This Day in Hockey History – April 7, 1928 – Patrick Puts on the Pads

(Photo: YouTube)

In today’s NHL, the teams have a starting goaltender and a backup goaltender and in most situations that is sufficient to get through a game. However, that was not always the case. And when the New York Rangers took on the Montreal Maroons in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, they found themselves in a bit of a quandary when they lost their goaltender Lorne Chabot early in the second period.

During the game, played at the Forum, April 7th, Maroons player Nels Stewart, now in his third season with the Montreal club, put a shot on the Rangers netminder that actually caught Chabot in the left eye. This was a time when the goalies didn’t wear protective masks, and as a result of the shot, Chabot was not able to continue to play. In fact, he ended up being taken to the hospital.

Normally, during this period of having a single goaltender on the team, the solution was to use a backup goaltender who was watching the game from the stands. For this game it would have been Alex Connell from Ottawa. The Maroons refused this request by the Rangers, and also denied them the use of minor leaguer Hughie McCormick of the Canadian Professional league, also in attendance.

“The Montreal team averred that there was too much at stake to allow the opposing team the use of an outside goalie. They claimed that the Rangers should have been equipped with a substitute goalie, pointing out that the Maroons, themselves, had carried Flat Walsh as spare netminder for the past two seasons,” reported The Winnipeg Tribune.

The Rangers were now faced with trying to find a goaltender from within their Rangers club.

“Lester Patrick, exhorted by his players to fill the breach, donned a uniform, strapped on the pads, set a black cap at a rakish angle over his shock of grey hair and, for the first time in his long, distinguished career in hockey, took up a post as a regular goalkeeper,” wrote The Gazette.

At the point that the 44-year-old Patrick was suited up and between the pipes, neither team had scored, and they would remain scoreless going into the second intermission. It was 30 seconds into the third period that saw the Rangers get the first goal of the game.

“Bill Cook put Rangers in front, driving a vicious shot from outside the defence. [Clint] Benedict saw it and stuck out his hand, but missed. The puck struck the cross-bar and bounded down into the far corner of the net,” reported The Gazette.

The Maroons tied things up off the stick of none other than Stewart, with 5:40 remaining in regulation and the game remained knotted at the end of the third period, forcing the teams to overtime. It took just a little more than seven minutes, but the Rangers pulled out the win when Frank Boucher managed to put the puck past Benedict.

This tied the series and cast a few doubts as to whether or not the Maroons were as sure of the Cup as had originally been anticipated.

“The rugged veteran [Patrick] has been playing major league hockey since 1904, but it was the first time in his long career that he has donned the pads as regular goalie in a scheduled game. He has played center, wing, and defence, and he also took a turn at rover in the days of seven-man hockey, but never before had he tried goal tending. As the score of last night’s game finally showed, Lester Patrick proved himself a goalie of no mean class, and even though his defence did give him super-human protection, he blocked many Maroon drives which were labelled goals,” wrote the Daily News.

One has to wonder if the Maroons were pondering how things might have gone if they had just agreed to allow one of the two goalies in the stands the opportunity to substitute.

“Patrick’s appearance evidently inspired his men to rise to hockey heights. The entire team immediately turned into a well-nigh perfect defensive machine, which tempered their brilliant defensive work with an ever-dangerous offensive. They were fighting mad following the injury to Chabot, and gave all they had to protect their heroic manager in net,” shared The Winnipeg Tribune.

Patrick, who was 44 years and 99 days, still holds the record as the oldest goaltender in playoff history. And as for Chabot, he was finished for the series. To continue in the best-of-five set, the Rangers were given permission to use Joe Miller from the New York Americans.

Additional Sources:

• “Lester Patrick Assists Rangers to Defeat Maroons,” The Winnipeg Tribune (Winnipeg, Manitoba), Monday, April 9, 1928, p. 12.
• “Rangers Defeated Maroons but Lost Goalie for Series,” The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), Monday, April 9, 1928, p. 16.
• “Les Patrick’s First Game as Goalie Saves Rangers,” Daily News (New York, New York), Monday, April 9, 1928, p. 24.