Your Favorite Non Finals/Cup Rangers Team of All Time?

[Keirik]

6 hours ago, rmc51 said:

It was winning Games 1 and 2 then losing Game 3 how they did where 99% of the losing bitterness came from. I would have had almost zero bitterness if the Lightning just blew them out and swept them instead.

 

6 hours ago, Ozzy said:

 

You called it, big man.  I remember when we blew that game 3, you turned to me and said THAT was the turning point right there.

 

Dead on, dude!

Yup. Cant give a champion any daylight. 

[Keirik]

5 hours ago, Blue Heaven said:

Turning point was actually the last 10 minutes of Game 2.....John Cooper made an adjustment, Fans chanting "Shesty's Better" as Nick Paul scored with 2:00 left and never looked back.  

Cant say I agree with that. We were ahead 2-0 in the 2nd and went into the 3rd of game 3 with a lead. Really had nothing to do with what fans were chanting at MSG the game before. We blew the lead then blew the game with under a minute left in the 3rd. 
 

[leetchy2]

My vote is for the 1985-86 team that totally upset the heavily favored Flyers and Capitals in the playoffs before falling to the Habs. The team had lots of youth that played with energy (Ridley, Miller, Brooke, Pavelich, Sandstrom, Erixon, Samuelsson, Patrick, Bieser in net, etc), but also had several seasoned vets (Greschner, Larouche, Maloney).

 

And if the puck didn't bounce over Willie Hubers stick at the point to lose in OT in game 4 to the Habs who knows what would have happened. The following year Espo would make one of the worst trades in Rangers history by trading Ridley & Miller to the Caps for Caroenter.

[Keirik]

2 hours ago, leetchy2 said:

My vote is for the 1985-86 team that totally upset the heavily favored Flyers and Capitals in the playoffs before falling to the Habs. The team had lots of youth that played with energy (Ridley, Miller, Brooke, Pavelich, Sandstrom, Erixon, Samuelsson, Patrick, Bieser in net, etc), but also had several seasoned vets (Greschner, Larouche, Maloney).

 

And if the puck didn't bounce over Willie Hubers stick at the point to lose in OT in game 4 to the Habs who knows what would have happened. The following year Espo would make one of the worst trades in Rangers history by trading Ridley & Miller to the Caps for Caroenter.

I have to say, that team is what turned a 10 year old like me into this franchise. I grew up in an Islander household. Family had season tickets from 74 or so on. I had been to a ton of Islander games and for those that knew hockey back in the 80s or so, it was a very easily accessed sport to get close to the athletes themselves. I have a good amount of pics of me with Trottiers rings on my fingers as a kid, a few Bossy Titan wood sticks that I used on the street (doh!), and used to regularly meet most of the players.

    However, my father worked on Wall Street pretty high up in his company. For those that know in those days, every big firm had season tickets for clients in town for the Knicks, Rangers, Yankees, Mets, and Giants usually. I hated basketball. Grew up a Yankees fan with my family, and was at the 85 Super Bowl so ended up a Bears fan. The long lasting impression though was my father every once in a while using his company tickets at MSG for the Rangers. He had grown up a Ranger fan before the Islanders came around so he always had a soft spot. That feeling of my mom calling my elementary school to say “there’s a family emergency so we need Keith to leave school now” was amazing to me because I knew that meant my dad was using our tickets in section 104, row C, seats 3-4 for us so my mom would put me on the LIRR from Ronkonkoma to Penn where my dad would meet me. 
 

   Those teams in the mid to late 80s were just so special to me because as a kid on my own going to Pennie’s Station made me feel so amazingly special. Whether it was seeing Vanbiesbrouck in goal (John Vanbiesbrouck knows the value of protection. He drives a Volvo), to Hanson, or later Froese, those were my early memories of falling in love with MSG and this franchise. 
 

85-86 was a special run. Always will remember them. 

