Oops Back Here For A Bit

So to get right to the point; we are back here at blogger for a while as the place that was chosen to be the new host and new home turned out to be one giant money scam. For now the plans to expand have been slowed down but not stopped as the efforts of some great people who are stepping up to help put together what is our vision.

But also during this lull I thought it was also time to do a better job explaining some of the ideas about what I am hoping to do with Prospect Park as well as perhaps the most important thing that most people seem to mistake.

No I Am Not Rooting for the Rangers to Lose

It is 2010, and this is the 11 year of the Sather era so how come when one asks what has changed from the previous years that they are automatically viewed as "too negative", "not a real fan", "wanting to see the franchise lose just to be proven right" and my favorite which is "they will send someone to Hartford to make room for a younger player"?

The goal of a team when they open training camp is to try to win the Stanley Cup; anything else should always be viewed as an unacceptable goal by everyone whether you are fan, player or management. If the view is to just try to make the playoffs and then go from there then that is the worst kind of mindset to have.

What is funny is that those who advocate shooting just to make the playoffs do not realize that they are being just as negative as anyone who says that nothing has changed. Really ask yourself if you think the Rangers have a legitimate shot at winning the Stanley Cup this season.

Take it further how many really think that the team can win in 2011-12? If you can not say yes to either season then ask yourself when do you think the Rangers will become contenders.

Until there is a major change in the mindset in the management as well as the ownership on how to build the goals for the franchise then every summer Ranger fans will be fighting among themselves. This "in-fighting" among fans has been going on since 1997 and as long as it continues will keep the focus off the management.

While Ranger fans fight among themselves then Sather and CO. continue to make the same kinds of moves that do not move the franchise forward. So just like the movie "Ground Hog Day" the franchise keeps making the same kinds of moves, the fans keep fighting among themselves and the Rangers do not become Cup Contenders.

This is Prospect Park

The reason that Prospect Park was chosen as the name is because a park is supposed to be a place where friends hang out, strangers can come and go as they please. A park is a place for everyone and that is what is the idea behind Prospect Park.

Over the years the information, the images and the support that has made up this place has come from people of all walks of life. Pictures of prospects in the QMJHL courtesy of Katherine Ep, those pics of  Stepan and McDonagh last season came from a diehard Badger fan named Melody Hasse.

Prospect Park exists because a couple of hundred people who either work in hockey or are fans of hockey come together to share the love they have for the game with everyone else. There is no way just 1 person could cover the prospects by themselves and that is the best part of this place as I have gotten meet people from all over the world.

This place is about the prospects and the journey they are taking to follow their dream of becoming NHL players, It is not about the Rangers but the prospects themselves so expanding outwards to include prospects of other teams has been a goal of this place since the beginning.

The goal has always been to share with you what these young men grow through to chase their dream; to share the fun that makes up prospect hockey and why in many cases it is more entertaining than the NHL.

The vision is to have a page for each team, links to media and stats, and something nobody else does which is to show how a prospect is graded. It is hoped that we will be able to share the worksheets that measure the development of a prospect.

Basically everything that we can not do here is the goal with the website.

Prospect News

For the New York Ranger prospects, 2010 6th round pick Jesper Fasth leads Ranger prospects in scoring at te USA Under-20 Evaluation Camp. Fasth is 1-1-2 in 4 games while Chris Kreider has a goal in 3 games and Ryan Bourque is scoreless.

Ethan Werek is up at the Hockey Canada camp and will see action tonight.

For the Islanders Brock Nelson (2010 1) is 2-1-3 for Team USA which is 2nd among the players trying to make Team USA. Casey Cizikas is with Werek at the Hockey Canada camp.

The reason that we are not going all that crazy about the prospects now is because Bourque and Kreider are locks for the 2011 USA, Nelson should be.

Hockey Canada has not even begun scrimmaging yet so the news other than cuts is not really all that important.