @maripiermorin after a long weeks work! #sorelegs
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Henrik Lundqvist selling shampoo dressed as king at his bachelor party
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Sean Avery gives fashion tips to NY Magazine:
"When it’s this hot, I usually just make sure that I have a change of clothes. I have one now in the car."
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Twitter / Michael Del Zotto:
@thehockeylanes Treadmill skating and shooting lanes. Great way to develop skills
At the shooting lanes in stouffville. What an amazing set up. Anyone in the GTA [Greater Toronto Area] should be here...

615 wake up, 715 skate, lift, spin and @TheHockeyLanes. #grind
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Twitter / Ryan McDonagh:
Happy 4th of July... Caught my first ever walleye over the wknd
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Twitter / TheNYRangers:
#NYR summer campers get an enthusiastic "Let's go get 'em" from @DerekStepan21 today [July 22nd]
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Twitter / TheNYRangers:
Michael Sauer and Brian Mullen share laugh with #NYR summer campers today
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Twitter / Marty Biron builds a chicken coop:
Home Depot was a success! The chickens needed a place to live and here it is....
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Twitter / working out together with old pals and with a super model:
Running through some Memorial Day workouts @Voros43 @imseanavery @BRichards_1991 @goldeneyeclayton #underarmour
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Twitter / Marian Gaborik trains a Russian KHL hockey team:
Marian Gaborik owned training facility [http://www.mariangaborik.sk/index_en.php?] in Slovakia is being used by #KHL's Spartak to hold their camp. Gaborik's extra income :)

Monday, July 18, 2011

Dancing Henrik and Jiggy Joe

So I was looking for some video of Henrik Lundqvist’s bachelor party, where he was selling shampoo dressed as a king. Couldn't find that, but did come across this 2006 video of Henrik dancing in Sweden after winning the hockey gold medal. Now that he's getting married, are his dancing days over?



ICINGS:

Joe Sakic made a $1 million hole-in-one at the 17th hole (162 yd.) of the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course near S. Lake Tahoe on Sunday. Sakic was participating in the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship. The tournament was won by the actor Jack Wagner, who beat Tony Romo, 80-77 in the modified Stableford scoring format.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

BradRichardsHockey.com

So Brad 'Riches' just got a little confused over what the name of his website was.

Twitter / @BRichards_1991:

Whoops. That is www.bradrichardshockey.com...... Sorry for the confusion
Twitter / @BRichards_1991:
Go to www.bradrichards.com to check out a great event in PEI I will be hosting July 28th for the Queen Elizabeth Hospital....
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That stuff happens. But Richards' donations and work for charitable causes is certainly noteworthy.

Get Tickets To Brad Richards' Poker Stars In PEI!! --
CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI (July 11, 2011) – NHL all-star Brad Richards, who recently signed a free agent contract with the New York Rangers, will host Brad Richards’ Poker Stars, a celebrity poker fundraiser, for his charitable foundation and its ongoing efforts to help Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The event will be held on Thurs., July 28, in the showroom of Fair Isle Ford-Lincoln in Charlottetown. The festivities, which will include a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament and silent and live auctions, begin at 7 p.m. A buffet dinner and beverages are also provided.

“I am excited to host this event for my foundation,” said Richards, the PEI native who led the Dallas Stars in scoring last season and was selected to the NHL All-Star Game. “I have a love for Queen Elizabeth Hospital and all the good they do there, and this event is one way I can help give back to this community and this great hospital.”

Last year, Richards announced a $500,000 donation to the hospital’s pediatric unit. He made the contribution in memory of his cousin and best friend, Jamie Reynolds, who passed away in 1989 with a brain tumour when he was 7 and Brad was almost 9 years old.

In addition to its strong support of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, the Brad Richards Foundation has been a supporter of pediatric hospitals in other cities like Tampa and Dallas, where Brad has previously played.

Order Tickets Now By Calling 615-535-3140
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ICINGS:

The NY Rangers just announced a Camp scholarship named for Boogaard.
Rangers, Defending the Blue Line partner to help honor No. 94's memory

To honor the legacy of former Rangers left wing Derek Boogaard, the New York Rangers have announced that they will present two scholarships annually for Rangers Summer Youth Hockey Camp to children from the Defending the Blue Line program.

