Way to go, Rangers (UPDATED)

For the first time ever–EVER–I do not want to go to the Rangers game.  After seeing the way they have played recently, I would much rather sit at home and watch on TV.  I’m even hesitant to do that.  I would much rather watch Lost and the Duke-UNC game tonight than sit through what is probably going to be The Ovechkin Show.

I’ll probably end up watching just to see how the crowd is reacting.

Anywho, here’s something more interesting to watch tonight:

Update: Andrew Gross has a very good interview with Tom Renney on Petr Prucha over at Ranger Rants.

Give it a looksie.

Rangerland.net is bringing the funny in this time of need with The New York Rangers Line Generator and this:

I used that Line Generator and these are the lines I got:

FORWARDS

.	Left Wing	Center	Right Wing
Line 1:	Dawes	Zherdev	Drury
Line 2:	Callahan	Korpikoski	Naslund
Line 3:	Orr	Voros	Gomez
Line 4:	Betts	Dubinsky	Sjostrom

***Please note that Prucha is a healthy scratch.***

DEFENSEMEN

.	Left Defense	Right Defense
Pairing 1:	Mara	Reitz
Pairing 2:	Kalinin	Redden
Pairing 3:	Staal	Rozsival

Nice touch making Prucha the permanent healthy scratch.

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5-hole.com Pick ‘em is back, baby! Lock up your daughters…

Where has 5-hole.com Pick ’em been for the last 3 weeks, you ask?   Well, I was in Beijing looking for a lovely young bride.   Eric was on a flight to Florida with his financial adviser.  And Rory was negotiating contracts in California.

Now we’re back, and just in time because there’s a full slate of games on tap for tonight.  It’s a great night to have the NHL Center Ice package.  On to the picks!

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5-hole.com Pick ’em – OMG! Controversy! – 12/23/08

There is controversy brewing over the Penguins’ game winning goal scored by Sidney Crosby in overtime last night.  The big question is whether Crosby made contact with the puck above or below the crossbar.  The goal was reviewed and it stood.  So what’s the problem?  The call on the ice was goal.  The replay did not conclusively disprove that.  It’s a goal right?  Maybe, maybe not.

Why it’s a goal:
1. The NHL says it’s a goal, therefore, it’s a goal.
2. Someone at Pensblog drew a cute picture!  They can’t be wrong, can they?

Why it’s not a goal:

1. Conspiracy theorists claim the NHL is just furthering the Sidney Crosby love fest.

2. The picture from Pensblog is misleading because the puck was not in line with the corner where the post and crossbar meet when it made contact with Crosby’s stick.  It was actually closer to the center of the crossbar.  Oh no!  The new line goes under Crosby’s arm and the puck!  NO GOAL!
3. Commenter Tom L. on the Puck Daddy post says, “Crosby is 5′ 11″, 6′ 3″ on skates. The crossbar is 4ft high and the puck hit a few inches below his armpits. Unless Sid’s swollen head is 28 inches tall, that’s well over 4ft.”
4. If the NHL had disciplined Crosby for his actions in the game against Atlanta, he would not have even been playing in this game.
5. This picture left by another commenter in that Puck Daddy post shows with more lines that the net is only 80 pixels tall in the image, while the distance from the puck to the ice is 91 pixels.  11 pixels isn’t all that much but it’s still something.

I say it was no goal.  But what do I know?  Onto the picks!

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5-hole.com Pick ’em – Habs fans should just give up – 12/12/08

Yes, we made picks yesterday and no, we didn’t post them.  We’re sorry.  But just to show our dedication to this, I am revealing to everyone that Marc and I both picked the Habs as our gimmies last night. The Habs lost. To the Lightning.  That’s right, the Lightning.

Last night, I went 5-3 and dropped my first gimmie of the season by picking the Habs over the Bolts.  Marc also went 4-4 and also dropped his gimmie by picking the Habs.  Rory went 3-5 last night but did not pick the Habs as her gimmie.  She went with the Sharks who won.

Oh well.  Let’s get to some news:

Petr Prucha’s days in a Rangers uniform may be numbered.  Andrew Gross over at Ranger Rants has this:

Renney was asked whether Prucha’s latest three-game stint was enough of a sample for him.

“Yup,” Renney said. “If it wasn’t, he would still be in. He gave me everything he could. It depends also on what you need. Nigel is in primarily because of his ability to score and help create offense. Also, he’s a playmaker. He helps, I think, supplement what we might need offensive by his ability to make plays. It’s where we are and what we need to generate. It’s capitalizing on guys that have been out of the lineup that want badly to get back in and do the right thing as they do that.”

So there you have it.  Nigel Dawes: playmaker.  Did anyone actually notice Dawes in that game on Wednesday night?  I mean besides the time in the third when he blew his golden opportunity.

The Islanders got absolutely destroyed last night by the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Enjoy:

Picks coming as soon as I clear all these hats out of the way…

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NHL to Change Schedule for 2008-2009 Season

Starting next season, the NHL will revert back to the system used before the lockout.  Each team will play the other four teams in their division six times (3 home games and 3 road games) and play the other 10 teams in their conference four times (2 home games and 2 road games).  The remaining 18 games will be played against the teams in the other conference.  That ensures that each team will play every other team in the league at least one time during the regular season.

Beginning with the 2005-2006 season, the NHL started using a new schedule structure.  The new system had each team play 2 additional games against the other four teams in their division (four home games, four road games).  They still played four games against the ten teams in the other two divisions in their conference (2 home games and 2 road games).  The remaining 10 games were played against ten teams from the other conference (5 at home against one division, 5 on the road against another division).  Teams did not play the 5 teams in the third division of the other conference.  The interconference matchups rotated every season and after 3 seasons, every team had played every team in the other conference both at home and on the road once.

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A couple of links for you…

• Greg Wyshynski’s blog entry on The subtle difference between Rangers and Flyers fans. One note on this… at the game last night, I didn’t hear much of “Marty Sucks.” I mainly heard the old standard “Marrrr-teeee.” Still, this link is worth checking out just for the hilarious NSFW second video of Flyers fans exiting the Spectrum, er, Wachovia Bank (whatever).
• Here’s an NHL gossip article that examines the possibility of a Rangers player and Barbara Bush… um, well you know. Let me put on my Chris Farley voice… Him and her GOT. IT. ON. No, no they didn’t. Still worth a read and there’s an awesome slideshow with pictures from yesterday’s game at the bottom.

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