Breaking Down All The Latest New York Rangers' Trade Rumors Mike Nardello almost was the first Brooklyn boy to make the Rangers. In the early 1930's Mike started with roller hockey and then graduated to the Brooklyn Ice Palace High School League. He was one of the best forwards. Next step up the ladder was the Metropolitan Hockey League whose teams opened the Sunday double-header at the old Garden prior to the Rover games. Nardello starred with the Manhattan Arrows. On the small side but extremely talented, Nardello graduated to the Rovers – then the Rangers farm team in the Eastern Amateur 'Hockey League – and became a Sunday afternoon NHL prospect. By 1941, Mike was a year – maybe two seasons – away from making the Rangers varsity, On Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, 1941 – Nardello skated for the Rovers with Blueshirt scouts keeping an eye on him. But that turned out to be a fatal day in world history with the attack on Pearl Harbor. On December 8, 1941, Nardello enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and wound up playing for the Cutters who also would have Rangers captain Art Coulter and other NHLers on their squad. "The Cutters already had a team in the Eastern League," Nardello recalled, "so I joined up. The following Sunday I was playing for the Coast Guard at the Garden against the Rovers. "I never got a chance to play for the Rangers although I knew that I easily could have made their team during the war. When it was over, the Rangers in the armed forces rejoined the team," Like many players who served during World War II, Mike was rusty by the time he returned. The NHL no longer was in his future. He wound up skating for the Clinton Comets in the Eastern League and – after retirement – was a penalty timekeeper for the Devils. "Sure, I would have liked a crack at the Rangers," Mike said, "but playing for the Coast Guard team was quite a thrill as well."
