14 Years Of My Life

My life has never remained stagnant. Much like everyone else, 14 years ago I was a completely different person in every sense humanly possible. Shy, reserved, scared and completely humorless...at age 6 I do not hardly resemble the person I am today. This fact alone makes it even more amazing that one thing in my life has remained and probably always will: my love of hockey and the New York Rangers. I can still remember being 7 years old and watching the Rangers win the Stanley Cup in 1994...the TV announcer Sam Rosen screamed, "The long wait is over...the Rangers are the Stanley Cup Champions!!!" I jumped up and down in childish glee knocking over various magazines and a vase but I didn't care, I was just so damn happy at that moment. My father, who had never been a hockey fan before I introduced him to it, lifted me up and spun me around as my mom bounced in the corner yelling with happiness. This memory remains vivid in my mind as does the memory of Mike Richter's shootout save against Pavel Bure and the Mark Messier gurantee. I cannot for the life of me remember much else from that year except for the Stanley Cup win, it truly defined 1994 for me and the mere mention of the year makes me smile. Call it sad or obsessive but my love for the team has not gone down since that point. Even after the 7 years of absolutely horrible teams which had overpriced veterans dragging their feet in MSG...I stood by them. That is the true testament of a fan, staying with your team as you stink up the NHL year after year.

Now, that brings me to this year. A Sports Illustrated poll picked us to be dead last in the league as we were supposed to be having a "rebuilding" year. For those that don't know, a rebuilding year means you have a bunch of young, unproven players and will most likely suck. Even I did not have faith in this team in the beginning of the year, with a bunch of rookies and seemingly washed up veterans in front of a perrenial back up goalie in Kevin Weekes. We had a superstar who was known for being difficult to coach and a coach who had a horrible track record. Every indication this year was that this team would completely suck and we would not make the playoffs for a record 8 years. I remember opening night against the Flyers, who were supposed to be Stanley Cup contenders, and just thinking, "I hope we do not get embrassed too badly this game...they are such a better team" The final score of the game was 5-3 in favor of the Rangers, as we stormed back in the third period to come back and win. When this happend I thought it was a nice surprise but no indicator of the rest of the season. I was trained as a Rangers fan to never put too much faith into my teams work ethic or ability when it came to the regular season. I was trained incorrectly.

A strange thing began to occur as the season wore on, we started to win more and more. The team was gelling quicker than expected, the penalty kill was outstanding and Jaromir Jagr was having one of the best seasons of his career. More than that though, this team was working harder than any team I had seen since 1994. Even in our losses, we never gave up and were rarely blown out of the water. If we were down one or two goals going into the third, we would fight back and more often than not we would tie it or flat out win it. In years past, a defecit going into the third basically meant the game was over. Not only that but we had goaltending once again in New York. Ever since the departure of Mike Richter, New York had been without an honest to God starting goaltender. It was only when Kevin Weekes went down in injury did a rookie named Henrik Lundqvist get a start. Lundqvist was an unknown late round draft pick who was a superstar in Sweden but was deemed not ready for NHL action. Henrik Lundqvist would go on to be nicknamed King Henry, dominate games with his presence and become one of the most loved players in New York. Not only did he win over 30 games as a rookie but he also won a gold medal in the olympics for team Sweden. Henrik fought and won the starting goalie gig in NY over Kevin Weekes. Not to be outdone, another rookie started to make noise in NY during the year. The small(5'8") and speedy Petr Prucha started the year in the minor leagues but was called up a few weeks into the season. Prucha scored over 30 goals this year and became a fan favorite with his tenacious play and was only slowed down when he hurt his knee. This was the future of the Rangers playing like they had something to prove.

So while the Rangers hit a 5 game losing streak at the end of the year, we made the playoffs and will play the NJ Devils in the first round. We once again play underdog against a hot team that is one of our most bitter enemies. I think this team is not done proving that they belong in the elite of the NHL and will not drop the work ethic that got them this far. It has been 7 years since a playoff game has been played at MSG and this Wednesday, along with Matt and Ian(my converted Ranger fans), we will witness the Rangers take the ice against the Devils in the Stanley Cup Playoffs in New York. I am satisifed enough with this season, but there is so much more out there to prove. We can do this because honestly I believe in this team as much as the 94 team, possibly even more. We can break out of the slump, we can beat the Devils and we can sure as hell win the Stanley Cup. I have faith and it is a wonderful thing. Rangers in 06...you gotta believe. Let's go Rangers.