Mark Messier

When the Islanders played the Edmonton Oilers for the second time in the Stanley Cup finals in 1984, we Islander fans (I was an Islander fan then, before they became too painful and inept to watch in the 90's) thought it would be a repeat of the '83 finals. Sure the Oilers had Gretzky, Anderson, Coffey, Messier, and Kurri. But we had Potvin, Trottier, Bossy, and Billy Smith. Sure they were quicker than the Islanders, but they certainly weren't smarter, and frankly, they played suspect team defense. The Oiler philosophy up 'til that point was to win by outscoring the opposition. Even Gretzky once said that it was more fun to win a game by a score of 10-8 than 2-1. That may have been the case, but you can't win Stanley Cups that way. And the Edmonton Oilers, with that attitude going into the '83 finals, didn't. Islander goalie Billy Smith said at the time that he thought Gretzky was a great player, but that one day he was going to grab him, skate him down the ice, and introduce him to his goalie. Funny as the comment was at the time, Smith wasn't joking.

The Islanders swept the Oilers four straight in that '83 Stanley Cup final, winning their fourth straight Stanley Cup. Gretzky said that the moment he was dreading more than anything after Game 4 was walking by the Islanders locker-room celebration. Walking out with defenseman Kevin Lowe, both young Oilers witnessed something they didn't quite expect. Far from seeing an ebullient, joyous celebration, the Islander locker-room was muted. Coming into view, they saw Denis Potvin with an ice-pack on his shoulder, Clark Gillies getting a gash under his eye treated, Bryan Trottier getting his head iced. It was as if the entire Islander team were being treated for injuries of some sort or another. Kevin Lowe turned to Gretzky and said, "That's what it takes to win championships." The Islanders got in front of every slapshot, even if it broke a rib. They dove for every loose puck. They finished every check, knowing that more times than not vicious body-checks are sometimes as painful to give as they are to receive. They paid the price. Messier saw the scene in the Islander locker-room, too. All the Oilers did; they couldn't help but see it, for to get to the exit, it couldn't be bypassed.

The next year, the '84 finals, went down much differently. The Oilers won Game 1 by a score of 1-0; a journeyman plug by the name of Kevin McClelland scored the lone Oiler goal. I had a feeling this was a bad omen; the Oilers had won a game the way the Islanders usually won...by grinding it out. The Oilers had learned their lesson now. They were willing to take the puck in the ribs, the elbows in the face, and dive for every loose puck. They were beating the Isles at their own game. It was a major turning point. The Isles took Game 2 handily, but even that game didn't give the appearance that the Islanders had taken control. They hadn't. Game 3 was in Edmonton, and it was in that game that I started to get an idea of who Mark Messier was. He was something to behold. Down 2-1, Messier, now playing center instead of his normal left-wing position, bore down on Islander defenseman Gord Dineen. He wove in and out with tremendous agility and speed, then gained the inside of the ice from Dineen on the left side of the ice, and let loose the fastest, cleanest, and most accurate wrist shot I'd ever seen. Putting it down low into the bottom right of the net, I had a feeling that this was the end of the Islanders....and it was only Game 3. The Oilers wound up blowing out the Isles that game by a score of 7-2. They did it again in Game 4 by the same score. The coup de grace, Game 5, they won with a resounding 5-2 score. Held scoreless for most of the series, Gretzky was not a huge factor in the '84 finals. Messier was. And though Gretzky was the no.1 center on the Oilers, it was Messier who took the draws against the Isles no.1 line center, the great Bryan Trottier. Winning most of the draws, scoring all the important goals, out-hustling, and physically beating Trottier was a pretty damn amazing accomplishment. All of 23 at the time, Messier beat the virtually unbeatable Trottier in virtually every department. The torch had been passed.

Messier went on to win five Stanley Cups with the Oilers, one of which was after Gretzky got traded to the Los Angeles Kings. He did the unthinkable in New York, leading the oft-futile Rangers to a Stanley Cup in 1994. His performance in Game 6 of the conference semi-finals that year was the greatest clutch performance of any player I've ever witnessed or read about in any sport. Joe Namath might've guaranteed the Jets would win Super Bowl III, but he didn't make that guarantee in the 3rd quarter down 14 points. Conversely, Mark Messier guaranteed that the Rangers would go out in win Game 6 against the Devils. The Rangers had just dropped two previous games and were on the verge of elimination. They looked and played like sh*t, but Messier said the right thing. On the front page of the New York Post it blared Messiers clarion call. I remember it well: "Captain Courageous Predicts: We'll Win Tonight". Then he went out and scored three of four Ranger goals that night, and the one goal he didn't score he assisted on. It defied explanation, and appeared almost super-human. He almost single-handedly fulfilled his own prediction. Unbelievable.

Messier retires with the second highest point total in NHL history, second only to the Great Gretzky. While not as naturally talented or poised as Gretzky, Messier possessed skills that Gretzky did not. Former NHL defenseman Ric Nattress put it best when describing Messier: "Big. Strong. Fast. Great shot. Physical. Mean. Durable. Great leader. What else could you possibly ask for in any individual? Twenty years ago when he broke into this league, Mark Messier was the prototype for a franchise player. And he'll continue to be the prototype. Today, tomorrow and a hundred years from now."