“POTVIN SUCKS!” and “TRADING PLACES”

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827. NEW YORK RANGERS VS NEW YORK ISLANDERS

FEBRUARY 25, 1979

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

QUALITY OF PLAY—7.24

DRAMA—6.49

STAR POWER—7.49

CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—6.06

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—8.88

LOCAL IMPACT—7.34

TOTAL: 43.50

It is always a powderkeg when the Rangers and Islanders get together in the rink. Well before 1979, the teams—and their fans—had established and fostered a healthy case of dislike with one another. But it was a relatively unimportant game played on Sunday night, February 25, 1979, that took the rivalry into the stratosphere of hate. 

The teams entered the game in different places. The unheralded Rangers were playing surprisingly strong hockey, while the Isles, in their third season of being the “team on the come,” were in an extended period of blah play. Despite superstar sniper Mike Bossy’s run of a goal in ten consecutive games, tying the modern NHL record, the Islanders were unhappy with their play over the previous six weeks, and pointed toward a confrontation with their midtown neighbors to jolt them from their lethargy. 

The defining moment of the game—and perhaps the entire Rangers-Islanders rivalry—came late in the first period. Ulf Nilsson of the Rangers—speedy, stylish, Swedish—skated to the dasher boards to grab a loose puck. His right leg got caught in a rut in the ice just before he was plastered into the wall by the great Islanders defenseman, Denis Potvin. Nilsson’s leg collapsed, and he lay in agony, clearly injured. His ankle was broken, his season over. 

It was a rather unfortunate, innocuous play, one blown well out of proportion by angry Rangers fans, who showered Potvin with boos. What is hardly remembered is that the rest of the game was an intense and rousing affair. 

“The first period was as exciting a period of hockey as any fan could wish to see,” thought Lawrie Mifflin in the Daily News. The Isles got a pair of power-play goals, while the Rangers countered with a brace of their own, the tying tally coming on a superb play by Don Maloney, who stole the puck from Bossy and snapped a shot past Chico Resch. 

Incredibly, the Islanders were held without a shot on goal for the entire second period, the first time that had happened in franchise history. The Rangers went ahead on a deflected goal by Dean Talafous in the period, and the Rangers D clamped down the rest of the way. Not only did Bossy not extend his goal streak and break the record, he was held without a single shot. The final was 3-2, Rangers.

“I don’t want to see anybody,” grumbled usually mild-mannered Islanders coach Al Arbour after the defeat. “It was a tester,” admitted team captain Bryan Trottier, “and we fell short. We aren’t going to win anything playing this way.”

“This was our biggest game of the year, and we flopped,” said Bossy. 

While the Islanders lamented the defeat, the Rangers rued the bigger picture and the loss of Nilsson. And while in the moment it was a signal win in a season that was among the Blueshirts’ best in franchise history, one that stopped their rival from setting a record, among other delights, it was Nilsson’s loss that would be the lone takeaway on their side of the street for years and years afterward. 

AFTERMATH:

It is, of course, the aftermath of this game that makes it so important in NYC sports lore. Ironically, the Rangers eliminated their suburban rivals that spring of 1979 in a hotly contested series, but lost in the Cup Finals to Montreal. The feeling was that a healthy Nilsson would have spelled the difference, a dubious conclusion—but then, hockey fans aren’t noted for cool rationalism. 

Going forward, Rangers fans, highly frustrated as their team could never seem to win a Cup, while the hated Islanders were winning four consecutive titles, took out their anger on Potvin. Not content with merely screaming invective at the Isles superstar, they rearranged “Let’s Go Band”, the simple organ tone commonly heard in most sporting venues, one with a 5-5-5-3 beat, and screamed “POT-VIN SUCKS” over that last stanza. It became so popular that it was regularly heard in the Garden even when the Islanders were not the opponents. The MSG majordomos actually ordered the ditty off the playlist in the mid-80s in order to quell the boorish behavior, but, undaunted, the blue seat crowd in the upper deck just whistled it in unison. There was even a record released by “Bobby NYSE and The Scrotums” that one could buy. Long after Potvin retired in 1988, the strains of “Potvin Sucks” could be heard at Rangers games. Not even winning it all at long last in 1994 could quell the chant. “Pot-vin Sucks” had taken on a life of its own.

