Monday Musings: Rangers Identity Risk, Tampa's Goalie Upgrade, and Canada's Shot at Revenge

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Written on 1/03/2011 by Jim Cerny

Here are some Monday morning quick hits from a reporter fresh off a New Years road trip to the Sunshine State:

Rangers Need a Helping Hand

I almost couldn't believe my eyes yesterday afternoon when I saw Rangers forward Ruslan Fedotenko grimacing in obvious extreme pain and holding his right arm/hand close to his body after blocking Bryan McCabe's slap shot.

Another injury for the Rangers. And even more head-shaking: another hand injury for the Rangers.

A team of hard-working and diligent foot-soldiers has been plagued by injuries all year---the team has lost 123 man-games to injury through 40 games this season---and, more specifically, hand injuries suffered while blocking shots have KO'd team captain Chris Drury for 31 games and currently have sidelined alternate captain Ryan Callahan for seven (and he is still 3-5 weeks away from returning to action).

And now Fedotenko, who has been a perfect fit alongside Brian Boyle and Brandon Prust on the Rangers most consistent, balanced, and persistant line all season long, takes a blast off the hand---though x-rays did not show a break.

The Blueshirts have proven to be a legit playoff contender, but their gritty identity has been skewed since losing Callahan in mid-December---and would further be taxed if Fedotenko misses some time. Despite the fact that their record has remained good since Callahan went down, they Rangers have not shown that pit-bull tendency to attack the opposition like when Cally was in the lineup showing the way with his over-the-top boundless energy and passion.

"Ryan Callahan embodies what a Ranger should be," said the club's coach John Tortorella.

And he is right. But now the healthy Rangers---and there are fewer of them by the day as there were four players sidelined by injury for yesterday's game, and that was BEFORE Fedotenko was hurt---need to step up and play as they did when Callahan was in the lineup. Dispassionate performances, like those of the last two games in which they produced one goal in more than 120 minutes of hockey down in the Sunshine State, will send this team on a freefall out of the Top 8 in the East.

The Rangers need to reclaim their identity and not let the evil hand of injury wash away the good they have created, so far, this season. 

Tampa Bay Acquires Dwayne Roloson

Ironic that on a night Tampa Bay watched rookie Cedrick Desjardins play brilliantly in earning a 2-1 overtime victory over the Rangers---two nights after winning his debut 4-1 against Montreal---that the Lightning go out and acquire 41 year-old goalie Dwayne Roloson from the Islanders. But no matter the timing, it was a solid move by team GM Steve Yzerman.

Desjardins was heading back to the minors anyway, leaving the Lightning with the middle-of-the-road tandem of Dan Ellis and Mike Smith---who returns shortly from a knee injury---to backstop the top team in the Southeast Division.

While Roloson is no superstar, nor even the best goalie who may come on to the market before the trade deadline---think Tomas Vokoun, for example---he was having another strong year for a struggling Islanders team, and will definitely be an up-grade over Ellis and Smith.

Should Roloson help make the Lightning defense even a bit better---and my bet is that he will surely do that---then this is a steal for Yzerman, who for a low cost (he traded away a minor league defenseman and added the affordable contract of Roloson) gave his team-on-the-rise a better chance to win its division and, perhaps, make some noise in the post-season.

USA-Canada Meet Tonight at WJC

Canada won the international hockey event that mattered the most last year---the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver---but that doesn't mean the hockey-mad country isn't hell bent on revenge tonight vs. the United States. For it was also last year that Team USA secured a gold medal of its own by winning the 2010 World Junior Championships, besting Canada in an epic overtime finale.

Tonight Team Canada seeks its revenge, squaring off in a semi-final match-up with the United States at the '11 WJC. You just know they would love to hear "Oh Canada" played up in Buffalo on US soil following this evening's clash.

Like last year, these are two very talented teams, with the US squad perhaps holding a slight advantage in that department this time around. Goalie Jack Campbell looms to be the difference maker should the United States win.

But this is must-watch TV tonight. Catch it on the NHL Network here in the States beginning at 7:30.

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Hockey Recollections on a Snowy Day

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Written on 12/27/2010 by Jim Cerny

Sitting here at Madison Square Garden after a 2.5 hour snow-shoveling marathon and an ensuing uneventful drive into Manhattan---well, other than having to back up the length of 26th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues through the snow due to a stalled truck near tenth---I realized that I have yet to wish you all a Happy Holiday!

My bad....but, hey...Happy Holidays!

If you are on the east coast, hopefully you survived the wild snowstorm with at least you sense of humor still intact.

As for me, snowstorm or not, I did what I had planned all along to do last night...kick back and watch Team USA on The NHL Network play it's first game at the World Junior Championships up in Buffalo.

Sitting there watching hockey as the snow pounded greater New York outside my window I thought back to a pair of snow-related hockey travel stories from my past. One was after the Islanders team plane landed at a small Long Island airport following a wicked storm and all of us in our suits and dress shoes trudging through the deep snow to find our cars just absolutely buried underneath the white stuff.

Now, I'm not a complainer at all, but it's enough of a pain in the butt to clean ten inches of snow off the car when you do it in the middle of the day, but it really sucks when you do it at 2:00 in the morning following a full work day, game, and travel!

All the players were helping clean each other's cars when John Vanbiesbrouck came over to me and, without asking if I needed any help, quickly and efficently helped clean off my car and dig it out of the snowdrift it was parked in. It was a reminder that I didn't need to be a teammate to still be part of the "family", and it's part of the reason why I have so enjoyed my time working for both the Rangers and Islanders during my career.

We all---players, coaches, trainers, equipment men, staff (like me)---spend so much time together, traveling and living together on the road throughout the long season. And hockey players are so down to earth...though they are clearly the stars of the operation, and the most important people within the family...they see and understand and respect the other members, people like me. The Beezer snow story is just one of many examples I could give to prove this point.

The other story I thought back to last night also occurred when I was with the Islanders, serving as the team's radio play-by-play broadcaster. We were bussing from Calgary to Edmonton and the heating system in the bus did not work! So here we are, just absolutely freezing in the middle of an Alberta winter, million-dollar athletes and much-lesser paid "family" members alike. And though no one enjoyed the predicament at all, the laughs we had on that bus ride were priceless memories. I will never forget how everyone huddled inside their own long winter coats and shot one-liners back and forth the entire bus ride.

Welcome to the National Hockey League one and all! Indeed....

Good times and good memories were stirred during last night's storm.

As for Team USA's debut at the World Juniors....well, they did find a way to earn a 3-2 win over Finland on Nick Bjugstad's overtime goal, but they are going to have to be much better moving forward. Finland was the better team much of this game and was able to dictate the style of play.

But it was only the first game---butterflies and all that---so I'll give the US squad a pass and we'll see how they look moving forward in the tourny. But, again, the bottom line is that they won the game even when not at their best. And it's never a bad thing in a short tournament like this when your goalie---in this case Jack Campbell, the number one pick of the Dallas Stars this past summer---is your best player. And he was.

Next up for Team USA: Slovakia tomorrow night...and they may have to play without winger Jeremy Morin who suffered a fairly serious shoulder injury in last night's win. The loss would be significant as Morin is a veteran on the US squad, and I thought that he was one of the better and more effective players for United States last night.

Stay tuned....and in the meantime take something for that sore back you have from all that shoveling today...

Follow Me On Twitter: @jimcerny

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