Let’s face it - I do not like the hockey player….

However, as a member of the human race, I hope that he recovers from the lacerated spleen that he suffered last night.

No matter what rumors you hear, that is a scary thing. He should make a full recovery before camp begins, and will be back to his usual pest ways.

That’s fine…

I may wish that he never has to play the Islanders again, but not for those reasons. Get better Sean.

Isn’t yours???

Well - mine is….

NOT

As the media did when the season started, they basically anointed the Rangers the champs. Just what you need to start up the “Mutant Fans”. And by the way - that does not categorize all Rangers fans. There are many that are good fans, and do not act that way. However, the muppets that do - make Rangers fans the most obnoxious fans in hockey. That is not my opinion, that is of many others that I have encountered.

However, you just do not think that all 29 teams were to bow to you, and let you walk away with the cup, do you?

I dont think so.

The reason that you are down 3-0 is simple. Making the most of the opportunities and not playing stupid. (Ask Ryan Hollweg that…). Taking stupid penalties, not taking advantage of your own situations, and most of all - the wining….

Crying about Crosby…. Take the limelight off of him, and shine it on Malkin. He has abused the Rangers in last night’s game. This has been great seeing the focus on Crosby, because it has allowed others to shine. The defense for Pittsburgh has been brilliant! Blocking shot, taking players to the outside. The Rangers got their chances, but the defense for the Pens have done a great job. The inept Devils D, just made the Rangers think that all other opponents would just succumb to the same play….

I say HA!

By the way Derek Felix… Look at the Detroit series…. Colorado has given more effort than the Islanders have in this playoff series. Right - the Isles are not in it - about as much as Colorado is right now…

Well - let me go to the corner and do some more crying for the Rangers. As Joe Mac would say, they are DOEN!

I saw an article on ESPN.com today, and it mentioned about a SWB Penguin (AHL) captain being arrested over the weekend for drunk behavior and indecent exposure. Supposedly over a bet, the baby Penguin streaked around the streets of Wilkes Barre in a drunken state.

The article was nothing much, but in the comments section below it, there was a great comment…

I am sure that Rangers fans will accuse this Penguin of Diving!

That quote was priceless.

So - what do the Rangers need to do to win tonight? Keep their heads and maybe score a goal or two….. Especially on the PP.

The Pens - keep presurring the Rangers at every turn, and when they say “Uncle”, do some more…..

Will San Jose drop dead and give up….? Well - they need a shock treatment tonight!

Tune into versus tonight, and see what brews.

- Pens look real strong. I think the ending of game 2 made the thoughts of game 3 be real interesting to say the least

- Wining and moaning from the Rangers about Crosby. They are not totally off base, but they had their chances on the PP, and did NOTHING. So quit crying, you bunch of babies, and try to put the puck in the net. It makes you sound like children.

- Detroit looks like they may do it in 4. See Derek, Patrick and Steve from the NYHR last week, I do know what I am talking about once in a while.

- Montreal/Philly should be quite interesting tonight, as the Kostopolous incident will make to the forefront. Expect Cote, Downey, and other enforcers to be ready to take on the Habs at home tonight.

- San Jose - I think they forgot to bring the defense to the 3rd period.

- Brad Richards came out of his slumber with a 4 point night in the 3rd period. He works in spurts.

- Officiating has been tough - but better than the first round. I am glad they removed the guys that were real poopy!

Make sure you tune into Versus for Game 3 in Philly tonight, as this is the only game on tonight. And BTW - Go Pens!

Also - Ducks gets 6 runs in first three innings to win 10-6 at Home against Newark. Day off today, before a 3 game series against Lancaster starting tomorrow.

Central Islip, NY. - As to most starts of baseball seasons, players have been dealing with the warm temperatures of Florida. With the Atlantic League, this is no exception. After an evening that felt more like July, the cool spring breezes returned to Citibank Park on Saturday night, as the Long Island Ducks relievers struggled with their control in the latter stages of the game, and fell to the Newark Bears 6-4. Both teams are now 1-1 to start the season

Long Island pitchers retired their opponents in order in five of the nine innings. In three of the other four, however, Newark got base hits and scored in each of these frames.

Newark opened the scoring in the first inning, by getting three bloop singles, with the last being a broken bat effort boy Corey Aldridge scoring two of Ducks starter Manny Ulloa.

