Usually when Ranger fans talk about Henrik and Martha it's usually in the context of Hanks utter domination of New Jersey Devils netminder Martin "Martha" Brodeur when it comes to their head to head play on the ice.
However, this time "The King" took to the kitchen to go head to head with home guru Martha Stewart.
Lundqvist appeared on the Martha Stewart program last week, showing off his cooking skills and promoting the Garden of Dreams foundation.
Henrik who in The Mouth's opinion hasn't been at the top of his game for most of his starts, joined Martha to make a Holiday dessert called Apple Crostata.
The always affable Henrik as you can witness for yourself in the 10 Minute video below gets along with Martha swimmingly.
Henrik also mentions where he is opening up his new Tribeca restaurant for all you stalkers.
Recently The Mouth has noticed that any time a Player gets hit viciously along the boards whether it be legal or illegal, the team of the victimized player takes it upon themselves to start World War III.
Last Sunday on November 14th, during a Ranger drubbing of the young upstart Oilers, Sean Avery flattened Oiler Colin Fraser with a tough legal check.
For some reason Fraser's teammate Ladislav Smid decided to drop the gloves with Sean Avery to avenge what really was just a clean hard hit.
What transpired on the ice after that everybody and their mother has an opinion on.
It also appears that even off ice opinions ran strong as Avery's fellow teammate and resident Ranger lack of confidence headcase Erik Christensen told both TV and Ranger beat reporter "Dancin" Larry Brooks that Avery sucker punched Smid.
The Mouth breaks the whole altercation down in usual skewed fashion and even includes the hard to find footage of Christensen speaking to Rogers Sports Net about the Avery decking of Ladislav Smid.
On Friday November 26th, Blueshirt Banter Internet Radio, the one true voice of the Ranger fan, is hosting its very own game viewing party as the Rangers take on the Florida Panthers at the Bank Atlantic Center.
The viewing party will take place at Poitin Still Irish Restaurant and Pub in Hackensack, NJ, and will start at 5:00 PM.
Admission is free and the event is open to all ages.
Poitin Still features about 30 television sets, as well as a big screen, to ensure everyone gets a good view of all the action.
Because of the huge success of the show with the fans, the fellas have booked some of the most popular Blueshirts of all time to make it a can’t miss event.
On hand will be special guests, former Rangers alumni, Ron Greschner, Nick Fotiu and Chris “Kotsy” Kotsopoulos.
The guys will be there and signing autographs for fans for a really phenomenal price.
For 35 bucks you get all three players autographs which also includes Three awesome individual photos for them to sign it on !
The event will also feature a question and answer session with the guys between periods where you, the fan, can ask any questions you would like.
The viewing party will also include a live pre-game broadcast on site of the Blueshirt Banter Radio show by hosts Jim Schmiedeberg and Eddie “The Mouth” Gieck.
If you are planning to get there early and have dinner, we advise you to make reservations as tables are filling up fast. The number to call for reservations or directions or any other questions is (201) 487-0660.
What a glorious time of year, the crisp fall weather can be felt in New York City as the smell of soggy pretzels permeate the air, it can only mean one thing..
Rangers hockey has returned to Madison Square Garden.
Although the Mouth will not be in attendance. most of the crazy people you see above will be.
Ranger fans after ONLY two games are once again questioning the sanity of their coach, targeting their new whipping boy on defense and ready to give rookie Derek Stepan the loudest welcome he has ever received in his hockey life.
For The Big Man all is right in the world.
To celebrate his good mood and to commemorate the seasons first home game, The Mouth presents his take on the home opener along with this fine 2010-2011 season preview video done by the great Ranger video editor LoFFen.
Two games into the season and the Mouth is already professing his prognostications for the Rangers season as well as his affections for err.. umm.. Derek Stepan's Mom !
It seems The Big Man is a smitten kitten with both Derek's play and his Mom's million dollar smile.
