New York Rangers: Great memories & happy anniversary to all

26 years ago today the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup.  It’s a day that no fan will ever forget.

The 25th anniversary of the 1994 Rangers Stanley Cup Championships was commemorated last season, but each year, June 14 is a day that every New York Rangers fan will celebrate.  We’ve heard from the players and the coaches.  Now, it’s time to hear from the fans.

As the years pass, it’s hard to believe that anyone under the age of 35 will probably not have any memory of that fabulous night.  It’s even harder to imagine that there is a whole generation of Ranger fans who were not even born by 1994 and are still waiting for their night with the Cup.  Still, there are a lot of us who remember the night, vividly.  Blue Line Station asked those readers to share their own memories.  Here are a few:

Far from home

Here’s the story of someone who was far from home.  This memory from Dr. Ryan McCafferty, Commander, DC, USNR:

“I was not home in NJ during the playoffs that year. I had accepted a commission in the US Navy and was stationed at the Naval Air Station in Memphis, TN.  I was the only Ranger fan in my unit. For game seven, we held a viewing party at the home of two rabid Canuck fans, which was a five block walk from my barracks.  My walk to the party was filled with prayers and anxious excitement. The blown icing call. The last drop in the defensive zone….agony! The image I love the most from the celebration on the ice was the close up of an elated Adam Graves mimicking the ” NINETEEN FORTY!” chant….Let me tell you, everything was right and good in the world on that walk home!Now, let’s get two more in the next three years!!”

No walk on the beach

A unique celebration in this memory from Damon White:

“I was on sabbatical and living in New Smyrna Beach, FL.  I watched the final game by myself as my wife and two young daughters slept.  When the Rangers won, I had to walk alone down to the beach 100 yards away to yell and cheer in the moonlight.  What a wonderful night that was!”

Great news in more ways than one

It was a really big day for more than one reason in this memory from Roy Ringer:

“It was a big moment when the Rangers won the Cup.    The afternoon of game 7 we were in the Doctors office having an ultra sound. We found out we were having a boy for our first kid.  When the Rangers won the Cup that night it cemented together two of the best moments in my life forever.  The first baby picture was my son in a Rangers wool hat.”

Two longtime fans

Talk about angst!  Some great memories of from Dennis Silvano:

“My brother and I have been NYR fans since 1957… I’m 73 in August, he’s 72 in October.   I can remember going to “old” MSG on Wed for 50 cents, blue seats,  Sunday “big splurge” $2, end balcony, right behind the net (I think we “qualify” as long term sufferers).

I can’t remember yesterday,  but I can remember June 14 and June 17 (day of parade, like yesterday).  A bunch of us were going from house to house, hosting the playoff games. One game in particular, I will NEVER forget. Game 7 vs NJ, when they tied it with less than 2 seconds left.
My bro and I just walked outside, I remember screaming to God, “are you frigging kidding me”? This can’t be happening.. Well, when they won, need I say more.

When they were up 3 games to 1, we had the audacity to sing the song, “we r the champions”
BIG MISTAKE!!!    Game 7 was surreal, up 3-1, you just knew they would make it 3-2.   Is it ever easy with them?  Even the no call icings were torturous. When they dropped that puck with a sec and change left, and we realized we were Champs, the feeling was indescribable!!  We ran outside hugged, cried, laughed, u name it… Still, by far, the highlight of my sports life!!!”

Tension and tears

For most fans, the tension was almost unbearable.  Here’s a memory from Ronald Goskowski:

“I have been a Ranger fan since 1968. I will never forget the night of June 14, 1994. To be honest, I had the game on TV but I was too nervous to watch the last half of the 3rd period. I paced around the living room sneaking a peak at the TV when Sam would get excited about a play. As the clock wore down to that last 1.6 seconds, my wife who is not a hockey fan came to stand by me for the end of the game. She grabbed my arm but I screamed at her “leave me alone” because all the stress, tension, pressure, and disappointment I felt every hockey season since 1968 was about to end. My emotions were about to explode. When the game ended, I started to cry like a baby. Even now when I watch a replay of that last 1.6 seconds, I fill up and still shed a tear to two. I’m sure that the “Now and I can die in peace” sign summed it up perfectly for me and many other Ranger fans.”

From Texas to Nashville to the skies

This is a long one, but it includes probably one of the most unusual ways a fan was able to keep track of the game in this memory from Larry Ludwig:

” It started with my Dad giving me a table top hockey game when I was 7 years old, and told me stories about ice skating. You see… not a lot of hockey players or fans for that matter came from South Texas in the 1960’s.  Growing up in Austin, Corpus Christi and San Antonio meant no ice…  no rinks and no hockey. The only time we saw hockey was on ABC “Wide World of Sports” which came about maybe during the Olympics of if the Stanley Cup went to a game 7.

No ice, so I played soccer and coming from a German family that was natural, but not the same. I went to college at Texas Tech in the mid 1970’s and sold cable TV door to door and this when it was 12 channels and HBO was brand new. The channels that were offered were the big ones…  WOR New York, WGN Chicago, WTCG Atlanta, so I could finally watch hockey. The NEW YORK RANGERS were carried on WOR and it was the last season that Phil Esposito was playing for the Rangers. Ron Duguay was a brand new guy and they were doing ads for Sassoon jeans. It was the only game in town, and I learned the players names and followed the team, I was a Ranger fan.

I followed the team ever since, and waited as did all the other Ranger fans, following the team and hoping to see them climb to the top. I became a professional pilot and at the age of 32 finally moved far enough North (Nashville) to live in a city with an ice rink (1989) and I began learning to skate and play hockey.|

On that fateful night of June 14th, 1994 I was a pilot for American Eagle based in Nashville and was flying a trip to Evansville, Indiana. I gave the leg to my first officer and he flew the plane while I was monitoring the radio which meant listening to the game on the ADF (Automatic Direction Finder) which was essentially a navigation radio that tuned in AM radio. We touched down in EVV with about 3 minutes left in the game and the time to walk to the hotel across the concourse seemed to take forever. Would the Rangers hold on to win the Stanley Cup? It was 3-2 when I left the aircraft and I had worn my NY Rangers home jersey over my uniform that night, and got smiles and funny looks from the other passengers in the terminal as I made my way to the bar along side the lobby where the TV was playing loudly and the answer to my question of would the Rangers hold on was answered when I rounded the corner and saw Messier hoist the Cup.

Now, going into a bar, in a pilots uniform was way out of bounds, and even under the 50 year rule of winning the Cup that allows such things (an obscure FAA regulation) I had to leave, but I made it to my room in record time and after all… I knew it was going to be repeated a few million times on TV…. but at least after all those year… from 1977 to 1994 I got to see it happen and I will never forget it. Obviously. ”

From a Blue Line Station contributor

Alex Csedrik, a contributor to Blue Line Station, was one of those who were very young when the Cup was ours.

“I was young, fell asleep in the second period, and my mom had to wake me up when we won. We went out on my porch, banged pots, and our neighbors threatened to call the cops. ”

These are just a few of the many memories of that night in June, 26 years ago.  While we can hope for new memories in just a few weeks,  we will cling to the images of that unforgettable win.  Thanks to the fans who contributed theirs

Feel free to add yours in the comments section below.