Honoring Mark Messier: The World According to New York

Unless you spent last week in a hockey media blackout, you know that Thursday was Mark Messier Day at Madison Square Garden. The man who delivered in 1994 was honored with a 75-minute coronation ceremony at center ice. Many Ranger greats gathered; the Stanley Cup was there; someone sang a tacky power ballad; the Ode to Joy blared as his number 11 was raised to the rafters. As befits the Messier myth, there was much blather about “destiny” and “iron will” among the assembled journalists and ex-teammates.

It all served as a handy reminder that when it comes to professional sport, the world is divided into two halves: New York and everywhere else.

By any objective measure, the summit of Mark Messier’s career was reached in Edmonton, where he thrived as a high-scoring, all-purpose centerman on what might be the greatest NHL team of all time. Had he moved anywhere else in 1991, the second half of his career would be considered a lengthy postscript, and the Stanley Cup he won in 1994 an impressive footnote. But he went to New York.

Jim Plunkett won more Super Bowls than Joe Namath. But we all know which quarterback was the real star. The 1950s were terrible years for many baseball teams. But it's remembered as a golden age because the game was dominated by the Giants, Yankees and Dodgers.

So it goes in hockey. For the New York media army that writes sports history, the Rangers’ Cup in 1994 is Mark Messier’s crowning achievement. The earlier years spent toiling in that little northern outback town were just a warm-up to The Main Event.