Brother Can You Spare Some Patience?

I know I have said this before but I will say it again; for the life of me I just do not understand why New York Ranger fans can not just sit back and enjoy the good times the team is going through right now.

The Rangers are 24-9-0-4 52 points after 37 games, they have the best record in the NHL and yet when you take a wander over the internet you would be thinking that the Rangers are one of the worst teams in the NHL. It is mind boggling to see how on a day where the team rallies from down two goals, overcomes some really terrible officiating and finds a way to win in regulation 3-2.

They beat the Flyers on their ice and on national TV; how do you not love that? How are you not jumping for joy watching some of the supposed experts having to eat their words about this New York Ranger team. You better believe that this fan who grew up watching  the Rangers get pushed around, get beaten up and usually losing games like this to the Flyers soI loved watching every second of it.

For me it was a huge win, an emotional win because I so rarely get a chance very often to just sit in front of the TV and enjoy what I watching. Yet but before this game was even over people were complaining not just about the referee and badly blown calls they were complaining about how bad the Rangers are.

Are you kidding me?

There are people who were saying this team can't win unless they pick up another veteran defenseman to run the power play. Have we not traveled this road before?

The problem is not going to be solved by making a trade but rather by the team doing what John Tortorella has practically turned into a mantra every time he starts to walk out of the locker room. He says he wants to see more motion, more people moving their legs and to be honest that's exactly what they need to do to fix a power play.

Can we try my idea first before going out and making trades? It's really simple this  "do nothing" method as you wait and see where the team is in the next 50 days before making a move. Michael Del Zotto is doing the things that the Rangers thought he would do when they drafted him. And now if you have complaints about how he's been playing then I have got wonder about you.

He has righted his ship, Del Zotto is the last person anyone including yours truly would ever have thought would be second in the NHL for plus/minus (FYI Cam Fowler is currently a -18). But want to know what the most important thing about this is? It was that the Rangers did not give up on Michael Del Zotto and that is a lesson than the fans to learn.

Del Zotto has been trashed left and right by so many bloggers that it is pathetic. The kid has turned things around so how about backing off him?

Sometimes your best move is to do nothing at all and then let the chips fall. Even before July 1 came along, all you would hear is how Brad Richards would be the guy to get Marian Gaborik going which is why the Rangers had to sign him.

Yes Marion Gaborik appears to have found his scoring touch once again but not thanks to Brad Richards as it really was Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov who have developed some excellent chemistry with Gaborik.

And you know what? This is not a knock on Richards either as his play with Ryan Callahan and to whoever they have put on the left side has worked too.

Could the Rangers use more offense? Of course they could but the bigger question is at what price? Dubinsky has shown signs that he's waking up on the offensive end but he's also shown to be a very key part of the penalty kill which at last glance was 6th in the NHL.

While everybody is make a big deal about fixing the offense they are forgetting what wins championships and that is a rock solid defense.So how about we do nothing other than enjoy watching this team win for a while? Try it is a lot of fun and it sure beats losing.

Game Action

Dylan McIlrath led his Moose Jaw Warriors into Portland Oregon to take on the Portland Winterhawks and it is ironic that on this night these two teams met because as you know Canada was facing Russia in the World Under-20 semifinals up in Calgary.

Portland and Moose Jaw came into this match up with almost identical records and that the game wound up in overtime before Portland won was no surprise. This is a close game, it went back and forth with neither team able put the other way. And as one would expect it was the top players for both teams who came through for their teams tonight.

McIlrath (2-12-14) had an assist on Moose Jaw's 3rd goal which gave them a 3-2 lead in the 2nd period that would hold up until Joe Morrow set up the goal that forced overtime. Morrow is only 2nd among WHL defensemen in scoring but he is more than just offense as he is a solid two way defender.

Ty Rattie for reasons that still escape us is only the leading scorer in the entire WHL yet he wasn't good enough for team Canada go figure. Call me crazy but somehow I would have found a spot for kids who has 37 goals in 37 games.

So when the smoke clears it turns out that only Johan Sundstrom gets to play for the gold medal. Back It is fitting justice that neither Canada or USA wind up playing for the gold medal. Both teams made questionable decisions as to keep and who to cut.

The good news is that the next two World Juniors will be held in Europe which hopefully will give both programs time to fix the flaws in how they select teams.

One last bit of news before we go and that is how somebody must have really like Michael St. Croix as his Edmonton Oil Kings got themselves one great big late Christmas present. It is a present coming all the way from Sweden by the name of Henrik Samuelsson.

Yes son of Ulfie who is a 17 year old 6'2 power forward and has played in North America so he knows what to expect.