Hockeybird.com: When Accountants Attack

For the first half of the season, Hartford’s anemic offense was led by the players you would expect: Chad Wiseman, Cory Larose, and Jason MacDonald. Chad eventually ended up with the ‘hot shot’ award, and $1000 was donated to a local charity in his name as per tradition.

Since the season has turned the corner into the second half, though, things have been a little more unexpected. Now the Pack is led by… Bobby Andrews, Paul Healey and Garth Murray? In the seven games since the half way mark, Bobby has 7 points, Paul has 6, Garth has 3, and Benoit Dusablon replaced Garth on this line today and has 3 of his own. Tonight the Pack woke up from the slump they’ve been in for the past few home games as this line exploded for four goals. Nice. Now if I could just figure out how Bobby got to be +12 while Paul and Garth are only even (tonight’s +4 really helped Healey.) Would be great if this line could be used to get Benoit going as well.

Garth, team leader in penalty minutes, got knocked down yesterday by Manchester’s obnoxious Joe Rullier, and got back up ready to fight. Rullier’s hallmark, though, is to laugh in the face of anyone who calls him on his dirty hits. Apparently the ref agreed with my assessment of #7 in white, though, because although Garth dropped the gloves and Rullier didn’t, no penalties were assessed. Today Garth finally got what he wanted though, and he and Rullier went a round. I’d call it a draw, and although Garth certainly didn’t think the bout was over, McGill apparently decided he was done fighting for the day. Snarling, Garth left Rullier alone for the rest of the game.

Speaking of fighters, Richard Scott was in the stands in Hartford today, hanging with former Pack player Stef Cherneski on the eve of Stef’s return to college for the spring semester. When asked when he would be back, Richard said a month – but when pressed admitted that he still was not symptom free and had debilitating headaches on a daily basis. He also said that when he does come back, he won’t change his game a bit. Realistically, its not like Richard brings much to the table besides energy, hitting, and a total disregard for his personal safety in a fight, so its not like he has much of a choice there. Coupled with no decrease in symptoms of PCS, I’d say this was his admission that he’s probably done.

Recent additions Louie DeBrusk and Jeff Heerema have been less than stellar. DeBrusk managed to get injured in his first fight and missed several games – since then he’s been invisible. Heerema scored a goal his first game, like all scoring forward do when they arrive. Since then he’s been petulant and even got benched earlier this week. He refuses to play in traffic. He’s really not that small, but he sure plays like he is.

We’re still hurting on defense with Fedor Tyutin (sprained knee) and his mentor John Jakopin (sprained hip flexor) both out. I went Fedor hunting tonight to see if I could find out how much longer he would be out. Last night Fedor and Juris Stals (knee surgery) were left unchaperoned and sat in the stands looking painfully bored. Tonight, Juris turned up in the stands before warm-ups even started, wandering around looking completely lost. Fedor and John never did show up, leaving me to wonder whether John took the opportunity to teach his young padawan the finer points of negotiating the champagne room.

We have another forward out besides Juris – Dominic Moore was cut badly game before last and required several stitches after what seemed to be a skate to the face. Dom has been a disappointment this year, but perhaps the transition from college hockey is wearing on him more than it seems to be on Jed Ortmeyer.

Speaking of Jed, does anyone else picture him as kind of the pet rabbit of the Rangers? He seems to be so liked by all the players, self-effacing, humble, well-spoken… I keep picturing the guys bickering over who gets to take Jed home for the weekend so their girlfriend can do his laundry and make sure he gets a home-cooked meal.

By my count, Jayme Filipowicz has obtained 4 black eyes in 46 games played, and at the moment is so cut up on his face that he is hardly recognizable. Good thing this guy is already married.

Without John we are hurting for size and muscle on the blueline, and when Lawrence Nycholat gets called up we are left without a whole lot of leadership as well. Kenny Gernander has gracefully stepped back to the blueline to fill in, and has done an excellent job – several players have in all seriousness called him the best defensemen we have had as of late. Coach Ryan McGill had stated several times that he was so pleased with Kenny’s skill in the blueline that he was seriously considering keeping him there – a move that could lengthen the smallish winger’s career. Kenny, ever willing to do whatever it takes to help the team, has gracefully agreed, even though that means his chances of hitting the 600 point mark (currently 284-315-599) a little slimmer.

Part of the reason that Kenny was needed back there (besides the injuries to Fedor and John and the recall of Lawrence) was that Craig Weller has excelled on wing as a hulking bookend with Louie Debrusk to protect our tiny centers like Cory Larose. Craig hits with enthusiasm and fights quite well if needed. I’m not exactly sure what the going rate is for souls these days, but his skating has improved astronomically since last year. Although he seems to be doing well at wing and defense, the coach has been reluctant to move him between the two positions too often. According to McGill, Craig does well when given clear instructions on how to play a game – but he needs to be asked to only do that one thing in order for him to really do well. Until tonight, that meant that he stayed at forward even if that meant we had to play Kenny at defense and even go with only 5 dmen on occasion. Tonight, though, he was moved back to the blueline and did well there.

Jeff State is back in town, although it’s been somewhat of a rough trip this time around. Benched for part of one game, a healthy scratch for another, it looked as if he was having a hard time catching up to the faster paced AHL. Out of the three fights he has had since his return, only one has been at home – and I spent most of that one watching through my fingers. Yikes. Tonight he looked much more comfortable (perhaps with the knowledge that with Vlad out, his ticket back to Charlotte is on hold again) and even used the Poti poke check a couple times. He even did what he needs to do in order to have any hope of sticking in this league – throw that 6-6, 235 body around and smoosh opponents into the glass. Just, please, Jeff – don’t drop the gloves any more. It hurts too much to watch.

Can we please have our goalie back now? Last week Jason LaBarbera was the AHL player of the week, leading the league with 17 wins and 8 shutouts in 33 games. His GAA is 1.46 and his save percentage is .936. Both times he’s been called up to New York he’s been hung out to dry by that nonsense they call ‘defense’ when dressed in blue. Phil Osaer is a good backup, but he’s not a starter by any stretch of the imagination.

That’s it for now… you don’t deserve any more of our kids until you learn to use what you’ve got in New York first. Neither Nycholat nor LaBarbera are the answer to the Rangers’ troubles, so you might as well leave them with us to finish developing – that way they’ll still have trade value when Glen decides he needs Bill Guerin.

all acerbic comments on glen are acceptable. my biggest concern is that the wolfpack players glen calls up are not playing well. nycholat and labarbara did not look good at all. is this because they are not ready, too much self imposed pressure because. the NYR stink, or they do not have the ability to compete at NHL level. jed is playing ok, just goes to show what a talent differential there is between pro and college. He really has no hands, but he is a valuable player, one I hope glen holds onto. Being captain of michigan for 2 years is testimony of his leadership skills which the rangers could sorely use.

Posted by: nrf83 on January 26, 2004 11:47 AM

Posted by: nrf83 on January 26, 2004 11:51 AM