The Miracle on 33rd Street

The Miracle on 33rd Street New York's rejuvenated Rangers take on Montreal for the Cup

The night was exploding with celebration. The New York Rangers had just defeated their suburban rivals, the New York Islanders, to earn a spot in the Stanley Cup play-offs final round against, as it turned out two days later, the Montreal Canadiens. Only three times in 39 years had the Rangers got so far. In the seats near the rafters high above Madison Square Garden, fans long accustomed to disappointment got rid of decades of frustration, standing to roar their joy for four full minutes. On the ice below, Center Phil Esposito danced around the rink sur pointe, a 37-year-old veteran turned little boy again. Later, revelers jammed the sidewalks along 33rd Street, and cab drivers set out to carry news of the victory through the city with blaring horns.

But one man did not join in the gaiety. Ranger Coach Fred Shero, the reclusive mastermind who in less than a year had transformed a team of patsies into prime contenders, spoke briefly to the press and then simply walked out of the Garden, got into his car and drove home. Right Wing Don Murdoch explained Shero's disappearance during a moment of triumph that is the stuff of coaches' dreams: "Fred is different from most coaches, and he's made us different too."

The Shero difference is as elusive as the man himself. He leaves the teaching of his methods to Assistant Coach Mike Nykoluk, rarely even watching his team practice. The Rangers receive no win-one-for-the-Gipper pep talks from Shero; he prefers to chalk low-key aphorisms on the locker room blackboard. Sample: UNITY AND HARD WORK IS OUR MOTTO. Shero even leaves the disciplining of the team to the players themselves. Shortly after taking over the badly divided Rangers last June, he approved the appointment of six captains; the six set team policy, levy fines and take turns leading the team on the ice. Shero did intervene on one point: he lifted the traditional ban against beer in the locker room.

If it is an enigmatic way to run a hockey team, the system has certainly worked, both in New York and in Philadelphia, where Shero and Nykoluk won two Stanley Cups. Shero explains: "A lot of coaches think they're God. They're afraid to delegate responsibility and think that they have to do every little thing themselves. I believe you hire good people, give them the responsibility and then trust them to carry it out. It's the same with the players. I don't know how they were treated before, but I treat them like men. I treat them better than my own kids, I imagine. At least I've never once yelled at them."

The Rangers, who have had eight coaching changes in ten years, responded as though given a new lease on their careers. Shero's Philadelphia teams had been noted for their rugged style of hockey, and the mild-mannered Rangers initially feared that they would be forced into the Flyers' fighting style. But Shero decided they were better skaters than his former players. He encouraged them to use their skills to ride opponents off the puck. The result: a distinctive new Ranger style that blends a swarming defense with tightly organized rushes up ice. Against the Islanders, the Shero system worked well enough to stop the team with the league's best regular season record, and all without benefit of a single mugging. Proclaims Esposito: "I knew this team had potential. I knew it last year. The changes in coaching and management brought it out."

Once considered over the hill, Esposito has ranged up and down the ice as he did in the glory days at Boston, when he set a single-season scoring record of 76 goals and 76 assists. The team's young defenders, Dave Maloney, 22, Ron Greschner, 24, and Mike McEwen, 22, seldom allowed the Islanders a clean second shot. Goal Tender John Davidson, thought to be too big at 6 ft. 3 in. to react swiftly, completed the transition from belly flopper to stand-up defender and kept the Islanders at bay with miraculous saves.

Davidson will need all his skills and then some against the Canadiens, who have won the Stanley Cup for the past three years and, led by the peerless Guy Lafleur, defeated the Boston Bruins in a magnificent, brawling 4-to-3 series. It could be a fascinating duel: the old boys against the new. The revived Rangers have incentive enough. They finally have a chance, as long as the one that has brought them this far, to win their first Stanley Cup since 1940.

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