Welcome to the reality.

What about the Stanley Cup? It means more to hockey than the NHL does, especially at this point. Nobody ever says “NHL Champion” like they say “NBA Champion”. The NHL wrestled the Stanley Cup away from control of its trustees in 1947, but after the old WHL had folded in 1926, there was no other league that could have issued forth a challenge.

But the ceding of control of the Cup from the trustees to the NHL didn’t come without an agreement that protected the NHL if it went belly-up and started worrying more about its bottom line than it did about playing hockey every season:

1. A trustee isn’t free to arbitrarily transfer public or collective property in his care to a private interest. That’s why we call them “trustees”.

2. The agreement itself stipulates that it remains in force only “so long as the League continues to be the world’s leading professional hockey league as determined by its playing caliber, and in the event of dissolution or other termination of the National Hockey League, the Stanley Cup shall revert to the custody of the trustees.” If suspension of play for a full season doesn’t count as “other termination”, it’s hard to imagine what would. The League certainly cannot be the world’s leading professional hockey league at some particular moment if it is not having hockey games and has no intention of having any. [MacLean's]

If NHL owners are as rich as I think they are, and Players’ are as united as they say they are, then this labour dispute could wipe out the whole of the 2013 season, in which case I don’t think there would be fans in the league’s most traditional markets too happy about the state of affairs of pro hockey in North America.

In that event, I take the same stance as my colleague Ellen Etchingham over at Backhand Shelf, who calls on a “Rebel League” similar to the Pacific Coast Hockey Association originally created by Lester Patrick (featuring the Vancouver Millionnaires) in pro hockey’s early days. “Lester Patrick honestly, literally, directly, for reals, no hyperbole, revolutionized hockey”:

Ironically, the success of the PCHA was built on exactly the things that made it seem like a terrible idea. The first of these was its centralization. Most hockey leagues before and since have been loose confederations of independently powerful clubs or franchises. The PCHA, however, was created entirely by the Patricks and run directly out of the central office. There was no messy process of getting all of the three or four franchises’ owners to agree about rule changes or scheduling or revenue sharing. All those decisions were made in the head office and imposed, non-negotiably, on the teams. Essentially, the entire Association was one large business. [Backhand Shelf]

and she follows that up later in her piece, on the importance of the old Pacific Coast League:

Hockey needs other leagues, not just to break the monopolistic policies of any cartel, but for the growth of the game itself. The PCHA shows us how much energy and creativity can be injected into hockey by bringing in new ideas and new fans who support them, by providing a space for radical thinkers to be radical. Without opposition, the NHL doesn’t just get progressively more arrogant and greedy. It also gets progressively more conservative, and therefore, more boring.

The absolute ideal solution to hockey’s business problem is to create more business. I’d be behind a second league, if Players’ can’t get a fair agreement with the owners. They’d be pissing away money, for sure. There is more money in the NHL than any rival league could create.

A healthy rival league in North America would keep the NHL on its toes, knowing that they could lose control of the Stanley Cup at a moment’s notice if they went months and seasons without playing. Without any competition in the last 80 years, the NHL has become too powerful. It shouldn’t be the only major pro league.

Unfortunately, as we’ve seen in the past, the big guys swallow up the smaller guys. The World Hockey Association, American Basketball Association and American Football League all had similar mandates. They had colourful uniforms and systematically looked to break the conservative doctrines that governed the previous sports. The ABA players could dunk; the AFL had the two point conversion, and the WHA looked to recruit players from Europe to get a leg-up on talent. All of them lasted for a short time before being taken over respectively by the NBA, NHL or NFL in a merger.

It’s been a while since the NHL had a good scare. That, more than passionate fans, is what leads to this cycle of labour issues.

Welcome to the latest UKNHL team guide, this time profiling the New York Rangers, one of the ‘Original Six’ teams, who play their games on 33rd Street in Manhattan in the ‘World’s Most Famous Arena’, Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers were founded in 1926, after Madison Square Garden president Tex Rickard decided he wanted his own NHL team after allowing the newly formed New York Americans to play at the Garden in 1925. After somehow managing to get the legendary Conn Smythe to assemble and coach the team, he was fired the day before the first season after a disagreement with Rickard’s right hand man and was replaced with the equally great Lester Patrick. The team was successful in their first season, winning the American Division before losing to the Boston Bruins in the playoffs. It was during this first year that the Rangers got their ‘Broadway Blueshirts’ nickname.