[phillyb]

11-12 for me. I had moved back to the east coast, found an apartment in some shit town in PA, found a local bar (think this is where wing sauce originated from) that aired MSG - very sentimental. 

[Sod16]

15 hours ago, Keirik said:

I85-86 was a special run. Always will remember them. 

 

Ditto.  I moved back to NY after being away from 1978 to 1985, so that run was special for me.  A bunch guys like Willie Huber and Jim Wiemer, who were regular season duds, suddenly excelled in the playoffs.  Then there was Lucky Pierre going on a tear after his call up from the minors.  I took friend to Game 4 in the Cap series, where they came back from 5-3 down in the third to win in OT.  The crowd just about tore the Garden up.  My friend was so taken in by it that he went and became a season ticket holder.

 

There was the weird sad note of Mark Pavelich that year.  In February, he scored a tying goal in the last minute in Quebec, and was gone the next day, to play his guitar and fish in Northern Minnesota.

[Keirik]

3 hours ago, Sod16 said:

 

Ditto.  I moved back to NY after being away from 1978 to 1985, so that run was special for me.  A bunch guys like Willie Huber and Jim Wiemer, who were regular season duds, suddenly excelled in the playoffs.  Then there was Lucky Pierre going on a tear after his call up from the minors.  I took friend to Game 4 in the Cap series, where they came back from 5-3 down in the third to win in OT.  The crowd just about tore the Garden up.  My friend was so taken in by it that he went and became a season ticket holder.

 

There was the weird sad note of Mark Pavelich that year.  In February, he scored a tying goal in the last minute in Quebec, and was gone the next day, to play his guitar and fish in Northern Minnesota.

Absolute tragic life Pavelich lived. RIP

[Sharpshooter]

1996-1997

2005-2006

2011-2012

2014-2015

[Ozzy]

You know, I've been reading through all of these and it's very hard for me to figure out which team I liked the best of all time.  But aside from the '94 team I would have to go way back to the 1972-73 season, where my first recollections of being a Rangers fan as a very young kid, being at MSG, and being a part of that whole experience occasionally when I went to the games with my dad.

 

That team had players that I could immediately latch on to, and being that it was way before the salary cap, I got to see these players as Rangers for pretty much their entire careers.  It was pretty much the same team year after year.

 

Guys like Gilbert, Hatfield, Park, Ratelle, Gene Carr, Bobby Rousseau, Bruce McGregor, Jimmy Neilson, and Teddy Irvine...who was Chris Jericho's dad.  Emile Francis was the coach, and Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick were the voice of the Rangers on TV6.

 

It seemed like they won every game, and every Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday night I would sit with my dad on the floor and watch the games with him, sitting in my "lucky spot". 

 

[Sharpshooter]

I didn't even exist then, but I really wish I could have seen those teams play. So many Hall of Famers and just generally really good players. Probably some of the best teams ever to never win a Cup.

[Ozzy]

6 minutes ago, Sharpshooter said:

I didn't even exist then, but I really wish I could have seen those teams play. So many Hall of Famers and just generally really good players. Probably some of the best teams ever to never win a Cup.

 

It was fun, those seasons, Sharpy!  I remember it was a nightmare on those Saturday nights in Montreal when the Rangers would play up there and get smoked.  Those fans let us have it every time....and that fucking guy with the trumpet;  I can still almost hear that "Go Habs Go" shit 50 years later!!!  LOL

 

I know a lot of the guys on the forum are younger than me...(hell, I'm so old I have an autographed Bible!!  LOL)...but those early 70's teams were really good, it's just that the Bruins, Habs and Flyers were ...how do we say it these days?  GRITTIER!

 

For the record, I still have the puck Nicky Fotiu threw up to us in section 411 in warmups!  It's about 40 years old now...I think it was '82 on his second stint with us.  He scored a few goals that season too...fucking crowd went ape shit when he pumped that fist in his goal celebrations!!! 