We think you will find The Mouth's forecast for the 2010-2011 season is somewhat on the cautious side this time around, compared to last years ambitious Kool-Aid gulping crystal gazing.
On the serious side of things, which is also covered in the clip below, The Big Man addresses the Sean Avery bias that every Ranger gets to see almost nightly at the hands of NHL officials.
The Mouth certainly knows that Sean is no angel and is an awful trash talker and most times when he is asked to drop gloves and throw the dukes more often than not skates the other way as fast as he can.
Sean Avery is not a dirty player. He doesn't stick swing, doesn't slew foot and doesn't deliver head shots.
Avery is merely a player who yaps unsportsmanlike things to the opposition whose main modus operandi is to goad opposing players into bad penalties while he skates away scott free.
Is it honorable ? Probably not, but is gamesmanship? Hell yes.
NHL referees for the most part have decided to have developed a different rule book where Avery is concerned.
The on ice officiating in Sean's case considers themselves a extension of the player rather than impartial judges, which is what they are paid to do.
They hear what Avery is saying during play and for the most part they think it's cheap and vulgar and his actions not honorable.
So they have taken it upon themselves to let opposing players take liberties with him to both Sean and the Rangers detriment.
A perfect example of this happened on October 13th at the Mausoleum when Islander assistant captain and blueline chucklehead James Wisniewski made an obscene gesture at Avery, right in front of referee Gord Dwyer's face.
The NHL did the right thing a day later and suspended the dopey Wisniewski for two games.
But at the time of the classless incident nothing was called not even a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty even though referee Gord Dwyer obviously saw it.
Well you have heard all the predictions from the so called "experts" online and in the papers, as well as all the vanilla talking baldies on MSG towing the corporate line predicting that all three teams the MSG network features will be making the playoffs.
They even scared Butch Goring so much that he had to stick to his prediction of the Islanders making the playoffs.
The reason I bring all this MSG tomfoolery up, is that most of you know there is a healthy and honest media alternative called Blueshirt Banter Radio available to you, the diehard Ranger fan.
Our show is the perfect antidote to successfully counter the happy shiny people prattle that MSG programming barrages us with at every turn.
Blueshirt Banter Radio is the one true voice of the New York Ranger fan, a place where you can talk plainly, uncensored and frankly as long as you want and most importantly have fun.
Tonight we celebrate the eve of the Rangers first regular season game by devoting a whole two hour internet program to Ranger team and player predictions by the most important and informed peeps in all sports: The New York Ranger Fan.
Hosted by myself and Jim Schmiedeberg begin_of_the_skype_highlighting "Rangers Rockin Eve 2010" begins at 8 PM EST.
We even have a live interactive Blueshirt Banter Chatroom that runs while the show streams live, where you can commiserate and talk Ranger puck with your fellow fans.
To listen to the show live or on podcast click below :
What a show it was as The Mouth and his partner Jim talked with other SB Nation blogger's about their feelings on their respective teams in the Atlantic Division.
The four guest that joined the guys live on air included representatives from the Penguins, Islanders, Devils. Flyers.
Things started off pretty amicable but The Mouth unable to contain himself prodded the guests into answering some questions that got the esteemed guests ire up.
The 2010-2011 Regular season is almost upon us, and it is in these times that The Mouth gets nostalgic about how many seasons he has actually followed this more than often than not heartbreaking hockey club.
The following clips hold a special meaning to The Big Man because it remind him of the day when the men were men and the women didn't mind being called broads.
These two Ranger tussles took place before The Mouth began following the Rangers which he started in 1975, so the footage is a great document of some of the tough guys the Rangers had before Nick Fotiu arrived on the scene in 1976.
The first fight features Rangers tough guy Teddy Irvine who took care of the nasty business for six years as a Blueshirt. You can be sure that while Ted Irivine patrolled the ice nobody was taking liberties with his teamates.
Ted Irivine by the way is the father of professional wrestler Chris Jericho.
