These Rangers Get It...

Although I have been a Rangers' fan forever, I have not always liked some of their teams, for instance the Eric Lindros and Bobby Holik years, which were thankfully brief. But these guys are definitely likeable which makes me want to root for them even harder. This is a great article that I got permission to republish here from the author, Warren Alber of The Post Star in Glens Falls, NY. The Blueshirts were up in Lake George for some team bonding before the beginning of the season. If all professional athletes were like this what a wonderful world this would be. Enjoy!

Hockey With A Heart: Team Stops Bus After Boy Misses Out On Getting Autographs

By WARREN ALBER, alber@poststar.comWednesday, October 04, 2006

LAKE GEORGE -- Ayden Murphy thought making up a story about why he was absent from Mrs. Wykes' third-grade class at Hudson Falls Primary School on Tuesday might be necessary, because the truth, he said, is unbelievable. Murphy, an 8-year-old hockey fan who roots for the New York Rangers, went to the Lake George Forum on Tuesday with his mom, Jessica, to watch their favorite team practice.

Jessica had thought ahead and washed Ayden's authentic New York Rangers jersey, which Ayden had worn during his Adirondack Youth Hockey Association team practices, hoping Ayden might be able to get an autograph, any autograph, on it. They waited in the lobby when the players filed by going into practice, but he was not able to get a signature. They waited in a cluster of fans near the player exits, and got lost in the shuffle of other autograph seekers.

In one last-ditch effort, they scrambled out to the parking lot, and Ayden waited with his mom near the team bus. After he finally made it to the front of the line, Ayden's hopes were dashed when the doors closed and the bus started pulling away. His jersey didn't even have a scribble on it." We just wanted to get one autograph," Jessica Murphy said." He would have been happy with one."Jessica was trying to console her son, his head on her shoulder, when suddenly the bus stopped, and New York Rangers head coach Tom Renney stepped out." He came off the bus and he was like, 'Young man, come here,' and he was looking right at Ayden," Jessica Murphy said." I told Ayden, 'Go,' and he took him right on the bus."

"I thought they were going to take me to New York City, and I was ready to go," Ayden said. Once inside, Ayden walked down the aisle of the bus, and each and every player on the team signed his jersey.

"I saw the bus stop," Lake George Forum Hockey and Ice Program Manager Tara McMillen said," and then a bunch of people came in saying, 'You wouldn't believe what the Rangers just did.' But I believe it. "That organization's wonderful. If they weren't Rangers fans, they are now."

The Murphys are Rangers fans, and Ayden has a keepsake -- and a story to tell his classmates that he could not make up.

"We're going to go out and get a frame for it, and I'm going to hang it in my room," Ayden said." And tomorrow, when I get to school, I'm going to tell everybody just what I did -- I got on the bus and got everybody's autograph."