When training camp kicked off in the fall of 1942, Boucher was in shock. The roster was thin, and a big challenge loomed. “We had nobody to play goal, literally nobody,” he wrote in his autobiography, *When the Rangers Were Young*.
His situation was better than that of the New York Americans, led by Red Dutton, who lost most of his players to the war. Historian Stephen Smith mentioned that Dutton put the Amerks on hold, never to return. Other teams faced similar struggles. Lester Patrick, the coach of the Rangers, considered the same due to the war’s harsh impact on his squad.
One of Patrick’s new talents, Dudley “Red” Garrett, only managed to play 23 NHL games before joining the Canadian Navy. Tragically, he died at just 20 years old when his ship, the HMCS Shawinigan, was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Newfoundland on November 25, 1944.
These were dark days for both Boucher and Patrick. The Rangers went through one of the worst losing streaks in NHL history, breaking records for poor performance, according to Eric Whitehead in *The Patricks, Hockey’s Royal Family*.
Eventually, Patrick found a goalie. Steve Buzinski, who came from working in agriculture and played for Swift Current in Saskatchewan, seemed like a good match. “You’ll be pleasantly surprised,” Buzinski told his coach. But Boucher quickly realized he was mistaken; Buzinski struggled massively.
“He was not a big-league goaltender,” Boucher noted. In nine games, he let in 55 goals before being taken out and treated for stress. One sportswriter mockingly called him “Steve Buzinski — The Puck Goes Insky.”
Still desperate for a goalie, Patrick borrowed Jim Franks from the Detroit Red Wings’ minor league team. Franks played 23 games until a broken wrist ended his season during a 7-0 defeat against Detroit on January 24, 1943.
Patrick later secured Bill Beveridge from the AHL Cleveland Barons, but Cleveland needed him back before the Rangers’ last match of the season, as noted by Rangers historian George Grimm in *Guardians of the Goal — A History of Rangers Goalies*.
Not giving up, Patrick persuaded the Montreal Canadiens to lend him Lionel Bouvrette, but he lost the final game of the season 6-3 against the Canadiens at the Montreal Forum on March 18, 1943.
Throughout the season, the Rangers used four goalies (three of whom were borrowed) and allowed a staggering 253 goals, finishing last with a record of 11-31-8. “Unbelievably,” Boucher wrote, “we were even worse the next year, but at least we had a full-time goalie, Ken McAuley, from Edmonton.”
