MVN - Most Valuable Network

Fedor Tyutin Thinking Gold…

Image details: IIHF World Ice Hockey Championship - Finland v Russia served by picapp.com
–Fedor Tyutin (51) celebrates a goal–

When the Rangers were eliminated by Pittsburgh, the team sent 4 players to the IIHF World Championships in Canada-

Henrik Lundqvist (Sweden), Michal Rozsival (Czech Republic), Brandon Dubinsky (USA) and Fedor Tyutin (Russia) all left Broadway behind to play for their countries.

Both Lundqvist and Tyutin would see time in the Semi-final round as The Swedes took on host nation (and favorite) Canada and the Russians clashed with Finland.

King Henrik’s team was ousted by the Canadiens, 5-4 while Tyutin stayed alive as the Russians blanked the Fins, 4-0.

Canada and Russia is the dream matchup for the finals as they are two of the most talented teams, much in part to their NHL talent.

Canada is loaded with weapons including Martin St. Louis, Eric Staal, Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza, Rick Nash, Chris Kunitz and Mike Green (just to name a few).

To see Team Canada’s full roster, click here.

The Russians have their fare share of fire power as well as Ilya Kovalchuk, Maxim Afinogenov and the Washington trio of Alex Ovechkin, Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Semin will all suit up for the finals.

For Russia’s complete squad, click here.

The battle between the pipes will likely be Evgeni Nabokov (Sharks) for Russia and Cam Ward (Hurricanes) for Canada.

If you haven’t been watching the tournament so far, I highly encourage you to tune in, sure… the NHL playoffs are in full swing, but in my mind there is nothing quite like the thrill and pageantry of international hockey…

So buckle your seatbelts, because come 1:00 on Sunday all you’ll want to do is sit back, relax enjoy some world class hockey and hopefully watch Tyuts win the Gold.  

NHL Ratings Up On Versus

Is hockey finally becoming popular in America once again?

If you look at some of the numbers from Versus, you would have to believe it is…

Viewership of “Hockey Central” during the first two rounds of the postseason has increased 65% from a year ago and it should only conitune to rise as Versus has exclusive rights to conference finals games as well as the first two games of the Stanley Cup final. 

So far, the biggest hit for Versus was their exclusive telecast of Game 4 between the Rangers and Penguins, which garnered a 1.0 household rating as attracted 1,184,589 viewers.  It was the most watched NHL game ever on Versus and the third most watched telecast overall. 

Household rating for the 2008 Semifinal rounds showed an increase of 50%, viewership was up 51% from a year ago and certain male demographics show significant gains in viewership, Men 18-34 (up 77%), Men 18-49 (up 79%) and men 35-54 (up 84%) are all way up from where they were in 2007. 

The ratings increase for the Conference semis come after a strong increase of 50% during regular season broadcasts and 33% increases from the Quarterfinal round.

A big reason why Versus viewership is up is because their telecasts are done very well. Brian Engblom and Keith Jones do a great job during intermission reports and frankly, who doesn’t enjoy listening to Mike Emrick call a game?

So what does all of this mean for hockey, well- you have to look at it as a major positive. While Versus may not be available in as many homes as desired, the bottom line is that a lot of people have been tuning into hockey this year and the NHL is clearly starting to gain its popularity that was lost during the lockout year. 

There was a time in the mid ’90’s where a lot of people placed hockey higher on their list than basketball, while the NHL may not be there yet, they are certainly on their way.   

The Conference Finals Aren’t The Same Without The Rangers…

Image details: Dallas Stars v New York Rangers served by picapp.com
–Ranger fans might as well root for Henrik’s brother Joel as his Stars are still shining in the playoffs–

Not like we’ve been there any time soon, but all Ranger fans had very high expectations this year, the Eastern Conference finals and the Prince of Wales trophy were minor road blocks on the Rangers road to Lord Stanley… Instead we were ousted by Pittsburgh in round 2. Here’s my view on the Blueshirt-less playoff series…

Let’s start out West where the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings will face the Dallas Stars starting Thursday night.  The Wings (also known as NHL-Sweden) are led by guys like Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, with Norris favorite Nicklas Lidstrom anchoring the D. 

Dallas has playoff experience with proven winners like Mike Modano, adding Brad Richards at the deadline only helped their playoff experience. 

Between the pipes, the matchup will be Chris Osgood vs. Marty Turco, finally a Marty that Rangers don’t love to hate… Osgood didn’t start the playoffs, as he replaced Dominik Hasek who was less than stellar in his 4 starts (2-2). 

If i had to choose a catalyst for each teans playoff success, you need to look no further than Johan Franzen (Det) and Brenden Morrow (Dal). Both would be Conn-Smythe favorites if their teams were to go all the way. Franzen’s offensive numbers have been unreal in the postseason and Morrow has led Dallas through two tough tests, Anaheim and San Jose.

Who NYR Fans Should Root For: Both teams have a lot of likable players, but for the Rangers fans it is hard to go against Dallas, who have Joel Lundqvist playing Center.  Joel is Henrik’s twin brother so if one Lundqvist can’t win it, might as well cheer for the other one. 

My Prediction:  Stars in 6.  The Red Wings have struggled in the playoffs every year since the lockout, I think Dallas has the intangibles to get it done… No matter who wins, it will be a great series to watch.

The Eastern Conference finals could be hard for Blueshirt Faithful to stomach, as it is a clash between 2 teams we cannot stand, the Penguins and Flyers. 

