Defenseman Arnie Brown came to the Rangers along with Bob Nevin, Dick Duff, Rod Seiling and Billy Collins in the blockbuster February 22, 1964 deal that sent Blueshirt captain Andy Bathgate and Don McKenney to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Brown had played his junior...
George Grimm
Retro Rangers: The New Kid in Town – Gene Carr
Gene Carr could have been a huge star in New York. He had long blonde hair and blazing speed but he had trouble putting the puck in the net and suffered a pair of serious injuries and so his time with the Rangers though eventful was relatively brief. Carr recorded 58...
Retro Rangers: Making a Case for the Cat
I’ll get right to the point, Emile “The Cat” Francis deserves a banner with his name on it up in the rafters at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers have already retired the numbers of five of his former players so why not honor the man who put those teams together, and...
Retro Rangers: Harry Howell, 1932 – 2019
Harry Howell was a product of the Rangers Guelph Junior A team that also produced Andy Bathgate, Dean Prentice, Lou Fontinato and Ron Murphy who later became Harry’s brother-in-law. Following two seasons in Guelph, the six-foot-one, 195-pound native of Hamilton...
Retro Rangers: One-Game-Wonders
Since their inception in 1926, 88 men have tended goal for the New York Rangers. Some went on to become Franchise Goaltenders like Davey Kerr, Chuck Rayner, Gump Worsley, Ed Giacomin, John Davidson, John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Richter and Henrik Lundqvist, who were each...
Retro Rangers: Book Review – Before 94
In the summer of 1978, Fred Shero finally got a chance to coach the Rangers. Shero was a former Rangers defenseman who had been coaching in the Blueshirts minor league system for many years during the Emile Francis era. However despite leading his teams to four first...
Retro Rangers: Book Review – Unforgettable Rangers, Games & Moments from the Press Box
New York Ranger fans are very lucky, regardless of the current plight of the Blueshirts, a veritable All-Star cast of broadcasters and journalists cover every aspect of their seasonal roller-coaster ride. They are the best in the business and although we hear and read...
Retro Rangers: The Worst Trade in Ranger History
It is a universally accepted truth among Ranger fans that the worst trade in team history was made on May 26, 1976 when GM John Ferguson sent 23-year-old Rick Middleton to the Boston Bruins for Ken Hodge, who was 9 years his senior. So when the Bruins announced that...
Retro Rangers: Reminiscing with John Davidson
John Arthur Davidson was the St. Louis Blues’ first round pick (fifth overall) in the 1973 amateur draft following four strong seasons with Calgary of the WCJHL which included being named league MVP in his final season in 1972-73. The son of a Canadian Mounted...
Retro Rangers: Book Review “Block that Shot: The Bob Chrystal Story”
Back in the early 1950s when there were six teams in the NHL and about ninety jobs available, only a few young players were able to break into the league and even fewer who walked away from the game once they got there. Defenseman Bob Chrystal was one of those...
Retro Rangers : Post War Recovery
At the end of World War II, nearly 50 players returned to their respective NHL teams including key Rangers such as Muzz and Lynn Patrick, Alex Shibicky, Alf Pike, and Mac Colville, whose brother Neil had returned during the previous season. Unfortunately after three...
Retro Rangers; Reminiscing with Gilles Villemure
Gilles Villemure was born on May 30, 1940 and grew up in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec where the local hockey rink was right next to the fairgrounds race track, and so his two passions became hockey and horse racing. Luckily for him he was able to pursue both of these...
Retro Rangers: Remembering Arnee Nocks – Practice Goaltender
Prior to the 1965-66 season when the NHL ruled that teams must dress two netminders for games, many teams often employed amateurs and low minor leaguers to serve as practice and emergency goaltenders. These men were happy to share the ice with the pros and make a few...
Retro Rangers: Davey Kerr, The Rangers Original Franchise Goaltender
Before there was a Chuck Rayner, a Gump Worsley, an Ed Giacomin, Mike Richter or Henrik Lundqvist there was Davey Kerr. Kerr was the Rangers’ original “Franchise” goaltender, the guy who set the standard for all future Blueshirt netminders to aspire to. David...
Book Review: New York Rangers By the Numbers
Uniform numbers have long been an important part of sports lore and serve multiple purposes. First and foremost, they identify the players, but they also allow fans to identify with those players by wearing those numbers on their own jerseys. Many players have also...
