Results tagged “markmessier”

     

The Rangers retired Adam Graves’ number nine last night for not just his accomplishments on the ice, but for his myriad of contributions off of it. It was during that magical season of 1993-94 when Graves had his finest season as a Ranger, scoring 52 goals as New York eliminated 54 years of frustration. Graves never reached those heights again, but he played ten seasons in New York and scored almost 300 goals.

Beloved former Ranger Brian Leetch only made one mistake, mentioning Jim Dolan in his speech and the Rangers only made one mistake, letting Marian Hossa get free to score a goal. Hossa’s goal early in the second period put Atlanta in front and threatened to ruin Brian Leetch Night, but the Rangers recovered.

Mark Messier will forever be remembered for delivering the Stanley Cup to the Rangers in 1994, his famous guarantee before Game Six of the Eastern Conference Finals that year and a tendency to cry in public. The captain had his number retired by both Edmonton and New York and is the only player ever to captain two teams to a Stanley Cup victory and he was second all-time in points scored in NHL history. Scott...

- If you like winter sports, do we have some good news for you! Not only is it bone chillingly cold out, but this weekend is the 2nd annual Winter Jam in Central Park. They are making snow for Saturday's event (from noon until 4). Activities include cross country skiing, snowshoeing, ice sculpting, an amateur rail jam, and free hot chocolate. Snowmaking began on Monday and continues through today. When done, there will be 2 feet of snow for Saturday.

The building was rocking to the chants of “MVP” and Rangers’ fans were being treated to a dominant performance from a player for the first time since Mark Messier left for Vancouver. It was a night when Jaromir Jagr looked unstoppable and the idea that the Rangers would lose seemed impossible.

Even two years later it is hard to handle. Brian Leetch is no longer a Ranger and last night he returned to the Garden for the first time wearing an opponents’ sweater and sporting an extra 2 on his back. Unlike Mark Messier and Adam Graves, Leetch’s return was not successful as the Rangers won the contest 5-2.

It was a night to pay tribute to one of the greatest hockey players to ever lace up skates, so it was fitting that another one of the all-time greats provided the winning goal. Long after the cheers for Mark Messier had died down, Jaromir Jagr scored just 14 seconds into overtime to give the Rangers a 5-4 victory over Edmonton.

We always thought Mark Messier was a mensch, but seeing footage from his press conference last night - the prelude to tonight's game where his number will be retired and his jersey will float to the rafters of Madison Square Garden - was a little disconcerting. He turned into a blubbering, well, mess. Gothamist has nothing against men showing they are vulnerable, but when we think of Messier, we think about his Cro-Magnon skull and his Game 6 promise during the playoffs with the NJ Devils. At least he had a hankie.

There have been few athletes in the history of New York who captured the imagination and adoration of the city the way Mark Messier did. When he uttered his famous “We’ll Win Tonight” guarantee before Game Six of the Devils series and then backed it up with a hat-trick, he became one of the true legends of Gotham, up there with Namath, Reed and Jackson. Messier announced his retirement on Monday ending a twenty-five year career in professional hockey.

- Some of L.A. gets a blackout; so far, it doesn't seem to be Al Qaeda but rather some "overzealous cable cutting"... however, it's unlikely that blackout babies will be conceived, since power should be going up soon

Gothamist Sports on Tampa Bay winning the Stanley Cup this year.

The Post reports that the New York City Marketing Development Corporation is recruiting different celebrities and NYC notables to explain why they love the city in order to develop ways to drum up tourism. A recent poll that the NYC MDC conducted says that "crime is still the No. 1 reason why tourists stay away," prompting the MDC to go to people like Russell Simmons (Phat), Sofia Coppola, Mark Messier, Dick Wolf, and Ric Burns (documentarian), as well as George Steinbrenner (Yankees), Danny Goldberg, David Stern (NBA), Nick Jones (SoHo House), Deputy Mayor Patti Harris and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and draw out what they love about NYC. The interviews are expected to be a part of a global advertising campaign that may include TV, outdoor, and tie-in books. Burns told the Post, "New York City is about as big a brand as you're going to get. The richness, the denseness of New York's intellectual, spiritual capital is so strong. New York's greatness is not that it is better, but that everyone comes here. Everyone is us." Gothamist agrees that NYC is great, but we hope that the voices of regular New Yorkers are captured, because a lot of NYers we know have great suggestions on what tourists should really see in NY. Then again, some may want to keep those at least semi-secret. But the least the NYC MDC can do is tell tourists to visit the other boroughs, the Noguchi Museum or Arthur Avenue in the Bronx.

It's sad to see Messier end his 25 year career on a team that is such a mess (cough, cough, pun intended), because Messier deserves better. Alas, Gothamist has no thoughts on how to fix the Rangers. They just spend, spend, spend, but they haven't made the playoffs in 7 years. Maybe it's that whole Cablevision ownership thing.