by Brian Kennedy | Aug 11, 2021 | Archived Features, Chicago Blackhawks, Hockey History, Homepage, Leagues, NHL
“Those guys we’ve been mourning lately were people whom I remember. Tony Esposito was someone I worshipped.” That’s what I said to my friend Manny yesterday in response to his condolences on the occasion of Tony O’s passing at age 78. The people I was referencing were...
by George Grimm | Jul 29, 2021 | Hockey History, Homepage, New York Rangers, Retro Rangers
Back in the early 1970s, after watching Gene Carr blow yet another scoring opportunity, Ranger broadcaster Bill “The Big Whistle” Chadwick, loudly proclaimed to play-by-play man Jim Gordon, that the long-haired forward “couldn’t put the puck in the ocean if he was...
by George Grimm | Jul 2, 2021 | Hockey History, Homepage, New York Rangers, Retro Rangers
Former New York Times sportswriter Gerald Eskenazi produced 16 books during his 47-year career as a journalist, but none has earned the lasting acclaim as his groundbreaking 1971 offering, “A Year on Ice.” The book is a day-by-day chronicle of the New York Rangers...
by George Grimm | Mar 23, 2021 | Hockey History, Homepage, Inside Hockey, New York Rangers, NHL, Retro Rangers
While the COVID-19 pandemic has cast a long, dark shadow on everyone’s lives, one unexpected bright spot has been the weekly ‘Hockey Time Machine’ broadcasts featuring a host of former players, coaches, announcers, referees, trainers and team executives The...
by Brian Kennedy | Jan 26, 2021 | Archived Features, Books, Hockey History, Homepage
The Great One turns 60 today, January 26th, 2021. That means that an entire generation has passed since Wayne Gretzky last played an NHL game. His records, of course, stand and will probably stand forever, most of them. Even challenges to the previously thought...
by George Grimm | Dec 26, 2020 | Hockey History, Homepage, Inside Hockey, New York Rangers, Retro Rangers
At 6-1 and 185 pounds, Cal Gardner did not shy away from the physical side of the game and in 1947 he became embroiled in what was then described as the biggest, longest brawl in NHL history. Cal Pearly Gardner signed as a free agent with the Rangers in 1945 following...