Tribute Why I’m a Rangers Fan

[EdJovanovski]

Posted this on the main board in a thread asking why people are fans of their team, I always find it quite interesting hearing people’s back story especially when they root for a team other than their hometown one. Thought you guys might be interested

I’m from Vancouver, so becoming a fan of the New York Rangers is a little odd. Growing up in a huge hockey market I had been watching and playing hockey ever since I could remember, the first draft I followed was in 2002 when Rick Nash was selected first overall. He became my favorite player so I rooted for the Jackets, they were the underdog expansion team and Nash carried them alone. My mom contacted the Jackets organization as well as Nash, and was able to get them to send a bunch of signed merchandise despite the fact we lived in a whole nother country. I went to a Jackets vs Canucks game and during warmups Nash spotted me and skated over to the bench and in the area where players go to enter the tunnel he talked to me and signed my jersey.

In 2011 my mom & I went on a trip to New York and I fell in love with the city, there was a near magical charm to the place; something in the air. It was during a huge winter storm, I believe JFK was actually closed down like a few days before we arrived because of all the snow. Walking down 5th Ave with all the snow was just the most beautiful sight, and coincidentally my hometown Canucks were in town to play the Rangers during this trip. We bought tickets last minute and went to the game, it was a 1-0 shutout for Henrik Lundqvist. I was still a Jackets fan at the time but there was this aura about MSG that this was a special place. Seeing all the history. Gave me feelings I‘d never experienced at GM Place/Rogers Arena.

I had a pretty rough upbringing; my father passed away when I was 1 year old, one of my best friends got murdered when she was 15; hockey was always an escape for me. Both playing and watching it made me feel as if all of my problems in real life didn’t exist, so I liked cheering for a team from a different place and imagining I didn’t grow up in some of the circumstances I did. I’ve always had a strong affinity for New York and then in 2012 Rick Nash was coincidentally traded to the Rangers, which was too perfect, I instantly switched my allegiance from the Jackets to the Rangers.

Though Nash did eventually get traded to the Bruins for a short-lived tenure, I couldn’t bring myself to cheer for any team but the Rangers. The runs from 2012-2016 were such emotional rollercoasters and made me form an attachment to the Rangers that I’ve never felt for anything else. When Marty St. Louis’s mother passed away and all the Rangers went to her funeral together to support him, us coming back from those 3-1 series deficits, him scoring that goal on Mother’s Day, and the overtime winner against his hometown team.

The next year with Zuccarello’s terrifying head injury and how this team just continuously rallied around each other's hardships. How so much of this team had all the odds stacked against them, Lundqvist going from barely getting drafted in the 7th round to having a hall of fame career, Zucc going undrafted and being the little engine that could. There’s something special about this team. It also doesn’t hurt that whenever my Canuck fan family & I banter back and forth I can always rub ‘94 in their face despite the fact I wasn’t yet born at the time

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[SML2]

Great story man. Sorry for your losses.
I started watching Hockey in the playoff run of I think 1985. I was 13. My Dad owned a restaurant/bar and he and my mom were there all the time so my life pretty much consisted of bussing tables and washing dishes until my mom took us home at around 10 or so. I had alot of time on my hands if it wasn't busy, which unfortunately was quite a bit.
ESPN had this intro that showed Grant Fuhr making this old school kick/stick save, I mean you just never see the goalie do these today but they happened routinely back then. I thought that was the coolest thing I ever saw. I was hooked. I wanted to be a Goalie.
Anyway that was the year Beezer took us on a run and knocked out the Caps and the Flyers as heavy underdogs. Because I wanted to be a goalie, I loved little #34, and being in upstate NY, that was the game they showed each night. Somehow I got my parents to add MSG shortly after, this was so long ago they showed some games for free on WPIX. But I never looked back.
Me and my brother who is 4 years younger, always had hockey as a common bond. Like I said, my parents were really busy with their business, which wasn't doing well, and like so many business owners they think trying harder will somehow make a bad business better. It didn't. We took to trying to play because we were home alone alot. We set up a bedspring across the back wall of the basement for a net and had either tennis balls or floor hockey pucks but we spent hours down there. By then I had given up goalie and he picked it up, with much better success. I mean 3-4 hours a night until I went off to college. It kept us out of trouble. We would reenact the goals we watched our heroes score the night before. There was this one goal on New Years eve against the NYI in 87 or 88 where Tomas Sandstrom standing to the right of the Islander net, put a top shelf backhand over the shoulder far side to win the game. We must have tried that one thousands of times.
Hockey came to me like a guardian angel. It came to me in a time where I was kind of floundering, without a lot of friends or supervision, in the time in your life where you are the most unsure of yourself and doubt yourself the most, and gave me beacons to follow. Role models. Taught me certain things that I needed. Show up. Work hard, Be accountable. If someone challenges you, you show up, win or lose, you don't turtle and you don't run and hide. It was my first love and it still is. Much like the sound of a song or the smell of something your mom used to make when you were a kid, it's a time machine. No matter what in real life is not what you would wish for, there are always times when following the Rangers turns me back into that 13 year old kid, when the world was simpler, and all you had on your mind was the game. My heroes from those days have long since retired, some have even been laid to rest, but in my my mind they are, and will always remain young and in the prime of their lives, just like I am whenever I turn the game on, and will be until I join them.
LGR. Forever.

 

[LaffyTaffy]

Thank you very much for sharing

 

[LokiDog]

I was born in Queens in ‘86. My dad was a hockey fan who had played a bit growing up. The Rangers won the Cup in ‘94. I was 8 and had been playing for a couple of years and all I did was pretend I was Kovalev or Leetch. That was it. I will admit, Peter Forsberg is my all time favorite and when the Nords moved to Colorado and won a Cup, af the fickle age of 10 I was so enamored with the Avs that I spent 96-2002ish being obsessed with Colorado. Still have a soft spot for them, but as soon as I was old enough to go to games on my own and Forsberg went to Philly and Nashville, the spell was broken and I returned to my roots and haven’t strayed since. By ‘05 when Hank and Prucha broke in I was already a die hard again, at MSG weekly. And now I live in Dallas.

 

[bernmeister]

Your tale is heartwarming.

I am Geezer in residence w/few who can challenge that.
But it's not the quantity of years, it's the quality [not unlike aspirations for most of our trades!].

I go back to just before expansion.
Good memories.

I am the kind of guy who lights the candle AND curses the darkness.
Never forgave/and never will Cat Francis dealing away Park and Ratelle to make a statement b'c he could.

Still not pls they didn't do the Nieves experiment when it cost nothing to try.

But for the most part, good memories about the team we love.

Met Rod Gilbert, had coffee + bagel w/him coupla times.

Said, "didn't you use to be Rod Gilbert, who played for the Rangers?".
He said, "no".
I apologized, and said, "sorry to have bothered you, you are a dead ringer for him,".
He corrected me and said: "No, I didn't used to be that guy, I am that guy!".

Class act who is very generous with his time.

Anyhoo, these things go in cycles. Look at the Knicks. What luck did they not just have w/8OA or whatever selection the other nite?

The new catch phrase for the immediate future, is

"our star is in ascendancy".​

Enjoy.

 

[aufheben]

Because I love hockey and I love New York City.

Ain’t f***in rocket appliances.

 

[LiveLongandProspal]

I was born and raised in Manhattan...wish it was a more magical story, but yeah, there it is

 

[EdJovanovski]

It’s a lot of fun being a fan of a team most of your friends & family hate too, every year when the Rangers come to town is like Christmas morning for me. There’s this certain sense of camaraderie you have with the other Rangers fans you meet in enemy territory. I’ve had Rangers fans come up to me and talk to me for the entire intermission until we miss part of the period lol, me and other Rangers fans start chants together, etc. Here’s the Birthday card I made for my uncle today lol

 

[bobbop]

I go back Even further.

My first Ranger memory came on November 1, 1959. I was listening on my little radio when Andy Bathgate lifted a backhand shot into Jacques Plante’s face and I listened with my father when Plante came back as the first goaltender ever to wear a mask.

My father was a great Ranger fan. He grew up in Flatbush and played hockey at Boys High (no kidding, they had a team in the late 1930s and 1940s) and was also a short track speed skater. He skated in the Silver Skates at the old Garden.