The Pens rolled through Ottawa in the first round and took care of us in 5, they have been led by their big 3, Crosby, Malkin and Hossa who have sparked their potent offensive attack night in and night out. 

The Fly Guys went from the cellar to the top thanks to a new attitude and some new players, Daniel Briere will be playing in his 3rd straight eastern final, but is still looking for his first Cup appearance.  Mike Richards is a great player who, despite wearing the “A” has played like he is the true captain. 

The crease-battle will be amazing as the two hottest playoff goalies will go toe-to-toe.  Marc-Andre Fleury is finally playing to the standards that a #1 overall pick is given, and Martin Biron has been the main reason for the Flyers playoff success. 

As for unsung heroes, Pittsburgh will rely on Pascal Dupuis for offense and Philly’s playoff MVP to this point has been R.J Umberger who was nothing short of spectacular in their second round series vs. Montreal.

Who NYR Fans Should Root For:  Pittsburgh… I always root for the team that eliminates mine (unless its the Red Sox) and that is the case here. Ranger Fans hate the Penguins and Flyers, but if we have to pick one…

Prediction: Pens in 6. Too much fire power and Biron can easily be flustered in net.

Rangers Season Comes To An End

With the deck stacked against them, the Rangers headed to Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh looking to extend the series once again- unfortunately, the Penguins had other plans and closed the series out on home ice, defeating the Rangers 3-2 in overtime. 

I had a feeling coming in that it was going to be a tight game and the first period showed exactly why.  No goals, good goaltending and 3 penalties, all of which involved Jaromir Jagr, who took one and forced the other two. 

In the second, The Pens broke the scoreless tie on the Power Play when Marian Hossa beat Lundqvist. It was a fantastic set up by Pittsburgh, you could tell they were on the verge of scoring and it was only a matter of time.  In need of a goal, the Rangers gave up another one thanks to a brilliant play by Evgeni Malkin who never gave up on the puck and truly deserved the goal.

The Refs missed what could have given the Rangers a 4:00 Power Play as Chris Drury took a high stick to the face and was bleeding profusely. But as I’ve said so many times in the series, a lot of the calls favored the Pens and this was no exception. A lot of times when a Ref sees blood you assume something happened and call something; It’s has happened numerous times this season both helping and hurting the Rangers, but of course-when we needed it most, no call…

The Power Play would have been nice, but when on the man-advantage we were absolutely dreadful today and I actually realized that playing 5-on-5 may actually benefit the team.

To the third we go, desperation time for Tom Renney’s club and if you were in the bathroom or heating up some food you missed the Rangers get on the board, thanks to an unlikely source.

2 minutes into the Period, Lauri Korpikoski scored the first goal of his career. He hadn’t played in a game all season and had not even 2 minutes of ice time before he got his first career tally.  The Rangers bench looked ready to pack it in, but with this goal we had new light…

The Rangers would tie the game up a little over a minute later when Nigel Dawes beat Marc-Andre Fleury.  Both Ranger goals scored, 5-on-5.  The 3rd was flying by, it felt like with the exception of the goals there were no whistles in the first 10 minutes, as both teams played carefully. The only penalty came with less than 2 minutes remaining, a 4:00 high stick on Chris Drury, the same Chris Drury was was laying on the ice, bloodied after being hit with a high stick gets called for the same penalty.

The Rangers would kill the first part of the Pens Power Play and with the game deadlocked at 2, they would head to OT, with over 2 minutes of Power Play time remaining for the Pens.

A strong kill by the Rangers as they held their own killing off the penalty, with Drury, one of if not the best penalty killers on the team looking on.  That said, we had one chance shorthanded and gave it away. The offense had no momentum what so ever in the extra session and a favorable bounce off the skate of Dan Girardi put the puck right on Marian Hossa’s stick as he wound up and beat Henrik 5-hole.

The Blueshirts had their chances to win it but either missed wide or got stopped by Fleury, who did great all afternoon- on the other side of the ice, Lundqvist did an outstanding job keeping it close, he never allowed a soft goal as Pittsburgh simply out grinded us and capitalized on their chances more than the Rangers did.

The Ranger fan in me, again wants to blame the refs, after the Drury non-call, a missed call on Malkin for kicking Korpikoski, the fact that the Pens may have been offsides before scoring the game winner, in addition to a few other miscues but then the hockey fan in me came to terms with the fact that Pittsburh was the better team and deserved to move on. 

The Rangers season ended in round 2, much like last year- Tom Renney and Co. will now pack it in and go on vacation while Sidney Crysby will lead his team in an all Pennsylvania Conference Final, Pens vs. Flyers… A nightmare for Ranger Nation, two teams we absolutely cannot stand duking it out for a chance to win the Prince of Whales trophy and play for the Cup… The matchup raises the question of, who do Ranger fans root for?

My answer is neither, pray that a team from the West brings home the Cup, but if a team from the East has to get it, let it be Pittsburgh, Crosby is the face of the league and it will bring in better ratings and more fans, also then it looks better that we lost to the team that won it all.

For more Rangers news, check out RANGER NATION and for coverage of the winning team (deservedly so) be sure to read Tony Ferrante’s MVN Blog, The Confuence of the Three Rivers.

Although the season is over for the Blueshirts, I will still be giving thoughts on the Conference Semifinals, as well as the Stanley Cup finals as they are happening and once the playoffs come to an end, I will be keeping tabs on what should be an interesting offseason for Glen Sather and the Rangers.