Story: A Brutal Hockey Fight in 1953 Finds New Life By RICHARD SANDOMIRJUNE 19, 2011 In one swift and brutal sequence during a game in 1953 at Madison Square Garden, the Montreal Canadiens’ Bernard Geoffrion turned his stick into a weapon against Ron Murphy, a left wing for the Rangers. With a stunning, nearly overhead swing of his stick, Geoffrion smashed Murphy on the left side of his face. Murphy fell to the ice, face-first, with a broken jaw bone and a concussion. “Nobody hollered to me,” Murphy said Friday from Nanticoke, Ontario. “Maybe they wanted to see how much stick I could take.” Portions of the Dec. 20 game are preserved in a canister found recently when MSG Media moved its film and videotape archive from the arena, which is being renovated, to new offices across the street on Seventh Avenue. The footage is not from the game broadcast, if there was one. Instead, it is coach’s film — the Rangers’ coach was Frank Boucher — without audio, and shot by a single camera close to the ice. Still, after 57-plus years hidden from view, the black-and-white film looks fresh and will be shown by the MSG Network on Monday at 9 p.m. on a new edition of “MSG’s Vault.” Photo Bernard Geoffrion was part of a fight in 1953 that will be revisited Monday on MSG. CreditAssociated Press “We have 100,000 hours in the archive,” said Dan Ronayne, the executive vice president and general manager of MSG Networks. “Moving gave us the chance to look at some very old material.” The footage shows hockey as it was in 1953: players without helmets, goalies without masks and side boards without advertising. On the ice for the Rangers were Andy Bathgate, Harry Howell, Leo Reise Jr. and Ivan Irwin. For the Canadiens, there were Maurice Richard, Bert Olmstead and Spider Mazur. And in the balcony on a date was Stan Fischler, the 22-year-old vice president of the Rangers’ fan club. Fischler, now the hockey maven of MSG, provides commentary on the episode of “MSG’s Vault” with Al Trautwig. The Geoffrion-Murphy confrontation came late in the second period with the Rangers leading, 2-0, during a game notable for its high-sticking. According to The New York Times, Geoffrion and the Rangers’ Bob Chrystal were scuffling along the boards. About a dozen players gathered, all eager to fight, on the side boards. Murphy said Friday that he skated over “because nobody was helping Chrystal.” Murphy and Geoffrion, a future Hall of Famer best known as Boom Boom, began to fight. A linesman, Dom Baolto, tried to keep them apart and held onto Murphy stick’s for a little while. Geoffrion lost hold of his stick momentarily, then retrieved it and skated menacingly at Murphy. He missed one attempt to smack Murphy, who was 20. Murphy swung his stick defensively but without making any impact. He did not seem to fear Geoffrion. Then Geoffrion chopped Murphy down with a two-handed swing of his stick, which he hurled to the ice. “We thought he was dead,” Fischler said on the program, recalling the game. Murphy said, “I was knocked out.” But he did not lay prone for long; he rose under his own power and skated off the ice. He was suspended for five games, but his injuries sidelined him for the rest of the season. Geoffrion was forbidden to play all remaining games against the Rangers that season, a novel suspension that reflected the bad blood between the teams. In a letter to Clarence Campbell, the N.H.L. president at the time, Fischler argued for a stiffer suspension: life. “In two pages, he told me, ‘Cool it, kid,’ ” Fischler said. “He wasn’t taking much of my nonsense.” Murphy said he never spoke to Geoffrion, who later played for the Rangers and died in 2006. Geoffrion also coached both teams. “I didn’t wish him any bad luck,” Murphy said. “But he did pass away, didn’t he?”
I think I fat fingered reported this post. Mods, if I did please ignore. I don't want to report this post, I want to make sweet, sweet 1980s style love.
The last surviving witness to the Lincoln assassination lived long enough to be interviewed on TV about it.
I couldn't help but think about that during the Euro this year. 100 years ago those same guys would have been killing the shit out of each other. This has some pretty badass photos from WWI as well as some great info. http://controversialdocumentaries.blogspot.com/2014/07/life-and-love-letters-of-wwi.html
Giant gallery of photos, most of which I've never seen before. 400+ pictures with captions. I highly recommend it if you've got 30 minutes and enjoy the rest of this thread.
Man eating rice, China, 1901-1904 That picture is fantastic. It's literally a Chinese man eating rice, but, I don't know, he just loves it and it looks great.
Never knew this. Muslim members of the Waffen-SS 13th division at prayer during their training in Germany, 1943 The photo is taken during the division training at Neuhammer. The romantic notions that Himmler had about the Bosnian Muslims were probably significant in the division’s genesis. He was personally fascinated by the Islamic faith and believed that Islam created fearless soldiers. He envisioned the creation of a Bosnian SS division constituted solely of Bosnian Muslims in a manner similar to the Bosnian divisions of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. The 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar was a Muslim combat formation created by the Germans to restore order in Yugoslavia.
Just posing for a picture. See it in old lynching photos all the time. Amazing how despicable so many people were back then/and still probably are.
This is a pretty great thread of interesting facts. Takes a while to go through but worth it: Sterling A get in here and read this shit. I will tell you what to do with your life.
Yeah the US gov also had a detachment of marines (led by Smedley Butler) hold guns to the haitian leaders to sign a treaty letting foreigners buy land in haiti. Something like that. Smedley had a dim view on US politics
This is funny because of Christian bale was German and born when oskar spek was, he could have easily found himself in the same predicament.
Not sure if serious. Just saying he's enough of a weirdo free spirit to have found himself in the same situation had he grown up in the same circumstances as the spek dude
re-reading. I think my confusion came from the use of "of christian bale" instead of "if." I thought you were saying "christian bale was german born at the same time etc etc" lol my bad dude
Russian prisoners of war lifting up an American soldier after the US 9th Army liberated them from their camp at Eselheide, Germany, 9th April 1945. Emmett Kelly, the original "sad clown" rushes to help put out one of the worst fire disasters in US history - The Hartford circus fire. Segregated ward for women at the city prison in New Orleans, Louisiana, 1963 - by Leonard Freed (I bet some freaky shit went down in there.) A 17 year old Marcus Serjeant shoots blanks at the queen - London 1981 Bobby Orr of the Boston Bruins sailing through the air after being tripped; Orr had just scored the game winning goal for the Stanley Cup. 1970 SS officer initiation Doctor Mae Jemison, the first black woman to fly in Space, 1992 Arnold Schwarzenegger and then President George Bush go for a sled ride, 1991 the first prototype and first Concorde to fly, caught the exact moment it clips past the corona of an annular eclipse of the sun on June 30, 1973 Members of the Oxford University Boat Club pose for a photograph, early 1960s (Stephen Hawking with handkerchief)