A BUNCH OF HOCKEY, GOLF, COLLEGE FOOTBALL STUFF

 Here and There … mostly there ...

While he hasn’t been as outspoken as PK SUBBAN, 

former NHL defenseman, on TNT’s studio show,

 MARK MESSIER continues to ramp up criticism 

of the New York Rangers. You don’t think he wants 

to replace (a) CHRIS DRURY as general manager; 

or (b) coach PETER LAVIOLETTE; or both, do 

you? … The Hall of Fame forward, MVP of the 

Broadway Blueshirts’ last Stanley Cup-winning team 

(1993-94), was a formal candidate for GM when 

Drury was hired five years.

For whatever it is worth … Big Apple media thinks 

Laviolette is a goner (any day now) while Drury will 

live to fight another day … Also: CHRIS 

KREIDER will be traded or released. His 

teammates must think so, too. After he scored late in 

Thursday’s season-ending 4-0 win over disinterested 

playoff-bound Tampa Bay Lightning, WILL 

CUYLLE retrieved the puck and gave it to Kreider 

… a keepsake of the left winger’s (presumably) last 

of 326 goals in 13 seasons, all with NY.

“Do you think ZAC JONES holds himself to a 

higher standard than most Rangers?” … More than 

72 percent of the respondents to the question posed 

by an on-line fan site said he did … This was in 

response to the 24 year old defenseman from 

Richmond taking the high road in a piece about his 

play this season. While Jones said he had improved 

defensively this season despite being a healthy 

scratch in 34 games, he also noted areas in which he 

could have done better … like on the power play … 

The writer obviously was taken by Jones’ humble 

approach to being frustrated by lack of playing time 

… compared to veteran Rangers’ defenseman

 CALVIN de HAAN, 33, who went off on having to 

sit out the last 20 games after coming from Anaheim 

in a trade … playing the games (2-0-1) then not 

playing again … Actually, Jones expressed his 

disatisfaction in graphic terms earlier … after 

spending the 2023-24 campaign in the press box for 

all but 31 games.

Monday night the Rangers overcame a 3-1 second-

period deficit to beat the defending Stanley Cup-

champion Florida Panthers 5-3 on the road … 

thereby becoming the last of the league’s 32 teams to 

win a game this season after trailing by two goals or 

more … It was a game that meant virtually nothing. 

New York was eliminated – officially -- from the 

playoffs in a lack lustre 7-3 loss at Carolina 48 hours 

earlier.

It will be interesting to see what Rangers’ 

management does with respect to ARTEMI 

PANARIN paying a former employee a lot of money 

to settle her claim of sexual harrasment. The news 

came Thursday morning, and there was some 

question he would suit up for the season finale that 

night … He did … and was named team MVP and 

Most Popular Player … Fourth-line center SAM 

CARRICK got the Player’s Player award voted on 

by the … players.

If you thought ALEX OVECHKIN’s moment in 

history, becoming the NHL’s all-time leader in goals 

scored, was something … here’s hoping you watched

 RORY McILROY overcome a bad case of the 

nerves to finally win the Masters in dramatic fashion 

… and complete his quest for the Grand Slam of 

Golf after 10 years of trying for the fourth (and final) 

leg at Augusta National ... Having missed a five-foot 

putt on the 18^th – and final hole of regulation, 

forcing sudden-death, then sinking the same putt on 

the first extra hole to beat JUSTIN ROSE … 

McElroy fell to his knees and began sobbing, 

uncontrollably so.

McIlroy and BRYSON DeCHAMBEAU, hardly 

friends, played as the final twosome … and you 

might have noted they never interacted on camera, 

not once. “He didn’t talk once to me all day,” 

DeChambeau told reporters later. “He was like … 

focused, I guess.”

There might be some hope after all for Virginia, 

University of, football next season. BOBBY ROSS

 attended Saturday’s spring game and came away 

impressed by … “their two [transfer] quarterbacks.” 

How so? “For one thing every pass was on target … 

and their receivers were outstanding,” said Ross, 88, 

who had quite a career as coach, pro as well as 

college … His 1990 Georgia Tech team upset No. 1 

U.Va., en route to claiming the national 

championship. A native Richmonder who played for 

JOHN McKENNA at VMI, Ross later took San 

Diego to 

a Super Bowl … He had considerable success at the 

University of Maryland, too, after serving as head 

coach of The Citadel where, among his assistants, 

were JIMMYE LAYCOCK and FRANK 

BEAMER … both in the Virginia Sports Hall of 

Fame (joining Ross) … So, tell us, Bobby, how 

would you deal with today’s college game where the 

players are paid, above the table, and can transfer 

without having to sit out a year? “I wouldn’t,” Ross 

said. “I couldn’t be a coach in today’s college game.” 

… OK, if not, then what? “I would probably make a 

career in the Army or coach in high school,” Ross 

said. “I spent three years in the Army and liked it … 

well, most of it anyway.” … After fulfilling his 

service obligation, he coached at Colonial Heights 

High School “and really enjoyed my time there” … 

then he joined MARV LEVY’s staff at William and 

Mary and worked for LOU HOLTZ

there as well before … you get the idea.

Until next time …