As we are currently in the process of re-renovating the historic house I work at in Perth Amboy, we decided to clean out one of the closets last week, and hanging in the back, completely out of sight, were two World War II uniforms, each one on a wooden hanger inscribed, “October 31, 1942″. Because I will be teaching a weekly class on this war starting in a few weeks, I wanted to learn more, so I took some pictures and posted them on Facebook, with an open request asking for any information, and hoping one of my history buddies would be able to tell me something. Within a few hours, I received some comments, until a friend sent me more information than I thought I would ever be able to find out about two simple uniforms.

An actor and historian who I have known for a few months, Ed Mantell, who has appeared in nearly 30 films and television specials, such as The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth, Stealing Lincoln’s Body, and Sherman’s March, was kind enough to send me the following information:

Both are USMC, the single stripe chevron designates PFC, Private First Class and the other is a Corporal. The unit patch designates “Marine Forces Afloat.” The Corporal’s blouse also has the “Ruptured Duck” which was a cloth insignia depicting an eagle inside a wreath. It was worn on uniforms above the right breast pocket by WWII servicemen and women. It was issued to service personnel who were about to leave the military with an Honorable Discharge. It also allowed them to continue to wear their uniform for up to thirty days after they were discharged since there was a clothing shortage at that time. This showed the MP’s that they were in transit and not AWOL. There’s a good chance this Marine was in the Pacific Theater attached to the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division or the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). The cording on the Corporal’s blouse is a World War II Marine Corps Fourragere and only certain units in the Corps. were designated to wear them, the 5th. Marines being one of them. After the outbreak of war, the 5th Marines deployed to Wellington, New Zealand in June 1942. During World War II they fought on Guadalcanal, New Britain, Eastern New Guinea, Peleliu and Okinawa. Immediately following the war in September 1945 they deployed to Tientsin, China and participated in the occupation of North China until May 1947. They were redeployed to Guam in May 1947 and reassigned to the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade. In 1949 they were relocated to Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton.

A bit more on the Fourragere, it’s a carry over from WWI. The 5th Marine Regiment and the 6th Marine Regiment of the United States Marine Corps, were awarded the fourragère for having earned the Croix de Guerre with palm leaf three times during World WarI for their actions at the Battle of Belleau Wood, (1–26 June 1918) on the Western Front. One of the most famous quotations in Marine Corps legend came during the initial step-off for the battle when Gunnery Sergeant Dan Daly, a recipient of two Medals of Honor who had served in the Philippines, Santo Domingo, Haiti, Peking and Vera Cruz, prompted his men of the 73rd Machine Gun company forward with the words: “Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?” Also, Gunnery Sergeant Ernest A. Janson—who was serving under the name Charles Hoffman—repelled an advance of 12 German soldiers, killing two with his bayonet before the others fled; for this action he became the first Marine to receive the Medal of Honor in World War I. The first waves of Marines—advancing in well-disciplined lines—were slaughtered; Major Berry was wounded in the forearm during the advance. On his right, the Marines of Major Meyer’s 3/6 Battalion swept into the southern end of Belleau Wood and encountered heavy machine gun fire, sharpshooters and barbed wire. Marines and German infantrymen were soon engaged in heavy hand-to-hand fighting. The casualties sustained on this day were the highest in Marine Corps history to that time. On 26 June, the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines—supported by two companies of the 4th Machine Gun Battalion and the 15th Company of the 6th Machine Gun Battalion—made an attack on Belleau Wood, which finally cleared that forest of the enemy. On that day, a report was sent out simply stating, “Woods now U.S. Marine Corps entirely,” ending one of the bloodiest and most ferocious battles U.S. forces would fight in the war.

It is moments like this when history really comes alive. All I wanted was to walk into my classroom saying something other than, “These are two WWII uniforms”, and now I have a fountain of information. We will definitely have to do some more digging around the house, because who knows what else we might find. Though built during the French and Indian War and rising to prominence during the American Revolution as Governor William Franklin’s mansion, the house has been privy to witnessing many historical eras, and even served as a hospital during the Civil War in 1863. We do know that soldiers frequented the house during WWII, for a wide variety of reasons, and also because of its close proximity to New York, as it borders both the Raritan River and the Arthur Kill along the shores of Staten Island. Ed also provided me with additional background info which I will save as a part of the research. I just wanted to share this with all of you, because every lover of history looks forward to the day when they may uncover something special.

These uniforms are currently on loan to me for educational and research purposes and I do not own them. They remain property of the Proprietary House in Perth Amboy. I am going to search the linings to see if I can find any identification as to who these may have belonged to. Either way, upon their return to the house, we might have to make a nice display for these, including the information that Ed has provided.

