Chicago Black Marks: Hawks Controversy Exposes League; Kyle Beach Tells All After Sexual Assault, Bettman’s Tough Decisions, A Look at the Rest of the NHL; Surprise Teams, Needless Alexis Lafreniere/Rangers Drama, Messier & More

In a story where a silver lining can’t be found, the Chicago Blackhawks are the talk of the NHL right now.

Greetings and salutations everyone and welcome to another blog here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. I’m soon off to Seattle, where I am looking forward to watching the Rangers defeat the newest team in the league. Or so I hope!

Before packing up my suitcase and beginning Mark Messier’s new autobiography book on the plane (I’ll have a review of the book sometime on this site next week), I wanted to post something on this site, talking about everything else that’s going on in the league. After talking about some of the other teams in the NHL, I’ll then close out with the latest on the Rangers, where Alexis Lafreniere is now in the media’s cross-hairs.

Of course, like every other hockey site, blog, podcast, YouTube show or whatever; I’m forced to begin with the drama in Chicago. Sadly, there’s no positivity at all to be found in this story.


Former Chicago Blackhawk Kyle Beach. And not that this has anything to do with anything here, but is it me, or does Kyle Beach look a lot like former Yankee Mark Teixeira? Photo Credit: Chicago Blackhawks

At this moment, you are probably aware of everything that’s going on with the Chicago Blackhawks right now and the dismissals of their General Manager Stan Bowman and Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Al MacIsaac.

For the purpose of this blog, I am going to assume you know the whole story by now. If you don’t, just visit TSN.ca or SportsNet.ca. In addition, SI.com has a pretty solid recap of the entire story here: https://www.si.com/hockey/news/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-chicago-blackhawks-abuse-report

(Of note, the SI.com story doesn’t include Kyle Beach’s interview from Wednesday. If you haven’t watched it yet, I’ll have a link to the interview for you shortly.)

Over the summer, when rumblings of this story first broke, where we found out that the law firm of Jenner & Block were commissioned to investigate allegations from 2010 about a sexual assault within the Chicago Blackhawks organization – I really didn’t pay much notice. Now, not only have I taken notice of what went on there, but so has the rest of the hockey world. Without question, this story has created monstrous waves throughout the NHL and hockey community.

When I first heard about the investigation, I didn’t really think there was much smoke to the fire. It’s not like I had inside sources about this or anything like that leading me to feel this way. In fact, the complete opposite applies here.

In my opinion, I just felt that in this new world, where everyone has a tape recorder and a video camera in their pocket (cell phones), that had something truly sickening had taken place, and as was alleged, then we would’ve heard about it already. Turns out I was dead-wrong with that line of thinking.

I also want to add here, that at the time of when this investigation was first reported (and even as I write these words), when I first started this site/blog, my sole intent and goal was to talk about the Rangers and the stuff on the ice.

Over time this site has grown, where I now also talk about non-Ranger related topics. That said, I never thought I would be like an Olivia Benson from “Law and Order SVU” and be writing/talking about an NHL sex crime. Never in a million years did I think the NHL would have a situation like this, a situation like Jerry Sandusky, on their hands. That’s another reason why I kind of blew this story off during this summer. I just could never imagine any of this being true.


Photo Credit: Chicago Blackhawks

Admittedly, when I first heard about the investigation, I thought it was a nothing story, similar to the nonsense that’s out there about how the logo of the Blackhawks is racist. I just felt it was a bunch of crying about nothing, where I thought the woke mob/cancel culture types were looking for another reason to get out their pitchforks and torches. While I still believe the negative stuff about the logo is politically-driven, these allegations were not.

(And as talked about in the past on this site, if you think the Blackhawks logo is racist, go educate yourself. The logo, founded by former owner Fred McLaughlin, paid tribute to his military service and to a Native American chief known as “Blackhawk”. There is nothing racist about the logo at all. In fact, unlike other Native American logos that people get up-in-arms about, the Blackhawks logo actually pays tribute & homage to a Native American – not hate. A simple Wikipedia search would drown out all of the logo protestors, assuming they can read.)

