A very light news day today. No Times, Daily News or Newsday Ranger articles, and the Journal News still hasn't hit the web at this time. Thankfully there are a pair of Hockeybird items to begin with.

Brian Leeds has had a tough couple of days between the Rangers 5-0 loss to Calgary and having his whirlwind marriage to childhood sweetheart Britney Spears suddenly annulled. Bah, don't sweat it, man. She wasn't good enough for you, anyway. I mean, what did she really have going for herself besides being hot... young... filthy rich... uh... hmm. Dude, you really blew this one.

Interesting article from the Rodent as he works through many of the more popular opinions on how to "fix things" in Rangerland. Also, just because I know he hates when I point out minor errors or typos in his articles (and that's what makes it fun), he accidentally lists Ken Burns, noted documentarist of baseball, the Civil War and jazz music, as the Devils coach instead of Pat Burns. At least he didn't say Montgomery Burns, or even worse, the deceased George Burns.

I have to wonder if Dan Martin at the Post bumped his head on something shortly before writing, "It has become clear that - win or lose - coach Glen Sather will ride Dunham the rest of the way. Backup Jussi Markkanen, who missed yesterday's practice with the flu, hasn't been the answer."

Huh?! Exactly when has this become clear and exactly when has Markkanen played himself out of the running for being "the answer"?! Enlighten us, please. Either Sather said something at practice yesterday (something that wasn't reported in Martin's article, might I add) or this is some of the sloppiest reporting I've seen all season. Wow.

And lookie here at what we come to in the very next article. Bridget Wentworth of the Star-Ledger has this to say on the goaltending situation: "There's a chance Dunham will be on the bench again tomorrow night when the Rangers visit Carolina. Coach Glen Sather indicated he might allow him to have the whole week off to practice." How ya like them apples, Dan Martin?? You are sooo burned. Superburned. Megaburned.

When it shows up on the 'net, a link to the Journal News Ranger article will go somewhere around this area. Just zoning off the space now. Although, the way things are going today, it wouldn't be all that surprising if they didn't have a Ranger article, so never mind. I'm going to re-zone this area for a swimming pool.

Shock of shocks, the Ranger-hating TSN has the Blueshirts ranked frickin' NINTH in their latest Power Rankings feature! Obviously it was compiled before the Calgary game.

In NHL news, Mario Lemieux is going to opt for surgery on his hip and miss the remainder of the season. He's probably crushed that he can't get back on the ice and create some magic with teammates like Dan Focht or Eric Meloche. And that's not all. The Senators' Vaclav Varada is also going to miss the remainer of the season, this one with a knee injury. I can't imagine they're passing around "Get Well, Vaclav!" greeting cards in too many NHL locker rooms right now.

And that's your news. Take it or leave it.

- Rocha

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