Defending the Blue Line is a nonprofit organization created by soldiers with the goal of making hockey accessible to children of our nation’s military heroes, a program Derek supported wholeheartedly throughout his hockey career....
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The Ranger Pundit is now tracking all the twitter feeds from the NY Rangers players on this blog [left side under last story posting]. Please let us know if we're missing anyone.

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Brad Riches

Brad, I love Torts, Richards has become the latest millionaire to arrive on the New York sports scene. Richards follows a whole bunch of assorted players in New York, including the many who have worn the Ranger Blue. For the sake of brevity and my sanity I will not discuss any of the previous high rollers who have put on the Blue shirts with bravado and have left town with their sticks between their legs, though much richer if not wiser.

The Stealth's stimulus packages have roamed far and wide with little regard to the status and reputation of the players. How else to describe a Richards signing and a Rupp signing? This has also been the pattern over the years of signing a top notcher and coupling that with a so so role player. However, both type players have become equal opportunity flops and the money will have been better spent on ethanol crops in Iowa.

Much will be expected of Richards as he must get Gaborik going. To me the pressure is on the wrong guy. It's Gaborik who has to pick up his game, not Richards. The great goal scorers of the past scored goals regardless of who their set up guy was. I still believe that Gabby quit on coach disagreeable last year. There are only so many times you can be tossed under a bus without having the tire tracks embedded in your body.

Then there's Rupp. I won't quite describe Rupp the way my buddy, Scotty Hockey, describes him but Scotty is close. Why Rupp? To me it's coach disagreeable's call. Rupp will be the coach's get rid of Sean Avery plan. Is Rupp as talented as Avery? No. Is Rupp as effective as Avery? No. But when a coach is more interested in a personal vendetta and not a players talent then the player is going to be no more than a footnote. Look for Avery to be gone by the season's opener.

So there we are. What's that old line? Hope springs eternal. The Rangers have been singing that song since 1940 and everyone only got in tune once, 1994. Then it was a super human effort by the greatest leader and Captain any sports has ever seen, Mark Messier. Sorry Brad Richards you are no Mark Messier.

Friday, July 01, 2011

Bye Captain Clutch

It seemed like a good idea when it happened. Signing Chris Drury to a five year deal, along with Scotty Gomez to a five year deal and add that duo to Jagr and it seemed like the Rangers were heading to bigger things. It never happened.

Drury never became the clutch player we wanted, that we needed. Perhaps he never was that kind of player. We always saw him beating the Rangers with late goals in playoff games. We forgot that he was always a great role player and not a super star. And we payed him a lot of money for a long time. And we wondered why it didn't work.

We fiddled with him: center first line, wing first line, center second line, wing second line. Jagr didn't like playing with him, too slow. Passes from the wrong side. When you play with a prima donna you never have all the tools, you never get it right. Under coach disagreeable he went to the fourth line and sometimes to the bench. In this past year it was the injuries, too many injuries.

So it's over as the Rangers have cut the cord. Maybe he wasn't the Captain Clutch we wanted, we needed but he was a class guy who always gave a 100% on and off the ice. He played it straight and honest both on and off the ice. No shortcuts. No Captain Clutch, but Captain Class.

So now we are ready to make the same mistake with another can't miss free agent in Brad Richards. Here is another Stanley Cup winner who played for the existing disagreeable Ranger coach. He will bring us to the promised land. He will be the leader of our young band of gritters and grinders. Yet he has never scored thirty goals in a season and his career plus/minus is a -72.

Richards will be everything that Drury wasn't. Everything that Gomez wasn't. Everything that Jagr wasn't. Everything that Lindros wasn't. Everything that Bure wasn't. Need I go on? Richards will be what The Stealth and coach disagreeable want him to be, whatever that is. And Ranger fans will continue to pay exorbitant prices to see an inferior product. And the Absentee Owner will make a lot of money.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

ICINGS: The charity I mentioned in my previous article, St. Mary's Children Hospital raised over $100,000 at their event and Sean Avery's table sold for $5,000, well over the minimum bid of $1,000. So thanks to all who participated for the kids. God Bless you all..

Continue to pray for little Jake Feldman.

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