In the following season, the Rangers went on to create history by becoming the fastest ever team in any North American sport to go from creation to league champion. In the 1927-28 season, the team’s second, the team beat the Montréal Maroons 3-2 in the Stanley Cup Finals, with the most memorable part being when the team’s goalie, Lorne Chabot, left the game and was replaced by Patrick himself. Over the following seasons, the team faded back to mediocrity somewhat until the 1932-33 season, when they won their second Cup with a 3-1 series win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Again, like after their first Cup win, the Rangers were average at best for the next few years until their next Cup win.

In the 1939-40 season, the Rangers came back to relevance in a big way by finishing second in the regular season behind the Bruins, then by beating them in the first round of the playoffs to secure a bye to the Final. Eventually, it was the Toronto Maple Leafs who would join them in a rematch of the 1932-33 Stanley Cup Final. This time the two teams split the first four games before the Rangers went on to win the next two games in overtime to clinch the Stanley Cup for the third time in its 13 years of existence.

After that Cup win, the team went through World War 2 and the aftermath in quite depressing fashion, losing heavily and going through difficulty until they made the playoffs at the end of the 1948 season. The team was eliminated early and then missed the playoffs the next season. The team did make the Cup Finals in 1950 where they faced the Detroit Red Wings. They had to play their home games on the road in this series as the circus was in town and had priority at MSG. After a brave effort from the team, they ultimately fell to the Red Wings in overtime of Game 7.

After this run to the finals, the team went on to miss the playoffs for a number of seasons over the 1950′s and 60′s. The team did experience a mini resurgence after the arrivals of Phil Esposito, Eddie Giacomin and Bernie ‘Boom Boom’ Geoffrion. Coupled with the team moving in to the brand new Madison Square Garden (the same one they play at now) the team did make the playoffs a couple of times with no real success.

The 1970′s provided the team with a bit more success, in the form of two trips to the Stanley Cup Finals at opposite ends of the decade, however the Rangers encountered two powerhouse teams in the forms of the 1972 Boston Bruins and the 1979 Montréal Canadiens and they lost both series. The ’70s also witnessed the birth of the ‘GAG (Goal a Game)’ line of Jean Ratelle, Vic Hadfield and Rod Gilbert. It was also during this time that the Rangers’ newest neighbours and one of the 1972 expansion teams emerged in the form of the New York Islanders, which has led to a sometimes heated rivalry over the years.

The team managed to stay relatively competitive over the 1980′s and early 1990′s, with the team making the playoffs on a regular basis but not having any real success, except for in 1986 when the team got to the Wales Conference finals but came up against the Montréal Canadiens and some rookie goaltender guy by the name of Patrick Roy. After this series, the Rangers did not experience much success until the 1991-92 season when they won the President’s Trophy. However the team soon failed to build on that success after losing to the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins in 6 games. After finishing at the bottom of the Patrick Division at the end of the 1992-93 season, the fans became very frustrated and blamed the ‘Curse of 1940′ for the team’s failure.

The ‘Curse of 1940′ was put down to a couple of reasons, both quite wacky and way out. The first popular belief was because after the 1939-40 season, the ownership of the Rangers had paid off the mortgage to the third Madison Square Garden, so to celebrate in a symbolic manner, they burnt the mortgage papers in the Cup, which people thought had angered the hockey gods and made them place a curse on the Rangers. The second theory is that the curse was placed on the team by the former coach and GM of the New York Americans, Red Dutton. He cursed the team because he gave up his position of being league president to restart the Americans franchise after being given the go ahead from the owners of MSG and the league. It was said that he declared the team would never win the Stanley Cup whilst he was alive. As of his death in 1987, the team had gone 47 years without winning it.

The 1993-94 season is arguably the most iconic season in the history of the New York Rangers. Being lead by former Edmonton Oiler and five time Cup winner Mark Messier and others like Brian Leetch, Adam Graves, Mike Richter, Esa Tikkanen, Glenn Anderson, Craig Mactavish, Stephane Matteau, the team went on to win the President’s Trophy after going 52-24-8 for a record of 112 points. In the postseason, they swept the Islanders in the first round, beat the Washington Capitals in 5 games in the semi finals then went on to face the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals.

