NHL Hall Of Fame Goalie Giacomin Dies At 86

Some moments in sports just stick with you, etched into the collective memory of a city. For New York sports fans, there’s a Mount Rushmore of these moments, and somewhere chiseled in that granite is the night of November 2, 1975. That was the night Eddie Giacomin, the heart and soul of the New York Rangers, came home. And he was wearing the wrong jersey.

The news hit on Monday that Giacomin, the beloved former Rangers netminder, passed away at 86. It’s a tough loss for the Blueshirts faithful, a generation of whom grew up with the roar of “Ed-die, Ed-die!” echoing through the old Madison Square Garden.

Giacomin wasn’t just a goalie; he was an institution. For 11 seasons, he was the guy between the pipes, a fearless, stand-up netminder from the old school who played without a mask early on because he claimed it messed with his view of the puck. You have to respect that level of beautiful insanity. He led the league in shutouts three times and even shared a Vezina Trophy. He was the backbone of the team that clawed its way to the 1972 Stanley Cup Final. He was, as the great Rod Gilbert once said, “the heart of their team.”

The Unthinkable Trade and The Legendary Return

Then came the fall of ’75. The Rangers were scuffling, and management decided it was time to clean house, starting with their 36-year-old, prematurely gray-haired goalie. On Halloween, they put Giacomin on waivers, a move that felt like a punch to the gut for the fanbase. The Detroit Red Wings, of all teams, snatched him up.

And then, because the hockey gods have a wicked sense of humor, the Red Wings’ very next game was two days later, at the Garden, against the Rangers.

What happened next is the stuff of legend. When Giacomin skated onto the ice in that unfamiliar Red Wings red, the Garden erupted. The fans, his fans, drowned out the national anthem with thunderous chants of “Ed-die, Ed-die!” It was a spontaneous, raw, and tear-jerking ovation for a player they felt had been wronged. Giacomin, trying to hold it together, wiped tears from his eyes. His own former teammates didn’t know what to do.

“The whole Garden cheered for us that game,” Giacomin said. Detroit jumped out to a 4-0 lead, and the Red Wings won 6-4. It’s said that the Rangers who scored on him actually apologized for it. After the game, the Rangers players went over to his house and partied with him until 8 in the morning. That’s brotherhood.

Giacomin’s Lasting Legacy