On Tuesday October 26th, the finalized report about the 2010 allegations was released. Of note, you can read the complete 107 page report here: https://jenner.com/system/assets/assets/11549/original/Report%20to%20the%20Chicago%20Blackhawks%20Hockey%20Team%20-%20October%202021.pdf

When I read the report, like everyone else, I was shocked. This wasn’t nothing. This was a whole lot of something else. However, the accuser in this case, who was listed as just “John Doe”, wasn’t named. While the story was horrible enough already, it wasn’t until former Blackhawk Kyle Beach revealed himself on Wednesday as the John Doe in question, and where this story became even worse.

To me – it’s one thing to read about this story in black-and-white, while it’s another thing to watch and listen to Beach talk about it.

Prior to knowing who the John Doe was (and it’s not my intention to be cruel or anything else like that here), one of my takeaways, of many, was – “how did this player let this happen?”

At the time of this now confirmed assault, Brad Aldrich, the rapist and criminal in this disgusting attack, was only 27 years old. In addition, he was just the team’s video coach. How was he able to portray that he had some sort of power to effect anyone’s career? 24 hours later, when I saw Beach reveal himself as the victim, I got a much better understanding of what had happened and why this happened.

If you get out anything out of what I’m saying here, it’s that Kyle Beach’s words illustrated a darker picture of what happened. Listening to him was heart-breaking, when compared to just reading the text from the report. Putting a face to the story made this horrendous story just a thousand times worse.


Brad Aldrich. Photo Credit: Chicago Sun Times

On Wednesday October 27th, TSN reporter Rick Westhead, who has covered this story from day one (and in an impressive manner at that), interviewed Kyle Beach for nearly thirty minutes, where Beach talked about what happened to him, why he stayed quiet, how he feels today and other topics pertaining to the story.

To watch the interview, and to read the interview’s transcript, visit: https://www.tsn.ca/kyle-beach-john-doe-1.1712468

After watching Beach’s interview (and probably like you if you’ve seen it), I felt queasy. What a horrible situation for Beach to endure.

As a Ranger fan, who knew that Beach experienced such trauma (while trying to suppress it) when he was with the Hartford Wolfpack during the 2013-14 season? Like any other AHLer, all you could think that he was like anyone else, just trying to realize his dream of turning pro. Instead, he had to carry this inside of him, and who knows how this effected his aspirations of making it to the NHL? Furthermore, how could he ever trust a coach again?

In the original report and from what Beach said on Wednesday, many people within the Blackhawks organization knew what had happened to him, where Beach was then subjected to many homophobic remarks.

While I can understand (not saying it’s right or telling anyone to condone this) when players use the word “f–” on the ice, as if they were using the words “douchebag”, “asshole” or “bitch”; the NHL has always had some weird fascination with naked men. Plus, in this instance, Beach wasn’t being insulted for his play on the ice (where trash-talking always happens) – he was being insulted for being a victim.

While this doesn’t have anything to do with Kyle Beach directly (outside of the fact that NHLers have always been subjected to horrible situations throughout hockey history); but back in the day, including into the early 1980s, as a hazing practice, veteran NHLers would strip rookies from all of their clothing. As a “rite of passage”, the veterans would then shave the pubic hair of these rookies, from head-to-toe and from butthole-to-shaft.

In fact, if you read some of the autobiographies that are out there from many NHL legends, these ex-players talk about these shaving ceremonies as if they were the greatest thing ever.

Trust me, I get how this once was a “team-bonding” thing and as natural as breathing air for some of these guys. However, if I was a player, I wouldn’t want to strip my co-worker and shave him down. Maybe that’s just me.

Take a second here and just think about your own job. Can you imagine you and your co-workers going up to Mike in Accounting, a Mike who just started with your firm, and saying “Hey Mikey boy! Pull down those pants, it’s time to shave them frank and beans baby!”


