As the Rangers celebrate their Centennial this season, the organization will hold several nights that honors the team’s storied history and connects generations of players and fans together.
Throughout the last century, the Blueshirts have also held different ceremonies that honored their past. One of those memorable nights occurred 25 years ago – on October 11, 2000 – as the franchise celebrated the start of its 75th Anniversary season.
The Rangers’ home opener for the 2000-01 season was against the Montreal Canadiens, and even though the team’s white uniform at that time was worn at home, the Blueshirts wore their blue uniforms – which they had worn when they played their first game on November 16, 1926, against the Montreal Maroons – for the contest. During the pre-game ceremony, the Rangers welcomed back some of the greatest players and coaches in franchise history, including the “G-A-G Line” of Vic Hadfield, Jean Ratelle, and Rod Gilbert, Eddie Giacomin, Harry Howell, Andy Bathgate, Brad Park, Ron Greschner, Dave Maloney, Steve Vickers, Walt Tkaczuk, Chuck Rayner, Gump Worsley, Mike Keenan, and Emile Francis, as well as Clint Smith, who played on the Rangers’ 1940 Stanley Cup Championship team.
In addition to honoring the legends that had graced The Garden ice previously, the evening was made extra special by the return of Mark Messier in a Rangers uniform. Messier had signed with the Rangers as a free agent prior to the start of the 2000-01 season, rejoining the team he had captained from 1991-92 through 1996-97. Messier did not play in a pre-season game at MSG that year, which only added to the excitement of the night.
“Leading up to it (with) all the hype going into the game, I was feeling pretty good,” Messier said when reflecting on that night. “I wasn’t really too restless in the afternoon of the game, and I was concentrating on what I was going to do on the ice more so than all the things that were going around off the ice.
“Then, just before I was the last player introduced, all of a sudden it felt like someone punched me right in the stomach; it hit me all at once that this was the start of another go-around here in New York. I got pretty excited going on (the ice) when I was introduced.”
After the alumni were on the ice, the 2000-01 Rangers were introduced one-by-one, with Messier entering last as the team captain. His introduction led to an enormous ovation from The Garden Faithful, who were ecstatic about seeing their hero back wearing a red, white, and blue jersey with the number 11 on the back and sleeves and the “C” on the front.
After the memorable ceremony, the game unfolded as the Rangers would have hoped. Radek Dvorak – the right wing of the “Czechmates” line with left wing Jan Hlavac and center Petr Nedved – scored two goals in the contest. In between Dvorak’s goals, Messier scored what would be the game-winner, as his pass from behind the goal line caromed into the net off Canadiens defenseman Eric Weinrich less than a minute into the third period.
It was a 3-1 victory for the Rangers at The Garden that night, but it was an evening that meant so much more.
“I think that it’s special for the players of this year’s edition of the Rangers to get a sense of what it means to be a Ranger,” Messier said at the time.
That sentiment remains true for the 2025-26 Rangers, and for all players who are fortunate to have the privilege of putting on a Rangers sweater.
