{"id":328,"date":"2012-05-17T11:53:57","date_gmt":"2012-05-17T15:53:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/?p=328"},"modified":"2012-05-17T17:24:21","modified_gmt":"2012-05-17T21:24:21","slug":"328","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/?p=328","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The National Hockey League\u2019s postseason is extra special in these parts this spring thanks to the two locals still playing.<\/p>\n

The Heckler scored a pair in section 335 through a Craigslist ad for game two of the Eastern Conference finals at the Garden.\u00a0 We paid through the nose but it was as good a view as I\u2019ll ever get at a big hockey game.\u00a0 We sat on the aisle behind the Rangers bench about 25 rows up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Marty made a couple acrobatic saves in the first stanza and Kovie\u2019s power play rip set up lots of early momentum for the Devils.\u00a0 The game turned back the Rangers way when bumpy ice, a questionable couple of interference penalties and odd puck bounces helped the Blueshirts gain a one goal advantage.<\/p>\n

Clarkson\u2019s game winner in the third was nearly negated but his raised stick caught the puck at a level deemed legal and so the series is even.\u00a0 It\u2019s best of five now with the next two in Jersey.<\/p>\n

The Rangers are the better team.\u00a0 They have a better goalie and tougher defensemen who seem to thrive on long shifts.\u00a0 The only question now is whether the cumulative effect of playing two seven-game sets to get here weakens their resolve.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to diminish the Devils.\u00a0 They\u2019re also a great team.\u00a0 But you can inscribe the ’11-’12 NY Rangers on this Cup, I believe.<\/p>\n

Those who watch the Rangers during the regular season know that the team\u2019s head coach John Tortorella is a cranky, volatile figure prone to abrupt in-game decisions.\u00a0 For this contest, Torts benched his most potent scorer Marian Gaborik for most of the third period.\u00a0 Afterwards, he refused to discuss his thinking and rolled out his typical post-loss act of intimidation with a larger-than-usual group of assembled media.\u00a0 Logical questions about the game came from Stan Fischler and Larry Brooks.\u00a0 Both were shot down with one word answers and\u00a0demented glares from Torts.\u00a0 This is what the guy has been doing since he replaced Tom Renney three years ago.\u00a0 It\u2019s only now with so many casual sports fans paying attention that the rest of the world is getting to know what a jerk Torts can be.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to say Torts doesn\u2019t deserve massive credit for shaping a team with so many talented parts into a group that routinely outworks and outhits its opponents.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t happen Wednesday night but the head coach of the Rangers has been able to gain great intensity from his entire roster when this tournament\u2019s critical moments call for it.\u00a0 He has a captain in Ryan Callahan who truly leads by example.\u00a0 The post-game public Torts is nasty but I sense he believes his professional responsibilities are hindered by interaction with anybody but the guys in the Rangers sweater.<\/p>\n

About two minutes after shooting down Brooks and Fischler, Torts walked out of a silent room.\u00a0 But not before he had somehow created a vibe in which the media was afraid to ask questions.<\/p>\n

Much has been made about all the shots the Rangers block.\u00a0 Brooks has suggested the Rangers block so many shots that the League might consider outlawing it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t buy it.\u00a0 Hockey teams have been blocking shots for as long as I\u2019ve been watching the game.\u00a0 The Rangers routinely block twenty-plus shots a game.\u00a0 But they do it knowing there\u2019s great personal risk.\u00a0 The frozen puck hurts a lot when it hits you at high velocity.\u00a0 Sliding to the ice can also take a defender out of the play momentarily.\u00a0 Kovie\u2019s goal came after failed shot block attempts and nifty puck movement by the Devils.\u00a0 There\u2019s a natural deterrent to the blocked shot attempt and I wouldn\u2019t change the rules one bit in this regard.<\/p>\n

The Rangers need to improve just one part of their game and they\u2019ll be fine.\u00a0 They need to do a better job of reducing traffic in front of Hank.\u00a0 The Senators were especially effective planting a man in front of the Ranger goalie and the Devils seem to be trying to create the same distraction.<\/p>\n

There were very few Devils fans in the Garden last night.\u00a0 Those who wore outward displays of their fandom were badgered.\u00a0 It\u2019s unfortunate, but there\u2019s a segment of the Ranger crowd that takes delight from making it uncomfortable for the visiting fan.<\/p>\n

In the hallway between periods, I heard this exchange:<\/p>\n

Rangers fan to a Devils fan:\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re on the wrong side of the river, pal!\u201d<\/p>\n

Devils fan:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m from Connecticut.\u201d\u00a0 (laughs)<\/p>\n

Rangers fan:\u00a0 (pauses)\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re really<\/em> fucked up, then.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

John Amarante (pictured above waving a towel) sang the national anthem as he has at all postseason Rangers games.\u00a0 His rendition is stirring.\u00a0 Not since Wayne Messmer\u2019s run as the singer at Blackhawks games have I heard a guy belt it with the unique intensity of Amarante.<\/p>\n

-While I understand Facebook\u2018s broad reach and unique ability to match ad buyers with specific users, I\u2019d be skeptical about the web site\u2019s staying power.\u00a0 If I was a stock buyer, I\u2019d duck the early days of the Zuckerberg IPO frenzy.\u00a0 Monetizing user data is something I know zero about and so I could be dead wrong about Facebook\u2019s ability to mine long term riches from its 900 million or so enrollees.\u00a0 I can only speak from the perspective of a casual user.\u00a0 Every significant change Facebook has made to the site in recent years has been a dud.\u00a0 The timeline introduced late last year is a disaster.\u00a0 It turns the home pages of individual users into a complete mess.\u00a0 I predict eventual disenchantment with Facebook and a fate not unlike MySpace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Hockey League\u2019s postseason is extra special in these parts this spring thanks to the two locals still playing. The Heckler scored a pair in section 335 through a Craigslist ad for game two of the Eastern Conference finals … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[67,68,34],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s28tEv-328","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}