Do the Rangers Hate the Ice Girls?

As an organization, the New York Islanders are known for a number of firsts both on and off the ice. One of the more controversial decisions on the Island concerned the introduction of the "Ice Girls", scantily-clad young ladies who come out onto the ice during stoppages in play to handle basic ice maintenance.

With the Ice Girls, it seems as if you either love them or hate them, and the feeling has only spread as other squads have sprouted up around the league. Now it looks like you can count the New York Rangers among those who aren't exactly fans. From Newsday:

During commercial breaks, teams of three Ice Girls clean loose ice known as "snow" in the goal and the blue-painted goaltender's crease in front of the goal line. But Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist declined to move and used his stick to whack the squeegee Kelli Higgins, 23, was using to push the snow into a pile during the first TV timeout, knocking the butt end of the squeegee stick into her stomach.

"I said 'Excuse me' maybe two or three times," Higgins said Wednesday. "He didn't move and didn't say anything, so I gave up and went around him. "The tip of my squeegee kind of hit the tip of his stick. I don't know if he thought I did that on purpose or whatever, but he took a big windup and slashed the squeegee pretty good. It startled me a little bit. It didn't feel great, but I wouldn't say I was injured or in a ton of pain. I was shocked."

Another ice girl, Chanel Benson, reported that a Rangers player spit on her as she skated by the Rangers bench on her way off the ice. I think it's important to note that the ice girls don't pick and choose where they shovel snow, they only go where the linesmen tell them to.

As for Lundqvist, he told reporters Wednesday that he prefers to remain in the crease during stoppages, and could never recall being asked to leave the crease before when playing on Long Island. Then again, as the above photo taken on December 26, 2006 on Long Island seems to attest, Lundqvist has had to make room for the Ice Girls before.

Developing as they say...