RANGERS CLIP WINGS IN OT

     VERSUS    

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
March 21, 2012 (Game 73, Home Game 37)
Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

Team Notes:

• The Rangers defeated the Detroit Red Wings, 2-1, in overtime tonight at Madison Square Garden to improve to 4-2-0 on their current seven-game homestand.
• New York has posted a record of 46-20-7 (99 pts.) overall, including a 26-9-2 mark at home.

RANGERS AND WINGS – A GARDEN DELICACY

NY RANGERS vs. DETROIT RED WINGS
Wednesday, Mar. 21, 7:30 p.m.
Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
Rangers: 45-20-7 (97 pts.)
Red Wings: 44-25-4 (92 pts.)

* All information through NHL games on Mar. 19

TONIGHT’S GAME:

• The Rangers will face-off against the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m.; TV: NBC Sports Network; Radio: Bloomberg Radio), in an Original Six match-up. The Blueshirts currently sit atop the Eastern Conference standings, and rank second in the league overall, with a record of 45-20-7 (97 pts.). The Rangers enter the contest having defeated the New Jersey Devils, 4-2, on Monday at Madison Square Garden, and are now 3-2-0 on their current seven-game homestand. The Red Wings enter the contest with a 44-25-4 (92 pts.) record to rank fifth in the Western Conference, and are winless in their last five games. Following the contest, the Rangers will face-off against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday, Mar. 23, at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.), to conclude their seven-game homestand.

STRANGER THINGS HAVE HAPPENED: BUT NOT TOO MANY

      VERSUS     

There is something about the entire New York Rangers organization in 2011-2012…they just seem to dialed in to winning…even when they’re losing.

In New York, the Rangers are tops in the Eastern Conference and are three points behind the President’s Trophy leading Detroit Red Wings. The Rangers have four games in hand.

In Greenville of the ECHL, the Road Warriors are fifth overall in their conference and just five points out of the top spot in their conference and are 6-3-0-1 in their last ten games.

OFF TO KLINGER’S HOMETOWN FOR ROAD WARRIORS

BY: Ray Schmitt, Voice of the Greenville Road Warriors

TOLEDO, OH - Tonight the Greenville Road Warriors face off against the Toledo Walleye as they go for their third consecutive road victory.

The Road Warriors (10-7-0) visit Toledo (8-9-0) tonight for the second of six scheduled meetings between the clubs. Fans can follow the action by watching live on  America One or listening at  www.greenvilleroadwarriors.com.

SPOTLIGHT: MARK HOWE

BY: Bruce Berlet

Though three of the four inductees into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night played with the hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, it was former New England and Hartford Whalers left wing/defenseman Mark Howe who stole the show.

Leading a quartet of greats to the podium that also included goalie Ed Belfour and forwards Joe Nieuwendyk and Doug Gilmour, Howe ended his five-minute speech by fulfilling a request of his Hall of Fame father, Gordie “Mr. Hockey” Howe. Not long after Mark retired in 1995 following a 21-year pro career that ended with the Detroit Red Wings, for whom his dad started his record 32-year run, Gordie told his son he had had just one unfulfilled wish.

BRUCE BERLET REPORTS – MAYBE YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN

BY: Bruce Berlet

Hockey often makes for strange bedfellows, coincidences and ironies.

You can now look no farther than Jordan Owens, one of six invitees to Connecticut Whale training camp.

Growing up in Toronto, one of Owens’ favorite players was center Kris Newbury, who spent six seasons with the NHL Maple Leafs and AHL Marlies before being signed as a free agent by the Detroit Red Wings on July 7, 2009. Less than eight months later, on March 3, 2010, the Rangers traded Owens to the Red Wings for – you guessed it – Kris Newbury.

BRUCE BERLET REPORTS – WADE REDDEN, YEAR TWO

BY: Bruce Berlet

Despite spending a pleasant summer in picturesque Kelowna, British Columbia, with his wife and young daughter, Wade Redden experienced a bit of an unsettling offseason, proving again that money can’t buy you complete happiness.

First, Redden had a chat with New York Rangers coach John Tortorella, who, not surprisingly, told the 13-year NHL veteran that he didn’t fit into the Blueshirts plans despite a strong finish to his first season in the minors with the Hartford Wolf Pack/Connecticut Whale. In fact, Redden wasn’t invited to Rangers training camp because if he got injured, his $6.5 million contract would count against the salary cap, meaning the Rangers would have to release and/or trade other players.

RUSSIAN TRAGEDY

There isn’t much to say other than that the hockey world is in shock after the news of a plane crash that happened near the city of Yaroslavl in Central Russia. According to Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry, the crash has claimed the lives of at least 43 people, the majority of which are the members of the Kontinental Hockey League club, Lokomotiv.

There were New York Ranger connections to several of the players who were killed. Alexander Karpotsev, a member of the 1994 Rangers’ Stanley Cup team was a coach on the team. Karel Rachunek was a defenseman who played parts of two seasons in New York and Jan Marek who was selected by the Blueshirts in round 8 (#243 overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

TOMMY GRANT SIGNS ATO

WHALE SIGN FORWARD TOMMY GRANT TO ATO

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Leading Scorer from University of Alaska-Anchorage

HARTFORD, CT: Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the team has signed forward Tommy Grant to an Amateur Tryout (ATO) agreement.   Grant, a 6-2, 195-pound native of North Vancouver, B.C., comes to the Whale after four seasons at the University of Alaska-Anchorage (WCHA).  Grant, 24, led the Seawolves in points and goals this year, with 16-16-32 in 37 games, and his 57 penalty minutes were the second-most on the team.  Five of Grant’s 16 goals were game-winners, which was good for a tie for fourth in the WCHA in that category. In 134 career games with Alaska-Anchorage, Grant struck for 45 goals and 45 assists for 90 points and served 179 minutes in penalties.

FROM THE CREASE with Bruce Berlet

By Bruce Berlet

CROMWELL, CT – The Connecticut Whale bus wouldn’t get into gear after a practice in suburban Syracuse during the team’s only venture into Canada this season to Toronto and Hamilton last week.

But Johnny Davis, a bus driver for 25 years and the team’s chauffeur since the birth of the Hartford Wolf Pack in 1997, solved the problem in 90 minutes after calling his boss at Dattco.