And they just keep on getting better.
After seeing episode one of HBO's 24/7: Road to the NHL Winter Classic back on December 14, I honestly didn't think any of the remaining episodes would be able to top what I had just seen. However, I felt the same way after watching episode two last week, which featured a very touching story between head coach John Tortorella and a local fan of the Rangers. Wednesday night's episode three, in my opinion, topped them both believe it or not. In the latest 60 minutes of pure excellence, HBO did a wonderful job of capturing the adversity and intensity that go into a rivalry match-up in the National Hockey League, maybe better than they ever have before. We saw two teams depicted as armies head into a game that was played up to be a war. It was like nothing any of us hockey fans have ever watched prior to Wednesday night.
Episode three started with the Flyers on their road trip, so we had to wait a while before our New York Rangers became the main focus. When they did, however, it was quite worth the wait. We got a glimpse into what was deemed the team's "ugly sweater Christmas party" that was being hosted by Brad Richards. Among many classic moments during that segment, the best came when we got to see a slightly tipsy Brian Boyle in an elf outfit, Brandon Dubinsky dressed as Santa, Ryan Callahan lighting up (literally), and Ruslan Fedotenko with a teddy bear stitched to his sweater. It was a side of the Rangers we've yet to see for sure, and thankfully we have video to capture the memory...
I would have to agree with Dubi that Callahan's outfit was definitely the most unique, but the pants on Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh were pretty wicked as well. And I'm pretty sure we got a quick look at Derek Stepan with a white mustache on in the background there. Don't quite know what the significance of that is, but hey, Del Zotto's sweater had a picture of some sort of deformed animals engaging in [adult activities] stitched on it, so what the hell.
After all the kidding was behind them, the Rangers then took the ice against the Devils, where we got a cool look into Mike Rupp's fight with Cam Janssen. They both agreed to go, but Rupp made it clear that he was not about to stretch the bout out longer than it needed to be since he was just returning from surgery. I've always found that sort of stuff interesting, especially when it involves a personality such as Rupp's.
Following the win over the Devils, we were shown footage of Marian Gaborik riding to practice the next day in his BMW M5, which looked to be a 2012 model. Most of you probably do not know this about me, but I am a BMW fanatic since I drive one myself. I've always taken a liking to Marian, but once I saw Gabby in his whip, that like quickly became a love. And hey, he even carries his own Christmas tree from the dealer to his apartment complex. What a guy....
The next time we saw the Rangers was before their match against the Islanders at Madison Square Garden. Now if you recall, prior to that game I expressed my concern about the Rangers potentially looking past that game since they had the Flyers on the schedule for the very next day. Well, much to my pleasure, the first words out of Tortorella's mouth during the pregame speech last Thursday had to do with focusing on beating the Isles despite the real focus being on the Philadelphia game on Friday. And defeat the Isles they did, as the cameras continued to follow Marian Gaborik for he had another big night on the ice after all of the excitement off of it.
And lastly, to begin the closing of episode three, we were then taken behind-the-scenes of last Friday's Winter Classic preview between the Rangers and Flyers at MSG. We all knew at this point that the Rangers had won the game, but the little details that made the contest even more interesting were only being revealed for the very first time.
For example, the trash talking that Tom Sestito was doing to the Blueshirts' bench, which was quickly muted by Brad Richards' condescending remarks about Sestito being a beginner in the NHL. Or the conversation that took place between Mike Rupp and Jody Shelley, in which Rupp claimed that he would not fight Shelley since the Flyers' enforcer was "f------ irrelevant to the outcome of the game." Or even the locker room speeches by each coach, as you saw two different styles of intermission motivation from Tortorella and Laviolette.
It's viewing the game from those angles that makes 24/7 so special for hockey fans, whether or not you like either of the Rangers or Flyers. There's so much more that goes into a rivalry match-up than what we see on the nightly broadcast, and seeing all of it from behind-the-scenes just a week before the two teams take center stage at Citizens Bank Park has me anticipating January 2's Winter Classic even more.
Hats off to HBO for a job well perfectly done.
Comments