The Rangers retired Brian Leetch's #2 tonight. Where does the time go?

Some of you remember Leetch growing up in Cheshire where he was a star hockey player and baseball pitcher. I actually heard about Leetch when I was 12 and my friends in New Hampshire lost to Leetch and Cheshire in a national youth hockey tournament in Michigan.

I got my own first hand experience of Leetch's greatness in high school. For a brief time, I was the backup goalie for Phillips Andover. Our first game was against Leetch and Avon Old Farms. It was 1986. Leetch and I were both seniors. May the hockey comparisons end there.

Our starting goalie took a puck to the throat in warmups and so I was stuck in goal. Scary. Here I was, a baseball/football player who was convinced to tryout for hockey by a couple of friends. Little did I know I would actually make the team. The truth is that I could barely skate and we had no other backup.

Fortunately, our starting netminder got bandaged up and played. I think the final was 13-1. Leetch must have had 8 points. I'm not making that up. And I can only imagine what the final might have been had I been in the nets. Needless to say, I was mesmerized sitting on the bench and watching Leetch. He made the game look like it was in slow motion. Two years later, he was an Olympian and then a New York Ranger.

The rest, as they say, is history: 11 All-Stars games, 2 Norris Trophies (given to the NHL's best defenseman), the 1994 Conn Smythe Trophy (playoffs MVP) and that memorable 1994 Stanley Cup. As someone who originally grew up on Long Island a Rangers fan, I can honestly say he's the best Ranger of all-time. He is also the greatest American born hockey player ever.

On top of everything else, Brian Leetch is a modest, decent man. I met him at a charity dinner for CF last November and he could not have been any more genuine and humble. It's pretty neat when someone you've followed for 20 years actually turns out to be a really good guy.

So good for the Rangers in retiring Brian Leetch's number 2. He is number one in my book.