29 Years Ago Today. Favorite Memory From 1994 Cup Season

[NYRFANMANI]

I was 6 and hockey as distant as the moon:

But this

 

[TopShelfSnipes]

Even with Bobby Orr like knees Pavel scored 12 goals in his first 12 games for us. The usual know it alls did not want to trade for him but I will never regret it.

Yup, and it was the good old days pre salary cap. Amazing the deals that used to take place. The package the Rangers sent the other way was incredibly underwhelmingly. Thankfully back then we didn't have to sweat things like Igor Ulanov's cap hit when making such moves.

Bure was BY FAR my favorite non Ranger in those days, and even if his knees were shot I was still glad to have gotten him.

 

[NickyFotiu]

Yup, and it was the good old days pre salary cap. Amazing the deals that used to take place. The package the Rangers sent the other way was incredibly underwhelmingly. Thankfully back then we didn't have to sweat things like Igor Ulanov's cap hit when making such moves.

Bure was BY FAR my favorite non Ranger in those days, and even if his knees were shot I was still glad to have gotten him.

Even though his knees were shot he still was as explosive a player as we have ever had in my lifetime. Loved his breakaways. I still remember defending the trade of our 1st round pick. That turned out to be Eric Nystrom. Pavel had more goals in his 50 Ranger games than Nystrom had for his career.

 

[mti79]

The Matteau double OT goal was when everyone felt winning the Cup could actually be possible. That was a huge night. The f***ing ceiling blew off.

I was 14 years old, and we had plans to visit my grandparents in Toms River. We watched it until the goal and jumped right into the car because it was late. We turned on the radio and heard Howie's infamous call, like almost immediately after it happened - so I'll always remember the goal that way. That was maybe the best car ride down the shore ever. We were elated.

People forget the Rangers had a chance to close out the Cup at MSG in Game 5 and lost the next two. This franchise, even in their greatest season in history, had to make it interesting.

Nice... any idea what part of Toms River they lived in? I've pretty much been here my whole life.

But as for memories: I didn't realize how big of a deal it was when we were up 3-1 in the series and I barely paid attention to games 5 and 6 thinking it was a foregone conclusion. When it wasn't, I was fully invested in game 7. I was 14 and it was a school night. At some point, my Mom told me it was time for bed. I protested but she wasn't hearing it. Then my Dad interjected "No. He can stay up. I've never seen this in my lifetime and who knows when it will ever happen again." I watched the rest of the game with my Dad and it was awesome.

Side note: I really miss my parents.

 

[duhmetreE]

I was 6 and hockey as distant as the moon:

But this

man the excitement and intensity was just on another level.

 

[pld459666]

I honestly thought after Valeri Z tied it with less than 10 seconds to go that we were gonna lose that series.

I don't remember being so nervous about anything else in my life up to or since that game.

And that includes a recent medical issue.

 

[GENESISPuck94]

I'm pretty convinced we lost that game because I wasn't able to watch from my lucky chair. Sorry.

Bure was great to watch. I wanted him to be a Ranger for years. For me it was not about him being the best NHL player. He was the best to watch for pure enjoyment of the game. I remember Tony Amonte was looking like the rookie of the year and all of a sudden Sam Rosen mentions that we will get to see the Canucks impressive rookie Pavel Bure. I'm like who is Bure. I think he had 2 goals that game against us. After that game I was like wow. I was really let down when Florida traded for him instead of us.

He was one of the most exciting players to ever play. I wish his knees held up.

 

[bobbop]

For me it was the Matteau goal. My heart was in my mouth for the entire overtime. When Matteau scored, the guy sitting in front of me jumped up a hugged me and we ended up rolling down two rows. It was pure joy.

 

[Boris Zubov]

For me it was the Matteau goal. My heart was in my mouth for the entire overtime. When Matteau scored, the guy sitting in front of me jumped up a hugged me and we ended up rolling down two rows. It was pure joy.

