Game 7
As I sit here getting ready to watch Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final, I can't help but think of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final.
Yesterday, June 14, was the 17th anniversary of the Rangers winning the Cup that night in 1994.
They won it in a Game 7.
Against the Vancouver Canucks.
So you can see why there's a strong connection.
Personally, it's an event I revisit often...you know my sob story - the 1994 Rangers are the last professional championship for a team I root for.
But, further, Game 7 in 1994 is one of the few times ever everything broke right for a team I root for.
The stars of that 1994 Rangers team were Brian Leetch (my favorite), Mark Messier, Adam Graves, and Mike Richter. I remember telling my dad, "Wouldn't it be great if all of those guys were factors in the game in which the Rangers won their first Cup since 1940?"
Brian Leetch and Adam Graves scored early to put the Rangers up 2-0. With the score 2-1, Mark Messier added a third goal (which would prove to be the game-winner), and Mike Richter stopped 28 shots as the winning goalie.
Nobody thought about the fact that the Rangers had made everyone sweat, blowing a 3-1 series lead...it was thrilling that the Stanley Cup was awarded on home ice at Madison Square Garden.
Somebody tonight in Vancouver will be taking home the Stanley Cup. I love that, and I'll enjoy seeing the post-game celebration.
There's even a chance that I'll be in Boston to watch a championship parade if the Bruins win tonight. (I wasn't even at the Rangers championship parade - I had a Spanish Regents that morning.)
But I guarantee that as tonight's game ends I'll be thinking about 1994, when the Rangers were the last team to give me a season worth celebrating.
