Make the Trip to MSG
When you’re a fan of a team, it is only natural to attend a game. Sit in the stands and cheer on your favorite players. Living on Long Island, making the trip into Madison Square Garden is a trip I relish. Hoping on the train is always the easiest way, as I avoid the city traffic. It can be calm and relaxing. And you often see plenty of New York Rangers fans heading to the world’s most famous arena.
There is a certain and unmistakable atmosphere at the Garden. There’s a buzz in the air every home game, no matter the opponent. Ranger fans are intense, but they are also are apart of a community. These are fans who pride themselves on passion and I witnessed this passion first hand, not in New York, or even on the east coast, but in California.
Heading California Way
Following this team for years, there is a noticeable traveling fan base. Alain Vigneault has noticed it too. He has said noted, several times, the support that the New York Rangers recieve on the road can lift the team and make them feel at home.
Any rational human being would go to New Jersey, or Boston, maybe even Philadelphia if they wanted to experience a Rangers road game, but when I had a friend move out to Los Angeles, my mind immediately jumped to visiting him during the Rangers trip to California. So, a buddy and I booked a flight to LA to see our friend, but also bought tickets to see the Rangers play in Anaheim and Los Angeles..
Back on the train, except it is not the Long Island Rail Road, it is on the Metrolink, the Los Angeles version of the LIRR. My friends and I, decked in our Rangers jerseys, walked down the platform looking for an empty car. While walking, I noticed a man wearing a Rangers shirt waiting outside one of the train doors. We locked eyes as I walked by him and gave him a thumbs up, to which he replied with an enthusiastic cheer of, “Let’s Go Rangers!” It was the first Rangers fan I saw in California, but certainly not the last.
The occasional Duck fan stepped onto the train, but nothing of note. It was a calm ride filled with mostly business men and women in professional attire. Very unlike the LIRR, where you would see plenty of neatly dressed individuals, but an equal amount of hockey enthusiasts heading to the Garden.
The last stop was the Honda Center. The walk from the platform to the arena was not one I expected. As we walked, I constantly kept spotting blue. So much blue. If it wasn’t 75 and sunny in mid March, you would have thought you were in New York.
This huge mob of blue, trudged up to a crosswalk. As we waited for the signal, I looked around again and could not believe what I was seeing. Ducks fans were easily in the minority. For every Perry and Getzlaf jersey, there was a Lundqvist, Kreider, Nash, and Zuccarello jersey. This was a small sample size, I kept telling myself. Once I head inside, this will even out. There will be more Ducks fans. There has to be more Ducks fans somewhere, right?
The New York Rangers have Power in Pride
We eventually made it inside, and yes, there were more Ducks fans present, but they still seemed to be outnumbered by blue. However, there was no buzz or intensity, which was odd. These were two good teams. A marquee matchup, you could say. It seemed off.
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We went to our seats and waited for the game to start. As we waited, we watched the arena fill up, but it never filled up. Official attendance said it was 89.7% full, but it felt even less than that. Again, I was confused. How is this game not sold out? You can’t find a seat at the Garden for any game, let alone a game against a top team. This was bizarre.
As the puck was about to be dropped and the anticipation mounted, a giant “Let’s Go Rangers” chant started. I looked around and with the naked eye you could tell that there was more blue than anything else. Crazy. All the way out in Anaheim, California, blue was everywhere. There were even two separate people who started “Potvin Sucks” chants, though one of them was terrible at whistling and messed it up every time. Still, I dug the effort.
The game itself was very cagey, with not much fluent play, but still, a couple times every period, a “Let’s Go Rangers” chant would start and only about half the time Ducks fans tried to wash it out. The only time Duck fans started their own chant was when their mascot, a Duck (duh!), started banging a drum in the third period. That was it. That one time. Where was the enthusiasm? Was it due to the languid play of the game? Can’t say for sure, but it was a night and day comparison to the Garden faithful.
