Hockey has a unique tradition. The teams play three periods rather than four quarters or two halves.
The Patrick boys were
born in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada, and started playing hockey at a young
age in the late 1880s. Both became accomplished players and rose to achieve
greatness within the sport, both on the ice and off, according to hockey
historian Jason Beck.
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“Lester Patrick was the promoter and showman, while Frank Patrick was the dreamer and the thinker.”
Their collaboration resulted in the belief that an extra opportunity to clean the ice would benefit the game and give the hockey players an extra rest break. A second intermission also provided fans with an extra opportunity to visit concession stands, buy merchandise and use the washroom.
The model stuck, and when the National Hockey League (NHL) officially came into existence in 1917, it adopted the three-period and two-intermission format that the Patricks had “invented.”
By scraping, flooding and smoothing the ice twice, the surface holds up better, allowing the players to better showcase their skills and, ultimately, provide better entertainment for the fans, according to the hockey blog Brave Stick Hockey.
Frank Patrick was
credited with 22 changes that remain in the NHL rulebook to this day. “It’s no
wonder he was called ‘the brains of modern hockey,’” Beck said.
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Most of the stories about the Patrick brothers that have been passed down, however, focus on Lester Patrick, who was nicknamed the “Silver Fox.”
In 1961, Dave Anderson of Sports Illustrated wrote about an NHL Stanley Cup thriller that occurred in 1928. Lester Patrick was manager-coach of the New York Rangers, playing on the road against the Montreal Maroons.
It was Game 2 of the best-of-five playoffs; the Rangers had dropped the opener. “The game was scoreless early in the second period when suddenly the puck smashed into Ranger goalie Lorne Chabot’s left eye,” Anderson said.
“Minutes later, in the
dressing room, a doctor lifted a blood-smeared towel from Chabot’s face. ‘The
eye is bleeding badly,’ he told Coach Patrick. ‘Get yourself a new goaltender.’”
“In such an emergency, it was then customary for the other team to permit the use of any available goaltender” who could be plucked from the available spectators.
Not so this night. Lester Patrick’s two first picks were rejected by Eddie Gerard, the manager-coach of the Maroons.
An angry Patrick told his team: “Somebody here will have to put the pads on” (and play a man down). Frank Boucher, the Rangers captain, replied: “Look, Lester, you’ve done everything in hockey, and you’re still in pretty good shape. You can go in there yourself. We won’t let them get a good shot at you.”
The 44-year-old coach hadn’t played a minute of hockey in seven years, yet he donned a Rangers’ “blueshirt” jersey and “stiffly skated onto the ice for a warmup…with nearly 30 pounds of equipment strapped to him,” Anderson said.
“At the other end of the ice, the maroon-and-white uniformed players smiled at the sight of Patrick. They were ready to ‘strafe’ him.”
Yet, Lester Patrick
fearlessly awaited the Maroons’ bombardment.
Odie Cleghorn, the coach of the Pittsburgh Pirates NHL team, stepped in to “run the bench” for the Rangers. “Stay back to protect Lester,” Cleghorn told the team. “Don’t let ‘em get close. Wait for a break. If you can protect Lester, one goal might win it.”
Playing cautiously, the Rangers, “hounded the Maroons and checked fiercely at mid-ice. As a result, the Maroons were forced to fire long, harmless shots, which Patrick easily stopped. The second period ended with the two teams still tied 0-0,” Anderson wrote.
“Thirty seconds after the start of the third period, however, Bill Cook suddenly scored for the Rangers. The goal loomed larger and larger as play went on, but then, with less than six minutes to play, the Maroons’ Nels Stewart flipped a long shot along the ice. It skidded slowly toward Patrick. He dropped to both knees, but the puck slid between his pads for the tying goal. When the third period ended with the score 1-1, the game went into sudden-death overtime.”
“In the overtime, the Rangers intensified their mid-ice defense. The Maroons took a few long shots, but Patrick blocked them easily. On one, a chest-high shot, Patrick took no chances. He dropped his stick and caught the puck with both hands.”
“Then, at the seven-minute mark, the Rangers’ Ching Johnson slid a pass up the ice to Boucher. He took it at full speed, skated around a defenseman and shot the puck behind goalie Clint Benedict,” Anderson said.
“The Stanley Cup playoff was tied at one game apiece. The Rangers on the ice rushed toward Patrick. The others swung over the boards to get to him. They all carried him off the ice on their shoulders.”
Rangers get a ‘real’
goalie to complete the 1928 series
His goaltender, Lorne Chabot, was so badly injured during the second game, he had to be hospitalized and was lost for the remainder of the playoffs, wrote Stan Fischler, the New York Rangers’ historian and a former broadcaster.
Bringing in a surrogate goalie required the consent of the opposing team’s manager-coach. Eddie Gerard of the Montreal Maroons essentially “vetoed” Patrick’s picks. The coach inserted himself as goalie in Game 2…but his 44-year-old body was “one and done.”
The aches and pains of aging prevented him from attempting to suit up for the remainder of the playoff series.
Hence, Patrick appealed
to NHL President Frank Calder to intervene, so the Rangers could have a “real”
goaltender.
“After many high-level conferences with Calder, the Maroons finally consented to allow Patrick to sign Joe Miller as his goalie for the rest of the best-of-five series,” Fischler said.
Miller had been the
goalie that year with the New York Americans, colloquially known as the Amerks,
the sorriest team in the NHL.
Frank Boucher, captain of the Rangers said: “The Maroons consented to Joe,” said, “because they thought he was the league’s weakest goalie.”
In fact, Joe Miller had been such a disappointment with Amerks, he actually was knocked down a peg to finish the season in the minors, assigned to Niagara Falls of the Canadian Professional Hockey League.
NHL players joked about the skills of Joe “Red Light” Miller. “Red Light” may be the “most brutal nickname” in all of sports. When a goalie gets scored upon, the red lamp in the goalie’s cage flashes on.
“Alas, ‘Red Light’ Miller gave up two goals in Game 3, while ‘his’ Rangers failed to score. It looked like curtains for the New Yorkers, especially since all of the games were being played at the Maroons’ home, The Montreal Forum,” Fischler said.
Game 4 on April 12, 1928,
figured to be the clincher for the home club. “They were so cocksure of
themselves,” Boucher recalled, “that they made plans for a victory banquet
after the game.”
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But this time, Joe Miller was stellar. “Bolstered with a second-period goal by Boucher, the Rangers triumphed 1-0, setting up the finale (in the best-of-five series) on April 14,” Fischler said.
Game 5:
“When ‘Red Light’ took the ice, he looked down at the other end and saw his opposite in front of the Montreal net; it was future Hall of Famer Clint Benedict, considered the difference-maker in this high-tension contest.”
“Miller shook off the butterflies in his stomach, holding the Maroons scoreless for two periods, while a first-period goal by Boucher staked the Rangers to a tenuous lead,” Fischler said.
“The New Yorkers held fast despite an early third-period penalty which – even more incredibly – led to a Rangers’ shorthanded goal; again by Boucher.”
Advantage Rangers. New York was up 2-0.
“Miller retained his shutout until he was beaten by Bill Phillips with five minutes left in regulation. From then on, Miller closed the door, and the Rangers won, 2-1, clinching their first Stanley Cup.”
Boucher said: “In the
end, Joe Miller proved that he was a really fine goaltender.”
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