Ducks catcher Jamie Pogue’s sharp single over shortstop put the Ducks on the board in the 2nd inning. Long Island took the lead in the next inning thanks in part to four singles off Bears starter Benito Baez.

In the fourth, Ulloa’s error allowed the inning to continue, and the Bears took advantage of the mistake by driving home a run on a sacrifice fly, then a single by Vic Guitierrez to right, putting Newark on top by a four to three score.

“The error he (Ulloa) seemed to lose his confidence”, said Ducks manager Dave LaPoint, who removed the starter after the fourth run scored.

Ducks newcomer Ryan Knippschild pitched brilliantly from the fourth through the sixth innings, to keep the Bears bats from doing any further damage, retiring ten straight batters.

“He threw the ball real well”, said LaPoint. “These guys (Knippschild and Jon Asahina) are guys that we really don’t know that well. We put them in and they threw strikes and got the job done.”

In the bottom of the seventh, Carl Everett smoked a fast ball by Newark reliever Cory Willey (1-0) deep to left center field to even the score at four. Everett has been tearing the cover off the ball in the first two games of the season, with five hits in his first eight trips to the plate.

In the eighth, after Ben Grezlovski (0-1) allowed a hit to Bobby Hill, who was then sacrificed to second, Tom Martin came in to pitch. After retiring Randall Simon for the second out, Martin faced Cory Aldridge. On a three and two count, Aldrige slapped a curveball to right field over P.J. Rose to give the Bears a 5-4 lead. After walking and hitting the next batter with a pitch, Asahina relieved Martin, and gave up an infield single to Jon Pachot, to increase the lead to 6-4.

For the Ducks, however, the bats went silent. Al Levine pitched a scoreless ninth inning to save the Bears first win of the season.

“It is early, and we are playing good baseball. Our pitcher made the only error, but we are playing well, as a team and it will only get better”, said LaPoint.

QUACKER NOTES: Third baseman Damian Rolls had three singles for the Ducks, who collected ten hits on the evening. Former major leaguer Randall Simon of the Bears was spotted in the dugout, as the Nathan’s Hot Dog Race was held down the third base line. Simon, playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates a few years back, tackled a bratwurst during a similar race in Milwaukee which caused national attention. Fortunately, no wieners suffered any injuries in this contest.

It’s Duck Season!!!

Yes Bugs, you are right!

The Long Island Ducks, that is….

This is the ninth season of Ducks Baseball to be played at Citibank Park in Central Islip. I am so looking forward to getting back to the park.

Mind you, I am a staunch METS fan (sorry Yankee Universe…). I enjoy the rivalry, but don’t hate the Yankees, but I can never root for them (kind of like a certain hockey team that is on 33rd street, eh?). However, going to the Ducks, you are right in the action. An intimate crowd of about 6,000+ that get into it. The action is right on top of you, and although it is not MLB, it is a good product. I love it, and about 3 years ago, Joe McDonald, the “Big Toe” of the NY Sports Day conglomerate, gave me the chance to work on my writing skills, and get to cover a minor league baseball team. I only do occasional home games, but it is a great chance to be responsible for letting people know about the game, that did not attend or listen to the game on the radio.

Some cynical people can say:

Sure - you get into the game for free, and eat for free too…..

Yes - I do, and the food at the game is not too bad, either!!! And yes - I save $10 per game, but really, the cost is DEFINITELY not a factor.

I love the game, and getting to tell people about it - is a great deal of fun for me.

This weekend, the new look Ducks take on the Atlantic League Champion Newark Bears for a 3 game set. The Ducks have a number of players with extensive major league experience, including former Met Carl Everett, who last year for the Ducks slugged a team record 97 RBI’s. Pete Rose Jr., returns to the Flock after setting a team record in hits (155) and batted .342. Local star Kevin Haverbusch comes back to Long Island having a strong spring, and ready to go. Dominick Ambrosini also comes back to the Ducks after achieving career numbers with Lancaster last season.

The Atlantic League now has an even number of team’s this year (excluding last year’s Road Warriors), with the advent of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. With an even number, the Ducks willl play 140 games, so 70 home dates await the fans this season.

Make sure you check out www.nysportsday.com for your great coverage of the Ducks, and other sports that are New York. Great coverage, excellent insight, and independent reporting are what makes New York Sports Day a great place to get your sports info (BTW - am I sucking up to boss Big Toe??? - No.)

