Former Rangers goalie Mike Richter was a big reason the team won the Stanley Cup in 1994. It's a moment New Yorkers and Rangers fans will cherish forever.
Getting it done in New York is as special as it gets. Richter joined 'Boomer & Gio' in studio Thursday on WFAN to talk about that special team.
"There's never a bad place to win a championship. I don't care where you are. You pick the smallest city in North America. It's a great thing to do is win. There's not a better place to win than New York. This is the place," Richter told the guys.
"That year, it was before the media that they have now, but we had an old VHS tape of the Mets victory parade and kind of super imposed pictures and images of the Rangers and just help the guys visualize what this is going to look like. I mean it gave you goosebumps. You can't help but say 'my god, what would it be like if Leech and I, could you imagine winning here?' For the excitement that's in the locker room that's one thing, you could never envision it. When we left Madison Square Garden for that parade, the whole bus went quiet. There were like four buses going down there. I had no clue it was going to be that big. It was a roar of a crowd. People standing at attention. Place bleeds with you. There's not more passionate fans. I think people do come here with trepidation and a big scary city. The people are unbelievable. They got huge hearts. They expect greatness and they demand that. That's cool to be a part of."
The Rangers brought in a hard-nosed head coach in Mike Keenan, who made a huge difference in the culture of team, turning them into a champion.
"It was the exact right guy at the right time," Richter said. "We had a really talented team that had won the league championship two years ago and then missed out on the playoffs. You're not fulfilling your potential. It's like, enough of the coddling. We're going to get a general in here and you're either going to sink or swim. That's exactly what Keenan was. He had a reputation coming in. He didn't create this persona in New York. He was ugly coming in. We knew it. We kind of embraced it. We said you better have enough motivation to demand that of yourself and not be scared of someone else demanding it. You better have more demand on your own than someone from outside. So Keenan was like good, make us hard.
"Our practices were so intense and so hard and demand was so high that games became a little bit easier. We just felt like the toughest opponent we're going to have is our own self. Keenan would come in there and you would walk away from a game and say 'hey I stopped 30 shots.' He was like 'what were you doing on that second goal? That was BS.' He would make you better. You would want to kill him, but he would make you better. Walking away, guys wanted to poke his eye out, but he delivered a championship. He's friends to this day. I respect the hell out of him for that."
Richter will be joining his former '94 Rangers teammates on June 30 for an event to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the team with iPlay America in New Jersey.