Before the New York Rangers even played a game in the franchise's most memorable season, they gathered for a video session that was intended to manifest their forthcoming greatness.

"That 1993-94 season, we started out with a film of the parade of the Canyon of Heroes," goalie Mike Richter recalled on a recent phone call with lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network. "It was kind of spliced in with some of the highlights from the Rangers, but it was the Mets' parade from ‘86 that we were watching. It sort of helped drive home the enormity of winning in a place like New York City. I thought, as great as that looked, it was hard to imagine how amazing it is in real life."

Winning a Stanley Cup seemed out of reach in that moment − for the players, yes, but especially for Rangers' fans given the 54 years that had passed since the last championship in 1940.

But on June 14, 1994 − exactly 30 years ago Friday − the curse was broken.

A special cast of characters led by Richter, team captain Mark Messier and Conn Smythe Award winner Brian Leetch made it happen, forever etching their names in NHL − and New York − history.

"There was an was incredible feeling of hunger, anticipation, passion – all the words that you can describe a Ranger fan with," Messier said. "It was evident from the time I put the sweater on (at my introductory press conference) in Montreal and came home from my first game. It's one of the reasons I was so happy to come to New York. ... There was that pressure on the team and there was a hunger and the fan base cared. It mattered."

Messier described it as "an emotional connection" between players and fans, with years of pent-up frustration driving those '93-94 Rangers to new heights.

They couldn't go anywhere in the New York area without the title drought coming up, whether it was relaxing in Central Park, going out to restaurants or carousing around the city.

It made winning that much sweeter, with a similar thirst building among the Blueshirts' faithful now that the most recent dry spell has reached three decades.

"We lived in the city, and so, in your condo, you're going up and down in the elevators and people would remind you," Leetch said. "Honestly, it didn't add any more pressure. I just looked at it as a unique opportunity. If we didn't win every year and it kept going, you just join a list of teams that were maybe not good enough to get there, or were good enough and didn't accomplish it. So, there were plenty of players that you're joining if you didn't succeed. I looked at it as, ‘Can you imagine if we're on the team that wins?’"

'The truth hurts'

To scale that daunting mountain, the Rangers first needed to stumble and learn from the resulting battle scars.

"I played 25 years in the National Hockey League," said Messier, who's currently covering the 2024 Stanley Cup Final as the lead NHL analyst for ESPN. "I'm considered a winner because we won six Stanley Cups. The other 19 years I lost, and every one of those years was incredibly disappointing, but also a chance to understand where I was as a teammate, where I was as a player, and what I needed to improve on. So, those 19 years weren’t wasted. They actually made me a better player."

The growing process began with Leetch, Richter and other young talents breaking in during the late-1980s to lay the foundation, but it took off when general manager Neil Smith executed the 1991 trade to acquire Messier from the Edmonton Oilers.

"It starts from Messier," Leetch said. "He was the focal point of our locker room and the way to do things and the will to win. Guys like myself and (Adam Graves) and Richter, even though all three of us played different positions, we wanted to win as bad as he did. We were looking for someone to follow, and he was the perfect guy to just watch the way he goes about business, listen to the way he talks in groups and the way he treats people in the organization. It was a great thing for us."

The Rangers captured the Presidents' Trophy with the league's best record in Messier's first season, 1991-92, but were eliminated in the second round by the eventual champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

The disappointment of the following season was even more stinging, with the Blueshirts finishing below .500 and missing the postseason entirely in 1992-93.

"The truth hurts sometimes, and you’ve got to address it," Messier said. "In a way, hopefully, it makes a team more determined."

The Rangers responded with championship resolve, which Smith bolstered with a series of shrewd − and risky − deals to create what Leetch described as "a core group of professionals that the younger guys could look up to."

That included trades to acquire battle-hardened veterans such as Glenn Anderson, Steve Larmer, Kevin Lowe, Craig MacTavish, Stephane Matteau and Esa Tikkanen. It required selling off valuable pieces, including dynamic young scorer Tony Amonte, all-star winger Mike Gartner and future Hall of Famer Doug Weight. But those gutsy moves helped achieve the ultimate goal.

"We started getting all the puzzle pieces together in the couple of years before we did win," Richter said. "You have to have players that take that responsibility to go and get that big goal and have the staying power of a team that plays the right way."

A unique bond

The other piece the Rangers needed came behind the bench, but let's just say their success under Mike Keenan wasn't the result of their head coach's uplifting presence.

"There are a lot of stories, even when we get together now," Leetch said. "Everything seems to come back to Mike Keenan stories. I think that whole year was a real bonding for all the players because most of them hadn't been coached by Mike before. It was a new experience and a different way to be coached and a different way to be treated. ... We're all shaking our heads and coming together and talking about it."

Many players came to resent Keenan, who fractured so many relationships that he only lasted the one season in New York, but their collective disdain for his abrasive tactics developed thicker skin. They leaned on Messier's leadership and grew tighter along the way, even if it came at the expense of their coach.

