Ask The Maven And You Get The Answers

Which Stanley Cup curse have you heard of and what do fans believe?

1. The superstition that if a player touches the Cup before they win it, they are cursed forever to never win a championship.
2. In the early 40’s, the mortgage papers for the Garden were burned in the cup. Hockey fans believe that the Cup had been "desecrated," leading the "hockey gods" to place a curse on the Rangers.
3. The Dutton curse is said to prevent a win for the Rangers because Dutton, the manager/owner of the Americans, was shafted by the Garden when they promised to let his team play there but denied him access when they created the NY Rangers. The Americans went out of business after World War II, and Dutton supposedly declared in anger that "the Rangers never will win the Cup again in my lifetime."
4. My parents were season ticket holders for my whole childhood, where the real fans sat up in the blue seats. Rumors around these fans was that MSG was built on an ancient Indian burial ground and the shamans were cursing the Garden and the team. They even spoke of the ghost of one shaman walking up and down the aisles while he chanted his spell on the team.

Excellent questions, my dear Mrs. Grimm: The Maven will take them, one by one:

1. This nonsense about touching the Cup beforehand is beyond ridiculous. Very few know about it and few care. N.G. as in not good.

2. This one about burning the mortgage in The Cup is legitimate. As a matter of fact, my mentor – the late Stan Saplin – was publicist for the Rangers and its first historian. "The paper-burning of the mortgage in The Cup was a bad move," Saplin told me. "And it bothered a lot of fans and other Garden people – because photos were taken and it got a ton of publicity. To me and others it was a curse."

3. The Dutton Curse is the strongest of all and has been written about many times – best of all in Trent Frayne's book "The Mad Men Of Hockey." Furthermore, when the Brooklyn Historic Society featured a history of the New York-Brooklyn Americans about six years ago, one of Red Dutton's close relatives was there and told The Maven that Red did, in fact, level the curse at an NHL governors' meeting at the end of World War II.

4. You got me on this one and it fits into my weekly "Incredible But True Rangers Stories." To verify it -- or UN-verify it --0 I'm submitting the tale to Michael Rappaport, the presiding Rangers historian who may add to the yarn your parents transmitted. Once Young Rappy has an answer – soon, I hope – in this Friday segment.