“You get the Rangers or you get nothing!”

Every New York Rangers fan has a story about how and when they pledged allegiance to the Blueshirts. Mine began some 40 years ago during a standoff with my aunt in a Connecticut sporting goods store.

Most aunts I know love spoiling their nieces and nephews with gifts. That action figure your parents don’t have the money for? Aunty’s got you. That video game you just had to have? Aunty has connections to Santa. My Aunt Ann’s gift to me? Hockey and the New York Rangers.

By the time I was 4 years old, she’d enrolled me in skating lessons. Next, she signed me up for the local Mites program. Then, she ensured that I could play for as long as I wanted by paying for most of my equipment, league dues, and tournament registration fees.

While other nephews got toys and clothes from their aunts at the holidays, I got skates, elbow pads, and power-skating lessons from mine.

While other aunts visited their nephews maybe once a month and on holidays, mine got up every weekend morning from October to March, woke me up for a breakfast of hot chocolate and toast, and drove me to the rink before the crack of dawn.

As if that didn’t make her the coolest hockey aunt on the planet, one day after practice, she took me to a sports store to buy a practice jersey. It was January or February 1980. I was 9 then, but for as long as I live, I’ll never forget what transpired inside the sports store that day.

At the time, NHL apparel wasn’t as easy to get as it is today. Online shopping didn’t exist and there weren’t nearly as many sports stores. The sports store my aunt found was about a 30-minute drive away, but it specialized in selling hockey equipment and NHL stuff.

The day my aunt and I went, the store displayed the jerseys of two NHL teams on racks side-by-side: the black-and-gold road duds of Boston Bruins and the home whites of the New York Rangers.

(Starting in 1970, the NHL had road teams wear their dark sweaters and hosts don their whites. The league switched back to dark at home, white on the road in 2003).

The Bruins’ roads at the time were all black with gold and white stripes on each elbow and along the waist line. They also featured a patch of an angry bear’s head on each shoulder, sharp fangs and all.

The Rangers’ whites were sharp, as well. They were much like today’s version, except they had a V-neck and red-and-white stripes on the neckline.