There was no greater example of that than Leetch, who was benched multiple times during the regular season − and even once during the playoffs − but turned out to be the Blueshirts' top postseason performer. The then-26-year-old defenseman posted a team-high 34 points (11 goals and 23 assists) through 23 games and is now considered by some to be the best Ranger of all-time.

"Mike Keenan wasn't a big fan of mine throughout the whole year, and that was a hard thing for me," Leetch said. "I'd always wanted to win as much for my teammates and your organization, and I included the coach in that all the time. This was one time that I just kind of put that to the side. I tried to do what he was asking me, but it never seem to be enough. But once I got to the playoffs, I was like, ‘All right, all that B.S. is over with. Let's just go play hockey now.’ It was kind of freeing."

Climbing the ladder

That playoff run was filled with memorable moments, but the story you'll hear most often revolves around Messier's kind-of, sort-of guarantee heading into Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final.

The Rangers were trailing the rival New Jersey Devils in that series, 3-2, and needed two straight wins to keep their championship hopes alive. The day before the potential elimination game, Messier told reporters, "I know we're going to go in and win Game 6."

Teammates barely batted an eye at the time, but the gravity of the statement set in when they saw the headlines the next day.

"We were always together," said Leetch, who typically drove into the Rye practice rink with Messier and Richter. "It was kind of a routine. We'd all go together, and somebody would grab the papers and pass them around. We’d sit in the car and read. We just kind of laughed when we saw that. Everyone's got a different recollection of it, but I do remember looking at Mess and saying, ‘What did you do now?’ And he laughed and was like, ‘Oh, boy.’ We just had fun about it because we knew the stakes and what was going to happen, but the fact he was on either the back or front of every newspaper in the area, we knew what a big local story it was."

Messier backed up his words with a third-period hat trick in the 4-2 win, but most recall Richter as the key player in that game.

The Devils jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead, but it could have been much worse if not for a series of spectacular saves from No. 35.

"I just wanted to stay the course," Richter said. "I felt great. I had been pulled after two goals in Game 4, but I think we as a team understood to just get back to our game, play the way we're capable of, and things will fall into place. It didn't look great because we were down by two in the first period and into the second, but we were really patient and really resilient and found a way."

The Rangers survived another nail-biter in Game 7 after blowing a 1-0 lead with eight seconds remaining in regulation, with Matteau sealing the clinching win with his second double-overtime goal of the series.

They went on to build a 3-1 series lead in the Cup Final, but the job wouldn't be completed that easily. The Vancouver Canucks won the next two to force Game 7 at Madison Square Garden, with fans fearing the here-we-go-against worst. But Leetch scored the opening tally to relieve the pressure, with Graves and Messier adding a goal and assist apiece on the way to a 3-2 win that ended New York's long, painful wait.

"Either you will continue to climb the ladder and get knocked down and climb a little higher the next year, or you're going to get knocked down and never get back up again," Messier said. "You’ve got to make your mind how badly you want to win, because winning championships in the NHL is not for the faint of heart. It will test you in every way."

Parallels to modern-day Blueshirts

Thirty years later, that cast of characters finds themselves keenly invested in the ups and downs of the current Rangers.

"We’re all fans," Richter said. "We played for the organization. We support it. We love it."

There are many parallels to draw from 1994 to the modern-day team.

They, too, captured a Presidents' Trophy this season and have dealt with bitter playoff shortcomings, including runs that fell short in the conference final two of the last three years. Now the question is whether these talented Blueshirts can use those defeats as fuel and become the next team to walk with the immortals.

"The Stanley Cup playoffs are four seven-game series," Messier said. "It’s going to expose the truth. That’s just the way it is. There’s nowhere to hide. The playoffs, as it funnels up to the tip of the spear, the margin for error is smaller and smaller. Strengths you have will be shown and whatever weaknesses you have will be exposed. I think that is a great way to understand yourself as a player, and it's also a great way to understand where you're at as a team."

Leetch, Messier and Richter each spoke highly of the active core − "I find it to be a really compelling team," Richter said − while pointing to Igor Shesterkin as the ultimate X-factor.

"You’ve got to start from the goaltender out, and they’ve got one of the best goaltenders in the world," Leetch said. "It’s why we had a shot every year that Richter was healthy, but then you’ve got to build from there."

The Rangers believe they're close to completing that journey, but history tells us the final step will be the most taxing.

If they can unlock that elusive code, an epic celebration most can only imagine through old stories and video clips awaits.

"You have to figure out what parts of the game you put weight into as an organization," Messier said. "It's not the same for every team, but you have to have an identity. As we saw with the Rangers (in the Eastern Conference Final), they could never get to the game that they like to play. The (Florida) Panthers took it away from them for six games. They very rarely could get through open ice in the transition game. Their forecheck wasn't strong enough in the end, and then the power play, as often happens, teams zero in on what you like to do and they start taking it away.

"There's no easy way, but you have to figure out your identity − and then you’ve got to be strong enough in your identity that it will stand four rounds of seven-game series."

Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: 1994 NY Rangers: Stanley Cup champions look back, 30 years later