 

 

[RJWantsTheCup]

2 hours ago, Ozzy said:

You know, I've been reading through all of these and it's very hard for me to figure out which team I liked the best of all time.  But aside from the '94 team I would have to go way back to the 1972-73 season, where my first recollections of being a Rangers fan as a very young kid, being at MSG, and being a part of that whole experience occasionally when I went to the games with my dad.

 

That team had players that I could immediately latch on to, and being that it was way before the salary cap, I got to see these players as Rangers for pretty much their entire careers.  It was pretty much the same team year after year.

 

Guys like Gilbert, Hatfield, Park, Ratelle, Gene Carr, Bobby Rousseau, Bruce McGregor, Jimmy Neilson, and Teddy Irvine...who was Chris Jericho's dad.  Emile Francis was the coach, and Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick were the voice of the Rangers on TV6.

 

It seemed like they won every game, and every Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday night I would sit with my dad on the floor and watch the games with him, sitting in my "lucky spot". 

 

The Big Whistle was the shit.

[LindG1000]

4 hours ago, Ozzy said:

 

It was fun, those seasons, Sharpy!  I remember it was a nightmare on those Saturday nights in Montreal when the Rangers would play up there and get smoked.  Those fans let us have it every time....and that fucking guy with the trumpet;  I can still almost hear that "Go Habs Go" shit 50 years later!!!  LOL

 

I know a lot of the guys on the forum are younger than me...(hell, I'm so old I have an autographed Bible!!  LOL)...but those early 70's teams were really good, it's just that the Bruins, Habs and Flyers were ...how do we say it these days?  GRITTIER!

 

For the record, I still have the puck Nicky Fotiu threw up to us in section 411 in warmups!  It's about 40 years old now...I think it was '82 on his second stint with us.  He scored a few goals that season too...fucking crowd went ape shit when he pumped that fist in his goal celebrations!!! 

 

 

how the fuck did Fotiu get a puck into 411 from the ice?

[SaveByRichter35]

On 9/20/2022 at 8:11 AM, Pete said:

What's seared in my memory about that Philly series is Lindros manhandling Messier and grabbing a loose puck for an ENG that sealed the deal. Clement basically called it a changing of the guard while nutting himself. 

Yea I mentioned the FLY line in my post but that was clearly several years later.  He was still part of the LOD line in that timeframe.  My bad lol

[Ozzy]

27 minutes ago, LindG1000 said:

how the fuck did Fotiu get a puck into 411 from the ice?

 

He used to throw them up into the blue seats from the ice. 

 

Dude had a gun of an arm!!!  The funny thing about this is that the Rangers would warm up on the 7th avenue side of the ice, and 411 to 418 were behind the net on the 8th Avenue side of the ice.  Nicky would skate to the opposition side of the ice a lot of times, and chuck pucks up to us in the blue seats on both sides!!! 

 

Fucking guy was a legend!!!

[Sharpshooter]

Speaking of the FLY line, it made the 2001-2002 Rangers team really fun...for a month or so. lol

[Sod16]

6 hours ago, Ozzy said:

You know, I've been reading through all of these and it's very hard for me to figure out which team I liked the best of all time.  But aside from the '94 team I would have to go way back to the 1972-73 season, where my first recollections of being a Rangers fan as a very young kid, being at MSG, and being a part of that whole experience occasionally when I went to the games with my dad.

 

  

I fully recognize the first love factor for the 72-73 team for you, Oz, but that was a really disappointing season.  That was the only year during the Francis era when the Rangers were actually favored to win the cup.  They had signed all of their big guns in the face of the WHA's raids, while other teams had let some of them go.  They were not as good during the regular season as they had been the previous two.  The goaltending was no longer among the best.  There was a wonderful defeat of the Bruins in the first round, but they were stymied and lost rather badly to Tony Esposito and the Hawks in the second round.  I recall not being as engaged as I might have been in all that, as Montreal was having a fantastic season with some rookie named Larry Robinson and it was obvious that they would win it.

