Commence clock watching folks, for the Rangers' season begins tonight.
Sorry for the lateness of this post but there's a lot to cover today. Let's start with The Ghost of Opening Nights Past, AKA The Rodent. Our chisel toothed, gnawing mammal recaps the last 7 opening nights.
The Rangers homepage has an official game preview emphasizing the teams new plan for the season -- structure. Hopefully, Tom Poti did not take too much of a ribbing in the locker room after stating, "There has been much more structure with the team this season compared to last season, including more systems play and discipline from the players. We executed well, especially towards the end of pre-season. If we execute, we’ll be successful."
This is a theme picked up by many of the papers today. In The Post, Sather's comments are optimistic without being hyperbolic: "Now obviously we haven't played a game yet, and until we get into it we won'treally know, but I'm confident that we have a group of players who are very comfortable with one another and are going to be able to handle adversity when it strikes."
The Post notes that the Rangers have a fairly easy start to the season with their first two games coming against Minnesota and Columbus followed by 6 home games. Newsday quotes Matt Barnaby who notes that the need for structure and adherence to a system may be most important against weaker teams. "We've been ad-libbing for too long against teams like those, and it's killed us."
While The Post and Newsday agree that only time will tell if the Rangers are able to stick to the system this year, they contradict one another on the subject of Kasparitis' partner tonight. Sather has not commented but the Post states, "It appears likely that Joel Bouchard will open as Darius Kasparaitis' partner," while Newsday feels that "Dale Purinton starts the season there with Joel Bouchard waiting in the wings."
The Journal News continues the theme of guarded optimism stating, "First, the Rangers must prove they've broken their bad habits of undisciplined play and disinterested defense." Word up, yo.
The Star Ledger hears that train a-comin' and it's the E-Train. Asked if he was primed to be a force in the league again Eric responded, "Oh, I plan on it. I plan on it, for sure. And I don't see a reason why it doesn't happen." And then he shot the reporter, just to watch her die. As Bridget Wentworth's life slowly slipped away, Eric's good friend Matt Barnaby leaned over her prone body and, with a maniacal grin and a gleam in his eye, he told her, "I want every team to hate him as much as I hated him."
The New York Times also focuses on the high expectations for Lindros this season. Mark Messier is quoted as saying that Lindros is the team's "on-ice leader, there's no question about it." Messier hastened to add that he led the team off the ice by reading to them from the funnies and giving clear, concise instructions on how he likes his coffee. Asked if he was bothered by his absence from The Hockey News' list of Top 50 Players, Lindros said, "I can critique my play very clearly on my own. I don't need any armchair quarterbacks to do it for me. I just want to go out and play and play well again." And then he body checked John Diamos into the lockers.
The Daily News notes that the Rangers are starting the season with something unique this year -- continuity. "The club that opens the season tonight at Minnesota looks and feels a lot like the one that left the ice in Montreal last April." Aside from coaching and the lack of a system, the lack of continuity has been another pet peeve of mine over the past several seasons so you can count me among the cautiously optimistic.
Finally, The Hartford Courant, (registration required), talks about opening night for Hartford. For those of you who like to think about the future, take heart in the fact that this year's starting team for Hartford is considerably younger than in years past. Indeed, Captain Ken Gernander had the following to say: "There are more younger guys, but teaching is one thing and learning is another. There has been a lot more learning this year because guys have been a lot more receptive and have bought into the team concept."
So that's it folks. Buy your beer, check the batteries in your remote and get ready to get it on. The Rangers' season starts tonight! Will we see discipline? Will we see commitment to a system? Will we see accountability and a team first attitude from the players? Stay tuned...
-- Rightbug
Posted by Cliff at October 10, 2003 10:06 AMeMail this entry!
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