Lane used NHL as steppingstone to successful legal career

Legendary hockey reporter and analyst Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his humor and insights with readers each week.

This week's edition features "Voices From The Past." The subject is Myles Lane, one of the earliest United States-born and trained NHL players. After excelling in football and hockey at Dartmouth, he joined the New York Rangers as a defenseman in 1928, then was traded to the Boston Bruins and played on their first Stanley Cup-winning team in 1929 while also studying at Boston College Law School. Hockey proved to be the steppingstone to a career that included four years in the U.S. Navy during World War II, service as a U.S. Attorney and several years as a judge in the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court.

Stan interviewed Lane in December 1969. He still had the carriage of an NHL defenseman and lots of memories about his hockey career.

What do you remember about your first days on ice?

"I grew up in Melrose, Massachusetts, which I call "The hockey capital of the nation." When I was 6 years old, I got my first skates and stick. I was so small my stick was taller than I was and it ended up around the faces of my bigger friends. I was high-sticking at the age of 6."

When did you develop into a good player?

"When I reached my teens I was good enough to play for our high school team -- the best one in the state. One year we won something like 23 games and lost only one! I'll tell you how good we were: we once played Harvard, then the intercollegiate champions, and they only beat us 2-1 in a 60-minute game. That same year we defeated Boston College."

How many colleges tried to lure you to play hockey?

"Hockey wasn't my only sport; I was a pretty good football player. Three or four colleges wanted to give me football scholarships. But when it came time to select a college I went up to Hanover, New Hampshire, to look over Dartmouth and decided to go there although they didn't give any hockey scholarships. I made the hockey team, which was exciting because college hockey was very big in the 1920s."

When did you start thinking about a pro career?

"At the time, I didn't. My heart was set on graduating from Dartmouth and then going on to law school. My thinking was that a top-notch hockey player couldn't stay in the NHL for more than eight or 10 years. I also figured only the really big stars made the big money. But eventually I changed my mind because in my senior year our team went up against the University of Toronto. At the time they were managed by Conn Smythe and apparently he liked the way I played because later, when he wound up running the Toronto Maple Leafs, he contacted me to sign. I was flattered but I told Smythe I wanted to go to law school, and if I was going to pursue hockey I would do it only with a team in the United States, so I could continue my law studies and play hockey. I finally convinced Smythe that I didn't want to go to Toronto so the Leafs swapped my name with the New York Rangers. Eventually I got a wire from Colonel (John) Hammond, the Rangers president, who wanted to see me in New York."

What got you to the Rangers?

"Colonel Hammond offered me a bonus and a lot more money than any of my college classmates were making at the time. I had thought about teaching at the Taft School in Connecticut, but Mr. Taft wanted me to assure him that I wouldn't make teaching a one-year proposition and I couldn't do that. So in September 1928 I contacted Colonel Hammond and worked out a deal with the Rangers."

What was it like to be an NHL rookie in 1928?

"When I joined the Rangers they used four defensemen, led by Ching Johnson and Taffy Abel. The third man was Leo Bourgeault, a little fellow who was a rushing defenseman but too small to do much checking. I was the fourth man. Strangely enough, coach Lester Patrick started me out with Ching. In my first game at Madison Square Garden, I was thrown off the ice three times with penalties. Ching finally came over to me and said, "If you don't cut this out, you're going to be the bad man of hockey instead of me." But my penalties were the result of inexperience more than anything."

What kind of advice did you get from your teammates?

"Ching told me that the first lesson is to protect yourself. Make sure when you bump somebody that your stick is right up in front of you so they don't give you the stick in the face. When you hit them, hit them hard; hit them clean if you can but always protect yourself. Whenever I bumped someone, I remembered Ching's advice. When I came out of college, where I was a star, I thought I knew a great deal about hockey but I really didn't know that much. I didn't know what real hockey was all about until I turned pro."

How did coach/general manager Lester Patrick treat you?

"Lester was a fine man who treated me fairly except for one incident. After a while he suggested I be sent down to Springfield for some polishing. In a way he was right, but what he didn't know was that I wasn't into pro hockey for life. I was in it to get enough money to go to law school. Patrick wanted me in Springfield for a month or two, and I said I'd go but on one condition, that I get my full share of money if the Rangers win the Stanley Cup. We had a disagreement about that, and the next thing I knew Lester traded me to the Boston Bruins. That was fine because Boston had a strong team, I liked the players on the club and on top of that I was a hometown boy."

Who were your new teammates?