The second fight features Steve "Sarge" Vickers in a game that took place during the 1972-73 season.
A season which Steve scored 30 goals as a rookie and netted him the Calder trophy.
Sometimes when I watch hockey nowadays, I know why the over forty crowd for the most part feels so disenfranchised with current day NHL hockey.
The game has now become a shell of it's former self as far as the physicality and intimidation part of the game goes. Most of the time the game is downright unrecognizable to what I and the over forty fans grew up with and embraced.
Gary Bettman has directed his insane clown posse of referees to basically neuter the NHL player from engaging in the rough and tumble gamesmanship that has made this sport incredibly fun to watch.
It particularly he has put the testicular clamp on the NHL player himself who wants to stand up for his teammates when he feels his fellow player is in trouble on the ice, the third man in penalty levy's heavy fines and missed games for all players that dare to come to a teamates aid when things get heated.
Now that the Mouth himself has finished his own editorial, lets get down to the incident in question that got his ire up yet again on this subject.
Last week, during a game between the Rangers and the Devils that took place at Madison Square Garden, Derek Boogard was given a misconduct on what amounted to a bump on Pierre LaBlonde before a face-off just outside the Devils Zone.
It was a silly penalty called by a silly referee named Chris Rooney. The video evidence of the horrific call below still has the Big Mans head shaking.
Ultimately and inadvertently as the video shows. Chris Rooney's buffoon call could have ended Mats Zucarello's NHL career when Pierre LaBlonde blatantly went for a knee on knee hit on the diminutive Norweigan forward.
Lablonde knew full well that Boogaard was still serving his ridiculous ten minute misconduct penalty, so decide to take liberties knowing their would be know repercussions.
The Mouth shares his passionate take on the play in the video below :
On Saturday we did a live remote front of the Prudential Center and gave away a bunch of fantastic prizes to Ranger fans in attendance including this Marc Staal jersey to Kristen, a rabid listener of the show as well as autographed pucks and other Ranger swag to other diehard fans of the show.
We did this all in celebration of the Wade Redden banishment to the AHL and also to show our appreciation to the loyal listeners of Blueshirt Banter Radio who simply put, have made the show the Internet Radio juggernaut that it is today.
Tonight we will be airing a special Tuesday edition of the show because of tomorrows Rangers game against the Red Wings at the Garden.
Tonight's show starts at 8 PM
Jim and myself and more importantly you fans will be talking about the recent cuts of Mats Zuccarello and Evgeny Grachev and using our crystal balls to project who will be cut from the club after Wednesday's game.
We would love to hear from you on who you think will be cut or sent down to Hartford, so join the show which airs live over the Internet at 8 PM tonight.
The Phone Number to call in is (646) 478-4692
We also have the Blueshirt Banter Chat Room, a forum which is chock full of Ranger fanatics that really adds more punch to a broadcast that is already a bit "punchy."
The Chat Room is the perfect forum to follow along with our two hour broadcast that streams live, commercial free, and uncensored.
Blueshirt Banter Radio is the true voice of the New York Ranger fan so make sure you're there !
To Listen to the show live or podcast just click below :
The Mouth had a chance to visit The Prudential Center or as "The Pebble" as he likes to call it for a preseason game between his beloved Blueshirts and the New Jersey Devil Dogs.
Now The Big man isn't so hot on preseason Hockey but The Mouth wanted to be there for the first game in several years that Wade Redden wasn't on the clubs National Hockey League roster.
This is certainly was a cause to celebrate with other Ranger com padres, so if the Rangers arent playing at MSG, the best way to immediately commiserate with other Ranger fanatics is go to a Devils Home game when the are playing The Rangers !
It also served as The Mouth's first chance to get a look at the Devils at their semi- new building in Newark.
Once he arrived the chaos ensued, and it was all captured by The Big Man's unsteady camera work.