Yesterday’s game between the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers was the first meeting of the season between the two Eastern Conference powerhouses. For most of the season, these two clubs have just dominated the opposition and have vaulted themselves to the top of the league standings. It is no surprise that the Bruins are where they are, after having won a Stanley Cup this past spring and not having much of a turnover. The Rangers, however, have been a surprise for many who expected they would be battling for the sixth, seventh, or eighth spots in the East. Yes, you can count me as one of the surprised. When Marian Gaborik scored in overtime yesterday with 3.6 seconds to go, I was at work in the break room and yelled. Of course, being that many people were at my job, they were all confused and a few were afraid I think. But now that my emotions have leveled off and I have gotten a chance to watch the highlights a few times, there are a few things that have stood out:

• More Power will Equal More Wins: Obviously, I am stating the obvious here, but it has been more evident with the last two games. The powerplay needs to get going for the boys in blue. Going back to Thursday night’s debacle vs. Pittsburgh, what a different feel that game would have had if the Rangers had even gotten one powerplay goal. Fast-forward to yesterday and the powerplay finally cashed in during the waning seconds. If this game had been at MSG the place would have had the boo-birds out in full force. Just like the fans, the players need to relax on the powerplay and make smart plays and keep things simple. When things aren’t working, you go back to the fundamentals on the powerplay: puck movement, foot movement, and traffic in front of the net. The latter is never an issue when Ryan Callahan plants himself there, but what we did see big yesterday was some of that puck and foot movement. The goal was to get the puck to the net with Brad Richards and Gaborik firing one-timers when the shooting lanes were there. When the team was on the rush they crashed the net and cashed one in. Whether that one goal sparks the powerplay for the future remains to be seen, but when the Rangers were rolling during their winning streaks, the powerplay was a factor even when it wasn’t scoring actual goals. It gave the team momentum, which can be even more valuable than one goal on a powerplay.

• The Big Guns Need to Get Going: Gaborik had two goals yesterday and was an absolute animal all over the ice. He was forechecking and shooting well all over the offensive zone while making plays in the defensive zone. Callahan had a goal yesterday as well, when he sniped one in on Tuukka Rask. These guys score and the Rangers win; it is that simple. Brad Richards had his first point yesterday in what has seemed like forever. As much as I love the play of Carl Hagelin, he can’t be the only offensive force for the Rangers. Everyone goes through slumps but the big guns for the Rangers need to get going and some of the supporting cast as well. Artem Anisimov has been invisible for many games, and while Brandon Dubinsky has played well, he just can’t seem to get points. Derek Stepan has a good game and then disappears for a bit and then comes back. It is all about consistency. It is hard to win games when most of the top offensive guys on the team go cold at the same time. Hopefully this game sparks some of them to get a move on, because the Rangers need them badly.

• Playoffs Have Begun: The style of play in that game yesterday reminded me of a playoff game and that is how the Rangers have to play the rest of the season. Being at the top of the league means teams are going to be gunning for them and the only way to make sure teams do not beat them is by consistently playing well. Everyone wants to knock them out and if this team wants to have success in the playoff picture come April, they need to establish a certain level of play. It has slowly been developing all seaso,n but yesterday was another benchmark in establishing that game which they need for the rest of the season.

• NHL Needs to Get Serious: If the NHL is indeed serious about getting rid of dangerous hits and having players respect each other, than they need to take a hard-line stance on someone like Andrew Ference. Yes, he has no prior history but that shouldn’t matter. A dangerous play is a dangerous play, and if you want people to stop doing hits like this then you need to be hard on them. Hopefully Ryan McDonagh is alright and his injury won’t keep him out too long.

• Playoff Preview? If this game was a preview for what we may see in the playoffs then sign me up. Obviously, these teams meet three more times over the rest of the regular season, but what a playoff series these two teams would have! It would become an absolute war and would be a great series to watch. Yesterday certainly lived up to the hype of the matchup with the Rangers coming out on top for round one. A seven game series between these two? Even though I would have a stake in one team, I would be sitting back and enjoying the ride.

Everyone remembers when the owner of the Rangers, James Dolan, made a surprise appearance the other night and declared the Rangers are close to winning a Stanley Cup. John Tortorella instantly shut him down on that one and rightfully so. Dolan represented the bandwagon that is beginning to develop with the Rangers having a successful season (so far). If the Rangers continue where they are then you can bet there will be more and more fans coming out of the woodwork. I have noticed a lot more people wearing Rangers gear around these days and it is nice to see the team is finally getting recognition. But by no means is this team where it needs to be. Things need to be worked on and certain expectations need to be met first. Whether it is issues of consistency or discipline or anything else, this team has a long way to go before they can be what the Bruins or Blackhawks or Penguins or Red Wings or any other past Stanley Cup champion has been…but they are certainly on their way there.

Chris Hoeler is the assistant director of player personnel for the Danbury Whalers of the Federal Hockey League. He has been a fan of the New York Rangers his entire life.

