SPOTLIGHT: BICKEL STU – A RANGER SPECIALTY

BY: Bruce Berlet

When it comes to feel-good stories in the NHL this season, you’d be hard-pressed to find one better than New York Rangers defenseman Stu Bickel, who began the season playing on Asylum Street in Hartford.

Though Bickel will never be confused with elusive Hall of Famers Bobby Orr or Cheshire-bred Brian Leetch, he has proven to be one of the NHL’s all-time steals since being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 23, 2010 for disgruntled Hartford Wolf Pack defenseman Nigel Williams.

YOU CAN’T WIN’EM ALL

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NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
February 16, 2012 (Game 56, Home Game 27)
Madison Square Garden — New York, NY

                                                 1st   2nd   3rd   OT   Final
Chicago Blackhawks            4      0        0       –       4

New York Rangers               0      1         1       –       2

Team Notes:

• The Rangers were defeated by the Chicago Blackhawks, 4-2, tonight at Madison Square Garden, and are now 8-2-1 in their last 11 games.
• New York has posted a record of 37-14-5 (79 points) on the season, including an 18-7-2 mark at home.
• The Blueshirts held the Blackhawks scoreless in three shorthanded situations (3:24).  The Rangers’ penalty kill has now held opponents scoreless in the last four games (10 times shorthanded), and 18 of the last 23 games (57-62, 91.9% over the span).
• The Rangers out-hit the Blackhawks, 32-14, and had 15 players credited with at least one hit in the contest.  Michael Del Zotto and Dan Girardi tied for the game-high with five hits.

SPOTLIGHT: ALL-STARS

BY: Bruce Berlet

Connecticut Whale personnel and fans knew rookie left wing Carl Hagelin was plenty fast from the time he played his first pro-game in the playoffs last April.

Hagelin continued to blaze an impressive trail in his first 17 games this season after being among the Rangers’ final cuts, getting seven goals and six assists to earn a call-up on Nov. 24. Hagelin, who co-captained the University of Michigan to the NCAA championship game a year ago, also showed well almost from the outset in the NHL, getting seven goals and seven assists in his first 16 games.

SPOTLIGHT: DAN GIRARDI

BY: Bruce Berlet

One of the great success stories in Hartford Wolf Pack/Connecticut Whale history continued Thursday when defenseman Dan Girardi was one of three New York Rangers named to the NHL All-Star team.

Girardi, who earned his first All-Star selection, was joined by Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist and right wing Marian Gaborik, locks to be named for the third time among the 36 players chosen to play Jan. 29 in Ottawa. It’s the first time since 2002 that the All-Star selections included three Rangers, and another of the first-time selections was goalie Jonathan Quick, a Hamden native who starred at Hamden High, Avon Old Farms and UMass before joining the Los Angeles Kings, for whom he has a league-high six shutouts this season.

RANGERS DECLAW PANTHERS IN OT

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NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES

January 5, 2012 (Game 38, Home Game 17)

Madison Square Garden – New York, New York

 

	1st	2nd	3rd	OT	Final	Click Here For:
Florida Panthers	1	0	1	0	2	Game Summary
NY Rangers	1	0	1	1	3	Event Summary

• The Rangers defeated the Florida Panthers, 3-2, in overtime tonight at Madison Square Garden to extend their winning streak to three games, and have now won eight of their last nine games.
• New York improved to 25-9-4 (54 pts) on the season, including a 12-3-2 mark at home.  The Blueshirts have now won each of their last four games at home, and five of their last six at Madison Square Garden.
• The Rangers now sit atop the NHL standings with 54 points.  Their .711 winning percentage ranks second in the league, while their 25 wins are tied for second and their nine regulation losses are the fewest in the NHL.
• This is the latest the Rangers have been in first place of the Eastern Conference standings since the 1995-96 season, when New York held the top position through games played on Mar. 15, 1996 (game #68). *courtesy of the Elias Sports Bureau
• New York has registered at least one point in 24 of their last 30 games (22-6-2), dating back to Oct. 29, after beginning the season with a 3-3-2 mark.  The Rangers have out-scored their opponent, 97-63, during the stretch.

RANGERS DOUBLE UP LIGHTNING

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NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
December 3, 2011 (Game 23, Away Game 14)
St. Pete Times Forum – Tampa, Florida
                                                      1st   2nd   3rd   OT   Final
New York Rangers               0      1        3       -      4
Tampa Bay Lightning          1      1        0       -      2

SPOTLIGHT: HARTFORD GRADUATES

BY: Bruce Berlet

Hartford Wolf Pack/Connecticut Whale graduates are helping the parent New York Rangers more all the time.

Take Thursday night, in a 5-3 victory over the host Carolina Hurricanes, in which the Rangers rallied from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits.

Former Wolf Pack All-Star right wing Ryan Callahan and defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Michael Sauer each scored, with McDonagh’s tally coming after a tenacious forecheck by Brian Boyle and the two most recent call-ups, John Mitchell and Carl Hagelin, had a bunch of worn-out Hurricanes scurrying to get to the bench, leading to a bad change.

FAN-FARE: The Art of the Undrafted

BY: Adam Gavriel

We all know the stories about the kid from Canada playing in the OHL who went undrafted and is now a future all-star in the NHL. We know the story about the kid from Norway who took the Swedish Elite League by storm and now is in North America on a professional contract. Of course we know about those stories because we are Rangers fans. The Dan Girardi’s and Mats Zuccarello’s of the world are hard to find, but when found can prove a valuable asset to an NHL organization.

SPOTLIGHT: HOWARD BALDWIN

BY: Bruce Berlet

Howard Baldwin is the “Godfather of Professional Hockey in Hartford” on several fronts, spanning nearly four decades.

First, Baldwin became one of the youngest executive in professional sports when he was a founder and partner of the World Hockey Association’s New England Whalers at the age of 28 in 1971. The Whalers franchise won the WHA’s first AVCO World Cup championship in 1973 and then relocated from Boston a year later to try to find its own identity away from the NHL’s Boston Bruins, in its own building as a vehicle to revitalize downtown Hartford.

SPOTLIGHT: THE WELLAND CONNECTION

BY: Bruce Berlet

It’s almost something out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

Then again, even Ripley’s might not believe this tale.

Two decades ago, Dan Girardi and Andre Deveaux lived five minutes apart in Welland, Ontario, Canada, and spent many a day shooting at targets in a net that Girardi’s father had set up at the end of the driveway.

“We played games for candy or chocolate bars,” a smiling Girardi said after the New York Rangers’ 3-0 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday night. “When my parents sold their house, the shed about 50 yards behind it was covered in holes, absolutely mangled, from us missing the net after keeping the fence open where we placed the net. They didn’t fix the shed, just sold it as is. There were a lot of good memories there for sure.”