While this is the least of anyone’s concerns right now, as Stan Bowman isn’t the victim here; it does bother me that this is another one of these stories, where the attacker is receiving the least amount of punishment, while the people who didn’t commit a crime are the ones whose reputations are being smeared the most. Photo Credit: Chicago Blackhawks

There are so many different horrific events coming out of this story, where obviously, Beach is the biggest (and only) victim here. Perhaps equally as disappointing, is that due to statute of limitation laws, Aldrich can’t be prosecuted for this vile offense.

Even more sickening, and what prompted Beach to speak out in the first place, was how Aldrich later sexually assaulted a 16 year old boy three years later, in 2013, in Houghton, Michigan.

Obviously, Brad Aldrich will never get a job in hockey again, nor will he ever get a job working around children and young people again either. However, after his 2013 assault, we already knew that to be the case.

What bothers me a little bit, is that successful hockey men like Joel Quenneville and Stan Bowman are taking the brunt of the blame right now, where in some cases, they are being portrayed as worse than Aldrich himself. That’s my only issue when it comes to Quenneville and Bowman – being labeled as the criminals here, when everyone should be focusing on Aldrich.

Trust me, I get it and I’m not absolving any of these men who covered this story up at all. Maybe this makes me sound like a brute, but as someone who tries to see every side of a story, I can understand why they did what they did – that is, until after they won the Stanley Cup.

While I’m not trying to play the defense attorney for Bowman, Quenneville and the others; all I’m saying is I can understand the tough spot that they were put in by this creep Aldrich. Chicago was a franchise that hadn’t won in a long time and were buried not only by fans, but on the back pages of newspapers too, where the other teams of the city received more coverage. The Blackhawks were perpetual losers and in 2010, with their best chance at winning the Stanley Cup in a long time, they didn’t want anything to derail that.

And yes, and let me be clear, a crime, whether small or as big as this one, should never be covered up, especially something as sick as this. All I’m saying is that I understand why the cover up happened.

It should also be said that Aldrich was the lone perpetrator here. Should the actions of one deranged individual sink an entire hockey team? What about the players who had nothing to do with this? Did they deserve to have a major distraction for actions they had nothing to do with?

Long story short – this whole story is tough and it’s easy to say what the right thing to do was (especially with hindsight and after reading this report), but if you really think about it, you can understand why Blackhawks management stayed silent – even if it was the wrong thing to do. In fact, had the Blackhawks handled this correctly, perhaps the team would’ve rallied around Beach and won the Cup anyway.

More importantly, had the Blackhawks done the right thing – it would’ve prevented Aldrich from making a victim out of someone else.


In a story of many dark twists and turns, Joel Quenneville and the Blackhawks allowed Brad Aldrich to attend every single Stanley Cup celebration and parade. They even allowed him to celebrate with the team when the Hawks received their Stanley Cup rings. And oh yeah – Aldrich was also granted a day with the Cup, DESPITE THE BLACKHAWKS KNOWING ABOUT WHAT ALDRICH DID. Photo Credit: NHL.com

If you are to be nice and/or understanding, and say you get why the Blackhawks covered up what had happened, then what is 100% not understandable and just flat-out inexcusable, is how the Blackhawks allowed Aldrich to attend every celebration, parade, ring ceremony and any other event associated with the 2010 Stanley Cup win. Even worse, head coach Joel Quenneville (who based on the report, seems to have lied about what he knew), then wrote a letter of recommendation for the serial rapist.

As you’d expect and know by now, the Blackhawks have cleared house and have rid themselves of all management members that were part of the 2010 Stanley Cup team. However, what happens next, with current Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville and Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Chevaldayoff, is still left to be determined.

Based on the reports that are out there, there is more evidence suggesting that Quenneville knew what had happened than the evidence against Chevaldayoff. However, it’s hard to imagine that Chevaldayoff didn’t know either, especially since he was the assistant general manager of the Blackhawks at the time, where his duties included overseeing the AHL Rockford Icehogs – the minor league team where Beach originally came from. (Beach was a black ace for the Blackhawks Cup run, and Chevaldayoff had a say on who would be promoted from the AHL.)

Without question, if Quenneville and Chevaldayoff were still with the Blackhawks in 2021, they would’ve been fired/forced to resign on Tuesday like everyone else. Since they are in different locations, what happens next is tough.

