What’s up everyone and welcome to the second of two blogs, here on 9/11/17. I still can’t believe it’s been 16 years since the day the world changed forever. Sometimes I think about the people born post 9/11/01 or who were just kids at the time. The world has never been the same since. If you’re a New Yorker like me, chances are you know someone who lost someone on this day. My respects and condolences to anyone grieving today. I don’t mean to bring anyone down, but I just can’t ignore this date.

Here in RANGERSTOWN, I have some great news to share with you. As mentioned previously, I have put people in the Rangers organization in contact with a member of the Boucher family. Whether they work something out, that remains to be seen. As a fan of the Rangers, a fan of history and a fan of Frank Boucher, I feel like i did my part. It’s up to the Rangers to correct a major wrong, and honor Boucher in their rafters.

If you’re not familiar with who Frank Boucher is, let me share this blog for the millionth time:

Don’t Let History Be Forgotten! Time for The Rangers to Finally Honor The Greatest Ranger Ever, Frank Boucher

I know the Rangers feel like so much time has passed & they feel like idiots. I know the Rangers think by doing something for Boucher, it makes them look stupid for ignoring Frank for so long. Rangers management shouldn’t worry about that, because as Ranger fans, we are used to the ineptness.  After all James Dolan still gives Isiah Thomas a paycheck to this day.

We can all agree that it was a mistake to not make Boucher the first person to have his jersey hung in MSG. However, it’s a bigger mistake not to fix the original mistake. It’s time to finally right this long overdue wrong.

To be honest, the Rangers should do a “WE FUCKED UP NIGHT” and just retire Frank Boucher’s #7, Bill Cook’s #5 and Ron Greschner’s #4 in one night. As stated, I know the Rangers feel that relatives of the Boucher & Cook families do not exist, but they are dead wrong. Those families would love to see someone in their family tree (and arguably the most famous person in that family tree) get the respect and notoriety they deserve. If you coupled in Ron Greschner, who is alive and well, you can do all three at once & not worry about a dead crowd, you know the dead crowd that Jean Ratelle will probably get on 2/25/18.

I mean really, it took the Rangers nearly 40 years to honor Jean Ratelle. With TIER PRICING, tickets are out of control. Most fans who watched Ratelle in his prime either are dead or been priced out a long time ago. Sure, fans like me get the tradition and have respect for Ratelle, but outside of my “Delorean” blogs, I’ve only seen Ratelle play two full length games. It’s not like MSG Networks or the Rangers release old games to educate fans about legends from days of yore.

I know I’m a freaking maniac and trying to watch old games with Ranger legends. Is every Ranger fan doing that? Probably not. This whole franchise is so fucking ass backwards and greedy, it just drives me nuts. Ratelle deserves a nice big and loud crowd. With the way things are in 2017,  I just see this thing going over with golf claps.

Seriously, this is the Rangers right now –

“COME DOWN TO JEAN RATELLE NIGHT, WHERE TICKETS ARE ONLY TRIPLE THE PRICE OF OUR NORMALLY EXPENSIVE TICKETS! TIER PRICING BABY, SOMEONE HAS TO PAY THAT SWEDISH ASSHOLE IN NET! FOR THE LOW PRICE OF $250 TO SIT IN THE BLUE SEATS, YOU CAN WATCH JEAN RATELLE, WHO PLAYED WHEN TICKETS WERE 25 CENTS, FINALLY GET HONORED BEFORE HE KICKS THE BUCKET! IF YOU HAVE A CHASE CARD, GET $25 OFF YOUR NEXT $9783647863789463434789637894689363894 PURCHASE AT THE M$G TEAM STORE! LET’S GO RANGERS!

THIS UPDATE HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO YOU BY CHASE, COKE, DELTA, PAPA JOHN’S, SAP, BUD LIGHT, AND MY SHINEY HINEY.”

Listen, we all know that I look at Henrik Lundqvist through the eyes of a GM. I just don’t think he’s the answer and his best days are long gone. However, you know the Rangers will do his #30 retirement the right way and in a timely fashion. His family won’t be ignored like the Ranger greats who actually won Cups. I’m all for Lundqvist getting his night. He definitely deserves it, despite my current feelings about him on the roster today. That said, it’s time for other Ranger legends to have their day before retiring #30.

Alas, I digress.

My frustrations with the way the Rangers do things aside, the Boucher family has been nice enough to share pictures with me from Frank’s career. If you read Boucher’s “When The Rangers Were Young” book, you will find out that he lost some items in a fire, including the famous Lady Byng trophy, which he was outright given.

While these upcoming pictures aren’t the only heirlooms from the Boucher family, these are some of them. Once I’m sent more pictures, I’ll share them here as well. There are five living Boucher granddaughters, who each have a collection. This is Frankie’s (not to be confused with Frank) collection.

Eventually, when the time is right, I hope to have a statement from the Boucher family, about wanting the Rangers to finally do the right thing. I’m sure it will be classier than my pleas, but I swear I mean well. I just can’t stand the way the Rangers ignore their history and treat their fans.

Speaking of ignoring history, I gotta get one last thing off my chest, before sharing these pictures with you.