What has changed in the last few months? What has changed since Brendan Shanahan gloriously took over as the NHL’s disciplinarian, promising much stricter action? The only noticeable one has been that things have not gotten better or even stayed the same, they have gotten worse. Blindside hits and cheap-shots never seemed to be a problem until the last couple of seasons, prompting a change and an ushering in of the new era of safer hockey. Suspensions would be handed out like candy to children at a carnival, and because of it, dangerous hits would stop, and the offenders would gradually find themselves out of a job. Well, as most teams near the 50 game mark in this safe hockey haven, thanks to the tireless efforts of Shanahan and league officials, do you feel that the status quo has changed at all? When your favorite players skate near the boards, do you feel any safer watching them?

Concussions have been an epidemic in the league this season, whether they were caused by dangerous hits, unintentional collisions, or freakish accidents. Maybe out of direct correlation or not, blindside hits and dangerous plays have also increased, and it seems a respect for one’s opponent is at an all-time low. We have seen it all season, courtesy of the replays being shown ad nauseum in highlight reels on the NHL Network, and now, most popularly of all, when Shanahan releases one of his gimmicky videos explaining why a certain suspension is to be handed out. These replays and techy breakdowns have only become a mask for the sport, to make it seem like the right people are doing their jobs, and that things really are getting better. However, the only purpose they really have served is to hide the fact that there are more scumbags in this league, now more than ever before, and they are not going away any time soon.

Perhaps even more dangerous than a blindside hit to the head, or the smashing of an opponent face-first into the glass, is what we call a “slew-foot”, an act when a player skates up behind another and deliberately kicks the feet out from under him. Multiple risks are involved here, which include, but are not limited to a player slamming his head or shoulder into the ice, and even that player’s feet flying up in the air as he falls backwards, putting razor sharp skate blades at throat level, if only for a fleeting second. We saw this Thursday night, in the game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers, forward Matt Cooke of Pittsburgh, who nearly found himself out of the league last season for multiple suspensions, committing a slew-foot on Brad Richards of the Rangers. You can probably gather that it went undetected by the referees, who saw it in full view, and the league after the game—how convenient. Then, the next night, it was a Penguins player to be the victim of such a play, when the Montreal Canadiens’ reckless defenseman and perpetrator, P.K Subban, did it to Chris Kunitz. After the game, a severe punishment of a $2,500 fine was dolled out. My, what a lesson he learned there!

As a side note, it is quite comical to watch Penguins’ fans up in arms whenever one of their players is attacked, because their own players have committed their fair share of dirt. You can even go back to the 2008 playoffs, when Evgeni Malkin enacted a vicious slew-foot on Rangers’ defenseman Paul Mara, another play that went undetected, with not even so much as a minor penalty for tripping. Malkin has become the sly cheap-shot master, constantly doing things behind the backs of the officials (or do they know all about it and just let it slide?).

Back to the topic at hand, today we had another chance to see a dirty play, when Andrew Ference of the Boston Bruins slammed Ryan McDonagh of the Rangers head-first into the glass. McDonagh was lucky, as replay shows his head did not hit the boards on initial impact, but rather his shoulder and upper body. There currently is no word on the injury, but it stunned him bad enough that he was down on the ice and unable to get up for several minutes. This was such a cheap play, committed by a veteran of nearly 700 games. Should he not have known better? Of course, but why did he still commit to the hit? The game was in overtime, tied at two goals a piece. It was a hard-fought battle in a game filled with hits and one fight. It was a matchup between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference, in a fight for first place, and instead of talking about how the Rangers won such an intense game (ironically, on a goal scored on the ensuing powerplay), despite being outplayed and outmatched for much of the contest, here we are, talking about yet another injury and another dirty play. Oh, but I thought the league was safer now?

Not to convey a pro-Ranger bias here, even after seeing one of my favorite players crumpled up on the ice, the suspension for Andrew Ference needs to be severe, and I would be saying that if this hit had occurred by anyone on anyone. I hate to use the phrase, “Make an example out of him”, but are we not at that point? How many times has this same scenario happened, over and over and over again? I do not write about hockey much on this blog anymore, but it seems that every month I am calling for the league to take action or do something to stop plays like this. What wake-up call do these players need? What will get the job done? Will a 10 game suspension send a message? No, probably not, so how harsh does it need to be? It’s a shame that we cannot answer this question, thanks to the results of other previous hits. Part of me says he will only get a game or two, which is merely a slap on the wrist. The other part of me says that I, along with many others, will be disappointed no matter what.

There are many people involved in the sport of hockey who want to get rid of fights and severely reduce, or even eliminate, every kind of hitting. I have always been against that, and always will be, but it is the checks like this that give fodder to the people who make that argument. After all, we are 33 suspensions and 18 fines into the 2011/12 season and nothing has changed—nothing has gotten any better. How long before hitting has to be erased all together? Is there any other course the league can take? Because I fear that the people in charge are going to spit the bit on this once again.

