Thursday, January 12, 2006

What a Beautiful Mess I'm In!

An incredible night. Chicago and Scottie Pippen's jersey retirement have got nothing on Mark Mesier and seeing his #11 rise to the rafters of Madison Square Garden on January 12, 2006.

The ceremony lasted nearly 1.5 hours and was a sight to remember. From Messier walking down an aisle formed by the current NY Ranger roster to the barber/fishing chair to the banner raising itself. I wonder if Vegas had odds on how fast Messier would start to cry. I figured one minute. Didn't take that long.
Seriously though. Who has cried more tears in their lifetime, Mark Messier or Dick Vermeil?

And the game. I watched two periods in a restaurant (Average pulled pork sandwich) and listened to the third on the radio. They didn't play from midway through the first period until there was four minutes left in the second. After they fell behind 3-1, I got my check at the restaurant I was at. There were five minutes left when I finished off my check. I decided to stay a few minutes and at least wait until the end of the period. I figured they had more of a chance than the Giants did on Sunday. Lo and behold they score twice to tie the game at 3-3.

I actually recognized someone I knew a little in high school and talked with her for about 10 minutes. She had to leave, and I was ready to go, so we parted ways and I headed home. As I get on the computer, I found out Prucha scored goal #21 to put da Blue Guys up. Then Edmonton scores one of the cheapest goals I have ever seen. If that wasn't goaltender interference, the rule just should not exist. Lundqvist should've filed harrassment charges on that play. OT comes up and with this team's putrid recent performances in overtime, I was praying to just get to the shootout. I didn't think we could keep up with their speed and I felt Lundqvist would do better than our old buddy Jussi "I see" Markannen. But 14 seconds in, Jagr scores on a nice setup from Roszival and the Rangers win 5-4 and, more importantly, gain two points on Philadelphia.

Petr Sykora did a great job again and this trade with Anaheim is looking like an absolute steal. Fedor Tyutin looked good. The power play, though, was an embarrassment. Almost as bad as the debacle I saw in Chicago last December. 1 for 11 with less than 10 shots and 2 short handed goals given up. When the Rangers got a power play with 2 and a half minutes left in the third, I was nervous! I was like "Can we please decline it? Take a raincheck?" This isn't football, but I didn't want a power play. Edmonton has excellent speed, no doubt, but the Rangers performed in a very lackadaisical manner for 30 minutes.

And the Knicks have won five in a row! I never doubted them for a minute!

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