Player Discussion Older fans - when did Ron Greschner play forward?
- Thread starter seventieslord
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Boris Zubov
No relation to Sergei, Joe
Actually we were down by TWO with under 2 minutes left in the 3rd. Up to that point in my life I had been watching the Rangers for about 10 years, they had never given me any previous indication that they were capable of that type of comeback. When Bernie tied the game I was shocked, and euphoric!
When Languay scored less than a minute into OT, I was equally stunned. It felt like a mule kicked me in the stomach, I was in a complete daze. 26 years later, I'm almost over it!
That team overachieved, however. They did well to get that far considering Leetch broke his ankle (the first time) in Toronto about 15 days before the playoffs started. Ahh, what could've been!
Uncle Walt was the best with Billy Fairburn. Those two along with Park and Dale Rolfe would form 4 corners like in basketball. The opposing team could never get the puck back. I remember one writer one time saying that it seemed like Tkaczuk had a nail in his stick to hold the puck on it. He would just skate around and they couldn't knock him off the puck.
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Lindberg Cheese
Registered User
My dad thought that Erixon was the smartest defensive player ever, he would constantly talk about taking the right angle and taking away passing lanes. A family favorite.
Actually we were down by TWO with under 2 minutes left in the 3rd. Up to that point in my life I had been watching the Rangers for about 10 years, they had never given me any previous indication that they were capable of that type of comeback. When Bernie tied the game I was shocked, and euphoric!
When Languay scored less than a minute into OT, I was equally stunned. It felt like a mule kicked me in the stomach, I was in a complete daze. 26 years later, I'm almost over it!
That team overachieved, however. They did well to get that far considering Leetch broke his ankle (the first time) in Toronto about 15 days before the playoffs started. Ahh, what could've been!
I remember the Leetch injury. It was on a crazy move to he made in the corner, just more bad luck. That team was the first Rangers team to finish in first in like 45 years or something like that.
I think you may have your games mixed up. The Shaw incident happened on a Sunday night, I was at the game in the Blues. The Rangers were up 6-0 by the end of the first, which included a Granato hat trick. He scored with less than 10 seconds left in the first for the Hat. Until we played the Devils in game 7 in '92, I had NEVER heard the Garden louder than that. Granato finished with 4 goals. I think the final was 9-3.
It was as an insane of a regular season game as I've ever seen. The entire 3rd period was one huge brawl. I think Chris Nilan had 3 fights that night. Lemieux of course instigated the incident; because of course the league let him get away anything; then he acted like he was shot when Shaw hacked him back. So lame. Shaw got 10 games when it was all said & done.
I think the Shaw game was in January, which was a Sunday. Rangers came back and won, 6-4. Earlier in the year they beat Pitt. 9-2. That might have been the Granato game. I don't think they both happened in the same game, though.
For some reason I thought the Shaw thing happened on a Saturday afternoon.
Boris Zubov
No relation to Sergei, Joe
No, I'm positive they were the same game. Sunday, Oct 30,1988. I was a senior in high school & I couldn't talk the next day from screaming the "Nilan" chant during the third period brawl. My buddy & I were exhausted on the LIRR ride back to Bayside.
Here's the fight card recap from dropyourgloves .
http://dropyourgloves.com/fights/GameEvents.aspx?Game=17071
Here's the LA Times recap...
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-10-31/sports/sp-302_1_lemieux-slashed
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No, I'm positive they were the same game. Sunday, Oct 30,1988. I was a senior in high school & I couldn't talk the next day from screaming the "Nilan" chant during the third period brawl. My buddy & I were exhausted on the LIRR ride back to Bayside.
Here's the fight card recap from dropyourgloves .
http://dropyourgloves.com/fights/GameEvents.aspx?Game=17071
Here's the LA Times recap...
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-10-31/sports/sp-302_1_lemieux-slashed
In the words of Cosmo Kramer...I was way off!
Gresch was a top Ranger defenseman for many years, but he was rarely if ever the top d-man on his team. I disagree with those who want to retire his number. Brad Park & Jean Ratelle were elite in their day, and I think their names are missing from the rafters. But I think of Greschner as simply a very good, solid Ranger with a long career. I'd personally reserve retiring numbers for Hall of Famers, or those close to it.
Although, not a great skater, Gresch's best trait was his stick handling ability. He always put up excellent scoring numbers as a d-man, and as such there was always the temptation to move him upfront. I'm sorry, but I don't remember the years. But as I do remember, when he did play forward, it was seldom on the top lines. So his production was a little less than his fans might have hoped for, given his outstanding hands.
Although, not a great skater, Gresch's best trait was his stick handling ability. He always put up excellent scoring numbers as a d-man, and as such there was always the temptation to move him upfront. I'm sorry, but I don't remember the years. But as I do remember, when he did play forward, it was seldom on the top lines. So his production was a little less than his fans might have hoped for, given his outstanding hands.
If you want to see amazing +/- numbers, Orr is the man.
http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/o/orrbo01.html
Jan Erixon
I remember Jan Erixon as a great penalty killer & a very effective "shadow" when the situation called for it. The problem was that his coaches overused him. The Rangers would break up their lines to get him to match up with the opponent's superstar, most notably Mario Lemieux. It seemed that Erixon was on the ice more than any other Ranger forward against the better teams. While he would frustrate his opponent for a while, eventually the star player would break through. The best way to defeat a Mario Lemieux was to force him to defend! I believe this type of reactionary coaching is what led to Messier pressuring the front office to oust Roger Neilson. As much as I loved Erixon for his outstanding effort, the Rangers had to move on from this mindset.
The other quality Jan Erixon had that stood out was his even temperament. In his role as a shadow in a rambunctious era, he was abused mercilessly with slashes & cross checks - usually by star players who would seldom get penalized. Yet I cannot remember Erixon ever once retaliating in anger.
I remember Jan Erixon as a great penalty killer & a very effective "shadow" when the situation called for it. The problem was that his coaches overused him. The Rangers would break up their lines to get him to match up with the opponent's superstar, most notably Mario Lemieux. It seemed that Erixon was on the ice more than any other Ranger forward against the better teams. While he would frustrate his opponent for a while, eventually the star player would break through. The best way to defeat a Mario Lemieux was to force him to defend! I believe this type of reactionary coaching is what led to Messier pressuring the front office to oust Roger Neilson. As much as I loved Erixon for his outstanding effort, the Rangers had to move on from this mindset.
The other quality Jan Erixon had that stood out was his even temperament. In his role as a shadow in a rambunctious era, he was abused mercilessly with slashes & cross checks - usually by star players who would seldom get penalized. Yet I cannot remember Erixon ever once retaliating in anger.
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