Scott Gomez, the newly chosen associate captain entering his second season with the Rangers and former Stanley Cup champion with the Devils, sat down to chat with Post columnist Steve Serby:
Q: The moment you won your first Stanley Cup with the Devils.
A: It was such a whirlwind, I didn’t even realize what was going on . . . I do remember, though, when the Cup was coming out, and Randy McKay grabbed me and said: “You don’t have kids yet, but remember this moment when it’s coming out, ’cause this is something you’re not gonna forget.”
Q: You brought it back home to Alaska.
A: I won it, but the whole state won it. But I do remember the best advice I got was, “As soon as you get into the party, wherever you’re gonna have people, this and that, you drop the Cup, put it in the corner, and get as far away from it as you can.” Because once you’re with that thing, you don’t realize how everyone wants a picture, everyone wants this and that . . . you get it for 24, you don’t sleep.
Q: Was winning your second Cup as sweet as the first?
A: I think you’re next one is always the sweetest one. It does something to you that . . . if anything, it kinda corrupts you . . . that’s all you think about now, that’s all you want to do, is win. And when it leaves you . . . I can’t even watch . . . once we’re eliminated in the playoffs, I don’t even watch hockey ’cause it’s still something I feel is mine.
Q: On a scale from 1-10, how hungry are you to win your third Cup?
A: It’s just something that fuels you. . . . The greatest thing is seeing a guy win it for the first time, seeing all his dreams and everything come true.
Q: Do you sense that there’s something special building with the 2008 Rangers?
A: Yeah, you bet.
Q: Rangers fans.
A: You’re going good, they love you, you’re going bad, they’ll let you know – that’s what a fan should be.
Q: Did you want to be a Ranger to be on the big stage?
A: It’s New York, you want to see if you can do it. . . . It’s the ultimate. You gotta test yourself sometimes. It just offered everything, I mean, playing in the Garden night in, night out . . . Original 6, living in the city, there was so much to it, so much history to it. . . . You don’t get to this forever. This goes. You get to do this for however long you gotta enjoy it.
Q: You’ve played with Martin Brodeur and now Henrik Lundqvist.
A: I’ve been spoiled.
Q: Meeting Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier at your first All-Star game.
A: I was sitting next to Mess (chuckle), and here comes Gretzky! And he’s coming in the room and I’m just like, “Holy [cow]!” Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky are talking right next to me – holy cow! (chuckle).
Q; Did you get autographs?
A: I got a picture yeah, with both, oh yeah.
Q: Your father is Mexican, your mother Columbian . . . you’ve encountered racial slurs.
A: More in juniors, I’d say. . . . You’d always get an idiot that maybe would say something, but those are usually the guys that . . . they’re not touching the ice, so what’s the big deal?
Q: But you haven’t run into that in the NHL?
A: No, no, there’s a lot of respect there. If anything, I’ve been in some arenas where you hear it. . . . There’s idiots; what are you gonna do? Like if I’m in a penalty box or something. It’s happened maybe once or twice.
Q: Why is Chris Drury a good choice to wear the [captain’s] C?
A: Just a great leader.
Q: Why is Scott Gomez a good choice to wear the [Associate Captain’s] A?
A: I like to say I got a Harvard-Yale education in hockey ’cause I learned from some of the best . . . I’ve won with some of the best.
Q: Want to mention any names?
A: Larry Robinson, Viacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Randy McKay, Bobby Holik, Scott Niedermayer, Scotty Stevens, Claude Lemieux.
Q: Scouting report on Scott Gomez.
A: I like to think I try to make whoever I’m playing with better.
Q: You live in NYC . . . favorite NYC things.
A: Walking around, just people watching. Anywhere I go or eat, it doesn’t matter how far it is, I usually bring my iPod and I’ll walk home.
Q: Five dinner guests.
A: Babe Ruth, Rod Gilbert, Joe Namath, Rodney Dangerfield, Keith Richards.
Q: Why Babe Ruth?
A: ‘Cause who knows what’s gonna happen at night (chuckle)!
Q: Boyhood idol.
A: My dad . . . he just was always someone I could go to. . . . He always knew right and wrong.
Q: You started playing hockey when you were 4.
A: Hated it. I couldn’t skate, I remember going to my mom and saying, “I’m gonna get hurt, I want to quit, they make fun of me.” So of course she was like, “You can quit tomorrow. For right now, you’re done.” And then my dad, he wouldn’t let me quit. He gave me some “Gomezes don’t quit” speech that blah blah blah. . . . When I was 16, we went fishing, and we were driving, I kinda was like, “Thanks Dad for not letting me quit, for giving me the Gomez thing,” and he started laughing, like “I brought you a brand new pair of skates – that money was not going to waste!”
Q: Favorite childhood memory.
A: Getting my first baseball glove; like the real, real heavy-duty Rawlings, I got it from my dad.
Q: How much baseball did you play?
A: As much as you can play in Alaska, but in the summer, that’s all you did. . . . I’d trade hockey in to be a major league baseball player. And then I’d trade that in to be a rock star – it goes rock star, baseball and hockey.
Q: So why didn’t you pursue your rock star dream?
A: My dad took me to guitar lessons – I think I was probably around 7 or 8, and he said, “You’ll thank me later in life if you stick with this.” And of course I quit two weeks later, and now it’s one of the biggest regrets. . . . But I can play “Brown-Eyed Girl” and I’ve been playing that for eight years now.
Q: Your childhood friend B.J. Young died two years ago in an automobile accident.
A: It’s tragic anytime you lose a friend, and he had a young son.
Q: You saw Sarah Palin at an event when she first got elected governor of Alaska.
A: To see an Alaskan do well, you bet.
Q: Favorite movie.
A: “Stripes.”
Q: Favorite actor.
A: Robert Downey Jr.
Q: Favorite actress.
A: Meryl Streep.
Q: Favorite entertainer.
A: Rolling Stones.
Q: Favorite meal.
A: Anything Mexican.