After going 3-2 down in the series, the day before Game 6, Messier went out and publicly guaranteed a win. In the game, the Rangers found themselves down 2-0 during the second period. After an Alexei Kovalev reply, Messier went on to score a hat trick, leading the Rangers to a 4-2 victory. Game 7 went to double overtime when the now iconic series clinching goal was scored by Stephane Matteau. This was greeted by the famous commentary from Howie Rose, which goes something like this:

“Matteau swoops in to intercept, Matteau behind the net, swings it in front he scores! Matteau! Matteau! Matteau! Stephane Matteau! And the Rangers have one more hill to climb baby and it’s Mount Vancouver! The Rangers are headed to the finals!!!”

In the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers lost Game 1 to the Vancouver Canucks in double overtime after hitting the post on the rush before the game winner. They then responded by winning the next three games, including the unbelievable penalty shot save by Mike Richter on Pavel Bure in Game 4. Vancouver then went on to win Games 5 and 6 to take the series to a Game 7 held at MSG.
Of course in truly spectacular style, the Rangers won the game 3-2 and sparked mass hysteria in Manhattan, with commentators shouting “NO MORE 1940!!!” and “54 years of hurt is finally over!!!”.

After the famous Stanley Cup win, the team were being broken up and haven’t reached the Finals since. The closest they have been was in 1997 when they reached the Conference Finals but ended up losing to the Philadelphia Flyers in 5 games. After that defeat, the team went on to spend big money on free agents due to the lack of a salary cap, however they were not able to reach the playoffs in any of the following seasons leading up to the lockout.

After the lockout ended and with a new salary cap included in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Rangers started to become more sensible with free agents and drafted talents (with the exceptions of Wade Redden, Scott Gomez, Chris Drury etc…) and have made the playoffs in each season except for the 2009-10 season, where they were cruelly beaten to the last playoff spot by the Philadelphia Flyers in a last game shootout. This season has seen the team’s best regular season since 1994, where they had a record 51-24-7 and finished top of the Eastern Conference, missing out on the President’s Trophy by 2 points.

The future certainly looks bright for the New York Rangers, which is due mainly to the change in mentality of the GM Glen Sather. In the past, Sather would happily pursue high priced free agents and give them ridiculous contracts they could not live up to. Apart from the three guys I mentioned in the last paragraph, the team has drafted great prospects such as Ryan Callahan, Michael Del Zotto, Marc Staal, Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan, Artem Anisimov and traded for/signed Ryan McDonagh, Dan Girardi and the marquee free agent from the 2011 free agency class, Brad Richards.

On Sunday the Erie Otters lost starting goalie Ramis Sadikov after he was injured early in the first period. Erie was forced to put forward Connor Crisp in net because he was the emergency backup goalie

Crisp hadn’t played all year and he just got back on the ice after a shoulder injury, he was asked to be the goalie. Talk about a strange welcome back to the OHL!

The 17-year-old played 48 games last season for Erie and totalled a round number of 5 goals and zero assists, so he has been an unheralded player before yesterday.

“Well, I’m a road hockey goalie, ball hockey goalie, but that’s the first time I’ve put on goalie equipment and played on ice since I was 5 years old,” Crisp told Yahoo Sports.

Crisp was named first star of the game, after allowing 13 goals. But he wasn’t the only emergency goalie in hockey history.

Lester Patrick is probably the most famous emergency substitution ever, suiting up way back in 1928, when the 44-year-old coach of the Rangers had no other options. He allowed only one goal and the Rangers went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Late last year, the Minnesota Wild signed a 51-year-old backup after regular goalie Niklas Backstrom attended to his wife in labour.

Backup was Josh Harding and the next guy in the system had trouble getting to Minnesota on time, so the Wild enlisted Paul Deutsch, a beer league goalie, to be the one day backup.

Also, Manon Rheaume became the first women to play in an NHL game, but that was more like a publicity stunt by Tampa Bay’s GM Phil Esposito.

