ALL FOR ONE & 19 FOR ALL
Ratelle R keeps focus on eternal GAG Line
THE celebration of Jean Ratelle first became a celebration of his era that is remembered so fondly by those of us who grew up in the Blue Seats with Emile and Eddie and Brad and Jean and Rod and Vic, and Stemmer, Wee Bruce and Walter and To the Boards, Billy Fairbairn, To the Boards.
And then, because he is Jean Ratelle, the night on which his No. 19 was gloriously, albeit belatedly, raised to the Garden’s famous spoked ceiling became about even more than that. Because just in the way this elegant center shared the puck, he would share the glory.
Ratelle passed the microphone to his right wing, Rod Gilbert, “for a very special announcement,” toward the end of a classy ceremony preceding Sunday’s match against the Red Wings. Gilbert then revealed the Blueshirts next season will retire the No. 11 in honor of left wing Vic Hadfield to join No. 19 and his own No. 7.
The GAG Line then, the GAG Line now, the GAG Line forever.
Theirs was a perfect union. Hadfield as the mucking grinder whose hands turned into fists that he would use way back when in a series of penalty-box fights with Montreal’s Henri Richard at the old Garden located on 49th and 50th between Eighth and Ninth; Gilbert as the sharp-shooting sniper; Ratelle as the elegant dispatcher.
They were a formula come to life — bigger than life, you could say.
Hadfield, a dry wit, was overcome by emotion upon learning the news as he sat among former teammates and Ranger legends at center ice. He, of course, became the first 50-goal scorer in franchise history in 1971-72 by beating Montreal’s Denis DeJordy at 14:56 of the third period of the final game of the season after No. 19 had gone down in Game 63 with a broken ankle he suffered taking a shot from teammate Dale Rolfe.
“Led the league in penalty min- utes one year, then had 50 goals the next,” Hadfield said during a pregame press briefing in which the three linemates performed what might have been a vaudeville act, finishing each other’s sentences, nailing one another with digs and zingers as if it were 45 years ago and they were about to play Bobby Orr and the Animals. “Only other to do that — the Rocket [Richard].”
You could look up whether Hadfield was indeed accurate with that. It sounds good enough to me to accept as lore.
And you may or may not believe the story Emile Francis, the father of modern Rangers hockey who joined the celebration, told The Post a few days ago about the origin of the GAG Line.
“We were playing a game in Toronto, they’d just won three Stanley Cups, and I had Ratelle and Gilbert playing with [150pound, finesse winger] Camille Henry,” the Cat said of a game played midway through 1965-66. “Well [coach] Punch Imlach puts out Eddie Shack, and before you know it, all three of my guys are down on the ice.
“My trainer, Frank Paice, asks which one he should go to first, and I told him, ‘Ratelle.’ Anyway, on the plane ride home, I decided that Jean and Rod needed a tough guy on their line. They needed a fighter. And that’s when I put Vic with them.”
Apocryphal, perhaps, but the record shows the first goal on which each contributed came Jan. 1, 1966, when Ratelle converted feeds from Hadfield and Gilbert to beat Charlie Hodge at 5:34 of the first period in a 5-1 Rangers’ loss to the Canadiens at the Forum.
The next season, the line was established and the Rangers began the era in which they became the best team never to win the Stanley Cup. From those days, Stemkowski, Steve Vickers (a rookie in 1972-73), Bob Nevin, Rod Seiling, Teddy Irvine and Gilles Villemure were on the ice for the ceremony, so were Giacomin and Gilbert, and so was Brad Park, who received a huge ovation and might someday be next among the crew to come home.
But this night belonged to Ratelle, that is, until he shared the glory the way he shared the puck.
Ratelle, Hadfield, Gilbert, magical to the ears, magical rolling off the tongue, magical on the ice.
GAG Line Forever.