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| 24/7 Rangers/Flyers: Episode Three review |
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| Features |
| Written by Blake Benzel |
| Thursday, December 29, 2011 13:43 |
Ugly sweaters, Steve Ott and Peter Laviolette's awkward moment, and Ilya Bryzgalov – who else? – take center stage before the Rangers and Flyers actually (gasp!) play each other.Last week’s episode of “HBO 24/7 Flyers/Rangers: The Road to the Winter Classic” left the teams in markedly different places.So it's no coincidence that this is exactly where we pick up in Episode Three. The recap of Episode Two ends with the Flyers looking dejected and defeated after their loss to the Boston Bruins. Episode Three starts in the same manner, with Peter Laviolette in the visitor’s locker room of the Pepsi Center, browbeating his team after a sluggish start in the first two periods against the Colorado Avalanche. “I want to see people rip their hearts out of their [expletive] chest this period,” Laviolette tells his troops. “And if you don’t, you’re probably not going to like your ice time. Take your first shift, you’ll get it, earn the second one. I’m not putting up with it. It’s too much horse[expletive].” The stage is set for a dramatic third period that saw Daniel Briere tie the game with seconds left on the clock, followed by some beautiful footage of the ensuing shootout after a scoreless overtime. Say what you want about the use of the shootout to decide games, but HBO certainly knows how to showcase it in style, with some of the best footage of the series coming out of the post-game skills competition. Despite their coach's admonition, the Flyers lose and head to Texas, where Claude Giroux practices for the first time since his concussion. Here, the focus shifts to concussions in general, with Giroux telling us that players just know when they’re ready to return from a head injury. While this is going on, the Rangers relax, skating at Bryant Park with their families. We see Derek Stepan and meet his girlfriend, Stephanie; we see Mike Rupp spending time with his family; we see Dan Girardi’s all-star in the making in a touching moment between father and son – Girardi slaps skates on his son’s feet for the first time and helps him around the ice. Then, we go to the Rangers’ Ugly Sweater party for one of the lighter and funnier moments of the episode. A (seemingly) inebriated Brian Boyle, Dan Girardi’s skinny jeans, and Michael Del Zotto’s ugly sweater steal the show: After the levity of the party, we head back to the ice where the Rangers face off against the Devils and Mike Rupp laments the fact that Cam Janssen wants to fight for hours at a time when he drops the gloves. After the Rangers dispatch the Devils, we head back to Dallas to find out that Giroux is ready to go (we knew that already but play along). Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier are back in Giroux’s apartment, watching the game on TV, when we learn that Couturier passed all the concussion tests but still doesn’t have hearing in his left ear after absorbing a slap shot. Scary stuff. The game in Dallas featured the usual share of great moments otherwise unknown to the causal observer. The first (Giroux and Ott chirping back and forth) and the last (Laviolette coyly avoiding talking about his incident with Ott in the tunnel) were captured on the above video and not seen by anyone but those involved. The middle one, though, was the one that everyone was waiting to see – Laviolette’s run-in with Ott in the runway. Surprisingly, Ott was the more level-headed of the two. This is how the interaction went: Ott: “Show some class. You’re going to let our team go.
Laviolette: “Go [expletive] yourself.” Ott: “Hey…” Laviolette: “Go [expletive] yourself.” Ott: “Show some [expletive] class!” And there goes HBO, surprising us again, this time by painting a picture of the coaches that differed significantly from our pre-conceived notions. John Tortorella as a player’s coach? Peter Laviolette as the more intense of the two? What’s next? Marian Gaborik leading the league in penalty minutes? Speaking of Gaborik, we follow the Slovakian sensation in his daily commute (in a BMW M5, no less) to practice and talking trash about New York drivers in the lone moment of personality that he shows. At practice, the focus shifts to Michael Del Zotto, who talks at some length about his rough start to his NHL career. “I think I’ve just stayed within myself this year,” Del Zotto says in reference to his turnaround this season from last. “Most of the things I’ve learned were more mental than anything. Last year, I was kind of always looking for that perfect play. I think the first season got to me a little bit, thinking that I was going to put up 60, 70 points or something crazy like that.” It's a great look at the psyche of a young superstar. The focus then shifts to Brad Richards, whose leadership is part of the reason why this young Rangers team has been so successful. “He’s done a great job,” Del Zotto says again, “as far as helping me on the ice. But off the ice I think has been the biggest thing, as far as taking care of yourself and being a professional.” After this revealing moment, Gaborik goes Christmas-tree shopping. After a fairly benign segment of this (seriously, the