I was at the game as well, half the arena was falling over seats with joy. Had to be close to midnight by that point & even though it was a Friday night, most of the fans had sobered up because beer sales ended about 3 hours before the game ended.

After the game a few friends & I wound up at the Auction House on the UES with Messier, Leetch, Paul Messier & Matteau!!! I bought Matteau a beer...he thanked me but he said he had too many others lined up on the bar already. I left at about 3:30am & the party wasn't close to winding down.

 

[HFsNumber1Heel]

Forever grateful but sick of talking about it. Tired of the part of this fanbase that gets mad at everything, posts how jealous they are of Vegas, and goes all memberberries for 94.

Tired of how disrespected Sergei Zubov for how much he did for this run.

 

[Daves a mess]

Mike Richer saved the Rangers in game 6 after going down 2 goals. The saves he made to keep it 2-0 were beyond clutch.

There was no Ranger push and then boom, Kovalev scores.

Messier did his storybook promise and I'll never forget Gary Thorne's " Do you believe it!? Do you believe it!?" line.

Game 7 took years off my life.

That series was my finals.

 

[HockeyBasedNYC]

Nice... any idea what part of Toms River they lived in? I've pretty much been here my whole life.

But as for memories: I didn't realize how big of a deal it was when we were up 3-1 in the series and I barely paid attention to games 5 and 6 thinking it was a foregone conclusion. When it wasn't, I was fully invested in game 7. I was 14 and it was a school night. At some point, my Mom told me it was time for bed. I protested but she wasn't hearing it. Then my Dad interjected "No. He can stay up. I've never seen this in my lifetime and who knows when it will ever happen again." I watched the rest of the game with my Dad and it was awesome.

Side note: I really miss my parents.

Holiday City.

Sorry about your parents.

 

[AK 27]

I was 19 years old at the time. I remember the minute after they won the Cup, my buddy and I jumped into my car and sped down the Henry Hudson Parkway / West Side Highway (from Riverdale) and got as close to MSG as we could. We were waving Rangers jerseys, towels, or whatever we had out of the windows. And the whole area was just flooded with NYR fans just screaming, beeping their horns, chanting, etc. It was awesome and I'll never forget it. And of course we went to the parade as well. The day of the parade was the same day OJ was in the white Bronco, hahaha!

 

[markymarc1215]

The 91-92 team was more fun to watch than any other Rangers team I've seen. They could win 2-1 or 8-6, & you never knew which one you were going to get on any given night. That comeback against Washington in December '91 was so epic.

Summed perfectly. That Washington game was as good as it gets. 91-92 was my favorite team to watch. We also had a lot of homegrown talent on that team which made it all the more enjoyable. The 94 team lost a lot of those homegrown fan favorites.

My favorite memory of 94, beyond the obvious choices and playoff items....March 5, 1994. Sergei Zubov on the PP scores on a dart from the point with 1 minute left to break that awful losing streak at Nassau Coliseum. They ended up winning 5-4. A few minutes before that, Jeff Beukeboom (of all people) tied the game at 4-4 with a beautiful goal.

From that point on, there was just a different feel about the upcoming playoffs.

 

[Shesterkybomb]

He was one of the most exciting players to ever play. I wish his knees held up.

There were better players around but he was the most exciting. For me todays comparable is Kaprizov, not sure why but I get the same kind of excitement that something could happen when he gets the puck

Mike Richer saved the Rangers in game 6 after going down 2 goals. The saves he made to keep it 2-0 were beyond clutch.

There was no Ranger push and then boom, Kovalev scores.

Messier did his storybook promise and I'll never forget Gary Thorne's " Do you believe it!? Do you believe it!?" line.

Game 7 took years off my life.

That series was my finals.

Agreed...he was unreal

 

[Brutananadilewski]

Rangers going to Times Square with the Cup, acting like it was the key to the city, and technically it was.

Finest yayo at the best strip club.

With little to no sleep due to the coke and champagne, they brought the Cup back to the Garden to motivate the Knicks, who then proceeded to choke it all away to Hakeem Olajuwon and the Rockets.

...but that coke....