In 1994, when Mark Messier helped lead the New York Rangers to the team’s first Stanley Cup title in 54 years, he was given the loftiest of nicknames: “The Messiah.”

Now, after recently becoming the CEO of the Kingsbridge National Ice Center, which is poised to open inside the Kingsbridge Armory in 2017 as the largest ice sports complex in the world, he may need a new nickname: The Messenger.

Starting with the city’s land use review process — which began with a public hearing and Community Board 7 voting 20 to 5 in favor of the plan on Tuesday night at Lehman College — Messier will be sending a message to city officials, the public and investors that a massive ice center in the Armory will be a huge boon for kids, the local community, the Bronx, the greater New York City area and ice sports in general.

“He’s going to be the face of KNIC,” said one of the group’s partners, Jonathan Richter, who will shepherd the project through the land use review process, which includes stops at Community Board 7, the Bronx borough president’s office, the City Council and, finally, the mayor’s office.

Richter and Messier aren’t expecting to encounter much resistance during the review process, which must be completed because the Armory is owned by the city. [Editor’s note: In the last week, after we went to press on Sept. 17, the ice center project received an official recommendation from the Bronx Borough President’s office following glowing testimony during a public hearing and approval from the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.]

The mayor’s office and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. have supported the project from the beginning. It was only after KNIC officials said they were interested in the Armory that the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) issued an RFP for the long-vacant landmark.

Local Councilman Fernando Cabrera, then-Community Board 7 Chairman Paul Foster and members of the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance (KARA) all endorsed the project after KNIC entered into a community benefits agreement with KARA and signed a letter of intent with the city back in late April.

The board and borough president’s role in the review process is advisory. Only the City Council and the mayor’s office have the power to shut a project down.

In 2009, the community board approved a proposal to turn the Armory into a giant shopping mall, although its approval was contingent upon the developer, The Related Companies, signing on to a community benefits agreement. Related wouldn’t agree to pay workers at the proposed mall a living wage, so a benefits agreement never got off the ground.

The borough president’s office and KARA launched a campaign in opposition of the shopping mall project and it died in the City Council. It marked the only time in Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor that the Council voted against a land use project he supported.

On top of its nine ice rinks, 5,000-seat arena and 450 parking spaces, the ice center proposal and benefits agreement includes 270 permanent living wage jobs, 50,000-square-feet of rent-free community space and revenue sharing that will be pumped back into the local economy. Experts have said the benefits agreement is the strongest and most ambitious in New York City history.

Messier, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007, understands all of that. But he is more concerned about how it will impact the kids in the community. He can’t wait to get them out on the ice.

For the past four years, Messier had worked for the Rangers as a special assistant to the general manager. In June, Messier interviewed for the team’s vacant head coaching position, but the Rangers went in a different direction. A couple of days after the team announced its new coach, Alain Vigneault, Messier resigned.

Although it was assumed that Messier felt slighted and wanted out, Messier claims he wasn’t bitter, saying in a statement, “I am resigning my position with the team to pursue an opportunity to expand the game of hockey in the New York area by developing the Kingsbridge National Ice Center (in the Bronx).”

In an interview last week, Messier said he wanted to use the Armory to build a buzz around the game of hockey, just like there was after the Stanley Cup title in 1994.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for me to take an incredible experience that I had in 1994 in New York, turn it around and create something that is sorely missing in this city — ice space.”

Messier, who grew up in Edmonton in Canada, said his father is an educator who has coached youth hockey for most of his life and continues to do so in Connecticut at the age of 77. Often, Messier said, he trained the most disadvantaged of kids.

“That’s what we want to do here in the Bronx,” he said. “Inspiring kids who may never have had the opportunity and getting them to play hockey.”