Oh my goodness, how could I mention game six and leave out Matteau! Matteau! Matteau!
Devils/Rangers semifinals, game seven at the Garden. Rangers leading 1-0 most of the game, Devils tie it with six seconds left. Six freaking seconds! Valeri Zelepukin scored it, and it almost literally made me puke.
My mom, who was not the biggest sports fan but got caught up in the Stanley Cup run because of my dad, my brothers and me, is so mad she goes upstairs crying during intermission.
Devils/Rangers allegiance is 50/50 on the Jersey Shore, and even she doesn't want to hear from Devil fans if we lose.
One overtime, numerous chances each way. A couple of posts for each team, the goalies are somehow keeping their teams in it.
Another intermission. My mother is asleep. Downstairs we can't take it. Being Ranger fans we of course focus on the negative, and we talk about how painful the loss will be. Six freaking seconds away from advancing, and we don't. You always joke about winning and misery, and this is the ultimate example.
Into the second OT, Matteau circles the net on a wraparound and banks it in off Brodeur. Our house (not to mention all of NY and half of NJ) erupts. As my dad and brothers tackle each other, I go running upstairs to tell my mom. We have 12 stairs, I think my feet hit two or three of them at the most. Mom wakes up, now she's crying because we won.
It's around midnight, but the phone starts ringing and won't stop for hours. Outside you can hear fireworks and horns honking, and this is partly Devils territory. I can't imagine what it was like in Brooklyn, Queens, etc., let alone in the Garden itself.
The next day, people are calling WFAN, and women are comparing what they went through last night with giving birth. Men are calling and comparing it to being in Vietnam.
It was the ultimate changing of sports history.
Sandra