Through the 1960s I watched every Saturday night game on WOR and listened to my favorite broadcaster Jim Gordon. In 1971 I got completely wasted at a Frat party but I wouldn’t leave the radio until Pete Stemkowski scored in triple overtime.

Through the succeeding years while I moved around the country, I followed the Rangers every way possible including newspapers, radio, trips to different cities and ultimately cable TV. I worked in minor league hockey for four years and ultimately ended up In corporate marketing where I had business relationships with almost every US based NHL team.

In 1990, I accepted an assignment in Bucks County, PA and for the first time in my adult years I lived close enough to MSG and I had the financial means to buy season tickets. When I moved away, I still owned my tickets and came back for major events, playoffs and games whenever I could arrange my travel accordingly.

NHL Center Ice and NHL.com TV have made it much easier to follow my team. Living in AZ is great because I get the Rangers at 4 or 5 most nights and can then watch a west coast game.

And even though my Dad has been gone for many years, he is still watching over the Rangers. You may have seen my lottery photos from the last two years where I was wearing his cross and medal for good luck.

 

[Thirty One]

My first Ranger memory came on November 1, 1959.

 

[Synergy27]

Awesome story.

I’m from the Jersey shore. I’m supposed to be a Devils fan. Anyone here who has ever been to a game at the Brendan Byrne Arena will know why I became and still am a Ranger fan. The fan experience for a teen in the early 90s was not even comparable, and I imagine that remains true to this day.

Also, Alex Kovalev.

 

[GunkWinger]

I became a Ranger fan my last year of college(School of Visual Arts). It was the only year I lived there (23rd St) and I was a bit of a loner and had few friends at the school. At night I was bored but I liked to stay up. Plus I'd stay in as it was a bit scary at that time. The first week of school there was a fire on my floor(that I tried to help put out) and a week later the Trade towers fell. MSG would replay the games late at night (like they do now). So out of boredom I started watching hockey. Little by little they hooked me in. Its a bit odd for me to be into hockey because I was born in Uruguay. There is no hockey there (at least there wasn't then). Uruguay is known for being soccer crazy. So picking up hockey as a sport to watch often gets family and fellow Uruguayans to poke fun at me. Hell, I can barely skate. Well soon I was a die hard even though I knew the team hadn't made the playoffs in a while. That first year I got to watch Mike York, Richter, Lindros, Bure, Fleury,etc. And then came Jagr, Nylander,Straka, and my favorite Ranger for a while, Prucha. I'm a huge Zuccarello fan and he's still a Ranger to me. Although now I have to pick a new favorite Ranger. I was hoping it would be Kravtsov. Kakko might be alright. Maybe Lafreniere....

 

[egelband]

I became a Ranger fan my last year of college(School of Visual Arts). It was the only year I lived there (23rd St) and I was a bit of a loner and had few friends at the school. At night I was bored but I liked to stay up. Plus I'd stay in as it was a bit scary at that time. The first week of school there was a fire on my floor(that I tried to help put out) and a week later the Trade towers fell. MSG would replay the games late at night (like they do now). So out of boredom I started watching hockey. Little by little they hooked me in. Its a bit odd for me to be into hockey because I was born in Uruguay. There is no hockey there (at least there wasn't then). Uruguay is known for being soccer crazy. So picking up hockey as a sport to watch often gets family and fellow Uruguayans to poke fun at me. Hell, I can barely skate. Well soon I was a die hard even though I knew the team hadn't made the playoffs in a while. That first year I got to watch Mike York, Richter, Lindros, Bure, Fleury,etc. And then came Jagr, Nylander,Straka, and my favorite Ranger for a while, Prucha. I'm a huge Zuccarello fan and he's still a Ranger to me. Although now I have to pick a new favorite Ranger. I was hoping it would be Kravtsov. Kakko might be alright. Maybe Lafreniere....

I've always thought soccer and hockey resembled each other a bit in structure.

 

[Barnaby]

Good read, thx for sharing JoVo.

 

[FIRE DRURY]

Born: Queens, Astoria 1980.

Hockey doesn’t exist in Astoria lol.

Moved around a bit and ended up in Norwalk CT. Also, not much of a hockey friendly city..

