On May 28 in NYR history : A Prince of Wales Trophy tale

What happened on May 28 in the history of the New York Rangers

What happened on May 28?  Absolutely nothing. The Rangers have made no trades. Fired no coaches.  Played no playoff games.  Nothing. But they did do something in the wee hours of May 28 in an event that started on May 27.  They won the Prince of Wales Trophy that is awarded each year to the winner of the Eastern Conference Championship.  We’ll pick a nit and say that the Rangers won the trophy on May 28 since the ceremony happened after midnight.

It was the third time in franchise history for the Rangers and the first time they took the trophy home since 1942 when it was awarded to the regular season champion.  Their first win was in 1932 when they won it as champions of the American Division.

One thing that did happen on this date was that Rangers’ captain Mark Messier ignored a longstanding  superstition and not only hoisted the Wales Trophy, but carried it into the locker room.  The tradition has been that you shouldn’t touch the trophy as the only trophy you should have contact with is the Stanley Cup.

In the euphoria after Stephane Matteau‘s double overtime series clinching goal, Messier didn’t care and lifted the trophy as the crowd renewed its chant of “we want the cup.”

Today’s birthdays

Editor’s note:  Mistakenly, yesterday we wrote that Clarence Abel was born on May 27, but he was really born on the 28th so we are repeating his bio today.  Since we don’t want to ignore the players actually born on the 27th, we’ll include their bios on this page.  Sorry about the error.

32 NHL players have been born on May 28, but only one wore a Rangers jersey, but he was known for an NHL milestone.

Clarence Abel was born on this date in 1900 in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.  He was a defenseman who was a member of the first New York Rangers team in the 1926-27 season and was  a Stanley Cup champion with the team in 1928.  He was sold to the Chicago Black Hawks after three seasons in New York, winning another cup with the Hawk in 1934 . Nicknamed “Taffy,” Abel was inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame as he was the first player born in the United States to become a regular for an NHL team.

Three former Rangers were born on the 27th of May.

Ray Sheppard was a right winger, born on May 27, 1966 in Pembroke, Ontario.  He is best known for being sold to the New York Rangers by the Buffalo Sabres for the grand total of one dollar. After scoring 38 goals as a rookie and 22 goals the next season, he was waylaid by an ankle injiury the next season and the Sabres chose to part ways, selling him to the Rangers for a buck.  He revived his career in New York, scoring 24 goals and left via free agency the next season. He has the rare distinction of scoring 20 goals for six different teams, one fewer than Bill Guerin, who did it for seven teams.

Jim Bartlett was born on May 27, 1932 in Verdun, Quebec.  The left winger played parts of five seasons in the NHL including three in New York.  in his one full season with the Rangers, he was second only to Lou Fontinato in penalty minutes with 118,

Ike Hildebrand was born on May 27, 1927 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was a right winger who played 41 games in two seasons in the NHL. 32 games were for the Rangers in the 1953-54 season when he scored six goals before being sold to the Chicago Black Hawks.