I will post my article on the viewfromsection317 Blog too.

Yes - I have linked to a couple of articles lately. It is good for people that read this blog (and I know I get a few hundred hits a day…), to get information that I feel is either pertinent, or interesting.

I have been so busy working that I have not been able to devote time to writing. I feel bad about that, but that’s the way it goes.

Well - great game in MTL last night. Just when I thought that HABS would be down and out. Poof. Kovalev wakes up the boys and Kostopolous puts in the winner. That will definitely DEFLATE the Flyers.

Detroit… yea whatever. At least Colorado made a game out of it. What a save by Ozzie at the end of the game on J.M. Liles.

Looking forward to the Penguins feasting on some chum! Bwhahahahaha!

I see a photoshop job coming on this article soon…

With credit to abc.com, check this out…

Ranger Wears Prada: Hockey Player to Intern at Vogue Magazine
Sean Avery Loves to Intimidate Opposing Players, and He’s Into Fashion!
By SUSAN DONALDSON JAMES
April 23, 2008

Macho man and provocateur Sean Avery — by some accounts the most hated player in the National Hockey League — will be joining the estrogen-infused world of fashion as an unpaid intern at Vogue magazine.

Sean Avery, the aggressive left-wing for the New York Rangers, will take his hockey bruises and his talent to a summer internship at Vogue.

More PhotosJust last week, Avery helped the New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the NHL play-offs with his usual in-your-face tricks: agitation, verbal taunts and fighting.

In his 14 months as a Rangers left wing, Avery has tallied 212 penalty minutes, which makes many wonder if he can handle editorial collaboration and taking orders as an intern.

“We are going to have to see how far the Rangers go to determine when he will start, but he will certainly be here and get an internship with a variety of editors,” Patrick O’Connell, director of communications for Vogue, told ABCNews.com. “I don’t know if he’ll be writing yet, but he will be doing regular tasks.”

That means the stocky, 28-year-old athlete — who is in the midst of the NHL playoffs — will be “answering phones, working photo shoots, getting samples, contacting people, working the gamut,” according to O’Connell.

The magazine internship is not without precedent. Matt Chatham, the starting linebacker for the New York Jets, was a writing intern at Esquire in 2004 and, according to one inside source, “was a really nice kid and did well.”

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Avery, who makes $2 million a year with the Rangers and has cavorted with starlets since his days with the Los Angeles Kings, initiated the contact with Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

“He is ridiculously obsessed with fashion,” Avery’s publicist Nicole Chabot told ABCNews.com. “He loves it more than anything in the world. It’s something he has always wanted to do.”

Chabot admits Avery is an agitator in the “old-style” of hockey and a “blabber mouth,” but off ice the player is “surprisingly articulate, creative and savvy,” she said.

He’s also charming, she noted. “There is not a woman that doesn’t fall in love with him in five minutes.”

Though his assignments are “evolving,” Avery will go to Paris Fashion Week with international editor-at-large Hamish Bowles, according to Chabot.

Avery, who never earned a college degree because he was drafted into the NHL right after high school, has said he wants to be a fashion magazine editor.

Rangers’ fans are well familiar with Avery’s fashion sense. He may be the first hockey player ever to sport a pair of trendy glasses in the Rangers official yearbook.

“He is serious about learning the fashion industry and to that end, we are happy to give him a chance,” said O’Connell. “He certainly has a demonstrated history. It makes sense.”

Does it?

Avery is widely known for his brutal antics on the ice and was ranked second on the team last season in penalty minutes.

He is “what hockey people call an agitator,” writes The New Yorker’s Nick Paumgarten. “His job, which seems to have no analogue in sports — or in any line of work, except maybe terrorism — is to annoy his opponents so intensely that they cannot resist retaliating. He goads foes into losing their focus and, in theory, the game.”

OK Isles fans - let’s make fun of this……………………

Yes - I have climbed aboard. I hope the rest of my Islander brethren, as well as Devils Nation jump on too….

The last series, I was not that confident about the Devils chances of moving on (Sorry Devs fans - just being honest). However, I am very confident about the Pens. This team is for real!

Crosby and Malkin have been fabulous this year. This is a team that is created to win now. I know that their goalie would not be rated higher than Lundqvist, but I like how he did in the last series. Yes - Ottawa was a team that slipped faster than Danica Patrick on a Japanese race track, but any team needs to play at their best, to win. Pittsburgh had their chins up, and manhandled the Sens.

