During the 1958-59 season, the New York Rangers appeared to be a certain playoff team.
During the 1958-59 season, the New York Rangers appeared to be a certain playoff team.
(The secret word here is "appeared".)
With a roster sprinkled with such future Hall of Famers as Andy Bathgate, Gump Worsley, Bill Gadsby, and Harry Howell, the Blueshirts were seeking their fourth playoff berth in a row.
Garden executives were so certain that their club would make the postseason that they printed and sold playoff tickets with three weeks left in the schedule.
At that point, the playoff-starved Toronto Maple Leafs were seven points behind the Blueshirts and -- for all intents and purposes -- were out of post-season contention.
Suddenly, the Leafs under coach Punch Imlach got hot and the Rangers, then coached by "Phiery" Phil Watson, did a nosedive.
To the astonishment of everyone -- except, perhaps, Imlach -- on the final night of the season, the Rangers lost at home to Montreal, and the Leafs beat the Red Wings in Detroit.
The Rangers had blown their seven-point lead in a matter of two weeks and wound up refunding a lot of money to a lot of disgruntled fans.
One of them was retired FBI man Paul Gardella, a season ticket-holder who had the last word. "I was worried about the Garden jinxing the boys the minute my tickets arrived." Then, a pause: "And I was right!"
(P.S. Early the next season, Phil Watson was fired.)