In the early morning hours of Nov. 19, many of the New York Rangers were in bed, getting some sleep before their game that night against the Ottawa Senators.

Brady Skjei and Kevin Hayes were awake watching Chance the Rapper host Saturday Night Live. They knew a Rangers skit was coming -- the team was invited to send some players to the set, but they had to turn it down for sleep -- but Skjei and Hayes had no idea what the content would be.

So the two young Rangers were watching live when Chance, as basketball reporter-on-hockey duty Lazlo Holmes interviewed Alex Moffat, portraying Skjei. Holmes attempted to pronounce Skjei's last name.

"That's an S, a K and a J all next to each other, so that's a nope," Chance said.





"I thought it was hilarious," Skjei says.

"I saw my jersey come on. It was a pretty funny thing. The skit itself, I thought he did a really good job."

If Chance isn't busy on New Year's Day, the Rangers will be at the forefront of the hockey world, as they take on the Buffalo Sabres in the Winter Classic at Citi Field. The artist can consider turning on the TV around 1 p.m.

Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh would like to see Chance take things one step further.

"If he thought that was cold in this skit, he should come here for tomorrow," McDonagh says. "Tomorrow's game's gonna be cold. He wouldn't even have to act."

One thing is for sure: Whether you are an NHL fan or not, let's do that hockey Monday.

-- Follow Jeff Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband. Like Jeff Eisenband on Facebook.