December 7, 2020: This day in New York Rangers history

The New York Rangers played on Pearl Harbor Day

What happened on December 7 in the history of the New York Rangers

December 7, 1941 is an infamous date in U.S. history, when 2,403 persons were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor.  What’s inconceivable is that the New York Rangers played that night, one of three games that went ahead as scheduled. They played the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden, winning 5-4.

Boston jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Rangers scored five straight goals led by Alex Shibicky with two goals.  The question is why they went ahead and played.

Interestingly, the game was supposed to be televised on WNBT, the first commercially licensed television station in the U.S.  Now, WNBC, the station began broadcasting earlier that year and on December 7, had two programs scheduled, a movie called “Millionaire Playboy” at 3:30pm and the Ranger game at 8:40pm.

They broke into the movie to report the attack on Pearl Harbor and they didn’t air the hockey game, staying on the air to report on the events in Hawaii.

The Ranger game wasn’t the only sporting event in New York City that day as the New York Giants played the Brooklyn Dodgers in a football game at the Polo Grounds.  The news was announced at that game that had already started at the the time of the attack.

The other NHL games were in Detroit and Chicago and they went ahead as scheduled. There is very little information about why the NHL went ahead with their schedule that day.  The time difference shouldn’t have mattered.  The attack began at 12:48pm in New York City and was over in 90 minutes giving the league enough time to cancel the games.  Yet, they went ahead.  The NHL Commissioner was Frank Calder and all of the hockey operations were based in Canada, so that might have been a reason.  We may never know.

Two firsts in New England

On December 7, 1926, the Rangers played their first game ever against the Boston Bruins and also made their first ever visit to Beantown.  The game was played at the Boston Arena (now the Matthews Arena at Northeastern University) and the Rangers won, 1-0 behind a first period goal by Clarence Abel, known as “Taffy.” Abel was a defenseman and led all Ranger blueliners with eight goals that season. Hal Winkler was in net for the Blueshirts.

December 7, 1979, the Rangers had another first, playing their first game on the road against Hartford.  The game was actually played at the Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, Massachusetts as the Hartford Civic Center was undergoing repairs after a heavy snowfall caused some damage.   The Whalers was one of four WHA teams that remained when that league merged with the NHL in 1979.

The Rangers came from behind to beat the Whalers 7-4.   They fell behind 3-1, but seven different Rangers scored with Barry Beck netting the game winner late in the second period. The first Whaler goal was scored by Gordie Howe, his last goal ever scored against the Blueshirts.

It was a rough game with six fighting majors handed out and the Rangers’ Ed Hospodar and Bill Bennett of Hartford ejected from the game in the second period.  The mild mannered Ulf Nilsson took a first period slashing penalty in retaliation for a series of hooks, slashes and high sticks against him, none called.

Today’s birthdays

Ivan “Ching” Johnson was born on this date in1898 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  The defenseman played 11 years and 405 games for the Rangers from 1926 to 1937, winning two Stanley Cups. He was a first or second team all-star four times and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1958.

In 1911, Earl Seibert was born in Berlin, Ontario.  The defenseman played five years for the Rangers for a total of 204 games from 1931 to 1936.   He was a member of the Stanley Cup winning team in 1933 and was a first team all-star in 1935.  He was traded to the Blackhawks in a blockbuster deal in January 1936 for defenseman Art Coulter, a trade of two future Hall of Famers.   Seibert was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1963.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 36 times on December 7 in franchise history.  It’s been one of their better days in December with only 11 regulation losses.

Regulation wins:  15
Regulation losses:  11
Ties:  6
Shootout wins:  1
Overtime losses:  3
Points percentage:   .569

Looking back

On each day, we look back at what the Rangers did one, five and ten years ago, but December 7 is a quiet one.  The Blueshirts did not play on December 7 in any of those years.