Results tagged “glensather”

For almost 24 hours, he fooled you. You could almost believe that Glen Sather finally had a plan for building a championship hockey team in New York. Somehow, he had managed to trade a seemingly untradeable contract in Scott Gomez, creating cap room and getting a nice prospect in addition.

Happy Anniversary Rangers’ fans! It was on this very day 15 years ago that 54 years of misery ended and the team captured its first Stanley Cup since 1940. As our spiritual leader, Sam Rosen, exclaimed that night, “This one will last a lifetime.” And it seems like it had better because the Rangers have spent these intervening 15 years never doing the serious work of rebuilding another championship contender.

Everything is perfectly setup. Sean Avery is back on the ice in Hartford, mixing it up from the moment he stepped on the ice last night. It seems inevitable that he will be back on Broadway soon, trying to revive the Rangers’ season.

Pittsburgh 3 Rangers 0: Just about two weeks ago it was New York dominating Pittsburgh on its home ice. Sunday the Penguins returned the favor thanks to great goaltending from Marc Andre-Fleury. Fleury stopped all 33 shots he faced and was particularly impressive in the second period when he faced 16 shots.

Alexei Cherepanov, a first round pick of the Rangers in 2007, collapsed during a game in Russia today and died, he was 19. While the details are still emerging, it seems that Cherepanov collapsed first on the ice and then on the bench during the third period his team, Omsk’s, game Monday. According to TSN, the ambulance that is normally at all games in the Kontinental Hockey League was absent and had to be called back. Medical authorities tried to restart his heart, but they were unsuccessful. Rangers GM and President, Glen Sather, issued the following statement: "We are extremely saddened by the tragic passing of Alexei. On behalf of the New York Rangers organization, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family. Alexei was an intelligent, energetic young man, with tremendous talent and an extremely bright future."

In a flash the Rangers remade their team on the first day of free agency, adding Chris Drury and Scott Gomez. Drury, grew up in Trumbull, Connecticut as a Rangers’ fan and has been one of the top centers in the game since breaking into the league with Colorado in 1998 (not to mention a Little League World Series champion). Gomez has been with the Devils since joining the league in 1999 winning two Stanley Cups and is a very good player at both ends of the ice.

The Rangers escaped from Florida last night with a point and they should be happy they even got that. They wouldn’t have without the outstanding goaltending of Kevin Weekes who faced 45 shots and made several big saves before being unable to stop Olli Jokinen in the shootout.

When things are this bad, sometimes you just have to laugh. So, today take a moment and laugh at the cover of the Daily News. Laugh at the fact that Jim Dolan claims that the Knicks rebuilding job is in year 1 of a 3-4 year process, while his GM has had the job for two years already. Ok, maybe this isn’t going to be so easy to laugh at.

Maybe this has escaped the notice of the Knicks’ management, but their team cannot play defense. Gilbert Arenas took advantage of New York’s defensive ineptitude last night, scoring 46 points in just three quarters of the Wizards 110-89 victory. To make matters worse, Stephon Marbury reinjured his shoulder during the first half and missed the rest of the game.

Fans will be able to watch hockey again tonight for the first time in sixteen months as every team in the National Hockey League takes to the ice. Before turning on the game, it might be a good idea to review some of the multiple rule changes that will be in place for the 2005-2006 season.