PRAGUE----OK, back to the morning skate.
Captain Chris Drury, whose appointment was formally announced at the team dinner at Cihela restaurant last night, and alternates Scott Gomez and Markus Naslund, skipped the optional, along with Wade Redden, Brandon Dubinsky and Nik Zherdev. D-men Corey Potter and Brian Fahey, who are assigned to Hartford but permitted to remain in Europe, also skated.
"We were fed very well," coach Tom Renney said about the team dinner at Cihela, "and we made some decisions....Naturally, we've gone to these three guys because we believe they exhibit what we're all about this year. Scotty Gomez has won Stanley Cups and done it the hard way, within a structure that seemed to be successful at the time. He's a very passionate player...Markus was captain for a lengthy period of time in Vancouver. His demeanor and his intelligence and the way he treats his teammates is part and parcel of what we like to see in leaders. Chris is one of those guys, who comes well-documented with his attention to detail, his battle level, his ability to concentrate on the task at hand, often times go above and beyond any player, they do the special things at those special moments."
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The Rangers are the away team tonight, wearing white jerseys with the NHL Premiere logo on a shoulder...They will wear switch benches and wear blue tomorrow...
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On the topic of captaincy, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who will start, was shocked that Roberto Luongo was named captain in Vancouver. "Really? Is that a first? Is it legal? How can he go out to talk with the refs?," he asked. Actually, it is ceremonial. Canucks have three alternates and Luongo will not wear a 'C"...
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Unclear at this point whether enforcer David Koci will dress for Tampa. But it appears that Voros-Betts-Orr is the Rangers fourth line....
Comments (10)
maybe Drury had to do his first dirty work as Captain, and wake his coach up to why Prucha should play.
RAGS ARE PATHETIC...WAY TO START THE NEW SEASON DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
"What would have been a routine season-opening preview in this space is now instead a warning to the RangersNew York Rangers that scratching Petr PruchaPetr Prucha from today's season-opener in Prague against the Lightning will negate every cliche about all-for-one and one-for-all that anyone in the organization dares to utter.
What in the world could coach Tom Renney be thinking? How on earth could he deny Prucha, who has been among the most energetic Rangers throughout training camp, a uniform in his homeland and hand one instead to Fredrik Sjostrom, Nigel DawesNigel Dawes or Aaron Voros, three players whose preseason work was lukewarm, at best?
If No. 25 does not play today, and that certainly appeared the plan yesterday when Prucha remained on the ice late following practice and then stormed away from the O2 Arena, this will be nothing less than humiliation, and coming from a coach who is nothing but decent, kind and caring.
It doesn't compute. None of it computes. This entire disjointed training camp does not compute. Jumping from city to city and country to country with split squads in order to jam in three Garden gates and eight preseason games altogether? Ridiculous"
ummmm, well, way to plagarise, however, Prucha is playing today, so, you can go away now.
The problem actually is that we have too much talent on this team, it's hard to figure out who isn't playing.
dude you are kinda right.
we do have too much talent..that doesn't mean that excess talent is good. we have players like rismiller, prucha, sjostrom, betts, orr, voros, and fritche...none of these guys really stand out and thats the problem...orr and voros have the physical ability which is what we seem to want from our fourth line so thats why they are in...betts is a veteran ranger and seems to have some leadership on this team so he plays..prucha has a fan following so he sometime gets the nod...but between rismille, sjostrom and fritche-nothing stands out..so none of them are playing today...if they can make a deal and trade some of these "Extra talent" then go ahead that would be great but they got to do it quick.
Personally I am not a fan of Rismiller-I dont think he stood out at all and he would be my first pick to go. Next I am not sure maybe Fritche. Maybe Prucha because he seems to be in Renney's doghouse. Who knows? But they are running out of time. There is no doubt Potter should be with this team as a 7th D-man so at least one forward has got to go.
The saga continues. Lets go Ranger's. Kick some Tampa Bay butt today!
L.brooks is an idiot....maybe he can take a job with the league as well!
Does anyone know where I can watch this game online, I'm in Boston, and NHL.com doesn't seem like its showing the game.
Rangers9.... I subscribed to NHL.coms Center Ice online last season... this year, with the revamping of NHL.com, they rebranded Center Ice Online to GameCenter Live, and have yet to renew my subscription, and are not showing games until next weekend. Very frustrating for fans not in the NY area or with direcTv, especially ones relocated in the south! GRRR
I had Center Ice online as well last season, its why I'm curious if there is a way to watch it online or if it'll be on Versus.
rangers9
if you are still trying to watch the game
go to www.channelsurfing.net
and scroll down to the nhl logo and click that game!
not great quality but something
jk...thank you sooo much for that link! you've made my day!!! and the quality is not bad at all!!!