On January 18 in NYR history: A stuck train and Messier’s birthday

What happened on January 18 in New York Rangers history

On this date in 1945, the New York Rangers played a road game that started at 11:15pm as a crowd of 7,687 fans in Detroit waited for the Blueshirts to arrive on a train delayed by weather.  It’s inconceivable in the current NHL that fans would be forced to wait almost three hours for a game to start, but in the 1940s, it wasn’t unusual for games to be delayed.

The game had already had a late start time of 8:30pm due to the Rangers’ travel plans, but weather delayed their train and by the time they were ready to take the it was 11:15pm.  The Red Wings made short work of the Blueshirts, winning 7-3.   They didn’t waste any time getting the game in, finishing at 12:56am, taking only an hour, 41 minutes to play.

While the game was one sided, it was notable for the Blueshirts in that Fred Thurier scored on a penalty shot after being fouled on a breakaway. It was the Rangers’ fifth successful attempt in 13 tries.

Good-bye Pittsburgh

In 1930 on this date, the Rangers played the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh at the  Duquesne Gardens for the last time.  The Pirates were an NHL franchise from 1925 to 1930 before they moved east and became the Philadelphia Quakers.   Their final trip to the Steel City was successful as they won, 6-5.

They  wouldn’t play another game in Pittsburgh for another 37 years until they played the expansion Pittsburgh Penguins in 1967.

Today’s birthdays

There are 27 NHL players born on January 18.  One of the greatest Rangers of them all is one of them along with seven other Ranger alumni.

The Captain, Mark Messier, was born on January 18, 1961 in Edmonton, Alberta.  What more can one say about about Messier except that he was the force behind the end of the longest Stanley Cup drought in NHL history, as he led the 1994 New York Rangers to the NHL championship.

Messier retired after 25 years in the NHL, third all-time in career points. He was the Hart Trophy winner twice and was a member of six championship teams.  Messier had 250 goals and 691 points in 698 games as a Ranger.  Messier’s number 11 hangs from the rafters of Madison Square Garden and he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.

Ruslan Fedotenko was born on this date in 1979 in Kiev, USSR. Fedotenko was a left wing who played two seasons with the Rangers at the tail end of his 12 year NHL career.  He won Stanley Cups with the Lightning and the Penguins, but had no similar success in his Ranger career from 2010 to 2012.

Mike Blaisdell was a right winger born on this date in 1960 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  He came to the Rangers in a trade that included Ron Duguay going to Detroit in 1983.  Over two seasons in New York he played 48 games and scored six goals.

Jere Gillis was born on this date in 1957 in Bend Oregon.  The left wing was the fourth overall pick in the 1977 NHL Entry Draft by the Vancouver Canucks, but was a bust and was dealt to the Rangers in 1980 for Mario Marois.  After scoring 13 goals in 61 games, he was traded to Quebec for Robbie Ftorek.  Gillis played for Buffalo, Vancouver and Philadelphia before finishing his career in Europe.

Dean Kennedy was a defenseman born on January 18, 1963 in  Redvers, Saskatchewan who was virtually loaned to the Rangers by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1988-89 season.  The Rangers acquired him in a trade with the Kings for Igor Liba and two minor leaguers.  He played 16 games in New York before he was traded back to the Kings for a draft pick.

Jason LaBarbera was a goalie born on this date in 1980 in Burnaby, British Columbia. Drafted by the Rangers in the third round of the 1998 draft,  he played five games in two brief stints with the Rangers in 2000-01 and 2003-04.   He left the Rangers organization via free agency and played five other teams before retiring.

Max Labovitch was another one of the WWII era players who made the NHL during the war.  Labovitch was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on this date in 1924. The right winger was scoreless in five games with the Rangers in 1943-44, his only games in the NHL.

Jamie Ram was a tenth round pick in the 1991 NHL Entry Draft by the Rangers.  The goaltender made it to the NHL and played one game with the Blueshirts in the 1995-96 season.  He came in relief of Glenn Healy in a 7-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. In 26:58 minutes he had nine saves and didn’t allow a goal.  He is one of three goalies to play for the Rangers to post a 0.00 Goals Against Average (Chris Holt and Harry Lumley were the others).   Ram and Holt both allowed no goals in their NHL careers.

The numbers

The Rangers have played 36 times on January 18 and have a lot of success, losing only 12 times.

Games: 36
Regulation wins: 16
Regulation losses: 12
Ties: 5
Overtime wins:  3
Points percentage: .597