Keep in mind, the only offense these two committed was staying quiet. They didn’t commit a crime, nor had anything to do with Aldrich did. Should the Panthers and Jets move on from these two for staying quiet eleven years ago somewhere else? By doing so, the Panthers and Jets would be upsetting their own organizations.

Both men are scheduled to meet with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman later this week, where Bettman will then rule on their futures. This future decision that Bettman will make isn’t one that I’d envy. Whatever Bettman does, he’ll be scrutinized and criticized.

If Bettman doesn’t do anything, or just gives them a minor fine, people will say they got off the hook. If Bettman suspends them from the NHL for an indefinite amount of time, both Panther and Jet fans will have a legitimate gripe. If you’re Bettman, with one organization already tarnished, do you want to ruin two more franchises now? Again, I’m glad I’m not Gary Bettman.


Bettman isn’t smiling now. Photo Credit: ESPN.com

If there was anything else truly alarming that stuck out to me (and there was a lot) it was at the end of Beach’s interview, where he said he expected to see these assaults continue to occur.

I don’t know how the NHL or the other leagues can install measures to prevent anything like this from happening again. Do you put in a new rule, where all team activity must be held inside of arenas and training facilities only? If you do, is that fair to the normal people who are out there, including coaches and staff members who have positive relationships with their players – including father/son duos? Is that fair to the players and coaches who go out to eat after a road game? This is all a slippery slope here, where it feels like you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

When it comes to the NHL, most of their “scandals” (or at the very least, the negative league-wide stories), are either about lock-outs or concussions – two issues that seemingly can’t be avoided and for entirely different reasons. What could’ve been avoided was this Beach/Aldrich assault, making this story as one of the blackest marks on the NHL shield ever.

I really feel for Kyle Beach here. I can’t imagine what he’s going through, and unless you’ve been in the same situation, I doubt any of us can either. Watching his interview from Wednesday night had my stomach turning and I feel horrible for him.

While Beach can now tell his story (which may be therapeutic in a way), there’s no way of 100% overcoming this. His tears may dry up one day, but the memory will always stick with him. This one asshole, known as Brad Aldrich, has permanently stained Beach’s life forever. It truly disappoints me that Aldrich won’t be subjected to jail time for this.

Moving forward, I wish the best for Beach. Giving him some sort of job in the NHL in the future may look like a “hand-out”, but it was on the NHL’s watch, that his career was ruined. Yes, there are lawsuits pending and all that, but once all the dust settles, and if Beach would want it, the NHL should give him a job – where Beach’s story would bring awareness and will hopefully deter anyone else from doing what Aldrich did.

And yes – Aldrich’s name should be taken off of the Cup too.

Good luck Kyle Beach.


And to think, we all thought that the Evander Kane story would be the worst story in the NHL right now – unless you consider what’s going on with Jack Eichel, and the way the Sabres won’t let him heal his body, as being worse. Photo Credit: Getty Images

Before getting into the Rangers stuff, and because I do want to talk about hockey here (as I never imagined I’d be sharing opinions about a sexual assault story in the NHL), a few comments about what’s going on outside of Rangerstown, USA.

In no order of importance, let’s begin:

— On the ice, the Chicago Blackhawks are a mess, where after this Beach story, it’s going to be extremely tough for the franchise to restore good faith with their fan base. The Blackhawks, who I thought would be a playoff team this season, look to be the complete opposite.

With an 0-5-1 record, a record that’s also shared with the Arizona Coyotes, the Blackhawks are the worst team in the league. In Arizona’s defense, at least we know what the game plan is there. In Chicago, they kind of went all-in, especially with the contracts they added during the off-season in Marc-Andre Fleury and Seth Jones.

For the 2021-2022 Blackhawk players, this is all going to be a rough time. While Toews and Kane remain, there aren’t many other players left over from any of the Stanley Cup runs that the club enjoyed from the last decade. Now, with a new general manager and a rebuilding front office, it feels like the Hawks season has already been lost, just seven games in.

