Sunday, October 09, 2022

NY Rangers Podcasts for 2022-23 Season

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

NHL Stanley Cup Final. NBA Finals. Which is Correct?

There is an interesting grammatical question here about which term "Final" or "Finals" is the correct label for the last round of the playoffs. This question was raised today on the Rich Eisen Show on the Peacock Network.

The NBA calls their final championship series the NBA Finals. The NHL calls their championship round the Stanley Cup Final.

Reporter Rhiannon Walker of the Chicago Tribune asked this question back in 2015. Her article "NHL Stanley Cup Final. NBA Finals. Which is Correct?" tries to answer the question. She gathered a few explanations:

Frank Brown, the NHL's group vice president of content integration, and a former sports journalist for the NY Daily News and Associated Press said via email:
The Stanley Cup Final is the ultimate series that will crown our champion, It is a singular event, comprised of a series of individual games. While up to seven games may be played, each game is an individual piece; together, the individual games comprise the Final just as multiple slices comprise a pie.

The individual games are part of the Final but each is not a Final of itself —- which is what each game would have to be for the plural ('finals') to be used in reference to a multiple number of those games.
It could also be said that it just sounds better to say "Stanley Cup Final" instead of "Stanley Cup Finals." The singular word cup works better with the singular final.

The NBA did not have an official who could come forward and explain why they decided to call it the NBA Finals back in 1986.

Academia did have an opinion. University of Chicago linguistics professor Chris Kennedy explained it this way:
If we focus on the multiplicity, we should go with plural; if we focus on the unity, we should go with singular... Both forms are grammatically correct. 'Final' is a noun that has both a singular and plural form, so of course it is quite OK to use it either way.
By the way, the NHL consistently uses their "singularity reasoning" by also calling the conference playoff series a "Final." This recent headline from their website shows that usage: "NHL announces Eastern Conference Final schedule."

On this topic Business Insider reports: "Most people get the name of hockey's championship wrong."
Interestingly, despite the NHL being one of the four major North American sports, most people still get the name of their championship series wrong. It is the Stanley Cup Final, not Finals. As most diehard fans will tell you, there is only one Stanley Cup Final, so it is singular.
Yes, the final is like a pie. It is made up of many pieces, but there is only one pie, one cup. And the NY Rangers yet again will not get a sip, taste, or bite of it this year.

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ICINGS Update:
John Tortorella to coach Flyers

CBC:
John Tortorella becomes latest veteran coach tasked with turning Flyers around

Brandon Dubinsky - Torts tweet


Monday, May 16, 2022

Rangers Rally from down 3-1 in Series to beat Pens

Awesome game 7 win by the Rangers. The younger, faster team with the better goalie won. Who was worried? Onward to the next round.

Here is a roundup of some game 7 celebratory recaps:

Larry Brooks / NY Post:
Rangers’ refusal to surrender mirrors 2015 team’s winning DNA --
Igor Shesterkin returned, too. He returned to the form that earned the 26-year-old finalist designations for both the Hart and Vezina trophies, putting those nightmares from Games 3 and 4 to bed for good. Shesterkin returned and so did the Rangers return to the template they rode to a 110-point season, that, by the way, has been fully validated.
Peter Botte / NY Post:
Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad finally gets his big Garden moment --
The 29-year-old Zibanejad has been with the Rangers since a trade from Ottawa in 2016, and he signed a eight-year contract extension worth $68 million in 2021. The Swedish center said the atmosphere at the Garden was unlike any he’s heard, especially the emotional eruption after he assisted on Panarin’s OT winner.
BlueCollarBlueShirts:
The Comeback Kids Do It Again! Rangers Eliminate Penguins in a Game 7 OT Thriller -- 
I’m still shaking as I write these words! On Sunday night at M$G, the New York Rangers overcame everything, and defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins by a final score of 4-3...
Jenna Lemoncelli / NY Post:
Sidney Crosby blasts NHL’s ‘terrible’ helmet rule after Penguins’ Game 7 loss --
Sidney Crosby believes the NHL’s “terrible” helmet rule cost the Penguins in their 4-3 overtime loss to the Rangers in Game 7 on Sunday...
Steve Paulus / Blueline Station:
Hey stupid, you should have put your helmet back on --
By saying that the rule was the difference, Crosby just enhances his reputation as a whiner. That’s not what you expect from a future Hall of Famer and a team captain...
Blueshirt Banter:
OT Thriller Pushes Blueshirts on to the Second Round -- 
Artemi Panarin, who had been so quiet this series that some speculated an injury, made the shot heard ‘round the Garden. And just like that, the memory of the game one is gone.
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Monday, May 02, 2022

Long Odds for Rangers

The sportsbooks are not giving the New York Rangers very favorable odds of winning the Stanley Cup as they go into the playoffs. One statistical analysis gives them a 0.7% chance of winning the cup. That seems to be pretty much the consensus. Well, the NY Rangers will just have to prove everyone wrong.

Odds of NHL teams winning the Stanley Cup

Related:
Rangers 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs odds: (DraftKings Sportsbook)
Odds to win Stanley Cup: +1600
Odds to win Eastern Conference: +800
Odds to win first round series vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: -110

However, the sports/hockey pundits give the Rangers a good chance in the 1st round versus the Pens.
ESPN:  No. 2 New York Rangers vs. No. 3 Pittsburgh Penguins

Sean Allen: Rangers in six
Brian Boucher: Rangers in six
John Buccigross: Rangers in five
Ryan Callahan: Rangers
Cassie Campbell-Pascall: Penguins in six
Sachin Chandan: Rangers in six
Chris Chelios: Rangers in six
Linda Cohn: Rangers in seven
Rick DiPietro: Rangers
Ray Ferraro: Rangers in six
Leah Hextall: Penguins in six
Emily Kaplan: Rangers in seven
Tim Kavanagh: Rangers in five
Hilary Knight: Rangers in five
Don La Greca: Rangers in six
Peter Lawrence-Riddell: Penguins in seven
Steve Levy: Rangers in six
Victoria Matiash: Rangers in six
Sean McDonough: Rangers in six
Barry Melrose: Penguins in seven
Mark Messier: Rangers in seven
AJ Mleczko: Rangers in five
Dominic Moore: Rangers in five
Arda Ă–cal: Rangers in six
Kristen Shilton: Rangers in seven
John Tortorella: Penguins in six
Kevin Weekes: Rangers in six
Bob Wischusen: Rangers in seven
Greg Wyshynski: Penguins in six

Consensus pick: Rangers, 23/29

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