Rangers Goalies History: Profile Three – Chuck “Bonnie Prince Charlie” Rayner
Claude Earl Rayner, was born in Sutherland, Saskatchewan, August 19, 1920. He made his NHL debut with the New York Americans in the 1940-41 season after playing with the Springfield Indians of the American Hockey League. Upon joining the Rangers in 1945, Rayner alternated with “Sugar” Jim Henry in a two-goalie system that was unusual for that time. He became the Rangers’ number one goalie in 1948 after Henry was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks.
In 1950, he became the first goaltender in two decades to win the Hart trophy . That year, the Blueshirts were a mediocre team that did not have one player in the league’s top 10 in scoring and finished at 28-31-11 in the regular season. Despite the team’s anemic showing, they did gain the fourth and final playoff spot. In the semis, the Rangers defeated the Canadiens in a five and went on to the Stanley Cup finals against the Red Wings. The finals went the full seven but unfortunately, the Rangers lost in double overtime.
Chuck was considered big at the time for a goalie at 5 feet 11 inches and 190 pounds. He was a crease roamer with a strong clear. A strong skater and puck handler, Rayner contributed his development to Eddie Shore, the Boston Bruins’ Hall of Fame defenseman and his coach while with the Springfield Indians AHL team.
In Chuck Rayner’s own words, ”He was the greatest goaltending coach I ever had. Before that, there wasn’t such a thing as a goaltending coach. Nobody told you anything.”
Rayner also developed strength in his stick hand, thanks to Shore. As Bonnie Prince Charlie recalled, ”He used to dump a pail of pucks and I had to keep shooting them against the boards until my wrists got so sore, I couldn’t move them.”
Rayner showed his skating and stick-handling ability while playing for a Canadian armed forces team during World War II against an amateur squad from Victoria, British Columbia. During a blocked shot, the puck bounced straight out. He left the crease for the clear, reached it and noticed the opposing team net only 15 feet away. He shot and scored.
Rangers Career Highlights
1945-1946: First game as a Ranger November 3, 1945 at Toronto.
1946-1947: Led the NHL in shutouts (5).
1948-1949 : Played in NHL All-Star Game … Second All-Star Team.
1949-1950 : Played in NHL All-Star Game … Second All-Star Team … Hart Memorial Trophy.
1950-1951 : Played in NHL All-Star Game … Second All-Star Team.
1973: Elected to the Pro Hockey Hall of Fame
*Statistics courtesy of http://www.goaliesarchive.com
Including the playoffs, Chuck played a total of 394 games and averaged a GAA of 2.99 with 25 shutouts while a New York Ranger.
NEXT: Gump Worsley
Whale Fall 6-4 in Home Opener
Also in this article: Whale Fan Team Return to Once Again Play for Charity
The Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Connecticut Whale, fell to the NY Islanders AHL affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, 6-4 Friday night in the Whale’s home opener at the XL Center in Hartford, CT in front of 8,148.
Whale Forwards Michael Haley, Chris Kreider, Andrew Yogan, Shayne Wiebe, and defeseman Sean Collins, Line Up on the Blue-Line Prior to the Start of Last Night’s 2012 Whale Home Opener
Veteran center, Kris Newbury got the Whale on the board first, at 2:31 of the first on the power play on a pass from NHL vet. and former Ranger, Matt Gilroy.
Rookie forward Kyle Jean then would make it 2-0 Whale at 14:52 on a shorthanded penalty shot after the Ranger prospect was tripped on a breakaway. That goal was Jean’s first professional goal and point, and what a way to score your first pro goal, on a shorthanded penalty shot. Last night will certainly be a night to remember for the twenty-two year old to remember.
Then the Whale would blow a 2-0 lead after they let the Sound Tigers score five times in the second period. Bridgeport’s Cizikas (2), Niederreiter, Nelson, and DeFazio all scored in the second.
The Whale, down by three, attempted a third period comeback but in the end couldn’t pull it off. Rookie Kyle Jean was able to get a pass cross-ice to Ranger 2011 first round pick, J.T. Miller, who then fed it to veteran defenseman Mike Vernace at the point. Vernace then fired a slap shot past Bridgeport’s Poulin for Vernace’s first of the season at 4:27. That goal came on the power play.
Kris Newbury, who led the Whale in scoring last season, got his second of the night at 6:16 from young defenseman, Blake Parlett, and Ranger future Ranger star, Chris Kreider. The goal was the Whale’s third on the power play that night.
In the goaltending department, second-year goal-keeper, Jason Missiaen, the tallest goaltender in North American pro hockey, played the first two periods before being replaced by Rangers’ 2009 fifth round pick, Scott Stajcer. Missiaen made thirty-three saves on thirty-eight shots, letting in five goals through two periods. Stajcer then started the third, as he faced seven shots, stopping six, for one goal against, while in goal for 19:41. “I thought Missiaen played very well in the first period, (but) he couldn’t sustain it there in the second” Whale head coach and AHL Hall of Famer, Ken Gernader said. The Whale could really use twenty-five year old goaltender, Cam Talbot back. Talbot has been injured since August, when the goalie injured his foot at the gym. Talbot is close to coming back and will hopefully be able to play Sunday, as the Whale take on the Winnipeg Jet’s farm team, the St. John’s Ice Caps at the XL in Hartford at 3 PM.
“I think we need more jam, I’m not gonna take away anybody’s creativity but there’s a time to get pucks deep and go to work, and send a bit of a message that it’s gonna be a hard night or a hard game and I don’t think we did that.“ Gernander said. “Yeah, there were some positives there, but by in large we’ve got a lot a lot of work to do, and I think it starts with some more commitment to win some one-on-one battles…we’ve got to put a emphasis on getting pucks deep.”
