This week, my students wanted to know whether or not I have ever been arrested. I don’t recall how that came up in class, but I told them my record is clean. Then they wanted to know whether or not I would admit it if it hadn’t been (aren’t they smart?) and I reassured them that I would never lie to them. Fortunately, they are not experienced enough yet to realize that I hadn’t really answered their question.

I had an opportunity to change that tonight, though. In the third period of a Pack game in which we had struggled to tie things up against an expansion team that is in the basement of its division, my friend Jaime suggested that when our boys scored the go-ahead goal, we imitate the little boys on the other side of the arena – take our shirts off and twirl them above our heads while jumping up and down to get the attention of the cameras.

I was so sure that we would never score that goal that I agreed. Mind you, I even had a former student with me. Even as the game went into overtime, I was never concerned that I might be forced to strip and face probable arrest, because I knew we weren’t going to score. We barely even pressured. The Pack have truly become the baby Rangers.

Current AHL rules allow for 17 skaters on any game roster. Only six of those (plus one exemption) can be vets. Since the Pack currently has 10 vets on our 23-man roster (Jason Dawe, Jeff Toms, Terry Virtue, Kenny Gernander, Anders Myrvold, Todd Hall, Sean Gagnon, Michal Grosek, Steve McKenna, Brad Smyth), obviously there are some issues. Kenny takes the exemption for having played over 450 games, meaning that 3 guys have to sit out each night just because we have too many vets. Dawe, Toms, Virtue, Grosek and Smyth play every game, meaning that Myrvold, Hall, Gagnon, and McKenna have to take turns. Hall has been scratched for all but one game, and McKenna has only gotten two turns on the ice. Gagnon just earned himself a multi-game suspension for a fight in which he may or may not have left the bench, so he will be up in the stands bouncing his infant daughter on his knee for several weeks. Myrvold looks to actually get some playing time. But did I mention we currently have 11 defensemen on our roster?

The Pack’s roster is a disaster as it currently stands. We have three goalies (even before one of them went on the IR), 11 defensemen (two injured and one now suspended), 3 centers (two of whom are playing wing at the moment), 5 right wings (two of whom are playing center), and 4 left wings. We have so many players that we have to scratch a couple each night just because of room, in addition to those sitting because of the veterans rule. Playing well doesn’t guarantee ice time when you simply can’t dress 6 men a night no matter how well they are playing.

And we don’t keep an overflowing roster because New York is calling up a lot of our guys – that would be a good reason to do so, in my mind. No, we do so because there is nowhere else to send them. Charlotte is full up, even several guys who really could play in the AHL got sent down just because there wasn’t room here. And we’re full because there isn’t room in New York for kids – or vets – who work hard every night. Apparently a player explained the reason we were keeping so many vets on the roster is because the situation in New York is so unsettled. He believes that when “something” is done to resolve the chaos that is the Rangers, many of our guys will be given the reward they deserve in the form of a call-up.

To me, this sounds like a line – “Yeah, I’ll call you. Go home and wait by the phone, okay?” This particular player seems to have bought that line, but these guys aren’t stupid. I’m sure they hope to get called up, but the ones who have been around a while know better.

So what does this mean for the boys of the Pack? It means that it no longer matters how well the team does. The vets saw what happened after the Pack won the Calder Cup – nothing. No call ups, no great trades to teams that wanted their proven skills. They rotted in Hartford last year, and now they are bitter. The kids, on the other hand, came in excited to show their stuff so they could get called up to New York. In the meantime, New York has become a less desirable place to go, and they have found that no one there cares how they do anyway.

When I watched this team play tonight, I realized that at all times I was watching six men with six different game plans. No one wanted to take the hit – why bother? No one hustled to get the puck – what’s the point? Make a good pass? It’s so much easier to just toss it into center ice and let someone else go get it. The only thing they did was take shots and slam sticks and opponents against the glass, boards and ice in frustration. Our captain, who on the Pack’s weekly radio show complained that no one was working, smashed his stick into pieces and threw it into the bench at his teammates. Their reaction? Nothing.

After watching all this, I knew there was no chance of them outworking a team that wanted the win more than they wanted to simply get off the ice and go home. So sure, I agreed to strip for the next goal. It wasn’t going to happen.

- Heather

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