Rangers throw big party for 1994 Stanley Cup champions

The aura and accomplishment of what 1994 means to the Rangers and their fan base somehow may only have grown in stature over the past quarter-century.

At least it sounded that way for those who broke the franchise’s 1940 hex by finally hoisting the Stanley Cup that June, and for those in attendance at the Garden on Friday night for the 25th anniversary celebration while awaiting what would be just the Blueshirts’ second championship in nearly eight decades.

“For me, I didn’t realize that Madison Square Garden holds 2 million people. I’ve talked to 2 million different people the last 25 years that were there that night. It never gets old,” former Rangers captain Mark Messier joked of June 14, 1994. “It’s incredible. The memories, you never get tired of people in the street or the subway or the train or the taxi drivers, that recognize the guys or myself and thank us for the Cup. I don’t think it ever gets old.

“Maybe it is growing even bigger now because it was such an amazing accomplishment, and the way we won, with the kind of character guys that we won with and the relationship we had with our fan base and the city. All that combined, and ending a 54-year-old drought, I think the fans were really proud of our team and there was a good relationship there and they celebrated with us.”

Messier received the most thunderous applause when introduced during the 45-minute pregame ceremony ahead of Friday’s game against Carolina. The Captain generated several more ovations as the lone member of that team to address the crowd when he mentioned the deaths of former teammate Alexander Karpovtsev, NYPD officer Steven McDonald and Viktor Smith, the son of former general manager Neil Smith, who shared with The Post’s Larry Brooks on Friday that his son had taken his own life in September.

“We were not a group, we were not a team, we were a family,” Messier told the crowd.

Indeed, that unmistakably was the relationship the ’94 Rangers fostered with each other and the city throughout that spring — which featured a sweep of the rival Islanders, a seven-game vanquishing of the Devils culminated by Stephane Matteau’s double-overtime goal and another Game 7 victory over Vancouver in the Finals.

Messier had been obtained in 1991 from Edmonton, where he already had won five Stanley Cup titles, ostensibly to end the title drought. The Rangers stumbled and missed the playoffs in 1993, but Mike Keenan replaced the fired Roger Neilson as head coach and Smith made several key acquisitions at the trade deadline — including Matteau — to fortify the roster en route to securing the organization’s elusive title.

“I think for me there was no escaping the pressure of 1940,” Messier said. “Coming here and understanding what an Original Six franchise was and all the history, there was no escaping it. The pressure was real — from the fans and the organization — and I felt it, for sure.”

Hall of Fame defenseman Brian Leetch, who was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as postseason MVP, and goalie Mike Richter said they never had thought of the drought in those terms until Messier and several other former Oilers arrived in New York.

“I think Kevin Lowe said it really well at one point, he came in from Edmonton and said, ‘Look at the upside,’ ” Richter said. “Somewhere along that year, it started feeling like we were thinking more about the upside than adding another year to it. It was a whole different perspective that guys who’d been through it brought.”

During training camp, Keenan and assistant coach Colin Campbell had shown a compilation of other New York teams and various other celebrities riding in parades up the Canyon of Heroes. The team used that as motivation all season, according to Richter.

“It’s amazing because that’s exactly where we ended up at the end of the year, the Canyon of Heroes,” Richter said. “As crazy as it looked on film, it was even more wild in real life.”

Twenty five years later, the Rangers and their fans are waiting to experience that feeling again.

“I would say when you’re in New York, there’s not a day that goes by that you don’t run into someone or be reminded about it,” Adam Graves said. “Back then you’d never think that we could have been impacted the way we have been. It’s special and we’re been very fortunate to be a part of it.”