It's Thursday the twelfth of January in New York City, the streets of midtown Manhatten are of course teeming with people, there always seems to be a swell of humanity in and around Times Square which stretches throughout the district, always something happening in NYC. Tonight that happening is at the worlds most famous arena Madison Square Garden where throngs of blue clad fans are pouring through the gates. Tonight the league leading New York Rangers aka the Blueshirts aka Big Blue are hosting the surprising Ottawa Senators or more simply, the Sens, who are sitting fifth in the Easterrn Conference standings. The Rangers have been on a real roll as of late, winning five straight prior to this game and boasting a 10-1-1 record in their previous twelve appearances. The last time the Rangers took the ice was on Tuesday against the Phoenix Coyotes, with the Rangers triumphing 2-1 in a shootout after finishing regulation and overtime tied at 1-1. Confidence is high around the city, my friend Otto from the Times Square NHL store predicts a Rangers victory, as do the majority of the overwhelmingly Empire State crowd.
Entering Madison Square Garden you are instantly reminded of who plays there. Taking up an entire entrance wall is a huge poster featuring the team that says 'This Is New York Hockey'. Just around the corner, another wall is plastid with larger than life pictures of Amare Stoudemire, Carmello Anthony and the NBA's New York Knicks. Other Rangers and Knicks posters both past and present adorn the walls of the Garden along with pictures of other MSG events, such as WWE, tennis, concerts etc.
Hockey is a blue-collar sport and this is reflected not only in the fans who pile into the garden to cheer on Big Blue, but also by the vignettes that are played before and during the game on the big screen hanging above the middle of the arena. Shots of everyday New Yorkers (one of them looked like the guy who played John the mugger in Flight Of The Conchords, but that's another story) showed filmed in gritty back alleys and behind chain link fences spouting phrases in thick accents like "Dis is Noo Yawk Paaa-shun" or "Dis is Noo Yawk Tuff" interspersed by clips of on ice action show the working class background of a large section of the audience.
We found our seats at the garden and they were excellent. Second level, centre ice. Everything seemed so close yet we were high enough up that we could watch the play as it unfolded. When we took our seats (padded! What a luxury! Take note Australian stadiums) I took in the surroundings I'd seen on tv, movies and in video games countless times. Hanging in the rafters are championship banners for both the Rangers and the Knicks as well as the WNBA's New York Liberty and retired jersey numbers of such Ranger greats as Mark Messier and Mike Richter and Knicks legends like Patrick Ewing and Willis Reed. Elton John and Billy Joel also have numbers in the Garden's rafters, reflecting the venues musical heritage as well (12 for Billy Joel for his record 12 sold out Garden shows and 60 for Elton John on his 60th birthday).
The players enter the arena to a very loud 'Let's Go Rangers' chant from the audience, they have a quick skate around before the starters head to the blue lines and the rest head to the benches, save the opposing goalies for the night who move to their creases in front of goal for the singing of the Canadian and American national anthems. The Canadian anthem gets a very nice polite round of applause from the overwhemingly American crowd, but when the Star Spangled Banner begins to play, the crowd goes nuts, nearly raising the roof off the place.
The players head to their face off positions as the puck is dropped to begin the game. The first period is all Rangers, firing in eleven shots on goal without success, the speed at which the players from both sides glide up and down the ice is astonishing. Within the first 5-10 minutes, the crowd gets one of the things they came to see, a fight between two of the players. I. The NHL if you drop your gloves to the ice and square up with an opposing player, the refs will let you duke it out for a few minutes, much to the delight of the crowd. Zenon Konopra from the Sens squared off with Brandon Proust of the Rangers while teammates and referees stood and watched from centre ice. After the fisticuffs were complete both players were sent to the penalty box for five minutes each. Who won the fight? According to the fans in attendance and by the tweets being displayed on the big screen, Proust came out on top of his Ottawa opponent. The fans were buoyed by the strong first period showing of their boys and the chatter around me was that it was only a matter of time before the boys in blue lit the lamp.
After a break between periods which saw some youngsters from the New Jersey Bandits strut their stuff on the ice of the hallowed arena, period two began with a newly focused Ottawa team. Where the Rangers had things mostly their own way in the first stanza of play, the Senators tightened up their defense and their attack on the puck was brutal and relentless. They were rewarded just before the nine minute mark with a goal to centre Jason Spezza that flew past Rangers net minder Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers faithful were somewhat dismayed to see the Sens take the lead and attempted to lift their team by chanting 'Let's go Rangers' and the occasional 'Boston sucks' thrown in for good measure. Ottawa were not taking their foot of the peddle however and went into the second break holding their goal advantage.
The Rangers started the third period with an extra player on the ice due to a boarding penalty called against Chris Neil of the Senators late in the second. The Rangers power play however seemed tentative and a little sloppy. The Sens rode out the storm and thanks to goalie Craig Anderson's exceptional network kept the Rangers out until Ottawa scored again in the 13th minute. This was enough for some Rangers fans who started exiting the building or shouting abuse at their team ("whadda buncha chumps" "Ya got no hart Range-ahs!". It was only to get worse when the Sens scored a third time a few minutes later. Final score: Ottawa 3, NYR 0 on the back of Anderson's 34 saves and first shutout of the season.
After saying farewell to the people I sat next too during the game, a couple from New Jersey who, when questioned why they didn't follow the local New Jersey Devils simply answered "man, fuck the Devils! They're the bastard son ya know?" and were fascinated by both my accent and that I had only come across friendly New Yorkers, we headed out of the Garden. My first NHL match ended with the home side getting their win streak snapped. As an longtime fan of the sport, I loved the experience, the atmosphere and the passion of the New York crowd along with the mystique of the venue. So was my night cool as puck? You bet your pucking life it was.
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