Thanksgiving at Home Restored to Rangers’ Schedule

August 29, 1992

By Charlie Jaworski

Press & Sun Bulletin

The Binghamton Rangers are back playing at home on Thanksgiving night.

There will be a thankful lot, for sure.

Scheduling problems last season didn’t allow Binghamton to be home on Thanksgiving night for the first time in the history of the American League franchise—15 years.

“Thanksgiving night is hockey in Binghamton,” Binghamton managing general partner Tom Mitchell said Friday.

It may be a good night for the fans, but it hasn’t been one for the franchise, which since 1977 is 49-9-1 on Thanksgiving. This year’s foe is Fredericton.

The season opens Oct. 9 at Baltimore, with the home opener six weeks from tonight—Oct. 10 against Utica. Binghamton’s 80-game schedule ends with an Easter Sunday matinee with the Hamilton Canucks on April 11.

The early portion of the Rangers’ 1992-93 schedule has a brutal stretch in which the defending Southern Division champions play 10 of 11 games on the road. The home game in that stretch is on Halloween night against Adirondack.

The Rangers’ trip to the Maritimes comes early, Nov. 6-10, but neither that nor the tough early going on the road bother coach Ron Smith.

“We’re gonna have a fairly good return of guys, and our adjustment stage might be better than other teams,” Smith said.

Smith thinks he will have better travel weather to the Maritimes in November, and being on the road will offer a better chance for new players to fit in to the group.

Of the tough initial part of the schedule, Mitchell said, “If we’re in first place at the end of December, we’ve got all the opportunity in the world to pad that.”

The Rangers’ longest home stand is four games, which happens twice, once from Jan. 29-Feb. 6. During the stretch run, the Rangers will play 10 of 14 games at home from March 7 to April 3.

Weekend games again are the most popular, with 16 of 40 home games on Saturday night. There are 13 games on Friday and five on Sunday.

Game times remain the same, with the exception of 1 p.m. games on Sunday, Feb. 21, and Sunday, April 11, against Hamilton, to accommodate live Canadian TV. The game March 7 against Providence will likely be at 2 p.m., Bill Flynn polka day.

Other traditional home games are intact, Dec. 26 vs New Haven, and New Year’s Eve, vs Hershey.