HOLLANDER: Hockey is back and I say “Welcome back.” Unless you’re a heckler at a Barbara Streisand concert, you’re not going to get more authentic, in-your-face action this time of year than with the NHL. And after the Mets win the World Series (please god), there will be no hotter sports ticket in New York than the New York Rangers.
Already, in the first week of play, the Blueshirts won a thrilling 14-round shootout against arch-enemy Philadelphia. That rivalry just gets hotter, building off their three regular season overtime games last year. Picked to finish in the league cellar by most major sports publications last season, the Rangers shocked the NHL by finishing a game and a half out of first place in the Atlantic Division while dominating that division for most of the season.
It wasn’t thoughtless big spending by James Dolan that put this team together, but smart coaching by Tom Renney and keen-eyed General Management. The result: teammates who play for each other on the ice.
Jaromir Jagr scores more than Mark Foley at a Young Republicans convention. Only Jesus has more saves than Henrik Lundqvist, who shattered most of the significant Rangers’ rookie goaltender marks held by the venerated Mike Richter last year. Add sophomore scoring phenom Petr Prucha and veteran all-star forward left winger Brendan Shanahan, backed by the vodka-fueled protection of defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh, and you’ve got a fearsome hockey team.
You know C.J., of the hundreds of professional athletes I’ve interviewed over the years none are as down to earth and good humored as hockey players. I remember last season when I queried the Ranger’s thuggish Lithuanian defenseman Darius Kasparaitis directly, “When they call ketchup and mayonnaise ‘Russian Dressing’ is that really accurate?” He responded without evasion: “Not really. I never heard of Russian Dressing until I came to the United States.” Where else in sports do you get that kind of candor?
SULLIVAN: I don’t care. It is much too early for hockey. We hit 70 plus degrees in New York this October and the men on ice must wait. Real New Yorkers have bigger fish to fry.
“Should Joe Torre have been fired?” is more the New York sports conversation these days. Torre dodged a bullet that maybe should have caught him. He is a fine manager, but the Yankees were embarrassed for the 3rd year in a row by a team they should have beat. The Yankees are lacking something and a Lou Pinella or a Joe Girardi at the helm may have been what the team needed.
Now to get back to your topic—hockey players are the nicest athletes because they have to be. They play a niche sport that almost died. Did anyone miss the hockey season when it was played two years ago? The sport fell off the New York radar faster than the old New York soccer team, the Cosmos—which of course went on to be resurrected as a popular chick drink.
Lundqvist is a great goalie. Jagr could be a hockey stud in New York. I love the Rangers. It is just way too early to be dealing with this. I have Jets, Mets and Giants to deal with. Not to mention that horror show that calls itself the Knicks.
HOLLANDER: I guess Joe Torre is responsible for Corey Lidle’s plane crash too? Look, Torre stewarded a team to a runaway division title that, from Day One, had lost it’s two best hitters (Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield), got career lows from their very best hitter (A-Rod) and received no pitching support from it’s prospective aces (Carl Pavano—inactive all season—and Randy Johnson—career high 5.00 ERA). But for Jim Leyland, Torre gets my vote for AL Manager of the Year. The players lost that series, not Torre. You want change? How about this: All the guys in the Yankees clubhouse with rings stay, and everyone else is trade bait.
Brother you need to move on. Get current. Get with the NHL!
Oh, I know how you like to whine about the rule changes and grump on about “the original six.” You’re probably anti-helmet, too. But the NHL is rejuvenating itself before our eyes. Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh) and Alex Ovechkin Washington)—both under 21, charming and handsome—are to the NHL what Bird and Magic were to the NBA in the early ’80s. These two are leading a fresh young crop of new and exciting hockey talent playing a compelling, skillful brand of hockey. The league is chock full of diverse and marketable personalities from the Flyer’s debonair Simon Gagne to San Jose’s reigning goal king Jonathan Cheechoo—the only member of the Moose Cree First Nation to make it to the NHL.
What’s so cool about the NHL is that we are witnessing it at a time when the players consider themselves stakeholders in the league’s survival. These athletes are committed to the game itself as much, or more, than they are to their own paychecks. They take immense pride in the product they put on the ice, night in and night out. Once the public gets a good look and listen to these guys, they’ll find a refreshing attitude—a true love of the game—that’s seldom found in other pro sports.
Maybe we could convince the Rangers’ marketing execs to throw a promotional event at the Puck Building. Get it? The Puck Building. Until then, C.J., quit your k’vetchin and get with Ovechkin.
SULLIVAN: Sorry, I am stuck on baseball. Torre did a fine job with the Yankees, but it is obvious the team needs something.
As for Cory Lidle, can it get any weirder? Jeter and Giambi both have apartments a few blocks from the crash. What was this guy thinking? Seventy-five hours in the air and he is allowed to fly over Manhattan? This city is lucky that Lidle didn’t take out dozens of its citizens. This accident was a menace to this city and all we hear is what a great guy he was. He could have killed a lot of people.
Lidle’s legacy may be his last phone call to the Mike and the Mad Dog Show. Those two Torre boot lickers gave Lidle the “what for” over his comments on the Yankee vs. Tiger series. They basically told the hapless pitcher they could care less about him. Now he is dead. That’s the way it goes.
Has the hockey season even started? It goes until June, so we’ll have plenty of time for “The Ice Men Cometh.” As for now, lets see if the Mets can get in the World Series and wait to see what the fall-out will be from Lidle’s last flight.