 

One other thing that marred 72-73: the play by play guy on WOR was the HORENDOUS Sal Marciano, who didn't know a hockey puck from an Eskimo Pie.  Jim Gordon came on the next year.  See the link here.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_Rangers_broadcasters

Edited September 22, 2022 by Sod16

[Bieser]

1985-86  The year I became a Rangers fan

 

They were a 4th place team and won the 1 v 4 match up with the hated Flyers.  Won the next round and got to the Conf finals.  

 

Over achieving.  Vanbiesbrouck was awesome.  Later learned the players hated Ted Sator but that team played some serious defense.  

 

 

[Sod16]

Someone probably should mention the 80-81 playoff run team.  I was out of the country.  Also some of the smurf teams that made it to the semi-finals.

 

We have a bit of gap between posters who picked up in the mid to late 80s and a few old timers who go back to Francis.  I'd like to hear from the generation in between who came on during height of the Potvin Sucks period.

[Flynn]

18 hours ago, Sod16 said:

Someone probably should mention the 80-81 playoff run team.  I was out of the country.  Also some of the smurf teams that made it to the semi-finals.

 

We have a bit of gap between posters who picked up in the mid to late 80s and a few old timers who go back to Francis.  I'd like to hear from the generation in between who came on during height of the Potvin Sucks period.

The first season I really remember being a real fan was 82-83. i  I remembered Lake Placid, and I'd watch when on TV and listen on the radio with my Dad, but I really didn't know the team(s). Going to the Garden for the 1st time in 82 was really what got me hooked, they played Calgary, scored a ton of goals.. I think it was like a 7-4 or 8-5 final. But I was in!.. I remember the playoffs vividly. Sweeping Philly before playing the Islanders in Rd 2.. lost the first 2 on the Island and then knotted it at MSG.. I thought they were going to win the series and remember being crushed when they got shitpumped in games 5 and 6.. My dad knew.. he told me 'now you know what it's like to be a Ranger fan". 

 

85-86 was an absolute blast.. 

91-92 was my absolute lowest point. I as sick about that Pittsburgh series for weeks.. 92-93 was a doubling down dick punch- worst season of hockey (talent vs. results) I had ever seen. 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Flynn

[RangersIn7]

25 minutes ago, Flynn said:

The first season I really remember being a real fan was 82-83. i  I remembered Lake Placid, and I'd watch when on TV and listen a  on the radio with my Dad, but I really didn't know the team(s). Going to the Garden for the 1st time in 82 was really what got me hooked, they played Calgary, scored a ton of goals.. I think it was like a 7-4 or 8-5 final. But I was in!.. I remember the playoff vividly. Sweeping Philly before paying the Islanders in Rd 2.. lost the first 2 on the Island and then knotted it at MSG.. I thought they were going to win the series and remember being crushed when they got shitpumped in games 5 and 6.. My dad knew.. he told me 'now you know what it's like to be a Ranger fan". 

 

85-86 was an absolute blast.. 

91-92 was my absolute lowest point. I as sick about that Pittsburgh series for weeks.. 92-93 was a doubling down dick punch- worst season of hockey (talent vs. results) I had ever seen. 

The 2 injuries to Leetch, plus Richter having arguably his worst season, in 92-93 killed them. The issues between Messier and Roger Neilson we’re no help either. The team collapsed when Ron Smith replaced him at Messier’s behest. 
 

But the absence of Leetch, at the time the best defenseman in hockey and the reigning Norris trophy winner, for nearly 50 games, was what did them in. 

[NEKRanger]

On 9/25/2022 at 4:39 PM, Sod16 said:

Someone probably should mention the 80-81 playoff run team.  I was out of the country.  Also some of the smurf teams that made it to the semi-finals.

 

We have a bit of gap between posters who picked up in the mid to late 80s and a few old timers who go back to Francis.  I'd like to hear from the generation in between who came on during height of the Potvin Sucks period.

