[Via Beyond the Blueshirts]
SLOWLY, LIFE BEGINS TO GO ON IN OMSK:
Avangard Omsk played their first game since Alexei Cherepanov lost his life on the Omsk bench. It was an emotional affair with thoughts of Alexei fresh in the minds of both the players and spectators. The players wore number sevens onto their jerseys and the club raised the above banner to honor Cherepanov's memory.
Beyond the Blueshirts has a full story about the game--which the Hawks won 5-3 on the strength of contributions by Alex's former linemates and Jaromir Jagr.
BtB also has quotes from an interview Jagr did with Championat.ru. It's hard for someone not to feel for the guy as he struggles to come to terms with what happened:
This week was probably the most difficult for you in your life?
Especially the first days — they were very terrible for me. Now a week has passed, and you know, memories of Alexei come back more and more often, I think about him 50 times a day. We worked together, socialized on and off the ice. I will always remember him. In life anything can happen. And it’s not always easy. You break up with a girlfriend, play badly, and you think that life is bad. But when you’re confronted with such a tragedy, then you understand that nothing can compare to it. Yes, it’s painful now. But you have to go out and play, everyone’s counting on you. It’s hard, but you have to, even if you totally don’t have the strength, there’s nothing, and even the victory doesn’t make you happy. Only one thing remains — to have faith that everything will be OK.
ON THE PROSPECT FRONT:
[Via BattalionHockey.com]Jess at The Prospect Park gives a solid update on the comings and goings of Ranger farmhand, Evgeny Grachev--named as this week's top Rangers prospect:
The Rangers' 2008 3rd round pick finished the week going 3-0-3 +5 and tallying a game winning goal.
The 6'3 200 power forward from Yaroslavl, Russia is being taught the North American style of play by one of Canadian Junior hockey's legendary coaches in Stan Butler. Butler who has a very long list of players that he developed for play in the NHL earned his 400th win as a CHL coach on Saturday thanks to Grachev's goal.
A 30-goal season for Grachev just might not be out of the question as this is not your average 3rd round pick--his being from Russian had more of a reason as to why he fell [so low in the draft] than anything else.
[Via HockeyCanada.ca]How can you not love how well-stocked our system is?
Another item of note for Blueshirts backers, Patrick Rissmiller has been waived. The news came to me from Sam Weinman at Rangers Report, who, yesterday, pondered the deeper significance of the move. The Rangers couldn't go on with this rotating troop of forwards. Having guys sit for three and four games at a time was only going to be a detriment to each of the players. As Sam wonders though, this move hardly means any of the others are safe.
I still fear for Petr Prucha and the fate of my beloved authentic No.25 jersey:
[Via Persistent Illusion & Appropriately titled "Profound Sadness"]
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