New York Rangers Win Cup!

No, not that cup. They won the inaugural Victoria Cup. The Rangers traveled to Bern, Switzerland, for their final two preseason games. On Tuesday, they took on SC Bern, and yesterday played Russia’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk in a battle for the coveted (let’s just pretend) Victoria Cup, which will pit the European champion against an NHL team every year for a $1 million prize.

After going 1-5 in their first six preseason games, was stopping in Bern along the way to Prague to play less-than-NHL competition the best thing for the team? It turns out it may have been. With Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan just about the only Rangers looking ready for the season, and Tom Renney still searching for team chemistry and line combinations, these games may have helped more than people thought. And it was a good chance for the team to bond.

Switzerland’s SC Bern hosted the Rangers on Tuesday. It was a scenario straight out of Mystery, Alaska. The big, bad Rangers swoop into town to take on the local team. The only things missing were Russell Crowe, Burt Reynolds’ hairpiece and Hank Azaria’s helicopter.

With Stephen Valiquette in the nets and a smattering of starters not playing (Markus Naslund, Marc Staal), Renney gave some of the guys on the bubble significant ice time. The Rangers have had trouble scoring goals all preseason, and this match wasn’t looking much different for the first two periods.

SC Bern isn’t exactly the 1977 Montreal Canadiens, but the Rangers could only scratch together a 2-0 lead heading into the third period, with goals by Dan Girardi and Wade Redden (finally starting to look better).

The faithful in the Bern arena were loud, raucous and filled with hope. The standing-room-only upper deck had fans playing drums, chanting and singing songs. But the dream ended for the locals in the last period when the floodgates opened for the Blueshirts. They scored six unanswered goals to win the game, 8-1.

Everybody got into the act, with the Rangers getting goals from Dubinsky (two), Corey Potter, Chris Drury, Petr Prucha, Laurie Korpikoski, Esa Tikkanen, Dan Maloney, Steve Vickers, and Bun Cook. SC Bern gave it their all, and I even shed a tear when Russell Crowe looked into the crowd and saw his wife and son applauding him. At least it gave the Rangers some scoring confidence, even if it wasn’t against an NHL team.

As for last night’s game, the level of competition took a step up. Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL were a much more formidable opponent, and the game turned out to be a nice stepping stone for the Rangers to head into their season opener on Saturday. The Russian team’s owner declared that he would give a $100,000 bonus to every one of his players if they beat the Rangers.

And if they lost, they’d have to keep living in Siberia (ok, even if they had won they’d have to live there too). Now there’s some incentive.

Henrik Lundqvist was back in goal, and Renney dressed what will pretty much be their A-team. The Rangers had line combinations of Drury/Gomez/Naslund; Zherdev/Dubinsky/Dawes; Callahan/Korpikoski/Prucha; and Fritsche/Betts/Rissmiller. And the top six defensemen played: Redden, Rozsival, Staal, Girardi, Kalinin and Mara.

They may have actually found some line combinations that work together. Drury and Gomez seem to have clicked, as has Dubinsky and Zherdev. And the Callahan/Korpokoski/Prucha line was flying all night.

With dollar signs in their eyes, Metallurg Magnitogorsk jumped out to a 3-0 lead. The Russians were playing to win, skating with passion and determination. They’re not NHL quality, but it was a good test for the Rangers. Near the end of the second period, soon-to-be-captain(?) Drury got the Blueshirts on the board.

And then in the third period, the Rangers dominated the game, scoring three straight goals, finally winning, 4-3. Dan Fritsche ripped a shot past Vladislav Tretiak, Jr. (not really, it was just some Russian guy and I’m not going to pretend to know his name), Drury netted another goal, and with 20 seconds left, Ryan Callahan stole a pass and swept in on a breakaway for the game-winner.

The Rangers win the Cup! And this one will last a lifetime! (Well, maybe an afternoon.)

After the game, they were presented with the Victoria Cup, which looks like a bunch of hockey sticks sticking out of a garbage can. And it glows in the dark. I’m not kidding. Maybe the Rangers can build off this spirited comeback victory and jump into the real season with some momentum. That is if they’re not too hungover from the parade up the Canyon of Heroes.