More photos » Frank Franklin II - AP

about 1 month ago: New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) gestures to the crowd after an NHL hockey game against the New Jersey Devils Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 in New York. The Rangers won the game 3-1. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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Light hockey schedule today, with the Super Bowl being played tonight.

Penguins at Capitals at 12 PM on NBC

Penguins finally made it into D.C. at 2 AM this morning, due to the blizzard. Should be interesting to see what kind of legs the Pens have on about 5 hours sleep.

For the latest on the Pens, stop by Pensburgh and see our friends Frank and Hooks.

For more on the Caps, check out Japers Rink

Bruins at Canadiens at 3 PM.  A good old fashioned Original Six Matchup. NBC should be showing this game as well, make it a nice doubleheader before the Super Bowl, but that would be a good way of promoting the NHL, and that simply is not tolerated.

For coverage on the Bruins, you can check out Stanley Cup of Chowder, and for more on Les Habitants, you can visit Habs Eyes on the Prize.

Now, for the big game tonight, should be a great one. As a Giants fan, I have to keep it in the family and root for Peyton. Plus, I just don't want to see Shockey win.

My predicition: Colts 34 Saints 24. MVP: Peyton Manning. The Colts will get off to a slow start in this one, the Saints do have a better defense than they are given credit for, but Indy will turn it up in the second half.

For all your Super Bowl coverage, the Colts fans will be congregating at Stampede Blue, and the Who Dat Nation will be at Canal Street Chronicles. Both of those sites managers were credentialed for the game, which is huge for our network. I wish them the best, if I was credentialed for a Giants Super Bowl, it would be very hard for me to put away my fan hat.

Ok, so, all that being said, feel free to use this open thread for a great sports day. Chat about the hockey games, the football game, or anything else you guys want, just keep it clean.

Feel free to post your game and MVP predictions in the thread as well.

Also, that is an awesome picture of Hank I put up from last night's game.

Hey guys just a few quick announcements I want to make.

Firstly on New York Tonight (from 9-10 tonight) I will be having on my good friend Jeremy Schilling to talk some Jets football. He runs jschil.wordpress.com, a nifty little blog on everything from James Taylor to Tiger Woods. Make sure to give him a visit for me.

Also I have been invited to join the "dream team" for From the Rink. As some of you may know James Mirtle has gone on to bigger and better things so his shoes needed filling on his popular website and Mike Chen was there to take over. The rest of the "dream team" is:

Cory from Canes Country

Bob from Canes Country

Joe from Blueshirt Banter

Frank from Pensburgh

That's not a bad starting lineup, if I do say so myself, and you might see a roster tweak or two in the coming weeks. And don't worry that it's east-coast heavy; this will be a hockey site in the truest sense, without a particular focus on region or team. Hopefully, the content will speak for itself in the coming weeks.

Anyway I really hope you guys mosey on over, this was a fantastic opportunity for me and we hope to provide all of you with the same type of incite and analysis you were used to from Mr. Mirtle. And no my role here will not change at all, Blushirt Banter is still a priority.

So hope to see you all at the radio show and hope to see you all at From the Rink! Thanks!

Blues GM John Davidson answers questions at press conference announcing signing of Max Brodeur.

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A little Friday humor......I hope

Can't say Blues GM John Davidson isn't a visionary when it comes to doing what it takes to give his team an edge for winning games.

After seeing the Blues next opponent, the New York Rangers, shut out twice this week, first by Devils goalkeeper Martin Brodeur, then again by Mike Brodeur of the Ottawa Senators, "JD" has announced the signing of Max Brodeur from Casper, Wyoming, and that Brodeur will start in goal against the Rangers Saturday night in St.Louis.

Brodeur was as stunned as anyone else at the press conference:

"It's not often a 67 year old guy like me gets a chance to play professional sports, but like I told my wife when the Blues called, sometimes even I get bored watching Matlock all day.", the retired shop teacher remarked.

