TBC: When The Rangers Were Young

I'd hardly consider myself a historian, but I like a good story from generations that have passed. Hockey has a lot of those stories that one likely never hears as they are swallowed by the passage of time, but that's where I'm hopeful that more and more people involved with the game will put their thoughts and stories on paper between covers. Today's addition to Teebz's Book Club has a somewhat-deceiving title as I was expecting more stories about the team, but it's a book through one man's eyes about the founding and early days of the New York Rangers from his perspective. Teebz's Book Club is proud to review When the Rangers Were Young, written by Frank Boucher and Trent Frayne and published by Dodd, Mead, & Company. Frank Boucher was one of the original players when the New York Rangers broke into the NHL in 1926, and he details his life and experiences - both good and bad - before, during, and after his playing days with the New York Rangers in the book!

François Xavier Boucher was born on October 7, 1901 in Ottawa, Ontario where he learned the game of hockey. The former Vancouver Maroons, Ottawa Senators, and New York Rangers forward played in the PCHL with Vancouver from 1922-26, played with the Senators in 1921-22, and was one of the first players on the team when the New York Rangers took the ice in the NHL in 1926. He played 13 seasons with the Rangers, retiring in 1944 only to become the Rangers' head coach from 1939-49 and in 1953-54, and acting as the general manager from 1947-54. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1958 as a player where he was a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Rangers while winning the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy seven times in eight years. Boucher passed away from cancer on December 12, 1977 at the age of 76 in Kemptville, Ontario.

Trent Gardiner Frayne was born on September 13, 1918 in Brandon, Manitoba where he started his sportswriting career with the Brandon Sun at the age of 15. His career would take him to Winnipeg for jobs with The Canadian Press and the Winnipeg Tribune, and Toronto where he worked for The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Telegram, MacLean's Magazine, the Toronto Star, and the Toronto Sun before returning to the The Globe and Mail in 1983. Frayne wrote a number of books over his career including It's Easy: All You Have to Do Is Win, Famous Hockey Players, and The Tales of an Athletic Supporter. Frayne was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984, won the the National Newspaper Award for sports writing in 1975, and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1988. He and his wife, June Callwood, were married in 1944 with four children rounding out the Frayne family. Trent Frayne passed away on February 11, 2012 at the age of 93 in Toronto, Ontario.

As I stated above, I was expecting more of a factual examination of the early days of the New York Rangers when I started reading When the Rangers Were Young, but the book is actually an autobiographical look at the Rangers and his life from Frank Boucher's perspective. That's not to say that there isn't a pile of history that Boucher documented because the book is loaded with his observations, but there are chapters where Boucher talks about growing up in Ottawa and life at home with his family. He documents how he went from Ottawa to Vancouver before landing in New York, and he talks about teammates and opponents in bringing those characters to life.

When the Rangers Were Young does a good job at the history component as well as there are passages that talk about the battles the Rangers had with the Montreal Maroons in their first NHL game, chapters that deal with the Stanley Cups that the Rangers won, the seven Lady Byng trophies in eight seasons that Boucher won, and some of the changes seen in the game with which Boucher seemed to be involved. For example, did you know that Frank Boucher was the person who suggested installing the red center ice line? The reasons for it are explained in When the Rangers Were Young, but I found Boucher's involvement in a number of rule changes to be fascinating!

There are some chapters where the book lulls as Boucher goes into detail about minutiae about players or people who had impacts on the Rangers, but those sections were surrounded by chapters about the games, the history, and the moments that Boucher illustrates so well. One of those moments that changed the game was when Frank Boucher decided to pull the goalie while the play was still happening. Prior to his innovative idea, NHL coaches would only pull the goalie for an extra attacker during a stoppage in play. Boucher changed all that in 1939 with an idea he had, though, as he wrote,

"In one stretch that year we'd gone nineteen games without a loss and then we went into Chicago looking for No. 20. Until this period in hockey's development, it was the custom in the dying moments of a close game to wait for a stoppage in play to remove the goaltender and replace him with a sixth attacker when a team was trailing by one goal. What had occurred to me during a train trip early that season was that there was no rule to prevent the removal of the goaltender while play was in motion, and I had made up my mind that I'd try it. I discussed the tactic with Dave Kerr, alerting him that one night we might give it a try."

Coincidentally, it was in that game against Chicago where Boucher tried it as the Rangers trailed 2-1 late in the game, and his experiment caused all sorts of chaos as the officials both on and off the ice initially thought the Rangers were playing with too many players. They would eventually figure out what Boucher did and apologize for their confusion, but it didn't help the Rangers on that night as they fell 2-1 to the Black Hawks. Nonetheless, that little tidbit of information is amazing to know, and the When the Rangers Were Young has a number of instances where Boucher talks about ideas or rules he implemented that changed the game!

Overall, When the Rangers Were Young is a good read from start to finish despite the book not being exactly as the title describes. There are times where Boucher's chapters are overly wordy - that may be due to Frayne's writing style - but the book reads fairly easily as Boucher goes over his entire 29-year career with the New York Rangers. Because he often drops in interesting pieces of hockey history and because Boucher talks about players whose careers are legendary with humour and intimate knowledge, When the Rangers Were Young is certainly deserving of the Teebz's Book Club Seal of Approval!

Because When the Rangers Were Young has been out of print for a while, you'll have to locate this book at a library, a secondhand book store, or thrift shop. The 244-page book contains lots of fun stories and cool history, but the reading is slightly more advanced due to the writing style used during the original publication date of 1973. As such, I recommend When the Rangers Were Young for teens and older readers, especially hockey history fans and New York Rangers fans!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!