Michael T. Mondak speaks: 40 til 40 day 29

On this 29th day of the 40 til 40 blog entry series leading to my 40th birthday on July 10, I’m going to talk about the 1940 Stanley Cup finals between the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The New York Rangers defeated the Boston Bruins in six games to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, while the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings, each in two game sweeps.

The best of seven Stanley Cup Finals began at Madison Square Garden on April 2, 1940, where the New York Rangers won 2-1 in sudden death overtime with Alf Pike scoring the winning goal.  The next day, the Rangers won game two 6-2 with Bryan Hextall scoring a hat trick.  The series shifted to Maple Leaf Gardens where the Maple Leafs won game three 2-1 and game four 3-0 with Turk Broda pitching a shutout.  Game five was won by the New York Rangers 2-1 when Muzz Patrick scored in the second extra period, then the New York Rangers won game six on April 13 with Bryan Hextall scoring the goal that won the Stanley Cup in sudden death overtime.  It was the third Stanley Cup triumph for the New York Rangers.

During the regular season, the mortgage on Madison Square Garden was paid off.  Following the Rangers’ victory, the arena management team celebrated by burning the mortgage papers in the bowl of the Stanley Cup, which led to a curse that I will explain more about tomorrow.

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