No More 1940 !

Update: At 5:05pm on WFAN in NY a special announcement is to take place. The promo's promise it's something that will make "all Ranger fans happy". Speculation on this announcement is being discussed here on the boards.

It's not the signing of Umberger as he's signed with the Flyers.

Matt sent in this link on Richter and Kypreos making a special appearence. Matt also reminds us that game seven will be replayed on MSG tonight at 7:30pm

End of update.

A decade has past.

It's been 10 years. Funny, just thinking about the event itself makes me smile. Even now, all these years later I can still feel the joy, the exhaustion.....the relief. The fans at MSG chanting 1940 defiantly, knowing that it could never be chanted by Islander fans again.

The following morning I bought every newspaper and in one was an interview with Gilles Villemure, former Rangers keeper. It said he lived in my hometown, Levittown. I picked up the phone and dialed 411. I asked for and received the number. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I dialed it. Sure enough, his daughter answered and put her dad on the phone. Gilles spoke on how great it was for the fans......fans who supported this team for 54 years with no payout finally got a Stanley Cup of their own.

I remember the players saying the same. That same day I searched through the company database and retrieved Brian Leetchs' home address. I penned a quick note and included a Leetch hockey card in the envelope. Imagine my surprise a few days later when he returned a note of his own.....and the card, autographed.

The Cup was seen so many different places in NY that night and then throughout the summer giving nearly all of us a cool story to tell. It was a magic time and one that we can look back on with great pride.

Of course, the NHL didn't get underway until January the following year. Waiting that long to hoist the banner kinda sucked. IMO, the NHL has never been the same since. Not just for us Ranger fans.....for all hockey fans. Those in charge of this great game should look back and remember as those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Newsday - "There's a lot of focus on playing here, some pressures that maybe other teams in other cities don't have," Messier said. "I think that made winning a Cup all the more special."

Daily News - "Then the symbol is when Bettman handed me the Cup. That symbolizes that it's our Cup. It's hard to describe the feelings that a person has at that time."

Journal News - "Now I can die in peace," read the most clever of the banners on that crazy night, one of the best sports nights New York has ever had, 10 years ago today.

At some point tonight I'll crack a beer a hoist it for those guys and what they did. Maybe I'll even pop in game seven or Oh Baby. Oh.....and I'll have one for you guys too. After all, that cup and this place are all about you.

----}- Bird

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