Brodeur has never played hockey at any level, except for a "few knock down drag out games of "SuperChexx" bubble hockey at Slippery's Tavern down on Highway 26. I always lost the coin toss and got stuck being the Commies, and everyone knows the Russian right wing sticks on that thing."

Max isn't worried about his lack of hockey experience, saying "They showed me some films on one of them new Dee Vee Dee players of those New York boys, but I ain't worried, those Ranger fellas don't seem to hit the net much anyway."

Max was the winner of an all-Brodeur tryout at the Scottrade Center, edging out Mildred Brodeur, a librarian from Bayonne, NJ, and Matt Brodeur, a violinist from Braintree, MA, who had equipment problems when he couldn't breathe with a goalie mask on because of a severe case of claustrophobia.

"Damn shame, Matt had a great glove hand, but I just think it would have been a little distracting to the other players on the ice if Matt was screaming "I can't breathe! The walls are closing in!" like a 10 year old girl the whole game." said Davidson.

When asked to comment on the Brodeur signing, John Tortorella said, "Well maybe we should just sign 10 guys named Gaborik." When someone pointed out that Marian Gaborik hasn't scored in 4 games, Torts said "Well, I just need to shuffle the lines a little."

Tortorella would not confirm that the Rangers have worked out Merric Brodeur, a car wash attendant from Yonkers to be their goaltender in practice.

Mary Schwalm - AP

2 months ago: New York Rangers players surround goalie Henrik Lundqvist at the conclusion of their 3-1 win as Boston Bruins' Miroslav Satan, of Slovakia, leaves the ice at the end of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010, in Boston. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

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Thought you guys might find this interesting. The research team at SBNation put together the stats for each site at SBNation, and here are some of the numbers for Blueshirt Banter:

Members:

1005

Total Comments

35502

Most Active Commenters: (Note, Joe and I were in the top two slots, this list is just of our posters)

mleetch352 2634

Moshe52792 2253

rmc235 1293

Lunkwill Fook 978

RangerSmurf 913

FreeBradshaw 901

froese99 851

giantsNYrangers 657

Pretty impressive numbers guys. SBNation was very reluctant to give me the Rangers site, they wanted to bring an existing blog on board. I can't thank you enough for helping me prove to them they did the right thing.

I expect a slow news day, I don't know if the Rangers are even practicing today, so we're going to take a day off, unless something breaks. Feel free to use the thread for whatever you guys want to talk about. If there is any Ranger related news, we'll have it for you.

Thanks again guys, you are the best.

Jim

The first of many ice sculptures for the day, but probably the best and coolest of them all.

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            Plenty of "NBC" or other signs at the Classic yesterday, but the title above was my favorite because at the end of the day it really describes the event the NHL has put on the past three years.

After the jump: A time-line of the day in Boston along with some tips if you plan on attending the classic in the future. Plus some cell-phone pics of the view.

Continue reading this post »

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We're all going to take the day off to spend Christmas with our families, but before we do, we want to wish our Blueshirt Banter family a very Merry Christmas.

If you haven't watched them already this year, here are your "Must-see" movies today:

• A Christmas Story: Nothing better than Ralphie and his Old Man.
• Miracle on 34th St: (the original)
• It's a Wonderful Life.
  
• Christmas Vacation: Tell me you've never uttered the phrase "Merry Christmas! The _______ was full!!!"

On a personal note, I am a little off the grid for the time being. My family and I are currently relocating out of South Florida, so I am in transition until right around New Years Day. Joe, Nick, Rob and the gang will be filling in and making sure you guys are all caught up. I'll be poking my nose in periodically, but until I get my cable and internet going at our new place, I will be somewhat out of touch. Have a great holiday everyone!

Blueshirt Banter hit a very special milestone today. Earlier this morning we registered our 500,000 visit. That is truly
remarkable for a site that started literally from scratch. The early days of this site were literally Ryan McFadden and I putting stories up, and then commenting on them, trying desperately to get people involved in the conversation.

We've come a long way in just 9 months, and we have all of you to thank. Your support of this site and of the radio shows is absolutely amazing, further proof that Ranger fans are the best hockey fans in the world.

