This, you won't believe because nobody can dig as deep as The Maven. None other than the Rangers are responsible for their arch-rival Islanders existence.

Mind you, this did not happen when the Nassaumen entered the NHL but, actually long before that. 

What's more, a book that's coming out later this month will document the whole story.

It's called "Remembering The Long Island Arena: A Hockey Story And More." (It will be out on Amazon, September 27th. For all hockey fans, it's a must read.)

Author Joseph Rossi, a masterful historian, traces a trail that, coincidentally, The Maven trod when I worked in publicity for the Rangers during the 1954-55 season. 

Before that, I wrote a weekly newsletter for Tommy Lockhart's Eastern Amateur Hockey League. Both the Rangers business manager as well as boss of the Blueshirts' EAHL farm team, the New York Rovers, Lockhart also was the father of the Amateur Hockey Association of the U.S.S. otherwise known now as USA Hockey. 

As a Madison Square Garden employee, Lockhart was the first to sense that by 1950 the Knicks were becoming as popular as the Rangers while the Rovers stock began plummeting in the early 1950's.

Lockhart realized that the Rovers would be doomed as an NHL tenant but there could be a home for them elsewhere in the Met Area.

Without much fuss or fanfare, Tom developed plans for what would become the Long Island Arena in Commack. It took a lot longer to build than expected but in good time it was completed.

Eventually the Rovers briefly called it home only to be succeeded by the Eastern League's Long Island Ducks.

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The Ducks became so popular on the island that the demand for a big-league arena led to construction of Nassau Veterans' Memorial Coliseum. 

And when the new World Hockey Association burst on the scene in 1971 – prepping for a 1972 debut in Uniondale – the NHL said, "Ugh-Ugh," the Brooklyn equivalent of "NO! NO!," In the arena homestretch, the Islanders won the race, nabbed an expansion franchise for the 1972-73 derby and skated into a brand new Coliseum.

But when you think about it, the Rangers paved the hockey road for their Manhattan Rovers to the Long Island Rovers-Ducks and eventually the Isles.

Specifically, when Blueshirts business manager Tom Lockhart said, "It's time to build a rink on the Island."