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Baseball Suffers in Tough Weekend Stretch Rangers Skid After Blockbuster Trade

By ALLIE COPPOLA STAFF WRITER

On Saturday, the New York Rangers lost their second game in a row since acquiring Chicago Blackhawks legend Patrick Kane on Feb. 28. In Kane’s first game as a Ranger, they fell to the Ottawa Senators 5-3 and to the Bruins in his second game on Saturday with a 4-2 score. The Rangers are skidding in crunch time, but the three day break before their next game will give them time to adjust to the new additions in the team and subsequent line changes on the power play.

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Chris Drury’s deal for Patrick Kane seemed to be in place for almost a week, but salary cap issues and Kane’s no-movement clause prevented them from acquiring him until the end of February. Because of the circumstances regarding Kane’s preferences, the Rangers had all the leverage they needed. The star right-winger would reportedly only waive his full no-movement clause for the Rangers, and the Blackhawks wanted to get a return for him instead of losing him for nothing in the offseason. The return for the Blackhawks was abysmal, but their hands were tied. Drury only had to send a 2023 conditional second round pick and a 2025 fourth round pick in exchange for Kane and Cooper Zech, a defenseman who has spent most of his career in the American Hockey League. In order for the Rangers to get the deal done with enough salary cap space, they’ve been playing with only 11 forwards and five defensemen after the NHL denied their request for an emergency recall. They edged out wins against the Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers, but dropped the past two to the Sens and Bruins with the shorthanded lineup.

Despite the Rangers’ recent shortcomings and roster gymnastics, the excitement around Kane has been palpable. He has no points in his first two games, but head coach Gerard Gallant hopes that the issue will sort itself out in the three practices before the next game. The young players on the Rangers’ roster are excited to play with their childhood idol, and star winger Artemi Panarin is happy to be reunited with his former linemate. In Panarin’s short-lived Blackhawks tenure, he and Kane combined for 346 points, demonstrating their lightning-in-a-bottle chemistry that they are looking to reignite.

During the 2015-16 NHL season, Kane won the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league MVP, and Panarin won the Calder Trophy given to the best rookie. Gallant has them on the same line during five-on-five play, and placed them both on the first powerplay unit to spark the chemistry in time for the playoffs.

Evidently, Drury’s biggest move of the season has a lot of implications for the team at this point in the season. The addition of Kane and Tarasenko signals that the Rangers are truly in the “cup or bust” mindset: this is the season that they need to win the Stanley Cup. Kane is not likely to resign due to the salary cap unless he takes a major pay cut in order to stay, and Tarasenko isn’t likely to stay for the same reason. Drury was able to acquire these players without completely jeopardizing the team’s chances in the future, but young players like Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere will be looking for larger contracts in the offseason, only complicating the situation even more. With all of this in mind, the Blueshirts’ only goal this season is to go the distance and bring the famed Stanley Cup back to New York for the first time in 29 years.

Athletes of the Week

Fordham Track and Field took home some major awards this past weekend at the ECAC/IC4A Championship, courtesy of graduate student Zalen Nelson. Nelson finished in second place in the 1,000-meter run, finishing with a time of 2:24.45. The graduate student previously set the school record back in 2022 with a time of 2:24.90.

By MADDIE BIMONTE SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham baseball team is off to a rocky start in their nonconference schedule after being swept by North Florida University in Florida this past weekend during a four-game stretch. With the Rams returning for their first game at Houlihan Park this year against Stony Brook, the competition was tough as they went on to drop their opening day game.

After a stretch of rough nonconference battles against schools such as Dallas Baptist University and Old Dominion University, the Rams hoped to start off this series on a brighter note, bringing a more well rounded pitching rotation as well as in-the-clutch offense.

There surely was no shortage of home runs for both teams in game one, as the Ospreys opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first with a three-run home run. Fordham wouldn’t shy away so easily with senior Will Findlay hitting a solo shot. While the Rams tacked on another RBI to bring their total to two, North Florida began to pull away, adding on three more runs courtesy of an RBI double and a fielding error from the Rams.

