Danny Wild-Imagn Images [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/3d6e01da-8b30-4c16-93fb-1b4ee563c24a.jpeg] Danny Wild-Imagn Images The Rangers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers] Centennial Season Theme Nights, which begin on October 20 (vs.Minnesota), will be an all-inclusive tribute to just about everything and everyone of note connected to the franchise. But scanning the many different theme nights – stretching into March – I see nothing about commemorating the broadcasters. Hard as it may be to believe but hockey broadcasts from the old Garden began with the original New York Americans in 1925, followed by the Blueshirts a year later. The Garden bought radio station WWGL -- 1420 on the dial -- and changed the call letters to WMSG. The first hockey play-by-play guy was a Canadian from Hamilton, Ontario. Jack Filman was the guy who liked to label his play-by-play calls "skate-by-skate." One of the great characters of the early hockey era, Filman liked to start off his day with a mouthful of gin; and I don't mean gin rummy. "Jack not only did our hockey broadcasts," said Frank Boucher the Hall of Fame center who later became coach and manager of the Blueshirts, "he also edited our program magazine and sometimes acted as our publicity man when we needed him, helping MSG's Jersey Jones.' Filman died in 1940, the year of the Rangers third Stanley Cup year and was replaced by Bertram Lebhar, Jr. – otherwise known as Bert Lee – who became the Rangers' voice for 16 years. Lee's "color" commentator was a former vaudevillian Ward Wilson, who later became the play-by-play guy. Other sidekicks included Marty Glickman and Dick Fishell. Wilson was the first to do post-game shows from the Ranger dressing room and when the Rangers' Eastern League farm team – the New York Rovers – became popular in the 1940's their games went on the air with Guy Lebow doing the action and Bud Greenspan the analysis. There were a number of other terrific voices including Jim Gordon, Win Elliott and eventually Marv Albert whose trademark "Kick Save And A Beauty" goes down as a classic line telling us about another Ed Giacomin adventure. How appropriate that Marv's son Kenny Albert is now the top MSG Networks' Rangers play-by-play guy working with Dave Maloney. Mouthful of gin or not, Jack Filman would have been proud!