"Tiny Thompson was the goalie and he was really good. On defense we had Eddie Shore and Lionel Hitchman as the two top defensemen. George Owen and myself were the second (pairing). Up front we had solid players like Harry Oliver, Percy Galbraith, Cooney Weiland and Dutch Gainor. As a group we were tough and known around the NHL as 'The Bruisin' Bruins' That rugged reputation came from our boss, Art Ross. He was really a tough one, an old-school taskmaster, although I had no complaints with him."

What was Eddie Shore like?

"Eddie was the best of all. He was a lot like that great Boston Red Sox slugger, Ted Williams, in that he would help a teammate if you wanted help. Shore was very fair about things, if you asked him how to play this or that man, he'd tell you. He didn't withhold advice. Shore was the greatest hockey player I ever saw. He could skate like the wind -- like a Bobby Orr -- and he could shoot. He was a terrific defenseman and a dynamic person who would lift our team. Granted that Eddie was a tough, rough player who could give it out but he also could take it without complaining."

How did you manage going to law school while playing for Boston?

"My personal schedule was different from the other players. For instance on a Monday I'd go to morning classes at law school and then race across town and practice with the team from 12-1. Then I'd go back to school in the afternoon. If the team would play in New York, the guys would leave on the morning train. I'd do my classes and catch the [early afternoon] train, studying all the way down to New York. Then I'd take a cab and go straight to Madison Square Garden, play the game and come back with the team on the midnight train. We'd get into Boston early in the morning and that gave me enough time to go to my law classes. Playing hockey was an incentive for me to keep studying because my hockey salary paid for my tuition."

What was it like to play your old team, the Rangers, in the 1929 Cup Final?

"We finished first in the American Division, beating out the Rangers by five points. Because we finished on top, we only had to play two playoff rounds whereas the Rangers, who finished second, had to play three rounds. We beat the Canadiens three straight while the Rangers wound up beating the New York Americans and Toronto. It was interesting to play them because they were the defending Cup champions and, of course, I had broken in with them the previous fall before being traded. We opened at Boston Garden, got a couple of goals in the second period and beat New York 2-0. The second game was at Madison Square Garden and it was tied 1-1 until late in the third period when we got a goal from Bill Carson and won the Cup by a 2-1 score. The irony is that Carson had been, like me, a student-athlete who had been studying dentistry while playing for the Bruins. I eventually retired to become a lawyer and Bill retired from the NHL to become a dentist up in Canada."

Who were some of the most memorable players you played with or against?

"The finest forward line was the one the Rangers had with Frank Boucher centering Bill and Bun Cook. They knew one another's moves so perfectly that watching them move the puck around was like observing how a clock works. Nels Stewart (of the Montreal Maroons) was another great. He was slow but deadly with the stick and tremendous around the net. Aurel Joliat of the Canadiens weighed about 118 pounds but was a wizard at handling the puck. He wore a black baseball cap, and if you knocked it off he'd get so mad it'd hurt his play. Joliat's linemate Howie Morenz was the fastest thing I ever saw on the ice. He'd reach full speed after taking only two strides."

How did you follow up that Cup win?

"I had an unfortunate accident that summer, and it affected my hockey career. I was playing baseball on Cape Cod and driving to a game when our car was forced off the road. I had a broken bone in my knee and three fractured vertebrae. That kept me out of hockey for a whole year, and I could never skate as fast as I did before the accident."

How did you get back to hockey?

"I still went to law school during my recuperation; at the same time, I began coaching football at Harvard. I also had a good chance to study the Bruins as a team and to think about hockey in general. When I returned, I learned some things; to compensate for my loss of speed, I began concentrating on my defensive play rather than rushing the puck. It reminded me that when I was a Ranger, Lester Patrick figured I should stay back to play a little more defense. Maybe I did rush too much and that's why Patrick wanted to send me to Springfield. Looking backward, I'd say Lester was right. I owed him a vote of thanks, and Art Ross as well because Art actually got me to coach one season."

When were you coaching?

"The Bruins had a farm club called the Boston Cubs (in the Canadian-American Hockey League) and they needed somebody to take charge of the team. Since I was out that season with the back injury, Art asked me to take over the Cubs. They were in last place when I took over, and at the end of the season we were on top."

After you coached football and played three years with the Cubs, how did you finish your NHL career?

"I gave up coaching and came back to the Bruins in 1933-34. Then I finished my law studies, got my degree and quit hockey. I wanted to come to New York and get into the law business there, and I did. I said, 'Goodbye NHL, you've helped me a lot. I'm never going to be a star and I've got a broken back. Thanks again for everything.'"