Messier On The Ice

The Rangers were in Joisey, the series three to two;
The Blueshirts had the downside, hoping to squeeze through.
The guys were down and quite outplayed, the moment was not right;
But Captain Courageous took center stage, saying "We will win tonight!"

The papers were astounded, the public became aghast,
Skeptics thought "He's crazy! His luck could never last."
But true fans knew the story, they knew it could be nice;
They knew their team could win -- with Messier on the ice.

Ten thousand eyes were on him when he stepped into the rink.
Five thousand tongues applauded as he took a little drink.
They watched him very closely as he took a warm-up shot.
The crowd would not stop screaming; He approached the face-off dot.

His team got off to a real slow start, trailing two to one;
They looked listless, tired and flat, not having any fun.
Filled with fear and agony, fans began to shake and shiver;
What helped them stop was the hope that Mighty Messier would deliver.

Now they've entered period three, the fans were quite astounded;
Their team, the best in the NHL, seemingly was confounded.
They seemed to be quite listless, their desire not quite high;
But all the desire in the world sparkled in the Captain's eye.

His line advanced on the Devils' zone with one thing on their minds:
To score a goal, for there's no doubt, this time they'll not be denied.
Kovalev feeds a pass to Messier, right to his backhand side;
He shoots, he SCORES, the crowd erupts; for now the score is tied.

The thousands screaming in the stands, their hopes shining bright;
They knew one thing, they had no doubt, it was Messier's night.
But still they knew, though tried to forget, there was much more to go
Before the shirts and souvenirs, before the champagne flow.

Alexei Kovalev gained the zone, then wound to shoot the puck.
His shot was hard, straight and true, but still he had no luck.
The goalie made the stop this time, pushing the rebound to the side;
Mighty Messier came swooping through, and swatted the puck into the net with pride.

The fans let up a mighty roar; they said, "Our wish came true!"
Mighty Mess has scored a deuce, the score was now three to two.
But as the captain skated `round, he clearly wasn't done;
He motioned to the crowd as if to say, "Stay to watch the fun."

Some time went by, the clock ticked down, the Devils pulled their keeper.
I guess they just wanted to dig their hole a little deeper.
Messier controlled the puck, and then he took his shot;
And then the net was jostled, though it didn't move a lot...

And somewhere in this favored land, young birds try to fly;
Somewhere people cuss and fight, somewhere others cry.
And somewhere children laugh and play, and others get set free.
But there is no joy in Joisey -- Mighty Messier has scored three!


Written By Ken Speich, February 1995