Go Smurfum Rangers ! : Rangers Beat Isles at MSG in Game Four of 1983 Quarterfinals

Go Smurfum Rangers ! The Mouth really can't fully endorse the slogan, but that slogan and sign certainly worked some magic that night on April 18th 1983.

The MSG crowd exploded as the Rangers upset the Islanders in game four of a series that most experts had written them off in, especially after the Islanders had taken a two games to one lead.

The Rangers eventually fell to the Islanders in the series but on this night, Ranger fans celebrated, and the Blueshirts shone.

A lot of Ranger supporters remember the smurf era as a time where the Rangers got pushed around, although they might have on occasion, they surely made it up with quickness and speed, a characteristic that few Ranger teams have ever possessed.

Blueshirt forward Mark Pavelich was an incredible example of this as he was a giant ball of energy with incredible scoring touch and play making ability,

The Mouth also gives mad props to the Rangers Finnish defenseman Reijo Ruotsalainen.

Reijo who at times had some defensive liabilities and affinity to not hit the net, ranks up there with the top most five offensively gifted defenseman ever to put a Blueshirts sweater on.

The following clip shows what the Rangers and Islander rivalry was all about and also proves to be an example of what it is not all about now.

The Islanders were Goliath and the Rangers were always David and the fans always embraced that role.

Now with the Hempstead club almost 30 years later being a complete joke, with no fan base and no real history of playoffs, the hotly contested rivalry is now dead in The Mouth's opinion.

His point really strikes home after you watch this thrilling game between the Rangers and Hempstead from April 18th 1983.

Former Ranger Goalie And Renaissance Man Steve Baker Shows Off His 1982 Goaltending Gear

The mask you see pictured above can still be seen hanging around New York City to this day, if you happen to go to Sean Avery's bar Warren 77 in Tribeca you will see a nice looking facsimile hanging on the wall as part of the bars decor.

The Empire State Building mask was worn by none other than Steve Baker, a Ranger goaltender who in the annuls of Ranger history sometimes gets lost in the mix.

Steve came along when the Rangers in the 1979-1980 season when the Blueshirts were dealing with John Davidson's knee injury and couldn't get a netminder on the club to save a beach ball with a boat oar.

Before Steve Baker joined the club on December 9th of that year, the Rangers as a team were giving up an incredible average of 4.17 goals per game.

The Mouth feels that Steve Baker was the bridge to John Vanbiesbrouk era, kinda sorta.

The reason The Mouth had us go into such detail about Steve Baker, is that Steve will be joining The Big Man and Jim Schmiedeberg on Blueshirt Banter Radio this Wednesday night, to talk about his life as a hockey player and his pretty varied and interesting accomplishments post playing days.

You can hear all about Steve's post career life on Wednesday Night by clicking the link below the video.

The clip featured below was a in between periods segment that had MSG color commentator Phil Esposito visit Steve Baker in what appears as an electrical room that also doubled as the Rangers locker room at Rye Playland back in 1982.

Steve discusses the goalie equipment which now in 2010 seems so flimsy, it's mind boggling.



Listen Live Starting Wednesday May 26th At 8 PM or on podcast by Clicking link below :

Blueshirt Banter Radio w/ Guest Steve Baker on Blog Talk Radio

Leslie Treff Of Hockeys Future On Blueshirt Banter Radio With The Mouth Tonight At 8 PM

Leslie Treff Of Hockey's Future will be discussing the state of Ranger Prospects as well as giving us a good idea on who The Rangers may target in the upcoming June NHL draft. She will be visiting the NHL combine and scouting all the top prospects.

The show starts at 8 PM and we take your phone calls all night at (646) 478-4692

Feel free to Join The Mouth in Blueshirt Banter Chatroom while the show streams live and chat with other crazed Ranger fans

To listen to the show Live or archived :

Listen to Blueshirt Banter Radio w/ The Mouth on Blog Talk Radio

Gabba Gabba We Accept You, We Accept You, One Of Us !

When the Rangers lack of brain trust first signed UFA Marian Gaborik, most Blueshirt fans were skeptical of the move to say the least.

Broadway Blue fans had no doubts concerning his scoring prowess but with Marian's lack of durability as an NHL player, combined with perpetual Ranger bad luck, the overall outlook of the signing was grim to the die hard Ranger fan.

Gaborik's career previously with the Minnesota Wild  had been plagued with what it seemed like endless groin problems and reoccurring injury's up the yin yang.

That unhealthy trend had most Ranger fans predicting he would only play in 40 games or less in a Ranger uniform in the 2009-2010 NHL campaign.

Gabby proved a lot of people wrong by staying predominately healthy during an arduous NHL season which included his participation the Olympics but even more impressive was his performance night after night as the most productive skater on the ice.

The Mouth feels Gabby deserves tons of credit for making this season bearable for the exasperated Ranger fan as he gave us a lot of thrills especially on Madison Square Garden ice, where things haven't been offensively electric since Jaromir Jagr's departure to the KHL.

It is with this wondrous video edited by LoFFen that The Mouth pays tribute to Marian Gaborik for having his career year as a New York Ranger in a season that saw him miss only EIGHT games.

Rangers Beat Winnipeg Jets In Sloppiest Defensive NHL Game Ever Played

                                                                      

Now, The Mouth may be overstating things a bit but it looks like both starting goaltenders could sue their defenses for lack of support as some colossal back line buffoonery can be seen on both sides of the ice.

This game took place On November 8th 1985 in Winnipeg in front of a lot Rangers friends and family.

The main culprit for the Rangers is actually one of my faves Reijo "Rexy" Ruotsalainen who on this night was abysmal and equally putrid were the Winnipeg Jet's blueline pair of Jim Kyte and Randy Carlyle, who also played like they had blindfolds on.

This game was really a chore to watch in its entirety for The Big Man as it was a sloppily played affair full of bad defensive play and choppy action. But of course always caring about the Ranger Crisis viewer The Mouth edited it down nicely to 10 minutes of Whaaaa ?? 

The game took place at the Winnipeg Arena and by the looks of it, not many people liked to actually stand when the Jets would score a goal. 

I think they even knew half of them were gimmes.

Michael Del Zotto & Brian Boyle Attend House Party That Has Horrible Beer.

It's a good The Mouth isn't in law enforcement or he would have bribed his way to free Ranger season tickets by holding these incriminating photos as evidence that 19 year old Michael Del Zotto had been imbibing beer underage.

But what both MDZ and his wing man, fellow Ranger Brian Boyle should be convicted of is actually drinking one of the most heinous beers imaginable Natural Light.

Natural Light, which is the official beer of no budget frat parties everywhere, is a tasteless water-downed alcoholic beverage that most likely had MDZ crapping in his pants faster than as if he had Sidney Crosby baring down on him one on one.

Artem Anisimov : This Russian Jumbo Jet Is ON SCHEDULE

                                                                              It's an odd situation in Rangerland The Mouth feels when an organization like the New York Rangers actually excels at bringing along a good young player from draft pick, through the minors and onto the major league stage.

It's an anomaly akin to The Big Man saying no when offered a free slice of pizza.

This is the case with Artem Anisimov, who is right on schedule in his progression as a NHL player.

Artie's on ice time was a bit paltry in The Mouth's opinion as he could be seen skating predominatly with the third and fourth lines last season but showed real flashes of supersized talent nonetheless.

Imagine what he can do with more playing time, NHL experience and maturity ?

Anisimov really flourished playing on the fourth line last season with bruisers Brandon Prust and Jody Shelley.

This was mostly due because for the young Russian player the name of the game for transition to the North American style is familiarity.

Playing with the same line mates for extended periods of time is something Russian players especially take to.

Too bad John Tortorella didn't think of this earlier.

The following video is a testament to Artem Anisimov's progress.