NotTheRock Musings

Well, last night was awesome again. The Rangers finished off their sweep of the Atlanta Thrashers with a 4-2 victory in a game that was a lot like the first two in that it was close, but different in that the Thrashers actually led. Twice, in fact.

For the first time in a while, I wasn't as nervous as I usually am when watching the Rangers in the playoffs. They had so completely dominated the Thrashers on Tuesday night and the Thrash looked so overmatched that when the game began and the Rangers continued to look focused, I just allowed myself to enjoy the game. Sure, they went down 1-0 and 2-1 but they evened the score both times shortly after falling behind and then scored on a much-reviewed goal two minutes into the third period and that turned out to be the difference.

Over at Boiled Sports, I put up video clips in my post about last night's game. Check 'em out if you're interested. Some good stuff.

Now the Rangers move on to the second round for the first time in ten years and face any of four teams. It's hard to say, since all the other series are still going on and the Rangers are the first team in the playoffs to advance. Man, it's been a while since they looked this good.

I'm obviously still realistic and not expecting a Cup this year. However, in February I wasn't expecting them to make the playoffs. And last week I wasn't expecting them to sweep Atlanta. And last year, I wasn't expecting 8th-seeded Edmonton to make the Finals. So who the hell knows. I do know that I'll be there in a week to ten days, whenever the Rangers next home game is, and I'll be loving it.

Labels: me taking sports way too seriously, NHL, playoffs, Rangers, things that shouldn't take ten years

Well, it's about damn time. The Rangers took Game One of their first-round series last night against the Atlanta Thrashers 4-3. More importantly, they actually won a playoff game for the first time in almost ten years. Ten freakin' years.

It was May of 1997 and I was still in college. Then they didn't make the playoffs again until last year and then, last year, they got swept and I was at all four games. So last night was the first Rangers playoff game I've watched on TV since May of '97, and I remember watching the game from Harry's Chocolate Shop (note: not actually a chocolate shop) in West Lafayette, Indiana because my new apartment didn't have cable yet.

Some perspective? Well, the Rangers current goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, was 14 years old. Wayne Gretzky was on the team, playing alongside Mark Messier for their one year together in New York. Oh, and Gretzky was just 36 and still had a couple more years to go.

The Yankees had won only one World Series since 1978; they had yet to go on their three-in-a-row run from '98-'00.

I was 21 years old. I've been to probably 75-100 games in person in between playoff wins.

As though I didn't have enough stress on me watching them in the playoffs, I added some wages to the night. One was whether or not Michael Nylander would have an assist in the game for the Rangers. I was getting good odds and I was confident he would come through...and he did, with one goal and two assists. I also took the "over" on goals scored in all NHL playoff games last night. There were four games and the over/under was 22.5 -- 25 were scored. So yeah, go me.

Game 2 is Saturday afternoon and then Games 3 and 4 are back to back on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at the Garden. You know where I'll be for those.

Labels: gambling, me taking sports way too seriously, playoffs, Rangers, things that shouldn't take ten years