January 8 in NYR history: A rare hat trick by a blueliner

One of the rarest feats for a Ranger defenseman is a hat trick on the road

What happened on January 8 in the history of the New York Rangers

Only four New York Rangers defensemen have scored a hat trick in franchise history.  Brad Park did it three times and it was on this date in 1975 that he scored his third and last as a Blueshirt.  Three hat tricks by a defenseman is a franchise record that may never be equaled.

Park scored a power play goal in the first period and notched two third period tallies and added an assist for a  four point night, tying his career high.

Park had scored the first hat trick by a defenseman in franchise history in December 1971. On February 12, 1972 he got his second hat trick and the first one on the road in team history.

Since then, Brian Leetch had a playoff hat trick and Reijo Ruotsalainen had a St. Patrick’s Day hat trick in 1982.  Tony DeAngelo was the fourth to accomplish the feat a year ago.

It was also the first time that the Rangers played in the city of Kansas City, defeating the expansion Scouts 6-1.  The Rangers never lost a game in that city, going 4-0-1 over two seasons before the Scouts relocated to Colorado.  When it comes to arenas used for NHL games for more than one season, the Rangers are undefeated in only three:  the Kemper Arena in K.C., the Cow Palace in Daly City, California and the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, still the home rink for the Red Wings.

A big day for the NHL

January 8 is one of the quietest days in New York Rangers history during the regular season, but an event on this date had a major effect on the team.  In 2013, a big step was made towards ending a lockout that had lasted almost four months.  On this date, the NHL owners announced that they were moving ahead and scheduled a vote for January 9 on a new contract.

It was a major hurdle overcome towards ending the last time the NHL had to cancel games due to labor issues.   A strike in 1992 forced the postponement of 30 games.  The 1994-95 lockout shortened the season to 48 games.  The entire 2004-05 season was cancelled and in 2012-13, the season was reduced to 48 games.  Play resumed on January 19.

Today’s birthdays

Three of the 20 NHL players born on January 8 were New York Rangers.

On this date in 1916, Mac Colville was born in Edmonton, Alberta. Colville played his entire nine year NHL career with the Rangers.  He was a right winger who also played on defense and was a member of the 1940 Stanley Cup winning team.

He is not as well known as his brother, Hall of Famer Neil, who was an All-Star for the Rangers, playing 12 years with the Blueshirts.  The Colville brothers were teammates for Mac’s entire career.

Wally Hergesheimer was born on January 8, 1927 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  The right winger played six years and 310 games for the Rangers from 1951 to 1959 with one brief stop in Chicago.  He led the team in goals in each of his first three seasons, despite the fact that he was one of the smaller players in the NHL at 5’7″ and 145 pounds.  Despite his size he was adept and collecting and scoring on rebounds and acknowledged his role as a “garbage collector.”   His career highlight was scoring twice in 79 seconds in the 1953 All-Star Game.

Hergesheimer broke his leg late in 1953 and then broke the same leg again after14 games in the 1954-55 season.  Although he returned in the 1955-56 season to score 22 goals, he was never the same after the injury  He was also known for playing despite losing parts of his middle and index fingers in a punch press accident when he was 17 years old.

Darren Langdon was a left winger born on this date in 1971 in Deer Lake, Newfoundland and Labrador.  Undrafted, he was signed by the Rangers and despite limited ability, he stuck with the team for six years from 1994 to 2000.   Langdon is beloved by Ranger fans for his willingness to fight.  Despite never scoring more than seven goals in a season, he led the team in penalty minutes twice and is known for his four fights with Tie Domi and Zdeno Chara and his two battles with Bob Probert are legendary.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 33 games on January 8 and it’s notable that they never reached a decision in overtime, settling for five ties.

Games: 33
Regulation wins: 13
Regulation losses: 15
Ties: 5
Points percentage:  .469

Looking back

Only one game was played in our look back to games one, five and ten years ago on this date.

Last year – 2020: No game

5 years ago – 2016: No game

10 years ago – 2011: Rangers 2, St. Louis 1

In his12th game of the campaign, goalie Martin Biron held the St. Louis Blues to one goal and won his eighth game of the season.  Derek Stepan and Sean Avery scored second period goals as the Blueshirts won their third game in a row and won their eighth game in regulation in their last 12 games (8-2-2).

With the win the Rangers closed to within four points of the first place Flyers.  They never caught them, finishing third in the Atlantic Division with 93 points, 13 points behind Philadelphia.