Saint Matthew's

Last night, the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers played a classic hockey game at Madison Square Garden. Tied at 0-0 entering the shootout period, the Devils were able to put their final shot in the net, giving them a 1-0 shootout victory. Goaltenders Martin Brodeur of the Devils and Henrik Lundquist of the Rangers were masterful, stopping every shot they faced in regulation and in the overtime period. The only shot to go in was Patrik Elias’ shot in the fourth round of the shootout.

We Rangers’ fans have dubbed Lundquist “King Henrik” for his goaltending prowess. After last night’s match, I think Devils’ fans should take a little umbrage at that moniker. The real king of the New York-New Jersey goaltenders resides in Newark, “King Martin.”

Of course, if you’re like me and have DirecTV, you missed this instant classic since DirecTV doesn’t carry the semi-sports channel, Versus, that aired this match last night. DirecTV and Comcast, the owner of the semi-sports channel Versus, are in a carriage rights squabble. Essentially, DirecTV doesn’t want to pay as much as Comcast wants for the channel, so they don’t distribute Versus to DirecTV.

But the radio call was wonderful!

(Also posted at reviovine.com)

This week has been a rather hectic one … though I don’t know why.

I intentionally pulled back the work throttle in an attempt to recharge a battery or two. Instead, I filled this new-found time with personal work that has taken a backseat over the past six months or so. For instance, I’ve been working on the home office. Don’t get me wrong – I like working in the church office, but there are times when shuffling over to church with books, papers, and a ton of little things to do just isn’t feasible. However, that is what I have done since September 2008. I’ve used the church office more and more often while using the home office less and less.

While working from home presents many distractions, many days it is just easier to head down into the office and work there.

But outside of it being easier, it is more convenient – I can actually complete tasks here since nearly all of my church-related stuff is here at home.

Over the coming weeks, I have to figure this whole “work at home; work in the church office” thing out.

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Today being Friday means one important aspect of my role as pastor: The sermon gets written today. This morning I will spend some time formulating a proclamation of the Gospel from behind my home desk.

Afterward, I have a visit to Valley Hospital and then, maybe, I will check on a couple of members from Saint Matthew’s while I am up in that area.

THEN, tonight I am heading on down to the Prudential Center in Newark to take in Game Two of the NHL Playoff series between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New Jersey Devils. No, I didn’t purchase tickets. The story is an interesting one – when you come to church this weekend, ask me about it.

Been a bad boy – haven’t written for a couple days. Should have written about yesterday, the Feast of Saint Patrick. For some sad reason, Saint Patrick’s Day has devolved into a day about getting hammered on sickening amounts of beer and somehow getting through March 18th without vomiting all over your co-workers. The blessed Saint Patrick had nothing to do with getting drunk or eating copious amounts of corned beef. He only had something to do with bringing the Christian faith to Ireland.

But why worry about that sort of stuff when you can just drink so much that you have to puke all that corned beef up?

Yesterday is going to be a bigger day in the life of one New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur. Last night, he notched his 552, victory breaking former Montreal Canadian/Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy’s record. Congrats to Sean Avery’s “favorite” goalie. The Eastern Conference leading Devils did beat the Chicago Blackhawks in Newark last night. And the Rangers beat the Canadians up in Montreal. Yeah, a Rangers team that is showing some heart. Too bad I missed both games.

Oh, and can someone please get Brodeur and his teammates some hedge clippers. This morning, I watched the replay of the postgame celebration. Trying to cut that thick goal netting with those scissors looked ridiculous.

Finally, a year ago yesterday I was knocked out trying to break up a fight between two drunks in front of church. It was holy week and I was opening the doors for church when I saw those two dopes going at it. Like a crazy person, I went down to try and break it up. Then, several hours later, I wake up in the hospital with a rather painful knot on the right side of my head. After months of treatment and therapy, the major concussion I sustained finally eased.

I got through yesterday without a scrape.

I received the following in an email last night from a devout New Jersey Devils fan. Suffice to say, this Rangers fan isn’t amused.

911 Operator: “What is your emergency?”
Caller: “I’m choking.”
911 Operator: “What is your location?”
Caller: “Rangers’ locker room.”

A friend of mine asked me last week why I slowed down with my posting about my favorite hockey team, the New York Rangers. That’s simple – they stink. How many times can I sit in front of my computer and vent my spleen?

They don’t score. They don’t play defense. They skate like they are all wearing 60 pound weights on top their equipment. They don’t have much heart. They play as though they’ve given up on the season.

I was happy on Monday night – not that the Rangers lost to the Devils 3-0 at the Rock in Newark – but that I had a church Voters’ Meeting and missed the game.

Sean Avery appears that he’s coming back after the Rangers exiled him and he signed with the Dallas Stars and then he got into that little “sloppy seconds” scandal that got him suspended and placed into therapy. When the Rangers didn’t resign him in the off-season, I felt it was a mistake because Avery played with passion and heart. Whether you liked the way he played hockey, that’s another issue. But his hockey was filled with passion, and I like players who have it.