Before the Rangers’ broadcast, MSG Network showed an interview with the Bruins’ Marc Savard, who has not played in a year due to post-concussion syndrome. It deeply saddened me to see such a great player sitting there, possibly facing the end to his career, because he is still unwell and has his bad days, even after such a long time. You would think a story such as that would make players change their antics, but it hasn’t, and pretty soon, more players will face his unfortunate situation.

Since released in May, the director’s cut releases of both Gods and Generals and Gettysburg have garnered rave reviews, as the missing pieces of the enormous puzzles were finally put in place and made available to the general public. In many articles, we have read that sales figures for these two films have been good, but just how good, exactly? After browsing on Blu-Ray.Com, which has become a daily read for me, I just happened to scroll down the right side of the page to view the top-sellers for the United States, and lo and behold, there was the Limited Collector’s Set of both films that was released in July, sitting at #3 overall (with a total, worldwide sales rank of 23). This definitely came as a pleasant surprise, if not complete shock. This was no mirage or speculation, but actual statistics detailing the success of these two films. The LCS also currently sits at #1 on Blu-Ray.Com’s best bargains list, where you can now purchase the massive boxed set, loaded with extra goodies, for only $36.49

This set trails only The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (which is on pre-order since it has not even been released yet) and Moneyball, which came out just last week. With such a diverse group of titles sitting amongst the top 20, it is, in fact, the only historical drama present there, unless you count season one of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire as history, which comes in at #11. If you take some time to look at this list, the duo of Gettysburg and Gods and Generals has outsold The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Set (which came out last June) and even the complete Star Wars saga, probably the most hyped-up Blu-Ray release of all-time.

For all those who felt, or still feel, that the Civil War cannot be a moneymaker, they must think again. Granted, theatrical figures have never been impressive for any film of this genre, and the running times of these two made it difficult, but the overall interest is indeed there, and should open up some eyes, hopefully those of producers looking to get in on the action. This begs the question to be asked: is there still hope for The Last Full Measure? Director Ron Maxwell told me himself in July that he works on it frequently and it is not forgotten, but all that hard-work may be for naught without the big bucks. One of the main reasons why we even saw director’s cuts of these two films is because DVD (and earlier, VHS) sales had always been enormous. That sentiment, combined with the 150th anniversary of the War, is what led to the two long-awaited releases back in May. Perhaps this is what is needed to get the ball rolling on the final installment of the trilogy. One can hope, right?

Mike Milbury, an in-studio analyst for NBC and their newly formed network NBC Sports, has long been a critic of the New York Rangers. For years, his slanted, biased pre-game, intermission, and post-game anti-Ranger tirades have polluted the airwaves and have come with such regularity, that normally, they do not even upset or surprise me. Coming out of the lockout, Milbury never ceased to amaze, as he tore into then-Rangers superstar winger Jaromir Jagr all season long for being soft or not having what it takes to be a leader, even in the midst of his franchise record-setting 54-goal, 123-point season. One would think that the bias shown in those years bordered on xenophobia, but thankfully, we have Don Cherry up in Canada for that. More recently, before last night, that is, during the pre-game show of the Winter Classic, when describing the Rangers and using their nickname “Blueshirts”, he just so happened to leave the “r” out of the word, causing him to call the team an expletive. Accidental? Probably. But a Freudian Slip? Most definitely.

Then came last night, one of the all-around worst television hockey broadcasts I have ever seen in my life, and believe me, I have seen a good amount. Between play-by-play announcer Dave Strader (who I normally admire and respect), Brian Engblom who was in between the glass, and Milbury who was in the studio, the night proved to be a dizzying array of stupidity and nonsense. As the Montreal Canadiens took a monumental 1-0 lead in the first period, Strader and Engblom were quick to jump on the chance to say that the 17-20-8 squad from Quebec looked like the Canadiens of old, and might be on their way to a renaissance. When the Rangers tied it 1-1 later in the period, that kind of talk stopped, until the Canadiens retook the lead, of course. From then on, it was a bash-John Tortorella, praise-the-heck-out-of-Randy Cunneyworth type of evening. For what its worth, I have nothing against Cunneyworth, and do not know enough about the job he has done to critique him, but I do take exception to the non-stop Tortorella attack that was underway for what seemed like the entire night. The man who is a major part of why the Rangers have the best record in the NHL at 28-11-4, even with their top players struggling, was repeatedly jabbed at, until the icing on the cake came after the Canadiens took a 2-1 lead.

During the second period, a brief clip was shown of Tortorella yelling at defenseman Stu Bickel on the bench because the play he made led to a Canadiens’ goal. While Engblom and Strader had some fun with it, which I actually did not mind, Milbury took it to another level during the intermission. There was also the item of Engblom’s interview with Tortorella, during the middle of the game, which is something I absolutely detest. As most coaches are concentrated on the play and bench, with no time to answer questions asked by someone who has not changed his hairstyle since the 1970′s, Tortorella did not take his eye off the play, and was very brief and emotionless with his answers, as a coach should be. Just like the video previously mentioned, Milbury had something to say about both in-between periods.