Senior Zach Selinger also added another solo home run to the Rams’ total. However, the lead was still 6-3 for the Ospreys, and they did not slow down from there. The Ospreys hit three home runs. North Florida’s Dallen Leach cemented himself as the man of the game as he hit a two-run home run followed up by a three-run shot later in the game. Fordham was able to tack on some last-minute home runs from Selinger and Findlay, but the Rams would go on to drop the match 13-6. Saturday featured a double header, but bad luck continued for the Rams.

Things started off on a better foot with the Rams finally getting their first lead of the weekend in the third inning with five runs. To start things off for the Rams was sophomore Cian Sahler, driving in an RBI double.

The Ospreys’ pitching struggled tremendously during the inning, with a wild pitch causing the Rams to score another, and later on a passed ball would result in another Ram scoring.

North Florida stayed resilient, working back to tie the Rams by the bottom of the eighth, and then taking the lead on a few Fordham errors to add two to their total.

Things just weren’t in the cards for the Rams as they attempted to rally back, however, sophomore J.T. Watcher struck out with a man on base, ending the game, 7-6.

Another nail biter followed for the Rams, as their second rubber match of the day stretched into 10 innings.

Fordham came out the gate hot with a four-run third inning, as three Fordham players all reached base on singles. Watcher was able to redeem himself after the last game, driving in two runs during the inning, and two other Rams made it safely around the base path to score four runs.

Then, in the fifth, junior Michael Taylor joined the hitting party, scoring junior Ryan Thiesse, for a 5-0 ballgame heading into the sixth.

Yet, the Ospreys have shown to be a tenacious team during the series, and today’s double header was no different.

North Florida put up one in the bottom of the fifth and three in the sixth to pull within one run at 5-4. With one run just in sight, the Ospreys then tied the game at five on a solo home run by Alex Lodise, in the bottom of the eighth.

Fordham later loaded the bases in the 10th, but Sellinger’s line drive to the third baseman was safely caught, giving the Ospreys another chance to wrap things up.

It was a smartly played bunt by Drew Leinenbach to conclude things for the Ospreys as they had runners on the corners. Junior pitcher Trey Maeker was in position to get the bunt, but to no avail.

The Rams dropped the double header, this one with a score of 6-5.

With one last game on the line, things just weren’t coming up for the Rams.

The Rams and Ospreys would trade runs for the lead, as Fordham pitching suffered in the third as they gave up four straight walks. Thiesse would score thanks to graduate student Peter DiMaria on a sac fly to make the score 3-2, but the Ospreys were ready for the challenge.

Fordham was facing a strong performance all weekend from North Florida’s Alex Lodise, who showed up once again in the bottom of the fifth to deliver a threerun homer breaking open the game for the Ospreys. This marks Lodise’s fifth home run of the year.

While the Rams would add one more run to their total, slimming the lead down to two, they couldn’t get it done as North Florida would once again answer the call, extending their lead to 8-4 to end the series.

The Rams finally were able to return home as they began to enter a six-game homestand, starting things off on Tuesday against Stony Brook. With the Rams jumping to score first, they added three runs in the first, with Thiesse, Sahler and DiMaria all scoring.

However, it would be that long ball that would continue to plague Rams pitchers as graduate student Austin Sachen would give up a tworun homer to Evan Giordano in the third. Fordham answered back with another run, this time, from a Watcher RBI single, but once again, the long ball was back with a vengeance.

In the fourth inning, sophomore pitcher Connor Haywood would be the one to give up another home run, allowing the Seawolves to tie things up at four. Things went downhill for the Rams from then on, as the Seawolves went up to tally four more runs throughout the game, giving the Seawolves their first win of the season.

For the Rams, there is still work to be done in the rotation. However, with conference play still a little bit of time away, there is enough time for the Rams to improve.

The Rams will be back in action, continuing the homestand on Wednesday, March 7 against Saint Peter’s University for one game and then a three-game stretch this weekend against Quinnipiac University.

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