Why Victor Mancini Reminds The Maven Of New York Rangers Legend Brad Park

Attending the Blueshirts training camp in Kingston, Ont., I was scanning prospects for the 1968-69 season and found one who appeared ready to crack the lineup.

Emile "The Cat" Francis, who ran the Rangers, also studied his potential ace. Al Hamilton was a tall, rangy defenseman who intrigued me.

"He's The Cat's favorite prospect," said Gerry Eskenazi of the Times. "Emile likes him a lot."

After I took a few looks at Hamilton, I wasn't too crazy about him, but there was a smaller blueliner who really caught my eye. His name was Brad Park and I sat down with the Toronto native and his parents after the workout.

"It looks like I'm gonna wind up in Buffalo," Park was saying (At the time Buffalo was the Blueshirts' AHL farm team). "But I sure would like to make the big club."

As I saw it, Park belonged on the Rangers right then and then. Park was better than the big Hamilton guy in every which way but height.

Park's problem was that he wasn't one of Cat Francis' personal favorites and, personally, I never forgave him for that bit of hardheadedness.

Sure enough, Hamilton made the varsity and Park shuffled off to Buffalo. But not for long. Big Al was a flub on Broadway and medium-sized Brad was playing big-time hockey in Buffalo.

It took The Cat a couple of weeks and a few losses to wise up. Bingo! Down went Hammy and up come Parky — to stay, and eventually become a Hall of Famer.

Fortunately, Chris Drury hasn't felt that down-to-the-minors way about Victor Mancini, although the Rangers' boss certainly could have relegated the big kid from Hancock, Mich., to Hartford for a season.

After all, Mancini had been cutting his puck teeth at Nebraska-Omaha and — you tell me — who ever heard of a defenseman from Nebraska-Omaha making the leap straight to the pond on Seventh Avenue?

The Maven wouldn't have known Victor Mancini from Draja Mahovlich had not my eagle-eyed buddy Jesse Rubenstein written to me a few months ago.

What's even funnier is that when I first saw Rubenstein's note that Young Vic was skating for Nebraska-Omaha, I was about to toss it into the Round File with a "Good-Bye, Please" attached.

But I hesitated and then — out of deference to Jumpin' Jess — I wrote a note in this space that the Mancini fella some day might make it to The Show (Mancini seemed so far from the NHL, he wasn't even listed among the 10 most-likely Rangers defensemen in The Hockey News Yearbook).

Egad, what a cad! Mancini already is here now and will be on display tonight when the sizzling-hot (2-0) Utah Hockey Club visits The Garden on Saturday.

Now, let me just say this: if this 6-foot-3, 215-pound hunk of Mancini muscle could come out of Nowhere, Neb., and earn a regular role on the Rangers lineup, I say that he can win the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie-of-the-year.

Then again, you just may not notice him tonight since his name is not spelled, "Matt Rempe"!