First, he mentioned how Tortorella was wrong for yelling at Bickel, because his play did not even result in the goal, and that yelling was not going to accomplish anything. This happening after a replay clearly showed Bickel’s clearing attempt being blocked, and him deflecting the puck past Lundqvist as well. Okay, we’ll let that one slide, but what cannot be overlooked is the statement he made regarding the interview. Milbury said, “Maybe next interview, Brian should wave his three Stanley Cup rings in front of the coach’s face to teach him some respect.” Excuse me? Did you really just go down that road? Respect? This coming from a man, who, as a player in the 1970′s, got involved in the infamous player-fan brawl at Madison Square Garden while a member of the Boston Bruins, and proceeded to jump into the stands, rip off a fan’s shoe, and beat him over the head with it?

The almighty hockey expert himself, breathes and speaks with the arrogance and ego of a 10-time Stanley Cup Champion, even though he failed miserably at both coaching and being a General Manager, when, while at the helm of the New York Islanders in the late 1990′s, traded away Roberto Luongo, Zdeno Chara, Olli Jokinen, Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, and Tommy Salo. As if that was not bad enough, this was a man who drafted Rick Dipietro while Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik were still available, and then traded the second overall pick in the 2001 NHL draft, who turned out to be Jason Spezza, for Alexei Yashin, a player whose contract was so egregious, that the Islanders are still paying him money, and will be until 2015, even though he has not played in the league since 2007. Is this a man qualified to talk about hockey, much less take shots at a coach who has actually won a Stanley Cup? I think not.

The NBC broadcasting corporation will be a joke as long as this man is allowed to work for them. This blowhard adds absolutely nothing but negativity and insults to their broadcasts to make for an unbearable viewing experience. It has gotten so bad that I will now have to mute the TV every time he is talking, and I do not do that often. When is enough going to be enough? When can the NHL finally say Aur Revoir to Mike Milbury?

Film enthusiasts and historians, the next few months will prove to be very exciting! For the first time ever, two of the best, most classic movies ever made will be heading to Blu-Ray. The first, All Quiet on the Western Front, hits shelves on February 14th (and will be in DigiBook Packaging). This film, best known as one of the first accurate depictions of what warfare is really all about, premiered in 1930, and shocked audiences with the graphic brutality of war, which was a far cry from the Hollywoodesque romanticism of war that had become a mainstay of theater at that point in time. It was so shocking that it was actually banned in Germany, though mainly for political reasons, and its unflattering portrayal of a losing German Army, the nation blamed for starting World War I, which was punished severely by the Treaty of Versailles in 1918. The second of these films is one that deals with the luxury of the most famous ship in history, the Titanic, and the subsequent disaster of its sinking, in one of the most accurate tellings of the story, based on the book by legendary author Walter Lord, titled, A Night to Remember. This film will be released a month later, on March 27.

Both of these films are two of my favorites, and both equally deserve the restoration they are going to receive, not just for film history, but world history all together. I consider All Quiet on the Western Front to be a physical part of history, because of the groundbreaking nature of its release, and because the battle scenes still hold up to today’s standards. The only qualms with the film I have are the actual faults in the film quality, as present on the DVD version that I own, which is probably standard on everyone’s. The film is now more than 80 years old, so it definitely has its share of wear and tear, but some scenes are just painful to watch. One can only hope that Universal Studios went the extra yard to spend an adequate amount of money on film experts to make for the ultimate viewing experience. If there was one film ever made that deserves such attention to detail, this is the one.

As for A Night to Remember, the previous qualities seen on DVD are actually quite good, thanks to the Criterion Collection, which I have lauded several times on this blog for their preservation of such an eclectic group of films, both American and foreign. While the above-mentioned film needs restoration to merely save itself, this film’s enhancement should just be an added bonus, because there really were not that many kinks in the film quality at all, at least not that I remember from about a year ago, when I last viewed it. You can also rest assured in its handling, because Criterion will once again be conducting the transfer, and so far, every Blu-Ray release of theirs that I have seen has been stunning (The Battle of Algiers will blow you away). This is one of my favorite films, even more so than All Quiet on the Western Front, though I consider myself a war film buff more than anything else. Something always struck me about the acting and imagery here. There are no major stars, save for the always wonderful Kenneth More (who has minimal lines in the star-studded The Longest Day, yet still utters my favorite: “What are you two doing standing over there chatting? This isn’t Hyde Park Corner! There war’s over there!”) but it does not seem to matter, because of the performances director Roy Ward Baker was able to sap from his actors. Everyone, from More as Lightoller, to the players of Captain Smith, J. Bruce Ismay, and builder Thomas Andrews, are convincing and delightful to watch. Also, keep in mind that this 53-year-old movie has not aged a bit, even with the camera-trickery effects of the actual Titanic’s sinking, and you have yourself quite the viewing experience!

