The New York Rangers

There was a time when the National Hockey League did not consist of teams in every time zone in North America.  There was not anything like NHL Center Ice on DirecTv.  There was no satellite radio to follow your favorite team.  Finding a score was not as easy as just logging onto the internet and getting an update.  But if you worked at it, you could get it done.

I was a fan of the New York Rangers when I grew up.  There were only 14 teams in the NHL when I picked up the hockey bug.  I grew to know and love players like Vic Hadfield, Pete Stemkowski, Ron Greschner, Bill Fairbairn, Walt Tkaczuk, Brad Park, Ed Giacomin, Gilles Villemure and two of my favorites Rod Gilbert, who shared a first name with myself and my favorite player Jean Ratelle.  Those were my original Broadway Blueshirts.  

The schedule was much more balanced than it is today. On a typical week the Rangers would be on television on WOR Channel 9 in New York, which was close enough for me to see from my bedroom in Stamford, Connecticut.  Jim Gordon and Bill "The Big Whistle" Chadwick on the call on Saturday nights on the road.  Often the between-period interviews were with people I had never heard of like Punch Imlach, King Clancy and a man who STILL terrorizes Canadians on Hockey Night in Canada, one Don Cherry.  If you've never seen Don Cherry, his sport coats make those belonging to Lindsay Nelson or Craig Sager look like they're wearing Members Only jackets.  Chadwick had been a referee in is previous vocation and was incredibly enthusiastic towards the Rangers.  I enjoyed him a great deal. 

That was how I spent my Saturday nights.  Even into high school, that was my Saturdays.  I didn't date in high school and my Fridays nights were usually spent hanging out with my best friend Allen Kramer, usually bowling  in Greenwich and eating too many frosty desserts at Wendy's.  Sunday nights were more subdued as games were not available on television so I would tune in the games on the radio for the call by the wonderful Marv Albert along with his sidekick Sal Messina.  It was a great way to end the weekend, as I did my homework, which I should probably have completed on Friday afternoon after school.  Marv was also calling Knicks games at that time too.  He sounded just as great then, maybe better, than he does even today.  

In the spring of my senior year of high school the Rangers made it to the Stanley Cup finals against the Montreal Canadiens.  I really thought that they would win their first cup in my lifetime and for the first time in 39 years.  They actually won game one at the Montreal Forum and then darkness fell.  It was over in five and the Rangers would not advance to the Finals for another 15 years.  

I moved to Florida to follow an education in Tampa and quickly discovered that hockey did not exist in the Sunshine State.  I was once visiting my parents one weekend in Bradenton and listening to WKXY-AM radio.  The deejay gave the sports scores but got to the hockey scores and actually said, "Eh, it's hockey. We're in Florida.  Nobody cares."  So when I arrived at my parents' home I called the station and told said deejay that there WERE some people in the state who were from the northern climbs and we would appreciate giving ALL of the evening's scores.  He gave the hockey scores at the next break from the tunes he was spinning for us on the Mighty 930 AM. (I didn't have FM radio in my car for another few years).

1994 was a magic season with magical players.  Former adversaries Kevin Lowe and Jeff Beukeboom, Steve Larmer, Adam Graves, home-grown Brian Leetch and the ultimate former adversary, one Mark Messier put together a monster season which followed a player strike which cut the season to 48 games.  With playoff series wins over the Islanders, Capitals, Devils and then over the Vancouver Canucks the Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in my lifetime.  Talk about something I never thought I would see.

The Rangers have struggled along for two decades now and are less than 24 hours away from the opening game of the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals.  Their opponents are the Los Angeles Kings, a team born from the 1967 NHL expansion.  They have won a Cup since the Rangers last have, and as far as I'm concerned that's enough.  The last time I really paid attention to the Kings was when they wore these gaudy uniforms which looked like the Minnesota Vikings on ice, with players named Rogie Vachon and Marcel Dionne.  They played at a place called the Forum and they weren't very good.  

One of my greatest thrills at a sporting event was starting the "Let's Go Rangers" chant at a game at Madison Square Garden a number of seasons ago.  I had done it in my bedroom as a teen and there I was, at the World's Most Famous Arena, starting 17,000+ fans on my own.  Tomorrow I will start it again in my man cave.  Join me, won't you? Apparently game one is at a large office supply store in Los Angeles.  

I'm just saying'..........