The Price of Admission

Last week I was in New York and had the opportunity to go to a New York Rangers game. I felt obligated to go as a hockey fan, but I also wanted to go see if Madison Square Garden was truly a unique experience. I mean I’ve been to hockey games before; you go in, grab your seat, watch the warm up, watch the 1^st, grab a drink, watch the 2^nd, take a leak, watch the 3^rd, and then go home. I didn’t really have a burning desire to do that but in a different city.

I thought about it and decided to go because I wanted to know what it was like being a New York Rangers fan.

So I bought a ticket and lived life as a Rangers fan for Wednesday, February 17, a night on which the New York Rangers were hosts to the Chicago Blackhawks.

The day of the game I actually got really excited. Why? Well, I haven’t seen two good hockey teams play live in a really really long ti…..ever.

Jonathan Toews. Duncan Keith. Henrik Lundqvist. Ryan McDonagh.

I think I was excited to see Henrik Lundqvist the most, because I have never seen him live, and only a few times on TV. He received the loudest cheer during the starting line-up announcement, and this got me even more impatient to see him in action. The fans also cheered loudly for John Amirante, NY’s former anthem singer, who is retired but came back to sing the Anthem for this game, to the delight of pretty much everyone in the arena.

Chicago started the game a little slow and the Rangers had more offensive zone time than them, but it was the Blackhawks who scored first on a breakdown to the left of Lundqvist.

However, New York was doing a really good job of exiting their own zone quickly and blasting through the neutral zone (the Rangers love their two-line passes) to push the Chicago D back. The ‘Hawks D played the Rangers forwards really well and kept them to the outside. Though New York had more shots throughout the game, they had about the same number of quality inside chances as Chicago.

I noticed that both teams could make little simple plays with such ease in the corners, along the boards, or exiting the zone that you could tell it was routine. The same situations with a team like the Oilers can result in slow decisions, frequent miscommunication, and sloppy turnovers. It was really refreshing to see crisp plays from both sides.

As the second period started, the Rangers scored right away and the crowd came alive. Unfortunately, Coach Q challenged the play and the call on the ice was reversed because a Rangers’ forward had hurt Corey Crawford’s feelings as he skated in front of the net. The crowd booed loudly and called the refs assholes. I didn’t blame them. Chris Kreider had barely, and I mean barely, grazed Cored Crawford as he skated across the top of the crease. The goal was disallowed even though the play didn’t affect Crawford’s ability to stop the puck (the league needs to review that rule).

After seeing the reaction to the goal, and to the reversal, I wanted to experience the Rangers fans’ passion again. I sat in my seat hoping for Chicago to screw up so I could see a Rangers goal. A Chicago powerplay goal made the game 2-0 and it looked like the Blackhawks were about to take over the game. At this point I thought that the Rangers would be shut out and I wouldn’t see another goal.

But luckily, that didn’t happen. Viktor Stalberg checked a Chicago defenseman in the corner and Oscar Lindberg fished the puck out and made a pass through the crease to Kevin Hayes. He put it behind a sprawling Corey Crawford to bring the Rangers within one. Once again the crowd went crazy. One of the reasons it was a cool experience was because of the Rangers’ goal song. I was surprised to see the majority of fans sing along to it. It was like they were all machines responsible for creating energy in the building.

Later on, sometime in the second period, Chicago caught a break and went in on a two on one from the blue line in; the crowd waited anxiously to see if King Henrik could bail them out. He made the initial save, and also made a difficult pad save on the rebound. A loud applause erupted as the puck was cleared to safety, and the crowd began chanting ‘Henri, Henri, *clap clap*’.

He had his own cheer!

That’s how much the fans adore him.

I stopped at this point to think about how important Lundqvist must be to Rangers fans. To the fans he must represent the success of the New York Rangers. The team has seen many changes over the last decade, but Lundqvist has been the only constant amongst those teams. Fans don’t debate whether he is too soft, or uncoachable, or overpaid. He is none of those. To the fans he is a rock in a sea of changes.

The third period began with the Rangers down two to one, but within the first two and a half minutes the Rangers tied the game on a Derrick Brassard goal, and then took the lead on a Dan Boyle goal, both taking advantage of a Chicago double-minor penalty. I could feel the electricity in the seats beside me and around the rink.

That.

That was the price of admission, I thought to myself at the time. I felt content sitting in my seat soaking in the jubilation of the crowd.

Shortly after, I heard a whistle in the crowd. Someone was whistling a tune in the lower bowl. The tune ended about 15 seconds later and the crowd yelled ‘*something* sucks’. Nothing important had happened so I wasn’t sure who it was that the crowd was unhappy with. I looked for the Chicago players on ice and thought maybe they were letting former Ranger Artem Anisimov know their frustration with him. They weren’t. I looked it up afterwards, and the tune is an even bigger story than I had thought. The cheer was ‘Potvin Sucks’ and both the tune and the cheer originated in 1979 when Rangers fans became unhappy with Islanders captain Denis Potvin’s hit on Ulf Nilsson. Even though Potvin retired in 1988, the cheer still lives on at every single Rangers game. How great is that. A 36 year tradition.

Unfortunately, the Mutt Andrew Shaw tied the game midway through the third on a powerplay goal, and with three minutes left Panarin scored another powerplay goal to take the lead. The Rangers were still not out, but a speedy Panarin deposited a turnover into the empty Rangers net to give him a hattrick and also ice the game.

I left the game thoroughly having enjoyed the night. I didn’t feel anymore that I went because I was obligated to see a game at Madison Square Garden. But as if I went to share with New Yorkers in their love for Henrik Lundqvist, to take part in their expressions of anger towards the officiating, and to be part of their in-game traditions. The price of admission then is justified if you can walk out of the gates with a smile on your face regardless of the result.

I flew back into Edmonton today, and I am back to being a regular old Oilers fan. Wondering what it will take for the price of admission to be justified again.