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This is from the "Hard To Believe Department" but it actually happened and I know; The Maven Was There.
At the old Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue between West 49th and West 50th Street, there actually were two hockey rinks in the one building.
The regular NHL ice surface, home of the Rangers, was in the main arena. However, there also was another ice surface – a bit shorter than NHL dimensions – on the top floor of the building.
It was called Iceland and it doubled as a public skating rink and also a practice pond for figure skaters.
Its hockey purposes were twofold; it was the Rangers practice facility but on Sunday mornings it featured Metropolitan Hockey League games.
"They were called 'Darkhouse' games because they were played early," said Rangers publicist of years ago Herb Goren, "but the games counted in the MHL standings."
That was Game One. The second of the four-game parlay took place at 1:30 in the afternoon; another Met League affair only this one was the first half of the traditional Sunday double-headers.
(By the way, the four Met League teams were the Manhattan Arrows, Sands Point Tigers, Brooklyn Torpedoes and Jamaica Hawks.)
Game Three took place at 3:30 in the afternoon. This was the Rangers' farm team – the New York Rovers – which played foes from the Eastern Amateur Hockey League. Teams included the Baltimore Blades, Philadelphia Falcons, Boston Olympics and Johnstown Jets.
The Sunday finale, of course, was the Rangers game which – in those days – didn't begin until 8:30 p.m.
What Kind Of Difference Will Mike Sullivan Make For The Rangers? It must have been the decaf coffee, else how could I have forgotten "Ask The Maven" yesterday?.
For a fanatic hockey fan like me, I'd catch three out of the four games; missing the "Darkhouse" game because it simply was too early in the morning; plus I always got my Met League fix as part of the afternoon doubleheader.
The Met League-Rovers doubleheader lasted into the start of the 1950's or until the Rovers moved out to their new home, Long Island Arena in Commack. The name was soon changed to Long Island Ducks.
It was, in fact, the end of an era. But while it lasted, there was enough hockey to satisfy any puck nut like The Maven!