Talk to the coach of any Stanley Cup–winning team, and he’ll tell you that success depends on not one player or two, but contributions from everybody on the squad, right down to the twentieth man. The same holds for producing a book of this nature.
It requires extensive research, first-person interviews, the transcription of tapes, and the referencing of previous volumes on the subject.
Without all of these elements, such a book would not be possible. Which brings us to the business of acknowledging all of the good works provided by so many people.
For starters, there were the vital contributions from my office workers: Matt Jackson and Pat McCormack.
The two who orchestrated much of the nitty-gritty so necessary to make the project work defies the highest form of commendation. So I’ll settle for a thousand thank-yous for all the help from Rini Krishnan and Joe Kelleher.
Needless to say, all the folks in Rangerville were most cooperative in every way. And that starts at the top with Glen Sather and Tom Renney.
The Blueshirts’ P.R. department was always there to help, specifically John Rosasco, Ryan Nissan, Lindsay Ganghamer, and Michael Rappaport. If anyone was forgotten, please accept my apologies.
Many, many other authors have written extensively and expertly on the Rangers and their history. In our research, we found many useful items that helped us in our writing. The following books were of special help:
Madison Square Garden: A Century of Sport and Spectacle on the World’s Most Versatile Stage, by Zander Hollander; Madison Square Garden, 100 Years of History, by Joseph Durso; When the Rangers Were Young, by Frank Boucher; A Year On Ice, The 1970 New York Rangers Roller Coaster Season, by Gerald Eskenazi; Broadway Blues, New York Rangers ’ Twelve-Month Tour of Hockey Hell, by Frank Brown; The Rangers, by Brian McFarlane; New York Rangers Seventy-Five Years, by John Halligan; Tales from the Rangers Locker Room, by Gilles Villemure and Mike Shalin; New York Rangers: Millennium Memories, Coordinating Editor: Jeffrey Jay Ellish; Game of My Life, by John Halligan and John Kreiser; The New York Rangers: Broadway’s Longest-Running Hit, by John Kreiser and Lou Friedman; Losing the Edge: The Rise and Fall of the Stanley Cup Champion New York Rangers by Barry Meisel; and Hockey Stars Today and Yesterday, by Ron McAllister.
Old pal Ira Gitler, as well as good friends Hal and Randy Gelman, provided many insights, as did Mike Cosby, whose father, Gerry, was a pioneer in The Game. Michael was kind enough to turn his photo library over to us for use in the book.
Angela Sarro loaned us photos from her library launched by her late husband, Tom, a good friend, a marvelous historian, and a passionate Rangers fan throughout his life.
And naturally, my wife, Shirley, always was there to help and advise on the project, even as it impinged on family space and time. If any others were omitted—and they probably were—our apologies.
Thanks also to a long-ago editor of mine by the name of Peter Weed. I don’t know where he is right now, but this wonderful hockey man once commissioned me to write a book called Those Were the Days, which was filled with oral histories including several Rangers, some of whose commentary has been included in this book.
I also had the good fortune of ghosting the autobiographies of Brad Park, Play The Man, and Bemie Geoffrion, Boomer, and co-authoring (with Hal Bock) Rod Gilbert’s work, Goal—My Life On Ice. I relied on each of these for anecdotes and oral history.
At the expense of issuing the traditional bromide—last but not least—a ton of thanks goes to our thoughtful, insightful, and tremendously helpful editor, Julie Ganz, whose patience and fortitude helped make this possible.