Pacioretty embraces the crowd buzz at MSG
Growing up in Connecticut, Habs captain loved going to Midtown to take in a game
“Welcome to Madison Square Garden, the world’s most famous arena!”
That’s how the public address announcer welcomed fans before Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarter-final series between the Montreal Canadiens and
New York Rangers on Sunday, and they’ll likely hear it again when the Canadiens look to build on their 2-1 lead in Game 4 on Tuesday.
There’s no doubt MSG is a special arena and a unique place to watch a hockey game. Where else can you still hear a derisive chant about a player who retired 29 years ago? Sure enough, the “Potvin sucks!” chant was heard a few times from the upper deck during the Canadiens’ 3-1 win on Sunday.
The “Potvin sucks!” chant is directed at former New York Islanders captain Denis Potvin. The chant started after Potvin put what would be a careerending hit on the Rangers’ Ulf Nilsson on Feb. 25, 1979. Many Rangers fans who have kept the chant alive weren’t even born when Potvin retired.
Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty grew up in Connecticut as a Rangers fan and used to go to games at MSG as a kid. He was born a few months after Potvin retired.
“I remember everything about (the chant) and the whistling,” Pacioretty said Monday after the Canadiens cancelled a scheduled practice at MSG. “Did they say it last game?”
Yes, they did.
“I didn’t see Dancing Larry, though,” Pacioretty said with a smile.
Dancing Larry is a bald Rangers fan who fires up the fans at MSG with his moves while Strike it Up by Black Box blares over the speakers.
When asked what his favourite childhood memory is of MSG, Pacioretty didn’t hesitate: “Dancing Larry … always Dancing Larry.”
Dancing Larry hasn’t had much to dance about this season when the Habs come to town. The Canadiens beat the Rangers both times they met at MSG in the regular season and the Blueshirts have lost their last six home playoff games.
The Canadiens were able to take the crowd out of Game 3 despite some prompting from tennis legend John McEnroe to fire the fans up on the giant screen. There was one fan in the upper deck who started chanting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” during the second intermission, presumably unaware the Canadiens captain is American.
The Rangers were the best road team in the NHL during the regular season with a 27-12-2 record, but surprisingly were only 21-16-4 at home.
“They have great support from their crowd,” Pacioretty said. “Our job is to try and limit that as much as possible, and we saw that in the first game here.”
Pacioretty played for the first time at MSG when he was an 11-year-old in the Junior Rangers program.
“It was always special,” Pacioretty said. “We did it two years in a row. It’s weird, I guess, that it was before I was professional, especially in a building like this, but it was a lot of fun.”
MSG has changed since Pacioretty was a kid with some major renovations, but it’s still a New York landmark.
“Coming here as a kid … the whole experience of taking the train in, sometimes taking the subway in … the whole experience of being in Manhattan to see a hockey game or a concert, it meant a lot to me growing up,” Pacioretty said. “So it’s cool to be able to play in this place.”
Canadiens defenceman Jordie Benn grew up in Victoria, but he used the word “awesome” to describe playing at MSG.
“It’s a great buzz here,” he said. “Obviously this arena is pretty famous, and it’s nice to be in New York and playing hockey.”