The Rangers, because they ignore their history, got rid of the Frank Boucher trophy, which was an award given to the Ranger that was considered the most popular player on and off the ice, as chosen by the Rangers Fan Club. While the award did coincide with the “Steven McDonald Award”, I feel that the Steve McDonald award, today, which is given to a player that goes above and beyond for the team, has kinda turned into a popularity contest.

I’m a huge Zucc fan, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it. I just thought Raanta should’ve got it last year, and you could’ve made a case for Tanner Glass the year before that. Instead of an underdog award, it’s turned into a high school class president trophy.

I hope I’m not coming off like I’m besmirching the Steve McDonald award. I respect it and I respect Steve McDonald & his memory. I hope this isn’t coming off wrong. You guys know when I’m pissed and burying something or someone. That isn’t the case here. I just feel that now that fans can vote for the winner, it’s just a popularity thing, like an All-Star Game. Zuccarello is 100% deserving of the award. I would not argue against that. He does give it his all. But if Cam Talbot won it in 2015, shouldn’t have Raanta won it in 2017?

Anyway, as I come back from another tangent, while on a tangent, the Frank Boucher award ceased to exist after 2010. You know what, unless something happens from now, until the time I revisit this topic, I will very shortly bring back the FRANK BOUCHER FAN TROPHY AWARD, here on BlueCollarBlueShirts.com. Try to stop me, jerky!

I will even back-date the award and pick out winners from 2011-2017! Unlike the Steve McDonald Award, the Boucher trophy was given the most popular player. Maybe I’ll wait a bit before bringing it back, because I don’t feel like writing “Henrik Lundqvist” a bunch of times!

And for those interested, here’s the history of the Frank Boucher Trophy, courtesy of Wikipedia.com:

Frank Boucher Trophy

The Frank Boucher Trophy was an annual award given to the Ranger “who is considered the most popular player on and off the ice” as chosen by the Rangers Fan Club. It was named for Rangers great Frank Boucher. It has not been awarded since the New York Rangers Fan Club suspended operations in 2010.

Season Winner 1951–52 Don Raleigh 1952–53 Wally Hergesheimer 1953–54 Johnny Bower 1954–55 Edgar Laprade 1955–56 Gump Worsley 1956–57 Andy Bathgate 1957–58 Andy Bathgate 1958–59 Andy Bathgate 1959–60 Dean Prentice 1960–61 Gump Worsley 1961–62 Andy Bathgate 1962–63 Gump Worsley 1963–64 Rod Gilbert 1964–65 Harry Howell 1965–66 Harry Howell 1966–67 Harry Howell 1967–68 Rod Gilbert 1968–69 Eddie Giacomin 1969–70 Walt Tkaczuk 1970–71 Dave Balon

Season Winner 1971–72 Jean Ratelle 1972–73 Jean Ratelle 1973–74 Brad Park 1974–75 Rod Gilbert 1975–76 Rod Gilbert 1976–77 Rod Gilbert 1977–78 Pat Hickey 1978–79 Phil Esposito 1979–80 Phil Esposito 1980–81 Ed Johnstone 1981–82 Nick Fotiu 1982–83 Mark Pavelich 1983–84 Barry Beck Nick Fotiu 1984–85 Anders Hedberg Mike Rogers 1985–86 John Vanbiesbrouck 1986–87 Walt Poddubny 1987–88 Walt Poddubny 1988–89 Guy Lafleur

Season Winner 1989–90 Brian Mullen 1990–91 Mike Richter 1991–92 Mark Messier 1992–93 Mike Gartner 1993–94 Adam Graves 1994–95 Mark Messier 1995–96 Mark Messier 1996–97 Mark Messier 1997–98 Wayne Gretzky 1998–99 Mike Richter 1999–00 Mike Richter 2000–01 Brian Leetch 2001–02 Mike Richter 2002–03 Mike Dunham 2003–04 Eric Lindros 2005–06 Jaromir Jagr 2006–07 Henrik Lundqvist 2007–08 Sean Avery 2008–09 Blair Betts 2009–10 Henrik Lundqvist

 

With all that said, here are the top items from Frankie Boucher’s collection. To give you some background, Frankie Boucher is the granddaughter of Frank Boucher. She is the daughter of Earl Boucher, who was the son of Frank Boucher. She is one of five granddaughters of Frank Boucher. Enjoy:

I would like to thank Mike Casagrande and Frankie Boucher for these pictures. All photo credit goes to them.

Will Frank Boucher ever get one last day in MSG, as he so richly deserves? I hope so. While I can see the Rangers not wanting to steal thunder from Ratelle this season, the Rangers should do the right thing the season after. After all, 2018 would be the 90th anniversary of the Rangers winning their first Stanley Cup. In the series clinching game for the Rangers, which they won 2-1, Frank Boucher scored both goals. Do the right thing NYR!

If you’re a Rangers fan, and want to see the Rangers do the right thing, pester them on social media relentlessly. Make your voice be heard. It’s about time this franchise gets their head out of their tier pricing and gives the fans what they want.

I hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as I did. I’ll be back later this week with one last DELOREAN blog & my 2017-2018 season predictions. Long Live Frank Boucher!

Sean McCaffrey

BULLSMC@aol.com

@NYCTHEMIC on the twitter machine