Speaking of the 2021 Vezina winner, Marc-Andre Fleury, I feel bad for him. Not only was he the victim of the cap situation in Vegas, he’s now buried on this bad team in what could be the last season of his career. If you’re Allen Walsh, MAF’s agent, now would be a good time to find a trading partner.


— Switching gears to another Original Six team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, who were 1-4-1 before defeating Chicago on Wednesday night, and after rallying back from a 2-0 deficit and winning the game in overtime; as usual, the Leafs are one of the top stories in the NHL right now.

Prior to the win over the Hawks, there have been rumblings about the job statuses of both general manager Kyle Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe, where with this win, those talks will die down a bit, at least temporarily. However, had the Hawks not choked the game away, the hot seats in Toronto would’ve burned hotter.

The Leafs are one of those teams where either you hate them or love them. For me, I side with the former, only because of previous Rangers/Leafs Stanley Cup history and because in the modern day, and as an eye-test fan, I hate the analytic shit – shit that Toronto is knee-deep in. I hope this win isn’t the start of something, as I’d love to see the analytical heads roll and true hockey men have these jobs.


— The Seattle Kraken, who as mentioned, I’ll see play live on Sunday night, are not the 2017-18 Vegas Golden Knights, where in a rare case, this looks like to be one of my preseason predictions that will actually pan out.

As we all know, NHL GM’s were hesitant to make moves with Seattle prior to their expansion draft, as these teams and GM’s were burnt during the Vegas expansion draft. While the Kraken won’t be as horrendous as previous NHL expansion teams – this all goes to show us how special that inaugural Golden Knights team was.

Speaking of my preseason predictions, that brings us to our next team, the Carolina Hurricanes.


As predicted, Tony DeAngelo is off to a hot start in Carolina, where he had four points in his first four games. Photo Credit: Getty Images

At the conclusion of all games played on 10/27, the Florida Panthers (7-0), Carolina Hurricanes (5-0) and St. Louis Blues (5-0) are the only unbeaten teams in the NHL. Receiving an asterisk here are the Washington Capitals, who with a 4-0-3 record, haven’t lost in regulation yet either.

When it comes to the Panthers, many expected them to be good, where yours truly, like you and others, had them pegged as a Stanley Cup contender this season. At 7-0, the Panthers are off to a hot start.

Knowing this, do you really think the Panthers want to can Quenneville right now? Had the team been 0-7 instead of 7-0 – it would’ve been easier to give him the pink slip.

More surprising than the Panthers success are the teams who are currently in second and third place in the Atlantic division, and with 9 points respectively – the BUFFALO SABRES (of all teams) and the Detroit Red Wings.

While I think that over the course of an 82-game season, that everything will balance out, and the Sabres and Wings will find themselves in the cellar of the division; at the same time, you gotta give kudos to the Sabres here.

We all know about the Jack Eichel stuff and how the team sold off a lot of their assets during the 2021 calendar year. And let’s not forget that their 2021 #1 overall draft pick, Owen Power, didn’t join the team like most number one overall picks do, opting to play college hockey for Michigan.


Going into this season, I thought it would take some time for the Hurricanes to gel. Instead, with a lot of new faces in Raleigh, including six ex-Rangers, the Canes are dominating the competition, where they are scoring goals and not giving up many either. Rod Brind’Amour has this new-looking team firing on all cylinders, where as I thought, Tony DeAngelo has been a huge cost-effective upgrade after moving on from Dougie Hamilton. (DeAngelo comes in at 1/9th the price of Hamilton.)

The St. Louis Blues have really impressed me. I thought they’d be a team stuck-in-the-middle, where perhaps at best, they’d qualify for the playoffs and then be pumped out in the first round. Instead, they are pacing the division and it will be interesting to see if they can keep this going – especially with the Colorado Avalanche, the favorite to win the Stanley Cup this season, struggling.

While on the Central Division here, how about one of my favorite players at this time? Yep, you know where I’m going with this – CAM FATHER FINKIN’ TALBOT!