Instead, the Rangers went down the “Koom-ba-ya” path — picking players who would like one another, play video games together after practice, and discuss why their investments were in the toilet.

I don’t know if the Rangers forgot, but hockey is about winning, about raising the Stanley Cup. It is not about whether the team loves one another. This isn’t some social experiment – it’s a darn hockey team!! No Hillary Clinton “Villages” needed – you need heart, passion, and a willingness to leave it all on the ice.

I am just a little ol’ pastor in New Jersey who just so happens to be a hockey fan, but I always believed that winning cures all ills. You can hate your linemate, but if you win the Stanley Cup, all is forgiven. OK, maybe you won’t trade Christmas cards, but your names will be forever engraved on Lord Stanley’s Cup.

Tonight, the Capitals come to town. The Rangers are playing rather pathetic hockey. And yes, I am thanking the Lord that I have church tonight at 7:30, something that will prevent me from watching most of this pending disaster. As you can tell, my confidence in my team is overflowing.

Of course, my Rangers heart aches with the news our former captain, Jaromir Jagr, could be headed to Edmonton. Heck, the Rangers have no room for players like Jagr or Brendan Shannahan, two real leaders who actually care about winning. But they have room for Wade “A $39 Million Weight Around Our Salary Cap Neck” Redden, Chris “Was I Named the Captain? No Kidding!” Drury, and Scott “Thank God for all those Good Years in Jersey; It’s Now Paying for my Manhattan apartment” Gomez. Right now, I’d take Jagr and Shannahan over these three. Maybe we’d actually score a goal.

To me, the top two stories of the sports weekend had to do with the Giants and Brendan Shanahan. 

- Eli Manning wasn’t sharp at all, but all the credit in the world has to go to the Philadelphia Eagles who came to Giants Stadium with a game plan, and they executed it perfectly: Stop the run, pressure Manning, and keep the Giant receivers in check. Without a real downfield threat since Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg, the Giants have been very one dimensional relying on the running game. In the offseason, the G-Men need to get a wide receiving threat equal to Burress. 

The Eagles versus the Arizona Cardinals for the NFC crown. Who would have imagined this one at the start of the playoffs?

- Brendan Shanahan has decided to play for the Devils, considering the Rangers were stringing him along all season. The Rangers flirted with Mats Sundin to a sickening point, even though reality (Sundin wanted $10 Million; Rangers could only offer close to $3 Million) was staring at them in the face. Shanahan probably would have taken less than what the Rangers could max out at in order to stay in New York. And the Rangers? I mean, who wouldn’t Shanahan –  player who can actually forecheck, score every now and then, and provide leadership on and off the ice?

Just wondering – did the Rangers really make the trip to Montreal last night or did they find a bunch of drunk guys in a bar somewhere to take their places?

They lost to the Montreal Canadians 6-2.And if they played hard and lost 6-2, I wouldn’t be complaining this morning. However, they looked terrible. No, they looked so bad, it made me change the channel several times to check on the New Jersey Devils, who really aren’t very good right now as they suffer from an injury bug, but they actually played hard and won a game in Philly last night. In the New York Post this morning, Rangers’ beat writer Larry Brooks opened his article on last night’s game with the following:

Call this an episode of Northern Exposure.

One night after the Rangers defeated the Penguins in a button-down performance at the Garden that appeared to validate the first-place standing they’d built primarily on shootout supremacy, the Blueshirts were exposed as Not Quite Ready for Prime Time Players in being routed 6-2 by the Canadiens.

Regardless of what the Rangers’ hierarchy says, Brooks writes something diehards have felt for a while: This team is not built to go very far in the playoffs because they don’t score or play defense very well. Too many miscues, too many turnovers, and too many head-scratching line changes that doesn’t breed familiarity between on-ice players. They are an up and down team, at best — good one game, horrible the next, and then we get on our knees to pray for a shootout.

This is not an elite team by the stretch of any hockey fan’s imagination. It is a decent team that plays well on some nights. When I watch the Red Wings or the Sharks, I can see that the Rangers aren’t in their class.

This morning, Team Turnover is thankful for only one thing – that Sean Avery isn’t a Ranger.

A friend of mine, who just so happens to be a Boston Bruins fan (he lives in Albany, NY; why, he would be a Bruins fan, I can’t even harbor a guess), emailed me this afternoon and wanted to know my opinion of the Bruins’ third jersey. To be honest, I am not a huge fan of these money-making jerseys, especially because the Rangers have the Statue of Liberty’s head on their third sweater. What were they thinking when they came up with that one a few years ago?

And with the Bruins third jersey – I think it is one of the more ugly ones that have been released. A big bear in the center? Not exciting.

As I read Tim’s email, I remembered Saturday night — I was at a friends for a short visit and she asked the question: "What two NHL teams don’t have third jerseys?" She hinted that the first one should have been obvious … instead, I was oblivious.

We were watching the Devils game.

The Devils don’t have a third jersey. Duh.

However, I didn’t get it when I was at her house.

And the second team without a third jersey? To be honest, I couldn’t guess as I ran through each of the teams in my head. This afternoon I cheated and Googled it — the Detroit Red Wings are also third jersey-less.

