The Kitchener Rangers sue the Michigan Daily

Well the big bad Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League have finally sued The Michigan Daily newspaper. Wow!

Sunaya Sapurji, Yahoo! Sports --- Herschel Fink, the lawyer representing the University of Michigan student paper and reporter Matt Slovin, confirmed to Yahoo! Sports on Tuesday that his clients had both been served with libel notices.

“It’s really disturbing to me what the Rangers are doing and it’s bullying,” said Fink. “It’s bullying a student newspaper and student journalists who are reporting on a legitimate subject of public interest, particularly in the public interest of those who follow hockey.”

The Rangers are suing The Daily over a story published on July 2 in which Slovin reported - based on an anonymous OHL source -- that Winnipeg Jets prospect Jacob Trouba had been offered $200,000 in lieu of an education package to play in the Ontario Hockey League this season. Such a payment would contravene the OHL’s rules pertaining to impermissible benefits. The Rangers hold the Canadian Hockey League rights to the standout defenceman, though he has been steadfast in his commitment to attend the University of Michigan and play hockey for the Wolverines.

On July 13th, Herschel Fink the lawyer that is representing The Michigan Daily and Matt Slovin in this frivolous lawsuit was on Toronto's Sports Net 590 the fan and you can listen to the interview by Matt Brown on this link provided. [Click to listen]

The Kitchener Rangers must really be proud of themselves.

Really! I am being serious, the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League have sued a college newspaper because they disagreed with a story that The Michigan Daily wrote and published in their newspaper. So what is the message here? When you don't like the story that was written in a newspaper you sue the author of the article? Why? I do think this law suit is about getting the CHL's honor back and that the Rangers are a proxy in this fight against the NCAA- especially after last summer when the former head of College Hockey INC Paul Kelly told the Boston Globe that the CHL offered players that had committed to College Hockey teams large sums of money to de-commit and have their kid come play for their team.

“As much as the CHL denies it, there are still instances where money is being paid to the family to lure kids away and de-commit from colleges,’’ Kelly said. “It’s off the books, under the table, whatever you want to call it. If your dad is a fisherman, an out-of-work machinist, or a farmer, and a CHL program comes along and offers you $300,000 in cash, it’s tough for these families not to accept that type of proposal.’’

It will be very interesting to see where this story ends up - Chris Peters of the United States of hookey has a good run down of the situation.

The Michigan Daily stands by their man.

I am very happy to learn that the Michigan Daily is standing behind their man Matt Slovin, who has not backed off his story one bit, even with a threat of a law suit staring him in the face, he did not blink.

Honestly, I have to admire a person like that, Slovin will probably go down in history as the guy that stood up to the mighty Kitchener Rangers.

A statement from The Michigan Daily regarding the situation involving the Kitchener Rangers:

On June 28 The Michigan Daily published an article on its website that said hockey player Jacob Trouba was considering an offer to play for the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League. The article was updated to include further developments on July 2, July 3 and July 4. The Rangers and the Trouba family have denied the offer, and the Rangers have threatened legal action. The Daily stands behind the story and the reporter, Matt Slovin. The Daily will respond to threats of legal action in an appropriate fashion. [The Michigan Daily]

J.P. Parise back tracks on comments

Zach Parise (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am one of those fans that is holding out hope that former Fighting Sioux forward Zach Parise ends up signing a free agent contract with the Minnesota Wild in the off season and finishes his hockey career in the "State of hockey."

After reading after reading J.P. Parise's comments the other day I got to thinking that the Rangers could be a destination for much sought after free agent player. 

Denis Gorman, New Jersey --- J.P. Parise was quoted in Friday’s edition of Newsday as saying, Zach “likes [John Tortorella] a lot,” and that his son “would fit in right there” with the Rangers. Zach Parise was a member of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Men’s hockey team, which Tortorella was an assistant coach on. Ryan Callahan was also a member of that team.

J.P. Parise went on to clarify his comments  he made about the Rangers being a possible team that might seek Parise's services.

Tom Gulitti, Fire and Ice --- “I have to say I was extremely disappointed in how my comments were portrayed in today’s newspaper article,” J.P. Parise said. “I would never speak for Zach under any circumstance. He has not talked to me about anything other than the playoffs and we have not discussed anything but the playoffs and that is 100 percent where his focus is right now and I have absolutely no intentions to distract and get things away from his focus right now.”

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(Video) Brandon Prust Elbows Anton Volchenkov

How many games do you think that Rangers forward Brandon Prust be suspended for this dirty elbow on New Jersey Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov? There was no penalty called on the play but from vantage point on the coach, this appears to be a chicken wing elbow by Prust on Volchenkov and a violation of rule 48 - as I interpret this from reading the rule book - to quote Brendan Shanahan, "this is an illegal hit to the head."

48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent's head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted. However, in determining whether such a hit should have been permitted, the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit or the head contact on an otherwise legal body check was avoidable, can be considered.

In closing, I expect that Brandon Prust will receive at least a one game suspension for his hit to the head on Volchenkov. I think the NHL has to suspend Prust because the NHL has set a precedence finally, after getting it wrong during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

While it's true Prust doesn't have a history of being a dirty player or does it appear that he has ever been suspended or fined by the NHL, neither had Claude Giroux at the time of his suspension in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Don't be that guy - Torts unloads on reporter for having cell phone on

The ongoing joke during the Stanley Cup Playoffs has been the Rangers head coach John Tortorella and how short his press conferences have been. As a person that been to a few post-game press conferences – sometimes the coaches just don’t want to talk to the media nor are they in any mood to answer questions from the media jackals.

Don’t be that guy – you also don’t want to be the person that has forgotten to turn off his cell phone. You might do it once but you probably won’t ever do it again.

