On January 23, 1934, the Rangers played their 400th all-time game (regular season, playoffs, and exhibition combined). During the first intermission of that game between the Rangers and Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden, a ceremony was held to recognize the original members of the Blueshirts who were still with the team at that time.
The famous trio that comprised the Rangers’ top line, left wing Fred “Bun” Cook, center Frank Boucher, and right wing Bill Cook, along with legendary head coach and general manager Lester Patrick, Hall of Fame defenseman Ivan “Ching” Johnson, and team trainer Harry Westerby were among the original members of the organization honored during the ceremony. The biggest ovation and most meaningful presentation, however, was reserved for the player who had not only been a member of the Blueshirts for all 400 games, but played in all 400 of them.
Murray Murdoch, a left winger who was one of the first players the Rangers had signed before the start of their first season in 1926-27, was the first “Iron Man” of the NHL. And in recognition for his accomplishment, he received a special gift from a legendary athlete who also played in New York and earned the nickname “the Iron Horse” – New York Yankees first baseman Lou Gehrig.
Murdoch received a diamond ring from Gehrig during the ceremony, and Gehrig said that after seeing the physicality that went into hockey and what it took for Murdoch to play so many consecutive games, he felt that his feat was much more difficult.
Although he did not play on the team’s top line and carry the headlines the way some of his teammates did, Murdoch was an indispensable part of some of the best teams in Rangers history. And his value to the Rangers was underscored by his durability, especially in the era in which he played and the role he had.
“It’s almost unbelievable that someone could play through 400 games of big-league hockey without a miss,” Patrick told reporters as Murdoch was about to play in his 400th consecutive game in January 1934. “Especially a player like Murdoch, who is always in the middle of the hottest mix-ups – or skating like the devil into the middle of the ice. He is rough and tough and has been in some of the damnest crack-ups you ever saw. He isn’t a superstar, but he’s a master workman.”
Murray Murdoch was born in 1904 in the town of Lucknow, Ontario, but he grew up in western Canada. He attended the University of Manitoba, and it was there where his play caught the attention of Conn Smythe, who was coaching at the University of Toronto. When Smythe was tasked with assembling the Rangers’ roster for the team’s inaugural season, Murdoch was one of the first players he signed to a contract.
Although Smythe was replaced by Patrick before the season began, Murdoch earned the trust of his head coach and quickly became an integral part of the team.
“The first line did as they liked, the second line did as told, and the third line was damn lucky to be there,” Murdoch recalled years later about Patrick’s coaching philosophy in the Rangers’ early years. With the Cook brothers and Boucher forming an elite offensive trio as the first line, Murdoch – who was the second-youngest player on the team in 1926-27 at 22 years old – found himself on the second line throughout his tenure with the Rangers. In that role, he did as he was told under Patrick – and he did it exceptionally well.
Murdoch was primarily a left winger, but he would play on both wings and on defense, as well, at different points throughout his tenure with the Rangers. Although he wasn’t heavily relied on to produce offense, he was the first player in franchise history to record a hat trick, as he tallied three goals in a 5-4 victory over Chicago on January 16, 1927 at MSG; the first two goals were scored 10 seconds apart during the second period, and the third was the game-winning goal with 1:10 remaining in regulation.
During Murdoch’s 11 seasons with the Rangers from 1926-27 through 1936-37, the team won two Stanley Cups (1927-28 and 1932-33) and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final on three other occasions (1928-29, 1931-32, and 1936-37). Murdoch’s 19 career Stanley Cup Final games as a Ranger are tied for the most in franchise history, along with Boucher and Johnson.
Following the 1936-37 season, several of the original Rangers (affectionately known as the ‘Old Guard’) knew that their playing careers were coming to an end. Murdoch had played in each of the Rangers’ first 594 all-time games (508 regular season games, 55 playoff games, and 31 preseason or exhibition games) and planned to retire and take a job on Wall Street. However, before the start of training camp for the 1937-38 season, he reconsidered and wanted to continue playing.
Due to NHL rules that prevented a player from retiring and then signing with an NHL team again, Murdoch was unable to rejoin the Rangers. Instead, he played the season with the Blueshirts’ farm team, the Philadelphia Ramblers, in the International-American Hockey League (IAHL). Before doing so, however, he played in each of the Rangers’ first six exhibition games in the fall of 1937, bringing his consecutive games played total to 600.
Following his playing career, Murdoch became the head coach at Yale University, where he stayed for 27 seasons. He received the Lester Patrick Trophy “for outstanding service to hockey in the United States” in 1974.
Over 100 seasons of Rangers hockey, there have been many “firsts” and numerous records have been set and broken. But there is only one player who was hockey’s first “Iron Man”, and that was Murray Murdoch.