WHAT THEY SAID:

“He was a great hockey player […] He was always fair. But the ice was never great in the Garden because they had basketball and other events. My foot got caught. It was a freak thing. The Ranger fans were so frustrated.”

—Ulf Nilsson

FURTHER READING:

Power On Ice by Denis Potvin

VIDEO:

826. MIGUEL COTTO VS SHANE MOSLEY

WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHT

NOVEMBER 10, 2007

MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

QUALITY OF PLAY—7.77

DRAMA—7.21

STAR POWER—8.24

CONTEMPORARY IMPORT—6.95

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE—6.71

LOCAL IMPACT—6.63

TOTAL: 43.51

“TRADING PLACES”

By 2007, Miguel Cotto had established himself not only as one of the top fighters in the sport, and among the most entertaining, with a mouthwatering blend of power and determination. He had also become an NYC favorite. The native Puerto Rican had won three fights already in the Mecca of Boxing, Madison Square Garden, including a defeat of local puncher Zab Judah in a potent display (see #925). At 30-0, he was highly marketable due to his brawling style; he was also a guaranteed draw at MSG thanks to the legion of fans he brought to the ring. 

So when Cotto announced he would defend his welterweight title against the renowned “Sugar” Shane Mosley, the man who had conquered Oscar de la Hoya for the lightweight title years earlier and was one of the sport’s sweetest talents, NYC fight fans drooled at the idea. Mosley held titles at one point or another in three weight classes, and was Ring Magazine Fighter of the Year in 2000 and 2001. True, Mosley was now 36, and had been beaten four times since dethroning de la Hoya (twice apiece to Vernon Forrest and Winky Wright), and not nearly the elite fighter he was. But at 44-4, and possessing a highly fluid style with power in both hands, he was a clear step up in class for Cotto. As Jim Lampley put it on HBO, “Beating Zab Judah was good. Beating Shane Mosley would be great.”

Mosley had fought at The Theater at MSG (formerly known as the Felt Forum and the Paramount Theater) but never in the big house, so this, amazingly enough, was his Garden debut. Meanwhile, Manny had turned Madison Square into his second home. 17,135 fans, most of the them Puerto Rican and pulling for Cotto, jammed the Garden on Saturday night, November 10, 2007, to root on their standard bearer. 

It was a classic “styles make fights” encounter between the younger, stronger Cotto and the quicksilver Sugar Shane, who at his best was Leonardesque in his ability to stick and move, hence the fight being billed as “Fast and Furious.” Despite having youth and the partisan crowd on his side, many experts felt the slicker, smarter Sugar would carry the fight and the day. But Cotto had trained to increase his quickness, and not be such an easy target for Mosley. His head movement was noticeably more active, and his footwork faster and more precise. He was working his jab heavily in the early rounds, surprising Mosley with his accuracy. 

But in the middle rounds, the fighters reverted to their best attributes. “Cotto settled into his destroyer mode,” wrote Tim Smith in the Daily News, and Mosley stayed outside, waiting for opportunities to counter. 

Mosley climbed up on Cotto in the tenth, and in an all-action round got the better of the exchanges. But Cotto responded in the eleventh with some trademark potent shots to the body. The final round was strategic, as Cotto sensed he was ahead. At one point, however, an accidental head butt by Mosley opened a cut over Cotto’s right eye. Blodd streamed down his face as he stayed a step ahead of Mosley’s charges, his improved mobility remaining to the final bell.

The final scores on the judge’s cards were 115-113, 115-113, 116-113, as Cotto took a unanimous decision, his fourth straight win at MSG. Close as that was, many impartial watchers, including Smith of the Daily News, felt it was even closer, with Mosley perhaps deserving of a draw. To his credit, Sugar didn’t make an issue of the decision after the fight, congratulating Cotto on the next step he had taken toward legendary status, calling Miguel a “young lion on the way to greatness.”

AFTERMATH:

Cotto’s aftermath was covered earlier on the list—and Sugar Shane’s was similar in that both were beaten by immortals Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, and stuck around long enough to see his reputation tarnished some in terms of all-time fighters. Mosley finished with a 49-10-1 record, which undersells his excellence at the height of his powers. 

WHAT THEY SAID:

“Miguel is very strong. He is a powerful pressure fighter but you know what? He’s an alright boxer. He mixes it up. He’s ready for greatness.”

—Shane Mosley

FURTHER READING:

Sugar Shane Mosley Retires by David Avila, The Sweet Science

VIDEO: