New Garden gets seal of approval from fans

There never was any doubt that the Garden was going to look good, even after only Phase I of a three-year makeover. The questions were whether it would sound the same, and if it would have that familiar feel. Those were answered right away, when the crowd nearly drowned out John Amirante when he got to the "banner yet wave" part of the national anthem.

And 27 seconds after opening faceoff, the fans proved that the favorite old Potvin chant still would resound.

Bottom line: Even though the seats near the ice are now dark navy, as opposed to the old days when the ones upstairs were blue seats, a Rangers game is still a Rangers game at the Garden.

"Oh, totally," said Nestor Fernandez of Westchester as he stood near a concession stand in the gleaming new sixth-floor corridor. "You know what? Standing in the hall, walking around, it's so similar. It's the people, not the building."

The people, of course, noticed that the Rangers no longer skate out from their dressing room through a big opening behind their bench because that no longer exists (now they enter through a gate near the corner, past fans behind huge windows in the ice-level Delta Sky 360 Club). The folks generally liked what they saw.

"I think it's great," said Craig Palmer of Selden. When he was asked if it had a clean look, he said, "It was always clean . . . " Then his buddy, Sean Meadows of Holbrook, added, "It's updated. It has us excited for the future because we know what's coming. You see what they've done in just one year, now you know there are two more years coming."

Michael Hawkins of West Babylon, who has seats upstairs in Section 424 but was sitting in the new blue seats for warm-ups, said, "It's going to take some getting used to." He and others were well aware of the reputation the new Yankee Stadium had during its first year of being less raucous than the old one. "That's what I'm afraid of," Hawkins said.

SEE PHOTOSSee the fully transformed MSG

No problem, at least judging from opening night, which was electric. Said Dan Girardi, who scored in the first period: "There was tons of energy in the building.''

As Mike Pugliese of Yonkers said, "I think it has a lot to do with the fact it's in the heart of New York City. It's the fans and their passion for the team."

A few fans did point out that the sections are wider, meaning you have to climb over a lot of people if you're sitting in the middle. Although the concourses have been expanded, they were crowded between periods.

Fans agreed with the sentiment of Martin Biron at practice Wednesday, when he was asked about the renovation and said, "Ask me in two years." The Garden is a work in progress. Thursday night, fans roared as loud as ever for Henrik Lundqvist and had the same old epithets for the referees when two Rangers goals were disallowed. With the Rangers down 3-1 in the third, they chanted "We want Avery!" for demoted Sean Avery.

SEE PHOTOSLong Island in the pros: NHL edition

So with all the changes, did it feel like the Garden?

"It did,'' Ryan Callahan said after his first home game as captain. "The crowd was great, gave us a lot of momentum in the first. We came out strong. It's disappointing we didn't come up with a win for the crowd, especially with how hyped they were and how much excitement there was in the building.''