Stop laughing. You remember the "NINE-teen-FOR-ty!" chant that used to be used before June 14, 1994? Well, this is what it was about.
The Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in 6 games, taking Game 6 and the Cup 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens, on a goal by Bryan Hextall, 2 minutes and 7 seconds into overtime.
Hail the Champions:
General Manager Lester Patrick (Hall of Fame)
Head Coach Frank Boucher (HOF, Captain of the Rangers' 1928 & '33 Cup-winers)
1 Dave Kerr, goaltender
2 Art Coulter, defenseman and Captain (HOF)
3 Erhardt "Ott" Heller, defenseman
4 Alex Shibicky, left wing
5 Mac Colville, right wing
6 Neil Colville, center (HOF, also played as a defenseman, Mac's brother)
7 Phil Watson, center
8 Walter "Babe" Pratt, defenseman (HOF)
9 Lynn Patrick, left wing (HOF, Lester's son)
10 Clint Smith, center (The last survivor of this team, living until 2009)
12 Bryan Hextall, right wing (HOF)
14 Kilby MacDonald, left wing
15 Murray "Muzz" Patrick, defenseman (Lester's other son)
16 Alf Pike, center
17 Stan Smith, center
In the photo above, Kerr is flanked by Patrick and Boucher.
In those days, the Rangers were, with some justification, known as "the Classiest Team in Hockey." And their fans were hailed as classy, and knowledgeable. And no one said that the Rangers sucked. Or stunk.
That was a long time ago. Sometimes, it seems like a galaxy far, far away.
During the following season, the mortgage on the 1925 version of Madison Square Garden was paid off. The management of the Madison Square Garden Corporation celebrated by symbolically burning the mortgage papers in the bowl of the Cup. This led some hockey fans to believe that the Cup, which is regarded almost as a sacred object, had been "desecrated," leading the "hockey gods" to place a curse on the Rangers.
The result was "The Curse of 1940." The Rangers not only did not win the Cup again for 54 years, but had some bizarre events happen to them along the way. They have since won just 1 Stanley Cup in 82 years, while the nearby New York Islanders, who didn't begin play until 1972, won 4 straight, although none since 1983; and the even-closer, but across a State Line, New Jersey Devils, who arrived in 1982, won 3 Cups in a span of 9 years, although none since 2003.
When they won on June 14, 1994, Ranger broadcaster Sam Rosen said, "This one will last a lifetime!" He was right: For any Ranger fan born on April 14, 1940 or later, that one has lasted a lifetime.
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April 13, 1940 was a Saturday. This was the only NHL game played that day. The NBA hadn't yet been founded. The NFL was out of season. And the baseball season didn't start for 3 more days.
England's Football Association had suspended Football League play for the duration of World War II. But it set up separate wartime leagues for the North and South regions of England, preventing teams from traveling too far, in order to save fuel for the war effort. In one of these games, Arsenal, the North London team I support, hosted Portsmouth of Hampshire at the Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its neighborhood, and won, 3-2.
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