Are you excited for these two films to hit the shelves on Blu-Ray? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

When the radio show ended, Alan continued to write for Bleacher Report for a few more years, and I moved around to other blogs, before finally settling in on this one. He then got himself an internship with The Hockey News, and from there, the creativity kept on blossoming. It was in early 2010 when he first told me his initial idea to write a book on the 1967 NHL Expansion, and I offered my encouragement and said I would help him if he needed it. The topic was definitely an interesting one, as it was never written about previously. Little did I know, those early drafts and revisions that I got a chance to read through would actually turn into a finished product that would be published in 2011, titled, The Great Expansion: The Ultimate Risk that Changed the NHL Forever. This book, as I can personally attest to, was meticulously researched and mapped out, and will prove to be the definitive work on this great, important, and now, almost forgotten era of hockey history. Brad Kurtzberg, author of Shorthanded: The Untold Story of the Seals, said the following about the book, “Alan Bass has captured the history of the biggest turning point in NHL history. [He] brings both the highlights on the ice and all the important maneuvers behind the scenes to fans, including what happened and why. Full of in-depth analysis and interesting and never before heard stories, this book is a must for any hockey fan.” Below is our interview:

GC: What inspired you to write a book about the 1967 NHL Expansion?

AB: It seemed to disturb me for years that although expansion in 1967 was one of the largest events in NHL history, there had yet to be a book written on it. Even before researching the topic, I knew how great of an effect it had on professional hockey, especially on the NHL as a whole. Hockey was really just a regional sport before they expanded the game in 1967, but once they did so, it turned into a national spectacle—even if it’s not quite at the level that baseball and football are at just yet.

GC: What was the most difficult part about writing such a book? What was the most fun?

AB: The most difficult part of it was grasping an understanding of the event on such a level that I could tell the story almost from first-hand knowledge. Obviously I’m much too young to remember the events, but I knew many of my readers would not be, so I needed to make sure I had as much research as humanly possible. That’s why I took so much time to speak to former (and current) media members, former players, former executives and coaches, in addition to others who were involved in NHL organizations. I performed dozens of interviews just to get the stories and behind the scenes aspect of the event, in order to capture how extraordinary it truly was. And just about the entire process was fun. Researching the event, reading newspaper clippings from the 1960s, speaking with those who were directly involved with the event, and actually writing the book itself—it was all a blast. I’ll tell you what wasn’t fun: editing! I’m not much for editing my own work, simply because of the repetition, but editing a 230-page book about 15 times was simply horrendous. But the entire process of getting this book together was fantastic.

GC: You probably learned a lot along your journey, but what stands out more than anything else?

AB: What stands out to me the most was how much the NHL seemed NOT to want to pursue expansion, even when they were actively involved in doing so. It seemed that they only expanded because they felt they had to, regardless of their personal opinions about the act itself. Harold Ballard of the Maple Leafs was surely against it, but then again, there wasn’t much that he liked, other than money. But when all was said and done, even though two of the teams that were added no longer exist (Minnesota North Stars and Oakland Seals), expansion was clearly a success. It helped grow the game like the league had never seen, and finally put the NHL on par with the other three major professional sports leagues in the country.

GC: Out of all the interviews you conducted, which was the most interesting, and why?

AB: There were a few…Stan Fischler was a joy to talk to, just because of his experience and his passion for the game, though I was a bit concerned when he mentioned that the Bobby Orr [Stanley Cup-winning] goal in 1970 was the “phoniest goal in the history of sports.” He does have a point though, but everyone should read the book to find out what it is! Jiggs McDonald was a broadcaster for the Los Angeles Kings from day one, and he amused me with so many incredible stories from his time with the team, in addition to information about Jack Kent Cooke, the team’s original owner. Lastly, speaking with Ed Snider of the Philadelphia Flyers was really an honor. Growing up in Philadelphia, he’s a man I’ve looked up to my entire life as the archetypal professional sports owner. Think of it this way—here’s a man who started a franchise in a city that had a horrendous history of hockey, turned them into a Stanley Cup-winning team in just seven years, and ultimately one of the most successful NHL franchises in history (second-highest winning percentage behind the Canadiens, in addition to being the second-highest valued team of those that expanded after 1967).  Anything he says, you know you’ve got to listen, and it was a pleasure doing so.

GC: There are always rumors that the NHL wants to expand to even more teams than 30. What are your thoughts on this? Wouldn’t contraction at this point be more reasonable than another expansion?

AB: Rumors are always swirling around everything, specifically in sports. The NHL is not currently looking to expand, nor do I think they will look to do so in the upcoming decade. The only professional sports league that has more than 30 teams is the NFL, and any league is nuts if they believe they can compete with Roger Goodell. Contraction, however, is a different issue. Do I think that the league has 30 financially healthy teams? No. But is it really helpful to contract teams? I’m not too sure about that, but it surely doesn’t look good public relations-wise if the league shuts down franchises that it granted just a couple decades ago. No sports league has an even playing field when it comes to money, because every franchise is run differently and various markets respond differently to everything. The NHL needs to find a way to get a more even keel for all 30 teams. You’re never going to prevent the Montreals or the New Yorks or the Philadelphias or Torontos from dominating the market financially. But there are ways to balance the playing field immensely and make sure that the Floridas, Tampa Bays, Dallases, and Phoenixes are able to fairly compete.

