Glory Days During the early 1900s hockey became very popular in New York City Fans rushed to buy tickets to watch the best professional and amateur talent on the ice In 1925 a sports promoter named Tex Rickard built a new arena on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City and called it Madison Square Garden Rickard filled the seats by staging basketball games cycling races boxing matches and the ever-popular circus An NHL team called the Americans played its games in the Garden and drew enormous crowds Rickard soon decided to start his own team The NHL was anxious to spread south from Canada and move into major American cities Placing another team in New York was a welcome idea Rickard’s club was nicknamed Tex’s Rangers which sounded 6
like a famous group of western lawmen from Texas The Rangers joined the NHL for the 1926 27 season Two of hockey’s greatest pioneers Conn Smythe and Lester Patrick assembled the roster and ran the club The Rangers were a hit from the very beginning Many entertainment celebrities attended their games and Rickard saw to it that his players were paid well and treated well In 1929 the Rangers became the first hockey team to travel to their games by airplane New York’s early stars included Frank Boucher and the Cook brothers Bill and Fred whose nickname was Bun Together they formed the high-scoring Bread Line The defense was anchored by Ching Johnson When Patrick took over as coach in the team’s second season the Rangers won their first Stanley Cup They repeated as champions in 1933 By the end of the 1930s Patrick’s two sons Lynn and Muzz were stars for the Rangers So were two other brothers Neil and Mac Colville Along with Phil Watson Bryan Hextall Clint Smith and goalie Davey Kerr they made the LEFT Tex Rickard steadies the heavy bag for boxing champ Jack Dempsey ABOVE This trading card shows Neil Colville one of the team’s stars during the 1940s 7
Rangers almost unbeatable New York won the Stanley Cup in 1940 with Boucher coaching the team In the years after World War II the Rangers had some great players but they tumbled in the standings The team’s stars during this era included Andy Bathgate and Dean Prentice Goalie Gump Worsley and Harry Howell led the defense By the late 1960s the Rangers ranked among the top teams in the league again Goalie Ed Giacomin and defenseman Brad Park protected the New York net Jean Ratelle Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield formed the GAG Line which stood for goal-a-game Other stars included forwards Walt Tkaczuk Bobby Rousseau and Billy Fairbairn and goalie Gilles Villameure In 1972 the Rangers reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1950 At the end of the 1970s a remade lineup took the team back to the finals New York’s stars included Phil Esposito Don Maloney LEFT Ed Giacomin was one of the most popular Rangers ever ABOVE Brad Park holds the puck behind the net as Rod Gilbert and Jean Ratelle get ready to head up the ice 9
