By all accounts, 1948-49 was to be a banner year for the Blueshirts. Out of the playoffs since 1942 they finally gained the postseason in the spring of 1948.

Although they lost in a six-game semi-final to Detroit, the club enjoyed a promising future led by such stars as goalie Charlie Rayner, center Buddy O'Connor and defensemen Bill Moe.

"O'Connor had won the Hart and Lady Byng Trophies," said manager Frank Boucher, "and with Buddy and Edgar Laprade, we had two of the best centers in the league."

In those post-war years, the Rangers trained at Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks and played exhibition games on both sides of the Canadian-American border.

After an exhibition game in Quebec, the team was returning to its Eagle's Nest lodge in Saranac Lake.

Except something was significantly different about the return trip. Instead of all the players returning in a team bus, four chose to drive in a private car to the lodge, ostensibly against league rules.

O'Connor, Frankie Eddolls, Laprade and Moe were in the auto. Unfortunately, the car never returned. It crashed into a truck that nearly killed the New York quartet.

O'Connor suffered broken ribs while Eddolls came away with a severed tendon. The others emerged with assorted other injuries.

Boucher: "We were lucky all four came out of it alive. But the guys were hospitalized and missed an important part of the early season. What's more, it had a terrible effect on our play."

As a result, the Rangers limped off, winning only three of their first 14 games. What should have been a hot playoff bound team was a shell of its former self.

"We never got over that accident," said Boucher, "and it cost us the players. A year later all the guys were healthy and we went all the way to the Stanley Cup Final."