The Season the Wasn't - updated

Count your blessing, maybe it's all for the best that our Blueshirts are taking the season off. Because according to TheGamesThatWerent.com, which is running a simulation of the season and the games that weren't played, the Rangers are having a mediocre year.

The Rangers currently stand 4th in the Atlantic Division and are 9th in the Eastern Conference, on the outside hoping to get in. It should be and exciting 2nd half. Will they make it?

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No surprise, Rich Nash leads the Rangers in scoring. However, Lundvist is having an off year, according to the algorithm, probably because he's changing diapers at all hours.

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Birthday Thoughts

So maybe the Mayans aren't as smart as we think. The world is still here. I have to check it out maybe they were talking about the NHL and hockey. Oh yes, you remember hockey? So my birthday falls on an epic day. But the 21st of December is a historic date. The first day of winter. Solstice. And of course my birthday.

The mayor of New York, Michael B(l)oomberg, was beating his chest about New Yorkers living into their 80's because of all the wonderful things he has done. The great bloviator completely ignored the great job done by the medical profession and wonderful  institutions like Sloan Kettering and St. Francis hospitals.

But I digress. This is the third lockout in 17 years for the NHL The first in 1994-95 permanently cemented the NHL and hockey as a minor disturbance on the sports scene. The second in 2004-05 resulted in no season. Did anyone notice? This one has the potential to be another zero. No hockey.

The two sides can't get together. The top guy says it's my way or the highway. No, I'm not talking about Washington, I'm talking about hockey. You know, these owners must have a lot of money to walk away and shut down the season if they don't get what they want. But how about the rest of the people?

How about the peasants? The people who run the local pubs, the sports shops, the coffee shops, etc. Who is representing them? Certainly not the lame stream media. For New Yorkers it may be a break. We already have a variety of stiffs in the other sports. Has anyone caught the Mets or Jets lately?

So in about five hours, New York time, the world will survive and life will go on. My hockey will consist of watching my grandson Nicholas and the T/Birds. The world? As I told my granddaughter Kaila, there is no way your grandfather will allow the world to end on my birthday. The world? No. Hockey? Yes.

There's Hockey Being Played Somewhere

It's December and there is always hockey being played somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere.

This video from the SKA Saint Petersburg team of the KHL has been floating around for a few weeks, but all the same it's still very catchy.

The 'SKA Sisters' do their best to get St. Peterburgians worked up to cast KHL All-Star votes for the SKA players featured in the video including: Ilya Kovalchuk (NJ Devils), Evgeny Artyukhin (Atlanta Thrashers), and Maxim Afinogenov (Buffalo Sabres). Good luck with that.

Petr Průcha still gets no respect. He has played for SKA since 2010.
He has 6G and 3A in 18 games this season.

By the way do those SKA jersey colors look familiar?

Anyway, someone please remind me again why the Rangers promote 'Dancing Larry' instead of a feminine alternative?

via @NJDSwarmItUp / Swarm It Up (NJ Devils) / @AerysSports -- The only online sports network run entirely by women. Every sport. Every team.

More YouTube (and here) of the Sisters doing their thing for SKA. 

Hockey? What's That?

Do you notice the outrage over the absence of NHL hockey in our lives? Oh, you missed it? It's about as loud as the outrage over the unemployment rate in the US and the world. Oh, you missed that one too. Does anyone care? Don't get the idea that I'm comparing joblessness to a hockey lockout. No way. I'm just relating the level of interest in both. For joblessness it is pathetic. For hockey it is laughable.

Hockey became more laughable with the news that the Absentee Owner of the Rangers is getting involved in the hockey negotiations. This is after Fed negotiators got involved. More laughs. But, no one cares. Most of the NHL players are playing in Europe and the lame street media are preoccupied with other sports like college football and if the Jets win another game, or will Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens make the Hall of Fame. Remember, Bonds won 7 MVP's and Clemens won 7 Cy Young's. But their elections are in doubt because of the suspicion that they were using something besides B-12 vitamins.

But the big interest in the hockey lockout is the lack of interest. This is not surprising. Since its inception hockey has always been a niche sport. Strong in Canada, spotty and limited in the U.S. It has picked up below the NHL level in the U.S. with more and more young people and High Schools picking up the sport. States like Minnesota and Massachusetts led the early spurt but now most schools, especially in the Northern states have hockey teams.

So if you are like me you are getting your hockey 'ad hoc'. Mine is watching my grandson, Nicholas, play for the Connetquot Sayville Thunderbird Freshman team. I've only seen a couple of games and the team is doing okay, 9-4-1, but it is enjoyable to watch and guess what? All the kids play and seem to have fun. When was the last time you saw the Rangers play and thought they had fun? You think coach disagreeable has fun? You think the guys who play for him have fun? Especially the guys who 'dog it' while nursing their injuries.

Lockout? Strike? Who cares? I don't.