Related articles

• Otters’ Crisp eager to prove he can return to ice (goerie.com)

7. Ryan Callahan (2006-present): It was no surprise that Callahan’s best game as a Ranger came three seasons ago in a game versus the Boston Bruins on St. Patrick’s Day. The Rangers went on to win 7-0 and the game was dubbed the “St. Patrick’s Day Massacre”. Callahan had both his first NHL hat trick and fight that night, in a game I’ll never forget. Callahan continues to be a very important Ranger, by killing penalties alongside Olympic Teammate Chris Drury. If he plays a few more seasons here, you can be sure his ranking among the Irish greats will go up.

6. Brendan Shanahan (2006-2008): No other player to play for the Rangers in my lifetime wore his nationality on his sleeve like Brendan Shanahan. The beloved “Shanny” always had the “Irish Jig” played for him when he scored goals in Detroit, and that was played a few times during his tenure with the Rangers. His mother speaks with a slight Irish accent, but I do not know if she was actually born there. During his two short years with the Rangers, he was the voice in the locker room the team needed and was apart of the Rangers 600 goal club that included Jaromir Jagr, who both netted the milestone goal within games of each other.

5.  Lynn Patrick (1934-1946): If you’re allergic to the name “Patrick”, now is your chance to turn the page because they next three players all share the same last name. Lynn played 455 games with the Rangers, spanning ten seasons. He won two Stanley Cups with the Rangers, led the team in goal scoring once, and won the team MVP award twice. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame posthumously in 1980.

4. James Patrick (1983-1994): When one thinks of defenseman James Patrick, they think of longevity. Patrick played from 1983 until 2004, for four teams and appearing in 1280 games. Patrick started his career with the Rangers, and played in 671 games, scoring 104 goals and 363 assists. He was apart of the many battles between the Rangers and Flyers, and Rangers and Islanders during the mid-80′s, which remain some of the most intense hockey games ever played.

3. Lester Patrick (1927): Lester Patrick would only play one game in his career with the New York Rangers, but it was enough to seal his name in the annals of hockey history forever. In the deciding game of the 1927 Stanley Cup Finals, Rangers goalie Lorne Chabot was injured and had to leave the game. When the Rangers could not find a goalie to replace him, the 44 year old Patrick, who was coach at the time, donned the goalie equipment and finished the game, which went to overtime with the Rangers becoming victorious on Frank Boucher’s game winning goal.

2. Dave Maloney (1974-1985): When Dave Maloney was given the captaincy in 1978, he became the youngest captain in Rangers history.  The defenseman appeared in 605 games for the Rangers, and was as much of a scrapper as he was a good offensive defenseman. Four seasons in a row, Maloney recorded ten or more goals and more than a hundred penalty minutes. He currently serves as color analyst for the Rangers radio team on  1050 ESPN.

1. Don Maloney (1978-1989): Dave’s brother Don gets the nod as the greatest Irish player in Rangers history. Don Maloney would score twenty or more goals five times in his eleven seasons with the Rangers. He would also experience playoff success on very unsuccessful playoff teams, recording 57 points in 85 games. Six years after retiring from the NHL, Maloney would become the Rangers assistant general manager where he would remain for ten years. This makes him the longest tenured Ranger; 21 years with the franchise. Lester Patrick served 20. Don Maloney is now general manager for the Phoenix Coyotes.

Honorable Mentions: Have to give shout-outs to Buddy O’Connor, Angus “Scotty” Cameron,  Kilby Macdonald, and Bruce MacGregor, just because of their last names. Rob McClanahan also deserves a mention because he scored twenty goals as a Ranger once and was on the 1980 US Olympic team.

The final mention goes to a player that should have never even been in the NHL, but nevertheless, left a lasting impression. I do not know whether or not Ryan Hollweg was of Irish decent, but who could forget this idiocy…err, I mean, patriotism, three years ago before the Rangers 7-0 win over the Bruins on St. Patrick’s Day?

“All roads [led] to the Victoria arena….,”  wrote the Daily Colonist.

It was the place to be. Derby-hatted and spats-strutting spectators arrived by the tramload. Victoria’s finest orchestra set the ambiance and the Lieutenant Governor dropped the first puck.

It was January 3, 1912 and there was finally a top-notch hockey league west of the Great Lakes. And Canada was on its way to establishing a national past time.

The conservative Colonist headlined this first contest: HOCKEY MAKES ITS DEBUT HERE.

