Next Up? Washington!

How does this guy fit in here?  Mickey Rivers in his prime.

What a wonderful, fun hockey game to watch tonight.  Game 7, at Madison Square Garden as the Rangers beat the Senators 2-1, was incredible.  The defense - who SHOULD have been a collective first start of the game, led by Mark Staal and Dan Girardi, were off the charts, blocking more shots than any team I've ever seen.

Henrik Lundqvist made some solid saves, and made us all forget his ridiculous conspiracy theory statements.

Now the Washington Capitals come to the World's Most Cheesy Arena (sorry, that's what it is going forward - this is New York, not some rah-rah-yee-hah pep rally town).

Dear God, I can't stand the Dolan's/Cablevision.  Where and when did New York become so...stupid?

But no point in complaining tonight.  The crowd - whom I and others RIPPED in Game 5, was off the charts tonight.  Well done.

Now comes Washington, with their fancy Ovechtrick.  Which team is going to show up?  The one that is filled with talent and outplayed Boston in the first round?  Or the one that underachieved?

We shall find out in Round 2.

Oh, and Mickey Rivers - yes, THE MICKEY RIVERS (aka "Mick the Quick") just responded and retweeted me on Twitter.  So I've got that going for me.

Which is nice.

Of course, if I could remember how to copy it I would post it here.

The whole playoff beard/peer pressure thing is annoying.  Yes, I grew facial hair.  Currently, it's a goatee and - FULL DISCLOSURE - I've shaved it down at times (sorry, deal with it).  See, here's my beef.  I'm a journalist in addition to a fan.  So I struggle with this concept, but on the other hand, members of the MSG broadcast crew have gone for the facial hair.

But I keep getting grief from Ken Brosuk and Paul Silverfarb (well, mostly Borsuk) if I dare to shave it.  But there are conditions, such as if I have something to do where I don't think the facial hair is appropriate.  Or...well...this conversation with a certain 10 year-old:

Sean: You need to shave.
Me: It's a playoff beard, er, goatee.
Sean: It's furry.
Me: I know.
Sean: You still need to shave.

Furthermore, I think I look old and, well, like bleep.  I tried taking pictures this morning and tonight and, well, those suckers won't be seeing the light of day.

You see, the Rangers won the cup in 1994, and I shaved every day.  Just saying.

I also acquired a new Rangers sweater courtesy of Chris Kaelin.  The good?  It's a nice navy blue.  The bad?  It's got that liberty logo on it.  But it was free, and I couldn't look the gift horse in the mouth.  So I wore it for Game 6...but didn't tonight.  So, there.  No lucky sweater.

I don't get why some people think it's so bad for grown men to wear jerseys/sweaters.  My take is that it's harmless - especially if it's being worn to a game or something like that.  I don't wear them on any old day for the most part, but that's just me.  And hey, they can be quite comfy when doing yard work (especially a football one).

Sometimes people need to chill.