Legendary hockey reporter Stan Fischler writes a weekly scrapbook for NHL.com. Fischler, known as "The Hockey Maven," shares his insight and wit with readers every Wednesday. This week's focus is on a World War II hero who performed the United States national anthem before the New York Rangers played the New York Islanders at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on Dec. 27, and two heroic service teams who played at Madison Square Garden eight decades ago.
Staff Sgt. Dominick Critelli always liked an audience, but this one was different. He got a roaring ovation from 17,255 fans at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York.
A lifetime jazz saxophone player who could wing everything from rock to waltzes on his soprano sax, the Italy-born musician had never played before an NHL audience. But there he was, arresting everyone's attention before the New York Rangers played the New York Islanders on Dec. 27.
This was once in a lifetime. The Floral Park, New York, resident -- 104 years old -- was ready to belt out "The Star-Spangled Banner" on his horn while sitting in a wheelchair.
If that wasn't heroic, get this:
A staff sergeant in the U.S. Army during World War II, Critelli experienced fire fights in the Battle for Normandy after D-Day on June 6, 1944, and the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium, as well as intrepidly flying behind enemy lines to drop supplies to isolated GIs.
All told, Critelli survived 151 days in combat and was awarded four separate medals. When his sax aired the U.S. national anthem at UBS Arena, his thoughts zoomed back 80-plus years.
"I was playing for my buddies who sacrificed their lives for their country," he told News 12 Long Island.
Critelli, who immigrated to America from Italy at a time when dictator Benito Mussolini was forming a fascist government, told the New York Post, "I love America. If I hadn't come to this country, I'd have been stuck with Mussolini."
After finishing the anthem, Critelli hailed the crowd, who returned the favor with passionate chants of "USA, USA." A reporter from OutKick.com sitting in the stands was so visibly moved, he wrote: "Having served in World War II is enough to make Mr. Critelli an absolute hero in my book. It should make him a hero in everyone's book. The man helped save the world back in the 1940s."
A number of NHL players were helping save the world at that time while serving in the Canadian and U.S. Armed Forces. The 1943 National Official Hockey Guide lists six members of the Rangers' 1940 Stanley Cup-winning team -- Muzz and Lynn Patrick, Neil and Mac Colville, Art Coulter and Alex Shibicky -- "on active service."
Coulter enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard at its Baltimore base where a hockey team was formed. In 1942, the "Cutters" entered the Eastern Amateur Hockey League and frequently played at the old Madison Square Garden as part of Sunday afternoon doubleheaders.
Players such as defenseman John Mariucci of the Chicago Black Hawks and Boston Bruins goalie Frank Brimsek competed for the Cutters, who won the U.S. Senior championship in 1943 and 1944. Mike Nardello, a Brooklynite and Rangers prospect who also skated for the Cutters, remembered how the team was forced to disband.
"We were playing the Rovers at the old Garden," Nardello said. "And -- in the middle of the game -- there was an announcement over the loudspeaker that we were to return to our base. Right after that, our guys shipped out to the Pacific and the real war."
The old Garden also hosted a Navy team during the 1943-44 season. Managed by Stan Saplin, who later became Rangers publicist, the Armed Guard Gunners played in the Metropolitan Hockey League as part of those Sunday doubleheaders.
"Our players were the Navy men who operated the guns on cargo ships that were heading for England and Russia," Saplin said. "One of the gunners was goalie Sam LoPresti of the Black Hawks.
"When Sam enlisted in the Armed Guard, he held the NHL record for shots on goal (83) in a game against the Bruins (March 4, 1941) and was referring to his record when he joined the Navy."
Said LoPresti: "I figured that it was safer to face Nazi U-boats in the North Atlantic than vulcanized rubber pucks in the NHL."
Unfortunately, LoPresti was operating a gun on the cargo ship S.S. Roger B. Taney in the Atlantic in February 1943 when it was torpedoed and sunk. Adrift in a lifeboat, LoPresti saved his 20 starving sailor mates by using a small anchor to catch a dolphin, which the survivors were able to eat until rescued after 42 days afloat.
Critelli didn't know LoPresti, but LoPresti was the kind of hero he was thinking about right after Christmas when the venerable sax man delivered an impassioned performance.