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The Rangers ended up winning 2-1. As I left the arena, I expected someone to say something to me. But no, nothing. No sneers. No insults. Only a causal stroll out of the arena. There was one only observation of note. One Ducks fan said to another, “All these Rangers fans need to go home.” The other replied, “yeah, bunch of bandwagoners.” Not sure how I still feel about that. Perhaps they were just sour about the defeat, or they were confused by the presence of an actual fan base. Granted, the Ducks have only been around for a little over 20 years, but that’s the kind of passion to expect from Ranger fans.
Whether they lived in California, or traveled there for the occasion, the passion Rangers fans have for their team was made very clear. And as I sat on the train back up to Los Angeles, I wondered what the next night would have in store. The scene of the crime. The Staples Center. Where the Rangers Cup run in 2014 came to a sudden halt.
Behind Enemy Lines
The next day, I found myself on a train again. This time, I was riding the Los Angeles subway system to the game. Yes, there is a subway system in Los Angeles. And no, not many people use it. But that’s neither here nor there.
Upon arrival, there was a noticeable difference from the previous night: an atmosphere. New York/LA is big in any sport and with these two teams still recently having squared off in the Finals, there was still a buzz. A buzz that I missed in Anaheim.
Outside the Staples Center, the courtyard and streets were filled with Kings gear, with only your smattering of blue in the mix. I expected the home crowd vibe, especially since this is a team with two recent Stanley Cup wins. If that doesn’t exponentially grow a fan base, I don’t know what will.
Along with that buzz came the slander. Kings fans actually took the time out to joke and jeer with the incoming Rangers fans, most notably about that recent victory in the Cup Finals. The Staples Center even trolled all the Rangers fans by including some highlights from that Final in the pre-game video, with the payoff being a long shot at that winning banner hanging in the rafters, which led to a thunderous cheer from the crowd. I was less than enthused, obviously. It still stings to be reminded of that loss, of a deflated Lundqvist sprawled on the ice, but I respected their jab and it showed that the stakes were still high, which the crowd understood.
L.A. Kings vs New York Rangers, Enough Said
Once the game started, you could tell that the Kings fans cared and were actively involved in cheering for them, unlike the lackadaisical Ducks fans. “Let’s go Rangers” chants were instantly drowned out by “Go Kings Go.” This sort of back and forth lasted throughout the game. It may have been March, but these Kings fans were eager to see their team beat the Rangers, again.
The New York Rangers found their way to a 2-1 lead midway through the second period. Around this time, a Kings fan walked by me and said, “Rangers suck.” This was only possible as I was seated in an aisle seat, but his matter-of-fact tone threw me for a loop. There wasn’t any malice, but he simply needed to remind me of the team I rooted for and despite the deficit the Kings faced, he seemed unfazed.
That sort of coolness could be relayed to the entire fan base. Perhaps it is the laid back attitude, which living in Los Angeles provides, or the fact that this Kings have two Stanley Cup trophies to their name, but even when the Kings went down 3-1, there was no worrying from the fans. It was like they knew they would tie the game up. As long as there was time on the clock, the Kings had a chance. That sort of collection spoke volumes to me and has to breed confidence into the team. If your fans are confident you can win, it elevates everyone in the building.
Lo and behold, the Kings rallied back and tied the game up late and eventually won the game in overtime. Another New York Rangers defeat in LA where they trailed for a whopping ZERO seconds. It was a hard loss to take and even harder to leave the arena. As bad as it was to be made fun of before the game, losing it in horrible fashion again made matters worse. I cannot count how many times I heard, “Rangers blew it again!” and they were right. They did blow it. Damn.
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As my friends and I were exiting, amidst the jubilation from Kings fans, I couldn’t help but turn my attention to the playoffs, which were a month away at this point. I thought about another Cup run for this squad and the possibility of playing those pesky Kings again. Revenge is sweet, but putting doubt into their fan base that their team can lose would be sweeter.