I would like to thank Alan for taking the time to conduct this interview! You can check out and purchase his book from Amazon by clicking here. I would also like to thank him for giving me an acknowledgement in the book, that reads, “Greg Caggiano, a close friend of mine, also helped keep me sane throughout my initial research and later work in the book. He was a person that I could bounce ideas off of, in addition to ranting and babbling incessantly to until I realized he wasn’t even listening. But I thank him a great amount  for being there to help me out and lift me up when I hit rough patches.”

This is not really a post-game recap, just my general thoughts on yet another amazing and magical Winter Classic that the NHL has put on for us, between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. Surprisingly, for what seems like the first time in the brief five-year history of the event, there were no ice malfunctions, and the passing and skating was pretty smooth early on. Though the game did slow down in the second, I would definitely rank the overall pace of this afternoon to be one of the better ones yet. And of course, there was plenty of drama with yet another photo finish—something that seems to happen every year, which I will elaborate on later.

For the last four years, I have watched this event, never having much at stake, since the Rangers were never playing. I always wondered if the stress would be magnified, and it definitely was. This had the drama and intensity of a playoff game, which was all I could really ask for, win or lose. When the Rangers fell behind 2-0 in the second, I admit, I thought the game was over. With the way the pace had slowed down, combined with the fact that the Rangers were not doing much of anything, it had all the makings of a loss. But then, out of nowhere, Mike Rupp got the Blueshirts on the board with a beautiful wrist shot goal, followed by a Jagr-like salute, to get the team within one. From there, the game picked up and we saw some real hockey, and early in the third, the Rangers would overcome the Flyers, on a second goal by Rupp and the eventual game-winner by Brad Richards. The overcast sky and flurry of snow only added to the atmosphere as the clock ticked down, the stress ever-building.

Then, just like every year, in a close score, the rink seemed to tip toward the losing team. I swear, last season, I remember saying, “Man, the refs are trying awful hard to get this game to overtime.” This time around too, I said the same thing, word for word. It was pretty obvious and ridiculous at how bad some of the late calls were. The one on Ryan McDonagh for delay-of-game had me staring incredulously at the television, because it was he who was interfered with and pushed into the net, which caused it to come off the moorings. I just knew that if the Flyers did not score on the ensuing powerplay, it would only get worse…and it did. A Ranger player coming down the ice on an odd-man-rush moments later (forgive me for not being able to recall his name, but the game was a few hours ago) was tugged at, which could have easily been a call if McDonagh got one earlier for much less. Then came Ryan Callahan getting called for embellishment, with under two minutes to go, when he was interfered with by Kimmo Timonen. Though both were assessed penalties, what was Callahan supposed to do in that situation, already falling to the ice and getting hit in the face with a stick? Lastly, was the icing on the cake in the end, when Danny Briere was given a penalty shot because McDonagh supposedly closed his hand on the puck in the crease. This was a close call, and not the worst of the trio, but there was no conclusive evidence that his hand physically closed on top of the puck. Last I checked, important calls like that should be based on evidence, not what may have been.

Either way, the Rangers stood strong and finished with a 3-2 victory. All of the hype, all of the annoyances of being followed around by a camera crew daily for the last month, came to a culmination today, and they can all have smiles on their faces. This was a tough test for a team, whose sights are now set on going deep in the playoffs this season, not just making them. One can only hope that they will not suffer a letdown in the coming games against the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins, because of the elated feeling they are sure to have right now. They can be happy about it today and tomorrow, but by Wednesday, it should be business as usual, since there is still more than a half of a season remaining.

Hats off to both the Rangers and Flyers for putting on an outstanding show today. Win or lose, this was not so much a game as it was a celebration of the great sport and tradition of hockey. Though the Rangers did win, the real winners were the fans who watched. Here’s to hoping that the Winter Classic may one day come to New York—and with the intensity of these last few weeks, I would not mind a rematch with these same Flyers.

Whenever we think about the American Civil War, perhaps we look back to the old, foggy black-and-white images and yellowed pages of history textbooks that we were forced to study in school, or even the idea of such that has been forced down our throats because history is generally seen as a boring subject, full of nothing but names, dates, and rote memorization. Maybe, when you look at the picture of a soldier who fought in the War Between the States, you see him as just another part of that boredom, because after all, he existed 150 years ago and is long gone—perhaps his distant relatives themselves do not even know where their ancestry crossed paths. But behind that way of thinking, there is something much, much deeper. That soldier, whose eyes you can stare into, if you so choose, was a living, breathing, thinking human being. He played as a child and worked as an adult, just like every single one of us. The major difference, aside from the times, is that he happened to get caught up in our nation’s greatest internal conflict, one that literally pitted brothers against brothers, and in some even rarer, more tragic instances, fathers against sons.