I personally didn’t think the Whale defenseman and forwards did enough shot blocking last night. I saw one, maybe two shots blocked by Whale players during the night. “We’ve got to get in shooting lanes, and have a willingness to block shots” Said Gernander.
For special teams, the Whale we’re only three for eight on the power play, while the Sound Tigers we’re only two for seven.
The Whale are back on the ice today for a hour long team practice in preparation to attempt to win their first of the season against the St. John’s Ice Caps, a team that they we’re win-less against last season. The game will be again at home at the XL Center in Hartford, with the puck dropping at 3 PM. For tickets, visit ctwhale.com.
The Whale’s 2012 Opening Night Crowd
Whale Fan Team Return October 27th
The Connecticut Whale Fan Team, a team that I helped create last season, are back in action on Oct. 27 against the South Windsor Men’s League team. For those of you that don’t know what the Whale Fan Team is, it’s basically a team made up of Whale fans. The team plays their home games at the AHL Whale’s home, XL Center in Hartford. The game on the 27th starts at 12:15 PM. Tickets for our game are only $15 and tickets are also good for the Whale AHL game against the Providence Bruins, the Boston Bruins affiliate, at 7 PM. A portion of all ticket proceeds will benefit the CT Children’s Medical Center. For more info and tickets, visit whalefanteam.webs.com.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter, @marychuk47
Game Preview; NHL@NHLPA -> I’m locked-out.
First off I want to tell you how excited I was for this job. I love write about the NHL and especially game previews. After the last season came to an sudden end I turned my thoughts to the future. We added Rick Nash along with Jeff Halpern, Aaron Asham and Taylor Pyatt to our roaster. Despite the fact that we lost great players like Brandon Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov, I couldn’t wait to see our Rangers play again.
Due to lockout many players has started their seasons in Europe. Carl Hagelin and Rick Nash have already played with their “new clubs”. The latest one to leave US is Ryan McDonagh, who signed with KHL team Barys Astana. So with ESPN covering KHL, we have chance to see McDomination again.
I’m not a special CBA-analyst so I’m going to leave that for somebody else. I just pray that the deal is done as soon as possible. But I will be ready when the season starts! And Let’s Go Rangers!
Kreider’s First Pro Hat-Trick Leads Whale to Win in Pre-Season Finale
Whale fans got a taste of Chris Kreider’s potential Sunday as the 21 year old rookie scored a hat-trick to lift the Rangers AHL affiliate, the Connecticut Whale, to a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks’ affiliate, the Worcester Sharks.
Whale left wing Chris Kreider after scoring one of his three goals today.
Kreider opened up the scoring at 7:36 of the first, with an unassisted goal after taking the puck away from Worcester’s Matt Pelech and using his speed to move the puck down the left side before depositing it in the net on the Shark’s Alex Stalock’s left side.
Connecticut then made it 2-0 on the power play when defenseman, Sean Collins, was able to feed the puck to Rangers’ 2011 first round pick, J.T. Miller. Miller was then able to beat Stalock from the left circle, again on Stalock’s left.
The Sharks then killed off a five minute major penalty – a power play that the Whale were unable to capitalize on – before Worcester’s Stalberg was able to beat the Rangers 2009 fifth round pick Scott Stajcer through the five-hole to bring the score to 2-1 Connecticut.
The Whale would get that goal back just 1:13 later at 7:20 on the power play as Chris Kreider skated down the right wing side and attempted a back-hand pass to Whale center Kris Newbury in front of the Sharks’ net, only to have the puck bounce off a Shark defenseman for Kreider’s second of the night.
Worcester would later answer at the 15:05 mark when the Sharks’ Viedensky again made it a one goal game by stopping a Whale clearing attempt and beating Stajcer with a slap-shot.
Kreider then buried the eventual game-winner, Connecticut’s 3rd power play goal at 5:57 of the third as he took a feed from Newbury and fired a shot from the left side past Harri Sateri, who replaced Stalock in net in the third.
Worcester’s Sheppard then brought the Sharks within one at 16:56 of the third on a Sharks’ power play. Stajcer was able to make a pad save on a point shot from Danny Groulx, before a rebound was deflected to the left circle, where Sheppard pounced on it and fired it into the net before Stajcer could recover.
In the shot department, Connecticut’s Stajcer faced twenty-two and only let in three for nineteen saves, while Worcester’s starting goaltender, Alex Stalock let in three on twenty-one shots for eighteen saves on twenty-one shots. Stalock was relived at the start of the third by goal-keeper, Harri Sateri, who had one goal against on eight shots for seven saves.
Whale goaltender, Scott Stajcer, a 2009 fifth round pick by the Rangers, who made nineteen saves in today’s 4-3 win versus Worcester.
In attendance at Trinity College’s Koeppell Community Sports Center not only were many excited Whale fans but some people from New York such as Ranger Asst. GM/Asst. Coach and Whale GM, Jim Schoenfeld, as well as Rangers’ Asst. GM, Jeff Gorton, and rangers.nhl.com/blueshirtsunited.com writer Jim Cerny. Also at the game today was last season’s Whale fan favorite, Jonathan Audy-Marchessault. Audy-Marchessault was tied for the Whale’s lead in scoring at the end of last season and was voted the fan favorite, before signing with Columbus over the summer and being sent to their AHL team in Springfield, MA., where he had a hat-trick last night.
The Whale open their 2012-2013 Regular Season this Friday night at 7:30 PM at the XL Center in Hartford versus the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders’ affiliate). All tickets are only $12 and $1 hot dogs and $2 beers will be sold. A fairly large crowd is expected. For more info and tickets, visit ctwhale.com.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter, @marychuk47.
True Blue I Am a Ranger 