Off day musings
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- March
- 11
Not surprisingly given Tom Renney’s admission last night that his team is “spent”, the coach gave the Rangers a day off today. The team certainly earned it in going the distance in these back-to-back wins.
The only minor concern is if they lose momentum before they play next in Florida on Friday. But frankly, that’s a concern whether they practiced today or not.
In other news:
Naturally if the Rangers lose, then the officiating is a huge part of the story.
It used to be where almost all of the Rangers lived in Westchester (as a kid growing up in Rye, I saw guys around town all the time), and even as recently as last season, the breakdown of players in Manhattan versus the suburbs was roughly 50-50. Now an unofficial count of the roster has 17 players living in Manhattan and just six out here (Straka, Betts, Orr, Rozsival, Tyutin, and Malik).
This is a reflection of several changes: one, players make more money and they now can afford to live a good life in Manhattan; two, no longer a collection of graybeards, the Rangers actually now have more young single players who want to sample all the city has to offer. And finally, there is the fact that the team trusts players enough to let them live where they want.
Bear in mind, that was actually a concern at one point given the combination of New York’s many distractions and the hockey player’s reputations for cutting loose from time-to-time. This is not to say that players these days are all in bed in time for Jay Leno. The difference now is they may know there’s a lot more at stake.
“I think as I’ve gotten older the younger guys have become more and more responsible each year, and I think it goes back to colleges and juniors, jus being prepared better and knowing everyone’s under a microscope,” said Chris Drury, who while no longer single, lives in Manhattan with his wife and two kids. “It just seems like guys are better equipped to handle it. But any city, if you want trouble you can find it. It may be more in your face in New York, but there’s trouble in every city.”
Anyway, something to chew on while you count down the minutes until Friday…
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 10:11 am by Sam Weinman.
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Josh Thomson Josh, who is 26 and a native of Carmel, graduated from Boston University in 2002 and began working for The Journal News the following March. 
Beer Me, while my argument does seem to contradict itself, I think a small change like Prucha for Orr would improve the speed and scoring ability on the 4th line. Do you think taking Orr out of the lineup would really screw up the chemistry that much? I’m not going to lose sleep over it but I just don’t like to see a 25 year old with his kind of ability sitting in the press box.
Colton, you’re pretty biased in favor of Orr. But the truth is, he lost both. He wasn’t KO’d or anything, but the loser just the same.
WCS, I wasn’t disagreeing with you there. I used to rag on him because he started as a pretty shitty fighter, and between he and Hollweg, we didn’t have a chance once the gloves were dropped. But he has improved not only his fighting, but his skating as well. I definitely prefer him in the lineup for every single game. Especially in the playoffs, where things can get pretty chippy.
If you asked me about Orr and Hollweg a year ago I would have said that Hollweg had WAY more upside to his game. In fact I really thought that he would get to the point where he netted 5 or 6 goals a year. I thought Orr was pretty useless…
This brings us up to present day and I feel like Hollweg is at the exact same spot if not weaker and Orr has improved his game DRAMATICALLY. He makes things happen now. I’m quite happy with him in the lineup.
Rob, I think it would affect the chemistry a lot once the other team started running our guys knowing that we had no way to respond.
NEW POST!
I’d give Marty Straka a break for a few games and stick Prucha in just to keep him game ready, Straka goes back in after a week off.
nice story sam,
i’ve seen renney here in ossining, he like the coffee from 7-11. its right up the hill from his crib.