Contrary to what many people may have thought, the Rangers did not own New York when it came to being the only hockey game in town.
A full year before the Broadway Blueshirts were born, big-league hockey
enraptured New Yorkers in the form of another team.
That exceptionally colorful club wore star-spangled uniforms and made its debut in 1925 amid the prohibition era. Of all the craziest things, that New York Americans franchise was owned by the biggest bootlegger in the Northeast, William ‘Big Bill’ Dwyer was the Big Apple’s version of Chicago gang lord Al Capone.
Unfortunately, Dwyer’s Amerks did as much partying – Big Bill’s booze was free – as they did playing. Their off-ice theme song had to be “Ain’t We Got Fun,” but the mounting losses inspired another musical theme, “Who’s Sorry Now?”
All of this meant that the Americans’ popularity had Garden moguls thinking about putting their non-bootlegger team in the Eighth Avenue ice palace, and a year after the Amerks were born, along came the Rangers.
For starters, MSG boss Col. John Hammond hired Canadian stickhandling mogul Conn Smythe to round up players. The Toronto hockey genius signed a wealth of talent from the failing original Western Hockey League. Alas, when Hammond then demanded that Smythe sign aging ace Babe Dye, Smythe would not be conned and was summarily canned by the Colonel.
No sweat. Another hockey genius named Lester Patrick was waiting in the wings, and when Hammond called, well, Patrick showed. Picking up where Smythe left off – really not much more to do – Lester wrapped up the roster, and the Rangers were rarin’ to go, or skate, as the case had to be.
Their opening game in madcap Manhattan on Nov. 16, 1926, included a blend of pageantry, puck-chasing and publicity. High-class glamor was supplied by actress Lois Moran, who dropped the ceremonial faceoff puck while bands representing the visiting Montreal Maroons and the Blueshirts entertained the Garden crowd as well.
It was a benefit game with all proceeds going to a local charity, Grosvenor Neighborhood House. But there was nothing neighborly about the Rangers, nor charity either.
Covering the game for the New York Times, reporter Seabury Lawrence called it “a fast and savagely played hockey game.” He added, “There was rough checking and heavy stickwork throughout.”
But the rough-housing took a back seat to the artistry, and Conn Smythe was responsible for much of that. Before being fired, the fiery Torontonian signed the crafty brothers, Bill and Bun Cook, who previously starred for the now-defunct Saskatoon Sheiks.
In addition, Smythe penned former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Frank Boucher, whose small stature tended to conceal his greatness as a center ice playmaker as well as his agile fists.
“Boucher – small as he was – fooled us all by drawing the first five-minute major penalty for fighting,” wrote Kerr N. Petrie of the New York Herald-Tribune.
Patrick had the good sense to place Boucher between right winger Bill Cook and left winger Bunny. Combined, they emerged as one of the most creative and prolific lines in NHL history. This was evident to the press box contingent as well as the full house.
“The skaters on that line distinguished themselves with particularly skillful stickwork and clever skating,” commented Lawrence.
As surprisingly good as the Rangers comported themselves, they were up against a formidable and exceptionally tough foe. After all, the Montrealers were the defending Stanley Cup champs.
“We knew how rough the game would be,” said Boucher. “But we also knew that we had some awfully good players who could match them any day.”
One of them was Bill Cook, a First World War hero in the Canadian Army who, to this day, is rated one of – if not the greatest – right winger in New York hockey history.
Bill Cook, Frank Boucher and Bun Cook
In the second period, it was Bill Cook who beat Maroons goalie Clint Benedict for the game’s only goal. The home club prevailed, and The Times’ headline – “Rangers Capture Hockey Opener” – teased Lawrence’s story.
One of the subheads added some spice to the recapitulation: “Game is Fiercely Fought.”
The new boss Lester Patrick was satisfied with the result and told reporters, “If we can finish in third place, we’ll be satisfied.”
As Kerr N. Petrie later wrote: “Patrick and his Rangers handed the Madison Square Garden directorate a surprise by winning the NHL’s American Division. Their 56 points for 44 games led Boston by 11 while Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit trailed.”
As it happened, the Garden’s sextet also outpointed the rival Amerks, who were in the other division. Only a year later (1927-28), the Rangers won their first Stanley Cup and were en route to a lifetime of adulation. What’s more, the Cooks and Boucher proved to be only one of many compelling attractions.
“We had one of the best body checkers, Ching Johnson, on defense, along with a tough partner, Taffy Abel,” Boucher said. “Nobody could push us around.”
Kerr N. Petrie added a compelling comment: “The Rangers had something else going for them that some teams lacked – pro savvy. Plus, their reserves were special. Murray ‘Iron Man’ Murdoch played 300 games for the Blueshirts without a break.”
The foundation that was put in place by Smythe and refined by Patrick was not just a first-night flash in the pan. The Cooks, Boucher, Johnson, et. al. won another Stanley Cup in 1932-33.
“Starting on that long-forgotten opening night in November 1926,” Petrie concluded, “that great old original Rangers team certainly brought big-time hockey to New York with a bang.”
P.S. Try as they might, the Americans competed against the Rangers for 16 years and never even reached the Cup final.
News Summary:
- From the Archives: The Rangers World Premiere in 1926
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