Book Review; The Art of the Dealers – The NHL’s Greatest General Managers
In the hierarchy of sports franchises, a team’s general manager is the second most powerful person in the organization, right behind the owner, yet precious little has been written about the great GM’s in any sport, let alone hockey. That void has now been filled by...
Retro Rangers: Reminiscing with Gilles Gratton
Gilles Gratton was one of the most colorful characters to ever tend goal for the New York Rangers. Unfortunately “Gratoony the Loony” was known more for his eccentric behavior, claims of past lives and Lion’s goaltenders mask than actually stopping pucks. After three...
Book Review – Gratoony the Loony
Gilles Gratton is a character, that fact has been well established in stories that have been passed down over the 40 years since his retirement in 1977. But now Gratton has produced an autobiography called Gratoony the Loony, co-written by veteran sportswriter Greg...
Retro Rangers: Remembering the Gumper
Lorne “Gump” Worsley was one of the most beloved characters to ever don a Rangers sweater. The Hall of Fame goaltender began his hockey journey in 1946 with the Ranger-sponsored Verdun Cyclones of the QJHL, playing against the likes of Jacques Plante, the goaltender...
Retro Rangers: “The Silver Fox” and “Red Light” Miller
Rangers’ patriarch Lester Patrick cemented his place in Blueshirt lore on the evening of April 7th 1928. After eliminating both the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Bruins, the Rangers were playing the second game of the Stanley Cup finals against the Montreal Maroons...
Retro Rangers: The Trade that Never Happened
The perception of the New York Rangers around the NHL during the late 1950’s to early 60’s was that the franchise wasn’t serious about improving. For many years it seemed that there was no real commitment to winning or to acquiring the kind of players that could take...
Retro Rangers: A Day-Night Doubleheader at the Garden
Less than a month after the New Madison Square Garden opened in February of 1968 the building was the site of the rarest of rarities; a National Hockey League double header. The twin bill was made necessary when high winds blew part of the roof off of the Spectrum in...
Retro Rangers: Reminiscing with Bob Froese
Bob Froese began his hockey journey on the frozen ponds and rinks of St. Catharines Ontario where he followed in his father’s footsteps and became a goaltender. Bob Froese; ‘It’s funny when I was a kid I would put catalogs on my legs for pads and stuff like that but...
Retro Rangers: Road Apple Season
Many of us have played hockey in one form or another, be it on the ice, the street or on the floor of a recreation center. And very often we didn’t have access to or could afford regulation equipment. So since necessity is the mother of invention we fashioned...
Retro Rangers: Reminiscing with Steve Baker
Retro Rangers: Reminiscing with Steve Baker Steve Baker seemed destined to be the Rangers goaltender of the future after going undefeated in nine of his first ten starts in his NHL debut. Destiny had other plans however as Steve’s career was derailed by a devastating...
Retro Rangers: Book Review – Ice Wars
New York has had its share of great sports rivalries; Yankees – Mets, Jets – Giants, Dodgers – Giants, Knicks – Nets, but none have been more intense for both the fans and players alike than the four decade old feud between the Rangers and the Islanders. That rivalry...
Retro Rangers: The Bathgate Trade
For many years Andy Bathgate was the Rangers’ lone superstar. A product of the same Guelph Biltmore pipeline that brought players like Harry Howell and Lou Fontinato to New York. Bathgate played 719 games over 12 seasons for the Rangers scoring 272 goals and adding...
Retro Rangers: Emile Francis Honored by USA Hockey
On December 17th Emile Francis was presented with the Wayne Gretzky International Award at the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Boston. The award, which was established by the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1999, is given to international individuals who...
Retro Rangers: The Night The Boomer went Ballistic!
It may have been five days before Christmas, but ‘peace on earth and good will toward men’ was the last thing on minds of the Rangers and Canadiens when they met at the Garden on Sunday night December 20, 1953. The Montreal Canadiens were the defending Stanley Cup...
Retro Rangers: Remembering Marcel Paille
Like many netminders of the pre-expansion era, Marcel Paille had the great misfortune of trying to break into the NHL during what many consider to be the Golden Age of Goaltending. Those were the days of the Original Six, when each team carried only one goalkeeper and...