Dark Memories

I must admit I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the Dead Wings choke just 30 seconds away from the Cup , I wish I could have stayed awake until the wee wee hours to see the dejected look on their fans faces when they had to exit the Joe Louis arena , realizing they either had to be in work in a few hours or wasted a vacation on a celebration that never materialized……at least for now…..I am certainly not a penguini with clam sauce fan, but I hate them less…..not sure if they can pull this one off……I kinda hope they loose the Cup in front of their fans and have to watch the wings celebrate on the igloo ice. ……..when my team is eliminated I tend to hope for maximized displeasure for everyone else.

I must say though it did bring back some ugly memories……….We had a Game 5 Nightmare of our own back in the glory run of 1994.

I remember leaving work at 44 Wall to catch my ride up to MSG that night, my boss graciously told me I could take off the following day after the Rangers won the cup, I left the office just after the market close at 4:00 . Craig Paz and Kevin Carney picked me up on the West side Highway at Rector Street after they came out of the Battery Tunnel , We had a Victory Playmate cooler in the back seat with cold Beer and Champagne on ice…..we even got a spot on the same block as Mustang Sally's , we hung at the car drinking beers ……the city was electric , but different , I couldn't really put my finger on it , but something was strange…..we walked up to 7th ave once it was ok to leave the car on the street without risking a ticket, and BAM…..Chaos………there had to be close to 5,000 police officers on 7th…a battalion of squad cars, scooters, motorcycles etc etc……and people ? All over the place, they came out of the woodwork, you could not get in any bars and every intersection was clogged……makeshift aluminum foil Stanley Cups were abundant……it was surreal ……we were buying loose beers from the deli on 7th and 30th and just soaking it all in. When we began to enter the plaza by Gerry Cosby's there were Police Horses and Barricades , you needed a ticket to go up the three steps to the old bowling alley entrance. There was a Classic band playing the Hits from 1940……effin bizarre we thought……who are these people and where did they come from.? We took some photos for historic purposes and headed into the arena.

Once inside there was a return to normalcy , same old knuckleheads in their same old seats….we bought some beers and went to the window overlooking the Post Office……..Holy Cow…..The Post Office was a staging area for the NYPD ……if we thought 7th ave was bad, there were legions of Police by the Post Office, Riot gear and Armored vehicles, Horses by the dozen , it was a little scary in a way……as if the city was bracing for an attack by a foreign army……kind of like the scene before game 7 of the devils 1992 ….the day of the Rodney King riots…..ahhh but I digress, that's a story for a different day…….

As we settled into our seats and awaited Mr. Ammoranti , I had the feeling there were quite a few frontrunners amongst us……people that had not been to a game in years, but could afford to scalp in and wanted to be a part of what they had missed all year…..unsettling to me……..but not enough to deter me from enjoying the clincher….lets get this thing started already….

The Anthem was nuts , could not hear a note , the lights came on , the puck was dropped, the crowd roars its approval for every hit , every pass, everything………WE WANT THE CUP…..WE WANT THE CUP….the place was rocking with that chant early on...I honestly do not recall the specifics , which is weird for me , but to my recollection we scored 10 minutes in…Tik I think, but it was ruled offside…..nobody heard the whistle, and while we were busy celebrating , there was a scrum on the ice and Buek was ejected…..the goal was disallowed and now we were down a defenseman…….BAD KARMA……..

Canucks scored first, and I had a sick feeling………..1-0 after two periods……..a lot of negative energy in the building , people more angry that they scalped in then they were about the game…….the 5-0 coronation victory parade "love in" was not gonna happen….if we were gonna win the cup tonight, we were gonna earn it…..the third period starts and the building is coming alive………….not for long…….2-0 canucks…………..enough already…….this is the closest we have been to the cup in 50 plus years…..LET's GOOOOOO…………….3-0 canucks……….i really don't remember the goals…..I do remember shooting daggers with my eyes and those sob's in their black jersies celebrating on my ice…….that sick sick feeling that had always been in the back of my mind was now at the forefront……holy manure……we will never win the cup…………..Ranger goal…..3-1……I don't even cheer….i'm sick………few minutes later Ranger goal 3-2…….holy mackerel….no way………..place is jumping……MESSIER GOAL…..tie game…….tie game……..all these years later I try to remember exactly what was happening in the arena , but it's fuzzy…….it was almost like an out of body experience……...It was a euphoric feeling in the building……it was the greatest comeback in history….down 3-0 in the third period……rallying back to win the Cup after 54 years and I am here……..people were jumping up and down and hugging each other…..beer was spilled all over the blues…..triumph and relief……on a hot June night……nerve racked and sweating….it was kind of like the moments after Matteau Matteau………one small problem…….Matteau's goal ended the series….tonight we were tied……..and therein lies the problem……..now it really comes into focus……canucks almost immediately gain control of the puck , there is a dump in to the seventh avenue goal to Richters right…our side of the garden ….and I can see the puck coming off the boards ….Momesso ? Fires it at Richter tough angle…..save…..but the rebound is banged home in a second………all the momentum comes crashin down……the chest pains…..that dull headache….it's all back……….then it's 5-3……and then 6-3……..i don't recall the walk out of the building….the next thing I clearly remember is sitting on the hood of the car outside of Famous Rays pizza on west 4th street with Kevin and craig ……eating a slice and then reaching into the cooler for a cold Bud…..and Having to move the champagne bottles out of the way……..we sat there for an hour or so, listening to sports talk radio and the maniacs that were calling in from the ledge….insisting we would never win the cup…….it was a hot june night, we were angry and drunk……the last thing we wanted to do was to go back to bayridge……………as Frampton would have asked of Detroit……"do you feel like I do? " I hope they do.