The Mouth certainly is no gear head, as a matter of fact when it comes to anything mechanical he is about a useless as teets on a bull.
So when he started to do some research on Rod Gilbert being the focus of a 1970 Television ad launching the Mercury Meteor automobile, The Big Man was forced to do fact finding on a unfamiliar subject.
Upon further investigation, he found out that in 1970 that there were absolutely no Mercury Meteor's available for purchase in the United States.
So the mini-mystery began.
When things like this happen The Mouth in a paranoid state will usually listen for clues in the audio of the commercial for something he misheard originally.
But after about 20 minutes of watching this one minute commercial like a mental patient, The Mouth was convinced that the ad was from 1970 and the car indeed was a Mercury Meteor.
Riding further down into the information super highway via his PC, The Big Man found out the Mercury meteor was discontinued in 1963 by Mercury in the United States, but was still available to Canadian drivers until 1976.
So by brilliant means of deduction this is a 1970 Canadian Television ad for the Mercury Meteor, featuring none other than Ranger great Rod Gilbert.
The news is a bit old in Rangerland but last week a Sean Avery picture surfaced with him wearing the much anticipated third jersey at a photo shoot that was suppose to make it's debut later this season.
Avery who is pictured above sporting the third jersey in The Mouth's opinion could be a dead ringer for Rivers Cuomo from the band Weezer.
The new third jersey is pretty much a replica of a uniform the Rangers had worn for many years up until the late 1970's.
The Blueshirts this year will be celebrating their 85th year in the National Hockey League,
There is no question the Rangers have a truckload of raw and talented prospects who are developing nicely. The majority of praise has to go to Gordie Clarke and his scouting staff for hand picking these promising young players,
If there is one thing that is particularly curious about the Ranger picks and prospects that are participating in this years Traverse City Tournament is the desparity in the height ranges of the smallest group of players and heights the biggest group players on the roster.
The Rangers have THREE players listed at Traverse as 5'9 ( Ryan Bourque, Christian Thomas, Kelsey Tessier) along with the diminutive Mats Zuccarello-Aasen who is not at Traverse but attending regular Ranger camp back in New York.
On the flip side the Rangers have FOUR young gargantuan prospects at the Tournament all listed at 6'4 (Dylan Mcilrath, Evgeny Grachev, Lee Baldwin, Randy McNaught).
But Regardless of height, this is a truly talented group.
Ryan McDonagh has been given the captaincy, which may be an indicator that he is going to be given a real shot at making the big club and Derek Stepan who also is making a serious run for a spot on the Rangers roster this year, so far at Traverse has shown great poise and at this moment is the tournaments leader in overall points.
The Mouth addresses the above and much more in the video below.:
When The Mouth prepared himself for this video he had to ask himself this important question: "Do statistics lie?" Because if we were to judge Brandon Dubinsky's 2009-2010 campaign purely on numbers, Brandon had a pretty good year.
Despite being injured and missing 13 games, and a self induced camp holdout Brandon managed to bang home 20 goals for the first time in his NHL career, despite playing in all 82 games the two previous years. He also led the Rangers in game winning goals with five.
After reviewing the stats Mouth has decided to take a second look at his assessment of Dubinsky's play last year, which at season's end The Big Man concluded was uneven and dispassionate at times.
On many occasions it seems Brandon elevates his games against division rivals but seems to disappear for stretches at a time against teams where there is no competitive ill will.
But after a few months of The Mouth distancing himself from the disappointing end to the Rangers season and the multitude of players who failed to produce offensively, perhaps Brandon Dubinky just might have had himself a good year and The Big Man missed it.
The Mouth hashes his thoughts out loud in the video below.
Dale Weise is the type of player Ranger fans are clamoring for. Dale is a north-south player who has grit and determination and most importantly can put the puck in the net.
Dale scored 28 goals last year on a Wolf Pack team that really struggled with injuries.