So from me, Joe, Rob, Ryan, Eddie, Nick and Laurie, thank you all very very much for the continued success and growth of this site, because without you it wouldn't be possible.

Just an FYI, tomorrow night is our First Annual "Blueshirt Banter Radio Holiday Spectacular", it's just going to be more of a bull session, no guests scheduled, so we'd love to just have you guys join us and call in. Should be a fun show, we'll have some laughs and talk Ranger hockey.

The season is in full swing, and we'd like to welcome all our new members with a little "how-to" on Blueshirt Banter. I know a lot of you have seen this once or twice before, but we like to run it about once a month just so everyone knows how great a site we all have here.

Here are some of the features of Blueshirt Banter, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Photos: In many of our stories, you will see pictures that are provided courtesy of the Associated Press, the big boys. If you click on that photo, you will be brought to a gallery of related photos.

Fan Posts: Got something on your mind? A topic you want to discuss? Have at it, post your very own Ranger or NHL related story here, and if we like it, we just might move it to the front page! Just keep it PG-13.

Fan Shots: Got a Rangers or NHL picture or video you want to share? Post it up in the Fan Shots for all of us to get a look at. Same rule as Fan Posts, keep them PG-13.

Player rosters: At the top of the home page, there is a tab for "players". By clicking the tab, you can see the player page for every player on the Rangers roster, along with all their stats. The Rangers schedule is also there.

Blueshirt Banter Radio: Every Tuesday and Wednesday night Blueshirt Banter takes to the airwaves on Blog Talk Radio from 7:00 PM to 9. Jim and Mouth talk Rangers hockey, interview guests, and take your phone calls. Blueshirt Banter Radio also has a Facebook page, you can find us here: Blueshirt Banter Radio on Facebook make sure you join the page, and invite every Ranger fan you know! The Wednesday night show can be found on this page.

Also, every Monday night from 9-10, you can join Joe Fortunato for "New York Tonight" which covers all of NY Sports.

Open Game Threads: During every Rangers game, there is a live open thread if you want to chat with fellow Ranger fans. Usually at least one or two members of the Banter team are in there. Make sure you check it out the next time the Rangers play. The threads usually go live 30 minutes before the puck drops.

Share us on Facebook: Also at the bottom of every story, you will see a button to share the story on Facebook. If you like the story, share us!

Digg it!: There is also a button at the bottom of every story to share our stories on Digg, if you like the story, go ahead and share it.

"Re-tweet" us!: If you are on Twitter, you can click the "Re-tweet" button at the bottom of every story, and share it with your followers.

Follow us on Twitter: Your Blueshirt Banter team can all be followed on Twitter! Here is how to find our great team of writers:

@blueshirtbanter-Jim

@Joe_Fortunato-Joe

@themanicranger-Ryan (tmranger)

@TheSchwab12-Rob (TheSchwab)

@byndblueshirts-Laurie Carr

@rangercrisis-Eddie "The Mouth" Gieck

@rangerstribune-Nick Montemagno

Email us: At the bottom of the home page, you can email any one of us. If you have an idea for something you would like to see on the site, or if you have a comment, complaint, or compliment, let us know. This site is for all of us, we want all of you to be a part of it, and we really do value your input.

Conduct: Remember, we are all here for the same reason: because we love the New York Rangers. Let's treat each other with respect. Feel free to disagree with anyone's opinion, but do it respectfully. Remember there is a right way and a wrong way to talk to people. Quite honestly, some of spend a good portion of our day on this site, and we want to make it as enjoyable as it can be.

Trolls will pop in from time to time, best thing to do is ignore them, and let us deal with them. In most cases, ignoring the trolls will send them away. If you feel someone is trolling or spamming (which we have had some issues with lately), feel free to drop us an email.

Oh go ahead and register, you know you want to: If you've been lurking, join the conversation! We've got a great group of posters here, and we all love the Rangers just like you. Don't ever feel like you can't contribute to a conversation, we're all friends here.

So to our new members welcome, and to our old members, thank you!