Too Many Ifs To Get Excited
by Steve Giacobello
With the exception of the 1994 season, never before has a season of hockey here in New York been so anxiously anticipated…….and with good reason. Need some reasons to be excited about the 2002-03 season here in N.Y.? How about….. the signings of Bobby Holik and Darius Kasparaitis. ….an all new coaching staff, starting with rookie head coach Bryan Trottier, and his assistants Jim Schoenfeld and Terry O’Reilly. ….a full season of Pavel Bure and Tom Poti. ….the re-signing of Mike Richter as our top goaltender. ….team toughness!!! Never before have the Rangers had a solid core of hard hitting, gritty, tough players like they do today with players such as; Barnaby, Oliwa, McCarthy, Lindros, Kasparaitis, Purinton, Kloucek, Holik, and Messier. (Let’s also not forget that we have Sean Gagnon waiting for a shot…he put up over 200PIM’s last year in Hartford). ….plus, youngsters such as Jamie Lundmark. Kloucek, and Dan Blackburn (just to name a few), should all get their share of quality ice time, ending a frustrating streak of rosters Ranger fans were forced to watch that were packed with to many “aging veterans” and not enough “fresh blood”. Put all these things together, and it’s hard to imagine how one couldn’t be excited as a Rangers fan, to start the season, especially after suffering thru 5 seasons of no post-season play.