Both the Mouth and Jim are looking forward to having Dale on the show before he heads to training camp with the Rangers.
Update : Dale Weise will not be joining us, Unfortunately he had to cancel.
The show starts at 8 PM.
The Call In Number (646) 478-4692
To listen to the show Live or on Podcast Click Below :
Out of all the acquisitions the Rangers made this off season, perhaps even including the Frolov UFA signing, The Mouth believes this move might have been the best.
The Rangers obtained a young, emerging LW in Tim Kennedy, who has some real potential for what really amounts to as a song.
Kennedy went to salary arbitration with the Buffalo Sabres who are limited in cash and shackled by budget restraints, being that thay are from a small market.
In the end, the arbitrator ruled against the Sabres and awarded Kennedy a One Million dollar contract.
Buffalo was not willing to pay Kennedy his million and immediately bought out 1/3 of his contract and placed him on waivers. Kennedy did have a say so in which team he was willing to go to and he picked the Rangers.
The Rangers will pay Kennedy $550,000 for this upcoming season. The Big Man feels this could prove to be the shrewdest moves Glen Sather has made this summer.
Kennedy is young, talented and super cap friendly to the Blueshirts who don't have much wiggle room salary cap wise.
For The Mouths vociferous opinion as well as some local coverage of the trade in Buffalo watch below:
Tonight's going to be a stroll down memory lane as former Ranger head coach Emile Francis and former Ranger defenseman for over a decade Rod Seiling are the guests on Blueshirt Banter radio tonight with The Mouth and Jim.
if you have any interest in the history of Hockey or Ranger hockey specifically, this really is a must listen.
Emile "The Cat" Francis is as sharp as a tack and is the undisputed reigning expert on New York Ranger lore.
This will be Emile's third time with us and it's always a an absolute blast.
We are surprising Emile live on air with Rod Seiling, who played with the Blueshirts under Emile Francis from 1963-1974.
This show promises to be a dandy and we hope you catch it live or on podcast.
In what The Mouth hopes to be the first of many Ranger Fan Summits, the Big man got a chance to meet and greet friends of both his Ranger Crisis and Blueshirt Banter Radio programs.
The inaugural summit took place at Bar Nine in Hells Kitchen, NYC on Saturday, August 21st.
The event showcased a panel discussion about The Rangers upcoming season.
The panel consisted of our boy Mouth, Russ Cohen and Adam Raider both of whom are co-authors of the book 100 Ranger Greats.
The discussion covered everything from Boogaard to Frolov as well as predictions for the Rangers upcoming 2010-2011 season.
The die hard Ranger fans in attendance reacted vociferously to both players names and the opinions of the speakers.
The Mouth even managed to give away some prizes to his Crisis loyalists, one which was a Marc Staal jersey and several err.. hmm signed Petr Prucha pucks.
A good time was had by all and The Mouth is looking forward to doing it again.
The Mouth wholeheartedly believes what Ranger fans need for a more positive and more enjoyable 2010-2011 season are two things.
The first one lies in the banishment of Wade Redden to the Hartford Wolfpack and secondly, that the Rangers need to become a more bearable team to watch offensively.
The Blueshirts as a team finished 20th in the NHL in total goals and frankly for most of last season were an absolute snorefest to watch.
The Big Man feels that Eric Christensen could be the guy to help pitch in and help alleviate Ranger fans from falling asleep with TV remotes in hand.
The problem The Mouth feels is that Erik Christensen needs to know this himself, that he has the power and offensive potential to just not make a wacky addicted Ranger fans season more enjoyable, but that he himself can start shaping and solidifying himself a NHL career by elevating his offensive game
At age 27 this really may be Erik's last chance at living the NHL Life. Christensen has the speed and has the hands but his mental state is a work in progress, mainly concerning his confidence.
The Mouth addresses this as well as some other issues in the video below which also has an Erik Christensen Hi-Lite video following it done by the great Ranger video editor LoFFen.
