Rangers v. Canes

Last night, I attended the Rangers v. Canes game at the Garden. A good time was had by all, except for maybe the Hurricanes fan that was sitting next to me and got shit on all night by everybody in Section 405.

Anyway. It was an important game for the Rangers seeing how they barely beat the bottom of the barrel Islanders on Sunday night (coming off a losing streak, but still) and Thursday night the Penguins come into town with Sidney Crosby poised to return as well as Kris Letang. Not only that, notably absent from the lineup are the teams captain Ryan Callahan and Michael DelZotto (both are listed as "day to day" which we all know is a softer way of saying...fucked for the remainder of the season) as well as Henrik Lundqvist.

So, I did have some misgivings about going to Garden last night because I knew Lenny wasn't going to be in the net. It would be up to Biron, who has had some bad games lately. But still, I had faith that the Rangers would turn a win out and they did.

The Rangers came out strong in the first period with a goal by Marian Gaborik to give us a 1-0 lead and Biron making some great saves in the net. I have to admit, I was able to let some of the breath I was holding when I saw how well Biron was doing in the net...not for nothing, the first period against Chicago when he let in 4 goals was still fresh in my mind. But as the first period came to a close, I felt confident. The Rangers looked alert and more importantly they had a lead going into the second, which is usually good news for us.

Second period, enter Bradley Glenn Richards. Brad Richards has made some clutch plays several times this season but I think as Ranger fans we're still waiting for him to show what he's capable of. Well, that's what he did scoring two goals in the second to give the Rangers a 3-0 lead. Granted, the hurricanes would come back and score 2 goals in the next 2 minutes, but the most important thing is that Brad Richards is scoring (he scored two on Sunday night as well), Marian Gaborik is scoring and the Hagelin-Gaborik-Richards line is coming together as one of the most important and well meshed lines the Blueshirts have going.

Despite the two goals Biron let in during the second period, he did seem to get himself together and more importantly the Rangers didn't panic. Midway through the third period, Carl Hagelin would secure the game for the Rangers with a wrap around goal, making it 4-2.  Again, that's a goal from the Hagelin-Gaborik-Richards line.

All in all, it was a good game for the Rangers. They won, which they should have and they did it with three important pieces of their puzzle missing. Henrik Lundqvist will be in net on Thursday against the Penguins, Ryan Callahan sounds hopeful about a return before the playoffs and god willing DelZotto comes back. But if they don't, Ranger fans can take comfort in the fact that other important players are stepping up to the plate with the playoffs just around the corner.

You Can Play

 

Brian Burke the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Patrick Burke, scout for the Philadelphia Flyers launched You Can Play, backed by numerous well known names in the NHL like Henrik Lundqvist and Claude Griouxe.  This initiative was started by Brian Burke, son and brother of the aforementioned Burkes, was the first person to fight for the rights of gay athletes in professional hockey. Brennan recently passed away and since his accident, the Burke family has fought hard to carry on his legacy and ensure that LGBT athletes around the world are afforded equal opportunity. You Can Play is about being judged only by their talent, character, and work ethic in their sport. Brennan’s simple message is now the slogan of the campaign:: If you can skate, if you can shoot, if you can score, if you can play; you can play.

I think that this is an amazing step not only for the NHL, but for sports in general. I think it's so important for big name athletes to come out and say "you can play" to anybody who feels uncomfortable in a locker room because of their sexual orientation. Especially in light of recent events where it seems more and more people are being bullied and abused because they are gay, I think it is admirable that the NHL is doing this and that so many athletes are on board with this.  I think it's an important change in the culture of hockey that is necessary. It's good to see players and coaches taking a stance against "casual homophobia" in the ice or in the locker room. I also think it's good that they're reaching out to hockey at all levels, not just the NHL to stop the bigotry.

Hopefully other professional sports organizations follow suit and launch their own similar initiatives.

The Advice Annex

   “The Advice Annex” was created and hosted by Justine or as she's known on YouTube: JPmetz. Justine first started out on YouTube creating "failtorials" which were comedic takes on makeup tutorials. They were the farthest thing from a make-up tutorial there could be and featured Justine complaining about the topic of her choosing for the entire video. Her level-headedness, honesty and strong opinions caused her viewers or minions as she calls them, to seed her out for advice. This prompted her to sart The Advice as a way to respond to these requests. Listeners can ask Justine questions through her phone line, email, Facebook or Tumblr. Every week she selects 4-5 topics to advise about, from friends, family, life and work.

I don’t listen to every single episode of the Advice Annex, I’ll be honest, but I keep up with it frequently. I like that Justine breaks down the questions she’ll be talking about so I know if the Podcast is appealing to me and if I’ll be skipping around here and there. I like listening to her give advice because I feel like if I knew her in real life, we would be friends. I find myself agreeing with her about a lot of things and I think she genuinely gives good advice -- - she has a very real approach to the problems she discusses on her Podcast. I can also relate to a lot of the situations she talks about because the majority of her viewership and listeners are around my age group and have similar problems or are in similar situations that I sometimes find myself in. Sometimes I learn a thing or two about how to handle or approach various situations because Justine offers a viewpoint or an opinion that I may not have thought of before, which in turn may help me out if I or somebody I know is in a similar situation.

I also like that Justine’s podcasts are interactive in that people can leave comments on each podcast and discuss their opinions and experiences. I also greatly admire Justine because she takes time out to really consider these people’s problems. Even though as listeners we don’t know Justine on a personal level, we feel like we do. And sometimes it’s easier to talk about your problems to people who don’t know you in real life. I think she has done a fantastic job of bringing together a community of people who are looking to help one another out.

http://jpmetz.com/advice-the-hell-is-here