Still going and going and going Mark Messier is the Duracell battery of the NHL – no player looks like him or lasts like him. The Rangers' captain has been scaring NHL opponents and goaltenders alike with his menacing glare and offensive touch for 25 years now and shows no signs of slowing down. Even though he doesn't log the same number of minutes or pile up points like he used to, Messier has proven that he still can get the job done. "I am feeling good and I think that I've had a few bumps and bruises through the first half of the season but nothing too serious," Messier said. "That, obviously, is a big help -- playing with not a lot of injuries.
"We have a lot of players on the team that can play a lot of minutes and trying to disperse that and find the players that are playing the best any given night is what's important for our team. And as far as I'm concerned, I didn't have any expectations going into the season. So whatever role the team needs me to play, I'm willing to do that." The six-time Stanley Cup winning center has reached some significant milestones in the first half of the 2003-04 season. On November 4, 2003 against Dallas, the 43-year old pivot notched a pair of goals to pass Hall of Famer Gordie Howe and move into sole possession of second place on the NHL's all-time points list with 1,851. Later in the month, Messier continued to rewrite the record book by moving past Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux into seventh place on the NHL's all-time goals list (684) by scoring a shorthanded goal against the Blackhawks on Nov. 16. The Rangers' captain also added another milestone in the 2-2 tie with Chicago, moving past Ray Bourque for third place on the NHL's all-time assists list (1,170) after setting up Chris Simon's game-tying goal.
"I don't think anybody really comes into the League thinking they are going to play 20 years," Messier said. "I know when I came in the League, my focus was on trying to first of all make the team. "Then once you establish yourself as a player, you try to figure out how to win a Stanley Cup. And so that's a focus as a young player coming to the League and trying to be a part of a winning team -- and not how long you're going to play or how many goals you're going to score or things like that. As the years have gone by, it's just seemed to add up, but that certainly wasn't my intention as a youngster coming into the League." Whether it was his intention or not to pass Howe, No. 11 is now the NHL's second leading scorer behind his former teammate and close friend, Wayne Gretzky. "Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe are pretty synonymous with each other, The Great One and Mr. Hockey," Messier said. "I guess to put myself in a position to pass him, I think it's just due to longevity, good fortune and tremendous people around me and being able to play for a while and individual statistics are to accumulate. But it wasn't something I set out to do."
The Rangers will gladly take the offense Messier has been giving them from the start of the season. The second-oldest player in the League behind New Jersey's Igor Larionov has been able to put up the points no matter who he jumps over the boards with. Whether he's on a line with rugged wingers like Chris Simon and Matthew Barnaby or offensive players like Alex Kovalev and Jamie Lundmark, Messier always seems to come through. "I've always been a little bit of a streaky scorer and got hot early in the season," Messier said. "I think Simon and Barnaby and I were thrown together in training camp and had all training camp to play together and found some chemistry and success early in the season. I’ve always been a bit of a streaky scorer, I don't really have any explanation for it." After all these seasons of success, none is required. |
