On a hot June night in 1994, the New York Rangers ended the 54-year drought and captured the franchise’s third Stanley Cup. As someone who’s only heard the stories, this team is immortal.
Growing up as a New York Ranger fan mostly surrounded by New Jersey Devil supporters in the Hudson Valley, I longingly looked forward to my trips into the city to visit my extended family. Most notably, going to my uncle’s house in Flushing to blow the dust off of a VHS tape that had the live recording of game seven of the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals on it.
There were times as an eight-year-old I’d just watch the tape on a loop, spending hours and hours dreaming about how that must’ve felt. Now, as a 22-year-old, thankfully Youtube exists and the entire game is on there is stunningly grainy 1994 standard definition tv. I mean how did people watch sports in standard definition? You can barely see the puck.
If I wasn’t convincing enough, it happened so long ago that the crowd did not boo commissioner Gary Bettman as he congratulated the teams and presented the Stanley Cup.
But, I digress, that team is in rarefied air like the 1969 New York Mets, the 2016 Chicago Cubs, the 2004 Boston Red Sox. I spent many a night dreaming about a world in which the Rangers I watched with my own two eyes would one day capture the best trophy in all of sports.
First, it was Bettman telling Jaromir Jagr to come to get the Stanley Cup, then it was Chris Drury, after that it was Ryan Callahan and then, I really did think it would be him telling Ryan McDonagh. But, I was relegated to watching the standard definition youtube video year after year only able to picture it in my head. However, that night still has yet to come.
(If you’ve got two hours to kill, it’s not a bad way to spend it)
The post-1994 perspective
All I’ve known my entire life is a world in which Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Adam Graves and Mike Richter were immortals. As a nine-year-old, I was lucky enough to be in attendance for the game in which Messier’s number was retired.
At the time I truly didn’t understand why so many people were crying over a bald player from the past, I mean come on, we had Jagr, Martin Straka and Michael Nylander, this was gonna be the year.
But, over time I came to understand just how tortured the Rangers fan base was during the drought. All I’ve ever known in my life was Henrik Lundqvist being between the pipes and New York always being on the cusp of greatness yet never quite getting over the hump. For all of my whining as a kid, things could have always been worse.
That’s where we come to the 25th-anniversary celebration of the 1994 team tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes. As a franchise with more than 90 seasons of existence, the Rangers need to ensure that future generations of fans understand just how awe-inspiring a scene it was when Bettman handed Messier the cup and the captain starting cackling like a Bond villain.
That was 54 years of torturous anguish extinguished in seconds by one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. The reverence of Messier from those in the New York era is a testament to just how much that cup meant. The Moose was not born here or drafted here, but he took it upon himself to lead the most important Rangers team of the century to the promised land.
As much as some may be tired of the constant remembrance of this team, it’s important to note the context. The Rangers have existed for 92 seasons and won four Stanley Cups. With the most recent one prior to 1994 being 1940, there is no real attachment to that group because of just how far in the distant past it was.
However, the 1994 group is very much alive in the consciousness of many.
As someone who didn’t even experience it at the moment, I picture the helmetless Craig MacTavish skating into the circle to take the faceoff against Pavel Bure with Sam Rosen on the verge of exploding with excitement calling the moment. It’s seared into my memory as a moment of consciousness as if I lived through it even though I was not born yet.
I crave a moment of pure happiness like the one on that June night. I want to reference players like Mika Zibanejad and Brady Skjei as if they were Alexi Kovalev and Kevin Lowe.
The 1994 Rangers are the closest thing we as a collective have to embrace. It shouldn’t be whining about the past being celebrated, instead it should be about appreciation. The 2014 postseason run was as high as the organization got in the time since. It may be a long time before it can even sniff a run at Lord Stanley’s Cup.