HIGH AND TIGHT
I've been a fan of the New York Rangers since I was in the 2nd grade in the Fall of 1965. As a young lad, I was treated to an up and coming team - probably the most significant beneficiary of the NHL going from 6 to 12 teams following the 1966-67 season - and coming oh-so-close to winning a Stanley Cup at a time when hockey was becoming a national TV sport.
Believe me, I've seen it all. My Dad and I would typically go to a game or two each season, and we hit the big score in a ticket lottery to attend all of the run to the Stanley Cup finals in 1979. I was later a season ticket holder for 6 seasons, and thus would attend 20 games in the regular season followed by our annual playoff ouster.
As an aside, when I was a kid, my Dad and I were the only 2 hockey fans in my circle until he played softball with a K of C brother who was a security guard at Channel 5. He got us into their studios in 1971 to see 3 games on "Teleprompter" cable, including Pete Stemkowski's 2 OT goal versus Chicago. This is why it always galled me to hear '1940' chants from Islander and Devil fans who were my age, and didn't know hockey existed until a bandwagon conveniently appeared.
My greatest memory is obviously the 1994 playoff run to the Stanley Cup, and the relief and euphoria I felt. The sign that read "Now I Can Die In Peace" was very poignant for me, as I lost my Dad in 1998. I've since had the opportunity to thank Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish and Glenn Anderson for winning it while he was alive, and will do the same for any other coach or player from that squad that I have the chance to meet.
Now, to the "curse". Much was made of the "vow" by New York Americans owner Red Dutton, who when the Garden management squeezed him out of the building, swore that they wouldn't win the Cup again while he was alive. This actually happened, but more to the point, the Rangers as 1940 Stanley Cup Champions were the team most affected by Canada's entry into World War II as part of the British Empire. They took a very long time to recover.
After the War, Canada took great pains to repair "their" game and heal their country, and quite frankly, began to treat the Rangers like an ugly stepchild. This is an area of some dispute, but legend has it that there was a territorial "preference" after the War, giving first "dibs" on the Province of Quebec to Montreal, Ontario to Toronto and Detroit" (on the Canadian border), and left the Rangers, Bruins and Blackhawks to fend for themselves. While there is no "official" record of this, a look at the names on the rosters and Stanley Cups in the 1950's makes it very hard to question.
The point of all this is that while the Rangers were scraping bottom after the War until the mid-1960's, not only were they not getting first shot at the high end talent, it was, in fact, the opposite. The entry draft feeding top talent to the worst teams didn't exist until 6 expansion teams were placed into the league when the Rangers had already begun to improve. It's a historical fact that the New York Rangers have never picked first, including post-lockout when the had the worst record in the league.
Somehow, that "lottery" was held in a closed room, and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had openly tanked in the 80's to secure the services of Mario Lemieux, ended up with Sidney Crosby, the Rangers picking 5th. Go figure.
So this finally brings me to my point. The New York Rangers, in a league where the stars win the title, are actually cursed by chronic mediocrity. Right now, the Rangers have exactly 3 players possessing elite or potentially elite skills: Henrik Lundqvist, Marian Gaborik and Marc Staal. As much as everyone likes Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan, they are actually 2nd line talent, the kind you need to win, but not the main guys. Think Walt Tkachuk and Bill Fairbairn playing behind Jean Ratelle and Rod Gilbert, or Messier's line playing behind Gretzky's in Edmonton.
And why is this the case? Because a typical Ranger season is a struggle to make the playoffs, ending with a meh draft position, looking at middling talent, and no chance at a top 5 player. It's self-perpetuating.
My advice to Ranger fans is this: this is not the team you always wanted. What you really want to see is a truly talented team that has a strong work ethic. Missing one or the other is not going to get it done. The 1994 team had both. We need to be really bad, or really good.
One last thing: John Totorella tried a carrot and stick with Marian Gaborik all season to get him to backcheck. Wednesday night, you saw the result when the winger did get back, but got crossed up with Lundqvist to set up the winning goal.
N.B. Islanders coach Al Arbour never asked Mike Bossy to backcheck. He always let him play his own game.
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