I won’t rehash all of my Talbot fandom tonight, but long-time readers know this much about me – I’m consistent and have been following Talbot’s career since his days in Hartford.

Similar to the Blues 5-0 record, so is Cam Talbot, who leads all NHL goalies in wins right now with five. (Back up goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen was the goalie on record for the lone Wild loss this season.)

This is the best start Cam Talbot has ever had, where after some so-so and middle-of-the-pack seasons, this could be the year where he truly realizes his potential. Yes, it’s still early, but if Talbot can stay hot, and if he can ride this into the playoffs (where he’s had some amazing first rounds as a starter, but hasn’t been able to get past the second), combined with the Wild’s impressive forward core – who knows?

Everyone, including myself, questioned the huge contract Talbot received last off-season, especially with the Wild seemingly grooming Kahkonen for the starter job. Maybe Kahkoen nipping at Talbot’s heels is a good thing for the Wild. Even better, Kirill Kaprizov, who hasn’t scored a goal yet but has five assists. The goals will soon come.


When it comes to the rest of the league, and in what I don’t find surprising, is the Montreal Canadiens and their poor 1-6-0 record. Between Price’s sabbatical, Weber’s injury and the team shedding a bunch of parts from their Cinderella run from last season (and lucky that the playoff format was unique and in their favor in 2020), the Habs are going nowhere fast.

Much has been said about Marc Bergevin’s status as GM of the Habs, where I think it’s tough to put a ton of blame on him. After all, he didn’t expect to be missing his two best players at the start of the season.

That said, should Montreal “tank” the season, maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing either. After all, the 2022 NHL Draft will be held in Montreal this year and wouldn’t it be fitting if the team landed the number one pick of the draft, where they then could presumably draft Shane Wright, a Wright who is projected to be the number one draft pick? Hmmm…

And speaking of NHL “conspiracies”, Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning is back on the LITR, where he’s expected to miss anywhere from 8-10 weeks. Is there any reason to rush him back to the roster? Maybe Tampa will trade for Yanni Gourde (Seattle), Blake Coleman (Calgary) and Barclay Goodrow (NYR) at the deadline!

Lastly, especially after mentioning Goodrow’s name, some Rangers news and notes as we close out.


It feels like many Ranger fans and media members have pulled a 180 ever since this picture of Lafreniere and the ping-pong ball that shocked Rangerstown, USA was taken. Photo Credit: NYR

As mentioned last blog, with three days off in-between games, the Rangers are idle – but that hasn’t stopped the SKY IS FALLING headlines. The latest? ALEXIS LAFRENIERE IS A BUST AND DESTROYING THE RANGERS!

After the 5-1 loss to the Flames on Monday, Gerard Gallant said a lot of things in his near ten minute interview, where for a brief moment, he stated that he wants to see more out of Lafreniere. With nothing else to talk about, both Ranger fans and the NYR beat reporters ran with this, where you’d think that Lafreniere was the second coming of Pavel Brendl.

Not mentioned in any of these JUMP OFF THE BRIDGE RIGHT NOW stories? The following:

— The whole team, sans Igor, pretty much stunk on Monday.

— Lafreniere has two game-winning goals this season. He also has the most five vs five goals on the team too.

— Lafreniere entered this league like no other #1 overall pick that preceded him, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

— Lafreniere hasn’t even played a full 82 game schedule yet. In fact, he’s only played in 63 career games – a far cry from the accepted 200 game water mark when it comes to assessing young players.

— Lafreniere is now on his second head coach despite not even playing two full seasons yet.

— Unlike most #1 picks, Lafreniere has never been the focus of the Rangers. The Rangers won one of the wackiest lotteries ever when they got the rights to draft Lafreniere #1 overall. In turn, Lafreniere wasn’t the savior or the go-to guy like other #1 picks.

— Until this season, Lafreniere was never a regular in the top six and even then, he’s not the first or second option on the power-play, where he had a lot of success on during his junior days.

