He was a tank. I only wished the Rangers traded someone else to get him. They grabbed young Curt Bennett from St. Louis for Steve Durbano and just like that traded Bennett for Harris. I really liked Harris but Bennett turned out to be a good, tough player himself with the Flames (although do recall Steve Vickers later on getting the better of Bennett who was no stiff himself). But I digress. The Rangers in the early 70's had ousted the defending Stanley Cup champs in back-to-back years, the Bruins in '73 and the Habs in '74. After losing 4-2 in '72 to Boston, the Rangers beat them 4-1 in '73. In one game, Espo (a game in Boston) skated by Harris with his stick held parallel to the ice with the dirty intent to try and low bridge Harris (Ronnie ducked as the Boston crowd howled). Harris later in the game blasted Espo with a clean but crushing check, injuring his knee and knocking him out of the series. The Flyers Bob Kelly once took skinny Jerry Butler (#17?) out with a hit. Harris took Kelly out of a playoff series with a hit. If I recall correctly, the Butler game might've been the one that ended up with a near riot outside the back of the Garden after the game with cops called in to ward off Ranger fans trying to attack the Flyers bus. Ah the days of the 'Blues' At the bottom is a video of Harris. Freggie the Fog Shero puts Shultz on the ice. Emile the Cat pulls Rod Gilbert (who the goon Schultz was trying to take off the ice) and puts Harris on the ice, i.e. a statement. Lastly, one time "the Schmooze" Steve Summers had long time Flyer announcer Gene Hart on WFAN for an extended visit. Being a Ranger nut who absolutely dispised the Bruins, Flyers & Islanders, I called & called and lo and behold got through and b.s.'d the screener that I wanted to ask "guest Gene" some innocuous hockey question. Put on hold....got my ducks in order while waiting. Most of the callers up to that point were being "polite." I got on and recall immediately backed him up against the wall asking him to comment on some Flyer goon transgression (where to begin?) and while he and the Schmooze were originally taken aback, Hart started to chirp back and attempted to go tit-for-tat with me in the "goon accusation" department by citing a James Patrick (James Patrick?!!) hit that knocked some Flyer out of a game. I (will never forget it) was having none of his pathetic attempt to project & deflect and snarled something to the effect: "James Patrick?!!...you're gonna call him a goon?...he couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag?!!....you're full of it...." <----I had worked myself up into a lather at that point and then got personal and childishly called him a fat pig (the gloves were off by then! haha) at which point I got the hook... I turned on the radio and heard the Schmooze trying to add levity by saying "Felix (my fake name when I used to call the FAN) with some passion...." essentially (gently) making fun of the Ranger-fan-gone-overboard on his guest. Whatever, I got to unload on Hart to the point where he got pissed off and defensive. Listen to the (Flyer) announcers in the video below, one of which was Gene Hart. A pair of sarcastic, lowbrow homers: [youtube]zpXYqrkAqCU[/youtube]
James Patrick was as aggressive as Rick Nash, Rod Gilbert on hidden treasures told Al Trautwig, the Flyers got away with murder, they would high stick, spear, cross check you and you would push them and you would get the penalty, my biggest regret in hockey was losing to the goon squad in the '74 semi's, everyone knew we were a better hockey team than them...
NY Rangers Zone@NYRangersZone18h Cam Talbot now leads #NHL with .938 save percentage and is #2 with 1.66 GAA
How about we string a few wins together now? this 1 and 1 or 2 and 1 BS is getting old now, seems like the scoring has picked up a little. kreider and Zuc are the Rangers two best players by far. It's only a matter of time before this kreider has an "A" or "C" on his chest. He hits like a truck, scores goals and will fight if he has to, that's more then I can say for 85% of the team. Side note ... Danny Carcillo? WTF Maybe the Rangers meet the league min for players with balls now.
It's a disgrace that Kreider did not make the olympic team. What American-born player is playing better right now?
i'm gonna go to see the kings and ducks at dodger stadium. hack, i'd say bobby ryan was a big snub as far as the Olympics go. I really don't like nhl players in the Olympics. it's a fuckin' headache as far as i'm concerned.
I LOVE the fact that the Pro's play Olympic Hockey. What other sport can the pros play and there is such an open field?
Personally I don't like NHL players subjecting themselves to potential injuries just like with that stupid World Baseball Classic. On the other hand, should a player who dreamed of playing for his country be denied from doing so?
Somebody on the hfboards made a comparison of kreider and Amonte, at this point Amonte had more offensive finishing skill, Kreider is faster, bigger and stronger and has a very good shot
Kreider can develop that over time. These is no question the skill is their. I think Kreider is prob one of the fastest players in the NHL, I think he's faster then Hags.
