Centennial Moment – Eddie Giacomin’s Emotional Return to MSG

“Edd-ie! Edd-ie! Edd-ie!”

Over the decade that Eddie Giacomin played for the New York Rangers, Blueshirts fans showed their appreciation for the goaltender by chanting his name. And for one night shortly after his tenure with the team ended, ‘The Garden Faithful’ continued to chant his name and created a night unlike any other in franchise history.

Giacomin was the backbone of some of the Rangers’ most successful teams. The Blueshirts made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in nine consecutive seasons with Giacomin in goal. For four consecutive seasons in the 1970s, the Rangers advanced to the Semifinals. In 1971-72, Giacomin helped the Blueshirts advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

Over that time, the man who wore jersey No. 1 became number one in several all-time categories for Rangers goaltenders, including regular season wins (267), regular season shutouts (49), playoff wins (29), and playoff appearances (65). In addition, Giacomin’s passionate demeanor in the net earned him the respect and admiration from his teammates and Rangers fans alike.

Early in the 1975-76 season, however, it appeared as if the Rangers had gone as far as they could with the core of players that general manager Emile Francis had assembled in the 1960s. On October 31, 1975, Francis placed Giacomin on waivers, and the Detroit Red Wings claimed him.

It was a difficult move, one that shocked Giacomin, his Rangers teammates, and Blueshirts fans. At 36 years old, he contemplated whether he wanted to continue his NHL career. As fate would have it, the Rangers’ first home game following the news was scheduled for November 2, 1975, against the Red Wings.

Giacomin ultimately decided to join the Red Wings and play for Detroit that night. When he took the ice for warmups that night, it was a sight that was strange and unfamiliar to all of those in attendance: Eddie Giacomin wearing a red uniform with the number 31 on the back and the Red Wings logo on the front.

What was the same, however, was the response ‘The Garden Faithful’ had for their hero. Throughout warmups, fans chanted “Edd-ie! Edd-ie! Edd-ie!” as they had when Giacomin played for the Rangers. The chants reached a crescendo when the teams returned to the ice for the start of the game and before the National Anthem was played.

Giacomin, without his mask on, was clearly emotional as Rangers fans chanted his name. One of the many signs that Rangers fans held up that night read: “Eddie – Still #1.”

Bill Chadwick, the analyst who called Rangers games on MSG Network alongside play-by-play broadcaster Jim Gordon, said after the anthem finished that, “I haven’t heard anything quite so emotional in all my years in sports.”

The cheers from Rangers fans for Giacomin didn’t stop the entire night. They even booed when the Blueshirts scored a goal on him. When Steve Vickers scored a power play goal in the final minute of the contest and was booed for doing so, he apologized to Giacomin; his former teammate replied, “Don’t worry about it, you’re just doing your job.”

Giacomin finished the game with 42 saves, and the Red Wings defeated the Rangers, 6-4. Brad Park told reports after the contest that, “Eddie didn’t beat us as a goaltender, he beat us by his presence.”

Giacomin was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1987 and his No. 1 jersey was retired by the Rangers in 1989. Prior to his jersey retirement in 1989, he reflected on what that special night in 1975 meant to him, and how his relationship with Rangers fans led to some of the accomplishments he ultimately earned throughout his career.

“The fans knew me better than I knew myself,” Giacomin said at the time. “I probably didn’t even think I was going to play in that game, but they were already ready for that evening. What they did is something that is very hard to really express, because it gave me a memory that is embedded in me and will never go away, and nobody can ever take it away from me.

“I really felt that night that the love was pouring into my body from the fans. They never let up the whole game. Because of that, I think that the Hall of Fame was next in line, and then an Eddie Giacomin Night retiring the number 1.”

Giacomin’s Hall of Fame induction and jersey retirement were well-earned through his play on the ice, and his legacy was only accentuated by the love he received from Rangers fans on November 2, 1975. Over 100 years of Rangers hockey, 11 different players have had their jersey retired by the organization, and numerous more have become fan favorites and heard their names chanted inside Madison Square Garden.

But only one person has returned to The World’s Most Famous Arena as an opposing player and had loyal and passionate Rangers fans cheer for him instead of the Blueshirts.

“So many things have happened on that stage [at MSG],” longtime Rangers public relations director John Halligan said years after that memorable night in 1975. “But I think the uniqueness of this particular moment, the fact that he was coming back with another team and having 17,500 people root for him, we’ll probably never see that again.”