Saturday, May 26, 2012

1994 Is Dead

MATTEAU MATTEAU MATTEAU HENRIQUE HENRIQUE HENRIQUE!

It was eighteen years ago to the day when the New Jersey Devils, leading the Rangers 3-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals, blew a 2-0 lead to Mark Messier--he of "The Guarantee" fame--and their cross-river rivals and lost a chance to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. The Rangers won a decisive Game 7 at the Garden in double OT to move on to what would eventually be their first championship in 783 years (math might be off). It was a moment that became the stuff of legend for Rangers Nation and has haunted Devils fans who have woken up shivering in the night with echos of a certain player's name being shouted repeatedly by the play-by-play announcer reverberating in our heads.

Midway through the 2nd period of tonight's Game 6 at The Rock, the Rangers seemed to be evoking history. After falling behind 2-0 as a result of an ass-kicking 1st period display by Jersey, the blueshirts were at it again, eliminating a lead (as they'd done in Game 5) and tilting the ice in their favor. A tightly-checked 3rd would lead to an extra stanza, and the Rangers were one goal away from forcing a Game 7 in their building (where they've played two Game 7s previously these playoffs and, obviously, won both) and repeating history. But then, sixty-three seconds into the overtime period...

 

Script flipped. Writing a new one. Just in time for a date with Hollywood.



Step into the rain: secondrain.blogspot.com

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Orange Crushed

Ilya Kovalchuk straight trolls orangeheads.

And here we are, a week and a half after I feared my gracelessness would spell misfortune for my hockey team in the Eastern semi-finals against the mighty Flyers. The Devils are headed to the conference finals. The big bad Flyers, with their rough-and-tumble free-wheelin' barn-stormin' brand of hockey that reduced a respected organization in Pittsburgh to a piƱata, are staying home, where they were eliminated in five games. Claude Giroux, allegedly the "best player in the world," registered less even-strength points in this series than our recently turned 40-year-old netminder and watched his team's season end from the press box having been suspended for a petulant headshot on Dainius Zubrus in Game 4.

That illegal hit was telling. It demonstrated how deep under the Flyers' skin we'd gotten by just playing the type of hockey they nearly patented in the quarterfinals; by getting pucks low, winning board battles, establishing forecheck, and peppering their shaky goalie with shots, all while remaining disciplined by avoiding any after-the-whistle goonery that marked the Pittsburgh series, we frustrated the likes of Giroux and his teammates into making bad decisions. Read Scott Hockey Jesus Hartnell, he of 37 regular season goals fame, talk about how the Devils (who?) managed to hold him to just one goal all series: 
"I don't think we thought we were going to win four straight," Hartnell said today, "but definitely, they've played a lot stronger and a lot harder than me personally would have thought they'd come with. They've been on a high the last few weeks obviously, beating Florida in Game 7."
That "high" you're describing Scotty? It's called belief. And we just outbelieved you in five.


Photo New Jersey Devils
H/t Puck Daddy


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Monday, May 7, 2012

Must Go Faster

This wins cute gold medals.

 

 Via Gawker.

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Saturday, May 5, 2012

Oh, Got It Now


Wuerker via Politico


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Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Climax

This song. This video.

 


Step into the rain: secondrain.blogspot.com