Have you ever heard of Joe Schaefer, the Long Island native who was the Rangers’ EBUG (emergency backup goaltender) before there were EBUG’s in the NHL?
Back in the day when the league was kind of a mom-and-pop operation, teams had “house goalies.” Often employees of the team, the house goalie would watch the games from the stands (or maybe the press box) to be on call in case either team’s goaltender suffered an injury serious enough that he would have to leave the game.
NHL teams did not carry two goalies until the mid-to-late 1960s. The No. 1 goalie was the only goalie. The Maple Leafs and Blackhawks started the trend of a two-goalie rotation in 1964-65, when Toronto brought in the fabled Terry Sawchuk to become half the tandem with Johnny Bower and Chicago called up Denis DeJordy to form a pair with the fabled Glenn Hall.
The Rangers first went with a two-goalie system in 1965-66 in Eddie Giacomin’s rookie season. He first shared the net with Cesare Maniago before the Rangers demoted No. 1 to AHL Baltimore. The team had also used veteran Don Simmons as a backup, with the longtime Bruins netminder remaining as Giacomin’s backup the next two seasons, starting five games in ’67-68 and two the following season.