Of course, the Victoria team had just lost 8 to 3 to the upstart New Westminster side. The grapes were sour in the capital city.

A few nights later there was a second game in Vancouver. And the Province was gushing after Vancouver defeated Westminster by the same score.

SENSATIONAL ICE HOCKEY SEEN AT VANCOUVER ARENA, the Province headlined.

This exciting new league was a long way from the spring of 1910 when the the Patrick boys returned home from Renfrew. Back in Nelson, Lester and Frank could only dream of playing competitive hockey in B.C. Their reality was working for Patrick Lumber Company in the Kootenays. 

But then, in January, 1911 Papa Joe Patrick sold his company to an English syndicate. This left the family with the tidy sum of $440,000, which of course today is below the salary for a waiver-wire NHL castoff.

The first thing father Joe did was parcel off 50 large to both Lester and Frank. Next, he called a family meeting to discuss investing his residue. Blue chip suggestions were bandied about until Frank blurted out that they should start their own hockey league.

Ironically, Lester, who gets most of the credit for the western league opposed this idea. Fortunately, he was outvoted by Frank and their father.

Years later, Lester rationalized his point of view to Eric Whitehead: “We had much to learn as executives. We were just young hockey players with a lot of dreams.”

#5 Frank et Peter Mahovlich
Ces deux frères ont passé une bonne partie de leurs carrières ensemble. Tout d’abord, de 1967 à 1969 avec les Red Wings de Detroit puis avec le Canadien de 1970 à 1974. Ils ont aussi tous deux participés à la désormais célèbre Série du Siècle en 1972. Les deux ont remporté la Coupe Stanley, mais seul Frank a été intronisé au Temple de la Renommée.

#4 Phil et Tony Esposito
Avant de s’extasier devant les performances d’Angelo Esposito, on peut toujours se souvenir de deux des membres de sa famille, c’est à dire Phil et Tony. Avec 1590 points en carrière, le premier est un centre prolifique qui a joué pour les Blackhawks, les Bruins et les Rangers. Il a gagné de multiples honneurs, dont deux Hart et cinq Art Ross. Le second est un gardien célèbre qui est reconnu pour avoir popularisé le style papillon. Après une saison dans l’uniforme du CH, il a été échangé aux Hawks où il a passé le reste de sa carrière, remportant le trophée Calder et le Vezina à trois reprises.

#3 Anton, Marian et Peter Stastny
Les trois ont été membres des Nordiques de Québec. Anton et Marian ont certes rendu de bons services à leur équipe durant quelques saisons, mais c’est le talent de Peter qui a longtemps fait levé les foules québécoises. Celui-ci a été le deuxième marqueur le plus prolifique des années ’80 après Wayne Gretzky… tout une réussite !

#2 Maurice et Henri Richard
Deux joueurs de légende du Canadien de Montréal, ces deux grands hommes ont changé à leur manière le hockey. Le Rocket, qu’on connait tous pour ses exploits sur glace et hors glace, a crée les premiers chambardements qui ont finalement mené à la crise d’octobre ; et ses prouesses sur la patinoire ont inspiré longuement ses coéquipiers. Il est sans conteste l’un des plus grands joueurs de l’histoire. Son frère Henri, bien que moins talentueux, ne doit pas être oublié. Il détient le record de tous les temps pour le nombre de Coupe Stanley remportées par un joueur, avec onze conquêtes. Les Richard n’ont joué que cinq ans ensemble, mais ils ont remporté la Coupe à chacune de ces saisons. Ensemble, ils ont remporté 19 fois le prestigieux trophée, un record pour un duo de frères.

#1 Brian, Darryl, Duane, Brent, Rich et Ron Sutter
Aucun de ces joueurs n’a révelutionné le hockey. En effet, le plus connu, Brent, n’a même pas une moyenne d’un point par match. Mais simplement le fait que six frères aient tous joué dans la LNH, ça tient de l’exploit.

Autres notables
Valeri et Pavel Bure (Pavel était l’un des joueurs les plus excitants des ’90s, avec ses feintes à couper le souffle et sa vitesse hallucinante), Marcel et Gilbert Dionne, Jack et Steve Carlson (qui ont inspiré les frères Hansen, du film Slap-Shot), James et Bruce Norris, Lester et Frank Patrick…