Late 80’s. Move to Bethpage in Long Island. Booooooom. Roller/Street hockey. Couldn’t skate but was the best goal scorer in my group. Oddly enough, as a Righty using my buddies Left Stick.

We played with a set of twins. One of them left early one day and I volunteered to play his position, and with his equipment.

Goalie.

My nickname eventually became Nichter - because my name is Nick and my idol was Richter.

I loved the goaltending position so much I played it in Soccer and Lacrosse. Rest is history.

 

[Nickmo82]

As a non-North American, my "story" will suck compared to others:

Video games.

Rangers had great teams in the SNES/Genesis days, so I usually picked them.

 

[NASTY]

My story isn't all that magical lol, but I'm currently 20 years old and I fell in the love with the game at a very young age and I wanted to pick a favorite team, keep in mind I live in New Jersey and my entire family Mom, sister, aunts, cousins etc were all Devils fans besides my dad, the Rangers were constantly always on TV from my dad watching them and I loved New York City. I loved Henrik Lundqvist since I was a goalie growing up and the rest of my playing days and also loved Sean Avery, so I figured it was the perfect team for me considering they played in my favorite city, had some of my favorite players, my dad was a fan, and my favorite color was blue so that helped lol, after that I started following the team more and more closer and started to watch every game of the season, or at least as many as I could and the rest is history.

 

[BroadwayStorm]

I first started getting into sports in 1993. Basketball, Football, Soccer, Baseball and then Hockey all at the same time throughout that year. I knew who Wayne Gretzky was because I watched the cartoon he was on with Bo Jackson and Michael Jordan. So I think the first hockey team I became aware of was the LA Kings, because that is the team he was on during the cartoon. Either way one day as I was watching a Knicks game [and I got into them because I saw a Patrick Ewing commercial and up till then I had only ever heard of Magic Johnson who got HIV and Michael Jordan, and I was like holy shit NY has a basketball team?!] ]there was this commercial where fans said "lets go Rangers." And then I was like Holy shit NY has a hockey team? WTF! And they are red and blue my favorite colors. And I was a Manhattan kid and for the first time ever, I discovered the Knicks and Rangers actually played in Manhattan. Instant fan for life. Later that season in the following year they won the Stanley Cup. I thought it was something much easier to achieve after that.
I will never forget a game against the penguins in that season, around Dec or Jan where a Ranger scored a hat trick and I just thought throwing hats into the rink was so awesome. I believe it was Mike Gartner who scored it but I am not sure. It was also the first game where I noticed they gave out stars of the game. Quite frankly it was probably the first full ranger game I watched from start to finish. Back then I only cared about comics, video games and action figures. I was 11 years old. Speaking of comics, I also remember that game because right before the game, my mom took me to the comic book store on 33rd that doesnt exist anymore, the one that was where Stout is now or next to it [if anyone remembers the name of this store please remind me, they also sold sports memorabilia], and I saw a ton of Ranger fans with Jerseys. And then I went to the McDonalds on 7th bw 34th and 33rd and there was a dad and son duo with Messier blue Jerseys. And I could tell they were going to the game. And I really wanted to go to the game. But my mom would never take me. So that is why I watched the whole thing. I longed to be there. It was kind of sad but happy at the same time.
I'm 38 now.

 

[Matt Rentfree]

I’ll play.

Grew up in Bensonhurst.

Mostly played piano and guitar as a kid - wanted to be a drummer but good luck with that when you live in an apartment building - that’s an instrument for a kid in the suburbs whose family has a garage (soundproofing and a high level of tolerance don't hurt either).

Sucked at basketball and didn’t give a crap about the Knicks or Nets.

Meh at baseball (and stickball by relation) and football.

Got a hockey stick in my hands and something clicked - for whatever reason I was pretty good at hockey when I was mediocre to bad at all other sports. Since my birthday is 4 days before xmas, I begged my dad for hockey skates as a combo b-day/xmas gift. Learned to skate and ended up playing through high school and college (not NCAA - I wasn’t THAT good).

At about the same time, my friends who were all “SPORTS!!!!” were really excited that this guy Phil Esposito got traded to the Rangers so I started watching and was instantly hooked - I guess part of it was that because I was actually good at hockey it was easier to fantasize about being one of them as an 8 year old kid, while it was much harder to fantasize about being Ron Guidry or Graig Nettles or Ken Stabler or Dave Casper because I was so bleh at baseball and football.

