What I Learned From a 5x Stanley Cup Champ
It was another bright October afternoon in NYC.
I had just caught the Rangers play against the Minnesota Wild at Madison Square Garden the previous night.
The home team was boo’ed off the ice by a hostile crowd at the end of the second period trailing by 3-0.
Somehow the Rangers rallied back, turned the game around and won 5-4 after a spectacular third period that left everyone excited like a geek about tomorrow’s pop quiz (barring a few guys wearing Wild jerseys).
You rarely see New Yorkers take to the streets around Penn Station grinning as broadly as that eventful evening.
Photo credit: Liz Rios
Anyhoo, the following afternoon, I was waiting for my flight back home at JFK.
When I lifted my gaze up from the book I was reading to pass the time at the gate, I recognized a familiar face standing just a few feet away from me…
Former NHL player, Esa Tikkanen.
As we all remember from his successful years with the Oilers and Rangers, Tikkanen was being his usual self… yapping away non-stop.
Only this time he wasn’t doing it to get under the skin of Wayne, Stevie Y or Mario.
He was verbally sparring with some guy in the group he was hanging out with.
As they were going back and forth with their lighthearted chirping, Tikkanen played the ace card by referring to his nearly immortal status in Manhattan after winning the Rangers’ first Stanley Cup in 54 years (and his personal 5th) back in 1994:
“I’m still the only guy at this airport in possession of the city keys!”
That effectively shut the other dude up.
Just like Tikkanen shut his opponents down in the rink when the Cup was on the line.
He never topped any scoring charts.
Nor was he considered an offensive threat in a line-up with names like Gretzky, Messier, Anderson or Coffey responsible for producing goals.
But you won’t find a more versatile player in all of hockey history.
He could play on the first line and score a game-winner in the playoffs (as he did 11 times during his career)…
Or shadow the Great One or any other superstar into frustration, irritation, even agitation with the constant stream of Tikkanese (a combination of Finnish, Swedish, English and a few words he made up himself) flowing from his lips all at once…
And his level of competitiveness, as well as his ability to get the job done no matter his role pales in comparison to nobody.
If there’s one thing we can all learn from a player like Tikkanen, it’s this…
You don’t need to be the most skilled guy.
You don’t need to be the most talented guy.
And you don’t need to be the physically biggest guy to “make it”.
You just gotta be the dude that out-hustles everyone else in sight.
The dude who works his ass off to move forward.
Who does whatever it takes to get to the top.
Who won’t let anyone or anything stand between him and his dream.
That’s how you win, jefe.
And who knows, maybe one day you’ll have a Stanley Cup ring (or 5) to show for it…
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