Goodbye, Mess!

Wednesday night could very well have been the last time Mark Messier played at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers finish their 7th consecutive dismal season on the road, and it’s a sad finish for the man once known as the “messiah” of New York.Messier was the consummate leader as well as a winner, and brought both of those qualities with him when he joined the Rangers in 1991. His impact was felt immediately, and the Rangers fortunes soon improved.

No one will ever forget his Namathian prediction prior to Game Six of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the Devils. To predict a victory, and then score a hat-trick himself truly cemented legend status to an already legendary character.

A few weeks later, when Messier lifted the Stanley Cup for the Rangers - their only Cup victory in the last 64 years - his legacy was complete. He will always be a New York sports icon, despite the fact that he began his career in Edmonton, or that he spent a “long-weekend”-like three seasons in Vancouver.

New York belonged to Messier, and Messier will always belong to New York.