How to get your Rangers hockey fix this weekend

The New York Rangers don’t play a game until Friday, January 31 when they take on the Detroit Red Wings at Madison Square Garden.   That’s nine days with no Rangers hockey, but there are some options for Ranger fans.

Nine days without a New York Rangers hockey game.  That’s an awful long stretch in the middle of the season.  There will be plenty of discussion about the playoffs and the trade deadline, but if you want to watch hockey, there are options for you.

The NHL All-Star Weekend

If you want to watch the best hockey players in the world in action, start with the NHL Skills competition on Friday, January 24.  It will be televised on NBCSN at 8pm EST and takes place at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

With Chris Kreider selected to replace Artemi Panarin on the All-Star squad representing the Rangers, it will be fun to see how he does in the fastest skater competition.  If Kreider plays well as the event, it can only enhance his trade value.

The All-Star game will be televised on NBC and will take place on Saturday, January 25 at 8pm EST.  As usual, it will feature three 20-minute three-on-three games.   The two teams from the Divisions in each Conference will play each other and the winners will face each other in a final 20-minute contest.

There was some commentary on NHL radio about Panarin’s “injury” keeping him out of the game being similar to Alex Ovechkin‘s decision to skip the game (for the second straight year).  That’s nonsense.  If Panarin wasn’t really hurt, he wouldn’t have missed the last game before the break against the Islanders.

The AHL All-Star Challenge

The AHL All-Star game, officially called the 2020 AHL All-Star Challenge, will be played on Monday, January 27.   The Challenge will be a three-on-three round robin tournament with six 10-minutes games featuring the four divisions.   The top two teams will then play each other in a six minute three-on-three game.

The Challenge will be preceded by a skills competition on Sunday at 8pm EST.   The skills competition will be very similar to the NHL skills competition.

The Challenge will start at 10pm on Monday.  The late start is due to the fact that the game is being played in  Ontario, California.   All events will be televised on the NHL Network.

The Atlantic Division squad will be coached by Hartford coach Kris Knoblauch.  As for Ranger prospects, it will be a chance to see rookie defenseman Joey Keane in action as he was selected for the team.  Igor Shesterkin was also picked, but will not play due to his NHL roster assignment.  He was replace by Vinni Lettieri on the team.

Lettieri leads the Wolf Pack in scoring with 18 goals and 35 points in 42 games.  Keane is the leading defenseman for Hartford with six goals and 23 points in 40 games. Keane is 13th overall in the AHL in defense scoring and is third in rookie scoring among defenseman.

College hockey

If watching the NHL Skills Competition doesn’t float your boat, there is one option for Friday night.  SNY will be televising the game between Wisconsin and Notre Dame at 7pm EST.   It is a chance to see first round draft pick K’Andre Miller in action for the Badgers.

The other televised action featuring a Ranger prospect is on the Big Ten Network on Saturday night at 8:30pm EST when Minnesota takes on Ohio State.  Ranger draft pick Tyler Nanne is playing for Minnesota and although his odds of getting a contract from the Blueshirts are slim, he is one of the team leaders