If you ask any Ranger fan where the infamous "Potvin Sucks" chant originated, they'd actually have no idea where tell you that it started when Islander great Denis Potvin "blatantly" injured Ranger forward Ulf Nilsson in a game in February 1979.
Now imagine a type of check that'd leave an ENTIRE FAN BASE enraged for over 30 years. Hits similar to cheap shots like one's dealt out by Todd Bertuzzi or Tie Domi (note: although these two incidents were harsh and will never be forgotten by either fan base of the victim team, both victim team fan bases have NOT made "insert-players-name-here sucks" chants).
Okay. So we know it's going to be some type of vicious hit, most likely a cheap shot, that should be a textbook violation of an NHL rule.
Alright.
Brace yourselves.
It's about to get ugly.....
no...wait really...show me the hit that some Ranger fans have said, and I quote: "It was a dirty hit."
Show me the play that made Denis Potvin one of the most hated players in Blue Shirt Nation
Wow....
This is the hit that the Ranger fans will never forget. The hit that united the fan base in hatred over the perpetrator. The hit that ignorant Ranger fans, specifically the younger aged ones (and ones that never actually viewed the hit), have called "dirty"....
Now let me ask you something, audience. Would you view Denis Potvin's hit on Ulf Nilsson in 1979 a dirty hit?
To be honest with you, I've seen basketball players check harder than this.
This play was one that, in my opinion, symbolized the way things were going in New York around that time. The Rangers were scared for their Stanley Cup dreams by the upstart Islanders. The Islanders were a young team that was starting to terrorize the league including their neighbors. While I (and many other people in this country) will never be able to understand why the Rangers find this hit so atrocious, I do know this. The Islanders went on to win four straight Stanley Cups starting in the 1979-1980 season.
Denis Potvin will go down as one of the top defenseman in NHL history. He was close to a point a game in over 1,000 NHL games. He was on the Islanders through their four straight Cup wins and he played on the Island his whole career. He was reputably a strong player with a lot of offensive upside and took his fair share of penalties. He was a player who got in the other teams face and was effective through and through.
The fact that the Rangers chant "Potvin Sucks" 2 or 3 times a game is cute. It symbolizes their hatred for Potvin and it gets the fans involved in the game. However, it also symbolizes how effective Potvin was as a player. Not only was he able to hurt the Rangers on the ice with his scoring and hismonstrous hits soft hip checks along the boards, he also enraged their entire fan base. Until this day the Rangers chant his name. Just another accolade in a rather illustrious career.
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Now imagine a type of check that'd leave an ENTIRE FAN BASE enraged for over 30 years. Hits similar to cheap shots like one's dealt out by Todd Bertuzzi or Tie Domi (note: although these two incidents were harsh and will never be forgotten by either fan base of the victim team, both victim team fan bases have NOT made "insert-players-name-here sucks" chants).
Okay. So we know it's going to be some type of vicious hit, most likely a cheap shot, that should be a textbook violation of an NHL rule.
Alright.
Brace yourselves.
It's about to get ugly.....
no...wait really...show me the hit that some Ranger fans have said, and I quote: "It was a dirty hit."
Show me the play that made Denis Potvin one of the most hated players in Blue Shirt Nation
Wow....
This is the hit that the Ranger fans will never forget. The hit that united the fan base in hatred over the perpetrator. The hit that ignorant Ranger fans, specifically the younger aged ones (and ones that never actually viewed the hit), have called "dirty"....
Now let me ask you something, audience. Would you view Denis Potvin's hit on Ulf Nilsson in 1979 a dirty hit?
To be honest with you, I've seen basketball players check harder than this.
This play was one that, in my opinion, symbolized the way things were going in New York around that time. The Rangers were scared for their Stanley Cup dreams by the upstart Islanders. The Islanders were a young team that was starting to terrorize the league including their neighbors. While I (and many other people in this country) will never be able to understand why the Rangers find this hit so atrocious, I do know this. The Islanders went on to win four straight Stanley Cups starting in the 1979-1980 season.
Denis Potvin will go down as one of the top defenseman in NHL history. He was close to a point a game in over 1,000 NHL games. He was on the Islanders through their four straight Cup wins and he played on the Island his whole career. He was reputably a strong player with a lot of offensive upside and took his fair share of penalties. He was a player who got in the other teams face and was effective through and through.
The fact that the Rangers chant "Potvin Sucks" 2 or 3 times a game is cute. It symbolizes their hatred for Potvin and it gets the fans involved in the game. However, it also symbolizes how effective Potvin was as a player. Not only was he able to hurt the Rangers on the ice with his scoring and his
Please visit The Hockey Writers for more!
