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Nightmare On 33rd Street: A Long Season with the N.Y. Rangers
After the New York Rangers missed the NHL playoffs for the third consecutive season in '99-2000, big changes were in the air at Madison Square Garden. Glen Sather was hired as team president/general manager, and he named Ron Low coach and brought back Mark Messier, the captain of the Rangers' 1995 Stanley Cup championship team. In "Nightmare on 33rd Street: A Long Season with the New York Rangers," veteran hockey beat writer Rick Carpiniello takes a day-by-day, game-by-game journey with a team in transition. From the preseason to the season's bitter end and the important offseason dealings, Carpiniello brings hockey fans inside the locker rooms and boardrooms and onto the ice with a team struggling to regain its winning form. Sather, the architect of championship clubs in Edmonton, discovers that running a team in the big city is a different story. In trying to find the right mix of talent, players are traded or sent to the minors while others are brought to the big club in their places. Constant trade rumors and turmoil sweep through the locker room. Key Ranger players, including goalie Mike Richter, fall victim to injury. Coach Low juggles the everchanging roster, while captain Messier, now 40 years old, attempts to rally the troops. Nightmare on 33rd Street is an inside look at the tumultuous New York Rangers' 2000-01 season by a seasoned observer of the hockey scene.
370 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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About the author
Rick Carpiniello
5 books7 followersRick Carpiniello is New York Rangers reporter for The Athletic NYC. He covered the Rangers for The Journal News since 1978-79.
During his first training camp with the team, Fred Shero was the coach, Dave Maloney the captain, John Davidson the goalie and rookie Don Maloney was the first professional athlete he ever interviewed. Since then, he has been to nearly 20 Stanley Cup finals, three of those with the Rangers, including of course, the team’s championship in 1994.
He has written regularly for The Hockey News, USA Today, many hockey publications, and been a contributor to Sports Illustrated. Carpiniello, in the 1990s, was also a regular on Rangers’ post-game shows on MSG Network, and still does frequent guest appearances on Rangers broadcasts on ESPN radio.
In addition to hockey, Carpiniello spent several years as a general sports columnist, and has covered multiple World Series, including the 1986 Mets, five Super Bowls, including the Giants’ win over the undefeated New England Patriots, and dozens of professional golf events, including 10 U.S. Opens.
During his first training camp with the team, Fred Shero was the coach, Dave Maloney the captain, John Davidson the goalie and rookie Don Maloney was the first professional athlete he ever interviewed. Since then, he has been to nearly 20 Stanley Cup finals, three of those with the Rangers, including of course, the team’s championship in 1994.
He has written regularly for The Hockey News, USA Today, many hockey publications, and been a contributor to Sports Illustrated. Carpiniello, in the 1990s, was also a regular on Rangers’ post-game shows on MSG Network, and still does frequent guest appearances on Rangers broadcasts on ESPN radio.
In addition to hockey, Carpiniello spent several years as a general sports columnist, and has covered multiple World Series, including the 1986 Mets, five Super Bowls, including the Giants’ win over the undefeated New England Patriots, and dozens of professional golf events, including 10 U.S. Opens.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 25, 2008
Basically just a strung-together collection of newspaper articles. Can't hold a candle to Larry Sloman's classic Thin Ice, which is also a diary of a NY Rangers season.
February 25, 2017
This story of the 2000-01 New York Rangers' season is an easy and entertaining read for sports fans, particularly hockey fans. Rick Carpiniello doesn't have the true insider's perspective of many classic year-in-the-life sports books, so the story is more of an extended version of a beat writer's articles. Essentially, there is more inside information, harsher language, more overt criticism and honesty than you might find if you were to read the Sports pages every day. But there is not that fly-on-the-wall element that is found in the best of these books. Carpiniello is a good writer and a solid journalist, if this book is any indication, and he does get a nice inside picture of a season that starts with fanfare and quickly goes downhill. As a bonus, it contains a classic description of forward Michael Grosek: "But some of Grosek's former teammates in Buffalo and Chicago called him 'Two guys.' Why? Because, they say, one guy can't be that stupid."
November 2, 2013
Author Rick Carpiniello provides an in-depth, day-by-day look at the 2000-2001 season of the NHL's New York Rangers. The team wasn't very good in the previous few years – and as history shows, this year continued that trend.
The team's leading scorer, Theo Fleury, has rebounded from a terrible prior season, when he was signed as a free agent – only to leave the team mid-season to enter substance abuse rehabilitation. All-star goaltender Mike Richter returns from knee issues, only to struggle as he regained his comfort on the ice, only to injure the other knee after he began to turn the corner. Leaders Mark Messier (newly returned as a free agent) and Adam Graves are having terrible seasons. And, new General Manager Glen Sather demonstrates a willingness to spend money AND an appreciation of saving on salary – usually at the wrong times.
Author Carpiniello spent a year observing the team and its players & management, and provides an in-depth chronology of how the team attempted to recover from its doldrums, only to enter NEW ones. For better or for worse, Carpiniello is not afraid to offer opinions as to the success or failure of individuals' actions, or of their motives. This is especially true in his writings about Sather, who is obviously not near the top of the author's Christmas Card list.
Enjoyable for most hockey fanatics, whether or not you are a fan of the Rangers, but probably too detailed for casual and non-hockey fans.
Rating: 3 ½ stars, rounded up to 4 stars.
The team's leading scorer, Theo Fleury, has rebounded from a terrible prior season, when he was signed as a free agent – only to leave the team mid-season to enter substance abuse rehabilitation. All-star goaltender Mike Richter returns from knee issues, only to struggle as he regained his comfort on the ice, only to injure the other knee after he began to turn the corner. Leaders Mark Messier (newly returned as a free agent) and Adam Graves are having terrible seasons. And, new General Manager Glen Sather demonstrates a willingness to spend money AND an appreciation of saving on salary – usually at the wrong times.
Author Carpiniello spent a year observing the team and its players & management, and provides an in-depth chronology of how the team attempted to recover from its doldrums, only to enter NEW ones. For better or for worse, Carpiniello is not afraid to offer opinions as to the success or failure of individuals' actions, or of their motives. This is especially true in his writings about Sather, who is obviously not near the top of the author's Christmas Card list.
Enjoyable for most hockey fanatics, whether or not you are a fan of the Rangers, but probably too detailed for casual and non-hockey fans.
Rating: 3 ½ stars, rounded up to 4 stars.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews