Hello NY and everywhere else, welcome back to the Birdcage. Today we are lucky to have a guest, Redlight24 from the boards. Unlike Sal "Redlight" Messina, our Redlight got his nickname from scoring goals....not letting them in.

Anyhow, if like me you couldn't attend this event you can now read about it here and see some pics. There are many pics at the bottom so give it time to load all the images - Bird

"Dream Come True"

The Chance to skate on holy ground. The chance to fulfill a lifelong dream. Madison Square Garden, the worlds most famous arena, the site where Mark Messier scored his 500th goal in Mark Messier fashion - a hat trick. The place where in double OT of game 7 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the hated NJ Devils, Stephan Matteau scored one of the most famous goals in NHL history. The Place where Mike Richter recorded his 300th win of his great career. The place where The Great One scored his record breaking 1,072nd goal of his career. The place where Mark Messier scored goal numbers 1,850 and 1,851 to pass Gordie Howe as the second all-time points leader in NHL history. The place where the New York Rangers broke the 54 year long curse and WON the Stanley Cup! The list of great moments can go on and on as well as the number of great players that have skated on Garden Ice. Now I had the chance to do so. On Tuesday, November 16, 2004 we headed to Madison Square Garden for a Rangers Q&A followed by a skate on the worlds most famous ice.

Walking into the Garden through Penn station we saw a lot people around and we were thinking that this must be more popular than we originally thought. Then we get to the main lobby where I realized everyone was there to see some children's show "wiggles" (whatever the heck that is)
As we walk in, there were a couple of forms we had to sign, one release form to fill out regarding this being televised and the other for those wishing to skate on the ice.

Going in we all were given a nice NYR packet called the 2004 New York Ranger Hockey Blue Kit which included a rubber rangers puck, a true blue pin, rangers stickers, a rangers 2 track cd featuring the complete goal song (cool!) , and the rangers victory song. The last item in the Hockey Blue Kit 2004 was a Sheet w/ the "Top 10 things to do in New York to get through the work stoppage" and "Top 5 songs to download" list:
Top 10 list to get though the work stoppage: (#2 being the only one that I thought was remotely funny)

10: Take in MOMA exhibit of Picasso's blue period.
9: Play air hockey at your local sports bar. Good place to find "True Blues" on hiatus.
8: See the blue man group (even if it's not your cup of tea you'll love the color scheme)
7: Take "1" or "9" train at rush hour - it has some of the best body contact this side of the garden
6: Invite an unsuspecting friend over to watch Rangers Classics on MSG Network and bet him/her on the outcome.
5: See a concert at Irving Plaza and ask the band if they know the "rangers goal song"
4: Take in a revival of the iceman cometh
3: Visit Rockefeller center rink and yell at the skaters to "dig it out of the corner"
2: Stop at any street corner and cheer when the light turns red.
1: Visit your local hardware store, find the paint chip Pantone color 286 to paint your favorite room rangers blue.

Top 5 Songs to Download:
5: If loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right
4: Miss You!
3: Never never gonna give up on you
2: Am I blue?
1: Rhapsody in blue

So we get into the garden a bit early and see a "season ticket info" booth which we got a nice laugh out of. There were many free drinks and free food as well, which was a nice touch. (yeah give us some hockey dammit!) We checked our skates in and then went into the arena where the event was held. It was a very small setup, my girlfriend was kinda pissed at me for forgetting to let her know that it would be televised (whoops......I guess it was a bad hair day) as she was seated in the middle right where they all came in.

The Future Looks Bright - well that's the whole vibe we got out of the Q&A session in which Sam and JD asked questions to Tom Renney and Don Maloney. It was pretty much the same exact questions that were asked in day 1 just asked in slightly different ways. Lots of talk about different rangers current players and prospects such as: Jozef Balej - great hands, very smart player / Dan Blackburn - Had more nerve damage but doctors were able to remove part of the problem areas but there still is one more hurdle for him climb and it's one more nerve to be fixed/removed. If it heals perfect, the future looks good for him and he is in top notch shape / Hugh Jessiman - season ending injury as we all know, but is expected to make full recovery / Lauri Korpikoski - has a slight knee injury but has since healed and will be playing in the WJC / Henrik Lundqvist - tearing it up in Europe (called the hottest goalie in Europe by Renney and Maloney) playing the best goaltending of his young career / Billy Ryan - went from 4th to 1st line and is playing w/ Greg Moore and had to adapt his game and is progressing well / Fedor Tyutin - real deal, already NHL ready defenseman who will only get better / Maxim Kondratiev - went to Russia to play during the lockout and once they come to an agreement be should be playing w/ the big boys / Al Montoya - Has a ton of talent and can be the next huge goaltender superstar. Maloney also said they want to give him time to progress his game and not rush him up.

They also spoke about the addition of goaltender coach Benoit Allaire who will be working w/ the goaltenders and that he has a very impressive resume and will sharpen their skills. The main thing they kept going back to was that the team they're trying build is a team full of "heart" "character" and "skill" and don't want any me first type of players anymore.

Next came the Q&A portion of the show. I thought they were going to be in for a long night when the first question came from a fan who seemed pretty upset over the current rangers problems over the years and took it to them asking them when the lies would stop, etc. Maloney and Renney where ok under pressure and came up w/ the typical answers to the tough questions. One thing I did like was Maloney's candor when asked about prior mistakes when he admitted that they screwed up badly at times and that they knew it, and were unhappy at the situation they had in the previous years with the rangers organization. A friend of mine asked a question about leadership and the real status of Mark Messier that they pretty much gave a response that they hadn't spoke to him about anything. (no surprise there) The best question, though, came from one of Hockeybirds own, mhurley. She spoke about Korpikoski along w/ expressing her opinion to get out to see a Wolfpack game. I didn't get it all (though she was the most well spoken and it was the best question which no doubt should make the TV show) because when I heard her state her name, I obviously knew it was the Hockeybird mhurley I was looking for! Q&A ends and Sam JD Tom and Don hang out for a bit sign a couple of autographs take a picture or two then head off.

Next was ice time!

As I stated at the beginning, to be able to even touch the garden ice, let alone skate on it, would be a dream come true - and it was! The smile still has yet to leave my face.

Here are the photos:

MHURLEY CHECKING ME INTO THE BOARDS AS PROMISED!!!

Q&A Setup 1

Q&A Setup 2

Q&A Aftermath 1

Q&A Aftermath 2

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

REDLIGHT SKATING AT CENTER ICE

REDLIGHT & BEST FRIEND DAVE TOUCHING CENTER ICE IN AWE

"FUTURE BLUE"

REDLIGHT & MY GIRLFRIEND DONNA WITH DAVE & HIS GIRLFRIEND JAMIE

OUR GIRLFRIENDS STANDING ON THE MSG ICE!

Thanks to Redlight for the great report. ----}- Bird

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