ONLY IN AMNEWYORK
When the visiting locker room was ready, the New York Rangers’ teenage stick boy would hop on the ice at Madison Square Garden with a bag of pucks.
Brian Mullen would have The Garden to himself for about an hour before Rangers home games. A decade before he donned the blue, red, and white of his hometown team, he shared the same rink as his idols at the time — the “Ooh la la” team, he recalled, as several players were in the famous Sasson jeans commercial that regularly aired in the New York area.
“As a stick boy, it was incredible,” Mullen told amNewYork. “It was like a dream come true. It was like I was playing for the Rangers.”
Mullen grew up in Hell’s Kitchen. From his 49th Street apartment, he could see the now-demolished Madison Square Garden III, where the Rangers played from 1926 until 1968. His father worked on the ice-making crew.
Hell’s Kitchen was a great place to grow up for the Mullen boys. Brian had three older brothers, Ken, Tom, and Joe. They lived across the street from a schoolyard, where they played roller hockey every day after school from 3 p.m. to 7 or 8 p.m.
“My mom always knew where I was,” Mullen said. “She just had to look out the window and see me across the street in the school yard.”
The Mullen boys idolized the Rangers’ famed GAG (goal-a-game) line — Jean Ratelle flanked by Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield. When they played hockey in the schoolyard, the boys emulated the Rangers’ legends.
“One [brother] wanted to be Vic Hadfield,” Mullen said. “One wanted to be Rod Gilbert. One wanted to be Jean Ratelle. We’d play in that school yard all the time, and you’d hear guys yelling out, ‘Gilbert scores!’”
Who did Mullen want to be?
“I always wanted to be Vic Hadfield,” Mullen said. “When they tore down the old Garden, my father brought me down there with a pair of clamped ice skates onto my sneakers to skate on that old Garden ice before they tore it down, and he came out with a Vic Hadfield stick, so I could hold the Vic Hadfield stick.
“When Vic scored the 50 goals, I always wanted to be the next Ranger to score 50 goals.”
Mullen said he had a photo of himself as a child at the old Garden, clad in a Batman sweatshirt, clamp skates strapped to his shoes, and Hadfield’s stick in his hands.
Following a two-year college hockey stint at the University of Wisconsin, Mullen began his professional career with the Winnipeg Jets, where he was drafted in the seventh round, 128th overall, in 1980. He played five seasons in Winnipeg, and totalled career highs in goals (32) and points (71) in 1984-85.
In the summer of 1987, Mullen was in Chicago, where his daughter was going to be christened. He got a call from then-Rangers general manager Phil Esposito.
“He said, ‘Mully, you’re coming home, but you’re not going to be carrying sticks. You’re going to be carrying your own sticks,’” Mullen recalled about Esposito’s call. “And that’s how I found out that I was coming home to New York.”
Mullen played four seasons with the Rangers, from 1987-88 to 1990-91. In his final three years with the Blueshirts, New York made the playoffs, and the core of the 1994 Stanley Cup team began to take shape.
His most successful Rangers season came in 1989-90. Mullen finished second on the team in scoring with 68 points. The Rangers finished first in the Patrick Division and beat the New York Islanders in five games in the first round of the playoffs.
Mullen played that season on a line with John Ogrodnick, who led the team in scoring with 43 goals and 74 points, and Kelly Kisio, who finished tied for third with 66 points.
“We clicked right off the start,” Mullen said. “We knew each other. We knew where each other was going to be on the ice. We didn’t even have to look. We knew somebody was going to be there.
“Johnny was a natural goal scorer. Kelly was one of the hardest workers in the league, and I was a pretty good two-way player.”
There was nothing like the Madison Square Garden faithful, Mullen said: “It is the best place to play in the whole NHL.”
“Regular season, you could come in that building and it’s just jumping, and it’s electric,” Mullen said about The Garden, “And then all of a sudden the playoffs start, and the fans bring it to another level.”
Rangers’ centennial season brings alumni together
Ahead of the Rangers’ Oct. 7 home opener against the Penguins, Mullen was one of several Rangers alumni who took part in the annual Blue Carpet outside Madison Square Garden, where players sign autographs for fans.
“Some of the people were there when I played hockey, and when I went outside and signed autographs, they were there,” Mullen said. “Then they were there a couple of weeks ago for opening night. So you see families. Families are brought into the Ranger culture. And it’s not just mom and dad are Ranger fans. Everybody in the family is a Ranger fan. They just kind of dragged them in.”
For Rangers alumni, the centennial season has become a reunion for players from different eras of the franchise.
“Everybody’s so excited,” Mullen said, “Because we know the Rangers are going to bring a lot of the older guys back in, and we’re going to get to see a lot of the older guys and reminisce again, and to be part of that whole storied franchise, not very many people could say they are.”
Rangers to celebrate ‘Birth of the Franchise’ Monday vs. Wild
The centennial season celebrations continue on Monday during the Rangers’ game against the Minnesota Wild, when New York will hold its first of eight centennial theme nights, the “Birth of the Franchise.”
On Monday morning, commuters across the city can receive a copy of “The Centennial Chronicle,” a 1920s-inspired newspaper that includes a list of Rangers players from the era, articles and photos celebrating the Stanley Cup champion teams, photos from the era, and a crossword puzzle. Rangers Blue Crew will distribute the paper in areas including Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal, and the World Trade Center PATH Station.
Monday’s game presentation will feature thematic event presentation elements like an era-themed noise meter, black and white GardenVision fan shots, the ice crew dressed in era-based attire, and a Rangers history trivia game. Fans can also purchase centennial-themed drinks at concession stands during the game.
Each fan in attendance will also receive a commemorative ticket that pays tribute to the organization’s history from 1926 to 1942.
The Rangers’ website has more information about their centennial season and tickets.
