The Day We Broke the Couch

That’s what can happen when a perennial loser (the NY Rangers in this case) finally becomes a big winner.

Back in the early 1990s, street hockey was becoming a sport you would see kids playing in the neighborhood. It was called street hockey because it was played in the street and not on ice. On the weekends, my sons Artie and Jeffrey would play during the day and at night under the streetlights in front of our house with kids in the neighborhood.

Then roller-blade hockey became popular on decks in local shopping centers. Leagues were formed, drawing more kids to play. Artie, Jeffrey, and their cousins Sean and Steven joined the new sport, keeping them off the street.

It might have been a new sport for kids playing in the street and on decks, but my brothers, Ken, Ted, sons, and I were die-hard New York Ranger fans. Unfortunately, most of the time the Rangers weren’t a good team.

Marc the Great (photo courtesy Wall Street Journal)

That changed in 1994. The Rangers made the playoffs and played the New Jersey Devils for the Eastern Conference Title. A victory would propel NYR into the Stanley Cup Championship game against the Vancouver Canucks. But the Islanders were more than up to the task, winning Games 4 and 5 to take a 3-2 series lead.

Game 6 would be played on the Islanders’ home ice, and that’s when Marc Messier stepped up (the day before the contest) to guarantee the Rangers would win. On game day, it didn’t look that way. The Isles went into the 3rd period holding a 2-1 lead. That’s when Messier took over, in what history tells us is one of the most iconic performances in NHL history. Messier scored a hat trick, the first two to put the Rangers in the lead, and the third goal (an empty-netter) to seal it.

Stephane Matteau’s historic goal in the second OT of Game 7 vs. the Islanders (photo, Rangers Blog via ESPN)

With the guarantee secured, the Rangers took the series to its final game, Game 7, at Madison Square Garden. If anything, that game was even more dramatic than Game 6. In a double-overtime thriller, Stephane Matteau’s goal won it for the Rangers, 2-1, and our team then played in the Stanley Cup Final. There they vanquished the Cannucka for the Rangers, their first since 1940.

But I can’t end this story without commenting on what happened during Game 7 of the Islanders series. Artie, Jeff, and I watched the game at my brother Ted’s house. All four of us were standing in front of the TV set, too nervous to sit on the couch.

But as soon as the Rangers scored, we all jumped on … and broke the couch.

It was another sporting event etched into the memories of fathers, sons, brothers, and sports fans. It will be remembered forever as proof of how sporting events bond us.