— And in a comparison to another former #1 pick and French Canadian in Guy Lafleur, it took Lafleur three full seasons to start hitting his potential and that was with a stacked Montreal Canadiens team. Plus, Lafleur had to deal with Marcel Dionne, drafted #2 in that same 1971 NHL Entry Draft, out-playing him. It’s not like any other 2020 NHL draft pick looks light years ahead of Lafreniere right now, where you would then have to second-guess the Rangers selection of Lafreniere.

That all said – none of this stopped the media from printing their drivel, including the morons who beg fans to pay money to read their “PROPOZED LINEZ”. I’m sure Gerard Gallant gets a good laugh out of this. No wonder why he brushes off the media with some of his remarks.

I’m not concerned about the perceived lack of production out of Lafreniere right now. In fact, I think he’ll go on to wear many more Broadway Hats. Photo Credit: NYR

Many of you said this to me during the past 48 hours, and I alluded to this last blog – we don’t need a complete makeover and a STATE OF EMERGENCY after every loss. Plus, as talked about at the beginning of the season, it may take time for these guys to learn Gallant’s system and style.

That said, if you are concerned about Panarin, I can get that, but to go on-and-on about Lafreniere – well that feels like something to do during a rare three-day break.

PLUGS time, including a book review of my new book, as written by Alex Shibicky Jr, the son of the legendary Alex Shibicky Sr.


I may have mentioned this before – my new book is now on sale!

With my book “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden” about to turn two months old, and where many of you have been able to read the whole 540 page tome already, the reviews are starting to pile in.

I’ve shared a few reviews of the book on this site already, so what’s one more, especially from a former player and a son of a Rangers Stanley Cup champion – Alex Shibicky Jr.

Here’s Shibicky’s review of the book, as posted to Amazon.com:

Only six months ago, I had no idea who Sean McCaffrey was and knew nothing about his soon to be released book “The New York Rangers RINK OF HONOR and the RAFTERS of MADISON SQUARE GARDEN” and during that period of time, I have really gotten to know Sean…….and read his book cover to cover……and what a read it is!

For most any hockey fan, but especially Rangers fans, this represents not only a Rangers “hockey history 101 tutorial”, but a “graduate degree” in the personalities of past players, coaches and GM’s that laid the groundwork for the Rangers of today and without whom poor old Sean would probably be an Islanders fan! LOL……NOT!

For a perspective, I, personally, come from a hockey playing family born in Flin Flon, Manitoba and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia. I actually had the opportunity to meet many of the great early Rangers players, coaches and GMs from the very earliest 1926-27 team and, basically, through the 1950s (think the patriarch himself, Lester Patrick and forward through the Emile Francis era) discussed in Sean’s book. Our family had close ties with the likes of Neil and Mac Colville, Babe Pratt, Art Coulter, Muzz Patrick, Larry Popein, Chuck Rayner, Phil Watson, Clint Smith and others from the Rangers with the opportunity to meet other greats such as Bill Mosienko, Max McNab, Eddy Shore, Milt Schmidt, Max and Doug Bentley, Rocket Richard, the greatest early pioneer of them all, Fred “Cyclone” Taylor (another close family friend) and, of course, “The Maven” himself, Stan Fischler, who Sean credits with inspiring his love of Rangers lore.

Again, the reason I bring this up is for a frame of reference. I’ve personally heard many stories from yesteryear direct from the participants and also read many hockey history books that most were referenced in Sean’s book, most specifically “When the Rangers Were Young” and “Cyclone Taylor, A Hockey Legend” and Sean, in his ever revealing style, has an incredible knack to, not only, dovetail so many of those stories together, but, also, drill down a little deeper and provide the reader (including me) a more in depth and clearer picture of, not only the pioneers of Rangers hockey, but a definitive perspective on the more recent Rangers stars that continue to build upon the legacy begun almost 100 years ago.

Candidly, I was just not aware of so many of the things that I didn’t know (and thought I did) and I highly recommend this most informative and penetrative book, “The New York Rangers RINK OF HONOR and the RAFTERS of MADISON SQUARE GARDEN”, as told in Sean’s most inimitable way with insight and sarcasm.

Nice job Sean!