Beyond the brutality of war, though, were soldiers that did not enlist to kill, but rather show that they wanted to stand with a cause. Though politics differed drastically between the men on both sides, there generally was no hatred between the common soldiers, because when bullets began to rain on a battlefield, everyone was equal—it did not matter where you came from, the bullets knew no identity. There are hundreds, if not thousands of accounts of soldiers on both sides trading with each other in between battles, even if it is something so insignificant as swapping a swig of coffee or bourbon for a few drags of a pipe or cigar. There is even a legend of a rudimentary baseball game being played between enemies, right before the Battle of the Wilderness erupted in 1864. It is the stories like these, not the death and destruction, that bring the past alive and show the human element of war.

We now sit here, in the new year of 2012. Most of us probably had some sort of celebration on New Year’s Eve; hanging out with family and friends, eating appetizers, drinking champagne, and watching the ball drop, however, on New Year’s Eve of 1862, the atmosphere was much different for the soldiers camped near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, as a battle was very shortly about to rage on. With Confederate soldiers under the command of General Braxton Bragg poised near Stone’s River, which ran close to the town, Union soldiers led by William S. Rosecrans marched from Nashville to meet them. Each side, on the eve of the new year was matched up against one another on opposite sides of the river. Christmas had just passed, but there was no joy in the air, because war would not allow for it.

As midnight neared, which would have brought 1863 in with a hail of bullets, the soldiers on both sides, simultaneously refused to fight, perhaps not even knowing that the other side planned the same. This was not the directive of their officers, though, just the common foot soldier, who awaited his possible death the next day. With silence in the air falling over the beautiful river, which the moon’s reflection glowed on, all of a sudden, the quiet was broken. “Hey, Billy Yank, we’re gonna start firing now. Better keep your heads down if you don’t want to get hit!” was a line shouted across the river by a Confederate soldier. The orders to fight had to be obeyed, but not the orders to kill. The Confederate soldiers opened fire, not injuring or killing a man. Next, it was the Union’s turn to do the same thing. “We can still see some of you! Better do a better job of hiding!’ was yelled by different men in various forms. They too fired their rifles, and again, no casualties were to be had.

With their orders to fight obeyed, bands from each army came down by the banks of the river to play. “Dixie” came from the Confederate side while “Battle Hymn of the Republic” came from the Union. The two bands faced off against each other as the men sang along. The scourge of war was soon forgotten. The night came to a close when both bands, in unison, played “Just Before the Battle, Mother”, as many soldiers began to cry when thinking of the lyrics. For just one night, enemies were friends. For all they knew, the war was over. There was no death, just peace. For one night, they could picture themselves back home, reading or sitting by the light of a fire, surrounded by their loved ones. The next day, both sides blew each other off the face of the earth.

The war had to resume, despite the respite. All in all, more than 25,000 men would be killed or wounded in the next two days of fighting, which out of a total combined force of just over 75,000, was the largest casualty percentage for a single battle of the entire war. To this day, even after a year, I can envision the professor I had for my Civil War class telling this story, with his voice so calm, and his manor so serene. For every single person sitting in that classroom, there was not a dry eye to be found, but there was also peace; a feeling that one might feel hearing about something that occurred yesterday, not 149 years ago, the anniversary of which just passed. The past can and will come alive for you if you explore the human side of it, because that is where we are all equal and eternal—it is the only place where the dead and the living can come together once more, and not be forgotten.

Patrick Gorman, winner of the 2011 Interview of the Year!

Awards

Well, ladies and gentlemen, the moment has arrived to reveal the four award winners in From New York to San Francisco’s first annual year-end awards! I would like to thank everyone who voted, as there was a much larger turnout than I expected. Below are the winners:

Picture of the Year: “Lawrence Gets Into Trouble” (50%)

Interview of the Year: Actor Patrick Gorman (55%)

National-Level Idiot of the Year: Harold Camping (29%)

Local-Level Idiot of the Year: A Waitress in Virginia (44%)

Looking Forward to 2012

Because 2011 was the first full year of blogging here, I must say that in my eyes, it could not have gone any better. I feel truly lucky and blessed to be able to have covered so many great events, such as the World Premiere of the Gods and Generals Director’s Cut, and to have had the chance to interview so many great people. All in all, we ended up with more than 160,000 views during the calendar year, for a daily average of 459. As always, I will be trying my best to bring you the latest news/interviews/coverage surrounding the latest Civil War-themed movies, such as 1863, Copperhead, and To Appomattox; if you keep checking back, you will not miss a thing. Once again, I would like to wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2012! See you all on the blogosphere next year!

Best wishes,

Greg Caggiano