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Rangers Top Bruins on Hadfield’s Late Goal

Oct. 30, 1963 - In spite of the asthma of their goaltender, the Rangers tonight beat Boston for the third straight time. After the Bruins got back into their third tie with less than two minutes to go, the plucky Blueshirts bounced to victory, 4-3, on Vic Hadfield’s goal only 50 seconds from the end. The fact that Hadfield got the game-winner, to the extreme delight of 10,607 Garden buffs, wasn’t surprising at all. For this was a time when the Phil Goyette line was supreme. The center from Montreal had previously gotten a hat trick. And Andy Bathgate, the other member of that No. 1 line, assisted on all four Ranger goals. Jacques Plante, the goalie, got back to New York just in time to play his usually brilliant game in the nets. After suffering one of his frequent asthma attacks in Toronto last Friday, the ex-Canadien returned to Montreal for treatment by his favorite physiotherapist. It is an open question what is wrong with the eyes of Bob McGowan, the goal judge. He missed seeing a Ranger goal midway in the opening period, before Andy Hebenton got a lucky score to send Boston off ahead. Here’s how it happened. Val Fonteyne, skating down the left alley in the clear, let fly with an angled, low 35-foot shot. The rubber went right through the net, bouncing off the backboard. Since McGowan didn’t see it and didn’t flick on the red light, play continued for some time before the Rangers could put in their beefs — to no avail. “He told us,” said Cam Henry, “that he saw the puck hit the net. From that angle, there is no way in the world it could hit the net from anywhere but the inside of the goal. It just had to go through a weak spot in the net, a few inches off the ice.” “I never made a surer goal,” said Fonteyne. “I kept looking for that red lamp, figuring it was out of order.”


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