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 18th – 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 …
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