The Internet is a wonderful thing, especially for Ranger fans like The Mouth. Because of MSG's utter futility to have a clue on what the modern day Ranger fan would like to see covered. People like The Mouth get to do it,.
Combine this with James Dolan's paranoia in dealing with any media and absolutely no Hockey coverage in the metropolitan area, Blueshirt fans have hit The Internet to get their fix of Ranger news and views.
As you know, the web is a virtual wild wild west of uncensored, unbiased Blueshirt information and entertainment.
We also know that when it comes to Ranger entertainment The Mouth tries his darndest to provide both info and laughs for his fellow Ranger fans
So with that said here is your Amazing August of Ranger Entertainment Schedule :
This year The Big man stopped off in St.Louis in search of Blues fans that were willing to talk some Blues puck.
It's pretty hard to find identifiable Hockey fans in the middle of August in the United States so it took awhile for the Mouth to finally catch up with a local fan of the hometown Blues.
It's always interesting what other fans think of their teams and as we know The Mouth likes to keep his ear close to the ground as far as other NHL squads go, especially what the dedicated true blue fans are thinking.
The video below captures The Mouth's exploits as he searches for a Blues fan to chat up.
Glen Sather once again has unloaded another UFA pickup from last summer when he traded the utterly useless Donald Brashear to the Thrashers, along with another feckless UFA pickup from two summers ago Patrick Rissmiller.
The only player besides Gaborik remaining from Glen Sather's 2009 summer of free agency woe is Brian Boyle.
The Mouth feels that it's kind of ironic that the player who the Rangers received from the Thrashers, Todd White, for the two buffoons mentioned above, might be guy who will eventually send Brian Boyle packing.
Todd White is an older player, but he can supply some scoring occasionally which Boyle can not. White is a 35 year old center who had a ton of injury problems last year, including a dislocated shoulder and knee problems.
White did however score 22 goals two years ago.
The trade was made as a salary dump by the Thrashers, who immediately placed Brashear on unconditional waivers and will buy out the $1.3 million left on the last year of his contract, should he not be claimed. The Thrashers cleared about $850,000 in cap room with this deal.
For the Rangers this was basically a good riddance to bad garbage deal for a player that might or might not be up with the big club this year.
The Mouth feels that if Todd White has an impressive camp, and John Tortorella's first impression is a good one, we might be seeing another 2009 UFA in Brian Boyle shipped off or demoted and Todd White playing in his place.
The Mouth of course lends his warped thoughts to the video below.
A meeting of the loudest and the proudest Ranger fans will be taking place in Manhattan on Saturday August 21st, 2010.
This is your chance to meet and greet other Ranger fans both old and new, pound some beers and talk about the only thing that really matters , New York Rangers Hockey.
There will be a panel discussion about Rangers hockey past and present that includes two of the authors of the book 100 ranger greats Adam Raider and Russ Cohen as well as our very own The Mouth.
This promises to be tremendous fun for everyone, as ranger fans gather for the the inaugural Ranger Hockey fan Summit, to discuss their feelings on the upcoming Ranger season as well as the Blueshirts future.
Plus you get to meet the Mouth !
The Event will be taking place Saturday August 21st 2 PM at Bar Nine
The Rangers made what appears to be a shrewd move in The Mouth's opinion by acquiring UFA Alexander Frolov's services for the sum of Three Million Dollars for this upcoming season.
Inherently as a Ranger fan, after a Glen Sather UFA transaction, you automatically first look at the new acquisition not with promise or optimism but with a dysfunctional type of pessimistic guile.
The main focus automatically and ironically shifts to exit strategies on how to get rid of the newly acquired player even before he laces up his skates for New York.
If Blueshirt fans think Ranger brass can eventually unload the newly obtained players contract easily when things inevitably go horribly wrong, it's already considered a winning move.
