JUNE 1994 Part 1

JUNE 1994 10 YEARS LATER

    Back at the turn of the century, I did a series of e-mails chronicling the 15 craziest nights of the
nineties. Shortly after I sent them out, my computer was wiped clean, and I never saved them on disk.
:O(    There were some doozies, and they stirred many a debate.
    But if I had to pick a craziest month of the 90's, I'd say hands down in was June 1994. For reasons
both newsworthy and personal (which I won't get into) it was as Crazy Eddie would say IN-SANE. It
actually started the last week of May.......
 
    On May 27, I had been at Shea Stadium with my girlfriend at the time and a bunch of her friends. All
except for one were Islander fans who were pulling for the Devils in the Eastern Conference Semis
against the Rangers. The Rangers had plowed through the Islanders and Capitals in the first two rounds,
but had run into a bit of a roadblock against the Devils. In fact they had been down three games to two,
when Mark Messier guaranteed they would beat the Devils in Jersey. Trailing by a goal late in the second,
Messier scored to tie in then twice more in the third to seal it. Patrick Ewing made a career out of
guarantees he couldn't keep. Joe Namath made one in 1969, then let his defense deliver the Super Bowl.
Messier? He guaranteed a win, then took the team on his back and led them to victory.
    And now, on Friday night May 27, we were going to the Finals. The Rangers were up 1-0 with less than
a minute to go at MSG. It was in the bag.
Not quite
    All of the sudden, the idiots with the Walkman started jumping up and down like a bunch of
schoolgirls. Apparently the Devils Valeriy Zelepukin had tied the game up with 7.7 seconds left. The
game was going to OT. I didn't deserve this ANGUISH!
    The lone Ranger fan in the group lived somewhere in Whitestone, and told us we could come to his
house for overtime. We left the Met game, and drove like NASCAR racers to his house. This was just my
luck. Sitting in a strangers house surrounded by Islander fans. This would be the greatest indignity of all
time.
    The game went through one overtime. Why does God hate me so much? The Mets, who were on their
way to another subpar season in 1994, were beating the Cincinnati Reds 9-3 when we left Shea. I would
have given any vital body organ of mine for the scores to be reversed. The Rangers coasting to a 9-3
victory and a Stanley Cup Finals birth. But no I had to sweat through a second overtime.
    Back and fourth, up and down, plenty of action but no scoring. All of the sudden the puck was behind
the Devils net. Then just like that it was past Martin Brodeur. I thought it was Esa Tikkanen who put it in,
but apparently they were screaming Matteau Matteau Matteau, for Stephane Matteau. I didn't hear
nothing, for rather than hugging my girlfriend, I hugged the guy whose house we were in. I was hysterical.
I was laughing so hard, I had tears coming down my cheeks. OK maybe I was crying. I don't remember.
All I know was it was the biggest relief I had ever felt.
    I would have Saturday to revel before Sunday's opening game vs. the Vancouver Canucks. The
Rangers and the Devils had the most points in the NHL that year, and as far as everyone was concerned,
that was your Stanley Cup Final. The Canucks had been an upstart, coming from nowhere to reach the
Finals.
    I worked in Baskin-Robbins down in Rockaway that Sunday night and persuaded my boss to let me
put it on the radio. I couldn't get too good a listen, as I was making my usual magic back behind the
counter, but I knew the game was alot closer than it was supposed to be. In fact it was going into
overtime again.
    I planned to go to a bar to watch overtime, but by the time I got out of work, the game was over. The
Canucks won. That's ok, the Rangers would just win the next four in a row. I wasn't worried.
I'm a Ranger fan, of course I was worried.

COMING TOMORROW- MAY 31-JUNE 4 1994