Dave Stubbs, National Post --- “Typical New York,” veteran New York journalist Stan Fischler said Sunday with a laugh.

Next to this lunacy, Tortorella is just a cloudburst whose 15-second, syllable-short news conferences add to this season’s delicious drama on Broadway.

Torts’s act is well known in hockey, fittingly showbiz in the world’s headquarters of the theatre as his team prepares to face the New Jersey Devils Monday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final.

The coach’s shtick probably is carefully crafted to take heat off his team, give the opponent as little information as possible and keep the media off balance. It quickly wears thin with many and is viewed as disrespectful not just of reporters, but of the many great communicative coaches who have gone before him.

Predictably, Torts’s players will tell you they respect their leader who will go to the wall for them. And his results —the Rangers now eight victories from a Stanley Cup championship — speak for themselves.

I have to give Torts credit, he is very entertaining and a lot of fun to watch in the post game press conferences that they show on NBCSN and a lot of what he says can’t be said on TV without being bleeped out, but It makes for good theater. I also think it might be a tactic and maybe his antics do take the heat off of his team when they lose.

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Leave the game alone – Part Deux

There seems to be a lot of discussion on what would open up the game of hockey. Some want to get rid of shot blocking; others want to limit the number of players that can line up in front of their goal. Some have suggested that the size of the goalie equipment is making goal scoring hard. Now Rangers head coach John Tortorella has chimed in, Torts would like to see the return of the “red line.” I think that is a horrible idea and would really slow down the game of hockey.

Mark Everson and Brett Cyrgalis --- “To me, I think they need to put the red line back in,” Tortorella said yesterday as his team prepares for Game 1 of its Eastern Conference final matchup against the Devils tonight at Madison Square Garden.

“Look at the puck possession teams,” Tortorella said, “they’re out.”

Coming out of the lockout in 2005, the NHL made it legal to make a two-line pass, meaning coming from out of one’s zone, behind the blue line, a pass could be made to a player beyond the center-ice line, the so-called red line. It was a pass that used to be illegal, immediately blowing the play dead.

The new rule was designed to open up the game, and if it did for a while, the way teams have adapted is by playing tighter in their own zone.

“Because it’s a game of ping-pong,” Tortorella said. “The game is a long pass, forecheck, defend. Another long pass, forecheck, defend.”

With a history of fines for criticizing the league, Tortorella then looked at the NHL representative in the room and added, “I better just leave it at that.”

I like the way the NHL is currently run, albeit the officiating would be a little more consistent during the playoffs but the NHL is comprised of the best players in the game of hockey and you’re not always going to have a 8-7 game, some games are going to be 2-1, 1-0, 0-0… I have no idea what bringing back the red line is going to do but slow the game down more and give us more unnecessary whistles and stoppages. Please leave the game of hockey alone.

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Jason Spezza's controversial goal - Rangers nation not happy

This is one of the reason that I love playoff hockey. There is so much going on in the game and the players take it up a notch from the regular season. Unfortunately, the right call isn't always made or is it?

Here is the controversial goal that was scored by Senators' forward Jason Spezza. It would appear from the video that Chris Neil going hard and crashing the net; did help the end result. Obviously the Rangers didn't like the call.

Fortunately for the Rangers, the Senators were unable to get the game tying goal in the closing minutes of  game six and held on to win the game 3-2. The Rangers and the Senators' will play game seven in New York (TBD).

This what the NHL officials had to say on the controversial goal.

Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist was less than pleased with the Senators' second goal. “I just think it’s an absolute joke," Lundquist said. "I am going to freeze the puck, he pushes me out and kicks the puck. It scares me that they can call that a goal. Someone wanted them back in the game for sure. It upsets me but we played a really good game and deserved this one.”

Those comments could get Lundquist a fine from the NHL.

The Senators' tough guy Christ Neil has been was a big factor in this series and was named the third star of tonight's game, Neil scored a goal for the Senators and fought Brandon Prust at the 15:10 mark of the first period.
In game five Chris Neil nailed Brian Boyle with this monster hit [click to view] causing Boyle to miss tonight's game with an concussion.  The tide would turn for Neil as he would end up on the receiving end of a  hit by the Rangers Michael Del Zotto behind the Rangers net in the third period. Neil laid on the ice for a few second before he got up and skated to the Senators' bench.

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(Video) Chris Neil's Hit on Brian Boyle

This is the hit that has everyone buzzing tonight. Senators tough guy Chris Neil hit the Rangers forward Brian Boyle with this hard hit. Rangers head coach John Tortorella was unhappy with the check after the game and said that Boyle is concussed.

Rangers and Devils start the game off with a brawl

I guess the New York Rangers didn't want to let the Boston Bruins beat them in Fighting Majors tonight, so the Rangers decided to have three to start the game off.

This was the opening face-off for tonight's game between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. That is a crazy way to start to a game, I haven't seen something like that for a very long time. Three fights by six different players fighting on the ice at one time. Former Golden Gopher's and current Rangers defenseman Stu Bickel broke the hockey code when he continued to hit Minnesota State University Mankato Mavericks forward Ryan Carter as he laid on the ice. Bryce Salvador got a 10 minute misconduct for trying to get Bickel off of Carter.

00:03	NJD	Cam Janssen : Fighting (maj)  - 5  min
00:03	NYR	Mike Rupp : Fighting (maj)  - 5  min
00:03	NJD	Eric Boulton : Fighting (maj)  - 5  min
00:03	NJD	Bryce Salvador : Misconduct (10 min)  - 0  min
00:03	NYR	Stu Bickel : Fighting (maj)  - 5  min
00:03	NJD	Ryan Carter : Fighting (maj)  - 5  min

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