This is the case of Alexander Frolov. Frolov is very cap friendly to the Blueshirts, and one year is perfect. The Rangers are in desperate need of scoring and Frolov could supply that.
The only knock on Frolov is from a fans perspective is that he is frustrating as hell to watch.
Skeptics such as The Mouth feel that he needs to bring his game every night and not take games off.
But where the Rangers are sitting salary cap wise beggars can't be choosers and so the Rangers inked Frolov.
Let's hope the change of scenery and departure from a rigid L.A King defensive system can jump starts his offensive game and make Sather look smart.
Below The Mouth lends his commentary to an Alexander Frolov 2009-2010 Hi-Lite Video
The Mouth will be away for two weeks as he heads to Las Vegas and then onto Kansas City and St.Louis.
His Las Vegas visit is purely for leisure, but The Mouth who considers himself a hockey ambassador of sorts cares so much about the NHL and it's image he will be heading to Kansas City on a mission of mercy.
He visits K.C with the specific intent of finding the failed NHL franchise New York Islanders a new home where fans can truly appreciate NHL hockey..
The Big Man in this humanitarian effort will try to relieve Islanders owner Charles Wang of his financial albatross as well as alleviate the misery of all players who currently are on the Islanders roster.
At present most experts agree that Islander players are lamenting every humiliating minute they play at home in Hempstead in front of empty seats and while a dragon mascot named "Sparky" walks the empty aisles.
The goal is to instill some hope in these NHL players that better days are yet to come.
In Kansas City these NHL players will have the opportunity to play in a state of the art building at the Sprint Center in front of enthusiastic crowds who will be far more hockey knowledgeable and needless to say, more well groomed.
The Mouth will be trying to drum up support by talking with Hockey fans in Kansas City and help them lure
the failed Islander franchise team there.
It's a grass roots effort and lets hope the people of K.C are receptive to the Big Man's push to find a floundering franchise a new home with supportive and loyal fans.
To follow The Mouth and his wacky exploits while he travels America follow his tweets !
Yes ladies and gentleman it's that time of the year again. Where Henrik Lundqvist tosses the most abused goalie pads in the NHL aside and gets himself a whole new set to be abused this year.
Henrik, who is entering his second year with Bauer recently was seen sporting his new gear at a Bauer photo shoot with Boston Bruin first round pick and the NHL's second overall 2010 draft selection (middle picture) Tyler Seguin.
The Mouth surmises that Henrik requested to Bauer official to have the high flying Seguin take breakaway shots for 5 minutes at a time to simulate actual Ranger game conditions.
The new gear is a bit more colorful, especially the inside of the catching glove as well as Hank's blocker, both of them are now decorated predominantly in red.
For a comparative look at the difference between last years and this years pads. The Mouth provides a picture below of the goalie gear that Henrik wore last year for the 2009-2010 season.
A pretty important regular season game for both teams as the Rangers and Isles meet up at the Coliseum for the first time since the Blueshirts eliminated the Hempstead club at MSG in the 1978-1979 Semi-Finals.
The game features some new wrinkles both from the the ice and broadcast side.
Ed Westfall, the albatross who had been Hempstead's captain since the franchises beginning retired and was sent to the announcing booth to unleash his nasally drone to Hockey fans everywhere. Now with Westfall off the ice, the captaincy was given to Denise Potvin.
The Ranger in their second year under Fred Shero were battling big time injuries in this game and had such Ranger fly by nighters as Ray Markham and Warren Miller in the lineup in this game.
Doug Soetaert started in goal for the Rangers, but gave up TEN goals before being replaced by backup Wayne Thomas. Billy Sieve along with his ridiculous toupee were between the pipes for the Nassau club.
On the broadcast end, this was the first regular season game that Rangers were allowed to broadcast from the Mausoleum with their own announcers. Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick called the action.
The Rangers played a very good first period and that was about it in this contest. The Mouth never a fan of the Hempstead franchise or it's imbecilic fans uses the power of Independent editing and does not show the Isles six goal second period. The Rangers lost this game 10-5.
