Rangers Analysis: Home Ice Disadvantage
by Nick Montemagno on Mar 9, 2010 7:00 AM EST
in Rangers Analysis
26 comments
14-15-6 is the New York Rangers record while playing in front of their home crowd at Madison Square Garden this season. Below .500 while playing in the World's Most Famous Arena. Below .500 while playing before some of the most passionate hockey fans here in the United States. It goes without saying that the Blueshirts have no excuses for the drought on home ice in 2009-10, in fact, the Rangers are the one of the only teams in the Eastern Conference, besides the Toronto Maple Leafs, that have such a horrific record at home. That is ironic since Toronto and New York are the number one and number two rated hockey markets in the National Hockey League.
There could be several explanations for the Rangers failure while playing at MSG. The first and most obvious that comes to mind is pressure. This crowd may be passionate, but along with passion comes honesty, and they, by all means, do not hold back from letting this team know how they feel. As we saw yesterday, they are not even afraid to let the organization know how they feel. That could definitely destroy the self-esteem of these players, but at the same time, they should use it as momentum. They are "professionals" after all.
The other factor, that many do not take into account, is the fact that opponents look forward to playing at Madison Square Garden. Now I am going to have to put you in the player's mind for a moment in order for you to understand this. Picture yourself as a rookie looking for an opportunity to remain in the lineup. You enter MSG, the atmosphere is electric and somehow you have the ability to silence 18,200 screaming maniacs with just one shot, hit, or altercation. To me, that is pretty damn motivational and a meaningful way to get your coach's attention.
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With that being said, why don't the Rangers look at it the opposite way? With just one shot, hit, or altercation, you could bring a packed house to their feet and raise the noise level tremendously. Yet this team still finds ways to come out flat at home to begin games, which results in those cheers that welcomed them to the ice, turning into boos that chase them off of it. That is simply inexcusable when you look at the situation the way I just laid it out for you. I do not care if leadership or the coaching staff does not know how to motivate the team, the prospect of playing in front of that crowd should have you raring to go regardless.
The lack of production at home is hurting this team in more ways than just the standings. First off, attendance has went down. We have heard the guys on Blueshirt Banter Radio explain to us how the Rangers no longer send them statements regarding the sellout streak after each game like they did earlier in the season, and for one reason: There are no more sellouts. Maybe it is a good thing they only play six of the final sixteen at home.
In addition to that, at the start of every contest, you can sense a feeling of unease in the stands. That is because the fanatics do not know what to expect from their beloved Rangers and no longer trust them. This roller coaster of a season has them guessing how many goals the team will lose by before they even step foot into the Garden.
If the Blueshirts think they can just get away with this and let it slide like they seem to do with the rest of their problems, then good luck making the playoffs and good luck getting season ticket holders to renew their plans. It just isn't happening. As we saw yesterday at the rally, fans are fed up and refuse to put up with the same old antics every season. And really, can you blame them?
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Boy, I can't wait to see the player...
that can actually do that.
Until then, I’ll hang out in the rafters with the crickets.
Boy, they’re so loud!
Danz
theres no way youll convince season ticket holders to just not go after paying all that money for seats. people are gonna go no matter what, good team or shit team.
Favre 4 Ever
I Believe In Chris Drury
I KNO BUT WE GOTTA TRY
thats why i said for next year not this year cause no one has tickets for next season
we gotta dent there wallet
i dont think people who have had season tickets in their families for years and years would give them up. its incredibly hard to get season tix & they’d be screwed if they gave them up cus it’d be impossible to get back probably.
Favre 4 Ever
I Believe In Chris Drury
This ain't the Giants..
Seasons tix are available every year, at least in the last 6 or 7 years.
I gave up my ticket this season and the 3 others I went with are not re-upping next year.
i'm already...
boycotting because the games are too expensive. Last time I went to a game I spent over $120. Not worth it. So you’ll need to get people to boycott cable too. Isn’t that where a lot of revenue pours in?
Not that a dog in this fight being remote...
…but boycotting ticket purchases, attendance and some elements of merchandising won’t hit this team. Dolan – for all his faults – is a revenue generating genius for establishing his own network…to air on his own cable service…in his own arena. Advertising dollars are pure profit under this model, likewise no looming rental costs to play.
The only incentive for him to be competitive is advertiser and merchandising driven. There’s almost no financial gain for him should the finish sub .500 short of a very extended run in the Playoffs. And in that instance, only if it’s marketable enough that advertisers/merchanding want to sponsor certain players.
Idiots like Sather and Zeke are great placeholders, individuals who can run the player management thing usually without too much impact on the overall biz model. When Thomas starting crossing those lines, he was banished. Just look at Omar Minaya, for example, as case in point for a typical placeholder on a revenue generating machine.
Neil Smith meddled and badmouthed mgmt – bad for the Board of Directors. Keenan pushed too hard in the wrong ways. Tortorella is the perfect scapegoat, a guy who really does get impassionate…yet has little actual impact.
