I gotta say that it is great to be typing this right now. We put up a solid 4-2 win, I went out and celebrated - the win, and that I am still alive to enjoy it - so Let's Go Rangers!! And here are my celebratory ramblings:
*First off, I went, so I can talk about Newark, or at least the sliver that I saw, from personal experience. New Jersey is trying their best to make the area between the train and the arena as safe as possible. I counted seven cops on the way in, and another two cruisers and four cops walking around on the way out.
*So my impressions of the arena proper: the seats are WAAAAAAAYYYYY too narrow and there is little no no leg room, but at least the standing room areas are nice at least (to make up for the impossibility of actually sitting in your actual seats).
*All of the other stuff is nice - the cigar rolling, the yuppy bars, the overpriced food, blah, blah. Not my taste but if it makes people happy ...
*It didn't seem to make a whole lotta people happy as we counted 18, yes 18 luxury boxes utterly empty. What a goddamn shame. And what a joke of a franchise. New Jersey will have to do a lot to get people in the building and to keep them there. Especially if the allure of something so new, against such a big rival doesn't seem to be the draw, there must (or needs to be) something to draw...
*The arena has a ton of N.J. high school jerseys around but no information on NHL players who rose out of the swamp to join into the NHL.
*The urinals really do have the Devils logo on the top. That is just disturbing. It isn't something to 'aim for' but something you have to stare at while you do you business. How annoying.
*Did I mention the lack of leg room? That really did suck.
*The Devil fans actually seemed pretty cool/funny, throwing out Rangers Suck confetti while passing along Scott Gomez pesos and literally tearing one of the former Devil's jerseys apart. *Jagr got first star of the game and yet was absolutely terrible. Its amazing what reputation gets you. The guy took several lazy penalties, and was his usual lackadaisical self but still managed to put up some points so he got respect. Amazing.
*Dubi had a great game at both ends of the ice. As I have said before and will say again, the kids are alright.
*Speaking of, Marc Staal overcame several dubious penalty calls to score his first NHL goal. Congratulations to him, great game.
*The Devils are definitely not the Devils of old. They don't seem to be playing any system that I can see and only get points when the kids - Zajac and Parise specifically - decide to barrel in and go for the net.
*MAAAAAAARRRRRTTTTTTYYYYYYYY. Can BLOWWWWW MEEEEEE. Overrated from the start, He didn't get #500 and he still can't carry Patrick Roy's jockstrap.
*Staying in the crease, Hank did a helluva job, as usual. The Rangers used Vally, ot at least seemed to use him, a bit more than usual in warm ups so I thought he may get the start to capitalize on his win in Toronto but I am happy to say that Hank returned and did a fantastic job. *The Devils really don't have any go-to guys left on their lineup, outside of Jamie Langenbrunner, who made his successful return. The guy, one of the true, pure Rangers killers in history, scored a pair and had a great game. Bastard.
*All of the expected Sean fireworks with Clarkson (who?) and Brodeur didn't take place. And I can honestly say that I don't mind, it was a great battle between two solid teams. I hesitate to call them rivals as the Devils really seem to operate on their own, without any real rival. The Rangers have the Isles, the Flyers have the Pens, and the Devils will have whomever takes them. Kinda pathetic really. *PHW Three Stars:
3-Hank
2-Langenbrunner
1-Jagr
Scotty Hockey Three Stars
3-Staal
2-Langenbrunner
1-Hank
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