New York Needs This Cup

New York needs this one.

Even more than LA, we need this championship.

Sure we had a couple of Giants wins, which we had to share with New Jersey and the Yankees won in 2009, but that had to be shared with A-Rod. The Ranger win would be something even more special, especially right now, when everything is in the toilet.

The Yankees are filled with injury, while the Mets are on the path to another .500 season. The Jets and Giants missed the playoffs last year and the Knicks went back to being the Knicks.

Only the Brooklyn Nets gave us something to cheer about and that was until Miami turned up the Heat a month ago.

No, for our New York sanity, we need the Rangers.

Sure, sure Los Angeles can argue that they need this too. Especially with no NFL, one basketball team with a racist owner and another, in such bad shape, Phil Jackson turned down a job there to run the Knicks.

And besides, the Dodgers and Angels are better than the Mets and Yankees.

No, this is our time.

Back 20 years ago, when Mark Messier hoisted the Stanley Cup, New York was suffering from a similar malaise. The Mets were in the toilet and the Yankees were just coming into their own.

The Jets were terrible and the Giants were suffering from a similar post championship drought.

The only difference was the Knicks, who were on their own run, but ultimately fell short.

Nevertheless, the Rangers held up their end of bargain and it ushered in an era of good feeling for the Blueshirts.

The Rangers made New York feel they won it for us. The Cup was all around the city with appearances on David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. It was Mayor Giuliani’s first year as mayor and this win helped usher in the New York renaissance of the 1990s.

Hockey was never more popular that that spring of 1994 and the NHL received its first national TV contract in 20 years.

And now we need it again.

Unlike the 1994, this is more of a hard working Blueshirt team, built through the draft and led not by one captain but three alternate captains.

As a unit they win.

No many outside New York are giving the Rangers too much of a shot. The big, bad Kinds will just be too much for the Rangers.

Even coach Alain Vigneault said so yesterday.

“I know L.A. has been there before, I know they’ve won before, I know they’ve gone three Game 7s and they’ve won [them all],” Vigneault said. “I know they beat the defending Stanley Cup champions — I get that. But we’re going to try real hard, I can promise you that.”

But they are not going to just give the Cup to LA. They will play the games. And much like they did to the Penguins and Canadiens, the Rangers might just surprise the experts

And in the end, that’s what will make it even sweeter tasting.

About the Author

Joe McDonald

Editor-in-Chief
Joe McDonald is the founder and former publisher of NY Sports Day. After selling to i15Media in 2020, he serves as the Editor-in-Chief and responsible for the editorial side of the publication. In the past, Joe was the managing editor of NY Sportscene magazine and assistant editor of Mets Inside Pitch. He has covered the Mets since 2004.

Get connected with us on Social Media