As a fan, we can cheer success while booing failure. Protest what is obviously a mockery of our contributions to every day team success. Not going to games only hurts us, unfortunately. At least we can watch hockey, albeit bad versions of it.
"...also I'll brush my teeth and remember to turn off the stars at night and put the hyena out." ERNEST HEMINGWAY
'Not that I have a dog in this fight,' that is...
"...also I'll brush my teeth and remember to turn off the stars at night and put the hyena out." ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Clearly I can't type. Apologies. (Stupid cold/flu.)
“There’s almost no financial gain DIFFERENCE for him should the team finish…”
"...also I'll brush my teeth and remember to turn off the stars at night and put the hyena out." ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Rotten at Home & On the Road
The team’s road record is virtually the same as the home record. The losses are attributable to the lack of talent on the team.
I don't buy this.
The Rangers have always had a great home record, except for this year. The pressure is no different this year than in years past.
To put it simply, they just aren’t that good. It’s got nothing to do with pressure, or opponents wanting to give their best effort or anything else.
They’re barely an average team. Let’s call a spade a spade. End of story.
hey guys i have a questions off topic...
If cooke gets a suspension for that hit on Savard, why didn’t richards get a suspension on his hit on booth? Both were clear head shots. If they say no suspension to the richards hit i dont see how they could give cooke a suspension. I personally think they cooke and richards should and should’ve been suspended. These head shots do not belong in the game and i think the only way to stop them is to suspend and heavily fine the players that do it. Imagine if avery did had a hit like that. There’s no doubt in my mind he’d be kicked out of the league. Mike Richards is a good player (i really hate this douche but he’s a good player) but i think he was shown some favoritism, just like how Malkin and Crosby get shown favoritism. Letting Richards hit go unpunished shows how much the NHL higher ups are pussies. It just pisses me off players are getting hurt for these dirty hits and the players that are performing these acts are going unpunished.
part of it will probably be the status of the player committing the penalty and the other part history of actions. they will claim his history as part of the cause if they do suspend him where they didnt richards.
richards is a star in the league, cooke isnt.
why wasnt malkin suspended for his slew foot in the finals? hes a star..
LET'S GO RANGERS!!!
the hits to the head this year have been rediculous, any one who makes a hit too the head like that should be suspended 15-20 games plus heavy fine. no matter who it is, Crosby or Orr the penalty should be the same. Im sick of the NHL Brass trying to play favorites to keep interest in the game up, because if these hit keep increasing the interest in the NHL will go down.
by CrazyRangerFan on Mar 9, 2010 5:31 PM EST up reply actions
The Rangers biggest problem at home is that they allow too many goals. I broke down the numbers:
http://www.blueseatblogs.com/2010/03/09/not-so-home-sweet-home/
Wasn’t home ice advantage one of the things Torts was going to fix?
Blueshirt Banter: Covering the New York Rangers
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by Jim Schmiedeberg on Mar 9, 2010 2:29 PM EST reply actions
haha
along w/ the ‘accountability" thing I guess.
I remember watching the 09-10 preview show where just about every player had said that they’d be playing high-scoring up-tempo exciting hockey cus of the first full year under Torts…yeeaaaa about that…
Favre 4 Ever
I Believe In Chris Drury
Let’s be honest and lay the cards on the table.
This current Ranger Team SUCKS.
ANy team that has Boyle, Brashear, Voros, Reddon, Rozival, Shelley and Drury as Captain is pathetic.
This team has no chemistry, no passion, no heart.
Sather has put together the worst Rangers team in decades.
Time to turn Avery loose and put some fight back into this collection of Fourth line players.
All this talk about the playoffs is laughable……even if they make the playoffs, is there one person out there that thinks this team is good enough to win Four series against the NHL elite.
Only way this tean gets better is to fire Sather, and Torts may be next….none of these players respect the coach or play all out for Torts.
Dark day are here for Ranger fans again.
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Atlantic Standings
| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New Jersey
|
82 | 48 | 27 | 7 | 103 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
82 | 47 | 28 | 7 | 101 |
|
Philadelphia
|
82 | 41 | 35 | 6 | 88 |
|
New York Rangers
|
82 | 38 | 33 | 11 | 87 |
|
New York Islanders
|
82 | 34 | 37 | 11 | 79 |
(updated 4.12.2010 at 9:21 AM EDT)
Rangers Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
New Jersey
|
Thu 09/23 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
@
New Jersey
|
Sat 09/25 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
@
Detroit
|
Sun 09/26 | 5:00 PM EDT |
|
Detroit
|
Wed 09/29 | 7:00 PM EDT |
|
Ottawa
|
Fri 10/01 | 7:00 PM EDT |
Last 5 Games
|
@
Philadelphia
|
Sun 04/11 | SO - L 1 - 2 |
|
Philadelphia
|
Fri 04/09 | W 4 - 3 |
|
Toronto
|
Wed 04/07 | W 5 - 1 |
|
@
Buffalo
|
Tue 04/06 | L 2 - 5 |
|
@
Florida
|
Sat 04/03 | W 4 - 1 |
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