 

I followed the Francis teams from a distanced (in Chicagoland), then moved to central Pennsylvania where I got WOR and the Rangers games in 1976.  Got to see the Rangers rebuild toward the 1979 Finals appearance and then those runs in 80-81, through 83-84 where only Billy Smith stopped them from taking down the Islanders dynasty.   The teams from that era were really good - allot of skill and grit - but had three things going against them:  they had the Islanders as a road block (and were really the only team that gave the Isles any trouble till the Oilers came along); they were prone to occasional slumps during the regular season, and they didn't have that one goalie that they could count on.

 

[RichieNextel305]

On 9/22/2022 at 10:24 AM, Sharpshooter said:

1996-1997

2005-2006

2011-2012

2014-2015

1996-1997 was my first memory of really truly following this team. I was so young but became so obsessed. That Graves goal to knock out the Devils is still maybe my favorite Ranger goal. I remember my uncle having a viewing party for it at his brother-in-laws house and they lived up the block. I stopped in here and there with my parents throughout the game but came home at the start of overtime. I remember when he scored, I lost my friggin mind and went running down to the party and my uncle and I and everyone there were going insane.

 

I remember going to my first few games at the end of that season. I was at Game 4 of that NJ series, and could still see Courtnall hitting Gretzky and The Great One going upper daddy on Marty and slamming his stick against the glass. Place went nuts. Goal song was different back then. On all like big goals, they had this extra siren they would sync in with the song. Can still hear it. Fun season. Shame we were so banged up. Kovalev was slated to come back in Game 6 if we got there vs. Philly but that never happened.

[lefty9]

On 9/22/2022 at 10:41 AM, Ozzy said:

You know, I've been reading through all of these and it's very hard for me to figure out which team I liked the best of all time.  But aside from the '94 team I would have to go way back to the 1972-73 season, where my first recollections of being a Rangers fan as a very young kid, being at MSG, and being a part of that whole experience occasionally when I went to the games with my dad.

 

That team had players that I could immediately latch on to, and being that it was way before the salary cap, I got to see these players as Rangers for pretty much their entire careers.  It was pretty much the same team year after year.

 

Guys like Gilbert, Hatfield, Park, Ratelle, Gene Carr, Bobby Rousseau, Bruce McGregor, Jimmy Neilson, and Teddy Irvine...who was Chris Jericho's dad.  Emile Francis was the coach, and Jim Gordon and Bill Chadwick were the voice of the Rangers on TV6.

 

It seemed like they won every game, and every Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday night I would sit with my dad on the floor and watch the games with him, sitting in my "lucky spot". 

 

Me too Ozzy,the gag line ,Park ,Eddie turned me into a young hockey fan ,my family never watched hockey,I turned that around

[Sharpshooter]

7 hours ago, RichieNextel305 said:

1996-1997 was my first memory of really truly following this team. I was so young but became so obsessed. That Graves goal to knock out the Devils is still maybe my favorite Ranger goal. I remember my uncle having a viewing party for it at his brother-in-laws house and they lived up the block. I stopped in here and there with my parents throughout the game but came home at the start of overtime. I remember when he scored, I lost my friggin mind and went running down to the party and my uncle and I and everyone there were going insane.

 

I remember going to my first few games at the end of that season. I was at Game 4 of that NJ series, and could still see Courtnall hitting Gretzky and The Great One going upper daddy on Marty and slamming his stick against the glass. Place went nuts. Goal song was different back then. On all like big goals, they had this extra siren they would sync in with the song. Can still hear it. Fun season. Shame we were so banged up. Kovalev was slated to come back in Game 6 if we got there vs. Philly but that never happened.

Yeah, having Messier and Gretzky together that one year was magical. His hat trick against Florida is also a special memory. Having Wayne here along with some of those beloved Rangers from 1994 and before, it was just a really cool mix of guys. I loved that team. If I recall didn't Kovalev get hurt and missed all or most of the postseason? I think they did have some injury problems late, or else they might have had a great shot at winning the Cup.