Eddie Giacomin, who came to the NHL relatively late but compensated anytime lost by becoming one of the most stable guards of his time while spending 10 seasons with the Rangers and whose poignant return to Madison Square Garden as a member of the Detroit Red Wings Memoirs during the 1975-1976 season remains one of the memories of New York Hockey, died on Sunday. He was 86 years old.
Giacomin, then 36, had been placed on derogations by the Rangers after taking slow start to the season and was quickly claimed by Detroit. Two days later, Giacomin, his head still turning, returned to the garden as a member of the Red Wings and was welcomed by songs of “Ed-Die, Ed-Die” before the national anthem was played, moving the popular goalkeeper wearing the unknown red jersey of Detroit and the n ° 31 just as unfamiliar.
“I stood in the fold and looked in the glass during the national anthem, and it was too much,” Giacomin told New York Times in 1989 on the eve of his Jersey retirement ceremony. “I had seen these people for years. They kept the applause, not lining up. Tears came because I could not understand why I was released, I could not understand what I had done. ”
Giacomin had been summoned to the Long Beach, NY skating rink, where the Rangers practiced a few nights earlier, Halloween Night, an influence why the managing director Emile Francis wanted to see him. While his wife, margin, was waiting in the car, Giacomin crossed the black and deserted parking lot. Once inside, Francis gave him the dark news – that he had been claimed on derogations by Detroit.
“It was as if I had fallen through a hatch and I fell into space, ” told Giacomin to Times.” “I headed for the car, but I didn’t know if I had to stop or continue walking, continue going out in the water. I was amazed.”
He was still in shock when he walked on the ice two nights later for a greeting for which he was clearly not prepared.
“I don’t think we have stopped singing Eddie all night,” said the future Howie Rose diffuser, then a teenager sitting in the blue seats above the ice.
“I don’t think I have lived at this level in one of my previous matches,” said the late Rod Gilbert. “It is how powerful his relationship is [with the fans] was.”
The Red Wings, with the crowd of the garden clearly in the corner of the visiting goalkeeper, took an advance of 4-0 after the opening period.
“The Rangers apologized for shooting me, for having marked on me. … They didn’t want to shoot,” said Giacomin. “You play 10 years. … I am in a Red Wings uniform instead of a Rangers uniform. Of course, it was emotional. “
That night, Giacomin and his new team beat the Rangers and John Davidson, the young goalkeeper for whom the blueshirts needed to clear playing time, 6-4.
Steve Vickers had one of the Rangers goals.
“Fans of the house have hooked me for scoring a goal against Eddie,” said Vickers for years later. “The next quarter work I have apologized. He said, “Don’t worry. It’s just your work. “”
A member of Hockey Hall of Fame. Giacomin, who played without a mask for most of his career, revolutionized the game with his smooth manipulation of sticks, establishing a standard for future goalkeepers.
He was an All-Star in six seasons extending in the late 1960s and in the early 1970s and helped rangers break a drought of four seasons when he led the Ligue in victories (30) and laundering (nine) during the 1966-67 season, his first full season with the team.
He led the league during victories of each of the following two seasons and during the 1970-1971 season joined Gilles Villemure to win the Vezina trophy by granting the fewest goals in the league during the regular season.
The Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs after this season for their first victory in the post-season series since 1950 and arrived in a victory for the Stanley Cup final before losing against the Chicago Blackhawks. The following season, the Rangers reached the Cup final, but fell to Boston’s Bruins in six games.
Earlier in the playoffs, the next three years – including one in the preliminary tower in Icelanders who were only in their third year of existence – accelerated the upheaval of the alignment which saw Giacomin end his career with more seasons in Detroit.
His retired n ° 1 is suspended in the chevrons of the garden, the second ranger to be so honored after Rod Gilbert and his n ° 7.
“I dreamed of playing in the NHL, but we could never dream of it,” said Giacomin. “It could simply not have been able to get into your mind.”
Edward Giacomin was born on June 6, 1939 is Sudbury, Ontario. His brother Rollie was also a goalkeeper and when he could not make a match for the presidents of Washington of the Eastern Hockey League, he suggested that his brother take his place. Eddie joined the AHL providence Reds in 1960 and spent five seasons there before the Rangers were negotiated in 1965.
Already 26 when he reached the NHL, Giacomin impressed early but finished the 1965-66 season with an 8-20 file with six links for the last-place rangers, a performance that had earned him a demotion to the Lah for several games. But he came strong the following season to cement his place with the Rangers and in the NHL.
In 13 seasons in the NHL, Giacomin, which retired in 1978, recorded a record of 290-209 with 96 links, an average of goals at 2.82 goals, a percentage of stops of 0.902 and 54 whitening.
After his player career, Giacomin spent a season as an analyst in Icelanders’ programs and served assistant coaches with Rangers and Red Wings. He also spent time as a keeper of Rangers.
Giacomin said he had never asked Francis, who died in February 2022, why he treated it. In the end, he decided that it was a commercial decision.
“He had to know what he was doing,” Giacomin told Times. “He should know that Detroit would take me, and maybe he thought I would have a few years in the league with them. And he also had to know that they were coming to town this Sunday and what would happen with fans.
“It’s a funny way, but it may be his way of saying thank you.”
