They hoisted the big silver trophy high, passed it around, shook it over their heads. Sometimes they kissed it. Slowly, they skated a ceremonial victory lap around the crowded, littered ice surface of Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers, led by their captain, Mark Messier, were cheered mightily and repeatedly by a capacity crowd of 18,200 fans and watched by an international television audience, including President Clinton, who held the phone long enough to offer them his congratulations when they finally came inside.
The players seemed to be in no hurry to leave the ice after almost nine months of hockey. Some of their fans had waited 54 years for this moment. Why not savor it? No National Hockey League team that existed in 1940 and still plays now had gone so long between hoists of hockey's championship chalice.
And now the Rangers had it because they beat the Vancouver Canucks last night in a spine-tingler of a Game 7 in the finals. When it ended, amid the anxiety and perspiration of a 3-2 victory, fireworks exploded overhead. Tears and champagne flowed. A fan held up a sign that said "Now, I Can Die in Peace." The witnesses chanted "We Won the Cup! We Won the Cup! " and "1940! 1940! 1940!"
Burying the Ghosts and Dragons
Messier, who scored one of the goals, spoke of the pressure of winning the cup in the charged atmosphere of Manhattan, about "the magnitude of the city" and about a conversation he had before the game with Mike Keenan, the coach.
"They talk about ghosts and dragons," Messier said. "I said to Mike, 'You can't be afraid to slay the dragon.' We're going to celebrate this like we've never celebrated anything in our lives."
Let the wild rumpus start. Start spreading the news. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani announced a victory parade for Friday, beginning at 11:45 A.M. in Battery Park and proceeding north along Broadway to City Hall, where he will meet the team at 1 P.M.
The fact that a New York team won it in dramatic fashion could help make this a breakthrough year for a sport that has had a hard time gaining recognition on Main Street, U.S.A.
When President Clinton spoke, he congratulated Brian Leetch, the Ranger defenseman who won the Conn Smythe trophy as the most valuable player in the post-season tournament. Leetch had the first goal last night, Adam Graves the second, and Messier the third.
"Congratulations, man," Clinton said to Leetch. "I've been sitting here in the White House watching this, cheering for you, biting my fingernails, screaming and yelling."
He noted that the Rangers are a United States-based team and that Leetch is the first American to win the playoff m.v.p. award. "You didn't choke," Clinton said. "You just kept playing. America is proud of you tonight."
Was That the President?
When he hung up, Leetch said, jokingly, "Was that Dana Carvey?" referring to the comedian who used to imitate former President George Bush on "Saturday Night Live."
Last night's victory came in a seven-game series that went the distance after the Rangers had taken a 3- games-to-1 lead. In the previous rounds, they ousted the Islanders in four games, the Washington Capitals in five and the Devils in seven. The cup gives the Rangers a rare double championship. They also won the Presidents' trophy for having the best record over the 84-game regular season.
Behind the bench and behind the scenes, it was a personal triumph for Keenan, the coach, and Neil Smith, the general manager. Keenan was coaching his first year in New York after losing in the final round twice with Philadelphia and once with Chicago. For Smith, it was the pinnacle of a five-year term of office, the first major executive position of his career.
Tension at the Top
But there is stress between the two bosses, bubbling barely below the surface, and anxiety throughout the organization. Keenan has denied widespread speculation in the last week that he is about to leave, perhaps for a job with more power elsewhere. Smith has expressed worry about working for a complex corporation that is for sale for the second time in a year.
In a news conference afterward, they shook hands and Smith slapped Keenan on the back. Messier said the coach faced the team the day before and gave "the most intense, emotional, greatest speech I've heard in 16 years."
"He seized the moment," Messier said. "He took control. He's a big reason we won. Mike kept his foot on the throttle all year."
Keenan said the cup gives him "a calm feeling, a sense of pride." He said winning a cup in New York "takes every ounce of energy you have."
This Ranger cup is the first championship for any of the nine professional teams in the New York area since the Giants won the Super Bowl in January 1991. Although the area has three hockey teams in a 26-team league, it is the first championship in this sport since the Islanders won their fourth in succession in 1983.
The game was incredibly tense, the best of the series, with the Canucks having a chance to tie at the very end, with a face-off in the circle to the right of Ranger goalie Mike Richter in the final two seconds. The Rangers prevented them from getting a shot.
Linden Scores Two for Canucks
Trevor Linden, Vancouver's captain, scored both Canuck goals, slicing a 2-0 lead to 2-1 in the second period and a 3-1 lead to 3-2 in the third. He scored once while short-handed, once on the power play.
Leetch, without a goal in the previous two games, finished a play that he began at the other end when he passed to Messier in the sequence leading to the opening goal. The captain carried the puck down ice and past Pavel Bure, the Vancouver superstar, along the right wall.
Messier made a back-handed pass, against the grain, to Sergei Zubov, the Rangers' other attacking defenseman, who held the puck as he closed in down the right side while the action seemed to shift into slow motion.
Leetch then sprang into the play, down the other side, took Zubov's pass and beat Kirk McLean, the sprawling, lunging goalie, on the open side of the net as Adam Graves ran interference and occupied a Canuck defenseman in the slot. Time of the goal was 11:02.
The Rangers got their next goal on the power play. It was scored by Graves, who had been without a goal for 10 consecutive playoff games after leading the team in goals during the regular season with 52.
Again, Zubov played a major role in the play, carrying the puck up ice and passing off at the Vancouver blue line after drawing two defenders toward him. He gave it to Aleksei Kovalev, who passed the puck from left to right to Graves, on the goalie's doorstep. Graves beat McLean with an arrow to the stick side to make it 2-0 at 14:45.
The Rangers went up by 3-1 at 13:29 of the second period on a power-play goal by Messier. Although he didn't get an assist, the goal again was created by Zubov, who moved the puck from the blue line to the slot, where Messier, Graves and Brian Noonan all had chances.
