New York Rangers: Remembering their reaction to September 11

The saddest monumental event of most of our lifetimes marks a solemn anniversary. How did the New York Rangers play into the city’s recovery?

Numerous stories have been told about how sports helped the New York area, and a nation, recover from the events on Sept. 11, 2001. The stories of the New York Yankees run to the 2001 World Series and Mike Piazza’s home run for the Mets are priceless. Piazza’s home run came in the first regular-season sporting event held in the city since the attacks, but it wasn’t the first professional sporting event. That distinction belongs to the New York Rangers.

The role the Rangers played in the immediate aftermath of the city is somewhat overlooked in comparison to the city’s baseball counterparts. They played the city’s first professional game, but the team was in the area prior to that. That eventful day was supposed to be the day the Rangers began training camp for the 2001-02 season.

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Rick Carpiniello of USA Today Sports was covering the Rangers that day. He explains the decision to hold training camp at MSG was to allow fans to attend and watch in the midst of the Rangers playoff drought.

While Mid Town Manhattan was in a state of panic, shock, and sadness that day, Carpinello says the Rangers themselves were almost even closer to the tragedy.

Actually, the team was planning to stay at the World Trade Center Marriott, but because of some kind of snafu, they had to move to a midtown hotel.

Not only were the Rangers the first New York team to play again in New York, but they were also the first New York team to play. The start of the NHL season was delayed as a result.

A week after the attacks, the team flew to Detroit for a preseason matchup, before a preseason match up full of emotion at Madison Square Garden. The same place players, reporters, and fans were huddled hearing the life-changing news, the Rangers were to play a tilt against their cross-river rivals, the New Jersey Devils.

Although not located in the city, the Devils share the same market and were not removed from the tragedy. It was almost poetic justice these would be the two teams having their fans care about hockey, even if just for a little while. While outside the Garden doors were uncertainty and sadness, the ice inside was cold and ready for a face-off.

It was at this game that the now immortal image of Mark Messier donning a New York Firefighters cap was taken. The picture has stood as perhaps hockey’s defining image of the 21st century, ranking higher in memory than cup championship and improbable goals. Almost lost is the fact that his jersey does not spell “Rangers”, but instead “New York”.

Little known fact is that it wasn’t just any firefighter’s helmet that found Messier’s head that night. It was the helmet that belonged to Chief Ray Downey. Downey was a beloved and longtime member of the FDNY Ice Hockey team, as well as one of the 343 firefighters to lose their lives on Sept. 11.

His memory lives on through perhaps the most defining image of Messier’s career. The FDNY Ice Hockey Team later retired Downey’s number 9 jersey, and a charity and scholarship were set up in his name.

As the city went forward and continued to heal, the Rangers were unable to end their playoff drought. The 2001-02 Rangers finished 11th in the Eastern Conference and seven points out of a playoff spot. At the annual “Blueshirts off our Backs” night, Messier presented Downey’s family with his jersey, providing a fitting bookend to the end of the season, even without a playoff spot.

In the years following, the New York Rangers have made it a point to have their young prospects visit the 9/11 site and 9/11 Museum to pay their respects and realize how important the city they serve is. This follows in the footsteps of them Rangers Messier and Mike Richter, who themselves were two of the first athletes to visit the site after the attack.

While the Rangers stars of tomorrow likely have little or no recollection of the event (prized prospect Kaapo Kakko was born the February prior), it is important that they, like the rest of us, never forget.