The 2009-2010 season ended in disappointment for both the rangers and their fans, but one thing that remained a constant throughout the majority of the season and that was Henrik Lundqvist's superlative play.
It's not really a new storyline for the Blueshirts to nightly ask Henrik to bail them out during some pretty epic defensive breakdowns, but the offensive support is even worse.
The Rangers offense besides Marian Gaborik can be a complete snorefest for monthly stretches at a time it seems.
Last year for example other than at the first 10 games and the last 10 games the Rangers couldn't score enough to make any fan stay awake or not want to reach for the remote.
So the Mouth decided to pay tribute to the King of New York and add his two cents on what he would like to see the Rangers do to try and help Henrik get at least 10 shutouts and bring home the Vezina in the upcoming 2010-2011 campaign.
The video below was edited by the great LoFFen and in the intro The Mouths once again espouses his skewed thoughts.
Tonight the Mouth talks with Ranger beat writer Rick Carpiniello of the Journal News and LoHud.com about what he thinks about this off season such as the Staal negotiations, ufa signings and if thinks the Rangers will be improved in the upcoming 2010-2011.
Should be a blast.
You can participate by either calling in at (646) 478-4692 or joining the live Blueshirt Banter Chatroom
Glen Sather wasted no time in acquiring a back up goaltender in Martin Biron as soon as free agency commenced on July 1st and The Mouth feels it could be prove to be one of Sather's more lucid moves in recent memory.
It is however, a bit puzzling if you go back to Slat's press conference before the move when he said "We are looking for goaltenders that are Cadillac's but come at a Honda price."
The Mouth doesn't think Biron is a Cadillac at this stage in his career, but more of a Nissan Altima with 100,000 miles on it.
Biron was awful in the first half of last year, especially in shootouts, but did pick up his game late in the year and perhaps also being reunited with the goaltending coach of his youth will shore up his dependability between the pipes.
Benoit Allaire, who handles the Rangers netminders and who also coached Biron as a teen will hopefully help Marty find his once solid game.
Biron, who likes to chirp it up on the ice, comes at the right price at $900,000 per year so The Big Man says give him a whirl, albeit if it is just to negate the musical chair backup goaltending nonsense that we fans went through last year.
The Mouth as always gives his skewed version of the Biron signing in the video below :
Ranger Crisis is a video blog hosted by The Mouth. Established in February 2009 Ranger Crisis was created to discuss New York Ranger Hockey from the fans point view as well as explore the lighter side of being a Ranger fan through a satirical lens. However, in this case the lens is being wielded by a 48 yr old boccalone who has been following the Rangers since he was 10 like it was a religion.
The Mouth also has more Complete Ranger games and Ranger archival footage 1952-1985 than any other person on the planet. The big guy from time to time will crank up the time machine and share these video gems with his fellow Ranger fans with the intent to hearken them back to the simpler days before salary cap and Gary Bettman.
So sit back and enjoy Blue Shirt fans as it's all beamed right onto your computer desk for your enjoyment. We wholeheartedly thank you for stopping by and most importantly as always say...
[image: Frederik Andersen goaltending style analysis]The Blueshirts are
moving on, and after dispatching the sad sack Islanders in 5 games, the
Carolina Hu...
Here are today’s news and links: Rangers News: Highlights: NYR 4, OTT 0
(4:58 video via NHL.com) Game Recap: With any and all regular season glory
that can...
Will Cuylle (OHL Images)Friday night was more than just the New York
Rangers game two win as the last two Rangers prospects got their league
finals under...
Click here to read my story on last night’s game, from lohud.com. Thoughts:
1) I didn’t see an eight-game winning streak coming. I really didn’t.
Actuall...
The second season begins Wednesday and Thursday for the NHL. The teams that
made into the top 8 in their respective conferences will do battle for the
righ...
