“Potvin Sucks!”: The Origin of the Chant and they made a song for it?
THE BIRTH OF “THE CHANT”
“Potvin Sucks!” You all know the chant but some of you are clueless as to how it came to be. On Feb. 25th, 1979 a very good Rangers team was firing on all cylinders. Ulf Nilsson, a young forward with a lot of promise was becoming an offensive force. Enter Denis Potvin. The hulking defenseman crushed the kid, resulting in a broken ankle. Nilsson was lost for the season and was never the same again. Rangers fans still ponder, if Ulf was healthy, would they have won the Cup that year against Montreal? It doesn’t matter, because on that night, the greatest sports chant in history was born, “POTVIN SUCKS!”
Believe it or not, in 1985 there was a song made in honor of the chant…it’s fairly horrible.
There’s a rumor floating around that at one point a snippet of the track was played at MSG in the mid 80’s. The “Beat Your Wife” portion of the song was related to some sketchy reports that he and his wife had a domestic dispute during their divorce. For the record, I don’t condone celebrating, even in a derisive chant against a bitter rival, the hitting of a woman or domestic violence of any kind. I’m old fashioned.
Is this true that this song was played at MSG? If any of my older readers can confirm it, please post in the comments below.
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