As mentioned previously, the book is now available in hardcover, in paperback and in Kindle formats. To purchase a copy of the book, visit this link:

https://www.amazon.com/Rangers-Rafters-Madison-Square-Garden-ebook/dp/B09CM5N2WD

For those still looking for signed paperback versions of the book, I have 9 copies left for sale for $25 (includes shipping price) through me directly. Here is all the information on that:

Order “The New York Rangers Rink of Honor and the Rafters of Madison Square Garden” Book Today


And as we wind down, here are my previous blogs in case you missed them:

NYR/CGY 10/25 Review: Turnovers, Powerplay & Fat Cats Doom Rangers; NYR Lose an “Any Given Sunday” Game, Strome’s Return; Kakko Next, Stale Bread, NYR Books & Bill Cook Updates, Gallant’s Guns, M$GN & More


 

NYR/OTT 10/23 Review: First Place Road Warrior Rangers Sweep Four-Game Road-Trip; Impeach Senators Late, A “Find-a-Way” Win To Remember, Great Goaltending, Kreider Dominates, Injuries, Nashville Trip, NYR Podcasts & More


Rangers at Nashville Photo Gallery


You can find a review of this book in the book review section of this website. Photo Credit: Jeff Z. Klein

Three last plugs before I head to Seattle.

On Wednesday 10/27, the reigning and defending podcast champions, “The Blueshirt Underground Show”, returned. To watch their show, click the play button below:


In other podcast news, I am being told that “2 Guys 1 Cup” will return Thursday night. Bonus: a new theme song too! To listen to that podcast, follow @2G1C on Twitter or search “2 Guys 1 Cup” on iTunes or wherever else you get your podcasts.


Last but not least, Mark Messier will be on Ron Duguay’s “Up in the Blueseats” podcast on Thursday morning, where the captain will be plugging his new book, the aforementioned book that I’ll be reading on my flight and later reviewing on this site. Follow @RonDuguay10 on Twitter for the episode, as it will be available sometime after 11AM.


If you haven’t already, subscribe to this blog for the next update:


Maybe I’ll bump into these two while in Seattle. MERCY! Photo Credit: NBC

I think I’ll have time in my hotel room to share some thoughts on Friday night’s CBJ/NYR game, where it’s kind of cool that I can watch this game at 4PM local time and then have my night ahead of me afterwards! After that, I’ll have a Seattle Kraken/NYR photo blog, followed by a game recap.

Stay strong Kyle Beach.

Stay FABULOUS my friends.

As always here, thanks for reading and…

LET’S GO RANGERS!

Sean McCaffrey

BULLSMC@aol.com

@NYCTHEMIC on Tweeter

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2 thoughts on “Chicago Black Marks: Hawks Controversy Exposes League; Kyle Beach Tells All After Sexual Assault, Bettman’s Tough Decisions, A Look at the Rest of the NHL; Surprise Teams, Needless Alexis Lafreniere/Rangers Drama, Messier & More

  1. Sean
    I am leaving this comment here as a sort of placeholder for future discussion about the Kyle Beach story

    There is something about this story and the near universal agreement about what went on here that I find kind of disturbing after reading some of the information about the case in that PDF you supplied here…….and you can bet Sean nobody else read that PDF and that you were the only one that posted it in all of hockey land…..I am not up to it tonight after this great win by the Rangers……….but I will try and study that PDF at a later date and lay out my concerns to you

    Whew this win was extremely positive in my mind…….I missed the entire 1st due to technical difficulties but from what I saw of the second and 3rd this team is finally playing as a team………….I think the team itself has discovered how they must work with each other…….I think now the whole first 6 games were just a gelling process on a team with a huge amount of new players………..I think that is over and it will be better from here this year

  2. The Kyle Beach story has dominated the hockey world this past week. It was like the whole system failed to deal with this adequately right from the start. Beach had enough courage to not remain as Joe Doe and reveal his painful story. Remarkably Winnipeg Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff was one of the few to escape having to resign. Cheveldayoff was deemed to have been too far down the management chain to bear any responsibility. Careers and lives were ruined this week and there is no happy ending.

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