personality fairy may have very well skipped Gaborik), we’re back with the Flyers as they head to New York. We eavesdrop on a bunch of players discussing the rivalry between the two teams. The highlights: Wayne Simmonds shares that had no idea how intense the rivalry was coming from the west coast, and Jaromir Jagr talks about his memories in New York – including how grateful he was to be given a chance after many thought his NHL career ended in Washington. Then we’re on to the coaches, who mosey over to a bar to have some dinner and drinks, and take in the Rangers/Islanders game. Laviolette gives us a nice piece about the Rangers’ identity being set with Tortorella in control. We get a nice shot of the coaches giving Laviolette some ribbing about his altercation with Steve Ott. There’s some great hockey footage (as always) in the Rangers/Islanders segment, including a locker room bit with Tortorella warning his team not to look past the Isles to the Flyers. Del Zotto keeps his swagger, as Torts calls it, Stu Bickel gets in two fights and, after the second, we’re treated to a great quote by the ref. All in all, HBO does what HBO does best. They capture the sport that we know and love in a way that isn’t seen all that often. Then we’re on to the battle for first place in the Atlantic between the Rangers and Flyers. Both coaches, in their pre-game meetings with their teams, stress discipline while John Tortorella stresses playing a north-south type of game and taking it to the Flyers. The game footage highlights the nastiness of the rivalry. Prust and Bourdon throw down before Tom Sestito decides to open his mouth in an expletive-filled tirade towards the Ranger bench. The long and short of it: The AHLer is going to knock everyone out. The response by the Rangers, perhaps uncharacteristically, came from Brad Richard. It was pure gold: “One day in the NHL for you. Fantasy camp for you.” Did anyone expect the chirp of the series (so far) would from the mouth of a Ranger other than Sean Avery? I didn’t. Back to the action, and we go to the locker room chats between each team before getting a very revealing look into the NHL review process and Mike Murphy’s video wall again. He calls Ruslan Fedotenko’s goal a good goal and. Making a cameo on his video wall are Ron Wilson and, inexplicably, somebody’s dog. In the next intermission we get more motivational stuff from the coaches, stressing how important the next goal is. Gaborik gets the next marker (which probably could have been predicted by how well it was set up by the editors in the previous segments) and the Rangers eventually get the 4-2 win. Begin Christmas break. After a fairly pointless segment showing that Philly fans aren’t fazed by the loss to the Rangers (I don’t know that you could point to one person that was running up the steps at the Museum of Art and say, definitively, that they cared whether or not the Flyers won the night before), it's on to some holiday stuff. Scott Hartnell has Claude Giroux and a couple other players over to his loft for Christmas. They drink wine, Hartnell operates a camera, they play Buck Hunter then head to Mass. One thing that has struck me this year is how thoughtful Scott Hartnell is as a person. Most of the picture we get of Hartnell on the ice is either that he’s a goon or a clown; off the ice, he seems to be a very soft spoken and enjoyable individual. Personally, I would have liked more segments focused on him. After the Hartnell residence, we move to the star of the show, Bryz, who has another nugget of gold for us: “I have many faces, masks. In home, I have one face, public, I have another face, on the ice I have a different face, day off I have fourth face. With you, a fifth face. Nobody sees me except my family when I’m being truthful.” After that nugget, Bryz cooks a duck. His dog – the one that’s like a hot blonde – eats the duck off the table and we’re on to Massachusetts and the appropriately immense Boyle household. Boyle introduces us to all of his siblings, seemingly reveling in the fact that he has a captive audience in the camera. The episode shifts to setting up the Winter Classic in a montage, set to “Are You Awake?” by Expatriate, showing clips of the teams and of the rink being build before it fades to black. Favorite Quotes“The jeans. They were awful. They couldn’t even put their hands in their pockets. They weren’t hiding much, that’s for sure.” – Brian Boyle about his teammates’ skinny jeans at the holiday party“It’s tough to score four points here. I did it (laughs).” – Jaromir Jagr to Claude Giroux about scoring in MSG “You’re [expletive] irrelevant out here.’ – Mike Rupp to Jody Shelley “Keep Prusty off the ice and score more goals. It’s pretty basic.” – Ryan Callahan on the team’s strategy “One day in the NHL for you. Fantasy camp for you.” – Brad Richards chirping Tom Sestito Favorite MomentThere were some good, hockey-related moments in this one, but my personal favorite moment was the Rangers’ Ugly Sweater party. An inebriated Boyle dressed as Buddy the Elf, Ryan Callahan ribbing Avery for wearing sunglasses indoors, Brandon Dubinsky dressed as Santa, and one very special sweater worn by Del Zotto. Gold.Videos via wyshinski
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| Last Updated on Thursday, December 29, 2011 23:32 |