I also liked that the pros in hockey back then were just “normal dudes” - not ***hole jocks (football), not rednecks (baseball), just normal guys who happened to play a professional sport - they were easier to identify with - at least for me, a definitely non-jock who just happened to be good with a hockey stick.

At any rate, I started watching when I was 8 and this supposed hockey god that my friends were raving about that got me to watch in the first place - Phil Esposito, wasn’t the guy that grabbed me. I was crazy for Walt Tkaczuk and this young defenseman named Ron Greschner.

First couple of seasons were a little rough and then my fourth year of being a fan we got these two dynamic Swedes who were so fun to watch and we made it to the finals against Montreal. That was the death knoll of me ever being a casual fan.

 

[SnowFort]

I’m from Sweden, so I didn’t have an affinity to a certain team at first. My hometown team was (and is) HV71, and my favorite player when I was younger was Stefan Liv, a goalie. So I wanted to broaden my views to the NHL (the best hockey league in the world) four years ago, at age 17. Which team had the best Swedish goalie? Yeah.

So I joined just in time for the start of the 16-17 season. Which is to say I joined the last playoff run before the rebuild began. At first I was primarily a fan of Henrik Lundqvist, but I soon embraced the team as a whole. I also feel like the rebuilt team will be *my* team, as it has been a work in progress since I became a fan and I just barely missed the previous runs.

 

[MysticLeviathan]

My story is a bit simpler. I’m 29 but my dad is older at 69, born in 1951. He grew up on Long Island, and when he was growing up, the Islanders didn’t exist. Same thing for the Jets, and he was too young to care about the baseball Giants or the Dodgers as they had already left New York by the time he became a fan of baseball and the Mets hadn’t become a franchise yet, so he was a Yankees fan. Coincidentally, he played little league with Whitey Ford’s son so it all worked out. He was born in an awkward time in that regard. So I happen to be a fan of all of the older franchises through him. While the Yankees and Giants have had success ovee the years, the Rangers really haven’t. It’s funny though that in ‘94 during the Rangers’ Cup run, he was in France as a Bar Mtizvah gift for my older brother so iirc he had to go to a bar to watch the gane. Or maybe he missed it entirely I can’t remember exacrly what happened beyond he was in France with my sibling. He’s still a fan of the aforementioned teams and so am I.

 

[Ratelleitlikeitis]

It was late Original Six era in Windsor Ontario. I was about seven and after school a bunch of us would walk to the local corner store to buy hockey cards...a dime a pack if I recall. The gum cut your cheeks. Anyway, my three closest buds were Leafs, Habs, and Bruins fans. No Wings fans, go figure as the Olympia was just across the river. So, I wanted to cheer for my own team...Black Hawks or Rangers which to choose? I thought the Rangers name sounded cooler. Bonus trivia question...I think my first Ranger hockey card was either The Chief or The Professor. Can you name them?

 

[Mac n Gs]

I became a Rangers fan when they wrapped me in NYR colors at the hospital after being born

 

[bernmeister]

It was late Original Six era in Windsor Ontario. I was about seven and after school a bunch of us would walk to the local corner store to buy hockey cards...a dime a pack if I recall. The gum cut your cheeks. Anyway, my three closest buds were Leafs, Habs, and Bruins fans. No Wings fans, go figure as the Olympia was just across the river. So, I wanted to cheer for my own team...Black Hawks or Rangers which to choose? I thought the Rangers name sounded cooler. Bonus trivia question...I think my first Ranger hockey card was either The Chief or The Professor. Can you name them?

(The) Chief was [I believe now the late also great] D Jim Nielsen.

Prof I have to have mo coffee and see if it comes to me.

When I think of "The Professor", first name comes to mind is WNEW FM Scott Muni, legendary rock DJ.
Tho my fave there was Allison Steele, "the Nightbird" --- what a hot sexy voice!

 

[bernmeister]

I became a Rangers fan when they wrapped me in NYR colors at the hospital after being born

Jack
"was born in a cross fire, hurricane...."

Yeah, I think you got him beat.