Good for both of the Devils and the Red Wings.

Boo to the Bruins and the Rangers.

And to remind you what the Rangers’ third jersey was like:

The Rangers laid an egg yesterday against the Florida Panthers.

Though, it was not quite as pathetic as the Jets falling to the Broncos at Giants Stadium.

However, both games fall into the category of “Hold Your Nose. We Stink Today.”

OK. I watched most of the Jets game and I caught the 60 minute version of the Rangers game on MSG. But that was even 60 minutes too long.

Ugh.

Next up – the Pittsburgh Penguins who dropped the Devils on Saturday night.

While the Rangers can’t stink as bad as they did yesterday, I have little hope for a Wednesday night victory. That’s how bad the Blueshirts played on Sunday afternoon.

UPDATE: The Journal News’ Sam Weinman tries to keep Rangers fans off the edge of the cliff.

As I sat down this afternoon to watch football and hockey, I had a revelation — I really did mention the New Jersey Devils in my church announcements today. Considering that I am a Rangers’ fan, for me to stand and announce that the Devils have two “Church Nights” coming up and tickets are available, it was a little tough.

The Devils are offering $65 tickets for $30, which is a pretty good deal.

The two games that the Devils are offering are:

• November 21st vs. the New York Islanders
• January 4, 2009 vs. the Ottawa Senators

If you want to go to these games, then let me know.

I think I will be doing both games. Even I can support the Devils against the Islanders…

Love this post from Puck Daddy @ Yahoo: They’ve indexed the cost per ounce per beer sold at NHL arenas. (Of course, this continues my alcohol post over at my fat blog)

The Rangers came in at .31 cents per ounce (16 ounce beers go for $5.00 at the Garden). Our hometown New Jersey Devils hover near the top of the league, coming in at .44 cents per ounce (they sell a 16 oz. beer for $7.00). That team from Long Island comes in at .36 center per ounce for their 16 oz. $7.25 beer.

I love the fact that someone sat down and did the math.

OK. The Giants were quite ugly last night. They were so bad, I couldn’t watch more than a few minutes. They just looked like they were jetlagged or something. I don’t know. When the entire football world is watching and then you lay a huge egg like the G-Men did last night, the Giants better come back on Sunday with an equally decimating victory or no one will be worried when they have to play the team from the Meadowlands.

Oh, one of the teams from the Meadowlands (I forgot that the Titans, no, the Jets play there, too).

But the Rangers won and are now 5-0. They beat the Devils at the Garden 4-1. While I am thrilled that the Broadway Blues are 5 and zip, that little sports devil in my head keeps reminding me, “Anthony, it is not how good they play when the season starts; it’s how they play at the end of the season that counts.”

The Phillies beat the Dodgers out in LA last night and now are one game away from the World Series.

Who would have thunk it? The Phillies, who nearly everyone here in the tri-state area wrote off months ago, are 9 innings away from making it to the Series. Mets fans aren’t happy.

What got to me in this series? No, it wasn’t the baseball acumen of either team.

It was seeing Don Mattingly in a Dodger uniform.

I wanted to puke.

Oh, today is going to be a fun sports night.

Of course, in my mind, it is highlighted by the New Jersey Devils going to the Garden to take on the NY Rangers. It is early in the season, but whenever the team from Newark crosses the Hudson to play the Blueshirts, it is going to be fun. But also on this evening’s sports schedule, the Giants play on Monday Night Football against the Cleveland Browns. While the guy writing in the Sporting News Today wants people to pull for the Browns, please. The Giants could go 5-0 tonight.

And who can forget the baseball playoffs starting this afternoon with the Tampa Rays traveling to Boston to play those Red Sox people. Then tonight, the Phillies and the Dodgers tangle out in L.A. Yes, I do mean tangle, after last night’s little scuffle.

And since I haven’t written about it — I am pulling for Joe Torre’s Dodgers.

I wasn’t too happy last night. The Devils beat the Rangers, both in score (4-3 in OT) and in aggressiveness, at the Garden. The Rangers took way too many moronic penalties (Tyutin, what the heck was that catch and release thing with the puck?) and lacked a fighting spirit during parts of the game that let the Devils take one.

The Parise goal – ha! – that bounced over Lundquist should have told all Rangers’ fans that the game wasn’t going to go our way.

There is always Wednesday night.

And then Friday at the Rock in Newark.

Tonight, the Rangers take on the NJ Devils in the First Round of the Stanley Cup tournament. Of course, I am pulling for the Rangers, even though the Devils are the "hometown" team here in New Jersey, across the River from MSG. The so-called newspaper experts made their picks the past two days – most for the Rangers, a couple for the Devils. Truthfully, I don’t care about predictions. I care about the Rangers’ power play.

Learned something today – Rangers Head Coach Tom Renney is a country music fan. Who would have thunk that?

I always knew I liked him … and if you haven’t guess it yet, I am a country music fan myself.

On tonight’s game, thank goodness for DVRs. We have Divine Service followed by bible study tonight. I will be lucky to get home in the middle of the third period. So I have programmed my DirecTV HD DVR to record it. Go Rangers!

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