Rangers’ Froese Returns to Center Stage

To the goaltender who came in from the road, the sound was strange but satisfying. All around Madison Square Garden, the fans were standing and cheering the New York Rangers and the man behind the mask. Welcome home, Bob Froese.

In truth, Froese had never been away. It’s just that he had spent so much time in the same position as the 17,332 who applauded him Monday: namely, on his rump. His routine was such that if the schedule said home game, he skated directly to the bench.

Like it or not, Froese had become the National Hockey League’s ultimate road warrior. When he was bad, the customers ridiculed him. When he was good, the customers booed him. The Rangers could have rented out his white uniform for most of the past year and no one would have been the wiser.

Suddenly, that has changed. For the second time in eight days and for only the third time all season, Froese started a home game last Monday. More significantly, the man was the winning goaltender in the Rangers’ 7-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils. It had been 368 days since Froese had been in the center of a celebration on Garden ice, 368 days since he had been credited with a victory there.

So, he permitted himself a smile in the waning minutes. “When we scored the empty-net goal,” he decided, at 19:21 of the third period. Then Froese thought again. “Even when there was a minute something left,” he said, “I was thinking it was too good to be true.”

The Rangers were as good as they had to be in punishing another Patrick Division rival. They had to be a little better Saturday night in Pittsburgh and they were equal to that occasion as well, checking a slide that had dropped them from first place. The goaltender in both games was Froese, marking only the second time in 1988-89 that he has started consecutive games.

“It’s a confidence builder for myself, personally,” he said. “But the most important thing is that we won two more games and are back in first place. I’d like to make the Rangers feel I’m a good team player.”

He has been that since the day the Rangers acquired him from Philadelphia 26 months ago. From the beginning, it was made clear that he was the No. 2 goalie, the relief man, the backup. Froese has performed well, but the role was never more difficult than it was earlier this season.

From Nov. 16 to Jan. 14, he started only five of 25 games. He didn’t start a single home game between Oct. 12 and Feb. 12. There was little reason for his family to attend a game at the Garden.

Now, they have a reason. In fact, Froese brought his three young sons to watch him play Monday. “At least that way,” he joked after the game, “everyone wouldn’t have been booing.” Even if he had fallen on his face.

Humor has been one of Froese’s weapons in combating the insecurity brought on by long stretches of inactivity. “I always want to play,” he said. “I’ve made that known. But I try not to complain. Everyone has their own (problems). They don’t want to hear another guy complaining . . . If you can keep a good attitude, it’s good not only for yourself but for the team.”

This is the kind of season it had been for Froese. After John Vanbiesbrouck had been raked for six goals inside two periods Friday night by Toronto, Froese was inserted. He yielded two goals, Vanbiesbrouck came back to surrender the final two in a 10-6 travesty and Froese was charged with the defeat. Go figure it.

The man shrugged. “It might have bothered me when I was younger,” he said. But now he’s 30 and has seen the good and the bad. Even when the Devils’ Kirk Muller batted a knee-high changeup into the net just two minutes and 21 seconds after the puck was dropped, Froese was unflustered.

It reminded him of his first major-league training camp with St. Louis a decade ago. “Inge Hammerstrom cames down the ice,” he recalled with relish, “flicked the puck into the air and drilled it past me. I figured if these guys are all that good, I’m not going to last in this league.”

As it developed, Froese didn’t make it with the Blues but he starred with the Philadelphia Flyers a few years later and now he has become a very important man in the Rangers’ bid for their first division title in 47 years. As for Hammerstrom, he had more finesse than the majority of NHL players. His shortcoming was duly noted by owner Harold Ballard when he played for the Maple Leafs. “He could go into the corner with a dozen eggs in his pocket,” Ballard harrumphed, “and not break one.”

Froese laughed at the story. He felt a lot better about himself after contributing to what might represent a turning point in the season. Of course, now the Rangers face the pressure of holding on to the top spot, starting with a home game Wednesday night against the Flyers. It should be recalled that he started against his former team in the Spectrum the other night and played well in a 3-1 defeat. He also squelched a potential pre-fight rumpus with an injection of humor. “Where’s (Dave) Brown now?” he asked the would-be brawlers. And everyone burst out laughing.

Would he like a third straight start against the Flyers? “I think they’re going to need a heart monitor in here if I do,” he said, smiling. Damn right, he’d like the chance.

But he won’t complain if he has to watch another Garden game from the bench. “I’ve got a pretty good job here,” Froese said. And a pretty good seat as well.