A touching tribute to Abe Yurkofsky from The Maven.

During the 1939-40 NHL season I was eight-years-old when the Rangers won their third Stanley Cup.

I lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the only other Rangers fan I knew in the whole wide world was my friend Abe Yurkofsky who lived around the corner and down the block on Vernon Avenue.

Abe was two years older than The Maven and that meant he was one of the "Big Guys" who – as such – had the option to ignore anyone my age.

But Abe was a swell guy and one Sunday in that amazingly cold winter, "Big Guy" Yurkofsky did an extraordinarily neat thing; he invited me to his apartment to play a table game.

Mind you this was not just any table game this was "Lester Patrick's Hockey," for my nickel's worth the best indoor game in the whole wide world.

You played the game with dice and moved your players around the hockey rink-designed board, made saves, scored goals; the whole solid schmeer.

I was thrilled beyond words to trek from my Marcy Avenue house down the Vernon block and up to Abe's. The zero degree cold didn't bother me a bit and, besides, I knew that the Yurkofsky apartment would be nice and warm.

So it was and so was the absolute thrill of rolling the dice and playing the best hockey game in the world; we were having so much fun, it didn't matter who was winning.

But about a half hour into the game I said, "Abe, the score clock on the board is too small." Abe agreed, so I got up and walked to the ice-covered window. With my right index finger, I carved a large scoreboard on the glass, put in the appropriate numbers and returned to my seat.

Suddenly, Abe's mom walked in, looked at the carved up window and let out an "OY VAY" that could be heard all the way to Canarsie.

Mrs. Y mistakenly thought that I was breaking her window with my little index finger. With the firmness of a Gary Bettman, she folded up Lester Patrick, including the dice, and showed me the door.

And since poor Abe could not go to the War Room for further review, it remained

the first and last time I ever played Lester Patrick Hockey, or dared to visit Chez Yurkofsky.

(For those who do not know, Lester Patrick was the original Rangers manager who led them to three Stanley Cups. His picture and action shots of the Blueshirts adorned the Lester Patrick Hockey game.)

I bring this all up today because my lifelong friend – and dearest buddy – Abe Yurkofsky, 94, died yesterday in Manhattan.

I am so sad beyond words, but so glad to have had such a grand pal for so long. I shall never forget his gracious invitation to play hockey when we were kids and nice little things like that meant a ton to us.

And even though Mama Yurkofsky canceled the game that fateful, frigid day in Williamsburg; I'm so grateful that I got to play one contest of Lester Patrick Hockey. My first and last.

Thanks, old pal, Abe, you made life so much more fun for The Maven!