Mark Messier is best known around New York as the captain of the Rangerswhen they won the Stanley Cup in 1994, their first championship in 54 years. But next Sunday, he will trade skates for running shoes and hit the streets for the New York City Marathon. Messier, 50, will represent the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund and Tomorrow’s Children’s Fund in the race.
He maintains ties to the Rangers as the special assistant to Glen Sather, the team’s president and general manager, and oversees the Messier Project, an initiative to address concussions in hockey, particularly at the youth level, by raising awareness and working to change priorities in the sport.
Messier, who also won five Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers, was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007.
Q. Why did you decide to run in the marathon?
A. We were coming up on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and I was working with the New York Police and Fire Widows’ and Children’s Benefit Fund and Tomorrows Children’s Fund charities and trying to figure out ways to do something that was pretty powerful and gain more attention to the very important charities. I wanted to do a few other things that did not come through, and that was very disappointing. Then I just said: “I have to do something that I can just count on myself. What can I do to create more awareness?” I had been working out. I turned 50. I thought it would be a great personal challenge as well as create more awareness for the charities.
Q. Was training for the marathon a challenge?
A. The discipline is important in anything you’re training at, at that level. Hockey is more cross-training and different kinds of exercises and weights. For the marathon, I was trying to lose some weight because I’m not a small guy. The lighter I can be to run at, the easier it is. So I stopped lifting weights and just ran the miles that were required for a 30-week introductory marathoner. I followed the program for a beginner marathoner. I ran four days a week and ramped the miles up as each week went on.
Q. What has been the most difficult part of training?
A. The toughest part has been learning what I need to do to stay hydrated and keep my nutrients up when I’m running. And retraining all my muscles to run that kind of distance. Obviously, skating and running are completely different. I’ve woke up a few days pretty sore.
Q. What was the best advice you received?
A. Running is a real science. Just like any high-end sport or elite sport, there’s a real science to the hydration and the nutrition, the running and the stride. And no two people are the same. You can gather a lot of information, but the only thing that really works is going out, trying different things and seeing what works for you.
Q. Do you have a goal or a time in mind?
A. No. I really don’t. I was never a runner when I played. I’m competitive, and I want to do well. But I have no idea if it’s going to be five and a half hours or four and a half hours or four hours. (Laughs.) It will be interesting.
Q. The former Rangers Adam Graves and Mike Richter have run the marathon. Will you try to beat their times?
A. I might have tried to if I was still 40. (Laughs.) Ten years ago, it might have been a little easier. No. This is a personal challenge, so I’m not racing against the clock or another buddy. I’ve always had respect for the marathon and the charities people ran for. So I thought when I turned 50, I could have my own personal challenge and incorporate it with my own charities.
Q. How do you spend your time now?
A. Most of my days are with the Rangers as part of the management group. That’s exciting, learning the business on the other side of the ice. I have a small resort hotel in the Bahamas called Runaway Hill. I have the leadership camp that comes up in February. There’s a lot going on, including raising two young children, and my older boy is 24. So life is full of adventures.
Q. What’s your scouting report on the Rangers?
A. Every team starts off the year very optimistic, and we’re one of those teams. We came into the season very healthy and with everybody signed. No distractions over the summer. We targeted the free agents Brad Richards and Mike Rupp. Our kids are growing up, so there’s a lot of optimism. Then sure enough, Marc Staal didn’t feel good during training camp, so he’s still out. We missed Michael Sauer at the start of the season. But over all we’re optimistic. We like the direction the team has gone in the last couple of years. We added some strong pieces to the group. And of course, when you have a goalie likeHenrik Lundqvist, you’re always in the game. We feel pretty good.
Q. What advice would you give to Ryan Callahan, the Rangers’ captain?
A. I think the most important advice for any captain is that you can only be who you are. There’s a reason why you were named captain. So you can only stay true to yourself. Everybody has different styles of leadership. All can be successful. Be who you are. One important aspect of leadership is gain the trust of your teammates. And be consistent in your behavior on a day-to-day basis, whether things are going good or things are going bad. You are a consistent beacon for your teammates, and I think they respect that.
Q. Do you have a surprise team this season?
A. I don’t think anyone expected the Oilers to do well this year. But they’ve gotten off to a pretty good start. They’ve rebuilt their team. They have some tremendous prospects there, and they’re getting some good goaltending. I think there’s a chance they can far surpass expectations this year. We would also like to be one of those teams that surpass expectations.
Q. What players do you enjoy watching?
A. Sidney Crosby comes to the top of the heap pretty quickly. I love the way he plays the game. He reminds me of a guy that can play in any era. He could have played in the ’70s with the Broad Street Bullies or he could have played in the ’40s with the old, greatMontreal Canadiens. He ’s a guy that put people in the seats, and he’s a guy that can bring people out of their seats. There are so many great young players in the game now. I can’t remember a time in a five-year span where so many great players are coming in. The N.H.L. has to be pretty happy.
Q. Is the N.H.L. doing enough to prevent concussions?
A. I know a day does not go by that the N.H.L. does not try to make our game safer. We play an inherently unsafe game. You look at all the aspects. Players moving at 30 miles an hour with razor-sharp blades, carrying a stick and shooting a puck at 100 miles an hour, all in an enclosed confines of a 200 by 85 foot space. It adds up to potential danger. All players are aware of the inherent dangers we play with. All are accepted. Of course, the two governing bodies, the N.H.L. and the N.H.L.P.A., need to talk and think about making the game safer.
But no matter what rule changes you make or what you do, there’s always going to be injuries. And that is the unfortunate part of any sport. It doesn’t say it isn’t disturbing. But we also have to be careful to keep the integrity of our game and some of the things that make our game what it is. Having said that, the players that do step over the line and do things that are not part of the way the game should be played, that is going to be up to the N.H.L. and the N.H.L.P.A. to decide how severely those players are punished.
Our big mission is to try to protect the players with the equipment. That’s why we got into the Messier Project.
Q. Favorite career memory?
A. Oh, boy. Too many to say. Scored my first N.H.L. goal on my mom’s birthday. The Stanley Cups. The Stanley Cup inNew York City was as powerful and emotional an experience as I could ever dream of.
Q. Any regrets?
A. No. I was very fortunate. I had great people around me. I had a great head start with my father and mother and our family. My father played the game. Hockey was on my mother’s side of the family. What you really realize as you go through your career, especially if you played long enough to get your head out of the sand and look around and see exactly what was happening, is that the game is about the people and the experiences that you have with the people that you’re playing with. In the end, it doesn’t have anything to do with goals or assists. It’s about what kind of teammate you were. What you put into it. Were you dependable? That’s what makes this sport, or any team sport, so powerful when you do get it right.
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