B R O A D W A Y***B L U E S H I R T S

luckily i don't have cablevision but i'm sure some might. From today's newsday:


The Rangers are in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 1997, but about 600,000 of Cablevision's 3 million customers will be shut out of two of the games against the Sabres.

Versus, the NHL's cable partner, has exclusive rights to Game 1 Wednesday and Game 4 May 1. (The network gets two exclusive games in each of the four conference semifinal series.)

The problem is that on Cablevision (and Time Warner Cable), Versus is available only to those with digital service. (It is widely available on DirecTV and Verizon FiOS and is on some Dish Network tiers.)

The good news is about 80 percent of Cablevision customers have digital cable – the highest rate in the nation. But that still will leave many fans in the dark.

Games 3 and 4 of the Devils-Senators series also are Versus exclusives.

When the Rangers and Sabres are not on Versus, they will appear on MSG (Games 2, 5 and 7) or NBC (Games 3 and 6).

Things will only get tougher if the Rangers advance. In the conference finals, all games not shown on NBC are Versus exclusives. MSG can show no games beyond this round.

Shake the dust off boys, it is time for round two.

FROM NEWSDAY's BLOG:


April 24, 2007
Greetings from Buffalo...or is it Cleveland?


BUFFALO---Paul Mara already looks like a lumberjack. Matt Cullen's is dark and thick. The youngsters' are ---as you might imagine---scraggly.
The Rangers' playoff beards have bloomed and they'll have some use here, where the forecast is certainly not post-season, nearly-May weather: more like October, 40-something degrees and rainy.
Nonetheless, it's not snowing and this city is preparing for the opening game in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinals in good humor, with "Go Sabres" flashing on message boards at the airport and Sabres t-shirts proudly worn at the car-rental counters.
Remember the Jim Carrey film, "Bruce Almighty," when the Sabres win the Stanley Cup and riots break out in Buffalo? One car-rental firm employee laughed and noted only one scene in the movie was actually shot here.
"Most of it was in Cleveland," he said.
Before any wild celebrating can occur, however, the Sabres must finish off the Rangers, who believe they can win the series.
"We're not pretending anythere here, the pundits will say they're the better team, according to the records, and rightfully so," coach Tom Renney said after a fast-paced practice in Westchester. "But we're probably at at the apex of our game and if we can sustain that over the course of this series and beyond, we've got a good chance of winning."
For those just jumping on the bandwagon, Renney has done an admirable job in getting the players to buy into the don't-panic, team-first, opportunistic approach that concluded with a 17-3-4 run. "We're gonna face adversity and the worst thing we can do is immediately alter the way that we're playing," said Brendan Shanahan. "We've got a format that's brought us success. Over the long haul, we've won more than we've lost."
At practice, some of the drills were specifically designed for the Sabres' attack: defending odd man rushes and 2-on-2s, and down low around the net, where Buffalo will go back-door, look for the stuff, pass back to the open side.
In one, led by goaltender coach Benoit Allaire, a player would skate from the right boards directly toward goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, fire a backhander, a rebound, and another player would cut around the other side of the cage to try to tuck the puck in, forcing Lundqvist to go post-to-post. The next player would approach from the left side, and so on.
The Rangers' defense pairings will be pressured in many ways, and Renney stressed that they cannot do it alone. "We can't just have those guys defend, retrieve and move the puck in two or three seconds," he said. "That's a five-man unit's job."
At any rate, the city is ready for action---even those with unlikely alliances.
After a fire alarm prompted guests at the Adam's Mark hotel to vacate rooms and gather in the lobby, several firefighters, after assessing the situation, pronounced a false alarm. But before they left, two of them asked a group in the lobby if they were Sabres' fans. Then they tapped the tops of their metal axes in a familiar melody: ding, ding, ding-ding-ding, and said in tandem: "Let's go Rangers."

****
D Karel Rachunek, who has missed 16 games with a sprained MCL, appears to be starting tomorrow. He skated opposite Mara. Thomas Pock, who played all four games in the Atlanta sweep, skated with Jason Strudwick, who is ineligible for the post-season, indicating a healthy scratch...Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr alternated shifts and Renney said a decision would be made tomorrow Orr played all four games; Hollweg was a healthy scratch... Renney on Sean Avery's remarks about his intent to physically pound the Sabres: "We had meeting prior to the playoffs starting about what we wanted to do in terms of the media. We want guys to be honest. I don't think he's gone over the top at all. At the same time, that's the way he plays".. Expect C Chris Drury, Drew Stafford and Dainius Zubrus to sometimes match up against the Jaromir Jagr-Michael Nylander-Marcel Hossa line, according to the Buffalo News.

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The Sabres skate at 10:30 tomorrow; the Rangers at 11:30. More from there coming....

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Yup Its Fear ....



Lets Go Buffalo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Huh Only Hrs Away

fuck why isnt MSG playing it??? i dont get versus!!!!!!!