Will they do the same to the Rangers? I don’t think it is a 4 game sweep, but I think they can take the Rangers. The Rangers will not have the ability to deal with the top 3 lines effectively. They will have to take advantage of the #5 and 6 d-men. The lower lines will have to step up even more, and gain opportunities, in order for them to come out on top.

And as an Islander fan - the last thing you want, is a playoff successful Ranger team. There, I said it!

As far as last night is concerned, I wanted to see the Rangers end up playing Pitt instead of Montreal. I just feel that the opposition has a better chance, if it has a bird on their crest, as opposed to two letters. Montreal does not match up against the Rangers as well as they do against Philly. However, I feel bad for the Caps. They played a great series, got the comeback goal from Mr. Ovechkin (My MVP pick). However, a tough way to end it, as former Isle Tom Poti in the box, as Lupul gets an easy goal past Huet to give the Flyers the series win.

Congrats to the Caps and their fans for a great season, and I know that their team will be even stronger next year!

Well - my picks… Pens in 6. Habs in 7. Wings in 5. Dallas in 7.

This article came from the Canadian Press this morning. I know that Canadiens are passionate about their hockey, but it seems that their passion is a bit too much. Check this out:

MONTREAL - The burnt-out shells of at least five Montreal police cars littered the city’s downtown early Tuesday morning after vandals torched and smashed vehicles and damaged businesses to punctuate a first-round NHL playoff victory celebration.

A massive crowd celebrating the Canadiens seventh-game victory Monday over the Boston Bruins filled downtown streets Monday and had started to disperse just before midnight when smaller pockets started the violence. There were no initial reports of injuries.

Jean-Francois Hotte said the incident degenerated quickly as police started chasing people.

“One minute we were all hanging out and celebrating and then all hell broke out,” Hotte said.

Hotte said he watched as a Foot Locker store was ransacked by looters. A liquor store was also hit.

“It didn’t take five minutes before everyone was up on Ste-Catherine Street. It went really fast.”

While the initial celebration was relatively peaceful, small groups milled around on several street corners even as riot police surrounded burning vehicles to allow firefighters to douse flames.

Television helicopter footage showed one instance where a pair of vandals on a darkened street set ablaze the interior of a damaged, abandoned police car while a third person recorded the act with his cellular telephone. A handful of others stood by watching.

Police spokeswoman Const. Anie Lemieux could not confirm the number of arrests but several men were taken away in handcuffs, including some wearing Canadiens jerseys who pounded a car with cement blocks. Several stores were also damaged.

“Police officers are still on the scene trying to control these people,” Lemieux said just after midnight in Montreal.

“Fortunately no one seems to have been injured so far. Police have had things thrown at them, bystanders too.”

Lemieux said it would be impossible to tell the extent of the damage until the downtown area calmed down.

Ava Ball was advised by police to keep her car underground as the tension continued to escalate.

“I had to take my car back into the underground because police advised me they’d trash my car,” Ball said.

“I had to go back and wait it out to go home,” she added, as she debated whether it was safe to leave as the situation appeared to calm down around 1:30 a.m.

Police were on edge as they patrolled in helmets and with batons.

“It’s not how you’d want the night to end,” Ball said.

“I think we’re all a bit sad about the result of the evening considering we had such a tremendous win.”

Montreal recently had a spate of so-called anarchist violence, including the torching of six police cars in a station parking lot in March.

Earlier in the evening, moments after the Canadiens won the seven-game series, thousands of Montrealers descended on the city’s downtown core to whoop it up and soak in the Canadiens series win over the Boston Bruins.

A large contingent of Montreal police was waiting for the raucous crowd including the police riot squad. The bulk of the crowd was clearing out when the trouble started.

Fans who held vigil outside the Bell Centre earlier on Monday night were jubilant, erupting into cheers for every good play by their heroes inside.

“A great game, well played, total control,” said Sebastien Boulet. “I’ve got a really good feeling about this team”.

Arjun Aravinthan and hundreds of others broke into a spontaneous “25″ chant. The Canadiens have won 24 Stanley Cups in their history.

“We’re gonna get it this year, this is our year,” said Aravinthan, who claims to be a Habs fan since exiting his mother’s womb.

“We believe.”

Interesting, eh?

Well - Game 7’s tonight - I think Washington will pull it off, as will San Jose.