NYC Blizzard: Rangers Lovin' It, Devils and Islanders Not So Much
- Tuesday, December 28, 2010 11:55 PM
- Written By: Josh Marks
It's not often you get the chance to see all three of New York's hockey teams in two nights, but that is exactly what I did. I'm in NYC for the holidays and decided to take in a couple of games -- Sunday night the Devils-Leafs at The Rock and Monday night the Rangers-Isles at MSG.
Newark and Manhattan are only a few train stops apart, but the atmosphere inside of the Prudential Center and Madison Square Garden could not have been any more different.
Sunday, New York and most of the Eastern Seaboard got pounded by a massive snow storm that dumped over 20 inches of snow along with wind gusts of 30 to 40 mph. It was the sixth largest snow storm on record in NYC and newscasters and public officials were advising people to stay home.
So what did I do? What any crazy hockey fan would do. I walked from my sister's apartment in Battery Park City through the snowy, wind-whipped winter night to the World Trade Center PATH station and traveled via train to Newark's Pennsylvania Station and then somehow found The Devils' home arena in the almost zero visibility weather.
What happens if you have a hockey game and no one shows up? That's almost what happened in Newark on Sunday night as the Devils and Leafs, both last place teams, dropped the puck shortly after 7 p.m. before a nearly empty arena. The announced crowd was a little over 5,000, but the actual attendance was probably closer to 3,000. And there were lots of hardy Leafs fan in the stands waving Canadian flags and Maple Leafs banners, and chanting "Go Leafs Go!."
Toronto won the game 4-1 in a snoozer. This was professional hockey at its worst. The highlight of the night was a fight between the Devils' 100-million-dollar bust Ilya Kovalchuk and Toronto's Captain Dion Phaneuf.
The Devils' sorry season continues. They have a long way to go to becoming a winning organization again. It really is rock bottom at The Rock. But returning interim head coach Jacques Lemaire knows how to win, guiding the Devils to the Stanley Cup in 1995. He took over for fired coach John MacLean and while suffering through losses in his first two games, once he has some time with the team, there should be more positive results on the ice.
But one thing I've got to say is that the brave souls in Devils jerseys who ventured out to the game on Sunday night were mostly respectful and cheered on the Devils, albeit sometimes sarcastically, despite the many opportunities for the boo birds to come out with awful play after awful play by their home team. On the other hand, the Leafs fans were just plain obnoxious, at one point chanting "Kovalchuk Sucks!" and celebrating like they weren't actually a team in last place in the Northeast Division with only 30 points.
The attendance was so sparse (New Jersey transit shut down all bus service at 8:30 so many fans left early) that halfway through the second period, the PA announcer said that all ticket holders in the upper bowl could move down to ice level. Soon after that there was a mad dash to get the best seats as close to the ice as possible. It was great for the Leafs fans who got to harass NJ's struggling goalie Martin Brodeur, who is suffering through one of his worst seasons as a pro, and then his replacement Johan Hedberg.
As the game ended, a disgruntled Devils fan stood up and yelled "You're trash! You're garbage! You belong in a garbage can!" And the frustration continued at the exit as some angry fans started yelling when the staff ran out of free Devils cheerleaders calendars. Then it was off into the cold, snowy night in Newark and a train ride back to Manhattan that took twice as long as usual because of the snow storm.
Later that night I watched a replay of the Islanders game on TV. There were only a few hundred people who made it out to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. And most of those people were Montreal Canadiens fans, making the game have the surreal quality of being a road game for the hometown Islanders. With the Long Island Rail Road service suspended because of the snow, and the roads virtually unpassable, it is a mystery how these Habs fans managed to make it out to the game. They didn't have much to root for as the Isles won 5-1. But even with the win, it had to have been disconcerting for the Isles players to look up and see a mostly empty arena except for a few hundred fans cheering the visiting team.
The next night I took the subway to the most famous arena in the world -- Madison Square Garden. While the snow was still fresh on the ground and the bitterly cold wind was causing snow drifts, thousands of New Yorkers piled into MSG to cheer on their beloved Blueshirts as they prepared to play the Isles.
I didn't have a ticket so I waited outside until after the game had started and was lucky enough to nab a $185 club seat for $40 from a fan who was desperate to get rid of his tickets. The seat was awesome, only about ten rows up and just to the right of the visitor net.
While MSG is certainly showing its age (there are plans for a multi-million dollar renovation), there is a special feeling being in this historic complex. It is humbling to see the Rangers Stanley Cup banners hanging from the rafters, dating all the way back to the 1920s, as the Original Six franchise this year celebrates its 85th anniversary.
The atmosphere was electric as the Blueshirts put on a show for their loyal and boisterous fans by dominating the Isles after breaking a tight game open in the second period to skate to a 7-2 win. The 18,200 seat arena was nearly full for the big win despite the snow.
Unlike the few Devils fans and zero Islanders fans the night before, on the night after the historic snow storm Rangers fans entered the cold New York night happy with a win.
The National Hockey League regular season wrapped today with a thrilling overtime shootout in Philadelphia to catapult the Flyers into the playoffs and send the Rangers home to New York.
